Tuesday - December 18, 2007

Was it slavery, or just cultural differences?

Justice or BS?

LINK TO STORY

A millionaire couple who brought two Indonesian women to America to work for them as housekeepers inside their Long Island mansion were convicted today of what prosecutors called a case of “modern-day slavery.”

Varsha Sabhnani collapsed into the chest of her husband, Mahender Sabhnani, after a jury found them guilty of all charges in a 12-count federal indictment that included forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude, and harboring aliens.

This sounds just awful. Keeping slaves? The subhuman bastards. Hang ‘em.

The verdict brought an end to a trial that portrayed the Sabhnanis’s elegant mansion as a house of horrors for the two victims, who came to America for a better life but ended up making pennies an hour under horrendous conditions.

The victims said they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives, forced to climb stairs, and take freezing cold showers as punishment for various misdeeds. One victim was forced to eat dozens of chili peppers against her will, and then was forced to eat her own vomit when she couldn’t keep the peppers down, prosecutors said.

Twisted sickos. What is wrong with the minds of some people?

But is there another side of the story?

The defense contended the two women concocted the story as a way of escaping the house for more lucrative opportunities. They also argued the housekeepers practiced witchcraft and may have abused themselves as part of an Indonesian self-mutilation ritual.

You mean they’re muslims and celebrating ramadan? But witchcraft? What? Huh?

The trial also provided a glimpse into the growing problem in America of domestic workers being exploited in slave-like conditions. Experts hoped that the verdict would have a lasting legacy.

“This certainly does send a message that people can’t do this,” a sociology professor at Hunter College, Nancy Foner, said. “This is a lesson; I hope this verdict will make people frightened.”

Ok, whenever I hear that “we’re sending a message” line in connection with a jury verdict, my BS detector automatically switches on. What aren’t we hearing here? What evidence was suppressed? What’s the spin?

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Lesko said in closing arguments that the poorly educated women barely eked out a living in Indonesia and came to America to work as housekeepers for $100 or $150 a month — all of which was sent to their relatives back home.

$100 a month is an awfully low wage in the US for full time work. But is that net or gross? I don’t know what the laws are for live-in domestic help, but can they be charged for room and board? What about taxes? And who made the decision to send all of the money back to the relatives?

The women said they were tortured and beaten for misdeeds that included sleeping late or stealing food from trash bins because they were poorly fed. Both women, known only as Samirah and Enung, also said they were forced to sleep on mats in the kitchen.
...
Although Varsha Sabhnani, 45, was identified as the primary culprit in inflicting punishment, Mr. Lesko said her 51-year-old husband was charged with the same crimes because he allowed the conduct to take place and benefited from the work the women performed in his home.
...
the Sabhnanis — he is from India, and she is from Indonesia, but both are naturalized American citizens

So we have a high and mighty rich lady from Indonesia treating her Indonesian servants really poorly. Is there perhaps a “cultural angle” to this story?

The Sabhnanis spent nearly three months in jail following their arrest before a judge signed off on a bail package that required the couple to post $4.5 million and pay an estimated $10,000 a day for round-the-clock security monitoring while they were kept under house arrest.

Holy smokes. 10 grand a day? What, did they hire an army division? That’s $50 an hour for 24 people for 6 months; over 1.8 million dollars. To sit on your butt with a cellphone and watch their house. Where do I sign up for this job? And this couple had to pay for this, prior to any verdict against them? Don’t we have some document somewhere that says something or other about cruel and unusual punishment and levying excessive fines?

There’s got to be more information out there .... ah, here’s another piece about it.

prosecutors say the two Indonesian women were made to sleep in closets of the sprawling, multimillion-dollar home of their employers.

There are closets, and then there are closets. In a mansion like this one, a closet could be the size of your living room. But the other article says they slept on mats in the kitchen. When I was in college we lived in a run down off-campus house and rented out rooms to whoever could pay the rent. One housemate was this guy Jerry from China, who slept on a thin cotton pad on a door resting on cinder blocks. He could have had a normal mattress but a pad on the floor was what he was used to. I’m just saying.

The defense lawyers, who are scheduled to begin their case on Monday, have characterized the two women as liars, practitioners of witchcraft, and inventors of a false claim designed to win them fast-track advantages that federal immigration law grants certain victims of torture and abuse. Whatever injuries the women may have suffered, the lawyers said, were self-inflicted in the practice of a traditional Indonesian folk cure known as kerokan.

I’ve never heard of kerokan before, so I looked it up and it sounds a bit rough but it is widely accepted over there -

Coining (kerokan) is scraping the back ribs with the edge of a coin or spoon to bring up long red welts.
...
Coining looks primitive and cruel to Westerners who first encounter this weird household ritual. But Indonesians swear it’s effective
...
Dr Haryadi is currently studying the effects of fasting. The Javanese have several systems, including fasting on alternate days or excluding certain foods from the diet.

Better health through beating yourself up and not eating. But all cultures are equal these days, so we have to accept this as valid.

But the fast-track immigration angle is worrying. “Abuse” in America can be awfully slight; look at the zero-tolerance nonsense in schools ( the 3 second rule for children hugging? Oh fer God’s sake), the sexual harassment oversensitivity in the workplace, the “Lautenberg Amendment” in domestic violence situations, etc. I’m not saying abuse does not occur, I’m only saying that we are extraordinarily sensitive to it and often overly quick to judge. This is not how the rest of the world works, and I can guarantee you things are worse than you can imagine in the Third World.

Claudia Flores, a staff lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union who recently represented three Indian women kept in involuntary servitude by foreign diplomats in Washington, said foreign workers unfamiliar with American culture and language, already vulnerable, are pushed beyond the pale by isolation.

“Many times, they are forbidden to talk to people who come into the house,” Ms. Flores said. “If there are two of them, they are often forbidden to talk to each other. Their phone calls are monitored. They are not allowed to go anywhere unaccompanied. We are only seeing the women who are lucky enough and capable enough to find assistance. What we see is really only the tip of the iceberg.”

If the ACLU is involved then I’m almost certain this case has a dizzying amount of spin attached to it. I think this case is really a matter of Third World people with money treating Third World people without money exactly as they would back in the Third World. In other words, a lack of full assimilation into American culture. Iz pozzibul? Ah, but that’s a crime, at least in this case. 

Posted by Drew458     on 12/18/2007 at 10:35 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous •  
• Comments (3) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner