Slaves

What kind of slavery has a boy working 1/2 the day, and the mother working at home like she's an LA suburbanite? I mean, really? Is this the best, most profitable use Watto has for them?

OK, Anakin races pods for him, but since he's never won, and seems to destroy expensive pods, why bother? Why not force him to work fixing other people's pod racers? Make him work pit-crew.

Seems to me that this is just way to silly.

Schmi doesn't seem too opressed, for a slave.

 

hehe, I often thought that as well.

 

There may actually be laws on the treatment of slaves. They may be closer to indentured servants than the classical slave. And if I recall, Shmi didn't want Anakin racing, but Watto forced him. Putting a boy in physical jeopardy for gambling purposes would certainly be considered more than just free labor.

Of course, whether they are oppressed or not in our eyes, they still have someone controlling their fate.

 

why didn't padme rescue Shmi from tatooine?.

 

Could've been a "house maid". But then, that was her house, not Watto's.

Go figure.

 

Not every culture has a history of treating their slaves worse than they treat their dogs.

 

even if they weren't massively oppressed, they were without some fundamental freedom. They couldn't travel or leave their planet or city and that's a huge thing when there's a whole universe out there to explore.

 

True, but Watto is greedy. He's going to milk every credit he can out of his slaves. Keeping slaves fed, clothed, and sheltered costs money. What, exactly, does Shmi do to earn her keep? OK, she tends to Anakin, but he isn't exactly a source of wealth--he crashes pods and has yet to win, or even finish, a race. Sure there's some novelty in a human racing, but not a lot of profit if he doesn't win.
Anakin works at a junkyard cleaning and repairing equipment.
Shmi keeps her house clean. The novel has her repairing electronics as a way to make money on the side.
Neither of these shows much in the way of profitable employment. How does Watto benefit from this arrangement.

 

Forced labor.

There are no unions.

A perfect world.....

 

...until someone frees them.

 

No doubt.

 

What forced labor?
They don't seem to do very much.
Repair some broken machinery, clean some shelves... Keep their quarters tidy. Doesn't sound like a good return investment.

 

Watto seemed to actually care about Anakin. Maybe Watto was just one of Tatooine's nicer slave owners. Think back to the days of slavery here in the US. Although we mostly remember the stories of slaves being treated poorly, there were some people who owned slaves that treated them with respect.

 

Yeah Watto did care about them, but other Slave owners like Jabba the Hutt dont care at all,he killed his Twilek sex slave in ROTJ after she refused to come to him for only God knows what he would do.

And Hutts arent very kind,i think that Slave owners are treated anyway their owner wishes to treat them, the Yuuzhan Vong capture regular people and work them to death as Slaves,sometimes they implant them with devices that completely control them, and they will kill Slaves for no reason at all without any mercy,indeed some slave owners have morals and others just exploit people to death, Watto at least isnt Evil like that.

 

Even the "Nice" slave owners still had slaves working the plantations for profit.

Watto does not appear to be making any profit from Shmi and Anakin

 

****Think back to the days of slavery here in the US. Although we mostly remember the stories of slaves being treated poorly, there were some people who owned slaves that treated them with respect.****

If you owned a person, that there meant that you didn't treat them with respect. Period. There is no other way to look at it.

 

Yeah, this kinda got to me, too. Okay, Anakin, finish your work and then go home to your mother. Huh?

 

According to the TPM Visual Dictionary, Watto was an exceptionally nice slve owner compared to most of them on Tatooine.

 

Well, first of all-Anakin was a great repair man. He fixed things that Watto couldn't. And since Anakin always lost-Watto could bet safely against him. Thus he could make a lot of money off of Ankin alone.

And I am sure Shimi did the houswork in Watto's house.

As Anakin said, "We wouldn't have lasted so long if I wasn't good at fixing stuff"

And while it is true that Slavery is wrong period, not all slavery was outright evil. In africa, i've been told, that some of the slaves were treated like a member of the family...and sometimes married into the family.

Even in Americas sorrid slavery past- some slaves were allowed to run their own side buisneses, for a little money.

So there is different level of slavery. All of them evil-but some a little less evil than others.

 

Yeah, they had it so good. Especially with those implants that cause them to explode should they ever decide to leave.

The better question is why do the Jedi do not care about slavery? Not only are they indifferent to it, they then use their own slaves in AOTC to fight a war for them. Not very heroic or just.

 

Its outside of their jurisdicition.

A police force from one nation-state cannot make arrests for crimes committed in another. A Jedi cannot make arrests for crimes committed in a place outside the Republic. This is especially true when the real governing authority of the area (the Hutts, in this case) allow said practice.

So while I agree absolutely that slavery is wrong morally. . .politcally/legally, you don't have a leg to stand on.

However, there are some complications, since Anakin and Shmi were apparently abducted from Republic space. Thus, they should be rescued and restored to citizenship. Also, the Republic as a whole could support abolitionist efforts on Hutt worlds.

 

I agree with Green Destiny Sword,the Clone Troopers are the biggest Slaves of all in the entire saga,they are created only to fight and have their DNA modified to make them less independent and carry out any order without question.

The only reason the Jedi Order itself and its Thousands of Jedi Knights ignore the blatent slavery and exploitation of the Clones is because the creation of the Clone army conveintly gives them soldiers to use to fight the Separitists,if there was no war going on that would be a much different thing, but its easy even for the Jedi to turn a blind eye to the clones and their plight, the least they could do is give the clones the right to chose wether or not they wish to fight in the war without forcing them to fight without a choice, and possibly get the Senate to pass a law giving the clones their own bill of rights which forbids forced enslavement and exploitation of the Clones without their approved consent.

 

I always thought it was funny for Obi-wan to observe humans grown in tubes for the purpose of fighting and dying without a will of their own, to which he responds "Your clones are very impressive."

 

I refer you to the www.starwarsspoofs.com camino cartoon.

I still do not see how repairing minor equipment and housecleaning can recoup the costs of feeding and maintaining 2 slaves, much less be profitable. Sure, Watto knows Anakin will lose. So does almost everyone else. Anakin was a joke to everyone else. A novelty. Sure, someone might bet on a long-shot, but no one ever seriously expected him to ever win. And the cost in racing pods!!! Think about it. Would you be happy with a kid that you owned smashing up a Formula 1 on a regular basis? I don't think so!