Abolition terminable and interminable

Abstract

This chapter examines some of the political and intellectual limitations of international campaigns to combat human trafficking and forced labour under the heading of ‘contemporary slavery’. The ‘new abolitionists’ of the early twenty-first century alternately dismiss the significance of racial slavery in the modern world and draw upon its history to lend legibility and legitimacy to their collective efforts. In doing so, they not only overlook the persistent social, political and economic effects of racial slavery’s afterlife, but also obscure the ways that the movement for the abolition of racial slavery continues in the present tense with increased relevance and urgency.