Slavery and the No Project

It started with a newspaper article, a story that made such an impression on Judy Boyle, Ed.M.'93, that she still remembers the exact date she read it: December 27.

"My world turned upside down that night," she says. "I couldn't sleep. It did my head in."

The article described a young Greek woman who hanged herself with her own tights.

"To hang yourself next to a toilet," Boyle says. "I thought, what is happening here?"

What was happening was something few people acknowledge or even realize: Slavery — in this case, a young woman who was forced into prostitution — is still happening all over the world, including in the United States, despite what history books claim. Boyle knew she had to do something. The next day, she told a friend, a human rights activist, about the article and how it had deeply affected her.

"By pure coincidence," Boyle says, "her NGO, just the week before, had talked about doing something on human trafficking" — the illegal trade in human beings through which people profit from the control and exploitation of others. At the time, Boyle was living in Greece, working as a teacher trainer, writing books, and raising her two children. "I became part of the NGO. I also started to do research. I read and read and read everything I could about slavery and human trafficking."

Eventually, she decided to start her own nonprofit, the No Project. The project is raising public awareness about slavery and human trafficking, focusing specifically on the demand side and primarily targeting young people through the venues they most identify with — the arts, social media, and music. As the project's mission says, "young people have the power to create change."

The problem, Boyle says, is that change can't happen if people don't even know change is needed. Unfortunately, modern-day slavery and human trafficking are mostly invisible crimes. This isn't someone shooting another person in broad daylight. In some cases, it's people — including millions of little children — being kidnapped around the world and brought to factories or cocoa plantations to work. In other cases, people are lured by the promise of highpaying jobs in other cities or countries, then forced to work in brothels or as domestic servants in private homes. Under the threat of violence, with passports confiscated, they are forced to work without pay. They can't contact family, and they can't just walk away.

Still, most people assume that because slavery is illegal, it doesn't exist. In the United States, they'll say it ended with the passage of the 13th Amendment in 1865. But — and this is where education and raising public awareness comes in — nonprofit groups estimate that there are at least 27 million slaves around the world, more than there were during the entire 400 years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In part, slavery is flourishing because today's slaves are cheap: It is estimated that a healthy slave in America during the Civil War era would have cost about $40,000 in today's dollars. Today, you can buy a slave for about $90.

"Slavery today is illegal," Boyle says, "but not abolished."

Unfortunately, she adds, there's often a reluctance to include this information in school curricula. When she first reached out to contacts she had in the publishing world and asked to include information on these topics in curriculum materials, the response was chilly. Publishers worried that the topic was too political, she says.

"My thought always was: You include topics like famine. You're telling me famine isn't political?" In fact, when it comes to slavery and human trafficking, Boyle avoids politics. "I made a decision to steer clear of politics. This isn't about who you vote for."

Nowadays, Boyle says, few students know that slavery exists worldwide. At a recent educational workshop that Boyle held in Athens, a group of 20-something students from Atlanta told her they had no idea this was going on.

"They were shocked out of their minds to know it was going on in their city," Boyle says. When she gets responses like this, she is outraged.

"How dare we let kids get to the age of 18 and not know about the fastest-growing crime on the planet," she says. "Ideally, I'd love for every single educational institution to have a unit on slavery in an accurate, nonsensational way. We can't reabolish slavery unless educators and publishers are on board."

Boyle says the No Project has been working with some teachers and superintendents, but not enough.

"My goal would be that in every teacher training session, there would be a module on slavery and human trafficking," she says.

The project has also worked with some schools, mostly at the high school and university levels, holding workshops and seminars. In June, Boyle traveled to Bulgaria to collaborate with college-level graphic and visual arts students on an art installation, which includes a headless mannequin dressed in men's clothing. Through headphones, visitors hear whispered phrases such as, "I am a liar," "I am a rapist," and "I smell vulnerability." Once completed, the deputy prime minister of Bulgaria will open the installation in the capital, Sofia. Boyle hopes it inspires students at other schools to create their own work on these issues.

A future goal for Boyle and the project is to develop curriculum for teachers to use on their own. For now, she urges interested educators to visit sites by the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation and the Polaris Project for downloadable materials. Readers can also contact her to see how they can help in their region, no matter what country or how remote.

Outside of schools, the No Project recently started working with dozens of hip-hop dance crews around the world to help spread the message about slavery. These dancers have huge followings, especially online, Boyle says. The all-female ReQuest Dance Crew from New Zealand, which includes a choreographer working with Jennifer Lopez on her world tour, created a PSA video for the No Project that ran on YouTube and spread on Facebook. More recently, a dance crew from the Philippines asked how they can help. Boyle has also worked with NBA and WNBA players and is starting to reach out to celebrities like actress Isla Fisher, who will be wearing a No Project t-shirt at an upcoming event.

These are all ways, Boyle says, of reaching young people.

"I have to act as a portal," she says, especially in educating young people. "Right now, I'm thinking, what is the greatest form of sustainability? It's the next generation. If every kid on the planet knew about slavery, then when they become teachers or policymakers, they could make a difference. But until this crime becomes revealed, we can't change it."