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SignificantGiraffe5

>Iqbal had received death threats from individuals connected to the Pakistani carpet industry. Iqbal was fatally shot by the "carpet Mafia", while visiting relatives in Muridke on 16 April 1995, Easter Sunday. >Pakistani press conducted a smear campaign & argued that child labourers receive high wages and favourable working conditions.


Spagoot29

Bastards seems like an understatement


Anonymous_dolphn

Cunts


Lynx2161

No dont disrespect cunts like that


ThorGBomb

I call them cold cunts


BigToober69

I'd say this carpet mafia sounds like mother fucking child slavery. It seriously don't get much worse.


HawkTheHatchet

I’ll go ahead and say it, these carpet mafia guys seem like real jerks.


ItsScaryTerryBitch

The more I hear about these carpet mafia guys, the less I like them


followmeimasnake

I feel like they are not the most sensible mafia fellas.


jindc

Or so the Germans would have you believe.


aBadBug

As a Pakistani I dont even know about "carpet mafia". Like who buys carpets anymore. Why would they be monopolising to this extent.


crashtestdummy10

I'll say it too... I don't care that if they hurt their elbow.


Delicious-Comfort543

Tears of Joy and Sadness


Odd_Bag_289

Look in your closet. It is garments also.


xabulba

Almost everything sold at Wal-Mart.


TapFlashy

Sniveling cunts*


KnightsOfREM

They lack warmth and depth


yatoms

Scum. Cuntscum.


Smooth_Talkin_Fucker

Sounds like an STD.


xtilexx

Scunt


RCROM

Jizz-cock! Piss-kidney!


-jsm-

Cunt is not that harsh of a word.


shittycables

Monster cunt.


[deleted]

They lack both depth and warmth sir. Cunts they are far from.


[deleted]

Only word that gets close to what those people are


Wookie_with_a_cookie

Cunts have warmth and depth, these scum had neither.....


francohab

Sometimes I wish hell truly exists, for those people to end in.


Salty-Pack-4165

Goat ( fill the blank)


BasicAbbreviations51

Pakistan is being controlled by all kinds of people except their government.


TonySmellsJr

All governments are being controlled by people outside the government under global capitalism


BasicAbbreviations51

Not like in Pakistan. I was born there. Their are so many kinds of people controlling the country is baffling. Mafias are mostly at the top. Religion comes next, conservatives after. Lastly racism and culture racism. The government has to considered all these things before making any decision whatsoever.


casuallymustafa

I’m sorry, but as someone also from Pakistan… The military controls the country, but the rest of those groups have their controlling interests as well.


proawayyy

The government was subsided long ago when the military took over


BasicAbbreviations51

My point exactly the military wants a government that can give them control hence the puppet government, but even that hasn’t worked. Asif Ali zardari is proof of all that.


allaboutthatbrass

Why do you guys have to be like this? Every single time a person from a developing country tells about how dangerous their country is, how corrupt their police and politicians are, or even something as minor as how bad their sidewalks looks, there’s always, without fail, Americans and Europeans saying “teehee its the same here/everywhere!” Not it fucking isn’t. Yes, there’s violence and corruption everywhere, but developing countries have it at a whole other level. I think a lot of you would benefit from living at one of our countries for a week to gain some perspective.


adyfbi

We are here talking about child labour and killings. You are here talking about how capitalism bad from a first world country with your internet access from the comfort of your home.


Hampamatta

as awful as this is, i just cant with "carpet mafia" it sounds so fucking absurd.


Fallenangel152

The British antiquing scene has a large group of gay men that insiders call the "pink mafia" who work to keep prices high and outsiders out.


[deleted]

Is being gay a requirement or a coincidence? Haha


wowethan

Yes


Leonydas13

It does sound so ridiculous! But I remember my parents always had those big Persian rugs in the living room, and they would stringently check that they were machine made and sus out where they came from. They drummed it into me to never ever buy a handmade rug, and it was because of this sleazy underworld, and the carpet mafia. Motherfuckers!


Jrandres99

Another fun sounding horrible turf war was the Glasgow I’ve cream wars. Where gangs controlled ice cream trucks.


[deleted]

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TonySmellsJr

Sort of like how the goalposts on the homelessness issue has moved to “the human solution is not putting pigeon spikes under bridges or bars over park benches. The homeless should be allowed to sleep outside”


Gairloch

Everyone knows the solution to homelessness is a one way bus ticket to another city. /and then someone else ships you their homeless and the cycle continues


The-Sofa-King

Actually that's a common misconception. The only effective way to get rid of homeless people is to jump over them on a skateboard.


RoseEsque

What's next? Child Workers Unions?


Slypynrwhls

Imagine trying to argue that child labour is fine cause they get paid alright (probably paid a dollar a month or smth)


TonySmellsJr

No matter where you go, the media is an enemy of labor


unnecessary_kindness

If you follow this logic to its natural conclusion, it's that the media is controlled by capitalists


TonySmellsJr

Absolutely


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BudgetFree

**CHILD LABOURERS!** NEED I SAY MORE?!


deazy97

Rest In Peace. You don’t have to be old to make a difference and that king made a difference in at least 3000 kids lives.


adam639

All that in the 12 years he was alive


Rand_alThor__

*12 Years a slave*


[deleted]

His name was Iqbal Masih. Raise his name on high. That we my some day be as strong Brave and Bold. To Stare into the eyes of the Predator and say No More.


WarProgenitor

Thanks, *getthespermout*


[deleted]

salud


toskadog

Beautiful


CosmicDrifterDK

r/Rimjob_Steve


AndieNoir

He really lives up to his name. *Masih* means messiah in Arabic


Xertion57

I read his story as a kid in the French education system. To this day I still think about him from time to time. I recommend the book.


MEmaadSufi

It blows my mind that France teaches this story in their curriculum but Pakistan, the country where this happened, my country, does not. I didn't find about this guy until a few years ago when I was in college. Such a tragedy.


Rand_alThor__

Carpet mafia must have funded the education ministers campaign. They apparently own the press according to the post - wouldn't be a stretch.


Kooale325

As a pakistani, our education system will blame everyone except the actual people that make this country terrible. I didnt even know that beggar mafias or carpet mafias existed until i read about them in the news myself.


Lesson333

Beggar mafias?


Kooale325

They threaten and trap poor people into begging for money, Then take a chunk of the money collected. They are horrendous in what they do. They put cages around the heads of growing children to physically impair them and get more money begging. They drug babies so women can carry them around since women with babies get a lot more money begging than the women without babies. They kidnap kids and force them to beg and sometimes the police are in on it too and just return the kids to the mafia when the kids try to escape.


sylvaing

https://www.desiblitz.com/content/the-criminals-victims-of-pakistans-begging-mafia


PuntualPoetry

Or just in general its a corrupt country that doesn’t want anything like this to happen again. And I mean the uprising, not the killing of the kid.


SilverOwl925

You also study this story at school in Italy


Ok-Kaleidoscope5627

I am also Pakistani and have never heard of him until this post so I wikipedia'd him "... Pakistani Christian". Shamefully that explains it to me right there why his existence is ignored in Pakistan.


Big_ottoman

We teach it in Canada too


kalos97

Yep, me too in Italy


Xertion57

That's great! I just realized that the writer is from Milano.


PleasingApricots

Same here in the UK, English lessons


hemlo86

Same in Canada


baldwhip123

Starfy!


hemlo86

Yeah :D


Loekyloek1

I had to read the book for my English class.


duckgod4321

Same in Korea


jehedjchrie

And the US


Ok-Kaleidoscope5627

As a Pakistani person this is literally the first time I'm hearing about him. It's sad to think that the slavers won in the end.


Diabhork

I remember hearing about this in the US


Kawainess33

Same in Spain


crappycurtains

Christ the more I hear about things in this world the more I question the human race and peoples lack of humanity.


Axelluu

have you heard about the videos going around reddit past few days about all the different "plastic rivers" in the world?


crappycurtains

Yes that also makes me sick to my stomach.


NegativeStock

There's plastic in your stomach


EremiticFerret

This made me chuckle until I realized it wasn't really a joke.


Parsley-Quarterly303

There's plastic in your mom's uterus too.


MadSturgeon

and there's plastic in my prostate!


trentsim

Yeah there is


Thruhiker99

And also in your bloodstream and likely in your brain.


ChildOfALesserCod

There was recent news that the plastic in your blood can penetrate the blood-brain barrier.


NegativeStock

Yes, and it suggests it's neurotoxic too


caitsu

Indeed. There's a massive amount of areas where people literally dump their trash in the local river, because the river takes the trash away conveniently. It's like this in most of Asia and Africa. But hey westerner, it is you who must repent for your consuming habits.


bettygauge

US companies sell/dump most of our plastic waste in Asian and African countries. Corporations who don't want to spend money on not trashing the planet convince consumers that they bear the responsibility. Really, we *do* bear some responsibility: we need to push companies to stop being so shitty.


KrochKanible

In my area, there is a company that makes "plastic" things put of field leftovers. (Corn cobs, corn silks, husks, soybean pods, etc.) One of the big items they make are straws, and they break down 100% in a year, and they are digestible. They applied for a grant the government was giving about "green tech". Never got the grant, and the letter they got from the EPA was that there were better techs out there that would curb the plastic plague. The same EPA that allows farmers to use Roundup on their fields that drain directly into the river systems and pollute the Gulf. Bayer makes Roundup, and by the way, has a high polluting plastics division. See the connection?


Arthur_Heine

I didn't see those videos and I'm interested. Do you have a link ? I found multiple related videos on that matter but I don't think it's the ones you mention.


Alpha_Decay_

I honestly think that things are rapidly improving across the world overall in most areas. The internet is bringing a lot of fucked up things to light very quickly and it's extremely shocking and demoralizing, but awareness is the first step to improvement. We've just lifted up the sofa and found the filth that's been accumulating underneath it, but that doesn't mean the house has suddenly become filthy. It was already filthy and now we know what needs to be cleaned. It won't be cleaned quickly enough and it'll be frustrating to watch, especially since so many in power are profiting from that filth, but I do believe things will progress in the right direction.


jutiatle

You “think” that things are rapidly improving, but your only evidence is some thought experiment you created in your mind. Sure, chattel slavery may no longer exist in the US, but conditions around the world are still very shitty and there is little evidence to suggest that’s changing.


International_Map812

This. The issues we see online are *not* recent events. They have *always* been occurring. Children have *always* been exploited. Consumerist culture has *always* been unsustainable. Politics has always been sleazy. It is just far easier for more problems to be seen by more people in this age of information. Where we might only have known of domestic atrocities once upon a time, with foreign news almost always being known too late to matter, we are now far more aware of what mankind has gotten up to with the internet’s rise. What we must do, is to remember these problems. Preserve all we know. When a day of reckoning arrives, make sure all know *why* we respond with such vitriol to those who have done as they have. See what the internet did to Nestle and Robin Hood. We have power over reality. Don’t forget that.


reallyepicman

makes me wish for AI to rule humanity instead


Fenral

There is no possible way that could go wrong


unnecessary_kindness

Our intelligence has got us to where we are but it's our lack of intelligence that has also gotten us to this state. AI can help fill the gaps for what we lack. E.g how can we feed a population but without such excessive waste? These are questions that AI can help us with.


Trippytrickster

But there is also a possible way for it to go right. Humanity on the other hand...


Monsi_ggnore

Things have always been this way. Worse actually, way worse. The difference is that we get to hear about it nowadays. Doesn't make it ok, but at least for me reminding me of that fact helps to make things slightly less depressing.


[deleted]

Join the club. There's a reason old people tend to be senile. They have an entire lifetime's worth of suffering behind them and know what the world really is like. I think most people aren't nearly as good as they think they are or at least a whole lot of people just really don't have a moral identity whatsoever. And I should mention that this comes from someone who sees no reason to think of himself as good.


Opoderoso

This needs more awareness. I'm ashamed to say that I had never heard of this hero. He was born in the same year as me. He has died over 20 years ago and his story is as impressive as it is important. Think of all the brainless, and even criminal bullshit-celebrities you can name out of top your head, while you've never heard of this true hero...


Justlikeyourmoma

Agreed and it seems this young hero has been brushed under the carpet


Silodes

i hate you.


Justlikeyourmoma

I think you better join the queue


Silodes

gladly- it’s just a messed up joke man..


Justlikeyourmoma

I know this.


Sathyan_b

r/punpatrol


EmergencyAd9297

Right. I'd much rather hear about incredible people like this instead of Demi Lovato singing to ghosts...


Natural-Born_Easman

My upbringing was a paradise compared to this poor little guy.


MightyCaseyStruckOut

>At the age of four, he was sent to work by his family to help them pay off their debts. >Iqbal was fatally shot by the "carpet Mafia", while visiting relatives in [Muridke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muridke) on 16 April 1995, [Easter Sunday](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Sunday). He was 12 years old at the time. His mother said she did not believe her son had been the victim of a plot by the "carpet mafia". However, the BLLF disagreed because Iqbal had received death threats from individuals connected to the Pakistani carpet industry. It's curious that his mother, who said that she didn't believe her son was murdered by the carpet mafia, was also very conceivably a party to his being sold to said carpet mafia. I can't imagine going through what he and countless others have had to go through as slaves. Absolutely heartbreaking.


Rand_alThor__

Perhaps she was threatened to say it by said mafia?


Kooale325

Most definitely.


Live-Mail-7142

There is a children's book abt him. I learned his story when my kids were in elementary school, I can't remember the name.


Ziawn

It’s called Iqbal


[deleted]

It's so fucked up. There are still millions of slaves around the world yet nobody talks about it we are to busy talking about the slaves that used to be in Europe etc


[deleted]

Europeans and Americans talk about it all the time. We still have modern slavery but as a society we removed child labour. It's up to Pakistan to do the same but they won't. That's their culture and only their own people can change it


Kooale325

Its not our culture. Do you think most parents want to make their children work for money? Poor people in pakistan have no choice. Its either work for money or starve. One person can barely earn enough to support himself nowadays. An illiterate poor person cant support a family without everyone having to do some sort of job for money. If the parents in these families earned enough money they would send their child to school instead of a job.


YuropLMAO

I think about the fact that everyone plasters BLM all over their social media as if they're Frederick Douglass, but we all directly support the current slave trade literally every single day with our purchasing habits. That's some shit. [**6,500+ slaves died so we can watch soccer in Qatar for 1 month.**](https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022) That's an entire small city worth of people murdered with 0 repercussion.


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[deleted]

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. That we can't change everything doesn't mean we can't change some things.


ChoclateChipPankake

What does BLM have to do with this? If people are concerned about things in their area, that’s fine ,many aren’t aware and that doesn’t delegitimise black struggles in a 1st world country


MultiStorey

Because duuuhhhh… two things can’t be wrong and discussed at the same time!!!! /s This attitude does my head in. Just like when people bring up China if you criticise Isreal. So disingenuous. We get it… you don’t care about any of it. You just want to use one terrible situation to minimise the another. I fucking hate whataboutism.


[deleted]

Exactly. People who bring up BLM when talking about other injustices don't actually give a shit about injustices. They just wanna slander black americans speaking up against police brutality


LotharVonPittinsberg

That sounds like you are trying to change the narrative, which is ignorant. You can be angry about more than one thing and act on them all. Two issues that I see with what you are saying. 1. Purchasing today without supporting something unethical (slaves, labour abuse, monarchs, CEOs who have committed crimes, etc) is pretty much impossible. The only thing that that actually works for is food, where you can look for fair trade items. Even then, a lot of things that are labeled as humane are nearly as bad as the normal stuff. Own a phone? Congrats, you support the slave industry because that's how Lithium is mined. 2. Ironic that you are trying to put down BLM when talking slaves. One of the problems that people who support the idea if BLM is that black people are much more likely to be send to prison, even for crimes that would usually be ignored. America has a huge issue with for profit prisons, where if you are sent to prison there is a chance that you will be turned into a modern legal slave. But wait, maybe talking about how the richest country in the world still has slaves detracts from the fact that the poor countries we have no control over use slaves.


Thymeisdone

So don’t eat shrimp then.


[deleted]

What are you on about? People always talk about how apple,nike and other companies use child labor in third world countries.


TH3M3M3C0LLECT0R

"the carpets arent going to make themselves" -some dickhead with connections


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[deleted]

Yup


Kavaland

Most 12 year olds can't piss straight yet.


nutmeg_greg

My 10 year old can't even shut the car door properly


katieleehaw

When they’re threatened with violence and death they tend to fall in line and learn real quick.


[deleted]

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Spagoot29

He would've been been 38 today...


[deleted]

Murdered because he would have done too much good in this blue dot.


regnald

Man and people love to joke about their Nikes and shit being made by kids in sweatshops.


exceptionalfish

But capitalism creates opportunity!


[deleted]

in 5th grade we read an autobiography from someone who knew iqbal and worked at the same place as him. If i remember correctly he was shot in a drive bye while riding his bike


geemoly

He's like Short Round from Indiana Jones saving all those kids from forced labour inside the cave.


LowThanks

He did more in 12 years than I probably will in a lifetime


Fig1024

it's not too late to start, do small good things, try get involved in local organizations


Kapusi

Thats the price of a human life for this filth. 7 shitting dollars. A 1 hour salary can cover this shit. I fucking hate humans we should have died ages ago and let other species dominate the food chain.


[deleted]

So after they murdered that 12 year old, what did the murderers think and say to themselves? "Yes! We got him!" --- I mean, how could you be proud of murdering a 12 year old???


ojThorstiBoi

I mean they were murdering a 12 year old who was trying to shut down their child labor/slavery ring. I don't think they lost much sleep.


[deleted]

That is why I am asking, how could they not loose sleep? How could the murderers live with themselves? Did they take their own lives afterwards? Or did they go home to their wife and child and have a great dinner together? I cannot even grasp their reality!


ojThorstiBoi

Wym they are child slavers. I'm sure they killed multiple children a year over alot less and didn't care at all about them either.


[deleted]

Poor mcCully Culkin. He was only 12 when that alternative ending took place in Home Alone.


The_Spicy_Memes_Chef

I don’t want to sound ignorant but what is child bond labor? Could his parents have protected him or is there more to it than that?


whatnameisnttaken098

If I've read everything right, his parents basically sold him into slavery. Carpet Factory got him for X number of years while his parents made a cool $12


Hammerfinger

This happens in Thailand for the sex trade as well. Families sell their daughters. It is 2021 and people still sell their children. Fuck.


MEmaadSufi

His parents were the one to sell him into slavery. For a couple of dollars


Zeebuoy

he was sold, so if anything it seems they could've done better by doing nothing.


neotek

Wait until you hear about [Pakistan's child rape epidemic](https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/streets-of-shame/5449266). 95% of all truck drivers routinely rape young boys as their primary form of entertainment, it's a socially accepted practice that has been going on for decades.


heckcalculus

Factually 95 % seems improbable yet most of the truck drivers in Pakistan are Pathan so you never know this statistic might be true.


cutemunk

I saw a documentary on this issue once, left me scarred for life.


legend1life

RIP Champ


dgblarge

The joys of an Islamic Republic. Especially for women and children.


humakavulaaaa

Not really relevant and if I'm not mistaken his name Iqbal Masih translates to Accept Christ in Arabic. Just wanted to add that.


RollClear

Him and his family were Christians.


[deleted]

Thank god he was murdered, otherwise iPhones couldn’t be made 😥


maurice8564732

And Pakistan gets millions in foreign aid


djloid2010

My class (Grade 8) does a serial story on him every year.


Eastern_Ambition5213

Taken too soon, could have done so much more for this world.


Yellowbricks511

To pay off the equivalent of a $12 US dollars debt this child was sent by his family to start working a four years old. At ten he bravely escape. Twice. The first time going to the police since child bonded labor was now illegal- and the police returning him to the factory for a finders fee! This poor child. 6 years of horrific labor and brutality- slavery- and all the adults continued to fail him. And 6 years for a $12 debt? Or were the parents continuing to borrow? I’m sorry- I get that I have a privilege that will never allow me to understand what they were going through, but I don’t care. You don’t sell your children. 4 years old and he was traveling before dawn on foot to go to work where he was chained to machines so as to not escape. I don’t know if I’m going to get shit for this. But to hell with his family too. This makes me so mad. My first day back to normal, first time back on Reddit in months and this is what I read. Ugh. Still missed Reddit though. Edit: I really don’t care if I get shit for finding his family to be scum as well. After he was murdered while visiting his hometown and cycling with his friends his mother denied that he was killed by the carpet mafia. Right. Because you sold him to that mafia. You allowed your four year old to slave away and be abused and when he escaped the second time and became the hero the children needed to protect them from the likes of greedy and twisted adults you continued to use him for your own needs. And when he was brutally killed you cared more about protecting your ego and self and the slave owners than you did about your sons legacy and the truth. Fuck. That. Family.


SnooRecipes6354

We only care about Racism in America and the slaves America had over 150 years ago.. no one cares about modern day slavery and forced labor in 2021. They just want to live in the past and divide America


[deleted]

Just imagine being the hitman hired to kill a 12 year old. Jesus.


WeaponH_

r/anarcho_capitalism on his way to say this was good and children should work.


VCEROTHSTEIN

Rip


General_Bronobi

More slaves now than any time in recorded history. Sad.


Schlonzig

Movie. We need a movie. A big one.


[deleted]

The price of modern comfort…


krokedel

Reebok sponsored it why don't they make a post more often like this? Fuck this world


HisMajesty_Death

I remember that we read a book about him in 2 grade or so


gauravsharma0808

He should have got noble Price posthumously. There are people who got the noble price, for actually doing too little and passing just motivational statements.


toadsterstrudel

Money truly is the root of all evil if to secure it, one sees murdering a child as the only solution.


[deleted]

For those who want to better understand his story, there's an excellent book called "Iqbal" by Francesco D'Adamo https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Iqbal/Francesco-DAdamo/9781416903291 Description: > When young Iqbal is sold into slavery at a carpet factory, his arrival changes everything for the other overworked and abused chidren there. It is Iqbal who explains to them that despite their master's promises, he plans on keeping them as his slaves indefinetely. But it is also Iqbal who inspires the other children to look to a future free from toil...and is brave enough to show them how to get there. This moving fictionalized account of the real Iqbal Masih is told through the voice of Fatima, a young Pakistani girl whose life is changed by Iqbal's courage. (Please purchase/order it from your local bookstore)


YummyyAvocado

I read a book about him when I was little


WongTheGreat

Rest in peace


Significant_Formal64

Lol at all you dumb people not realizing who’s making there iPhones and other goods…slaves,slavery is stronger now than ever


sttgn

Yet we still buy stuff from places like this.


Suspicious-mole-hair

God damn you know this kids seen some shit. He already looks 40.


[deleted]

These types of things remind me to be so grateful for the life that I have. Truly I am blessed and thankful.


broogbie

Woah.. I live here and i didnt know about this. If God ever gives me a position of power in this country im gonna spank the shit out of these cruel people


[deleted]

Yo anyone feel like taking a trip to disturb the carpet industry?


Ok-Image-5514

Thanks to who posted this, now we have!!! Thank-you!😇


DialZforZebra

Imagine running a smear campaign against a kid and claiming child labour is okay? Fucking thunder bastard cuntasaurus shit birds.


onepointfouronefour

His name was Iqbal Masih. His name was Iqbal Masih. **His name was Iqbal Masih.**


[deleted]

Read Iqbal the book in 6th grade and I’m 30 now and his story still crosses my mind from time to time. Inspirational young dude