Demonstrators gathered across Oxford last Saturday in solidarity with the global A21 campaign against human trafficking.
The group, comprising of more than 50 people and seen protesting across the town centre, was diverse in composition, from newly matriculated freshers to senior citizens.
The demonstrators convened just before midday and marched into the city centre via Cornmarket Street, holding a silent protest outside the Radcliffe Camera. Members and affiliated supporters of the A21 campaign, which raises awareness to fight human trafficking, were easily recognisable.
The march was one of more than 200 taking place across 28 countries for the A21 movement. Participants made a point of remaining silent and could be seen wearing duct tape over their mouths, dressed in dark clothes.
According to the A21 website, the chosen dress was intended to raise awareness of the issue of human trafficking in the public consciousness, alluding to trafficking victims’ inability to express their distress.
The demonstrators took action as part of an initiative led by Oxford Brookes social work student Natalie Barcena. Speaking to the Oxford Mail, Barcena said, “Human trafficking isn’t just about being smuggled across borders – there are a few high-profile cases here in Oxfordshire.
“Operation Bullfinch [in which seven men from Oxfordshire were jailed for grooming and sexually abusing young girls] is one example: trafficking is being exploited to do things you don’t want to do.
“There is a huge element of coercing and deception – it’s the same with people being trafficked into the UK: they are promised jobs and then told they owe the traffickers something.”
Tom Bain, a third-year English student at St Catherine’s, told Cherwell, “At first I wasn’t sure what the protest was against, though it was very striking.
“The sight of a single line of people marching silently through the centre of a city as busy as Oxford, all in black and with duct tape over their mouths, is bound to turn heads. In front and behind the protest line were activists handing out flyers, and it looked as though a lot of people were taking them.
“I think it’s a good way to raise awareness of a cause that doesn’t get talked about very much in the public sphere; the idea of a silent protest to draw attention to this seems very apt.”
When asked why he thought there was a lack of acknowledgement of modern slavery, Bain added, “I think a lot of the time people tend to associate slavery with the past, with colonialism and racism. “Whilst the effects of these issues are still felt across the world, the issue of modern slavery is evidently still a huge one too.”
