Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Organ Gangs Force Poor to Sell Kidneys for Desperate Israelis

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Organ Gangs Force Poor to Sell Kidneys for Desperate Israelis

Click here to access article by Michael Smith, Daryna Krasnolutska and David Glovin from Bloomberg Markets Magazine.

Investigators on five continents say they have uncovered intertwining criminal rings run by Israelis and eastern Europeans that move people across borders -- sometimes against their will -- to sell a kidney.

“The criminal here is the middleman who profits from the sick and the poor,” says Bahat, who investigated an organ- trafficking ring in Jerusalem. “It touches my heart that people will sell part of their body because they need money to live.”

This organ market is another result of a capitalist system that creates huge gaps between rich and poor, that converts everything into a commodity to be bought, sold, rented, or otherwise exploited to enrich the lives of the already rich. For an excellent dramatization of this practice, I recommend you see the film entitled, "Dirty Pretty Things".