Monday, 26 October 2026

"Help! I'm a Prisoner in a Sardine Cannery!"

 
When I was young I loved the children's novel Help! I Am a Prisoner in a Toothpaste Factory by John Antrobus. It tells the story of a young boy who is brushing his teeth one day when he sees the message in the title marked on a line of toothpaste. This cry for help sets him off on an adventure. The novel was dramatized in the children's TV series Jackanory, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RScW_gCsGZs. Now I have found a disturbing real life example that reminded me of it. It doesn't involve toothpaste, but sardines. Customers in Egypt who recently bought cans of sardines from the Janzour company had a bit of a shock. Tucked in amongst the processed fish were pieces of cardboard with messages crudely written on them in biro. Soon afterwards other people in other countries across the Middle East and North Africa reported the same thing. These messages were written in Arabic and varied in their verbatim content, clearly being left by a number of different people; but their meaning was always the same. They were written by individuals claiming to be prisoners of the company. They had allegedly been kidnapped and incarcerated in the cannery and were being forced to work as slaves. Their captors had forbidden them to use telephones or the internet and so they were begging for help in the only way they could. Source: https://x.com/Imposter_Edits/status/1421729971798695939.
 
The Janzour company is based in Libya, a country notorious for using slave labour; at least since Muammar Gaddafi was deposed. (To be accurate he was beaten to death in the streets by a lynch mob organized by Western intelligence.) Of course the term "slave labour" is often used as a pejorative word for any unpleasant and low paid drudgery, even in my own country, the UK; but in this case the term could be applied more literally. I am already aware that Libya employs an entire sector of cheap immigrant workers, mostly from other parts of Africa, but up until now it was assumed that these people were free agents who could come and go as they pleased, and were only putting up with the appalling wages and conditions in Libya because it was comparatively better than what they could achieve at home. This is different. The workers accuse their employers of forcing them to work for them against their will and physically preventing them from leaving. How? Do they have to sleep in locked cells? Are their ankles chained up? Are there warders there with whips? You might wonder why I care, after all I am not a "refugees welcome" person; and I have called repeatedly for immigration to the UK to be stopped by any means necessary, for example see: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2026/05/third-rail-radio-programme-240.html. But this does not mean I am a monster. I do not condone the abusive treatment of migrants. I really hope these prisoners are freed at some point, but who is going to do it? Hillary Clinton? MI6? The CIA?... I wonder how much more of this kind of thing is going on in the world. Is it even happening in Wales? My interviews with Alan Tait leads me to suspect so, see: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2023/03/programme-498-podcast-alan-tait.html. Will this kind of slavery become more common around the world, even universal? It's a worrying possibility.
See here for more background about Libya: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2012/10/programme-19-podcast-david-shayler.html.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've met Britons who worked in the Libyan petrochemical industry in the 90's (under Gaddafi). They said it was the safest, cleanest and most equitable place they had ever worked bar none. A bizarre leadership style does not necessarily translate to hardship for a population and, of course, we have since learned via the Epstein revelations that the lifestyles of Western leaders are in a different league of depravity when compared to Gaddafi.

I would go so far as to say that Western intelligence facilitates mass migration into Europe. One of the three main routes across The Mediterranean into Europe (via Italy) simply did not operate when Gaddafi was in charge.

Ben Emlyn-Jones said...

Hi, Anon. Correct. It's all part of a very long-term and widespread strategy to knock down the whole world and rebuild it in their image. They almost got away with it, but now they are being exposed.

Anonymous said...

Ben these messages are entirely fake and have been doing the rounds in various formats for years as a form of engagement bait on X. Although human rights abuses do happen in Libya involving migrants these have been investigated by several human rights organisations and don't involve an SOS in a sardine can. Also to address MT if I may, one of the main facilitators of immigrant migration into Europe is Russia to destabilise Europe via migrants pushed through Africa and North into Europe by elements of the Wagner group and via Belarus from the East rather than Western intelligence. Perhaps we should be thankful for a labour government reducing net migration into the UK by 50% between 2024 and 2025 and on target to do the same in 2026 if you don't want any Immigration Ben?

Ben Emlyn-Jones said...

I'm well aware immigration has dropped since its peak with the "Boris Wave". If it turns out these messages are fake then I'll be very relieved; however I'm going to look into that as I would any other claim, and not see a nul hypothesis as something that wins by default. This is how a lot of those convinced by Capturing Bigfoot are behaving.

Anonymous said...

Africans are leaving Mali and neighouring countries, attempting to reach Europe, as a response to instability created by conflict in the area. The Wagner Group are only one party to the conflict and are not "pushing" civilians anywhere. Their military opponents are sponsored by France and the US.

Migrants are obviously attracted to those places which afford them the most generous provision. In Europe this means the West and results in a general pattern of migration from East to West. There is a build up on the Belarus/Poland border because the Poles don't allow them to cross. An argument that Russia has control over either of these factors is unconvincing.