EU and Slavery...

[empip]

...For connoisseurs of irony, tomorrow will be a busy day. In Berlin politicians will gather to toast the glories of Europe on the 50th birthday of the EU. Meanwhile in Britain the focus is on the 200th anniversary of Wilberforce's great Act of Parliament that set in motion the abolition of slavery in the British Empire (though it took another 25 years for reality to match rhetoric).

You don't have to be a rabid Marxist to make a wry link between the two coinciding anniversaries. To a large extent - an extent yet to be fully acknowledged - Europe's historic power, stupendous wealth and dazzling artistic achievements were based on its citizens' remarkable talent for exploiting, enslaving and murdering the rest of humanity...

Much questioning down Bristol way - "Should we apologise?" - Strange that, the descendants of those who made the brass would be easy to find, but rightly cannot be held responsible. Researchers posed the question to me, I guessed most ordinary folk hereabouts were treated pretty badly by the same bunch responsible for the enslavement.. Apology? Ask the buggers who inherited the dosh and real estate ... Probably having the old inheritance invested in present day slavery anyhow.

 

[Richardp]

I thought that Bristol already did that last year, even commented on it somewhere on here?
anyway! them ''buggers who inherited the dosh and real estate'' are now being funded by the national trust (our money)to look around the family estate, and still they complain about all them common tourists invading their privacey wot wot

 

[JohnD]

"Europe's historic power, stupendous wealth and dazzling artistic achievements were based on its citizens' remarkable talent for exploiting, enslaving and murdering the rest of humanity..."

Only Europe?

Surely not.

 

[empip]

Yep, the media was / is on the case ever since last year !
Twas uplifting to hear the several Afro-Caribbean peeps were asked, on West news, for their opinion - virtually to a man, "Forget about it - move on" ... I feel sorry for the kids having this stuff in their faces all the time .. but then the media will soon move on.

Even old Tone struggled through the missuses gold ,silver, diamonds and trinkets to offer a typical WDM style apology ---

I have read, that when parliament abolished slavery, the traders were compensated to the tune of £0.75 billion in todays money !! Taxpayers dosh - some things never change.

...Some people involved in the anti-slave trade campaign argued that the only way to end the slave trade entirely was to make slavery illegal. A new Anti-Slavery Society was formed in 1823, with members including Thomas Clarkson, Henry Brougham, William Wilberforce, Thomas Fowell Buxton, Elizabeth Heyrick, Mary Lloyd, Jane Smeal, Elizabeth Pease, and Anne Knight.
They prevailed ten years later with the Slavery Abolition Act. To mollify slave owners, the British government paid compensation to owners of freed slaves, depending on the number of slaves that they had. For example, the Bishop of Exeter's 665 slaves resulted in him receiving £12,700...

In 1833 FFS that was doshomundo !!
£401,938.42 in todays money according to http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/scol/calcoluh.htm At just approx 2% per annum for 174 yrs.

...Apologies on behalf of African nations, for their role in trading their countrymen into slavery, also remains an open issue, too uncomfortable and politically inconvenient to address...

Black and white it aint ....... A whiter shade of grey perhaps...

 

[empip]

"Europe's historic power, stupendous wealth and dazzling artistic achievements were based on its citizens' remarkable talent for exploiting, enslaving and murdering the rest of humanity..."

Only Europe?

Surely not.

Did he say 'only Europe?'

He actually said this ... If you read the piece that is.
Opening sentence third para..

Yes, I know that slavery was never an evil inflicted exclusively by Europeans.

 

[empip]

Please do not ask me to apologise or think of using my taxes in any kind of reparation .....
There is, if deemed necessary, a solution, not simple and not easy ..

DAVID LASCELLES, DESCENDANT OF SLAVE OWNER

David Lascelles is the eldest son of the 7th Earl of Harewood and his ancestor was 18th Century slave owner Henry Lascelles (1690-1753), who owned plantations in Barbados.
Alongside his professional career as a film producer, David is the owner and director of the Harewood Estate in Yorkshire which was built in the mid-18th Century with money made from the sugar and slave trade.

His view ....
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/6477087.stm

 

[rommy]

I don't think this generation have to apololgise to the black folks for the terrible trade in slavery.But it is good to mark the 200 years since it was abolished. How far back do we have to go?Do Brits get an apology from the Italians for the slaves they took?Of course not.It is history.As long as we learn from it,that is the important thing.

 

[Richardp]

Well I agree with you rommy,and its all so patronising but I think that David Lascelles fella and his likes should say sorry for exploiting us peasants over the years.

 

[Thermo]

do we get a thanks as well since it was britain that smashed the remaining slave trade fortresses run by other countries?

 

[mix]

The whole question of the slave trade and apologies can not be seen in black & white terms....literally.
Abhorrent though it was, and is, the blame can not be laid in the lap of the whites alone. There were many African black slaves traded from others in the African black community. Slavery was a way of life and to a much lesser extent is still practised in rural African communities. Slaves are often considered one of the family who work for their keep on a permanent basis. There were Arab slave traders also. Many slaves who were transported were treated in a fair and paternal way, they had to be, they were a costly and valuable asset.
What is most shaming in my view is the the slaves who were taken by force against their will and those treated with little or no respect and experienced abject cruelty, a slur on humanity by humanity.
So who apologises to whom and for what exactly is a heavy question.
Sorry if this has upset anyone, it was not intended.

 

[Moz]

*the slaves who were taken by force against their will *
lol...lol...
I guess thats 100% then or do you think they wanted to be shipped from Africa ?

 

[empip]

The people who did the deeds most likely did bad things to their own countrymen.. and how !

Compensation was paid by all our ancestors (those who were here in the mid 1800's ) their taxes were used by HMG to pay out some £20 million (then) to the traders.
It is true that most of the enslaved were already held in slavery by their own kind.
If it is right for apologies and/or compensation, then chase the descendants of traders and users (see if that feels palatable) but do not ask me for apologies or dosh...

Put it down to the evolution of man or something like that.

Iraq campaign is not right, condemned as wrong by many today.. but it is happening here and now... Better place that under - the descent of man.

 

[joe-90]

In many cases slaves would have starved if they had had their freedom. OK their owners could sell them if they wanted to - but so what? Football managers can sell their players too.

 

[tim west]

You have to feel sorry for footballers all that hard work they have to do for a handful of pennies.