A controversial but valid view of eighteenth century slavery.

Last week saw the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British Slave Trade and with it came a rush of politicians anxious to "apologise" for the part our nation played in this crime against humanity.

Don’t politicians make you puke?

The scramble to "apologise" for the iniquities of the slave trade last week was, predictably, led by Mayor of London Ken "King Kenute" Livingstone who has moved on from trying to turn back the tide of climate change with hollow gestures and is now looking to turn back the anti - Ken tide in the forthcoming elections and attract votes. I am sure King Kenute’s hollow gesture will go down with the Black community leaders whose support he is courting but in reality it is just another shabby and cynical ploy in a catalogue of sleaze.

Can an apology for a wrong one has no part in, made to people who were not personally wronged mean anything at all? We cannot apologise for the past, only for our own acts.

We do not "owe an apology" to our British Black community because that is a generalisation which includes many people who came to Britain of their own free will, to make careers and give their families the real or perceived advantages of living in a wealthy western democracy. Until the 1950s Britain did not have a "Black" community in the sense that America has. We owe our apologies maybe to the families of several young men, among them Damilola Taylor and Anthony Walker, who died because our shallow and self serving politicians were too busy spinning the truth to give their attention to mere details like the problems faced by minorities in inner cities.

Ten year old Damilola, whose family arrived from Africa in 1999 was murdered in London in 2002 by two gang members. Attempts to brand his murder as racist in order to make political capital from it were frustrated when his murderers were found to be black themselves though they are third generation English.
Anthony Walker who had an  ice axe driven into his skull in Liverpool was the victim of what was truly a racist murder. He had annoyed a group of racist thugs by dating a white girl. Even so, had police patrols not been wiuthdrawn from the streets in pursuit of "economies" the gang of self confessed racists who killed Anthony may not have been terrorising the neighbourhood so freely. There had been racial tensions for years in the area but police and smug, complacent local politicians had glossed over the problem as they do with all delicate issues.

Most British people recognise that owe to all people who come to live in our nation having applied though the proper channels, respect for their humanity and equality in employment opportunity, education, welfare and matters of law. To those who enter illegally we owe respect for their humanity and dignity and to those brought here from Africa, the Far East and Eastern Europe whose status is no different to slaves we owe the protection of a nation that claims civilised values.

But as for the African slave trade, ended 200 years ago, well everybody knows it was a crime against humanity but there have been many crimes against humanity, who can realistically apologise for them all, and on whose behalf?

I know for a fact my ancestors were not directly involved. The Thorpe's were gentleman farmers who lost their lands because they supported the wrong side when Bonnie Prince Charlie tried to seize the throne* and the Redferns were Yorkshire wool merchants.

There was a kind of slavery going on during the early part of the Industrial Revolution though, that both families would have been marginally involved in. It was a kind of slavery that saw thousands of poor British people dispossessed and forcibly evicted from their homes to live in degrading conditions and work at demeaning jobs for poverty line wages, denied the freedom to change employers or try to better themselves. This particular injustice was responsible for widespread misery and suffering and directly brought about the astronomical infant mortality rate in the industrial towns during the nineteenth century.

We do not hear of politicians falling over themselves to apologise to the descendants of the British peasantry for the wrongs perpetrated under The Enclosures Act. I wonder is this because there are no votes or photo - opportunities in it?

We should remember the victims of the slavers, we should remember the victims of the nineteenth century land - grabbers and of the great depression of the twentieth century. And we should respect their memory by ensuring that we never go there again, that we never allow financial interest cloaked in a robe of bogus morality to hijack our view of what is right or wrong. Which means we need to make a pretty sharp about turn right now.

*The Thorpes later regained prosperity by getting themselves involved in smuggling brandy, wine and tobacco on the North Yorkshire coast around Robin Hood’s Bay - I’m rather proud of that.

Read an article by Shaz the Prole on the injustices of the Industrial Revolution in her native Scotland