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So November...
Another possibly (probably?) controversial ‘musing’ on my part, sparked by something in the recent news. Feel free to leave comments below, but any rudeness or nastiness will be composted. ‘Free Speech’, Mr Musk and Mr Trump, is all very well, but it doesn’t mean blatant nastiness, outright misogyny or abusive racism. If you want to write that sort of thing join the above two not-very-nice men on the rapidly degenerating XTwatter. [sic]
Slavery.
The recent get-together of various world leaders and VIPs in Samoa has sparked a renewal of an
ongoing heady debate.
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| © CC BY-SA 2.5 Wikipedia Image |
(I admit here, I had to GoogleMap for where Samoa is... somewhere in the Pacific between Australia and South America.)
To quote King Charles III "We cannot change the past."
I’m not going to get into the rights or wrongs of slavery – let’s face it, there ARE no ‘rights’, end of, but I’m a solid believer in what happened in the past is not the present’s full responsibility. I’m not comfortable with slavery, but nor am I comfortable with toppling statues, or renaming academic wings, buildings, colleges or whatever because their founder made his (usually his) money because of slavery, sugar, cotton or tobacco plantations etc.
I agree, maybe some statues would be better off in a museum rather on a
public street, BUT that public street probably only exists because of
that person’s original financial input. Frankly, if a building or wing – or street
– needs to have its name removed then maybe the entire thing ought to be
pulled down? But to what point? Obliteration is not going to undo the slave
trade, it isn’t going to do anything to help those thousands who suffered several
hundred years ago is it?
I would far rather have information, keep the statue, the academic wing, museum or whatever but have a proper plaque or information booklet giving the facts: “X did blah blah blah, founded blah blah but also made his money from blah blah blah.” And maybe, rededicate these buildings to the slaves themselves? Maybe we need more statues to commemorate the slaves and those who tried to help them? Memorials funded by the government and those who made money from slavery (the Church as example) not public subscription.
Listening to Radio 4 this morning (Saturday 26th October) there was talk that the Government should pay compensation. Sorry No. It's not the government it's us, the taxpayer who will pay. (Which will include our black communities who came to the UK from the Caribbean and who are the descendants of slaves. Why should they pay!?) The reason being sited, and I do find this appalling, it was the government, way back when slavery was abolished, who arranged for the slave owners to be compensated for their 'loss of property.' I can see the logic in that - without compensation slavery would have continued. But, the slaves got nothing, except more misery and poverty. Those who should pay are the ones who made their money from the slave trade. They know who they are. Tax them, not us. Maybe some form of ethical voluntary recompense collected to be of benefit for the people, in the form of schools, hospitals, medical research and such. A scheme where good can come from the mistakes of the past.
I do not know the full story of my paternal ancestors beyond names and dates going back to the mid-1700s, all I know is that one set of great, great (x ? number) were resident in Bristol, England. No idea who they were, what they did, how well off – or not – they were, but Bristol in the 1700s was a large – and I mean large – slave trade port, so you can bet my ancestors were involved one way or another. Am I to be held to blame? We do need to do something, but we also need to stop this Blame Game. I'm white, I'm British, but I was not responsible for the slavery of the 16-1800s.
I would assume that the majority of sane people today find the horrors of the Black Slave Trade utterly repugnant – but there is still human trafficking, usually for the sex trade, or those poor migrants trying desperately to seek a new, better life by risking everything to cross the Med, the Channel or the Gulf Of Mexico, are little better off than those original African slaves because of the ruthless greed of the traffickers who are making millions of £ and $ out of the vulnerable.
All this talk of money ($trillions) which should be paid back by the UK to the Caribbean... it wasn’t just Britain responsible for slavery. Why isn’t Christopher Columbus being condemned? Are his statues being pulled down? Is the US being asked to pay up? Georgis, Virginia, Florida, the Carolinas ... all made their money because of slavery, well after America was independent of Britain and are where they are now because of it.
And how far do we go back? I am of Celtic ‘stock’. Maybe Rome should pay recompense for the Romans enslaving many of my ancestors. (And pay up to many other countries too – look how Rome decimated what is now Germany! (Watch the movie Gladiator for a rough idea!) The quote from that film is quite apt: “What we do in life, echoes in eternity” A pity people of the past – and we ourselves – do not heed this more often. (Putin? Are you listening?)
Who is going to be responsible for the thousands of forcibly indentured white slaves from England, Ireland and Scotland (I assume Wales as well,) during Cromwell’s ‘reign’?
Try these novels:
Barbados 1652. In the aftermath of the English Civil War, the vanquished
are uprooted and scattered to the ends of the earth. When marauding English
soldiers descend on Mairead O'Coneill's family farm, she is sold into
indentured servitude. After surviving a harrowing voyage, the young Irish woman
is auctioned off to a Barbados sugar plantation where she is thrust into a
hostile world of depravation and heartbreak.
Or
Matthew Graham committed the mistake of his life when he cut off his brother’s nose. In revenge, Luke Graham has Matthew abducted and transported to the Colony of Virginia, there to be sold as indentured labour – a death sentence more or less.
Matthew arrives in Virginia in May of 1661, and any hope he had of
finding someone willing to listen to his tale of unlawful abduction is quickly
extinguished. He also realises that no one has ever survived the seven years of
service – not on the plantation Suffolk Rose.
Morocco, Tunisia, Libya – let’s just say North Africa, you need to pay out too for all the white slaves taken by your Barbery pirates. (A subject included in my own:
 |
| (might only temporarily be available as an e-book? Thank you, Amazon ... not!) |
https://viewbook.at/OnTheAccount
Captain Jesamiah Acorne is in trouble. Again. Arrested for treason and
smuggling, believing his beloved ship Sea Witch lies wrecked on England's North
Devon Coast, his only hope of escaping the noose is for someone to quash the
charges. That someone turns out to be his ex-lover - but there is a price to
pay.
He needs to find a boy who has disappeared and a valuable casket that more than one person wants to get their hands on. When people start getting murdered and Barbary pirates kidnap his wife, Tiola, his priorities rapidly change - but who is lying about what? Is returning to piracy a wise idea? Is Tiola having an affair with her mysterious Night-Walker 'friend'?
And what about the African tribes themselves? It’s my understanding that rival tribes captured and sold their enemies into slavery in the first place.
I agree, slavery, in all forms is wrong, but many, many things from the past are also wrong. Religious persecution during the Tudor and Stuart age, the ignoring of poverty during Victoria’s reign – the Potato Famine in Ireland as example. The slaughter at Culloden, the treatment of the Aborigines ... the Dutch in South Africa (Ok, and the English)
Should Germany recompense the Jewish nation for the horror of the Holocaust? Where is my compensation for the trauma my Dad suffered from PTSD after being held a Prisoner of War in a German Stalag for several years? And consequently an unsettled childhood because of that unrecognised PTSD.
What we SHOULD be talking about is making a world-wide effort to fund and totally eliminate modern slavery and exploitation, including the enforced marriage of young African girls – which is as much slavery as it is child abuse. To fund the education people of all age-ranges about the mistakes of the past.
And to eliminate ALL forms of slavery and racism, now and for the future.
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on the Coffee Pot Book Club Blog Do main characters have to be likeable? (an article by me) |
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