Slavery
Posted by: JWM on 25 March 2007
25th March 2007 marks the 200th Anniversary of the “Abolition of the Slave Trade Act” 1807.
This is a just landmark rightly worth of commemoration and celebration – but we must never forget that this didn’t mark the end of slavery itself, which in many and various ways continued, and continues in many and various contemporary ways even to this very day – even in UK with our celebrated freedoms.
Not only that, this vile trade in human beings has left its pernicious legacy in more general ways – and particularly racism – engrained attitudes (conscious or sub-conscious) towards and about other people simply because of the colour of their skin, nurtured by the centuries of the triangular Transtlantic Slave Trade.
Slaves are people who are forced to work, who have no freedom, are denied their right to make choices, and who are under the control of another. They are bought, sold, exchanged, even given as gifts!
How do people become enslaved? Vulnerable people are trapped through trickery, deception, violence, threats, and coercion. Some are sold with the connivance of their families. There may not always be the chains and shackles these days, but they are traded nonetheless.
And the trade is huge. The UN estimates that the trade in human beings is worth US$10billion (£6billion) a year. The average price of a slave today is US$12,000 (£7,000) – less in real-terms than the cost of a slave in the US before the Civil War in the 1860s. It is estimated that 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders annually, and it is fast growing. Some 12 million people worldwide are enslaved.
Just a few examples...
This is, I feel, the grossest violation of individuals’ freedom, denying them their basic dignity and fundamental human rights.
So it is right that we celebrate the anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 200 years ago today. But we mustn’t get stuck in the history, and certainly the Abolitionists would not want the focus to be on them, but rather on justice for the huge number of people caught up in slavery, abuse and bond servitude today.
Remember the past, yes – but not at the expense of forgetting the present and the future.
May I draw your attention to :
Anti Slavery International
Founded in 1839 (including some of the Abolitionists amongst its first members), Anti Slavery International is the world's oldest international human rights organisation and the only charity in the United Kingdom to work exclusively against slavery and related abuses.
This website gives more detailed information about the state of slavery today, and an opportunity to sign an online petition to encourage the Government to maintain its commitment made in 2005 of combatting the worldwide Slave Trade in its contemporary forms.
(If you worry about the effectiveness of online petitions - just think about the recent one on Road Pricing...!!)
James
This is a just landmark rightly worth of commemoration and celebration – but we must never forget that this didn’t mark the end of slavery itself, which in many and various ways continued, and continues in many and various contemporary ways even to this very day – even in UK with our celebrated freedoms.
Not only that, this vile trade in human beings has left its pernicious legacy in more general ways – and particularly racism – engrained attitudes (conscious or sub-conscious) towards and about other people simply because of the colour of their skin, nurtured by the centuries of the triangular Transtlantic Slave Trade.
Slaves are people who are forced to work, who have no freedom, are denied their right to make choices, and who are under the control of another. They are bought, sold, exchanged, even given as gifts!
How do people become enslaved? Vulnerable people are trapped through trickery, deception, violence, threats, and coercion. Some are sold with the connivance of their families. There may not always be the chains and shackles these days, but they are traded nonetheless.
And the trade is huge. The UN estimates that the trade in human beings is worth US$10billion (£6billion) a year. The average price of a slave today is US$12,000 (£7,000) – less in real-terms than the cost of a slave in the US before the Civil War in the 1860s. It is estimated that 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders annually, and it is fast growing. Some 12 million people worldwide are enslaved.
Just a few examples...
- Women are often promised jobs as domestic workers or waitresses, but then have their passports taken away and are forced into prostitution to pay off ‘debts’ they are told they owe for transport and accommodation.
- Child domestic workers are common in many countries in a range of work including as domestics, market sellers, in fishing, agriculture, begging and prostitution. Very common is the enslavement by relations of young girls into domestic work for the middle classes as Africa struggles to cope with the rising tide of Aids orphans. Denied opportunities for education, the girls are trapped for life in servitude.
- Across the world, people find that taking out small loans say for a funeral or medical bills can lead to their family being enslaved for generations.
- In other places some people are born into a slave class where they have served their masters for generations.
This is, I feel, the grossest violation of individuals’ freedom, denying them their basic dignity and fundamental human rights.
So it is right that we celebrate the anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 200 years ago today. But we mustn’t get stuck in the history, and certainly the Abolitionists would not want the focus to be on them, but rather on justice for the huge number of people caught up in slavery, abuse and bond servitude today.
Remember the past, yes – but not at the expense of forgetting the present and the future.
May I draw your attention to :
Anti Slavery International
Founded in 1839 (including some of the Abolitionists amongst its first members), Anti Slavery International is the world's oldest international human rights organisation and the only charity in the United Kingdom to work exclusively against slavery and related abuses.
This website gives more detailed information about the state of slavery today, and an opportunity to sign an online petition to encourage the Government to maintain its commitment made in 2005 of combatting the worldwide Slave Trade in its contemporary forms.
(If you worry about the effectiveness of online petitions - just think about the recent one on Road Pricing...!!)
James