Slavery.

This was a barbaric trade and there is no justification for it. But that is easy to say now as we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. We have continued to develop our sense of Moral, of Justice and Freedom. It’s easy to look back two hundred years and point a finger from the moral high ground. You only need to look at the mortality rate amongst children to see how cheap life was held with the systematic slavery of the working classes. That was how the ruling class treated the British, little wonder other less developed nations were treated with such contempt.    

Black Participation.
I don’t think any historian would be able to confirm that the slave trade was purely white based business. African Buyers, Capture Gangs and Warring Leaders all profited from selling of humans. The trade would have been impossible without Black participation. This in no way condones Britain’s participation but does somewhat dilute the moral demand for an unequivocal apology.   

And Why Now.
What would an apology achieve in 2007? What makes this the year that is correct to apologise. Why now, why not 100 years ago or in 300 years time at the 500 year anniversary? What is it about 2007 over 2000 or 1997 that makes an apology correct?    

Financial Recompense.
We live a more and more litigious society. ‘Have you had an accident in the last 3 years that wasn’t your fault?’ My fear is that the motivation will turn a noble cause into financial reward. Some compensatory amount of a small denomination will be badly distributed at enormous expense by a government caught in the trap of chasing every noble cause and minority claim.    

Norman Invasion – Slavery of the Britons
700 years before the abolition of slavery and 500 years before its start, Britons were conquered and the entire country enslaved into serfdom. Lands were removed, wealth extracted and the people put to work on the great castles of the new rulers. The Saxon population became the slave labour to their Norman masters. The common people were treated as foreigners in their own land. A new culture, a new language, laws, currency, the entire landscape was changed. This was the subjugation of an entire people, an entire race. But do the British look back on this time with horror? Do we deserve an apology from the French? Should we look to them for our own sense of justice or do we just accept this as part of our history?   

Italian Invasion – Slavery of the Britons. Two thousand years ago an alien invasion took place on the shores of the British Isles. A massively advanced military force swept over the countryside like a virus. They set up communication points, defensive structures and supply lines at a time when most Britons were little more than hunter-gatherers. The Romans used all of their technological advances, fortifying their newly won positions, fighting with superior weaponry and previously unseen hardware.   They were devastating and quickly obliterated any defence. The country was completely overrun and any uprising lead to immediate slavery and exportation to other areas of the Roman Empire. Thousands of Britton’s were exported to work in houses and the fields of Europe. Manpower and wool were the greatest exports from the UK under Roman Rule.  Do the Italians owe us an apology for this...? It was a while ago but surely it’s the same thing, just a further back in time?   

Responsibility of Care
I don’t think I care about slavery… Does that make me racist? I don’t think so. I have searched my soul and have no loathing for the black or Afro-Caribbean community in the UK. I grew up in a very multi cultural society and had to live through the Race Riots of late 1970’s. I have no wish to return to these times and no animosity to the black community.  

I don’t think I care because I think we all stand on the shoulders of giants. Our history is our history and there’s nothing we can do about it. Like every German child born in the last 25 years, the Second World War was nothing to do with them and they should have nothing to feel guilty about.   

The UK government recently suggested that 60 Years would be the period for remembrance for the victims and lost soldiers of the Second World War. The anniversary of Slavery is 200 years since its abolition in the UK; this date was much later in the USA and the rest of Europe. The fact remains that while the UK was large participant in the Slave Trade, it was one the first nations to abolish this abhorrent and despicable trade and set about to petition the other nations until the trade was halted.   

So, I’m not going to feel guilty, despite the plethora of TV Programs, Films, Docu-Soap-dramas and News Reviews… Tony Blair can kiss my hairy but.. I’m Not Saying Sorry… It Wasn’t ME, I Wasn’t Their, I Didn’t Do IT!  Mr. Grumpy