Blair: Britain's 'sorrow' for shame of slave trade

[Henk Elegeert]

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http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1957278,00.html
Blair: Britain's 'sorrow' for shame of slave trade |
Politics | The Observer

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Blair: Britain's 'sorrow' for shame of slave trade


· Historic statement condemns 'crime against humanity'
· Critics say Prime Minister has fallen short of
full apology

David Smith
Sunday November 26, 2006
The Observer


Tony Blair is to make a historic statement
condemning Britain's role in the transatlantic slave
trade as a 'crime against humanity' and expressing
'deep sorrow' that it ever happened.

The Prime Minister plans to go further than any
previous leader in seeking to distance himself from
the actions of the British Empire, nearly 200 years
after the 1807 legislation that led to slavery's
abolition. However, he will stop short of making an
explicit apology despite years of pressure from some
black campaigners and community leaders.

Article continues
'It is hard to believe that what would now be a
crime against humanity was legal at the time,' the
Prime Minister will say. 'Personally I believe the
bicentenary offers us a chance not just to say how
profoundly shameful the slave trade was - how we
condemn its existence utterly and praise those who
fought for its abolition, but also to express our
deep sorrow that it ever happened, that it ever
could have happened and to rejoice at the different
and better times we live in today.'

The ground-breaking remarks will appear in the black
community newspaper New Nation, which has been
campaigning for an apology for slavery, and in a
statement to Parliament tomorrow.

Blair was praised last night for breaking decades of
official silence to acknowledge the grievance and
resentment still felt by many towards the empire's
exploitation of Africans. Paul Stephenson, a black
activist in Bristol, said: 'It's historic for a
British Prime Minister to say this and it is to be
welcomed. It shows a recognition of the importance
of human rights and challenges the deniers who don't
admit that the British Empire caused so much social,
physical and psychological damage.'

The Prime Minister's decision to make a statement on
the issue will reignite the debate on the role of
apology in modern politics. He was criticised when,
in 1997, he said he 'reflected' on the deaths caused
by the Irish Potato Famine. The move will be seen by
some as an attempt by Blair to shore up his legacy
both domestically and on the world stage.

According to notes seen in the possession of
Baroness Amos, the Lead of the House of Lords,
earlier this month, the Prime Minister wanted to
make a bold gesture that will be 'internationally
recognised'. He will back a United Nations
resolution by Caribbean countries to honour those
who died at the hands of international slave traders.

The notes suggested that Blair was willing to
accommodate the requests of many campaigners and is
'prepared to go further than [he is] being asked to'
on the issue of an apology.

The slavery issue has come to a head in the build-up
to the bicentenary next March of the parliamentary
Slave Trade Act. Estimates vary that between 10 and
28 million Africans were sent to the Americas and
sold into slavery between 1450 and the early 19th
century. By then Britain was the dominant trader,
transporting more than 300,000 slaves a year in
shackles on disease-ridden boats.

An advisory committee chaired by John Prescott, the
Deputy Prime Minister, whose Hull constituency was
once represented by anti-slavery campaigner William
Wilberforce, has been planning the 200th anniversary
commemorations and addressing the problem of how
Britain should acknowledge its past. It was reported
that Whitehall advisers had warned that a full
apology could open the door to claims for
reparations from the descendants of slaves. Louise
Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside, who has been
campaigning for an annual slavery memorial day,
welcomed the statement as ' major step forward. It
says that slavery is a "crime against humanity". It
uses the word "shameful". It entirely disassociates
all of us from what happened.'

The Observer revealed the campaign for an apology
two years ago when Rendezvous of Victory, a group
which seeks to combat the legacy of slavery, said it
would call on the Queen to issue an apology. Its
joint co-ordinator, Kofi Mawuli Klu, said he was
disappointed by Blair's suggestion that slavery is a
thing of the past: 'He's missed the point. They do
not understand contemporary enslavement. There is
nothing in this statement about the enduring legacy
of slavery in terms of racism and global injustice.'

Klu criticised the absence of the word 'sorry',
claiming: 'It's adding insult to the lingering
injuries of the enslavement of African people by the
European ruling classes. The message is that if you
commit crimes against African people you cannot be
held responsible; even when you acknowledge that you
have done wrong, you do not feel it necessary to
apologise.'
"

Kan VOC-Balkje nog wat van leren ...

Henk Elegeert

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