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

[Henk Vreekamp]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Ook hier hebben onze voorvaderen een kwalijke rol gespeeld. De Engelsen
waren de eersten die begin 19e eeuw de slavenhandel verboden, ook voor
derden. Ze hielden dan ook regelmatig Hollandsche schepen op weg naar de
Caraiben aan om die te controleren. Maar ja, de toenmalige Zalmpjes wisten
de zaak voort te zetten tot ook het houden van slaven in Suriname werd
verboden. Decennia later.

Heeft iemand op dit forum vroeger op school ook geleerd in welk jaar deze
slavernij werd verboden?

hv,u

----- Original Message -----
From: "Henk Elegeert" <HmjE at Home.nl>
To: <D66 at nic.surfnet.nl>
Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2006 6:55 PM
Subject: Blair: Britain's 'sorrow' for shame of slave trade


> REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
>
> http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1957278,00.html
> Blair: Britain's 'sorrow' for shame of slave trade | Politics | The
> Observer
>
> "
> 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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