On the Anniversary of the Slave Trade
The British government has little recognition of its historical role in human trafficking
An activist throws roses into the Thames to commemorate the slave trade.
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There are so many histories that Britain was involved in colonial slavery that choosing one for collective memory is difficult. Every year on August 23, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) commemorates the 1791 uprising of black men and women in Haiti against British slavery there.
In Britain and the former British colonies, March 25 marks the legislation of 1807 that outlawed the slave trade in Britain, and August 1 coincides with the entry into force of the General Abolition of Slavery Act 1834.
Despite all these histories, the British government or political leaders rarely acknowledge Britain's historical role in the slave trade.
When debate erupts over slavery, such debate focuses narrowly on the vast British Empire. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron bragged about empire but rarely mentioned slavery or colonialism. On a visit to Jamaica in 2015, Cameron urged Cameron to “forget” that covenant. .
Meanwhile, the current Conservative Party displays nostalgia for the glorious days of the British Empire, when imperial subjects "never disturbed" Britain's social and cultural landscape.
Discussions about slavery raise several, often opposing viewpoints on the surface.
Some insist on canceling and erasing this difficult history and the legacies of oppression that lie at the heart of slavery, and others like to warn us that we need to focus on a multicultural present in post-racial Britain, paradoxically where color does not matter.
Both approaches tend to deny the enduring reality of racism and institutional discrimination towards minorities today, and have led to extensive debates such as the Sewell Report (human rights defender Stephanie Sewell considers her human rights advocacy to be closely related to combating discrimination based on skin tone in African-descendant communities), Her report presented “A New Story of the Caribbean Experience” and recommended that schoolchildren should be taught the positive side of slavery, such as how enslaved in the Caribbean supposedly transformed themselves culturally.
The history of slavery included oppression, power, human trafficking, and violence.
It's a complex history, which has created generational shock on all sides, so Britain may be reluctant to organize a high-profile celebration every year on the occasion.
In France, the National Day of the State commemorating the abolition of slavery is celebrated on May 10 (the televised ceremony is always attended by the president and the president of the Senate).
Britain does not have a national ceremony to commemorate the thousands of lives lost to slavery.
The UNESCO International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition provides an opportunity for Britain to share responsibility with other European empires for slavery, and thus absolve itself by framing slavery as a common historical practice.
Moving away from discussions of slavery would play into the hands of cultural warriors who view any account of the British colonial past as an attempt to destabilize the country.
Take, for example, thinker Kimi Badenoch's distracted and ill-informed notion of critical race theory, or thinker Cressida Dick's portrayal of institutional racism and police brutality as "just a few rotten apples," or repeated attempts to frame the Black Lives Matter movement as hostile. for eggs.
This culture war has become a distraction mechanism that prevents us from discussing the painful legacies of Britain's colonial past, and examining how this history cemented social inequalities to the present day.
Instead of intelligent and emotional talk about history, there is a hardening of attitudes on all sides.
It should not be about deciding whether the British Empire was "good" or "bad", for the purpose of slavery was to amass wealth for Britain by any means, through oppression, segregation and coercion.
Even amid the exploitation and slavery that characterized the life of slave farmers, there were forms of cooperation that benefited some at the expense of others, and hierarchies and caste systems among slaves eventually allowed slave owners to retain control.
On farms, nepotism based on skin color was more complex, yet we cannot teach this history in schools if we do not even acknowledge how important that history is, and it still is.
This culture war is a symptom of the selective history of slavery that has defined how we view this issue in Britain.
We often hear the paternalistic account of Britain's role in the slave trade, which focuses on the state's contribution to ending slavery and the navy's role in saving slaves after 1807. Historians prefer to remember Britain as savior and liberator rather than as the perpetrator of these crimes, and as a result we hear little about other aspects. From its history, such as how arguments in favor of abolition helped justify imperial expansion and the scramble to colonize parts of Africa in the nineteenth century.
The solution to collective amnesia must be honest conversations about the past and its impact on Britain in the twenty-first century, and this national dialogue, which should not turn into a raucous point-scoring match, could be the start of a powerful momentum for restorative justice, the Bank of England has publicly acknowledged its role into the slave trade, and recently hosted an exhibition on the links between slavery and the City of London, and also the Church of England, which launched an inquiry into its links to slavery.
Such initiatives can open the door to a greater understanding of our common history.
Some may ask: Why does a nation need to publicly commemorate slavery when there are already local initiatives that commemorate black history throughout the year?
To answer this is that, first, Britain was able to amass unprecedented wealth by exploiting people of African descent as labor and a type of commodity for 300 years, and colonizing parts of Asia.
Parliament played a central role in that date and paid compensation to slave owners.
The least any government in its place can do is remember those who were enslaved, teach that history through curriculum change, and engage in discussions about restorative justice.
Second, the mass celebration would be a way to heal from the traumatic past and unite communities, and in fact the Liverpool Museums host playwright Bonnie Greer, and Lorella Rincon, Director General of the Memorial Acti, a memorial and museum dedicated to the memory of the transatlantic slave trade in Guadeloupe, for a public conversation and speech chief.
In Greenwich, the National Maritime Museum organizes a series of lectures and performances.
On this day and during Black History Month, there is a flurry of activities around the history of slavery, now we must make sure that our question about the usefulness of memorializing slavery does not fall into oblivion for the rest of the year.
Olivet Auteuil is Distinguished Professor of Slavery Legacy and Memory at SOAS University in London
The history of slavery included oppression, power, human trafficking, and violence. It is a complex history, one that has shocked generations in all respects; So Britain may be reluctant to organize a high-profile celebration every year on this occasion.
The paternalistic account of Britain's role in the slave trade focuses on the state's contribution to ending slavery and the navy's role in saving slaves after 1807. Historians prefer to remember Britain as savior and liberator rather than as the perpetrator of these crimes.
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