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Should we be sorry for slavery?
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
Leaving aside all the expected comments about it being a stain on our nations history and the obvious truth that it was vile, should we the people alive now be actually sorry for it?
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I think everyone would agree that slavery is unacceptable. However the past is the past. Cannot apologise for every bad thing one's distant ancestors may have done.
I do not expect all German people to apologise to me for the deaths of my family members in concentration camps.
That said, it happened years and years before I was born so why should we have to apologise for what our ancestors did?
And we shouldn't be handing over a penny of "compensation".
Why? What does it actually achieve? He (to my knowledge) had absolutely nothing to do with slavery, so saying sorry for it is hollow and pointless. He can say its a shame it happened, and he can wish it hadn't happened. But surely you can really only say sorry for something you were responsible for.
Also I notice that no African countries are being asked for compensation, which seems a little odd - they were just as heavily involved in it as us.
Perhaps even more so. The slaves were betrayed by their own people and in Africa, still are today!
I think that as Britain was the forerunner in getting slavery abolished globally, we did a lot to put right the wrongs of an abhorrent practice.
This group that is currently calling for compensation should be suitably ignored ...
Indeed, slavery is alive and well in parts of Africa and the Far East, surely if you're going to fight for anything it would be an end to this.
As I say, Blair doesn't have to say a word of sorrow, but I think the Prime Minister should.
The idea of compensation is ludicrous- after all, it was the tribal nature of Africa that created many of the slaves. One tribe attacks another, and the winners sell the losers for a nice packet, job's a good un.
As head of Government he can apologise for the role the British state played. I think the C of E has already apologised for the role of the Anglican church.
I'm not sure its hollow or pointless, as he's saying that basically slavery was wrong and the British were involved in injustice. And that we have learnt from it.
But to be fair the main reason is to rub our neighbours noses in it - as the subtext of all this is that the Brits were the first major power to ban slave trading and then a few years later enforce it with the lives of our sailors and soldiers. France didn't ban it officially until 1815 (and then there was a major black market with officials turning a blind eye), the US until 1865 and the Dutch colonies in the Carribean until 1861. Portugal and Spain only stopped because the British paid them huge amounts of money.
Quite - and as noted above the British were the ones who stopped it and forced others to follow. I suspect no-one will be asking the Arab states for a handout for their role in slavery.
Also why just African slaves? There have been plenty of other slave owning societies throughtout history. As late as the 1880s Russia was using the holding of slaves in the Caucasus as an excuse for invading some (admittedly pretty unsavoury) regimes.
But surely by saying sorry we are assumed to feel guilt for the trade, which I dont believe we should, not now anyway. Same as I dont feel guilty for what we did to to South African black mine workers for example.
I suppose it comes down to symantics, I think the head of the government can and should call the trade deplorable, and that it shouldnt ever have happened but saying sorry seems strange to me.
But its note the same state/ You can easily draw a continous line between British Government since the mid eighteenth century and today, and say that they are the same Government which is evolved (Crown, Parliament, even Army Regiments and Civil Service Departments all have an unbroken continuity). It's harder to claim that the modern Italian Government is the same Government as Rome under Claudius.
ETA not that I disagree with you about there being other slave owning societies and its happening historically.
For example shouldn't the Irish government be held responsible as well seeing as ireland was under british rule then?
It is sily, people should worry about making the current world a better place rather than getting worried about the actions of people centuries ago....
Not really, as most of the slavers were from English/Scottish ports. Also the Irish Prime Minister is not a successor of Walpole, as Blair is.
At the end of the day by Blair apologising does no real harm is done, it costs next to nothing (a little bit of civil service time), it is concrete evidence we dissaprove of slavery and a solid reminder to the rest of Europe and the US over who abolished slavery first.
But I think that is the point. A full-on aplogy might lead people to try and claim 'compensation' (like the silly bitch interviewed on Radio 4 this morning).
The woman interviewed on Today was totally bonkers, she just totally dismissed the idea that Africans were involved in the trade as well.
They can try all they want, but I doubt there going to get it. If someone was enslaved by the British Government or private companies based here they should get compensation.
I see no reason why there descendants should a) because they were almost certainly enslaved by fellow African's b) the British were at the forefront of abolishing slavery and c) as many of them live in the UK or USA and have much higher standard of living compared to the average in Africa (especially the parts from which the majority of slaves were taken, which tends to be Western and Central Africa) it would be hard to show that they personally were disadvantaged by their ancestors being sold into slavery.
I think Thunderstruck has it summed up very well :
Wakey wakey Sophia.
I am in need of an explanation.
"Our nation" apologising ?
How will "it" do that?
Is "it" articulate ?
Will "it" speak the apology ?
Or perhaps "it" has learned to write, and there will be a written apology ?
Yeah..... we get the point. Seriously.
WE ? ?
Are you(singular) sure you(singular) get the point ?
Yes, he should apologise for the actions of our forebares but the best apology ould be to do something about the 12m or so people still in slavery today.