£7.5 trillion

[zeitghost]

"I am a slave to the rythm "

Not the Vatican Roulette type of rhythm one trusts...

[Rebecca Loos]

I am a slave to the rythm and I demand to be freed
(and £1m)

[EternalOptimist]

I am a wage slave and I demand my cut

[threaded]

Zathras: Actually slavery was abolished in the UK much earlier, the act you refer to made it illegal throughout the rest of the British Empire.

[zathras]

... Thats the amount Britain owes to Africans for the slave trade according to Channel 4

Does this mean that those countries which continued with the institution of slavery after Great Britain will pay a good deal more?

In 1772 William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield held that slavery had no basis in law. He famously wrote, "the air of England is too pure for a slave to breathe, and so everyone who breathes it becomes free. Everyone who comes to this island is entitled to the protection of English law, whatever oppression he may have suffered and whatever may be the colour of his skin." Essentially this ruling held that if slavery is prohibited in a jurisdiction, then any slave taken into that territory was free.

Britain passed the Abolition of Slave Trade Act in 1807, with Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. The Emancipation Proclamation (1862) by Lincoln only freed Slaves from those states which had seceeded from the Union. It was not until the end of the Civil War in 1865 that Slavery was abolished in the United States.

France could claim to abolish it first after the Haitian Revolution in 1794. But re-instated in 1802 and formally abolished it in 1848

Some of the dates when some countries abolished it follows;

Sweden: 1335 (but not until 1847 in the colony of St. Barth้lemy)
Haiti: 1791, due to a revolt among nearly half a million slaves
Gran Colombia (Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela): 1821, through a gradual emancipation plan
Chile: 1823
Mexico: 1829
United Kingdom: 1833, including all colonies
Denmark: 1848, including all colonies
The Netherlands: 1863, including all colonies
The United States: 1865, after the U.S. Civil War
Cuba: 1886
Brazil: 1888
China: 1910
Saudi Arabia: 1962

Slavery still exists in some parts of Africa. Concerted campaigns to rid the world of slavery are ongoing.

On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 4 states:

"No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms."

The point is that Britain was actually a fairly early entry in Abolishing Slavery. Arguably it could be said to the the first major economic power to do so entirely.

Note: A recent ILO report attacked the 'slavery' conditions of workers in Brazil but one wonders if these workers have terrible work conditions rather than being strictly speaking 'Slaves'.

[zeitghost]

Can the Brits who were enslaved by the Irish & Viking raiders get compo too?

Can the Brits who were enslaved by the Moroccans in the 17thC get compo too?

It's all a load of balls.

[Gromit]

Garbage

Slavery began in 1440 when Portugal started to trade slaves with West Africa.

Total and utter bollocks. Has the author not got access to Google, or seen Gladiator or Spartacus, or read any of the Falco mysteries by Lindsay Davies? It's not even as if 1440 was the beginning of African slavery.

Sloppy, sloppy sloppy.

Unsurprising then that many of the other arguments were flawed.

[Not So Wise]

Is that 7,500,000,000,000?

So that's millions of pounds per slave. What "Deemed" hourly rate have they used here?

Probably added interest just to make the figure more "shocking", like we all know odd's of this being paid are probably worse than the odd's of every single person reading this post winning the lottery jackpot in the next 12 months.

[Not So Wise]

Never understood this "apologizing" thing when the perpetrators (or their contempories) and the victims are long long gone. Now if people on either side are still alive all for it but whats the point in say Blair saying "he is sorry" when he (nor his relations one generation or even two removed) did nothing wrong (at least in this particular case...he has LOTS of other things to say sorry for...living for one)

Sure admit mistakes or outright crimes were done and don't try to sweep them under the carpet (that happens way to much...Belguim and the congo's 10 million death toll would be prime example) but this saying sorry for things that happened so long ago that no one is alive and is 2 plus generations removed has always been stupid in my eyes.

As to reparations in case's like this...lmao

[PerlOfWisdom]

£7.5 trillion

Is that 7,500,000,000,000?

So that's millions of pounds per slave. What "Deemed" hourly rate have they used here?

[vetran]

Precisely

Who do you think we bought the slaves off in the first place? We weren't going to go and catch them were we far too much trouble? Traders bought them off local chieftans. If I recall it was a Brit that started the protests against the trade in slavery and the British government that banned it.

Slavery was going on well before 1440, hasn't anyone heard of the Romans, Morrocans etc?

Sorry this sounds like another oh lets get our hands in the oppressive wests overflowing coffers.

Interesting comment on page 3.

Instead it left a legacy, which many regard as the root for many of the social issues, which afflict black people in contemporary British society. These include family breakdown, poor job prospects, to crime and social exclusion.


Strange I thought it was due to the lack of school achievement augmented by the lack of paternal influence according to a number of recent studies.

In the Caribbean and Africa, slavery's legacy is not the basis for sociological debate, but a grim reality. Massive debt is prevalent and across many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. And from Senegal to Angola, Mozambique into Malawi and Tanzania, there is evidence that the depopulation and socio-political effects caused by the slave trade stunted the growth of a continent.

Apparently because great, great grandfather George was shipped abroad in what were admittedly despicable conditions Africa is dispossed. That explains the state of constant famine Australia and America are in. I wonder why the UK is still in business after shipping so many off to the colonies at gun point. Or maybe the frequent wars and overspending dictators may be the root cause of Africa's problems?

Of course the plantations, roads and schools were all flourishing businesses when the west left, one wonders why they are all overgrown now?

Sorry possibly a bit harsh, but these lefties get on my wick.

[The Lone Gunman]

I dont mind paying the compensation as long as they return all the benefits they gained (Land, Houses, shres and any monies) and fook off back to Africa.

Should they wish to remain then they forgo any compo.

Of course the Zulu nation and the Arab countries will be paying most of it as it was they who captured and sold the slaves in the first place.

[Jabberwocky]

I suggest you hose the "darkies" down with your bile. This bitter stench has gradually fermented in the moral vacuum that was once your compassion, your humanity, your sense of decency to fellow man. Now all that is left is the crass snigger of a rotting, fetid mocking bird.

[DimPrawn]

Excellent news. I hope and expect Gordon the great to collect this unpaid slave tax ASAP and I'd suggest contractors pay more than most as they are all RICH BASTARDS who spend their days driving multiple Lamborghinis and having lunch with Danish kings and queens.

Who shall I make the cheque payable to?

[Chico]

... Thats the amount Britain owes to Africans for the slave trade according to Channel 4