Slavery abolished? Don't believe it

There is a lot of talk in the media at the moment on whether Britain should apologise for the slave-trade. And there is a valid case for and against it. How can we, or rather the government, apologise for something that our predecessors did. I just about apologise for the things I do, why should I have to apologise for my ancestors? Surely for an apology to be heartfelt it should be made by the people that committed the act, and they died hundreds of years ago. So whilst we can express regret, state it was an awful act, can we really apologise? On the other hand, we still live with the effects of slavery today. In Bristol, a beautiful and fascinating city I visited a couple of weeks ago, almost every landmark we visited (and believe me we did the whole tourist-thing) had something to do with the slave trade. Descendents of slave owners still own much wealth which they didn’t work for, and descendents of slaves still live in poverty. And the idea instilled by slavery, that Black people are inferior, still exists.

Yet whilst I see both sides of the arguments, I fail to understand why the argument is even taking place at all. So slavery was abolished? It still takes place today. How can we apologise for something that supposedly ended 200 years ago when right now slavery is still rife?

According to the Anti- Slavery Society, no state recognises slavery, in that they recognize title or property in a living human being. The most used definition of slavery is the one stated by the High Court of Allahbad, India where if a person has their personal liberty restrained or made to labour against their will, they are classed as a slave. Under this definition, in 1995 the Anti-Slavery Society estimated the number of slaves as 27 million. The likelihood is there are many, many more – mostly children.

Let me present you with some statistics, cos whilst I could write reams and reams on the extent of slavery today, nothing hits like the cold hard facts:

• Unicef estimates 1.2 million children are trafficked every year for use as domestic servants, factory workers, camel jockeys, child soldiers and sex slaves.
• Concentrating particularly on South Asian countries: an estimated 496,000 children are in slavery in Bangladesh
• Of the 35 million soccer balls stitched in Pakistan, children produce around a quarter of these, most of them as bonded servants.
• Christian Aid believes there are as many as 10,000 children between ages 6 and 14 are enslaved in brothels in Sri Lanka.
• In the carpet industry of India alone, human rights organisations estimate that there are up to 300,000 children working - most under conditions that amount to bonded labour.
• Just in India’s Bombay, 90% of the 100,000 women in prostitution in are indentured slaves.

These are just a tiny handful of the many statistics I found on the web. With just these in mind, can you now see why from my point of view it is pointless arguing about apologies for slavery? Combat today’s, so or grandchildren’s grandchildren’s children can be proud they live in a world where all people have rights and freedom, and then maybe the apology would mean something.