Tony Blair has appologised for Britain's role in the Slave Trade , why?
By ESKARENA1
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
March 16, 2007 4:00am CST
Im not trying to justify the slave trade, but it had been going on in Africa for thousands of years within Africa before the Europeans got involved and i have not heard of any Arab nation appologising for it. Also, does appologising so long after the events, do any good?
2 responses
@arnboy (357)
• India
16 Mar 07
Apologizing, after a long time, is very good. However, mere apologies are not good, there has to be some proof that the apology is real and not just another public relations act. Is the mineral wealth of Africa responsible for such acts of
sympathy, or is the sympathy genuine.
The problem with words is they do not make much of a difference, unless, when it is accompanied with some form of repentance. How about economic assistance to those countries
who where the victims of such form of exploitation? After, all the main use of slavery was for economic benefit.
2 people like this
@ESKARENA1 (18261)
•
16 Mar 07
very good response and a plus for you. Maybe we should be taxing the decendents of the slave traders and cotton plantation owners, maybe a slave supliment for reparations?
food for thought
blessed be
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
16 Mar 07
That sounds like revenge and what of the African kings and chiefs who sold their countrymen and got rid of their rivals back in the 17 and 18 hundreds? Besides there are many missionaries and organizations whose ancestors were not plantation owners and slave traders who give monetary assistance to Africa. It might hurt their reputation if someone suggests giving renumerations to those countries since they nor their ancestors were guilty of the crime. And where do we go on from there? Shall blacks get assistance for education, the better jobs, etc. because their ancestors were enslaved? Shall bosses fire those workers whose ancestors were slave traders or just because they are white so that the black worker gets his job even if his ancestor was not a slave but maybe descended from the African king who got rid of all his rivals? You see demanding renumeration has a snowball effect and we are back at the revenge bit.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
16 Mar 07
I doubt it does. It would have been better that the apologies were made as soon as they signed the documents making slave trading illegal. And why should it be just the white nations? If slavery is supposed to be a moral wrong, than it should be illegal in all the world or is it "nations where the population is mainly black, brown, or colored can practice slavery" but "nations who are European based cannot." Then this could be extended into many practices such "it is okay for them to practice torture," but "not okay for us." Now back in the past, it was practice for economic reasons and a way to get prisoners of wars and debtors to pay for being on the wrong side and losing or paying off their debts, but slavery now is based mainly on a person's skin color or religion and for that reason, it should be made illegal all over the world even in Africa or in the Arabian nations.
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@ESKARENA1 (18261)
•
16 Mar 07
yes, i agree. It seems to have been forgotten the slavery predates European colonization of Africa
