Slavery bicentenary marked

Rachel Earlington, Bradford Uni. SAAR

2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. For over 150 years, Britain was the dominant slave-dealing nation in the world, establishing a barbaric system that relied on the forced transportation of generations of people from Africa to work on plantations in the Caribbean. Up to 30 million African people died, either in the appalling conditions crossing the Atlantic or when they had arrived, where many were literally tortured or worked to death. Many died bravely resisting slavery and eventually forced the British to take action in 1807.

To justify murder and torture on an industrial scale, black people had to be declared inferior or not human – the legacy of that racism and inequality persists today. A national memorial day and formal apology from the Prime Minister for the crimes of Britain and its institutions would greatly help Britain acknowledge and begin to seriously tackle that damaging legacy. SAAR is joining calls from UNESCO, Diane Abbott and Dawn Butler MPs, the Mayor of London, the NUS Black Students’ Campaign and others to make the 23rd August an annual national day of memorial, marking the beginning of the first successful uprising of enslaved Africans in Haiti in 1791.

The NUS Black Students’ Campaign has a toolkit and other materials that you can use to publicise the bicentenary — contact Ruqs@nus.org.uk for information.