It would seem that today is the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It honors those who suffered and died as a result of the transatlantic slave trade. According to something I read this morning, a survey of 2,000 people representative of the UK population found 85% did not know that more than 3 million people had been forcibly shipped from Africa to the Caribbean by British enslavers. I can’t say I’m surprised. Until relatively recently such facts were not included in our history lessons at school. If we learnt about slaves at all it was probably in bible stories about Moses, who led his people out of slavery in Egypt. Or it might have been about blond-haired Angles (or Anglo-Saxons) on sale in the Roman slave market and someone having remarked on their blond beauty, something along the lines of “These are not Angles but Angels”.
But most of us have some connection with the slave-trading past, even if our families were not wealthy enough to be directly involved. Anyone involved at all in the textile industry (big in the part of the Uk where we live) was indirectly involved as much of the cotton came from plantations worked by slaves.
Those people surveyed probably don’t know either that the slave traders were paid compensation when the slave trade was officially abolished. Well, they were losing a huge source of income after all!
So why is today the day of remembrance? It’s because the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed in the United Kingdom on 25 March 1807. Wikipedia tells us: “From that day on, “all manner of dealing and reading in the purchase, sale, barter, or transfer of slaves or of persons intending to be sold, transferred, used, or dealt with as slaves, practiced or carried in, at, or from any part of the coast or countries of Africa shall be abolished, prohibited and declared to be unlawful”. However, while the act abolished the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans, it did not abolish slavery, which still continued for decades.”
Come to that, slavery still exists in one form or another to this day, despite the international laws which declare it illegal.
Anyway, the UN designated 25 March 2007 as the International Day for the Commemoration of the Two-hundredth Anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.Since 2008, the day has been observed to remember the victims and raise awareness about the history and enduring consequences of slavery.
Now, according to a UNESCO site I found, the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is commemorated on 23 August each year. “On the night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in Saint Domingue, today the Republic of Haiti, saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
It is against this background that the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is commemorated on 23 August each year. It was first celebrated in a number of countries, in particular in Haiti (23 August 1998) and Gorée Island in Senegal (23 August 1999).
The abolition followed powerful and sustained acts of resistance by enslaved Africans, including the Haitian revolution, which led to the establishment in 1804 of the Republic of Haiti – the first nation to become independent as a result of the struggle of enslaved women and men.”
So there seem to be two International Days of Remembrance, which is probably no bad thing.
Last night rather a lot of people got very excited about the possibility of an alien invasion when a large, glowing spiral lit up the skies over the UK. Of course we didn’t see anything here as there is almost always a kind of barrier to any aerial phenomenon. Was this a “close encounter”? If so, would it be beneficial or would we all end up enslaved to an alien race?
But this time it turned out to be the launch of a rocket by Musk’s SpaceX company. The rocket’s frozen exhaust plume caused the display. A bit of a let down really!
Rockets of a different kind are still being fired elsewhere in the world. As are other acts of violent repression. Jeremy Corbyn posted this about one of the directors of the award-winning film ‘No Other Land”:
“No Other Land depicts the horrifying violence Palestinians in the West Bank endure under apartheid.
Yesterday, its co-director Hamdan Ballal was beaten in his home by settlers before being detained by Israeli forces.
People applauded Hamdan. Now they are silent. Free Hamdan.”
Meanwhile, it seems that bombing hospitals can be justified if there is a chance of a political leader being inside:
“An Israeli air strike on a hospital in Gaza killed a senior Hamas leader and an aide on Sunday evening, a Hamas official told the BBC.
Ismail Barhoum, the head of the group's financial affairs, was killed in the strike on Nasser Hospital, the main medical facility in Khan Younis.
He was receiving treatment at the hospital after being wounded in an air strike four days ago, the official said.
Israel's military said it had struck a key Hamas member operating inside the hospital compound following "an extensive intelligence-gathering process" and said that "precise munitions" had been used to mitigate harm.”
Hmm!
Then there is this:
“The average age of the children pronounced dead at Nasser hospital after this week’s new wave of attacks was between six and eight years old and about 35% of all casualties were under 14, said Morgan McMonagle, an Irish vascular surgeon volunteering with the NGO Medical Aid for Palestine.”
And finally here is something from MP Zarah Sultana:
“The independent regulator has announced a £2,500 pay rise for MPs.
At a time when disabled people are facing the biggest cuts to disability benefits on record, this is simply wrong.
I’ll be donating mine to charities supporting disabled people in Coventry & across the country.”
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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