The nation prepares to observe the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the British Empire on 25 March, but Britain’s dominant role in the trade, the punishments and humiliations it inflicted together with the economic benefits derived, will not be acknowledged.

1. 'Wilberfest', falsifying history, walking bishops
Blacks feel that this bicentenary year will just be one long ‘Wilberfest’ and any cursory examination of the activities that have been planned nationally throughout the year confirms this.
Books, lectures and a feature film on the heroic efforts of William Wilberforce are all part of the rewriting history agenda. The focus so far includes attempts to demonstrate how the British ‘helped free the slaves’. The falsehood being perpetrated is evident in the suggestion that one man freed millions of slaves. Others have argued that we should forget any notion of an apology and concentrate on linking the anniversary to raising awareness of contemporary slavery.

[March 25, 2007 The Observer] Senior Clergymen last night urged Tony Blair to make a full apology for Britain's role in the slave trade, instead of only expressing sorrow for the suffering caused.
The Archbishop of the West Indies, who joined the Archbishops of Canterbury and York at a prayer service in London yesterday commemorating the abolition of the slave trade in the UK, said the Prime Minister would be the 'appropriate person' to deliver an apology, which, he insisted, would prevent human rights abuses in future. Campaigners say the failure to apologise could overshadow plans for an annual day commemorating abolition.

The Black Information Link (www.blink.org.uk), 21 Mar 07, added:
"The horrors of slavery are in danger of being glossed over in favour of an approach that plays down the inhumane and routine brutality of slavery. Lets us not forget that the unforgiving and merciless nature of white brutality is enduringly burned into the psyche of black communities today. The terror used to keep us on the plantation was bloody, devoid of compassion and unremittingly brutal.
We cannot forget these facts and modern day racism is a constant and daily reminder that we are still living with the brutal consequences of our past."

2. Anti-Slavery International: concerts and exhibitions
Sarah Williams of Anti-Slavery International (16 Mar 06) focused on concerts and exhibitions being held for the Anniversary:
- "a hugely exciting music event" on 25 March - Voice of Slavery - at the Kentish Town Forum, London. Proceeds will go to Anti-Slavery International. Tickets £25;
- classical concert on Saturday 24 March at 7.30pm at St Martins in the Fields church, Trafalgar Square, London. Proceeds will go to Anti-Slavery International. Tickets range from £6 to £18
- an exhibition: of extraordinary photographs and intimate stories photojournalist Pete Pattisson exposes the exploitation and enslavement of millions of people in India, Haiti, Ghana, Burma, Ireland and the UK. With support from Anti-Slavery International.

3. The Tories
THE BLACK LONDONERS FORUM (BLF) had welcomed the Mayor of London’s inclusion of £275,000 in his 2007/08 budget to commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in Britain. But the Tories added a sour note. Angie Bray, leader of the Tory group of Assembly members, argued that funding for the commemoration year should come from the central government and that the Mayor should spend both his time and the £275,000 tackling ‘modern day slavery’.

But under pressure, Bray denied the conservatives sought to amend the budget. BLF contacted Ms. Bray’s office and she said ‘‘The Conservative group is content that the money for the commemoration remains in the budget.  We believe that it would have been more appropriate for the money to come from the national purse as after all, the issue of slavery has always been a national rather than a London one but we are content that the money be spent. 

"We feel that to celebrate the abolition of slavery carries the danger that it allows people to think that slavery no longer exists in this country and is now history whereas in fact it is sadly all too prevalent still, including in London.  So the money could be spent better in our view but that is not the same thing at all as saying it shouldn't be spent at all.’’
In November 2006, Conservative MP Chris Grayling had asked Blair to concentrate on rising crime instead. The Mail, which supported fascism in the 1930s, has been consistently hostile to the idea of apologising for slavery. Tory leader David Cameron has refused to consider an apology. His argument? First, an apology is unnecessary because this happened a long time ago. There are no living victims of slavery an apology is not necessary. Second, apologising is "national self-hate". The Mayor called this 'nonsense'.

4.  The Mayor strikes the right note
It was the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, who spoke for the victims. Writing  in the Guardian (21 March 07), he said:
"Next Sunday marks the bicentenary of the abolition of one of history's greatest crimes - the transatlantic slave trade. The British government must formally apologise for it. All attempts to evade this are weasel words. The state failure to issue an apology for a crime as monstrous as the slave trade diminishes Britain in the eyes of the world.

"Conditions imposed on survivors were unimaginable. Virginia made it lawful "to kill and destroy such negroes" who "absent themselves from ... service". Branding and rape were commonplace.
A Jamaican planter, Thomas Thistlewood, in 1756 had a slave "well flogged and pickled, then made Hector shit in his mouth" for eating sugar cane. From 1707, punishment for rebellion included "nailing them to the ground" and "applying fire by degrees from the feet and hands, burning them gradually up to the head".
"In 1736, five ringleaders of an expected rebellion in Antigua awere broken on the wheel, 77 burned to death, six hung in cages to die of thirst. For "lesser" crimes, castration or chopping off half the foot were used. A manual noted: 'Terror must operate to keep them in subjection'.

"More than 1.5 million slaves were taken to the British Caribbean islands in the 18th century, but by its end there were only 600,000. By 1820, more than 10 million Africans had been transported across the Atlantic and 2 million Europeans had migrated. But while the European population grew to 12 million, the black slave population shrank to 6 million.
If the murder of millions, and torture of millions more, is not "a crime against humanity", these words have no meaning. To justify murder and torture on an industrial scale, black people had to be declared inferior, or not human.

"Material being produced today to mark the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade makes it appear that white people liberated black - the assumption being they could not do it themselves. In reality, slaves rose against the trade from its inception. This broke it. No one denigrates William Wilberforce, but it was black resistance and economic development that destroyed slavery, not white philanthropy.

"Slavery's reality is increasingly acknowledged outside Britain. One of the few things on which I agree with George Bush is his description of transatlantic slavery as "one of the greatest crimes of history". The Virginia general assembly last month expressed "profound regret" for its role, stating slavery "ranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals". The French national assembly declared slavery a "crime against humanity". In 1999, Liverpool became the first major British slaving city to formally apologise. The Church of England Synod followed suit.

"But the British government, a dominant player in the trade, refuses to make an apology. Until recently, it refused even to recognise the slave trade as a crime against humanity, on the grounds that it was legal at the time. It helped block an EU apology for slavery. A British state that refuses to apologise for a crime on such a gigantic scale as the slave trade merely lowers our country in the opinion of the world."