Protester Halts Slavery Service In London

[Sykee]

http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=4552651

verdict? :pop:

[Ketchup]

As much as I get his point.. I feel that was uncivilised...

besides...getting them to apologize just by word or mouth will just be just that.... words...

Now actively improving policies and activities to exceptionally tackle racism would definitely set the ball rolling..

[Sweetwhispers]

Ligali Huh, are they gonna become a black fathers for justice? :lol:

I don't know, they're never going to apologise.

[ms_rite]

I do believe Blair's express of sorrow was a cop-out and as its not a real admission of guilt, without a real admission of guilt, a real declaration of how this country has benefited from slavery what real changes will be made. None. The truth of the matter is we put the Great into Great Britain and by Blair not acknowledging this fact nothing really will change in this country.

I&#39;m also angered by the irony of the Church of England apologising, it just so happens that the CoE is spearheaded by many black clergyman and women - and the sight of them apologising for slavery as representatives of the Church actually sickened me :( <_<

This ceremony or whatever it was was definitely a mockery - so I can understand this man&#39;s anger. I don&#39;t know if I could suggest a better way of voicing my disgust, but to sabotage the event. What&#39;s the alternative? A petition? :huh: Sometimes I think we (black folk) have become the passive minority because of perceived freedoms, the Asians seem to be carrying the mantle in terms of being the voice of dissent. Now I&#39;m not saying we should be burning effigies in Brixton, but we definitely need to start standing up for ourselves again in a constructive manner.

[rai]

:clap: I admire his audacity

[NLight1]

:clap: I admire his audacity
[/b]
Me too!

[noirisrael]

Me too!
[/b]

me too:-), really!

[SilverQ]

INow I&#39;m not saying we should be burning effigies in Brixton, but we definitely need to start standing up for ourselves again in a constructive manner.
[/b]




:clap: I admire his audacity
[/b]


Yes and yes. The time may be right to take the movement to the next level.

[turnergirl]

I IA with SilverQ. The movement cannot stay stagnant. Something has got to change, because half hearted apologies are unacceptable and unfortunately that is the norm. If we are not careful, our children will be hearing the very same thing.

[MsShel330]

I applaud the brother; IMO he didn&#39;t do anything wrong, he wasn&#39;t violent. He was just passionate about something that should have been redressed long ago.

Somebody needs to shake things up now and again, folks get too comfortable.

[Scribetastic]

I see no problem with what he did.

I think if the UK hasn&#39;t apologized for the slave trade, they should, just as any country who participated in and gained from it should.

Like someone else said, he wasn&#39;t violent. He got up and said what he felt was necessary and then the authorities arrested him. If anything, he&#39;s a good example of how to protest, make your point and come out of it with dignity.

[N1SEXYTING]

I do believe Blair&#39;s express of sorrow was a cop-out and as its not a real admission of guilt, without a real admission of guilt, a real declaration of how this country has benefited from slavery what real changes will be made. None. The truth of the matter is we put the Great into Great Britain and by Blair not acknowledging this fact nothing really will change in this country.

I&#39;m also angered by the irony of the Church of England apologising, it just so happens that the CoE is spearheaded by many black clergyman and women - and the sight of them apologising for slavery as representatives of the Church actually sickened me :( <_<

This ceremony or whatever it was was definitely a mockery - so I can understand this man&#39;s anger. I don&#39;t know if I could suggest a better way of voicing my disgust, but to sabotage the event. What&#39;s the alternative? A petition? :huh: Sometimes I think we (black folk) have become the passive minority because of perceived freedoms, the Asians seem to be carrying the mantle in terms of being the voice of dissent. Now I&#39;m not saying we should be burning effigies in Brixton, but we definitely need to start standing up for ourselves again in a constructive manner.
[/b]

Girl I could not have said it any better! they think by doing a couple of special programmes on slavery for a week and then forget about it the following week will make up for the whole Slave trade!

[Sweetwhispers]

Sometimes I think we (black folk) have become the passive minority because of perceived freedoms, the Asians seem to be carrying the mantle in terms of being the voice of dissent. Now I&#39;m not saying we should be burning effigies in Brixton, but we definitely need to start standing up for ourselves again in a constructive manner.
[/b]
IA

[AgapeFever]

I think it is important that he spoke out. The service was not an apology, it was a CELEBRATION of the anniversary abolition of the slave trade.

On the next day, the story made front page of the paper here in Toronto, I thought it was a good read.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/196773

The author said that Blair was avoiding making an apology in efforts to discredit future claims for reparations. While I personally don&#39;t support reparations (how can you put a price on the atrocities of slavery - other than by changing the entire culture it came from?). I think that it was vital that this ceremony be recognized for what it is...a public relations stunt.

Exactly how is this relevant for racism today in a world where pretty much everyone knows that slavery is wrong but doesn&#39;t discuss what racism looks like today? What could anyone including the black community have gained from this event? Nothing - except the acquiescence of white guilt never being transformed into action, and the pacifying of would be protesters who are regularly denied an affirmation of black consciousness!

According to the UK government:

"Under the statue of the International Civil Court, acts of enslavement committed today do constitute crimes against humanity. But the historic slave trade was not a crime against humanity or contrary to international law at the time when the U.K. government condoned it."

WTF?


Agape is wondering if she is too militant. lol

[Nevsky]

This is interesting. The japanese government is going through similar things theses days. In anycase Tony Blair apologizing doesn&#39;t really matter to me. Why? Because it&#39;s Tony Blair&#39;s apology for slavery. It really means nothing in the end. Now what would be satisfying would be the official apology from the english government. Ultimately I doubt this will happen. To apologize today would more than likely mean reperations in the future. Now you guys try to add up what they would have to pay. For the reason alone we probably wont see an apology.

[ms_rite]

I think it is important that he spoke out. The service was not an apology, it was a CELEBRATION of the anniversary abolition of the slave trade.

On the next day, the story made front page of the paper here in Toronto, I thought it was a good read.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/196773

The author said that Blair was avoiding making an apology in efforts to discredit future claims for reparations. While I personally don&#39;t support reparations (how can you put a price on the atrocities of slavery - other than by changing the entire culture it came from?). I think that it was vital that this ceremony be recognized for what it is...a public relations stunt.

Exactly how is this relevant for racism today in a world where pretty much everyone knows that slavery is wrong but doesn&#39;t discuss what racism looks like today? What could anyone including the black community have gained from this event? Nothing - except the acquiescence of white guilt never being transformed into action, and the pacifying of would be protesters who are regularly denied an affirmation of black consciousness!

According to the UK government:

"Under the statue of the International Civil Court, acts of enslavement committed today do constitute crimes against humanity. But the historic slave trade was not a crime against humanity or contrary to international law at the time when the U.K. government condoned it."

WTF?
Agape is wondering if she is too militant. lol
[/b]
I agree with striking word you wrote especially the bold parts - perceived freedoms pacify the masses <_<

Thats right an admission of guilt would mean possible claims for reparations. But I dont quite understand their reasoning..."well it was legal at the time"...just because it was legal doesn&#39;t mean it was right, which they obviously agree with because they passed the law. But of course we all know that they didn&#39;t pass the law because they believed it to be wrong - they passed the law because it was no longer financially benefical for them to continue, amongst other reasons.

So thats why the so-called celebration of the abolition should have been sabotaged - because we know the passing of the law was a farce - it doesn&#39;t stand for what they are saying it does - compassion for mankind and humanity.

You&#39;re not too miltant...you&#39;re just right... :)

[TwistedXn]

:clap: I admire his audacity[/b]

ITA. Sometimes, the status quo needs to be shaken. The extent to which heads of state will go to not bring their lips (or their pens) to offer an apology never ceases to amaze me. Even if "I&#39;m sorry" only represents mere words, it is a major step in the right direction. Here in Atlanta the legislature would rather have their toenails plucked out with vise grips before they&#39;ll apologize for the state of Georgia&#39;s role in slavery. Then again, many of us are unwilling to hold them or anybody else accountable. So, I applaud the brother for making an attempt.

[Sykee]

^^ i agree. i would respect Tony B.Liar more if he said &#39;i don&#39;t care about slavery, i don&#39;t think we should apologise&#39;. instead the reason being bandied around is that the present generation wasn&#39;t there, and that they eventually were kind enough to &#39;abolish&#39; it! are the present generation not living almost entirely on the wealth built by slavery, banking at big slaving corporations like lloyds and barclays, or smoking british and american tobacco cigarettes? the uk do not make or export anything, we are living on inheritance created by the blood of slaves. grr...

[Chocolatebutterfly]

Mr Blair has refused to bow to demands to apologise for Britain&#39;s role in the slave trade, expressing instead "deep sorrow and regret" for the suffering it caused.

Can we all say whomp whomp. give me a break Blairs words mean&#39;t nothing. That was just an easy way out. He&#39;s a punk. Toyin Agbetu did the right thing. I fully agree with what he did, sometimes you need to be uncivilized in order to get results. Toyin Agbetu may not have got an apology but he definitely brought more awareness to the people that were there and the one&#39;s that read articles about what happened. kudos to him and if i knew how to make the clapping hand icons I wold put ten of them up here

[Naturalnlovinit]

England is an incredibly racist country and I&#39;m not suprised that guy Blair won&#39;t apologize. Rule Britannia is a song I think that many English people sing and part of the lyrics are &#39;Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves.Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.&#39;

[ms_rite]

England is an incredibly racist country and I&#39;m not suprised that guy Blair won&#39;t apologize. Rule Britannia is a song I think that many English people sing and part of the lyrics are &#39;Rule Britannia! Britannia rule the waves.Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.&#39;
[/b]
Yes the song goes like that. I didn&#39;t realise until my sister pointed it out to me.... <_<

[Denny]

I&#39;m not sure about an official state apology 100&#39;s of years after the event.- those who partook of the trade are now long dead..hear me out how far do you take it. Should the Italians apologise for the Roman epmire , France for Napoleans antics? Should West Africa apologise as well?
IMO the best thing to do is deal with the consequences of slavery and level the playing field for the slaves descendants with positive state action not just words of apology

[ms_rite]

A couple of West African countries have apologised for the part they played actually - so if they can.... :dunno:

I think if they didn&#39;t have this so-called celebration going on it wouldn&#39;t even have been an issue, I think this and the &#39;expression of sorrow&#39; just rubs salt in the wound just a little.