**IMMEDIATE RELEASE** IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

LONDON EVENT FOCUSES ON CAPITAL'S
SLAVE TRADE LEGACY

The 23 August is UNESCO's International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. African heritage community groups, in partnership with Anti-Slavery International, are organising The Rendezvous of Victory, from 21-24 August, in Greenwich and Brixton, areas of London connected with enslavement and resistance, to mark the capital's role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade and examine its lasting legacy in Britain today.

"The Rendezvous of Victory presents policy makers with a vital opportunity to meet grassroots demands for connecting community empowerment, regeneration and neighbourhood renewal to resolving the historical and contemporary injustices arising from the legacy of enslavement. These steps are fundamental to fulfilling the 2001 World Conference Against Racism's Programmes of Action and for healing the scars caused by one of the ugliest chapters in history," Malika Bediako, Chair of the Community Advisory Board said.

Organised in partnership with local community groups, the programme has events for people of all ages, including:

• Rendezvous of Victory Convention, University of Greenwich (21st-22nd)
•Vigil of Remembrance, Cutty Sark Gardens, Greenwich (22nd)
•Special screenings of international films, Ritzy Cinema, Brixton (21st & 24th)
•Talks, workshops, and previews of the African Enslavement Collection at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (23rd)
• Live music, food stalls, and more, Cutty Sark Gardens, Greenwich (23rd)
•Heritage and historical walks around Greenwich and Brixton (23rd & 24th)
•Interfaith Ceremony, St Matthew's Church, Brixton (24th)

"The Transatlantic Slave Trade changed the fabric of societies worldwide. Enslavement and abolitionist resistance remain at the root not only of negative acts such as racism, discrimination, xenophobia and intolerance, but also of positive action for human rights. The Rendezvous of Victory is an opportunity for Londoners to acknowledge and understand this rich legacy," Mary Cunneen Director of Anti-Slavery International said.

The event culminates on the day the Notting Hill Carnival begins. Caribbean Carnival dates back to the abolition of slavery when enslaved Africans took to the streets. The Carnival is the UK's largest multicultural event, and a powerful celebration of people's determination, against all odds, to keep their cultural heritage alive.

See a review

Notes to editors:

• To arrange an interview or for further information contact Beth Herzfeld,
  Anti-Slavery International's Press Officer, on 020 7501 8934 or 0773 309 5051; b.herzfeld@antislavery.org or Olusola Muhammad, Community Advisory Board Press Officer, on 0705 008 8533
  
  
• Anti-Slavery International, founded in 1839, is the world's oldest international human rights organisation
  
  
• The Rendezvous of Victory is organised in connection with the initiative of the Forum of Africans and African Descendants Against Racism (FAADAR), by the Breaking the Silence Community Advisory Board of UNESCO's ASPnet Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project, with the support of Anti-Slavery International, the Churches Commission for Racial Justice, the National Maritime Museum -- Greenwich, Greenwich Council, the Pathbreakers International Network (PIN), Greenwich Racial Equality Council, the SIMBA/Mama Afrika Partnership, the Forum of African Human Rights Defenders in Europe (FAHRDE), the National Union of Students -- Black Students Campaign (NUS-BSC), the Black United Front, a number of partners in Greenwich and many others.
  
  
• Background:
  The Transatlantic Slave Trade, probably the largest forced migration in human history, ripped communities apart, stripping Africa of tens of millions of its young and healthy work force. It forcibly grouped vastly different peoples together, creating new communities, identities and languages, changing the course of history forever.

  By the end of the 18th century, Britain was the largest slaving nation in the world. Fortunes made by merchant families in London, Bristol and Liverpool brought immense wealth, largely fuelling the Industrial Revolution. The profits of enslavement transformed the lives of people living in Britain, changing their landscape as money poured into building new houses, schools and universities, museums, libraries, etc. Sugar became more accessible as it flooded in from slave colonies in the West Indies. Banks grew rich from the profits made by some of Britain's most notorious slave traders, insuring and loaning them money to be ploughed into their investment in Africans.

  The trade in enslaved Africans also gave rise to a new form of thought, which defined Africans as inferior beings, leading to Afriphobia and Apartheid. Racism in the form it is known today grew out of justifying the enslavement of African people for the benefit of Europe.

• UNESCO's International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, commemorates the world's first successful uprising by enslaved Africans in Haiti (then St Domingue) which began on 22-23 August 1791. The revolt led to the establishment of the first black-led state in the Caribbean.

• For more about the Transatlantic Slave Trade see Breaking the Silence

7 August 2003