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A ground-breaking Cross-Community Forum is being launched on Thursday
14 July 2005 at Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton. The Forum will bring
a wide range of people together to debate and challenge opinions
and ideas about the upcoming 2007 Bicentenary of Britain's abolition
of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The initiative is co-convened
by organisations Rendezvous of Victory, Anti-Slavery International
and World Development Movement.
2007 will mark 200 years since the British Parliamentary Abolition
of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. In 1807, the successes made through
various forms of abolitionist struggle by Africans both on the continent
and in the Diaspora mobilised people of conscience in Britain to
advance the country's most popular, democratic and perhaps most
significant mass mobilisation ever. Across Britain and beyond, both
Black and White communities played an enormously influential role
in suppressing and outlawing this horrendous crime against humanity.
At the Parliamentary debate on the Struggle Against Slavery
in October 2004, Fiona Mactaggart, Parliamentary Under-Secretary
of State for the Home Department, said: "We want a commemoration
that does justice to the issue. It might take the form of a day,
or of doing something enormous for the bicentenary. It might involve
developing national curriculum materials that mean that teachers
can feel confident in teaching about slavery in a way that includes
morality. I am not convinced that the history of slavery should
be only in the history curriculum; it should be in the citizenship
curriculum to mark the fact that people can be turned into commodities
and how degrading that is…"
Today, the legacies of over 400 years of historical enslavement
continue to fundamentally impact on all areas of our society, including
in education, mental health, criminal justice and policing, human
and people's rights, race relations, community development, citizenship
and identity.
Joint co-ordinator of Rendezvous of Victory Kofi Mawuli Klu, said:
"2007 is an unprecedented opportunity for the British government
to join others in making groundbreaking progress in repairing the
damage of 400 years of enslavement to Africans, African Descendants,
white people and communities of other cultural heritage. It is up
to all of us, governments and civil society, to acknowledge the
continuing effects of past wrongs, and to be prepared to take responsibility
for rectifying their effects. It was a mass cross community mobilisation
that led in 1807 to the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
2007 is a new landmark in continuing the journey to make amends
for past injustices by addressing their legacies on all our peoples
today."
Mary Cunneen Director of Anti-Slavery International said, "2007
reminds us that together people can achieve real change. The abolition
of the slave trade was not the result of one person's actions, but
the result of a mass movement which included slaves, former slaves
and the general public. Today, through the power of people across
communities, we can ensure the bicentenary not only achieves greater
understanding of the slave trade and its legacies, but also harnesses
the 1807 spirit to fight for the elimination of slavery today."
Marlene Barrett, Head of WDM Network, said: "To challenge
the structures that perpetuate poverty in the world requires an
understanding of the historical context in which those structures
have developed. It is therefore vital to make the connections between
historical and contemporary slavery and the issues of economic justice
today. The 2007 bicentenary not only gives us the opportunity to
remember the wrongs of the past but also gives us a chance to reflect
upon the fact that people in many countries across the world are
still being forced to do the bidding of the rich and powerful through
the unsuccessful, undemocratic and unfair economic policy 'conditions'
attached to aid loans and debt relief."
The Cross-Community Forum will provide a platform for discussing
issues such as: Should Britain make Reparations for its role in
the Transatlantic Slave Trade?, What was Britain's role in underdeveloping
Africa through chattel and colonial enslavement and what role should
it therefore play in addressing issues of progress, prosperity and
development on the continent today, including the eradication of
poverty and other human rights issues? How can Black and White people
work together to find unified solutions to our society's current
problems?
BACKGROUND
1. Rendezvous of Victory (ROV) is an African led organisation,
which works closely with grass roots as well as mainstream institutions.
As a heritage learning movement, the organisation seeks to continue
and advance globally, the historical work of communities of anti-slavery
abolitionist resistance.
2. Anti-Slavery International, established in 1839, is the oldest
international human rights organisation and only charity in the
UK working exclusively for the elimination of all forms of slavery
throughout the world.
3. The World Development Movement campaigns to tackle the root causes
of poverty. Joining movements around the world, they challenge the
policies of government and business that keep people poor, and campaign
for global economic justice.
4. The objectives of the 2007 Bicentenary Cross-Community Forum
are to:
- Promote honest, open and sustained dialogue as well as critical
engagement between different sectors and communities within State
and Civil society on key issues which affect us all such as race
relations, community cohesion and the links between past, present
and future, in the lead up to and beyond 2007;
- Establish an Activists' Caucus which will galvanise broad
engagement on policy, campaigns and strategy around interconnected
themes as well as activities for the bicentenary, bringing the
relevance of the legacies of enslavement to a broader range of
people;
- Actively engage the cross sectoral participation of wide
ranging organisations, groups and individuals towards 2007, including
teachers and youth workers, health workers and practitioners,
trade unions, human rights and development organisations, prison
officers and the police, local and central government, those with
a role in community development and the implementation of race
equality strategies and programmes, Embassies and many others,
in order to begin to find realistic solutions to some of our contemporary
social problems which are inextricably linked to the legacies
of enslavement;
- Develop models of cross community dialogue and working which
can be adapted and reproduced regionally, nationally and internationally
and used to shape and enhance race equality, race relations and
community cohesion at all levels of practice, and to make a sustained
and long term difference to peoples lives;
- Work harmoniously towards building new and meaningful cross
community partnerships of mutual understanding beyond 2007 and
into the future;
- Exchange information and ideas about activities and processes
in the lead up to events in 2007.
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