Theres an argument about judging people by the standard of their times, though even in the 1500s moral and religious objections to the slave trade had been made and the rationale of crimes against humanity is that some things are so abhorrent they could never truly be legal no matter what moral code the perpetrators justified themselves with. Then the adult men became profitable too. I personally dont find that as convincing as the case that slaves themselves deserved compensation, and while there were strong political and practical reasons owners were compensated upon abolition but not their former slaves, it doesnt leave a great moral taste in the mouth that twas so. Everyone was. Grew up in Quedlinburg. At the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Britain was granted the right to supply slaves to the Spanish colonies in the Americas, a right then passed on to the South Sea Company. The agreement is being touted as a . Like I said, as a mental exercise, if I do my best good faith effort to imagine an argument for reparations, I reckon it would concern harms committed by the state (which unlike the slave traders and owners, is still about today) and an argument that it breached some alleged fundamental/universal doctrine of law so that even the states efforts to put the slave industry on a legal footing were null and void. It may not. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Ive always agreed that the Africans should pay reparations to the rest of us for dumping all those people they wanted to get rid of on us. Black history: Should it be part of the wider curriculum? Nevertheless, we live in a society that generally regards slavery as an absolute and eternal wrong, and a grave one at that, yet which has historically (at least certain people and places, and including the state itself) benefited from imposing slavery on others.. Youre right, MBE. I brought up paedophilia to demonstrate that there are things not worth my time. Its a shame This seems rather unlikely. BZZZTT!! Roman writers such as Pliny who chronicled or rather fabricated African life shaped perceptions of a continent populated by anthropophagi and other fantastic creatures, half-human, half-animal. True that unlike certain other examples of slavery, you werent likely to be killed as part of a religious sacrifice or as part of your owners funeral. Watching @worstall execute @richardjmurphy is like watching a very, very clever cat slowly killing at ataxic mouse. If their ancestors had remained in Africa would they be better off than they are now? The answer is money. Pretty much everybody in the West is against slavery. His rhetoric is to inflame the reader. The vast majority of Americans are not guilty. One in which enslaved people suffered and even died from malnutrition, as the economics of the slave trade meant that it was cheaper, at times, to starve people and then replace them than it was to provide them with food. But maybe they did not. Why are these characterizations needed? Shouldnt matter whether some long-dead relative fought long ago for or against (not at all to disparage your ancestors GC, who all sound very sound) in terms of whether somethings your fault. It doesnt end with the parties saying Well that was pleasantly intellectually stimulating, now lets have a nice game of cricket Youre opponents are not playing by the same rules as you are. The arguments do you want to get shaken down for several trillion?. Its very noticable how nobodys mentioning that the Spanish Empire were doing this for several centuries before the British got involved. I learned the hard way. Over 1000 years in Britain. Olusoga was born in Lagos to a White mother and a Nigerian father - who, I hate to say nautrally, did a runner. Intellectually more convincing anyway for practical and political purposes, demolishing a straw-man often makes a better video or audio clip while simultaneously making your opponents position sound stupid. Wrong ?!?! Im not even saying thats a convincing argument, it has some very serious weak points, just that I reckon its a stronger one than a general appeal about current inequality. It died out with the Romans leaving, and its non-legality repeatedly reaffirmed from the reign of the early Normans onwards. If more African-Americans started to vote Republican and the Democrats felt they needed something radical to boost their offer, and had enough support from liberal whites and other groups to risk further losses among blue-collar whites, for example. I was doing some genealogy research when I discovered my great grandfather was a well known member of the 18th Kentucky Infantry. John Mandeville, whose travelogue (circa 1356) was one of the most widely translated books of the later Middle Ages, presented Africans as naked savages living amid heaps of gold to which they gave no value. Or anything to do with slavery. Surely the US has already spent much more than that on black Americans. As it happens, I dont believe in sins of the fathers passing down the generations. In America few were castrated, which is why there are now >40 million descendants there. It's against this backdrop that Black British History Month was created. Joining them is Psychologist and Lecturer at Lancaster University, Dr David Tod, for a fascinating conversation about the psychology of acting. "The small minority whose history had been airbrushed out of the national story recovered that history with the help of their allies and then broadcast it, spread it into our national conversation and they did that within the space of half a century. So wherever the wealth came from, it wasnt just slavery (or even mainly), Olusogas an alright presenter but a class A race hustler, Edward Lud August 30, 2020 at 9:12 am We could just cut to the chase, and impose a reparations tax on anyone who is descended from from anyone who did something, er, wrong.. Prof Olusoga is not the only person who has been drawn to Equiano's story. Video, 00:02:30. Needless to say, the national mood changed. MBE, do not entertain these people, not for one second. It seems absurd to me that anyone should be concerned about what happened 200 or 500 years ago. Good point, I wonder how he squares the obviously comfortable living he has writing, opining and broadcasting about slavery with his principles. His dad met his mom at the city's university in the 1960s. Even Bill Clinton had affinity for the USA. A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. In the case of slavery the answer is clear. If someone from Portugal or France wants to explain why their country has done a better job of getting the balance right, Im open to hearing it. You can be redeemed, you worthless pasty people. is that the extra demand distorted the market, led directly to more armed slave-raiding expeditions against rival tribes and so on.. it was cheaper, at times, to starve people and then replace them Two men managed to escape and were rescued, but not before my great, great, grandfather was beaten, starved and worked to death, his body thrown into the jungle for the animals and insects to dispose of. Not a big fan of the odd human sacrifice Im afraid, even though I might just be of very partial Scandinavian descent myself. If Olusoga is looking for apologies or compensation for slavery, I am quite prepared to meet him, accept his apology, togehr with cash, cheque or even a postal order. As he states, The oral history of 20th-century racial violence has never been collected or collated, but it is thereand it is shocking.. So this race baiter can try his guilt trip on someone else. Its entirely possible to think something was awful without feeling the slightest twinge of guilt or personal responsibility. But morals are very transient things. Those aged 11-14 have to be taught about the British Empire between 1745-1901, however the slave trade is one of nine examples given by the Department of Education on what can be taught. The arguments do you want to get shaken down for several trillion? This year, return to Neverland. And this of course neatly addresses MBEs arguments. Like the Nigerian slavers who enslaved and sold the slaves, you mean? My first reaction, years and years ago, was thats awful. I just dont really get what Olusoga is saying. Back in the heyday of blogging, perhaps ten years ago or so, there was a blogger calling him/herself The Heresiarch who enjoyed running against received opinions. We do not know how great the demand for women was. After decades of complaints, the Royal African Company lost its monopoly in 1712 and, Olusoga writes, Independent traders were turned loose upon the shores of Africa. These traders had argued (stone-blind to irony) that the right to enslave Africans was a defining feature of English freedom and that the Royal African Company had breached their status as free-born Englishmen. In the USA? Fired by religious feeling, they embarked on a campaign of public education and political lobbying unprecedented in scale and revolutionary in nature. A renowned economist has said that $12 trillion should be afforded to black Americans in reparation for slavery to help the close wealth gap.. Anybody can do this. One of the reasons why the American and Caribbean experiences were very different. That is not true. Mans a loon. That is a strawman argument at its best. He is a Cultural Marxist trying to destroy the West. The government has said the "flexibility within the history curriculum means that there is the opportunity for teachers to teach about BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) history across a spectrum of themes and eras" so it did "not believe it was necessary to change the curriculum". Such sources give his writing freshness, originality and compassion. If you are wracked with guilt, ashamed of your forebears, do it! And he might not find the society withdraws it nearly as comfortable for him to live in. What difference has it made? Its been banned for two centuries in Britain. If slavery really mattered theyd be campaigning for reparations from the blacks and arabs/moslems who were doing it long before the white man arrived in Africa and was far more devastating. Quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team. Prof David Olusoga has presented numerous documentaries including A House Through Time and Black and Black and British: A Forgotten History, Olaudah Equiano played a role in Britain's abolishment of slavery, Performer Giles Terera has written a play featuring Equiano, Prof Olusoga said when it was published, people did not believe the book was by an African as it was deemed so well written, Bernardine Evaristo (second left) has launched a series called Black Britain: Writing Back which features novels by black British authors that have been overlooked, Should black history be taught all year round? I generally reckon cant blame me, my distant relative was on your side arguments are pretty weak since relying on a doctrine of virtues of the fathers risks implicitly accepting sins of the fathers. You can pay all the reparation for historical slavery related wrongs, real or imaginary, you want. Ironically, one of the sources we can turn to in order to learn more is his own accounts of late 17th-century Jamaica. Pretty sure if you could, implausibly, trace my family tree through various not-very-literate eras youd pass through at least one Anglo-Saxon who owned a bunch of Britons. But that ignores how the demand of outsiders led inevitably to far more supply being provided, so I dont think the traders can be given a pass on this front either. You know, entirely ignoring lifetime effects? Moreover its arguably unjust that only victims of still-extant states have a route to compensation whereas people from ethnic groups roughly contemporaneously massacred, enslaved and sacrificed by the Aztec Empire have nobody to sue. TV historian David Olusoga claims it is "palpable nonsense" to say that removing controversial statues "somehow impoverishes history". You dont have esoteric discussions with paedophiles any more than you would with serial killers. I havent said anything about my personal sense of guilt or responsibility. Now they do. I doubt that they are now firmly united in a common cause. Exactly, bis. I have done nothing. ", TV historian rejects 'nonsense' over keeping statues, What Black History Month is - and why it matters. Again, not that these market forces absolve the sellers of a moral responsibility, but there is an argument occasionally deployed that slaves would have been slaves anyway. Olusoga poses as an objective historian and says he is not there to bring comfort to people. Because it isnt about who you are, its about who your ancestors were. arguments are pretty weak since relying on a doctrine of virtues of the fathers risks implicitly accepting sins of the fathers.. Their cities, as well as their comfort, will rapidly decay. Its extraordinary success rested upon the foundation of sympathy laid down during the previous 70 years of abolitionist activity in Britain. The publication in 1852 of Uncle Toms Cabin, by the American abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe, swelled national sympathy for the plight of black slaves. Over 150 years in America. He previously worked at JP Morgan for 18 years in a number of senior roles and was . The novel became the bestselling book of 19th-century Britain; it was adapted for the theatre and generated mass-produced merchandise playing cards, jigsaws, tableware. The New Statesmans weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. They did not pay for them and were going to kill a lot of them anyway. Hes welcome to pursue his line of thought but he should bear in mind that tolerance is, by its nature, in the gift of the powerful. Olusoga, who is half-Nigerian, traces this focus to his mother telling him when he was a child that Nigerian soldiers served in World War II. Very often shaped by the political, technological and economic forces of the times if the Western way of life had remained utterly dependent on Roman-style slavery, Im not sure wed ever have abolished it even amongst our own inhabitants. Maybe someone should advise him to button his lip before he stirs up something he may not like. One issue about Westerners buying slaves via a chain of commerce that often ultimately involved Africans selling other Africans at traditional slave-trading locations (there was some slave-raiding by Europeans directly, but rarer) is that the extra demand distorted the market, led directly to more armed slave-raiding expeditions against rival tribes and so on. Fuck right off As a winning debating strategy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr_Gide, Less flippantly, Western countries are not of one mind when it comes to the age of consent sex with a 14 year-old is legal in some countries, criminal in others (yes yes, paedophilia versus ephebophilia etc, you got me). My great grandfather fought to end slavery in a war. Slavery within West African societies being different again I dont think the places with very high rates of local slavery were anything like the sugar plantations. Supported by African authors of slave narratives such as Olaudah Equiano and Ottabah Cugoano, they held meetings all over the country, attracting huge crowds. "They look to history not just for inspiration and comfort, not just for heroes and for glorious chapters; they look for history expecting to find challenging stories, painful stories, dark truths, villains as well as heroes. Hey, we do not even have to go that far. But oddly enough, people like Olusoga havent given me the cash yet. 7 years was the average working lifespan so it is said. (and white people was pretty much the British). 5 quotes from David Olusoga: 'On a peninsula protruding into one of the great highways of the Atlantic slave trade, a few hundred refugees from British slavery in North America were attempting to recreate the social structures of Northern Europe in the Middle Ages.', 'Time and again events and phenomena that we think we know and understand contain within them lost or camouflaged connections to . I know. I know there are posters on here who see stepping into their opponents perspective as a dangerous and pointless endeavour that gives undue worth to a viewpoint they despise, but purely as a mental exercise theres usually something to be said for examining your opponents strongest argument instead of their weakest. Rather that certain western states, still in existence therefore potentially still liable, regulated and indeed encouraged the development of both the transatlantic slave trade and the slave-labour economic systems of the colonies, at scales that were unusual in the long and varied history of slavery, and levels of brutality that stood out too. Oh man. Separated from home and family and landed in the West Indies (countless numbers dying of suffocation during the journey, given that the people traffickers were packing the holds to maximise profits), the Africans had no recourse to the law, much less the conscience of their captors. It was, I believe, the first book I ever bought for myself with my own money. Black and British: A Forgotten History addresses one of the greatest silences in British historiography. Peter Olusoga. And the transatlantic slave trade? Perhaps Im a bit more culturally relativist these days, but just read it again, still absolutely awful. Olusogas ancestors will have participated in the capture of sale of slaves in Nigeria. Whoever has the upper-hand in power political, cultural, economic, military or whatever other form is decisive at that moment. "This generation has the greatest knowledge-giving tool ever created and they have access to knowledge that I just did not have when I was younger. His choice of subject and his choice of material make that very clear. Nineteen eighty-four was a transformative year for David Olusoga. It happened. In the end, wholl be proven right about the matter practically, in terms of what the outcome is and what the first drafts of history say? 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