Abolition
In 1807 Chattel Enslavement was outlawed because
of the coalition of abolitionist forces, from
Africans both on the continent and in the Diaspora,
to the black and white committees, groups and
individuals in Britain who fought vehemently against
the slave trade. From the radicals in Britain
to the enslaved on plantations in the Caribbean,
from liberals to conservatives, from politicians
to former slaves and through petitions, personal
narratives, meetings and numerous acts of resistance
taking place every day throughout the Diaspora,
all peoples and all means made it possible for
the law to be passed in 1807.
The passing of the 1807 Act was
a landmark achievement and the anti-slavery movement
showed for the first time in human history that
people are capable of tirelessly fighting for
the rights of others. It also showed that it was
essential to build the broadest coalition possible.
It was this mass mobilisation which crossed communities
and continents that made possible what seemed
at the time like an unachievable task. The whole
of society’s foundations were linked throughout
the 17th, 18th and much of the 19th centuries,
to the profits of African enslavement. At the
time extradition, defamy and death were the consequences
both Black and White abolitionists risked and
for which, in many cases, they paid the price.
Despite this, the institution of slavery itself
was far from being abolished and this took another
30 years to accomplish. The Emancipation Act which
outlawed slavery itself, was passed in 1834, and
the Act which outlawed Apprenticeship (slavery
under another name) in 1838. But today the wounds
of Chattel Enslavement remain unhealed and new
forms of slavery have evolved. Millions of people
all over the world continue to be subjected to
contemporary forms of slavery. People are sold
like objects, forced to work for little or no
pay, at the mercy of their 'employers'. Whole
families are in bonded labour, people are trafficked
to the West for both sexual and labour exploitation
and men are forced to work on agricultural estates.
Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects
people of all ages, genders and race.
The task the abolitionists started
during slavery will not be complete until we confront
the history behind contemporary injustice and
enslavement and make reparations for the past.
Reparations are the ways and means of truly commemorating
to liberate. As political critic and poet Chinweizu
said at the first Pan Afrikan Conference on Reparations
in 1993, “Reparation is not just about money;
it is not even mostly about money; in fact money
is not even one per cent of what Reparation is
about. Reparation is mostly about making repairs…”
Psychological repairs, cultural repairs, organisational
repairs, social repairs, economic repairs, political
repairs, educational repairs, repairs of every
type for the harm committed to African nations
and descendants of Africans by Chattel Enslavement
and the practise of slavery.
Our task today is to commemorate
the full history of Chattel Enslavement, understand
its legacies, seek to make repairs and confront
global injustice and slavery today. History will
condemn us if we fail, just as we today condemn
the slave owners and supporters of Chattel Enslavement.
Knowing what we know today, it is our responsibility
to acknowledge these past abuses, address continuing
ones, and pay our debt for the crimes of commission
and/or omission that, in one way or another, we
are all involved in oppressively perpetrating
against our common humanity.
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