Should the British Government apologise for the slave trade?

Question

A group of white people, in chains, are marching down from the north of England to Westminster to demand the government apologises. They say we have all benefitted from the slaves' labour 200 years ago, which helped make our country rich. Your thoughts please!

Baroness Amos, black MP & descendent of slaves, on a visit to Ghana to mark the 200th anniversary of its abolition, tomorrow will express 'regret' at the 'evil' of the trade, but will add 'It is important to commemeorate Britain's leading role in its abolition'.

Tony Blair last year declared his 'deep sorrow' about Britain's role in a 'profoundly shameful' trade; but has been criticised for not giving a formal apology.

Answer 1

No. If we all have to apologise for the past, then the next several hundred years would be spent with every country apologising for all the things it did wrong. Everything would get out of proportion and soon people would be wanting money instead of apologies. Better we live in the present and try not to mess things up even more. Like Iraq, for instance.

Answer 2

The answer is, NO. I don't believe in inherited guilt. No one alive today, in government or otherwise, had any involvement in the slave trade. Also, those that were slaves are long dead. Many black people wouldn't be in America today if it weren't for the slave trade.

The Arabs, and African tribes were involved in slavery before we were. Other colonialist countries were also involved in the slave trade. The world was very different then, and so was our value system. Britain abolished slavery and never had any slaves on its own shores. You have to leave history where it is, and stop trying to make amends for things that the modern generation were not responsible for.

If we started to go down this track, Britain could start looking for recompense for the first/second world wars.

Only anarchists and fruit cakes will be involved in this idiotic march. The working class in Britain had a wretched time during those days of yor. Any benefit to us would have dissipated years ago, and, in any event, would be massively over compensated for by all the aid that has been given to third world countries.

Please don't take this nonsense seriously.

Answer 3

If ever there were an issue of political correctness more obtuse than this one, I do not know what it would be. Who would they apologize to? Should I apologize if I discover that one of my ancestors raped another one of my ancestors? Should I apologize if one of my ancestors killed someone? Should I apologize if one of my ancestors kidnapped someone? Am I responsible for any evil done by my ancestors? Should the current government apologize for any action even of the previous administration from a different party? Yes slave labor was a factor in the economy, so was British imperialism. Should Britain spend its time saying they were sorry they colonized much of the world? Should they apologize for all the pollution created by the industrial revolution? What about the underpayment of workers by early capitalists permitted by the government? Seems to me that words at this point are meaningless. Rather they should dedicate to acting like responsible world citizens in TODAYS world. Those asking for the apology benefitted from the actions as well. How arrogant of them to pretend they are victims. Both the perpetrators and the victims are long since dead. No matter how reprehensible the act an apology now is worthless. Acting good in TODAYS world would be a worthwhile policy. Being sorry about every regrettable issue of the past over which the current government had no influence is a quaqmire that would prevent the current government from even addressing todays problems. Why should one bad policy be given special status and others not?

Answer 4

Blair should apologise for many of his evil and corrupt actions but not the slave trade. The recent concept of apologising for history is something started by the Jewish Holocaust industry as a first step in the extraction of compensation from the decedents of those deemed to have done something wrong. Exploitation has been practised throughout history and if this ridiculous concept is accepted, apologies will be required from all the great civilisations of history.
A better idea would be for the descendants of slaves to thank the UK and US for what they have now. Their alternative lives as residents of West Africa would leave them much poorer and with less opportunity for betterment.

Answer 5

Slavery was rife from the Egyptians 7,000BC. The Greece's had them, so did the Ottomans, the Romans and so on. The only difference between them and the British was that the British made the trade global.

Do you accept that the slave trade was wrong?

Do you accept that the slave trade was older and bigger than any single country.?

Do think that we should show remorse for our participation in the trade - which we have already done?

Do you think that African tribes capturing slaves should apologise for participating in the slave trade?

Do you think that other countries should thank us for killing their Sailors, sinking their ships and setting their slave free - for if we had not, they would never of seen the light?

Do you think the world should thank us for ending an 8,000 yr old trade?

Do you think we should thank those sailors who died whilst attacking slave ships to set the slaves free?

Do you think it is possible for some one to give a meaningful apology when they had nothing to do with, or were even born when these wrongs were done. Does it make it less meaningful when there is not one left to apologise to?

Answer 6

Hi well i don't know where to start,should the british apologise for slavery,i will say it too late to do so,but hte point is there is so many unjustices on this plane it would be impossible to apologised for all of them.history is what is,there is nothing we can do to change it.all we can do is try to avoid making the same mistakes our ancesters did. the only frustrating thing about all this is the fact that the holocaust get more talked about than slavery and they got an apology and compensation for what happend.i think if the British Government want to make it up to the countries they colonised then they can writte off all the debt of those countries.may our planet be in peace for longuer.

Answer 7

No they should not. Just like with America, it's in the past and will forever be a part of history. What happened back then does not effect those in today's society unless they choose to dwell on the past and let history ruin their lives. In the end, it's those people who have a choice whether or not to get over it or to dwell on it. Slavery is in the past and people must never forget it, for it's a part of history, but people must still get over it and quit using it as a means of justifying their lack of competence in this world.

Even if a group of people/government figures were to apologize for slavery, what will it change? Absolutely nothing. The apology would only be made to appease people just to shut them up. It won't change anything, slavery already happened and no matter how big the apology, it won't change the fact that slavery existed. People need to quit whining about the past and move along. The world doesn't revolve around just one person, nor a group of people. We all live on the same planet and need face the fact that things aren't always going to be happy and perky and sometimes there's going to be some ugly stuff that goes on.

People need to start making their own destinies instead of allowing history to claim it for them.

Answer 8

"No "should Australians apologise to us for using us as slaves to build Australia. Should other Africans apologise for their ancestors enslaving other Africans to sell in slave markets. Should the Scandinavians apologise for the Vikings going around Europe and taking slaves , and the Romans , the Egyptians there has always been a slave trade and probably still is. look at the girls brought over to this country from Eastern Europe.

Answer 9

Yes is the USA apologies for Genocide of the native Americans, the Scandinavians apologise for the Vikings, the Germans for TWO world wars , the Japanese for the torture and treatment of the pows, the french and Spanish for god knows how many wars against us, the Irish for the IRA.Tony Blair to apologise for Iraq and ruining this country


Get a grip the slave trade happened and involved the Africans rounding up other Africans and selling them, are they going to apologise too?

These people make me sick!

Answer 10

if you can find anyone in Britain that owned a slave by all means send them to apologize, people of today have no controll over what has been done in the past, we can only work on today to make tomorrow better for all, but if an apology will make some people feel a sense of closure then i don't see the harm in it ether.should you have to? NO! should you for the sake of peace of mind for someone who feels wronged, sure why not.