Re: Tony Blair apologises for slave trade, What about press
Golden Rivet is indeed a female RoofRat. I made the same error as you and assumed GR was a male - though she does sound a bit like a gay bloke sometimes. :lol:
I am surprised any apologies have been made for slavery from our Christian PM - after all the Bible is clear in both OT & NT that owning slaves is acceptable. A Christian should ideally treat his slaves justly or free them, depending upon which NT text you are reading at the time. All the Abrahamic religions religious texts promote the acceptability of enslavement. Moreover only a couple of years ago British evangelicals stated that slavery was in fact an early form of welfare state, and should therefore be commended. I remain unconvinced myself.
In a sense, what does the concept of slavery entail? In Tsarist Russia until the emancipation of the Serfs, they were de facto (& de jure) slaves. The same was true of the indiginous European populations in feudal times when most of the populations were the property of their feudal Lords. Slavery still exists in several parts of the World including Arabia. The CoE itself owned a plantation and a large number of men, women and children as slaves who were treated no better than their counterparts owned by the laity. Various Bishops had slaves looking after them in their Palaces on English soil.
And what of bonded labour (as distinct from slavery). The NT refers to them as servants - their status suggests that they were entrapped slaves in everything but name in many cases.
What of British children transported from childrens' homes and orphanages to be used as slave labour (during their childhood) in the Empire and later Commonwealth?
The main way of marking the event is by staging various exhibitions and starting to discuss the topic again in schools. When I was in school we explored both slavery and the Press Gangs and their morality (or otherwise).
:lol: 
