Participatory Democracy process
Slavery and Colonial LegacyHow interested, if at all, are you in finding out more about Glasgow’s links to the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Plantation slavery?
How interested, if at all, are you in finding out more about Glasgow’s links to the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Plantation slavery?
This is a waste of money and a farce. What about modern slavery going on in the city.
As well as those who had a financial investment in slaving and in the cotton, sugar, tobacco plantations which used slave Labour, it is important to tell of those in Glasgow and other places who opposed slavery. Thomas Hutchison, for example, laid the philosophical and legal foundations for challenges to the legal underpinning of slavery. In Manchester, cotton mill workers took industrial action in support of enslaved people working on plantations. It is important to get balance. Such studies also help to undermine the pernicious perceptions presented by the BBC and the newspapers.
From a historical standpoint this would be interesting for someone studying history around slavery however I have absolutely no interest in being fed a bunch of BLM propaganda about how Glasgow is utterly awful and racist as were a range of the historical figures that are represented in Glasgow. Shockingly, by modern standards, basically everything was awful. Child labour, horrible working environments, crippling poverty... the list goes on.
we do still have a problem with racism in Glasgow. Schools have been doing a lot of work in the last couple of years, after it was reported that racism was on the increase https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/18988433.racist-incidents-recorded-schools-across-glasgow-increase/
If you don't believe racism exists, ask Police Scotland.
I know it exists, I have been racially abused... I'm white.
Racism today has absolutely nothing to do with slavery 200 years ago. Make no mistake though, if you start demonising people today for the crimes of their great great great great grandparents you will absolutely increase racial tensions and animosity, ESPECAILLY if it is done ideologically and dogmatically (which this absolutely will be) by leaving out the massive involvement of African nations and others in the slave trade.
Who do you see being demonised today from this discussion? That's right, no-one.
Waste of money
The past should not be eradicated because it is offensive . Do we tear down the camps at Auchwitz because we are offended by Nazism . The same is for the statues and plaques of slave owners or businesses involved in slavery. We always focus on the negative and never look at the positives as well. The focus also seems to be on the west and Caucasian people but there is a failure to recognise that many slaves were also the victim of other tribes.
Having lived in Germany, I think the way that they've acknowledged and processed their past could be a really helpful template for Glasgow and the UK. No, they haven't torn down Auschwitz. Instead, they've preserved it and other relics of fascism, and – crucially – framed them as such. They've integrated education about the Holocaust into their school curricula, so that you can't grow up in Germany without being aware of what happened. (Whereas during 13 years of school in Scotland, I think slavery was mentioned once – in an RE class – and there wasn't any attempt to explore why it might be relevant today). This isn't about being "offended" by the past – it's about fully accepting that past, and understanding what relevance that past has for our present, in terms of the distribution of wealth, social inequality, racial inequality, concentration of land ownership, etc.
Except it very much IS about being offended by the past, we are literally being asked whether or not they should tear down statues and rename streets because they have some distant attachment to TAST. This is nothing more than modern race grifting and an attempt to stir up racial tensions.
More interested in better understanding the context of Glasgow’s history as a fraction of human history.
From a historical standpoint this would be interesting for someone studying history around slavery however I have absolutely no interest in being fed a bunch of BLM propaganda about how Glasgow is utterly awful and racist as were a range of the historical figures that are represented in Glasgow. Shockingly, by modern standards, basically everything was awful. Child labour, horrible working environments, crippling poverty... the list goes on.
I'd be very interested in finding out more. This could be made into an openly accessible online course for all
Like others I dont see the point in it, personally I think politicians are jumping on a bandwagon
Glasgow’s links to the transatlantic slavery trade and plantation slavery should be widely available to learn about and understand and I am very interested in learning more about this history. I want to know and understand my city.