That slavery is still going on in almost all parts of the world. It is not as institutionalised and respectable - yes, it was 'respectable' for many to be slave owners and traders - as it was, but slave trading still goes on and there are people being kept as slaves in Glasgow, Scotland and elsewhere. We also need to be aware that there is still colonialism. It is no longer taught as part of the 'glories of the Empire", as I and others were taught at school up until c1970s, but there is still a colonialist mindset amongst many of the UK politicians and colonialist views are expressed in almost all of our media. The language is not as overt as it was when I was at school, but the attitudes are still there. Opposition, in some quarters, to independence for Scotland and Wales and for reunification of Ireland is predicated upon a colonialist attitude. This attitude is not restricted only to the Conservative Party.
People should have a view of what today would be like if we had not participated in widespread slavery & colonialism. Would we have become a colony of Spain, Holland, France????
That people alive today are not victims of history. If we keep telling people they are victims, all we do is create victims. Slavery has existed as long as humans have waled the earth. We should celebrate the fact that we are NOT victims of it due to the enlightened progress of previous generations.
Social attitudes that developed during slavery, empire and colonialism allowed for the inhumane treatment of Black people. This ideology of white supremacy is still present in our current society. We see this on a personal level, with high numbers of racial hate crimes and racial bullying in schools, and also on a structural level with the higher rate of poverty amongst minority ethnic people, poorer life outcomes and limited opportunities available to minority ethnic people.
That many communities now call Glasgow home due to British colonialism. Pakistani, Indian, Irish and many more. That these individual and shared experiences should be understood in the context within which they occurred, the collapse of the British empire after revolts by colonised people. That prior to independence the historical legacies of colonialism shaped migration movements to Glasgow. One of the most obvious being An Gorta Mor. Presently this history is not well known within our society, education syllabus or between communities who share post colonial experiences and impacts. In fact i'd go as far as saying some intentionally create tension between post colonial communities by down playing or at worst refusing to acknowledge their experience. In Glasgow this is very true for the multi generational Irish community.
That Scots were directly involved in the transatlantic slave trade as investors, owners of enslaved people, and overseers on the plantations. They were also in the extensive range of professions and trades involved in maintaining the infrastructure of the slave trade. Glasgow benefited hugely, particularly from the tobaco trade which relied very heavily on ensalved people. We cannot simply ignore this. Certainly, one quick sign of our intention to make reparation wold be to address the highly offensive predominance of slavers from our public squares and streets. With regard to street names, perhaps an immediate measure might be to indicate those names that are assiciated with slave owners and traders, eg BuchananX Sreet, IngramX Street, and so on, as a way of highlighting our legacy of slavery and colonialism, while the city works towards a more permanent solution. I beleive many people would be shocked by the extent of the extent to which Glasgow has hnoured slavers.
Africans were also investors, owners of enslaved people and the enslavers of people. They also owned plantations on which they used slave labour, some of those slaves were Scottish and Irish.
Its disingenuous to say that slavers are "honoured" you will find that the reason these people have street names and statues is because of their life long achievements, not because they were involved in the TAST. Show me a single statue or street name that is named so because "X was a wealthy slaver" and nothing else.
That slavery is still going on in almost all parts of the world. It is not as institutionalised and respectable - yes, it was 'respectable' for many to be slave owners and traders - as it was, but slave trading still goes on and there are people being kept as slaves in Glasgow, Scotland and elsewhere. We also need to be aware that there is still colonialism. It is no longer taught as part of the 'glories of the Empire", as I and others were taught at school up until c1970s, but there is still a colonialist mindset amongst many of the UK politicians and colonialist views are expressed in almost all of our media. The language is not as overt as it was when I was at school, but the attitudes are still there. Opposition, in some quarters, to independence for Scotland and Wales and for reunification of Ireland is predicated upon a colonialist attitude. This attitude is not restricted only to the Conservative Party.
People should have a view of what today would be like if we had not participated in widespread slavery & colonialism. Would we have become a colony of Spain, Holland, France????
That people alive today are not victims of history. If we keep telling people they are victims, all we do is create victims. Slavery has existed as long as humans have waled the earth. We should celebrate the fact that we are NOT victims of it due to the enlightened progress of previous generations.
There needs to be a greater understanding of the history of enslavement of humans by other humans in order to contextualise Glasgow’s history.
Social attitudes that developed during slavery, empire and colonialism allowed for the inhumane treatment of Black people. This ideology of white supremacy is still present in our current society. We see this on a personal level, with high numbers of racial hate crimes and racial bullying in schools, and also on a structural level with the higher rate of poverty amongst minority ethnic people, poorer life outcomes and limited opportunities available to minority ethnic people.
That many communities now call Glasgow home due to British colonialism. Pakistani, Indian, Irish and many more. That these individual and shared experiences should be understood in the context within which they occurred, the collapse of the British empire after revolts by colonised people. That prior to independence the historical legacies of colonialism shaped migration movements to Glasgow. One of the most obvious being An Gorta Mor. Presently this history is not well known within our society, education syllabus or between communities who share post colonial experiences and impacts. In fact i'd go as far as saying some intentionally create tension between post colonial communities by down playing or at worst refusing to acknowledge their experience. In Glasgow this is very true for the multi generational Irish community.
That Scots were directly involved in the transatlantic slave trade as investors, owners of enslaved people, and overseers on the plantations. They were also in the extensive range of professions and trades involved in maintaining the infrastructure of the slave trade. Glasgow benefited hugely, particularly from the tobaco trade which relied very heavily on ensalved people. We cannot simply ignore this. Certainly, one quick sign of our intention to make reparation wold be to address the highly offensive predominance of slavers from our public squares and streets. With regard to street names, perhaps an immediate measure might be to indicate those names that are assiciated with slave owners and traders, eg BuchananX Sreet, IngramX Street, and so on, as a way of highlighting our legacy of slavery and colonialism, while the city works towards a more permanent solution. I beleive many people would be shocked by the extent of the extent to which Glasgow has hnoured slavers.
Africans were also investors, owners of enslaved people and the enslavers of people. They also owned plantations on which they used slave labour, some of those slaves were Scottish and Irish.
Its disingenuous to say that slavers are "honoured" you will find that the reason these people have street names and statues is because of their life long achievements, not because they were involved in the TAST. Show me a single statue or street name that is named so because "X was a wealthy slaver" and nothing else.
It’s the past, different times, leave it be
I'd rather learn about positives
Glasgows role in slavery as well as slavery’s impact on Glasgow’s development.