Not Getting All Patriotic Are We Dave?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-responds-to-russias-alleged-small-island-jibe-at-g20-summit-with-impassioned-defence-of-britain-8801673.html

Better be careful Dave or you will be classed a 'Little Englander' or at the very worse assuming that we are 'Superior' to others.

/// Giving mention of Britain's fight against fascism during the 20th century and the abolition of slavery in the 19th, he said the country "has invented most of the things worth inventing, including every sport currently played around the world." ///

Oh dear Dave, have you not learnt anything from your Liberal partners, you should know that the tend these days is to cry ourselves down.

[jim360]

True -- but the slave trade took an already evil concept and turned it into an industry.

Sins are not mitigated because "everyone else was doing it" or some such line.

[Gromit]

// most of all the World's races have been subjected to slavery at one time or another. //

No they haven't.

Many countries have been enslaved but it wasn't an export trade. African slavery meant people were captured and exported (many dying in the process) for financial gain. That was fairly unique.

[jno]

it wasn't a sin at the time, though, so it's pointless to blame our forefathers for not being as noble as we, their descendants. It's reasonable to applaud Britain for leading the reaction against slavery, as it led the way in many things in that era.

Conversely, is Britain taking the lead in anything now? "Biggest heart" doesn't do it for me.

[jno]

re slavery, it's worth mentioning that the Anglo-Saxons, whom so many praise, used it. It took the Normans to get rid of it (not that their feudal system was very much better.)

[mushroom25]

//That was fairly unique//

really? does the trade in slaves enacted by romans, greeks, thracians, etc, not count then? or is that too long ago to be bothered with?

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// No they haven't. ///

/// Many countries have been enslaved but it wasn't an export trade. African slavery meant people were captured and exported (many dying in the process) for financial gain. That was fairly unique. ///

You are wrong, have you not heard of the Romans who sent many of their captive country's inhabitants back to Rome to be used as slaves?

Then to bring it even more up to date didn't the Nazis, the Russians and the Japanese also use slave labour?

[Kromovaracun]

"you should know that the tend these days is to cry ourselves down."

This is an invention on your part, AOG.

[jno]

slave labour's not the same as an export trade. I'm not sure even the Romans took to transporting slaves by the shipload; I think they mostly used people they'd captured in battle themselves rather than buying them in bulk for retail purposes. (Open to correction on this point.)

[Kromovaracun]

"I think they mostly used people they'd captured in battle themselves rather than buying them in bulk for retail purposes. (Open to correction on this point.)"

Slaves were often given as gifts, and I'm fairly sure they were extensively bought and sold in Rome.

Not that it matters.

"If God hadn't mean the slaves to be slaves then he would have prevented it"

If I may respond, I think this is a somewhat hideous attitude and is a good example of how religious faith can lead people to believe or say horrible things.

[DrFilth]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Baltimore

[Gromit]

Everyone knows what Cameron meant when he mentioned our involvement in ending the slave trade. It is something we should be proud of and not belttle it.

Slavery has been around as long has man has, and still exists today. The african slave trade wasn't a conquering nation forcing their beaten foes to work for them. It was kidnapping humans, exporting them and then selling them like a crop. It was no worse than any other form of slavery, but it was to our credit that we were instrumental in ending that practice.

[anotheoldgit]

Sorry mushroom25 I was composing my answer, while you posted yours.

Yes it is now time that the British were now released from the 'shackle of slavery' it was abolished almost 200 years ago, so now is the time to move on surely?

The same cannot be said for others though, but how often do you hear these facing criticism?

1902: Ethiopian Empire abolishes slavery (though it was not legally and officially abolished by Emperor Haile Selassie until 1942).
1906: China formally abolishes slavery effective 31 January 1910, when all adult slaves were converted into hired labourers and the young were freed upon reaching age 25.[17]
1912: Siam (Thailand), formally abolishes all slavery. The act of selling a person into slavery was abolished in 1897 but slavery itself was not outlawed at that time.[57]
1921: Nepal abolishes slavery.[58][59]
1922: Morocco abolishes slavery.[60]
1923: Afghanistan abolishes slavery.[61]
1924: Iraq abolishes slavery.
1924: League of Nations Temporary Slavery Commission
1926, 25 September: Convention to Suppress the Slave Trade and Slavery bound all signatories to end slavery.
1928: Iran abolishes slavery.[62]
1928: Domestic slavery practised by local African elites abolished in Sierra Leone.[63] Though established as a place for freed slaves, a study found practices of domestic slavery still widespread in rural areas in the 1970s.
1935: Italian General Emilio De Bono proclaims slavery to be abolished in the Ethiopian Empire.[64]
1936: Britain abolishes slavery in Northern Nigeria.[65]
1945: In the aftermath of the defeat of Nazi Germany and Japan, workcamps for slave labor were closed by the liberators.
1946: Fritz Sauckel, procurer of slave labor for Nazi Germany, is convicted at the Nuremberg trials and executed as war criminal.
1948: UN Article 4 of the Declaration of Human Rights bans slavery globally.[66]
1952: Qatar abolishes slavery.
1959: Slavery in Tibet is abolished by China after the Dalai Lama flees.
1960: Niger abolishes slavery (though it was not made illegal until 2003).[67]
1962: Saudi Arabia abolishes slavery.
1962: Yemen abolishes slavery.
1963: United Arab Emirates abolishes slavery.
1970: Oman abolishes slavery.
1981: Mauritania abolishes slavery.[68][69][70]
2007: Mauritania makes slavery a crime.[71]

While now officially illegal in all nations, slavery or practices akin to it continue today in many countries throughout the world.

[Gromit]

It is clear that you do not think the British abolition of the slave trade was anything to bragg about.

Most decent people do.

[THECORBYLOON]

ANOTHEOLDGIT, how about trying 2010 (Section 71 of the Coroners and Justice Act, 2009) for slavery being made illegal in England, Wales and Ulster?

[anotheoldgit]

Gromit

/// It is clear that you do not think the British abolition of the slave trade was anything to bragg about. ///

And where pray have I said that?

Oh! I see it is once again your regular 'indecent' way to try and belittle me.