President Bill Clinton, USA, has apologised for the ill treatment of American Africans during the periods of slavery and subsequent racial discrimination.

 

The President of Germany has recently apologised for the ill treatment and deaths of 6 million Jews during the Nazi period and agreed to pay Billions of Dollars in compensation.

 

The Government and banks of Switzerland have agreed to pay Billions of dollars in compensation to Jews, as a result of their involvement during and subsequent to the Germany's Nazi period.

 

 

The British Government needs to make an Apology of Substance for Slavery and Colonialism and to return the treasures stolen during this period, such as the largest diamond of all the Koh-i-noor from the country of Punjab (put into the Queen’s crown). The BSF supports the National Assembly Against Racism (NAAR) call on the Government to :

 

1.      Make an apology for the inhumanity and injustice suffered by black and Asian people over 5 continents through enslavement and colonisation.

 

2.      Formally apologise to black and Asian people in Britain today who have to live day to day with the worst legacy of colonialism : racism.

 

3.      Acknowledge the voluntary and enforced contributions that black and Asian people have made to Britain and its economy, and agree in principle to the emerging demands for reparations.

 

4.      Cancel the debts of countries which suffered as a result of slavery and colonialism.

 

5.      End the practices of neo-colonialism and advance the cause of establishing an equitable world order.

 

6.      Integrate black and Asian history within the British education curriculum ensuring a true depiction of the past and present.

 

 

The legacy of slavery and colonialism

 

·        £150 million profit made by the British from West Indian plantations alone

Michael Craton, Sinews of Empire : A Short History of British Slavery (1974)

 

·        It is estimated that during the last thirty years of British colonial administration British trading and shipping interests took out of Ghana a total of £300 million

Kwame Nkrumah, Africa Must Unite (1963)

 

·        Bengal famine of 1770 killed 10 million people

Stanley Wolpert, A New History of India (1982)

 

·        Britain's loot alone from India was worth up to £1000 million

William Digby, Prosperous British India : A Revelation from the Official Records (1901)

 

·        During British imperial rule half of India's annual net revenues flowed out of the country

Romesh Dutt, The Economic History of India under early British Rule (1906)

 

·        28,825,000 Indians starved to death in 24 famines between 1854 and 1901

Ibid

 

·        The Bengal famine of 1943 claimed 1,500,000 victims

Famine Inquiry Commission, report on Bengal, Delhi (1945)

 

·        As late as 1834 Britain had 540,559 African slaves in the Caribbean

 

·        Prior to the European's arrival in 1772 there were 4000 black Tasmanians in Tasmania. This was reduced to 203 survivors within 59 years. By 1846 Tasmania's black population had been wiped out.

MM Bennet, The Australian Aboriginal as a Human Being (1930)

 

·        The European settlement in Australia in 1778 saw a Black population of 300,000 reduced to 77,501 by 1921. By 1932 the population was down to 59,719

Thomas Dunabin, The Making of Australasia

 

If Prime Minister Tony Blair can quite rightly hold a Holocaust Day for the Nazi killing of 6 million Jews, surely a British Empire Holocaust Day should be held for the millions of people killed and subjugated during the colonial period.

 

 

British Sikh Fedeartion Press Release on 26 January 2000:-

 

The following is an extract from the BSF Press Release

 

 

“

26th  January 2000

 

Press Release

 

BSF Welcomes Tony Blair's British Holocaust Memorial Day announcement

What about giving a British Empire Apology & Holocaust Day?

 

 

The British Sikh Federation (BSF) welcomes Tony Blair's announcement that 27 January 2001 will be Holocaust Memorial Day, and hopes that it will become an annual event, so that we can all remember the terrible killing of 6 million Jews by the German Nazi Government.

 

 

President Bill Clinton has apologised for the treatment of American Africans during the period of slavery and subsequent racism. The Governments, banks, and industrial companies of Germany and Switzerland have apologised for their treatment of Jews, and provided compensation running into Billions of US Dollars.

 

 

Tony Blair should issue a similar apology for the wrongs committed by successive British Governments during the British Empire days for slavery and colonialism, and set aside a British Empire Holocaust Day in remembrance for this dark period in British history; see brief summary below of the millions killed and thousands of millions of pounds plundered by the British Empire throughout the world.

 

………”

 

 

 

Tony Blair considers option to nominate an annual “Slavery Day” - The Times 3 March 2000, page 1 :-

 

“Tony Blair is to introduce a formal national commeration of the victims of slavery as a reminder of Britains leading role in the trade that cost the lives of millions of Africans.

 

The Prime Minister has overridden the objections of Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, and has decided to go ahead with the iniative, although its form is yet to be decided.”