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.
The British
Empire 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
Tony Blair should take the following practical
steps:-
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.
Kashmir Singh LL.B, LL.M 0421-507055
General Secretary
For further information please contact:-
1. Sukhvinder
Singh B.Sc 0121-451-2227 /
0973-439227 (M)/ 01922-448594
2. Savraj
Singh Bains BA, MA 01902-821311
/ 01902-337357 / 0797-0647215 (M)
www.british-sikh-fed.org.uk website serving the 600,000 British Sikh Community
email: british.sikh.fed@talk21.com
British Sikh Federation, PO Box 242, Wolverhampton WV4 5DH