Bringing up slavery in the 21st. Century is just an excuse for another attack on the West. Those responsible are only interested in the slave trade conducted by white Westerners: not all the others, many of whom are still trading in, and enslaving, human beings.

Sadly, many people inside the West are falling for it. While they keep voting for the same trash who won't stand up for the West and face down its enemies, the bad guys will keep winning - as they are now.

Those responsible are only interested in the slave trade conducted by white Westerners: not all the others, many of whom are still trading in, and enslaving, human beings.
ttbn,
It certainly is indisputable that it is so !

Hi Foxy,

The last American negro was released from "slavery" in the form of penal servitude in the Deep South USA in 1942. The doco "Slavery By Another Name". Slavery created vast wealth in the Deep South, particularly the cotton industry by the mid 19th century.

Australia was not immune from "Slavery", many of the early convicts were simply slaves by another name, their crime was "being poor". Australians engaged in slavery, it's called "Blackbirding" today.

My Great Great Grandmother born a slave (about 1823-1891) on the island of Mauritius, a British colony at the time. Was transported to NSW, (fortunately for me, not to Cape Colony SA) aged about 12, in 1834 as a convict for life, (a very suspect attempted murder conviction, half day trial, with no witnesses called, only affidavits from the accuser, and a attending doctor, charging her with poisoning the tea of her mistress, the tea had been thrown out, the wife of the man who was probably her father, this was when she was aged about 10) eventually partially freed in Bathurst NSW, and allowed to marry in 1841. Later, she and her convict husband did rather well as farmers in the Wellington district of NSW. Decedents still own and farm the original property today. P/s Her cousin aged 12, was also convicted of the crime at the same time and also transported together to NSW. The cousin died of most likely TB in abject poverty, in the slums of Sydney in the 1860's.

Dear Paul,

Thank you for sharing. Family histories are fascinating
and often so inspiring - especially when it's your own.
I'd like to learn much more about mine - especially on
my mother's Russian side.

Prof. Rhonda E. Howard Hassmann has written a book -
"Reparations to Africa," in which she explains that one
reason for the difference between Holocaust reparations lies
in the considerable obstacles confronting those calling for
slave trade reparations.

I mentioned some of these obstacles in my previous post and I
gave the link from which they came. The link is worth a
read as it gives so much more information.

The professor explains that approx. 12.5 million Africans
were shipped across the Atlantic over more than 300 years.
She goes on to tells us that 10.7 million survived and actually
landed in the Americas.

She further tells us that "if you add people killed within
Africa due to the slave trade that figure could reach
30 million. And the number of descendants may well be in the
hundreds of millions".

She also says that "What's more, none of the direct victims of
the slave trade are still alive. Particularly for descendants of
the perpetrators of slavery, the historical memory is much more
distant than the Holocaust".

The end of the slave trade is worth a read
as is the centuries of atrocities as well as
some of the successful movements for
reparations to Africans for crimes committed during the colonial
period. The Herero are one ethnic group mentioned - living in
Southwest Africa, now Namibia, which was once colonized by
Germany.

Interesting trading.

It's outrageous that Paul should accuse Australia of practicing slavery. The convicts were sentenced to 7 years transportation and when they arrived here there weren't even any jails. Everyone was allowed to move freely about and many convicts, like Paul's forebears, established themselves as law-abiding and successful citizens.

The letters patent specifically forbade slavery in Australia, and transportation was an experiment in reform, which actually worked remarkably well.

Blackbirding did not amount to slavery either, and it was illegal. Crews found guilty were convicted, and some even hung.

There were large numbers of indentured labourers in Queensland, many from the Pacific Islands, although Europeans also came out on these terms as well. They came here voluntarily and worked-off the cost of their passage. They often repatriated money home. It's not so different from today where we have a large Pacific Island workforce in our agricultural industries, it's just that today our labour laws are more liberal for everyone than they were over 100 years ago.

The test as to whether indentured labour amounted to slavery came when the practice was ended. It turned-out that most of the labourers didn't want to go home and chose to stay here. Just as well, or Queensland would not do half so well at Rugby League without their descendants.

Australia has a history in this regard of which it can be justifiably proud.

Thalia Anthony, University of Technology, Sydney and
Stephen Gray, Monash University tell us:

"Prime Minister Scott Morrison asserted in a radio
interview that 'there was no slavery in Australia".

We're told that "This is a common misunderstanding
which often obscures our nation's history of
exploitation of First Nations people and Pacific
Islanders".

"Morrison followed up with - "I've always said we've
got to be honest about our history".

Unfortunately, his statement is at odds with the
historical record.

We're told that "This history was widely and publicly
documented among other sources, in the 2006 Australian
Senate Report "Unfinished Business: Indigenous Stolen
Wages,"

It's explained that - "Australia was not a "slave state"
like the American South". However we're told that
" slavery is a broader concept as Article 1, of the
United Nations Slavery Convention explains:

"Slavery is the status or condition of a person over
whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right
of ownership are exercised".

We're told that "These powers might include non
payment of wages, physical or sexual abuse, control
of freedom of movement, or selling a person like a
piece of property".

In the words of slavery historian - Orlando Patterson:

"Slavery is a form of "social death". We're told that:
"Slavery practices emerged in Australia in the 19th
century and in some places endured until the 1950s".

"Some 62,000 Melanesian people were brought to Australia
and enslaved to work in Queensland's sugar plantations
between 1863 and 1904. First Nations Australians had a
more enduring experience of slavery, originally in the
pearling industry in Western Australia and the Torres
Strait and then in the cattle industry".

There's much more at:

http://unaa.org.au/2020/06/13/was-there-slavery-in-australia-yes-it-shouldnt-even-be-up-for-debate/#: