"Red Ken" biedt verontschuldigingen aan voor slavernij

quote:

London Mayor Apologizes for Slave Trade
August 23, 2007 - 4:15pm


U.S. civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson gestures as he delivers his speech during a ceremony calling for an annual memorial day to remember the horrors of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, in London Thursday Aug. 23, 2007. Standing with Jackson, Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, wiped tears from his eyes and wagged an accusing finger at his city's skyline, apologizing for the capital's role in the slave trade. Livingstone said London and the corporations it hosted were tainted by the trade and its profits. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis) By RAPHAEL G. SATTER
Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) - An emotional Mayor Ken Livingstone apologized Thursday for his city's role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, saying London was still tainted by it.

The notoriously outspoken Livingstone seldom apologizes for anything, but he choked up as he read an account of the brutal tortures suffered by slaves in Britain's Caribbean colonies. And the politician nicknamed "Red Ken" for his left-leaning views angrily denounced the role of his city's corporations in financing the trade.

"You can look across there to see the institutions that still have the benefit of the wealth they created out of slavery," Livingstone said, pointing through a huge window at the skyscrapers of the financial district. "As mayor, I offer an apology on behalf of London and its institutions for their role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade."

The Rev. Jesse Jackson praised the statement, saying Livingstone broke important ground with his remarks. The civil rights leader said apologies should lead to reparations.

Livingstone did not explicitly mention restitution, but his tearful expression of remorse went further than a statement in March by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair on the 200th anniversary of the law that ended the slave trade. Blair expressed his deep sorrow, but did not make a direct apology.

Livingstone cultivates a maverick image, often clashing with the U.S. ambassador and even battling his own party.

His apology on the city's behalf, coupled with a demand that London's day of commemoration be instituted nationally, thrilled the crowd at city hall.

Livingstone said London would mark the horrors of slavery with an annual memorial day timed to coincide with the U.N.'s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, held every Aug. 23.

London played a central role in the slave trade, outfitting, financing and insuring many of the ships that ferried living cargo to plantations in the New World. Revenue from the trade helped fund the construction of London's docks.

London is not the first to apologize for the trade. The port city of Liverpool, one of the great European slave-trading ports, formally apologized in 1999.

quote:

Livingstone weeps as he apologises for slavery


Hugh Muir
Friday August 24, 2007
The Guardian


Ken Livingstone yesterday marked the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade with an emotional and tearful ceremonial apology on behalf of the capital city and its institutions. The London mayor wept as he told a commemorative service of the cruelties inflicted on the millions transported from Africa and the legacy that confronts them today.
Before an audience of politicians, writers and dignitaries, he twice paused during his address. As he voiced the apology, the US civil rights leader the Rev Jesse Jackson walked over and placed his arm around the mayor. Mr Livingstone completed the long awaited statement, dabbing tears from his eyes, his voice shaky.


Before leaving office Tony Blair expressed "regret" for Britain's involvement in the slave trade, but he was criticised by some - including Mr Livingstone - for not going further. In March the mayor called on the institutions to say sorry.
Yesterday, to wide applause at City Hall, he said: "As mayor I offer an apology on behalf of London and its institutions for their role in the transatlantic slave trade. Some say that recognising such a crime is a form of - and I quote - 'national self hate'. But the late Senator Bobby Kennedy often quoted the French writer Albert Camus who wrote: 'I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice'."

He said London continued to benefit massively from the fortunes made by slavers. He added: "It was the racial murder of not just those who were transported but generations of enslaved African men, women and children. To justify this murder and torture black people had to be declared inferior or not human. We live with the consequences today."

Afterwards he said he had read the address several times before delivering it but "had no idea how overwhelming it was going to be".

Apologies have been made by the city of Liverpool and the Church of England synod. But earlier this year the Conservative leader, David Cameron, appeared to dismiss the idea, saying: "I don't actually think that one generation can meaningfully apologise for something that a previous generation did."

The mayor, who was speaking at London's first Annual Slavery Memorial Day ceremony, called on national leaders to accelerate their plans to have a UK wide event each year. The date marked yesterday coincides with the great slave rebellion in Haiti on August 23 1791, and is the date preferred by Unesco.

Francoise Riviere, assistant director general for culture at Unesco, heaped praise on the mayor. "You have distinguished yourself as the first high-visibility elected official to take such a historic stand, thereby setting an example."

Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International, said: "This will help increase pressure for a formal apology from the government and an annual national slavery memorial day."