Thursday, February 15, 2007
Hain apologises on behalf of Wales and Northern Ireland…
The deputy leadership competition is in full flow and Peter Hain has taken it upon himself to apologise on behalf of all of his charges on the Celtic former Celtic fringe for our our ancestor’s role in the slave trade…
Mick Fealty @ 10:53 AM
He can go feck off. He doesn’t care a jot as long as it looks good.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 11:10 AMI would suspect that the role of Northern Ireland and Wales in the African slave trade must be pretty much nil.
Perhaps he should apologise to the Welsh for the fact that Irish slavers abducted St Patrick from there?
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 11:37 AMThere wasn’t even a “Northern Ireland” at the height of the slave trade so is Hain apologising on behalf of the Irish people? He certainly needs to now.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 11:38 AMHe can’t apologise on behalf of people he does not represent.
And his role is not a representative one so he should now apologise for his apology.
Northern Ireland did not exist when the slave trade was in operation.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 11:39 AMWhat slave trade? I’m sure if there was any it was minimal compared to the role played by England in this trade and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that if anything the people here at the time were involved in anti slavery agitation.
The bandwagon jumping of this man is breath taking. He is not elected by the people of this island and has no authority to apologise to anybody on our behalf for anything.Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 11:47 AMNOT IN MY NAME!
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 11:55 AMI regret that society thought it was correct to do what they did but why should I bare the guilt of my forefathers? This infers that I can do immoral acts today and leave it for my sons to apologise for me.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 12:00 PMUlster produced someone who fought to expose slavery - Sir Roger Casement. That was in the early days of his career (which got off to such a good start in the period after leaving Ballymena Academy).
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 12:03 PMI think many of us will look forward to the day when someone apologises for Peter Hain and closes the door behind him.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 12:36 PMAll the best people leave Ballymena Academy. ;-)
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 12:56 PMCorrect me if I am wrong but Belfast did not play a direct part in the slave trade. Back in the days when Belfast was progressive there was solid opposition to it.
McCabe’s ‘May God wither the hand and consign the name to eternal infamy of the man who will sign that document.’ referring to setting up a local slave trading company.
Hain should do his homework.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 12:58 PM“McCabe’s ‘May God wither the hand and consign the name to eternal infamy of the man who will sign that document.’ referring to setting up a local slave trading company.”
Maybe he’s apologising on behalf of that local slave-trading company. What were they called?
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 01:46 PMWas the Belfast slave-trading company established? It’s likely that companies and individuals many a lot of money trading with slave-owners. For example, a Stewart estate near Ballintoy was purchased in the late 18th century by Alexander Fullerton using wealth accumulated in Jamaica. The Fullertons were a long established family in north Antrim.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 01:56 PMDK & Nevin
No the slave trading company was NOT established in Belfast. Belfast was well ahead of its time.
Cheap sound bite by Hain and fundamentally wrong.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 02:04 PMSlavery played a huge role in generating the wealth that was the foundation (and purpose of British Empire). Those taxes on the profits of slavery and colonisation – the systematic extraction of recourses and wealth (where even human beings were merchant commodities) - built the great civic buildings in Northern Ireland, so all who benefited from the ignoble history of British imperialism and all who take pride and a sense of identity from said ignoble history are guilty.
Slavery, by the way, isn’t a ghost of Britian’s past. There are cuurently thousands of imported slaves working in Britisn’s sex trade.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 02:08 PMThis link might be useful
http://www.ulsterhistory.co.uk/thomasandwilliammccabe.htm
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 02:42 PMDubliner
I think you are going to have to try a bit harder than that.
Which of the great civic buildings of Belfast were built before 1807?
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 02:45 PMIndeed, Dubliner, isn’t it great there are no imported sex slaves working in your own city.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 02:48 PMYes Dubliner, but then ancient Irish stories and culture involve using slaves siezed from elsewhere, including Britain. If you take pride and a sense of identity from said ignoble ancient Irish history then you, too, are guilty.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 02:49 PMPaul
You’re right, Northern Ireland didn’t exist at the height of the slave trade.
However, it didn’t exist when slavery was banned either.
Hain is a numpty.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 02:59 PM“What slave trade? I’m sure if there was any it was minimal compared to the role played by England in this trade and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that if anything the people here at the time were involved in anti slavery agitation.”
So it was only the English eh? That’ll explain all of the Campbell’s, Cameron’s and McDonald’s in the West Indies then!
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 03:04 PMPhil
No, clearly it wasn’t only the English. It was principally the English though. But what are the English? There was plenty of opposition to the slave trade from English Non-conformists.
One thing is pretty clear though. Belfast was not a part of it.
Still, feel free to provide some evidence.
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 03:19 PMOh give over for f*ck’s sake.
People are constantly bleating on about how NI is, was and always will be part of the UK on this blog and how proud they are about it.
Then as soon as slavery is mentioned everyone jumps behind a rock and denies all knowledge, connection or association with such a concept as ‘the British Empire’ before a particular date and of course we have the classic ‘oh sure everybody was at it back then, everyone was and is guilty in some way or other, what about this saint or that guy’.
‘I regret that society thought it was correct to do what they did but why should I bare the guilt of my forefathers? This infers that I can do immoral acts today and leave it for my sons to apologise for me’.
Yeah nice try.. By the same token maybe the fear that future generations of your offspring may suffer cruelly at the hands of your enemies might encourage you to act honourably rather than dishonourably?
I’m sure there must be a name for it, as it’s this kind of belief, this fear of some form of punishment in an unforeseen and unimaginable future which forms the cornerstone of every religion and explains their timeless hold over people’s minds. Before laws existed, there were only morals, and before morals there had to be superstition - if only to keep order in society. But one doesn’t have to be too superstitious to imagine that if a terrible injustice is perpetrated, the desire for justice will live on beyond the earthly realm of the perpetrator.
Not that it seems to have worked in the case of slavery and other circumstantial series of events such as those which led ultimately to where we are today but let’s not go into that for fear of offending someone and sure nobody was really guilty of anything and sure everyone’s a victim at the end of the day now let’s all move on together holding hands and silently weeping.
By the way d’you see there’s an asian family after moving in at the end of the street. Don’t like that now so I don’t, them foreign ones coming in here.
We live in hope…
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 04:32 PM“I’m sure there must be a name for it, as it’s this kind of belief, this fear of some form of punishment in an unforeseen and unimaginable future which forms the cornerstone of every religion and explains their timeless hold over people’s minds. Before laws existed, there were only morals, and before morals there had to be superstition - if only to keep order in society. But one doesn’t have to be too superstitious to imagine that if a terrible injustice is perpetrated, the desire for justice will live on beyond the earthly realm of the perpetrator.
Not that it seems to have worked in the case of slavery and other circumstantial series of events such as those which led ultimately to where we are today but let’s not go into that for fear of offending someone and sure nobody was really guilty of anything and sure everyone’s a victim at the end of the day now let’s all move on together holding hands and silently weeping.”
Stand back from the keyboard… breathe deeply....
Better?Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 06:56 PMWhat you talking ‘bout Willis (sorry, I couldn’t resist that)
I wasn’t trying to link Belfast or Ireland to the slave trade nor was I trying to deny the role of some Englishmen in it. The point that I was trying to make is that as usual anything unpleasant to do with Britain’s imperial past is blamed upon us English (for other examples see Hain’s intention to apologise for the Croke Park murders on the eve of an England match there). If you want evidence of Scotland’s role in slavery may I suggest you look up a few (slave)names in the Bridgetown or Kingston telephone directories or think about the surnames of a few black celebrities (Sir Trevor McDonald or Sol, Kevin and Darren Campbell). Did their ancestors once roam the Highland Glenns hunting for wild haggis or did they gain those surnames by some other means?
Posted by on Feb 15, 2007 @ 08:14 PM
