The truth in chains

Two centuries after Britain began to dismantle the slave trade, the whole issue is still beset by myths, half-truths and ignorance, says Lola Young

An African-Caribbean family walks into an English country house that is open to the public. As they pass the ticket desk, a member of staff calls after them, "There is an entry fee, you know." Without breaking stride, one of the adults says, "We've already paid." And they carry on with their tour. This story may be apocryphal, but the point is clear: the great house was built with the profits made from the blood, sweat and tears of that family's African forebears, and it is time for some reckoning.

It is a busy year for anniversaries connected to national identity and liberation. Three hundred years ago, the Act of Union that brought together the kingdoms of Scotland and England was passed; 50 years ago, Ghana won independence from British colonial rule; and, of course, 2007 is the 200th anniversary of . . . well, something to do with slavery, judging by all the activity. The Royal Mail is issuing a set of postage stamps featuring abolitionists such as Olaudah Equiano, Hannah Moore and William Wilberforce. There will be a commemorative £2 coin, exhibitions in the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery, and a number of memorial services. The Mayor of London is proposing an Africa Day in Trafalgar Square in May. Along with Dr Nima Poovaya Smith (director of the Leeds-based arts organisation Alchemy), I have developed a project to commemorate the bicentenary, Freedom and Culture. This is a year-long programme of performing, literary and visual arts commissions and related educational materials, with national reach.

But what, precisely, is it that we are all marking? Ministers and other public figures, along with newspapers (including the Guardian, sadly), have referred to 2007 as the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery. That is not so. Even to say that the slave trade (that is the trafficking in human beings as distinct from "slavery", which is the condition of being enslaved) was ended in 1807 is not strictly true: the act did not come into effect until 1808 and "the abominable traffick" was continued by Europeans and North Americans for decades afterwards. So, to be precise: 200 years ago the British parliament passed a bill to end trading in enslaved Africans using British ships. Before slavery was finally stamped out, somewhere between 10 million and 30 million Africans had been traded, transported or killed by Europeans in the Caribbean and the Americas.

Racist theories that "explained" Africans' supposed inferiority were used as a justification for enslavement. The chilling logic of this attitude is demonstrated by what happened on the slave ship Zong in 1781. Many of the malnourished occupants were thrown overboard by order of the captain; the ship's owners subsequently claimed compensation for the loss of "their" slaves. Sending kidnapped African people to certain death was not considered a crime because they were "goods", to do with as the owner saw fit. The most direct comparison with the systematic dehumanisation of Africans is that of the murder of millions of Jewish people under the rule of Nazi Germany.

What is the point of this year's commemorations? "I hope it will help British people of all kinds to be able to look each other in the eye and talk without hostility or embarrassment about the events of the past," says the writer, curator and academic Mike Phillips, who is involved in several of this year's events. But that is a lot to ask of a series of uncoordinated events and activities - and the signs are that there is entrenched hostility, as well as significant pockets of guilt. It is hardly surprising that such sentiments exist, given the way in which debate about the subject has been stifled over the years: the story of Britain's role in transatlantic slavery is, to use Professor Stuart Hall's term, a case of "historical amnesia".

Some white people are hooked on guilt, and others are seeking to appropriate the bicentenary to promote the image of a benevolent Britain ridding the world of slavery. Some black people, meanwhile, are locked into seeing themselves in a state of victimhood. I am sure few people really enjoy these feelings, although they can masquerade as a source of comfort. For me, as a black Briton of Nigerian descent, it is essential to recognise that millions of our predecessors were victimised. However, we can achieve this recognition without seeing ourselves as wholly determined by a history of enslavement. As the author Andrea Levy put it, "I'm not a victim of the slave trade - I just live with its legacy."

And although our ancestors can be correctly identified as victims of the slave trade, we should not infer meekness on their part. A damaging side effect of the focus on white people's role in abolition is that Africans are represented as being passive in the face of oppression. In popular public consciousness, Wilberforce ended slavery. This perception makes projects such as Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery's exhibition about Equiano so important: how many Britons, black or white, have even heard of this prominent African abolitionist? The British Museum's Day of Resistance and Remembrance will also help to set the record straight: trustee Bonnie Greer describes it as a time to honour the forms of resistance deployed by Africans - through armed struggle, culture and spirituality - under enslavement. So while it is right that Wilberforce is recognised for taking up the abolitionist cause as an MP, 2007 gives us the opportunity to highlight other personalities and factors that led eventually to the end of the slave trade.

One downside of the commemorations is that the emphasis on enslavement reinforces the belief that there was no African history before European domination. In many ways Africa is still a "blank space" in most European peoples' consciousness. The media carry images of conflict and famine, but there is very little coverage of the continent's history. Before slavery devastated vast areas of the continent, however, several European travellers recognised that, in terms of architecture, trading and systems of government, African societies were as advanced as their own. The west African empire of Mali, for example, was reputed to be one of the largest, richest and most powerful states in the world during the 14th century.

A consequence of the ignorance about pre-slavery Africa is that it is hard for Africans and African-Caribbeans to have an open, honest debate about the role of African traders in enslavement. Some questions are rarely discussed publicly, partly for fear of the use to which such debates may be put by those anxious to direct attention away from the brutality of Britain's slave-trading history.

That last point is not unconnected with the complex issue of reparations. Governments exhibit squeamishness whenever the linked questions of apologies and compensation are raised, but as Arthur Torrington, the secretary of the Equiano Society, points out: "The British government apologised to the slave owners in the 1830s, giving them £20m in reparations." Paid after slavery in the British Empire was finally outlawed in 1833, this amount is equivalent to around £1.5bn today.

Of course, no one alive today is personally responsible for Africa's loss, but those in positions of power do have a responsibility to deal properly with the legacy of that history. Expressions of sorrow or regret should only be viewed as a precursor to concerted action that will address the problems that are preventing us from achieving equality of opportunity. None the less, for some even an expression of regret represents progress.

I have heard several people argue that this year's commemorations should focus exclusively on transatlantic enslavement, but others see the need to link past histories of brutal exploitation to those that surround us today. Lord Herman Ouseley, former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, sees a link to the "modern slave trade in the form of human cargo trading, domestic servants from abroad enslaved by the rich in their affluent homes, and the victims of economic migration".

Making such connections may well allow those in denial of the realities of the slave trade to switch their attention to deeds in which they do not feel implicated. This effect is regrettable, but I don't see it as a reason not to make the links to modern forms of slavery and trafficking. It is important for us all to recognise how easy it is to come to the view that some lives are more important than others and for us to be complicit in perpetuating new varieties of discrimination.

Making connections across time and place also enables us to understand better how people from a wide range of backgrounds can come together to articulate opposition to the status quo. This year presents an opportunity to, as Phillips puts it, "reanimate the historical context". Giving more prominence to the history of slavery and the slave trade is a case of locating transatlantic slavery, Phillips argues, in the context of the French revolution, the American War of Independence, the Haitian revolution, Tom Paine's Rights of Man, Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman and so on. Questions regarding the nature of humanity, who was really entitled to liberty, fraternity and equality - the political, legal and constitutional issues raised by slavery and abolition were a formative part of these debates.

What might white people gain from a more open and honest dialogue about these events? As a white child brought up in a predominantly white area not far from Liverpool, the writer and musician Ian Brownbill found that racist comments were both rife and routine. He has since developed an interest in black history, and says this learning process has been "liberating". He is now working with the television dramatist Jimmy McGovern and the black historian and activist Lawrence Westgaph to bring his research to life for a wider public.

If new aspects of our intertwined histories are revealed as a result of the commemorations, then the year may yet make a useful contribution to the development of shared understanding of overlapping histories. There are great tears in the fabric of history caused by the failure to treat all humans with respect and dignity. These can be repaired - but only through carefully negotiated, collective effort.

· The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is on August 23. The exhibition The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People is at Westminster Hall, London SW1, from May 23 to September 23. Details: www.parliament.uk/slavetrade/. Breaking the Chains is at the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum, Bristol, from April 23 until 2009 (www.empiremuseum.co.uk) Freedom and Culture, a nationwide programme of events, starts on April 25 and culminates in a weekend event at the Southbank Centre, London SE1, November 9-11

· Lola Young is a cross-bench peer

Guardian

3-0! Three key council by-elections, three BNP defeats

Three key by-elections in successive weeks last month could have provided the BNP with an excellent platform from which to launch its local election campaign for May. However, through hard grassroots campaigning, which included tackling the BNP head-on, the fascists failed to win any of them. This was all the more remarkable given that in one ward the BNP already had two councillors and in another it had previously had a councillor and came within fewer than 30 votes of winning last May. Any political party considering how to deal with the BNP threat in its area could do no better than look at the lessons from these three by-elections.

For several years council by-elections have been tailor-made for the British National Party. The racist party can concentrate its resources, tap into local resentment and a protest vote and catch the main parties napping. Many of its council successes originated from a by-election victory.

Success has dried up in recent times as the political parties have become better prepared to take on the BNP, and anti-fascist groups more sophisticated in their campaigning. In fact the last council by-election the BNP won was in September 2004. Between then and last month there have been scores of contests but the BNP has not even come close.

This looked like changing last month when three by-elections were called in successive weeks, including two in areas where the BNP had already had councillors elected. With the May 2007 local elections only weeks away the stage was set for a major BNP push.

The by-elections were in Bede (Nuneaton and Bedworth), Brunshaw (Burnley) and Illingworth and Mixenden (Calderdale). The BNP divided up its national operation with activists from the Midlands, the South West and even London and Essex concentrating on Bede. The North West focused on Brunshaw and Yorkshire on the Calderdale seat.

In all three wards the BNP set about running model campaigns. Not only would a victory act as a wonderful launching pad for its local election campaign but the elections also provided activists with an opportunity to practise their own campaigning skills.

The BNP had never contested Bede before, but a profile of the ward illustrated its potential clearly. Solidly white and working class, the area had once been the site of a mine, long since closed, and more recently home to many car workers who had also seen their jobs disappear. It bordered Nuneaton with its substantial Asian population and there was a general feeling that Bedworth was losing out. In the 2004 European elections the BNP picked up 9% of the vote across the borough with no local campaigning.

The BNP hit the ground running, delivering several leaflets in the first week of the campaign. Under the stewardship of Wayne McDermott, the party’s East Midlands election officer, and with the guidance of two national officers, Eddy Butler and Sadie Graham, the BNP set about canvassing the entire ward.

The Labour Party was slow to respond. Surprised by the BNP effort, they initially thought that the BNP was best ignored but of course this policy had to change as the fascist threat became apparent.

The unions were mobilised and two sent letters to their members in the ward while others sent activists in to help the Labour campaign.

The local TUC obtained some Searchlight postcards and circulated them around the ward. The following week 26 people, including both Searchlight and UAF activists, distributed two more leaflets and it is clear they had an impact. The week before polling day saw the arrests in Birmingham over an alleged kidnap plot. Given the media hysteria surrounding the raids Searchlight felt it had to deal with the politics of hate head on.

Polling day, 8 February, was hit by atrocious weather but there was still a 36% turnout. Labour won the seat by 112 votes, but the BNP came second with a respectable 31% and more votes than the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats combined.

Analysis of the results by polling district suggested that Labour’s vote held up while a chunk of the Conservative vote slipped away to the BNP. As usual, the BNP also picked up many people who had previously stopped voting.

Speaking after the election the Labour agent told Searchlight that the presence of the BNP had galvanised local members. “In a strange way they actually did us a favour,” he said. “It was certainly the hardest campaign that I’ve ever had to face. We are very grateful to the work of Searchlight.”

Amusingly, the BNP was vitriolic in its rage at Searchlight. Simon Darby, the regional organiser, even told a local journalist that they had lost because of our intervention. While this is overstating the case and ignores the hard fought campaign from the Labour Party, our leaflets certainly did have an impact.

Previously held

A week later on 15 February came the Brunshaw by-election. A traditional Labour seat which the BNP won in 2003, only to lose it after a year when its councillor Maureen Stowe walked out of the party, it was now a three-way marginal. In last May’s elections, where two seats were vacant because of Stowe’s resignation from the council, Labour and the Liberal Democrats took one each, with the BNP only 29 votes behind.

The BNP distributed a total of 12 leaflets during the campaign, including a full-colour postcard and a mail-merge letter to identified supporters. In addition, they canvassed the whole ward, a first for Burnley BNP. Everyone agreed that it was by far the most professional campaign the BNP had ever fought in the North West.

The Liberal Democrats matched the BNP leaflet for leaflet. Their campaign focused on the unpopularity of local planning decisions while simultan-eously squeezing the Labour vote by presenting themselves as the only party that could beat the BNP.

With a week to go, Searchlight’s own telephone poll, coupled with insider information, showed it was neck and neck between the Liberal Democrats and the BNP, with Labour trailing some way behind.

Searchlight produced two leaflets for the campaign, the first focusing on the appalling track record of the BNP councillors in Burnley over the years.

The final few days of the campaign were overshadowed by the trial of Robert Cottage and David Jackson at Manchester Crown Court. Just in case the residents of Brunshaw had not read the papers or watched television, Searchlight produced a hard-hitting leaflet, which was probably equalled in its ferocity only by the Oldham gang rape leaflet in 2002. Headlined “BNP candidate pleads guilty to possession of explosives”, it also drew on a source from within Burnley BNP who told us that Cottage had been to a branch meeting only weeks before his arrest.

The BNP was so furious with our leaflet that its local organiser, David Shapcott, threatened to put a local activist “six feet under”.

On its website the BNP called it “the dirtiest campaign ever” and condemned the Searchlight campaign as “those underhand efforts, and the outrageous interference in the democratic process by Labour’s Stalinist Searchlight allies …”.

The BNP clearly believed that the controversy surrounding the trial was a key factor in its defeat. “This media onslaught clearly roused anti-BNP voters to a frenzy, and produced the wave of tactical voting which saw the Lib Dems take the seat comfortably.”

The Liberal Democrats are less convinced and point instead to localised campaigning on their part coupled with a consistent anti-BNP line coming out throughout the campaign.

The truth is probably somewhere in between. The BNP had identified 1,000 potential voters through its canvassing but despite a large “whipping in” operation only half turned out. Even given the duplicity of people when canvassed, it is clear that several hundred potential BNP voters had changed their mind.

Reflecting on the result, one leading Liberal Democrat in the North West told Searchlight that it was important to carry the anti-BNP message throughout the year and not just at elections. “We are still not getting across an adequate message about the BNP between elections. We have all said we need to mount a policy/ideological/issues attack on them, not just pointing out the failings of their leaders and candidates etc. We are not yet doing it.”

While the BNP was well behind in Brunshaw, there is little room for complacency. With the BNP defending four wards in Burnley in May, and another three at risk, it is clear that the BNP remains a serious threat to all the major parties across the town.

BNP heartland

The Illingworth and Mixenden by-election was always going to be a lot harder. The ward already had two BNP councillors and was one of the party’s safest in the country. The BNP worked it hard, delivering at least nine leaflets, conducting a full canvass and issuing its increasingly standard mail-merge letter, with localised pledges for every street, individually addressed to voters.

The BNP thought it had won by a mile. Even before the polls closed the party’s supporters were taunting the Labour candidate that it was “already in the bag”.

But the BNP had not expected one of the best Labour campaigns to date. Localised campaigning and canvassing were complemented by a strong anti-BNP campaign co-ordinated by Hope not Hate Yorkshire. While the BNP vote held firm from last May, Labour found several hundred new voters.

“It was a model campaign,” said Hope not Hate’s Paul Meszaros. “This proves that there is nowhere in the country where we can’t beat the BNP.”

Searchlight