Yesterday marked one of the most shameful days in the history of the Metropolitan Police as they arrested peaceful protesters including a blind man in a wheelchair, an 81-year-old woman with Parkinson's, a former British army officer, and a bunch of, um, Quakers.
  • Samsuma@lemmy.ml
    22·
    2 days ago

    Let’s go down the NATOpedia articles rabbit-hole, let’s start with the one you provided:

    First article

    The Blockade of Africa began in 1808 after the United Kingdom outlawed the Atlantic slave trade, making it illegal for British ships to transport slaves. The Royal Navy immediately established a presence off Africa to enforce the ban, called the West Africa Squadron. Although the ban initially applied only to British ships, Britain negotiated treaties with other countries to give the Royal Navy the right to intercept and search their ships for slaves.

    Ok, that’s odd… The slave trade ended but only partially by 1808… Let’s review the Slave Trade Act 1807 from NATOpedia, I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable expla-:

    The Slave Trade Act 1807 Wikipedia Article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807)

    The Slave Trade Act 1807 (47 Geo. 3 Sess. 1. c. 36), or the Abolition of Slave Trade Act 1807,[1] was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the Atlantic slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not automatically emancipate those enslaved at the time, it encouraged British action to press other nation states to abolish their own slave trades. It took effect on 1 May 1807, after 18 years of trying to pass an abolition bill.[2]

    Many of the supporters thought the act would lead to the end of slavery.[3] Slavery on English soil was unsupported in English law and that position was confirmed in Somerset’s case in 1772, but it remained legal in most of the British Empire until the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73).

    However it was not until 1937 that the trade of slaves was made illegal throughout the British Empire, with Nigeria and Bahrain being the last British territories to abolish slavery.

    Let’s zoom in to the 3rd citation, seems interesting…

    Hey hold on a second, the British Empire needed two Acts to prevent the very thing that fueled their empire? And they BROKE DA LAW 😱? It’s almost as if it was intended for some reason… Noooo, it can’t be, let’s just check a little deeper about the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 that was mentioned on the 2nd article, surely this time slavery was no more?

    Slavery Abolition Act 1833 Wikipedia article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833)

    The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation. [1]

    Ok that’s great! Slaverytm was officially no more by 1833… Hey wait a second, what is that citation doing there? Let’s check it out, this ought to blow our minds:

    No way… they continued SLAVERY? Inconceivable, outright impossible to imagine! And the European settlers in North America still continue their longstanding tradition inherited from the British and other previously powerful European colonial countries, this time by rephrasing the word “slaves” to the more neutral term “illegal immigrants”? What has the world come to! 😱

    Again, I ask you: Which part of UK’s history are the UKians supposed to be proud of? Less NATOpedia-ing, more grounded facts that aren’t hidden behind layers of citations.