Well with next years planned events to celebrate the end of the slave trade, the argument about an apology has come up again. The PM has expressed sorrow for the trade but not actually apologised, is this the right way to go about it?
Well I think the expression of sorrow is all that is needed. Britain has acknowledged for many years its role in the slave trade, and indeed was one of the countries to push for the banning of slavery. For a government now to apologise is completely unnecessary, it happened a long long time ago so while it must be acknowledged it is not necessary to apologise. Countries cannot go apologising (or be expected to apologise) for everything in their past, being honest there would be too much for a lot of countries to apologise for!
Rather than concentrating on pushing for an apology for the past people should push for a solution to deal with todays slave trade. There is still a big trade in people, particularly for prostitution purposes in Europe and Asia, as well as the man children that are taken and pushed into armed combat in many countries around the world. These are things I have not heard mentioned in the last few weeks and feel they should be. The present should always take priority over the past as it needs dealing with now.
Hopefully governments and people will deal with that soon and start taking action!
