It is estimated that world wide, up to twelve million individuals are subject to some form of forced labour or slavery. Can we be confident that the contents of our shopping baskets in the current global market were produced without oppression and exploitation? To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the British Abolition of the Slave Trade, Parwich Church and the Local History Society organised a short series of events.
Operation Reflex – a talk by Alasdair Duncan. (30/10/07)
One of the points that came out of this evening was the difficulties not only in establishing who is guilty of these crimes, but also identifying when these crimes are occurring. Some of the questions raised related to what could we a small rural community do in relation to this issue:
• most importantly, as in the eighteenth and nineteenth century abolition movement, recognise that individuals taking a stand can create change.
• support the relevant charities and organisations.
• raise awareness to help establish when these crimes occur.
• explore the issue of ‘safe houses’.
Local Links with Slavery: a few facts and a lot of speculation – a talk by Peter Trewhitt. (20/11/07)
Peter Trewhitt outlined the local involvement in slavery from pre-historic times through the high reliance on slave work forces in Roman and Saxon times to the influx of wealth from the exploitation of African slaves on Caribbean plantations, also exploring a number of byways.
Perhaps the main message of this talk was that slavery is not something foreign and remote from us. It is likely that we are all descended from both slave owners and slaves; that the environment around us has been shaped by slave labour and the profits from slavery; that direct links between our area and slavery continued as recently as the early twentieth century.
Discussion included the problems of how easily people seem able to justify the oppression of others when it is in their self interest, and that lack of education, opportunity and self belief can be as debilitating as direct oppression.
PARWICH.ORG 
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