William Wilberforce

October 2007 - I'm leaving this here as, although time has now passed since March and the commemorative year is in process of itself passing into history, the issues remain unchanged.  Modern versions of slavery remain.

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2007 sees the 200th anniversary of the British and American abolition of the trade in slaves.  This great social evil did was not defeated easily.  Powerful financial and trading interests fought to continue the old, cruel system.  It was a only a long-term, totally determined campaign which eventually brought it down.  Defeat followed defeat, but victory came at last.  One of the great heroes of the abolition movement, along with others such as Thomas Clarkson whose researches fuelled the argument,  was the parliamentarian William Wilberforce.  During 2007 the memory of this champion of freedom will be honoured in many places - not least in the city of Hull, and in Yorkshire more generally, each of which he for many years represented in Parliament.

As I update this lens (16th March) I am feeling a mixture of emotions - partly sadness, partly fury.  I have just watched one of the most disgraceful documentary programmes I have ever seen on British television, in which the presenter and editors devoted an hour to running down the contribution of Wilberforce to emancipation.

Now of course he did not do it alone.  Of course he did not get everything right all the time.  Of course there were many others involved in the long campaign to stop the trade and free the slaves.  And yes, many slaves themselves bravely fought against their own situation and died in the process.  But the way to give credit to these courageous men and women is not to seek to belittle and discredit the massive contribution of the man who decade after decade gave his life to public leadership on the issue in Parliament. 

Why does this modern age find it so necessary, with such arrogant ingratitude, to pull down and besmirch the memory of the campaigners of the past?  Maybe there's a lesson here for campaigners on major ethical issues today - such as the environment, anti-corruption and human rights.  In a few generations' time, after their good work has produced its fruits, will they suffer the same fate of demolition?