Tag: Slavery

Marxism 2018 – Day 1 Continued – Science and Slavery

Continuing my account of Marxism 2018, with the second and third meetings of the Thursday.

INTRODUCTION

This post continues my coverage of Marxism 2018, which started with an introductory post. In this post I cover the second and third meetings of the opening day, which for me were Camilla Royle on the Politics of Science and Ken Olende on What Was Unique About The Translatlantic Slave Trade.

CAMILLA ROYLE ON SCIENCE

Camilla’s actual title was “Is science political?” Most scientists would like the answer to this question to be no, but desirability and truth are two different things. Camilla demonstrated many examples of science being coopted for political ends. This was an excellent talk and it set the stage for a splendid discussion.

3E before the second meetingSpeaker and chair preparing for the meetingspeaker and chairCamilla ready to speakBookmarksEnvironment and WindrushThe chair introduces the meetingCamilla speakingCamilla speaking - close upSarah contributes to the discussionAnother contribution to the discussionCamilla summing upDisplay

KEN OLENDE ON SLAVERY

This talk was accompanied by slides which makes it easier to convey an impression of the ground covered. 

3CPosters, 3CPosters,3C II3C IIFront of 3CPosters 3C III3C IVPosters 3C V

Meeting setup
The big screen, speaker and chaiur before the meeting.
The chair opening the meeting
chair Jay introduces the meeting
Ken Olende giving his talk
Ken starts his talk

The presentationRoman Empire 100 BCE

Moorish cavalry under Lusius Quietus
A depiction of Moorish forces fighting for the Roman Empire – while Rome was a slave holding society skin colour did not come into the equation.

Slaves in Roman CarthageSlaves in CarthageGladiatorsJanissariesMansa Musa

Slave trade routes
The extent to which the translatlantic slave trade dwarfed its predecesors
13th century slave market
This was a slave market in Yemen in the 13th century
Slaves close-up
As this close-up shows skin colour again was not decisive.

Benin bronzeIndentured labourersSlave shipThe storming of the Bastille

Olaudah Equiano
I heartily recommend that you read Olaudah Equiano’s book.

Gillray cariacatureToussaint L'ouvertureLiverpool

William Cuffay
London Chartist leader William Cuffay – the establishment used the same sort of terms about him as they did about slaves.

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