End of slavery not end of inequalities
During my trip to Cape Coast on Sunday, March 9, 2014, I didn’t want to miss visiting the Cape Coast Castle.
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Of course, I have already heard about the Transatlantic Slave Trade between the 15th and 19th century in my history lessons back at school in my hometown, Munich, Germany. But seeing something with your eyes is always more touching than being taught/hearing about it.
The Cape Coast Castle was used as a prison for natives who were captured as slaves before they were transported to European colonies in North and South America. As I learnt, around 1,000 male and 500 female slaves occupying the castle at any point in time in separate dungeons were locked up for six to 12 weeks before they are transported by a ship to their destination.
Hearing something like that is already bad enough, but seeing the circumstances is even worse.
I am sure most of the readers of this feature already know about the trade, but nevertheless, I don’t want to hold them back at this stage.
Dungeons
Because of the narrowness of the dungeons, the slaves didn’t even have the chance to lie down and there were only a few windows to let in fresh air. Real toilet facilities weren’t given. Instead, there was a created channel down the middle of the dungeons to carry away urine and defecations which completely covered the floor of the dungeons usually. Sometimes, they didn’t get food or water for days. In addition, it was almost completely dark, a situation that damaged the eyes of the slaves when they saw the sun again for the first time after weeks.
All these were justified with economic considerations because the slave trade was most profitable as far as agriculture was. Seventy per cent of the slaves had to promote the production of sugar and cereals in North and South America. Others had to help in the coffee, cotton and tobacco economy or in coal mining.
A rethinking started not sooner than during the French Revolution between 1789 and 1799 when the first ideas about human rights and civil liberty were spread. Although in 1807 the British parliament had abolished the slave trade, it took about 50 more years until it was completely wiped out.
A lot of time has passed since then, but nevertheless, it shouldn’t be forgotten. Nothing of what happened in our human history should be forgotten, neither the good nor the bad side. There are always both sides in life.
Problems
In comparison to the challenges the slaves had to deal with, our daily problems ( I’m talking about the problems of most of the citizens) seem to be futile, ridiculous, without any importance.
Anyway, people always seem to have problems. But what are real problems? Not knowing which country to choose for the next holidays or not having the money to buy a new ‘fatter’ car?
I’m not just talking about the material things they (slaves) didn’t have or the inhuman living conditions they had to deal with. Sometimes, they had to sit next to their dead relatives, maybe parents, children or brothers and sisters, for days. Sometimes, they had to watch all their loved ones dying until they were completely on their own. Sometimes, they didn’t know if they’ll survive the day.
Then again, what are our problems in comparison? That was the question which came to mind all the time during my visit to the Cape Coast Castle.
Nevertheless, although this horrible time of Transatlantic Slave Trade had passed, we still don’t live in a perfect world. There’s still a huge grave between developing countries and industrial companies and there’s still no equality in terms of opportunity and any other thing in life all over the world.
Our guide even reminded us that there are still certain types of slavery nowadays. For instance, there’s still child labour and exploitation. And that’s the case, whereas consumer societies are expending. Sometimes I feel embarrassed to have the chance to live the life I do because it’s not my merit to be born into a wealthy society. There are things in life you can’t influence, namely the chances you have from the day of your birth. But everyone can contribute something to overcome certain forms of slavery, for instance, in not buying things which are made by children or paying fair prices for things we buy. Then and only then can we say slavery is over.
The writer is a German intern with the Daily Graphic