LONDON: London is set to have its first memorial to victims of transatlantic slavery, with the mayor’s office announcing on Friday the design of a long-awaited monument seen by advocates as a step toward confronting the past and its legacies.
The memorial will be located at West India Quay, in east London, where warehouses were built in the early 19th century to receive what the mayor’s office has described as “products of slavery,” such as sugar from plantations in the Caribbean. For over 300 years, British ships forcibly transported more than three million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic Ocean, and the City of London was the financial center of the trafficking.
“We know so much of London’s wealth has been built on the backs of enslaved people,” said London’s deputy mayor for communities and social justice, Debbie Weekes-Bernard, as she announced the winning design.
Inspired by the shape of cowrie shells, widely used as currency across Africa to trade enslaved people, ‘The Wake’, by Khaleb Brooks, will be a seven-meter (23 ft) tall bronze sculpture visitors will be able to enter.
Inside, the walls will list names of enslaved people.
“We are our history, it tells us where we’ve been, where we are and the direction we could go,” Brooks said.
The mayor’s office has pledged 500,000 pounds ($655,750.00) to fund the memorial — expected to be installed in 2026 — but it will also need private donations. The total requirement has not been set.
Weekes-Bernard said she hoped the memorial, which will be supported by an educational program about slavery, will be a “step” to help Britain have a wider conversation about its past.
She said confronting history could help tackle some its legacies today, including racial discrimination. “There needs to be a conversation... (about) how history connects to the experiences that Black communities have today.” There are over 900 representational public monuments, such as statues, busts and plaques, across Britain related to transatlantic slavery but the vast majority are linked to enslavers or white abolitionists, according to a survey mapping such monuments. After the US police killing of George Floyd in 2020, Black Lives Matter protests swept the world, with various statues of enslavers and colonizers being toppled, including the statue of trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Critics argued that such actions amounted to the censoring of history.
The idea of having a slavery memorial in London is not new. Campaign group Memorial 2007 had secured planning permission for a site in Hyde Park, and the backing of the then mayor Boris Johnson, but it did not receive government funding and has not yet been built.
Memorial 2007 campaigner Oku Ekpenyon said: “We just have to keep on pushing.”
London unveils design of city’s first memorial to victims of transatlantic slavery
https://arab.news/nmrkj
London unveils design of city’s first memorial to victims of transatlantic slavery
- Memorial to be located at West India Quay, east London
- Design inspired by cowrie shells, by artist Khaleb Brooks
- Memorial to be supported by educational program on slavery
Ten cops killed as separatist militants launch ‘coordinated’ attacks in Pakistan’s southwest — police
- The attacks began in Balochistan’s capital of Quetta at around 6am with a powerful explosion, followed by intense gunfire
QUETTA: At least 10 security officials and 37 militants were killed as “coordinated” attacks were launched by separatist militants, affiliated with the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), across several cities of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, an official quoted by AFP said Saturday.
The attacks in the provincial capital of Quetta began at around 6am with a powerful explosion, followed by intense gunfire that lasted for two hours along with multiple explosions.
Residents of Dalbandin and Nuhski said they heard explosions and gunfire in the districts early Saturday morning, while there were reports of similar attacks in Mastung, Gwadar, Pasni and Turbat.
A senior police official, who requested anonymity, told Arab News that the militants attempted to enter the provincial capital of Quetta but police and other law enforcement agencies stopped them.
“The terrorists attacked a police mobile at Sariab road which resulted in the killing of two policemen,” he said. “Police and other law enforcement agencies denied space to the terrorists in Quetta city and a clearance operation is still going on.”
Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, is the site of a decades-long insurgency waged by Baloch separatist groups who often attack security forces and foreigners, and kidnap government officials.
Shahid Rind, the Balochistan chief minister’s aide for media and political affairs, said police and paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) had foiled the attacks and were chasing the assailants.
“After the killing of more than 70 terrorists at different places in Balochistan in the last two days, terrorists have attempted to attack at a few places in Balochistan, which have been foiled by timely action by the police and FC,” he said on X.
“At present, the pursuit of the fleeing terrorists is underway. More details will be revealed very soon.”
In a statement issued on Saturday, BLA said the group had launched ‘Operation Herof 2.0,’ which included a series of attacks in multiple cities of Balochistan.
Saturday’s attacks follow coordinated attacks carried out by the group in Aug. 2024 in various districts of Balochistan which killed dozens of people.
The separatists accuse the central government of stealing the region’s resources to fund development elsewhere in the country. The Pakistani government denies the allegations and says it is working for the uplift of local communities in Balochistan.
Pakistan Railways has suspended train service from Balochistan to other parts of the country for a day, following Saturday’s attacks.
“Quetta-Peshawar bound Jaffar Express, and Quetta-Chaman passenger trains have been canceled due to the prevailing security situation in Balochistan,” Muhammad Kashif, the railways controller in Quetta division, told Arab News.
At least four police officials in as many districts confirmed to AFP the situation was not completely under control yet.
“At least four policemen were killed in Quetta alone,” he added, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
A senior military official based in Islamabad confirmed the attacks, adding they were “coordinated but poorly executed.”
