Tag: Monks

Saffron Revolution & Slave Trade Abolition – 2007

Saffron Revolution & Slave Trade Abolition: On Saturday 6th October 2007 I photographed a protest against the brutal repression of the Saffron Revolution protest in Myanmar (Burma) and a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade,

Global Day of Action for Burma – Westminster

There was considerable support in the UK and UK media for the Burmese people who were taking part in non-violent protests against the military dictatorship there after it decided to remove subsidies on fuel, exacerbating a cost-of-living crisis in the country.

The protests were led by thousands of along with students and political activists and were often referred to as the Saffron Revolution.

The protests had begun in August 2007 and in late September after protests involving many thousands in various cities the government began a huge crackdown using military force to stop the protests and imposing curfews and prohibiting gatherings of more than five people.

Monasteries were raided, thousands of arrests were made and some protesters were killed. Wikipedia gives a great deal of detail, and on 1st October it was reported that around 4,000 monks were being detained at a disused race course, disrobed and shackled.

The official death toll over the period of the protests was 13, but the independent media organisation Democratic Voice of Burma based outside the country produced a list of 138 names of those killed.

The march began at Tate Britain on Millbank, proceeded over Lambeth Bridge and then returned to Westminster over Westminster Bridge. Many of the roughly 10,000 marchers wore red headbands and a small group of monks were allowed to tie strips of cloth onto the gates of Downing Street before the march continued to a rally in Trafalgar Square, where I left them.

More at London Burma March.

Slave Trade Abolition Bicentenary Walk

In 1787, Thomas Clarkson, Granville Sharp and ten other anti-slavery campaigners founded The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Nine of the twelve founders were Quakers, including the wealthy banker Samuel Hoare Jr which prevented their having much involvement in parliament.

Perhaps because of this the society became the first modern campaigning movement, working to educate the British public about the cruel abuses of the slave trade through publication of books, prints, posters and pamplets, organising lecture tours, including that by former slave and author Olaudah Equiano and by boycotting of goods produced by slaves.

The Quakers had organised petitions against slavery and presented these regularly to Parliament, and in 1787 William Wilberforce, MP for Hull was persuaded to join the movement, presenting the first Bill to abolish the slave trade in 1791 which was heavily defeated.

Further Bills followed on an almost annual basis, and finally in 1807 the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed, with a majority of 283 votes to 16 on its second reading in the House of Commons. A similar act was passed by the USA in the same year taking effect at the start of 1808.

Despite this it took another thirty years for slavery in the British Empire (except those parts ruled by the East India Company) to be abolished in 1838. And when this was done the freed slaves received no compensation but massive amounts were paid to the former slave owners, a total of around £20 million, around 40% of the national budget and allowing for inflation around £2, 800 million today. Fact checking by USA Today confirms that the UK Government only just finished paying its debts to the slave owners in 2015.

The Slave Trade Abolition Walk organised by Yaa Asantewaa & Carnival Village was only one of a number of events commemorating the abolition of the slave trade taking place in 2007, but was I think the most colourful. Yaa Asantewaa was named after the famous Queen Mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire who led the Ashanti Kings in the War of the Golden Stool against British colonial rule in 1900 and was exiled to the Seychelles where she died in 1921.

Among the costumes was one winner from Notting Hill, and a rather fine ‘Empire Windrush’ depicting the ship which brought the first large contingent of migrant workers from the Caribbean to England in 1948. They had been recruited to fill the gap in UK workers needed to restore the British economy after the war and came to a country where they met much racist discrimination, which more recently became government policy under the Windrush scandal, still continuing.

As of course is slavery. ‘Modern slavery’ is no less slavery than the slavery that was at the core of the British Empire and which provided the wealth that once made Britain ‘Great’.

Slave Trade Abolition Bicentenary Walk

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Shops, Flats, Trade Unions, Monks…

Shops, Flats, Trade Unions, Monks… continues my walk around Clapham on Sunday 28th May 1989. The previous post was Voltaire, Billiards & Methodists and the walk began with Lavender Hill & Wandsworth Rd – 1989.

Shops, Clapham High St, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-42
Shops, Clapham High St, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-42

The rather charming three stroy building occupied on the ground flow at least by Julia Two has gone and together with the low utilitarian shops to the right has been replaced by one of the ugliest buildings on Clapham High Street. But the buildings to the left remain, although with altered shop fronts, as do those on the other side of Venn St.

The Barclays Bank on the corner of Venn St dates from 1895 and closed a few years ago.

Flats, Crescent Lane, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-45
Flats, Crescent Lane, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-45

I walked on further along Clapham High Street and on along Clapham Common Southside before turning down Crescent Lane to wander around some of the streets to the south. Worsopp Drive is one of the roads in Lambeth’s Notre Dame Estate off Cresecnt Lane in an enviable location just a short walk south of Clapham Common. The estate was built in 1947-1952 when this was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth on the site of the former Notre Dame Convent. It is a mixture of different low and medium rise brick properties and these 8 storey blocks are the tallest.

I don’t know why I didn’t photograph the Clapham Orangery which was retained at the centre of the estate, but I imagine there was some good reason.

UCW House, Union of Communication Workers, Crescent Lane, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-32
UCW House, Union of Communication Workers, Crescent Lane, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-32

From the estate I returned to Crescent Lane where I photographed UCW House, then the home of the Union of Communication Workers. According to the Clapham Society, around 1920 a house on this site was sold to the Amalgamated Union of Building Trade Workers for use as their headquarters, and renamed ‘The Builders. In the 1930s, the Union of Post Office Workers bought the building and the site was divided between the two unions, with both commissioning new buildings with architect L AS Culliford. This building was opened in spetember 1937, with a extra storey being added in 1976.

The union, by then the Union of Communication Workers , sold the building as offices to he Metropolitan Huusing Trust in 1998. They moved out in 2012 and it was converted to residential use as Metropolitan Crescent.

At the south end of Crescent Lane I turned into Abbeville Road, walking along it to the junction with Park Hill where I made my next picture.

Govette, Park Hill, Abbeville Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-33
Govette, Park Hill, Abbeville Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-33

I first photographed this sign in 1980 and posted this about that picture when I put it on Flickr:

Govette is originally a French name, and a couple of them came over with William the Conqueror back in 1066 and were given land in Somerset. The name was often spelt without the final ‘e’.

Govette Metal & Glass Works, a family firm and was established in 1956 in Clapham, and in the 1970s split up into several divisions, with Govette’s remaining in Clapham. They closed the factory there in the mid-nineties and specialised in the supply, installation and glazing of steel windows and doors, establishing Govette Windows Ltd in 1996, and are now based in Whyteleafe. They also now have a factory in South Godstone.

Peter Marshall on Flickr

I walked back along Abbeville Road and then up St Alphonsus Rd to where it bends at a right angle to the east.

St Mary's Redemptorist Monastery, St Alphonsus Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-35
St Mary’s Redemptorist Monastery, St Alphonsus Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-35

St Mary’s Roman Catholic church in Clapham Park Road whose spire appears in the background of this picture was built in 1849-51. The Redemptorists are a Catholic missionary congregation and came from Belium to set set up houses in the UK, including this Grade II* listed monastery in Clapham designed by J F Bentley in Art and Craft Gothic style and built in 1892-3.

I continued to the end of the road and turned left into Clapham Park Road going back to Clapham High Street as I wanted to take another picture of the Post Office on Venn St – which I posted in a previous post. I came back down Venn St to Bromell’s Road.

Alley, 18-20 Bromells Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-22
Alley, 18-20 Bromells Rd, Clapham, Lambeth, 1989 89-5k-22

You can still see this alley on Bromwells Road but the view down in is much less interesting, with none of the bridges linking 20 with 22 across the street remaining. The buildings on Bromwells Road have been refurbished and those visible down the alley rebuilt or replaced, althhough I think that at the end of the alley is still there. But what looked like a street with various small workshops is now much tidier.

The account of my walk will continue in a later post.