Historically, slavery was a universal institution, practiced in many cultures and societies including African, Arab, and European. Modern political discourse on slavery and reparations completely lacks balance, overlooking other historical slave systems.
Is racism against whites the reason for the constant focus on black slavery, but not white slavery? Why are not all systems of slavery equally discussed, but only the European transatlantic slave trade?
The Massive White Slave Trade: The legacy of the British Empire’s abolitionist efforts were unique in their moral commitment and economic sacrifice. Neither African nor Arab cultures have had any similar movements to stop slavery, which exists to this day both in Africa and in Arab nations.
So, why is the current European narrative only examining the slave trade that brought black slaves to America, and not all the other forms of slave trade where blacks sold their black brothers into slavery?
The calls for so-called reparations are often one-sided and represent a racism against whites as it is only British slavery in focus, without acknowledging the broader history of slavery worldwide that involved blacks or Arabs selling black slaves.
By focusing solely on what the white man did several hundred years ago, but neglecting to mention that black Africans and Arabs did exactly the same, constitutes a clear racism against whites.
The Barbary slave trade is contrasted with the British Empire’s transatlantic slave trade in a Jacob Rees-Mogg on GB News in conversation with Rafe Heydel-Mankoo. They discuss the little-known history of the white Barbary slave trade and explains the hypocrisy of the Left, who are silent about that atrocity as well as the fact that Africans held more slaves than were ever transported across the Atlantic.
he Massive White Slave Trade: For example, the Barbary slave trade’s scale and longevity challenge common narratives focused solely on the transatlantic slave trade. The untold history of the North African Barbary slave trade involved the capture and enslavement of approximately 1 million white Europeans over a period of about 350 to 400 years.
The lack of memorials or public recognition for these aspects are peculiar. For example, London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s erection of slave trade memorials along British Empire slave trading routes in Africa, while ignoring the white slave trade and slavery affecting Europeans.
The far-left’s discourse often neglects the internal African slave trade, where more Africans enslaved fellow Africans than were transported across the Atlantic. The brutal human sacrifice rituals in African kingdoms such as Benin and Dahomey that killed thousands of slaves annually is also not mentioned. The modern reality of slavery in Africa today, with approximately 7 in every 1,000 Africans (about 10 million people) currently enslaved is also not extensively discussed, according to the International Labour Organization.
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The Massive White Slave Trade: The podcast highlights that the Barbary trade lasted longer and continued unofficially into the 20th century, even after Britain abolished slavery in the early 19th century. The Ottoman Empire, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, was a “slave empire”, where many of the Sultan’s servants were slaves, including many from Europe.
The trade’s geographic reach extended widely across Europe—from the Mediterranean coasts of Italy, Greece, Spain, and Portugal to as far north as Iceland and eastward to Slavic regions, giving rise to the word “slave” from the Slavs’ enslavement.
Notably, the Barbary pirates even had a foothold on English soil (the island of Lundy), using it as a base for raids on southwest England.
Slavery in the Muslim world predates Islam and is considered thesecond oldest and second most prolific slave trading system after Africa. Millions of slaves were taken through ports on the Barbary Coast, corresponding to modern-day Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya. European captives were taken both from ships and coastal raids, affecting regions including England, Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, and even Iceland.
The Barbary slave trade officially declined in the early 1800s but continued unofficially afterward.
Boris Johnson’s great great great grandmother was a white slave, a Sassanian from the northern Black Sea/Caucasus region (the origin of the term “Caucasian”). His ancestor was reportedly purchased in a slave market by another of his ancestors, linking the Turkish connection and the Ottoman slave trade’s legacy.
This raises questions about historical accountability and reparations: whether descendants of those enslaved should seek reparations from countries like Turkey or whether such historical events should be viewed as distant pasts common to all nations.
The majority of Britons today descend from those who lived as serfs or peasants, not slave owners, making reparations claims to their descendants controversial.
The unique British role in the abolition of slavery is in this context also forgotten, as modern political narratives selectively address slavery’s legacy. The British abolition of slavery in 1833 and its enforcement through the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron was a unique moral and economic commitment. The Royal Navy expended an estimated 2% of Britain’s GDP—similar to a modern defense budget—to suppress the slave trade, marking the first known instance of a nation deliberately impoverishing itself to promote a moral good.
The Massive White Slave Trade: The abolitionist movement was deeply influenced by the Protestant evangelical ethic, which regarded all humans as equal, a view unparalleled outside Western Europe at the time. Prominent political figures like Prime Minister Palmerston and Prince Albert actively supported anti-slavery, even risking international relations to enforce abolitionist policies. This movement was a profoundly British moral achievement, with Prince Albert’s 1840 speech cited as a powerful apology and commitment to ending slavery.
The lasting benefits of British colonialism—such as parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, common law, judiciary, policing, military, the building of healthcare, educational facilities, universities and extensive infrastructure in Africa —are very positive legacies of colonial times and constitute the backbone of many African states still today.
Britain’s main involvement in Africa lasted roughly only 100 years (from the 1880s to the 1980s), emphasizing the relatively short duration of formal colonial rule. Black African leaders have ruled Africa, both before and now over 70 years after these nations received their independence.
The hypocrisy in Sadiq Khan, son of a Pakistani bus driver, who during an official visit to Pakistan which is described as a “global center of slavery” today, failed to mention slavery, while promoting slave memorials related to the British Empire.
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