Why Are People in Europe and the UK Protesting on Behalf of "Black Lives Matter"? (1 Viewer)

Steve R.

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Fox News has been showing video clips of people protesting on behalf of the "Black Lives Matter" movement in Europe and the UK. Considering that those in "Black Lives Matter" are protesting alleged US racism (an internal issue within the US), why would people in Europe and the UK even care?

Obviously, standing-up for human rights is the appropriate thing to do, wherever it is threatned in the world. Nevertheless, have the people in Europe and the UK demonstrated with equal fervor and solidarity in support of those suffering in such places as China, N. Korea, Russia, Iran, etc.?

Of course, it is possible that people in Europe and the UK have been protesting against human rights abuses in China, N. Korea, Russia, Iran, etc. and that these protests are simply not being reported by the US media. Hence this question.
 

Pat Hartman

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I think I read somewhere that BLM was an offshoot of some Marxist group from Europe. I'll see if I can find the reference.
 

Isaac

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Wouldn't they just be protesting in support of blacks in their own country?
 

Pat Hartman

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Except for the UK, the other European countries have very small black populations due to their immigration policies and never held them as slaves so there is nothing to riot about.

I should have kept out of this and waited for our friends across the pond to reply.
 

Isaac

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never held them as slaves
That's definitely incorrect, although their time periods of doing so and the way it looked and whether it was in the primary nation or colonies wasn't identical to US slavery.
 

Jon

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There are various protests about different things from time to time. I think the difference is that if there is like say the BLM protest, they are protesting for themselves. But if they are protesting for say the Chinese in China, they will have little effect. China doesn't really care about what the UK thinks. So I suppose one is for domestic issues, the other for international.
 

Steve R.

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That's definitely incorrect, although their time periods of doing so and the way it looked and whether it was in the primary nation or colonies wasn't identical to US slavery.
As usual, there is no one correct answer. Evidently, the English abolished the slave trade in 1807. Though the slave trade was theoretically abolished in 1807, slavery itself persisted evidently till 1838.

Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, 1807 (Applies only to the UK)
Despite opposition from a variety of people with vested interests, the abolitionists and their supporters persisted. In 1806, Lord Grenville made a passionate speech arguing that the trade was 'contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy'. When the bill to abolish the slave trade was finally voted upon, there was a majority of 41 votes to 20 in the Lords and a majority of 114 to 15 in the Commons.

On 25 March 1807, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act entered the statute books. Nevertheless, although the Act made it illegal to engage in the slave trade throughout the British colonies, trafficking between the Caribbean islands continued, regardless, until 1811.

Dates varied for when slavery was abolished in the various countries of Europe. See Wikipedia: Abolitionism
As an interesting aside, is the question of who could be enslaved. Being a slave was not limited to being Black, though that is were the focus seems to be.
 

isladogs

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Except for the UK, the other European countries have very small black populations due to their immigration policies and never held them as slaves so there is nothing to riot about.

I should have kept out of this and waited for our friends across the pond to reply.

Although it is true that many European countries, especially those in the former Communist bloc have very low % Black populations, France has a far higher % than the UK. See https://jobzey.com/top-10-european-countries-with-largest-black-population/.
Although Britain played a major role in the slave trade, it was certainly not the only European country that was involved in slavery.

For those who have experienced discrimination all their life in housing, jobs and from the police due to their skin colour, there is plenty to protest about. In the UK at least, the BLM protests have been almost entirely peaceful. The only riots were caused by extreme right wing groups who were supposedly 'protecting the statues' but in reality came to create trouble.
 

ColinEssex

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I come from Bristol, which was a big slave trading city like Liverpool . Edward Colston earned millions for Bristol and built wonderful buildings etc etc for the city. Without slavery, Bristol would have been ordinary, but dozens of ships came in to take slaves to the New World and a lot of revenue made Bristol a very rich city. Now his statue has been torn down but will go on display again in the museum.
As for the demonstrations, I think it has attracted a lot of undesirable characters who only want to cause trouble, that's what gets on TV, not the peaceful demonstrators.
Somebody posted that more white people in the USA die in police custody, why are there no demonstrations about that? One black bloke is killed whilst being restrained by police, apparently he had tried to escape, and it causes worldwide condemnation - why? If he was law abiding the police wouldn't need to apprehend him.
It's like all these gays and things, I don't really understand why they fuss. We were taught it was a mental condition because it's not right for men to fancy men etc. (That was in school in the 1960's) we were also taught black people had different anatomy to white people, like different blood, which is why you shouldn't mix it.
Col
 

isladogs

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I also lived in Bristol for well over 30 years much of that time in the inner city near St Pauls.
Beyond that, I disassociate myself from almost everything just written by my namesake.
 

Steve R.

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Somebody posted that more white people in the USA die in police custody, why are there no demonstrations about that?
A very good question. There exists, in the US an "industry" of "race baiters" who promote racism in the name of ending it. The US is also going through a virtual "French Revolution" of mass hysteria. The "race baiters" have their bull horns out and much of the populace, like sheep, is succumbing to their message.

One black bloke is killed whilst being restrained by police, apparently he had tried to escape, and it causes worldwide condemnation - why?
The "why" is incomprehensible. Time for an explanation through a consistency theory? My tin hat is whispering "Soros" or some other anti-American organization able to motivate a large number of people.

If he was law abiding the police wouldn't need to apprehend him.
It's like all these gays and things, I don't really understand why they fuss.
Unfortunately, in the US, the assertion is never made that a Black person "resisted arrest", the only allowed explanation is "police brutality". The left in the US does not acknowledge the need for the members of the Black community to accept responsibility for their actions.
 
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ColinEssex

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I also lived in Bristol for well over 30 years much of that time in the inner city near St Pauls.
Beyond that, I disassociate myself from almost everything just written by my namesake.
Fair enough, I'm just stating fact as a school child from the early 60's. I went to Hengrove school, we were also told to avoid the St Pauls area as it was THE area for violence and crime because that's the way blacks live.
Col
 

isladogs

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I am a similar age to you though I grew up in London.
I never heard racist comments from staff in the schools I attended
Later on, I taught in multiracial inner city schools in London. In general the different ethnic groups were well integrated.

I moved to Bristol in 1981 just after the St Paul's riots and lived in Montpelier close to City Road.
With one exception, I never felt threatened in the years I lived there. The exception was when a group of National Front supporters arrived from London to cause trouble and there was a street fight immediately outside my house with multiple serious injuries
I also taught at several Bristol schools including Brislington School (not far from Hengrove) for over 10 years.
Although a largely White area, the school had a significant proportion of BAME students and promoted racial equality.

Whilst Colston left money to fund various buildings and schools in Bristol, the fact remains that his wealth was derived from slavery and resulted in many deaths. His statue has been an affront to a large number of both black and white Bristolians for many years. There has been a long running campaign to either get it removed or have a plaque added stating his role in the slave trade. I doubt many local people will mourn its removal
 

Isaac

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No offense to anyone, but Wikipedia is the lowest of all forms of sources.
 

Steve R.

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I think I read somewhere that BLM was an offshoot of some Marxist group from Europe. I'll see if I can find the reference.
Whatever you may have read, it was incorrect.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter
This is a situation where the absence of information does not mean that what the person stated was actually incorrect.

There is also a degree of interpretation along with assumptions concerning how things are phrased and organized. The main Wikipedia writes: "BLM claims inspiration from the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement, ..." . When you look at the Black Power movement page: "The Black Power movement grew out of the civil rights movement, as black activists experimented with forms of self-advocacy ranging from political lobbying to armed struggle." (emphasis added to armed struggle.) If you keep following you get a reference to the "Black Panther Party". The Black Panther Party is referenced, even in Wikipedia as: "The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a revolutionary socialist political organization founded by Marxist college students Bobby Seale (Chairman) and Huey Newton (Minister of Defense) in October 1966 in Oakland, California." Malcom-X is also referenced: "He is best known for his staunch and controversial black racial advocacy, and for his time spent as the vocal spokesperson of the Nation of Islam." (emphasis added to highlight the word Marxist.)

Now I don't know how much influence Marxism or the likes of Malcom-X (a racist personality) or the Black Panther Party (a racist organization) actually had on the founding of "Black Lives Matter", but one can, at least, make a reasonable stab at asserting that "Black Lives Matter" is an organization promoting racism under the guise of "activism".

PS: People and organizations hide behind words, so just because they claim to be promoting "civil rights" does not mean that they actually are.
 
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AccessBlaster

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No offense to anyone, but Wikipedia is the lowest of all forms of sources.
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It kinda like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube making moral judgments about public content on their highly bias platforms.
 

Pat Hartman

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Why not just look at their website
I did. They must be really very nice people. You can tell that by their virtue signaling.
We are expansive. We are a collective of liberators who believe in an inclusive and spacious movement.
Exactly WHAT are they liberating people from? Shouldn't they be concentrating in areas of the world where slavery is alive and well? Clearly they don't know that countries all over Africa practice slavery TODAY. They also don't know that Islam and Sharia Law allow slavery and that is why the second highest offending countries are Islamic.

They also don't know that the original slaves imported to the Americas were slaves of black tribes that simply offered them to the English and Portuguese in trade for other goods when they ran out of other stuff to sell the traders.

This is what happens when people don't actually read history or know what is going on in the world around them.

It appears that it doesn't matter that people of color from all over the world want to come to the US. Are they stupid? Why would they want to come to such an awful racist place?

BLM and its supporters should also ask themselves why black immigrants from all over the world come to the US and succeed in pulling themselves out of poverty and becoming very successful and FREE citizens. The reason native born blacks have such a low success rate is because the Democrats have convinced them that they are victims and it's Whitey's fault rather than their own or the Democrats who keep them in bondage with "free" stuff that isn't actually free. The worst cities in the US to live in are run by Democrats, many of whom are black. All they do is make empty promises and do nothing to fix the problem. Obama did more to set back race relations in this country than you could ever imagine. Obama controlled all three branches of the government for a large part of his term. Where are his criminal reform bills? Where are his enterprise zones? What EXACTLY did he do to make the lives of black people better on his watch? He did write a bunch of illegal executive orders which the insane Supreme Court won't allow Trump to not renew?????? They were illegal. The court agrees. But, Trump MUST extend them???? What are these people smoking? And why does Congress allow the Supreme Court to usurp their powers? Congress writes laws. The Executive Branch enforces them. The Supreme Court interprets challenges to decisions made by the lower courts. It MAY NOT make new law and yet our Constitution has grown from 138 pages (including all the legally passed amendments) to over 3,000 pages due to changes made to it by SCOTUS' various rulings over the years.

PS, my allusion to slaves in Europe was to the importation of blacks to be slaves. I think the British and Portuguese didn't bring them home as pets, they sent them to the Americas to work the plantations in the Caribbean and North and South America.
 

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