August 1 is now recognised across Canada as Emancipation Day, marking the end of slavery in the British Empire in 1834. After years of campaigning by Black legislators and community advocates, Canada on Sunday is officially marking the abolishment of slavery nearly 200 years ago in its first nationwide Emancipation …
Read More »French prosecutors probe modern-day slavery lawsuit against Saudi prince
French prosecutors said Monday they are investigating claims that a Saudi prince kept seven employees in a state of modern-day slavery at an apartment he owned outside Paris. The inquiry for human trafficking was opened after the women, most from the Philippines filed complaints of modern-day slavery in October 2019, …
Read More »Joe Biden says Trump is ‘first racist president’ of US
Joe Biden called Donald Trump the “first” racist elected as United States president, despite several owning slaves. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s comments on Wednesday came during an online campaign event organised by the Service Employees International Union when one participant complained about Mr Trump’s alleged racism over Covid-19. Mr …
Read More »Opinion | The battle of the statues: rewriting world history
The statues that were erected to claim the public spaces around them for white people only are finally coming down. Towards the end of Mozart’s signature opera, Don Giovanni, the eponymous character meets his squire Leporello in a graveyard, next to a statue of “Il Commendatore”. In the very first …
Read More »Juneteenth: A day of joy and pain – and now national action
In just about any other year, Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that all enslaved black people learned they had been freed from bondage, would be marked by African American families across the nation with a cookout, a parade, a community festival, a soulful rendition of “Lift Ev’ry …
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