Bicentenary of the abolition of slavery

Throughout 2007, but especially during the month of March, the UK commemorates two hundred years since the passing of the 1807 act that formally abolished the so-called 'slave trade'. The question of reparations is not subject to any significant media attention, while few newspaper articles make any direct connection between the history of enslavement and current-day issues with racism. In response to what is termed 'Wilberfest' (in reference to the overwhelming focus on celebrating the UK's role in abolition), the British African social rights activist, Toyin Agbetu, interrupts the Westminster Abbey service to recognize the bicentenary by yelling at the Queen that 'You should be ashamed'. Agbetu would later explain his actions in an article published in the Guardian, stating that he was not some 'crazed man', but was 'moved to make a collective voice heard at the commemorative ritual of appeasement and self-approval marking the bicentenary of the British parliamentary act to abolish what they disingenuously refer to as a "slave trade"'.