THE IRISH SLAVE TRADE

For some strange reason, over the last few weeks I've had the urge to watch, several times each, the two films Michael Collins and The Wind That Shakes The Barley which have opposing views on Collins.

But unknown to many is one of the most horrific crimes against humanity that pushed many Irish into rebellion against the British occupiers; the Irish slave trade, which was pushed by that 'Godfather' of modern democracy and 'civilisation', Oliver Cromwell, who was honoured with a statue outside The Marsten House.

They came as slaves; vast human cargo transported on tall British ships bound for the Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children.

Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. They were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives.

We don’t really need to go through all of the gory details, do we? We know all too well the atrocities of the African slave trade.

But, are we talking about African slavery?King James II and Charles I also led a continued effort to enslave the Irish. Britain’s famed Oliver Cromwell furthered this practice of dehumanizing one’s next door neighbor.

The Irish slave trade began when James II sold 30,000 Irish prisoners as slaves to the New World. His Proclamation of 1625 required Irish political prisoners be sent overseas and sold to English settlers in the West Indies. By the mid 1600s, the Irish were the main slaves sold to Antigua and Montserrat. At that time, 70% of the total population of Montserrat were Irish slaves.

Ireland quickly became the biggest source of human livestock for English merchants. The majority of the early slaves to the New World were actually white.

From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from about 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade. Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to take their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a helpless population of homeless women and children. Britain’s solution was to auction them off as well.

[source : The Irish Slave Trade – The Forgotten “White” Slaves, Global Research, http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-irish-slave-trade-the-forgotten-white-slaves/31076, 14th April 2008]