LETTERS :
WHARF FESTIVAL WILL BE A 'CELEBRATION OF SLAVERY'
IN response to the Issue of the Week (May 4): Would you birch scum who defiled Cenotaph?
I read with interest the proposal by Brian Collins of Canary Wharf to reintroduce branding. This was a common practice used to deal with runaway slaves. Sometimes it was used anyway. Yet there is no reason to think it should quench the desire for freedom and justice today any more than it did back in slavery time. Mr Collins' suggestion becomes perhaps a little more sinister when looked at in light of Canary Wharf's proposed "Celebration of Slavery" on July 12.
They will be marking the two hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the West India Docks. This was a rally of slave owners and their commercial partners who profiteered from slave labour. The docks were built to protect their interests.
This proposal has caused concern both in the local community and further afield. I feel that Mr Collins' frank comments will fuel disquiet about this gruesome "festival".
Fabian Tompsett