People celebrate the abolition of slavery within Europe and
North America,
but forget that ‘bonded labour’ ( another form of slavery ),
is still in place within many parts of the world.
Britain gave up the slave trade over 150 years ago,
but it was still involved in supporting slavery for a long time
after that.
I was reminded of this fact while reading the obituary of
Colonel David Smiley,
which was published in The Times on January 14th.
During a long military career Smiley worked with the Sultan
of Omans Armed Forces during the late 1950s.
It might also be noted that British SAS forces were active in
Oman against various insurgencies during the 1960s.
Now here is the interesting point:
Slavery was only officially abolished in Oman during the
early 1970s.
There was not a word about slavery in Oman which appeared
within the Times Smiley obituary.
It would of been a very different kind of obituary if this fact
had been noted.