Local councillor exposes global slavery (Lewisham Liberal Democrats)

Lewisham Liberal Democrats <info@lewishamlibdems.org.uk>

Local councillor exposes global slavery

March 27, 2009 3:16 PM

Pete Pattisson's exhibition is on until April 4th 2009

Lewisham councillor Pete Pattisson exposes the evil practice of modern slavery in an exhibition of his photographs in the Upstairs Library at the Downham Leisure Centre until April 4th.

The exhibition marks the 202nd anniversary of Britain's abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on March 25th, 1807.

Before becoming a local councillor, Pete Pattisson spent a year photographing the lives of people trapped in slavery in India, Haiti, Ghana, Burma and the UK.

"When people hear the word 'slavery' they often think of something that happened many years ago, but at least 12 million men, women and children are still enslaved today, victims of extreme exploitation and violence," says Cllr Pattisson. "Slavery may be forgotten, but it's not yet gone."

The project took Pete into the slums of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. Haiti was the first country to free itself from slavery, and yet even here, thousands of children are still enslaved as child domestic workers. He travelled to Ghana to investigate ritual slavery, India to document bonded labour, and was smuggled into Burma to photograph the victims of the military regime's forced labour camps. But slavery is not just a distant problem, Pete also photographed some of the 5000 people who are trafficked into slavery in the UK each year.

"What really struck me was that every where I found victims of slavery, I also found people fighting against it. Two hundred years ago, people in slavery and the British public successfully campaigned for an end to the Slave Trade," says Pete. "The question is, what are we prepared to do today, to bring an end to slavery for ever?"