STOP THE TRAFFIK

I went to see 'Amazing Grace' the film last night. It's a brilliant film, and I recommend that everyone go see it, at least once. The acting is of a very good standard, the music is great, the cinematography is good, the story is well told. However none of the reasons above are what make the film good. The film is so powerful, because it is a real story. It is the accurate portrayal of one man's fight for what he believed was right. This isn't some blown up heroic story of a wild revolutionary, it is a story of how one man, with an amazing passion, used his position, and everything he had, to try and change the world. Of course it wasn't just him, there were plenty of equally committed people, but William Wilberforce particularly gave his whole life to the cause.

This can sound a bit cheesy, sickly sweet, but it's really not. If William Wilberforce had been apathetic, I wonder how much longer slavery would have continued. If William Wilberforce had sighed and despairingly said 'Well, its awful, but what can you do', I wonder if the movement would have ever taken off in the way it did. It didn't happen to begin with, there was massive opposition, but finally after years and years of campaigning he got the bill passed in Parliament.
Finally slavery was abolished, throughout the British Empire.

I wonder if I would have had that courage. I wonder if I would have had the guts, and the determination to see it through. Its easy in hindsight to think sometimes, that had I been faced with such injustice, with such inequality, then I would have also acted in a similar way.

Well here is the slap round the face. The same injustice DOES exist today. There are over 2.4 million people worldwide in slavery as a result of human trafficking. This includes forced labour as well as prostitution. There are over 4000 trafficked sex workers in the UK currently, although the exact figures are unknown. There are more slaves in the world today than there were 200 years ago when slavery was abolished. 12,000 children have been trafficked into the Ivory Coast to work on cocoa farms. Nearly half the world's chocolate is made using cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast. So next time you eat chocolate, enjoy!

So are we a people driven by whatever we believe, to act and make a real difference in our world? Or will we let apathy seep in, and water down our conscience?