Julie Morgan MP

Tories accused of trivialising slavery

Anti-slavery activists and Welsh born descendents of African slaves expressed their outrage and shock today that Cardiff North Tory Assembly candidate Jonathan Morgan used the commemoration of the abolition of slavery campaign in a cheap political shot at Julie Morgan MP.

Jonathan Morgan, who is also a South Wales Central regional AM, criticised Julie Morgan MP in Monday’s Western Mail for advertising a volunteer part-time internship position in her constituency office after holding a public meeting on the slave trade.

Julie said: "This is a clear case of double standards. I find it incredible that Jonathan Morgan should criticise me for offering an internship when there is an intern from a North American student internship programme working for his colleague, fellow Tory AM, Alun Cairns.

"Will he publicly condemn his Assembly colleague? Or will he condemn Sir Malcolm Rifkin MP who is advertising the same position but with only 'some' expenses paid? Both of whom according to Jonathan Morgan's unprecedented attack on me must also be guilty of hypocrisy if they also condemn the slave trade. This is absurd."

The Cardiff North MP shared the outrage of the Welsh descendants of the African slave trade, adding: "We are all used to Tory mud-slinging and employing double standards, but what is most breathtaking about this deeply flawed and ill-thought attack is the comparison Jonathan Morgan attempts to make between the suffering of the slave trade and an unpaid part-time student internship.

"To compare a volunteer student's valuable work experience to the suffering of millions of Africans, forced into slavery during the slave trade, is despicable and the Welsh African community deserve an apology immediately.

"It was not long ago that David Cameron apologised on behalf of the Conservative party for their role in supporting the apartheid regime in South Africa for all those years, and only two weeks ago Patrick Mercer MP was forced from the Tory frontbench for trivialising racism in the army.

"I will take no lessons from the Tories on race relations."

Uzo Iwobi, chair of African Community Centre Wales, who spoke at the event, said: "Welsh-African descendants of the slave trade are campaigning tirelessly to commemorate the landmark decision of the British government to outlaw slavery in 1807 — but to have this historical injustice trivialised in this manner is deeply hurtful and I think he should apologise."

Glenys Kinnock MEP said: “Slavery still continues in many forms across the world. I find it astonishing that any political party would seek to use this very real and serious human rights issue for political gain in order to tarnish an MP with an exemplary record on advocating human rights worldwide.

"It is both outrageous and offensive to attack Julie Morgan in this way. She is one of the most honourable, caring and hard working MPs I have ever known."

Meanwhile, Julie's senior caseworker has responded in detail to Jonathan Morgan's ill-advised attack. Read his letter to the Western Mail here.

Public meeting this Saturday

Julie Morgan MP will be hosting a public meeting this coming Saturday, 10 March, from 10am to 12.30pm at Ararat Baptist Church, Whitchurch Common, to celebrate the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery and International Women's Day.

Julie, Sue Essex AM, Councillor Sophie Howe, Glenys Kinnock MEP, Race Equality Commissioner Uzo Iwobi and Mutale Nyobni of BAWSO will all be in attendance, and there will be stalls for charities and non-governmental organisations. Refreshments will be available and there'll be some African drumming too!

All are welcome to this special event celebrating Wales' role in the ending of the slave trade — and discussing the problems which remain today in terms of trafficking and exploitation. Contact Julie's office on (029) 20 624166 for more information.

What a difference a day can make

This article is published today in the Cardiff Post.

John Lennon famously said that there are no problems, "only solutions", but there are some problems that seem far from being solved and that don't seem to be going away.

They may seem to fade into the background for a while, but this doesn't mean that they no longer exist. AIDS is one such problem and last Friday reminded us of this. December 1 was World AIDS Day, a day which focuses our attention back onto the misery that this disease causes.

I am always shocked when I am reminded of how many people are affected by HIV and AIDS. Worldwide, around 40 million people are living with HIV and that number is increases in every place every single day. In our own country, over 70,000 people are living with HIV — a Millennium Stadium worth of people — and more than 7,000 more people are diagnosed as HIV-positive every year. It is estimated that one third of people living with HIV in the UK are unaware that they have the virus. A staggering 25 million people have already died from AIDS.

Of course, there is a lot that can be done to prevent the spread of HIV and we must continue to make information and resources available to people in order to do this. As Elizabeth Taylor once said, "It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no-one should die of ignorance."

There is also a lot that can be done to treat HIV infection nowadays. Anti-retroviral drugs have meant that in the West, at least, a HIV-positive diagnosis is not the death sentence it once was. In other areas of the world, however, this is not the case and we face huge challenges in the effort to control HIV infection. I've seen for myself the terrible devastation that AIDS causes in Africa both for those dying from the disease and for the children they leave behind. In addition, in Africa, HIV infection is linked with TB infection. In Kenya, I visited one woman who lived in a windowless shack with 15 children and grandchildren to care for. She had lost two daughters to AIDS and was herself suffering from TB and was HIV-positive.

In Africa in particular, we must make sure that lack of information and prejudice about HIV and AIDS are overcome and that people become more aware about how the disease is spread. We must also make sure that access to affordable medicine is improved. We must strive to meet the target of providing universal HIV prevention, care and treatment by 2010.

If you would like to get involved and see what a difference a World AIDS Day can make, visit the website. We can all help to find the solution to this problem together.