Should Bristol apologise for the slave trade?

Leading speakers in history, politics and ethics will join a live debate at the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum to argue whether it is right to apologise for the actions of the past. Open to the public as part of the region's Festival of Ideas, the keynote event will take place on 10th May 2006 at 7pm.

Professor A C Grayling will chair the debate, addressing the controversial issues arising from major historical events such as slavery, colonialism, the Holocaust and war crimes. The audience will be invited to put their questions and opinions to the panel, and to vote in a special poll on the issue of whether Bristol should formally apologise for its role in the transatlantic slave trade as Liverpool Council did unreservedly in 1999.

The panel includes speakers from a range of arts, media and academic backgrounds with several other leading figures expected to join the debate. Currently confirmed are:

· Professor A C Grayling - Prolific writer, academic and broadcaster.
· Ekow Eshun - Artistic Director of the Institute of Contemporary Arts,
London.
· Isabel Hilton - Broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist.
· Richard Dowden - Director of the Royal African Society, journalist.
· Professor Deepak Lal - Former Indian foreign-service Diplomat, Oxford
graduate and author of In Praise of Empires.
· Professor Stephen Howe - Lecturer in History and Cultures of Colonialism
at Bristol University and author of Ireland and Empire and Afrocentrism:
Mythical Pasts and Imagined Homes

The event falls in the wake of the recent decision of the Church of England to apologise for its role in the slave trade. Controversy over Bristol's slave trade links has also recently been reignited in relation to suggested new names for its main shopping area and continues to cause deep divisions within the city. The issue is particularly resonant in the lead-up to next year's 200th anniversary of Britain's abolition of the slave trade. The national advisory group for the bi-centenary is being chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott.

Advance booking for The Apology Debate is recommended. Tickets are £6 each
(or £4.50 for concessions). To book call 01179 25 4980 or email
bookings@empiremuseum.co.uk. The debate runs from 7pm to 9pm with doors
opening at 6.00pm.