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On this day, 1 August 1834, slavery in the British Caribbean officially ended, and the 800,000 people enslaved by Britons were "freed". The move followed major uprisings of enslaved people, for example in Jamaica and Demerara (now part of Guyana). However, the government compensated the former enslavers, at taxpayers' expense, for the loss of their "property": paying them £20 million at the time. This sum constituted 40% of the total government budget that year, and was the largest ever state bailout until the 2009 bank bailout. The debt incurred was only eventually paid off in 2015. Many rich and powerful people in Britain today can trace their wealth back to this compensation, including former Conservative prime minister David Cameron and his wife.Formerly enslaved people were also forced to work unpaid for 45 hours every week for their former enslavers for four years. Often this is referred to as the date the British Empire abolished slavery, but in fact the institution continued in other colonies and British-controlled areas for many years. For example, in the 1960s, Labour and Conservative governments sent troops to defend the sultan of Oman, where slavery was legal until 1970.More information and sources: https://stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/8043/british-caribbean-slavery-abolishedTo access this hyperlink, click our link bio then click this photo

Song of the Day 🏖🛶: https://youtu.be/09K4HJ31xj4

TIL that by using the McDonald’s app for online orders, you automatically enter into an arbitration agreement, meaning you waive your right to sue the company in court. 🍔📱 [source, comments]

"Can't afford food? Blame billionaires, not immigrants"
Poster spotted in Toronto

Freight graffiti for Sonya Massey. On July 6, 2024, Sonya Massey, a 36-year-old African-American woman, was murdered in her home by deputy Sean Grayson of the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office in Woodside Township near Springfield, Illinois.

“The Democratic Party didn't just change their nominee, they have changed their message in the final hundred days before the election.”

https://www.axios.com/2024/08/01/kamala-harris-joe-biden-president-strategy-election

NEW: Billionaire Elon Musk has created a PAC collecting voter data from those living in key states through an online "register to vote" form that does not directly register people to vote.

All of this in an effort to help Donald Trump become president.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/02/elon-musk-pac-voter-data-trump-harris.html

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On this day, 2 August 1924, James Baldwin, renowned gay Black author and social critic was born in Harlem, New York City. Frustrated with endemic racism in the United States, he moved to France where he spent most of his life. However, he did return to the US during the civil rights movement and played an active role in fighting racism, despite the official movement's homophobia, encouraging civil disobedience and taking part in the March on Washington in 1963 and the Selma march in 1965. Baldwin believed racism to be a central tool of US capitalism, telling journalist Joe Walker: "Racism is crucial to the system to keep Black and whites at a division so both were and are a source of cheap labour… The price of any real socialism here [in the US] is the eradication of what we call the race problem."In 1968 Baldwin also pledged to refuse to pay tax in protest against the Vietnam war. For these "subversive" activities, Baldwin was subjected to illegal surveillance by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who collated 1,884 pages of documents on him. This collection of writings by Angela Davis begins with the letter sent to her by Baldwin: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/if-they-come-in-the-morning-angela-davis To access this hyperlink, click our link in bio then click this photo