‘Cargo’ uses contemporary music, words, dance and images to tell the story of the Abolitionists campaign and how, together with the struggles of the African slaves themselves, they fought to end the slave trade 200 years ago and to use that story as a platform to raise awareness of the many forms of slavery that still exist today and the inextricable links with poverty, prejudice, injustice and fairtrade. It will aim to show how in the past and in the present ordinary people can make a difference. ‘Cargo’ stands alongside the work of organisations that are both celebrating the work of William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Olaudah Equiano and others in the bicentennial of Abolition in 2007 and still working to end contemporary forms of slavery. Organisations such as ‘Compassion’, ‘Anti Slavery International’, ‘Stop the Traffick’, ‘Set all free’, ‘WISE’ (The Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery & Emancipation in Hull) and ‘Fairtrade’ are supporting the project. Sir Tom Courtenay has read the narrations for the recording. The cast of ‘Cargo’ at Greenbelt will include Paul Field, Coco Mbassi, Dan Wheeler, Steve Harding, Sadie Chamberlain, Springs Dance Company and a ‘scratch’ Greenbelt Choir. Imagine you are a slave. It is 1787. You work between twelve and fourteen hours a day and are subject to cruel punishments if you don’t work hard enough. You are owned and not paid a penny for your work. You will not grow old. You plant, tend and harvest most of the worlds crops, non stop until you die. You see more slaves than free people and that is the truth, there are more slaves than free people in the world. Your slavery brings great wealth to a few. To change that is unthinkable. However, in the back of a printing shop in London twelve ordinary men are plotting the unthinkable. To abolish slavery. Unknown to you a great wheel has begun to turn. You are living through the moment in history that will be regarded as the beginning of the Abolitionist movement. As these twelve men well know, in Britain there are no caravans of chained captives or whip wielding overseers stalking the rows of sugar cane. Their campaign will have to make ordinary people understand what goes on to bring them the sugar they eat, the coffee they drink and the tobacco they smoke. And it will work. In 20 years the world will be changed. William Wilberforce will champion the cause in parliament and the bill making the trading of slaves illegal will be signed into law by King George III on the 25th March 1807. But that is just the beginning. It will take another 30 years just to take the next step, to outlaw the ownership of slaves. Wilberforce will not live to see it. Neither will you. Now you are you again It is 2007. The great wheel has been turning for 220 years to good effect. Yet still, at the very least there are fifteen million people trapped in some form of slavery and the number is growing. In a world of a hundred times that number they are fewer than they were. Officially in fact, there are none. But new words, sleight of presentation, government complicity and more than a few blind eyes cloak the slavery that still is. Poverty, desperation and ignorance hide or disguise what lies ahead for those who find themselves tricked, traded, trafficked, kidnapped, forced, bonded or conscripted. To survive they must obey. Now there is a slavery for everyone. From sex tourism, prostitution and pornography to forced labour for governments or armies, menial work based on caste or ethnic group, bonded labour, child labour and plain domestic chores. Two hundred years ago, slaves could be considered as a long term investment. Today there is an endless cheap supply of slaves. The unprofitable are quickly discarded and replaced. They are disposable people. You and the rest of us will make the world what it will be in 2107. We are the ordinary people who need to know what lies behind the sugar they eat, the coffee they drink, the tobacco they smoke and the clothes they wear. We need to know how big the slave trade is today We need to break down apathy and prejudice and uphold the right of every human being to be free. Finishing a task can be just as hard, just as inspired as starting it. Only when there are no slaves can the wheel finally slow down and stop. ‘Nobody is free until everyone is free’ (Vivek Pandit) © paul field/norman reed : 2006