Have we really lifted the yoke of slavery?

For thousands of years slavery was considered the inevitable consequence of the survival of the fittest: strong families, tribes, clans and nations overcoming weak ones.

All empires and the civilisations they created had slaves. From Greece to North Africa, from Rome to China, the movement of people through military conquest and trade inevitably created different classes and categories.

For a time the fate of people was considered to be pre-destined by the gods, God or Allah; but the relationship between rulers and the ruled, symbolised by the slave revolt against Imperial Rome led by Spartacus, prompted philosophers like John Locke to challenge the notion of divinity in the organisation of society.

But in the late 18th century anti-slavery movements, mostly impelled by evangelical Christianity, successfully argued that it was merely a form of exploitation and was a disgrace to civilisation.

Yorkshire, of course, spawned many passionate anti-slavery campaigners: William Wilberforce, from Hull, and Richard Oastler, who was born in Leeds but worked ardently in Bradford to persuade mill owners to improve working conditions for children.

"A number of people who campaigned for the end of the slave trade, like Wilberforce, were political Tories and evangelical Christians. That should send a message to David Cameron," said the Rev Geoff Reid, team leader of the Bradford-based Methodist Touchstone Centre.

"Wilberforce showed remarkable persistence in coming back year after year to the House of Commons to present his anti-slavery bill. This set the pattern for political campaigning ever after: putting pressure on politicians and getting publicity. I think it was the beginning of political campaigning."

In 1807, after 15 years of set-backs and rejections, Wilberforce was successful. Solicitor General Sir Samuel Romilly wound up his speech against the trade with a long and emotional tribute to the MP from Hull.

Wilberforce reportedly sat with his head in hands, tears streaming down his face. As Romilly's peroration came to an end, members rose as one and cheered tumultuously. MPs may cheer, but according to Parliamentary protocol they may not applaud.

Geoff Reid continued: "The last letter that John Wesley wrote was to Wilberforce telling him to keep going. From the beginning the anti-slavery movement has been about coalitions of diverse peoples which, I think, is a lesson for us.

"The current Set All Free campaign, started by a number of people in the Church, is looking afresh in a sober way at our history, how we made our money, and at slavery in the world today.

"I detect a mood at the moment across the political sphere, people are trying to reign in global capitalism. The Fair Trade campaign, another example of a coalition of diverse peoples, is now spreading from food production to focus on economic slavery, particularly in the clothing industry."

Earlier this month the anti-poverty group War on Want produced a report called Fashion Victims in which they described how workers in Bangladesh were paid as little as 5p an hour to work in potential death-trap factories making clothes for big UK retailers.

Some garment workers worked 96 hours a week; the minimum working day was ten hours. Times change but some things don't. To think that this goes on in the 21st century, 150 years after Parliament passed the Ten Hours Act in 1847 following Richard Oastler's indefatigable, selfless campaigning.

The companies concerned - Tesco, Asda and Primark - all have branches in Bradford. Spokesmen for Asda and Primark urged War on Want to pass on details about the factories so they could investigate. Tesco said all of its suppliers had to meet the company's ethical standards on worker welfare.

In the same week as the War on Want report, a national newspaper revealed the plight of thousands of Pakistani and Bangladeshi children, some as young as five, who had been sold by their families as camel jockeys to Arabs.

Although camel racing involving children has been banned in Dubai, it still goes on in the deserts of Pakistan in spite of the efforts of Anti-Slavery International and the Pakistan Child Protection and Welfare Bureau.

Trafficking in migrants has been a profitable gangland activity for years. Placing your life and well-being in the hands of unscrupulous fixers involves a degree of personal volition and for this reason may not be thought of as slavery, which is something that happens against a person's will.

However, traffickers cannot guarantee that what they promise will be realised; there have been numerous cases of migrants dying in the backs of containers or drowning in overcrowded boats.

Where there is coercion and threat to life there is slavery. Pimps who prey on young girls in Bradford, get them hooked on hard drugs and then force them into prostitution to make money are slave-traders.

"Slavery is a contemporary issue that is not just in other countries: it's still an issue in our own cities and to some degree in our own streets where women are controlled by pimps - that's the essence of slavery," Geoff Reid.

Slavery throughout the British Empire was banned in 1833 - the same year as Lord Shaftesbury's Factory Act banning the employment of children under nine and restricting under-13's to a 48-hour working week. But it is the 1807 Abolition Act that will be officially marked on March 27.Geoff Reid said Touchstone will be having a series of Bible studies on the theme of slavery in the new year, before Lent in March. He believes there will probably be other things happening in the arts in Yorkshire in the new year.

One of these events is Northern Broadsides' next touring production - Shakespeare's The Tempest. Barrie Rutter, Broadsides' actor-manager, was born in Hull - like William Wilberforce. Rutter said the play, which comes to West York-shire Playhouse in April and Halifax's Viaduct Theatre in May, will acknowledge the 200th anniversary of Abolition, partly by having a core of black actors in the cast.

• There is an ecumenical website on slavery: www.setallfree.net.