Who is Britain really saving in the fight against modern slavery?

As Black Lives Matter has exposed the legacies of transatlantic slavery and empire, Britain has launched a new moral crusade at home: the fight against “modern slavery.” This panel discussion marks the launch of Drugs, Race and the Politics of Modern Slavery Law by Insa Lee Koch and asks what this crusade is really doing.

Focusing on the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the policing and prosecution strategies enabled in its wake, the panel examines how young Black and racialised working-class men involved in Britain's street level economy of heroin and crack cocaine — once criminalised under the war on gangs — are now recast as "modern slaves" and their "masters". Central to the discussion is Glodi Wabelua, the first young man convicted under modern slavery laws for a county lines drugs offence. Bringing together ethnographic insights, leading anti-racism campaigners and lived experience, the event interrogates how modern slavery law deepens racial inequality while allowing Britain to deny its imperial past.