Is it enough to express ‘profound sorrow’ for an
‘appalling atrocity’ that you benefited from? Prince
William may think it is, but many in Barbados, Jamaica and
the Bahamas don’t.
As William and Kate tour the Caribbean, they are greeted
with calls for justice, and that amends be made for the legacy of
slavery. Will you join?
Campaigners in Kingston staged a protest demanding
reparations when the Royal tour arrived in Jamaica.
The Prime Minister of Barbados -- the world’s newest
republic -- is writing again to European countries on
behalf of the Caribbean Community in an attempt to finally resolve
the issue.
The Bahamas National Reparations Committee issued the
same request ahead of the Duke and Duchess’s arrival
there.
If enough of us come together to support those demands,
we can tip the scales in favour of making long-overdue amends for
the crime against humanity of slavery.
Join
the global call for European nations to make amends for slavery and
colonialism.
The British Royal family hopes that William and Kate touring the
Caribbean islands will head off moves by other nations there to
follow Barbados’s lead in removing the Queen as the head of
state.
But imagine what a better world it would be if instead of
clinging to the social orders of the past, a process of
reconciliation was started.
Atoning for the harm that colonialism and slavery did, means that
the global community can come together on an equal footing to
solve the problems facing humanity.
The Duke and Duchesses tour coincides with the
International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery
and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. This year, let’s do more than
remember the victims and deliver justice to their
descendants and communities.
Call
on European Governments to commit to reparations.
The demand for reparations isn’t new, but has been called
for by enslaved and freed people themselves since the 18th
century. CARICOM, the community of Caribbean nations agreed
a 10 point plan for reparatory justice eight years ago.
Indeed, European nations know how to deliver reparations
as they’ve done it before. The problem was the wrong people
benefitted. Slave owners were compensated on abolition --
allowing them to invest in businesses, buildings and infrastructure,
while formerly enslaved people got nothing and their communities
were impoverished.
What reparations will look like exactly will be different in
different places, but to begin with there must be an apology
for the crimes that have been committed, and a commitment to take
responsibility for those crimes.
After that it’s about supporting the provision of societal
benefits that enslaving and colonising nations were able to provide
for themselves from the wealth extracted from countries like those
in the Caribbean.
It could start with cancelling monetary debt rather than
continuing to extract wealth, so that money can instead be put to
public healthcare and education.
I
want to help create a more just and equitable future by making
amends for the past. Commit to reparations now!
Nobody holds descendants of slave traders, slave owners and
colonialists responsible for their ancestor’s actions. But the fact
remains that the foundation of wealth, corporate power and
inequality today is built on this legacy, and it’s high
time to make amends for that.
Let’s be the generation that puts things
right.
