BY BEN KERRIGAN
Jamaica has called for Britain to pay billions of pounds in reparations for slavery, ahead of David Cameron’s first official visit to Jamaica today. The request is neither practical nor straightforward, despite the historical reason for the request. The history of slavery has spanned every culture, so if every country were to compensate for the effects of slavery caused by their ancestors, every country will be paying unthinkable sums.
The official call made by the Chair of the Caricom Reparations Commission-Sir Hilary Beckles, for Cameron to start talks on making amends for slavery, is destined for a hot and interesting showdown of some sort when Blair arrives in Jamaica. Africans and Jamaicans were subjected to an inhumane level of slavery during the years of the slave trade by their colonial masters and this has long been seen as an unsolved issue. The problem is that most, if not all, countries are guilty of some form of slavery in their history, so the question is whether all governments should start compensating every other country who was enslaved, so that we have an endless stream of court cases relating to slavery. This would seem rather cost ineffective and impractical in the long term.
Pickles referenced the Prime Minister’s ancestral links to the trade in the trade in the 1700’s through his cousin 6 times removed- General Sir James Duff .
“You are a grandson of the Jamaican soil who has been privileged and enriched by your forebears’ sins of the enslavement of our ancestors … You are, Sir, a prized product of this land and the bonanza benefits reaped by your family and inherited by you continue to bind us together like birds of a feather.
“We ask not for handouts or any such acts of indecent submission. We merely ask that you acknowledge responsibility for your share of this situation and move to contribute in a joint program of rehabilitation and renewal. The continuing suffering of our people, Sir, is as much your nation’s duty to alleviate as it is ours to resolve in steadfast acts of self-responsibility.”
Meanwhile, Downing Street have made clear its stance that reparations or an apology, is not the right approach for acts committed by a different government and a different generation. Professor Verene Shepherd- chair of the National Commission on Reparation, told the Jamaica Gleaner that nothing short of an unambiguous apology from Cameron would do, while a Jamaican MP, Mike Henry, called on fellow parliamentarians to turn their back on Cameron if reparations are not on the agenda, noting that the Jamaican parliament has approved a motion for the country to seek reparation from Britain.
PAST REQUESTS
It is not the first time reparations have been demanded. In 1999, the Reparations and Reparation Truth Commission called for The West to pay $777 trillion within five years, though it never said how it arrived at its $777 arrived from. Five years later in 2004. Lloyds of London was sued by descendants of African slaves, but were not successful. The same year, a coalition of Rastafari movement groups argued that European countries formerly involved in the slave trade should pay 72.5billion pounds to resettle 500,000 Jamaicans who suffered as a result of slavery. The British government refused and said it could not be held responsible for the past actions of the colonial masters. On the 27th of November 2006, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair publicly apologized for Britain’s role in the African slavery trade. That apology was rejected and practically denounced by African rights activists, who dubbed it as ”empty rhetoric” because it apparently fell short of any legal retort.
The next year, in August 2007, the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, also apologized for London’s role in the slave trade, breaking down after pointing towards the financial district that had benefited from the slave trade, and claimed London was still tainted with the effects of slavery. That apology was implicitly rejected, most likely on the similarly stated grounds that no compensation accompanies the apology. Calls for reparations have been made by Guyana in 2007, and Antigua and Barbuda in 2011, who claimed at the time that ”segregation and violence against people of African descent” had impaired their capacity for advancements as nations, communities and individuals”.
On the 27th of November 2006, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair publicly apologized for Britain’s role in the African slavery trade. That apology was rejected and practically denounced by African rights activists, who dubbed it as ”empty rhetoric” because it apparently fell short of any legal retort. In August 2007, the then Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, also apologized for London’s role in the slave trade, breaking down after pointing towards the financial district that had benefited from the slave trade, and claimed London was still tainted with the effects of slavery.
Calls for reparations have been made by Guyana in 2007, and Antigua and Barbuda in 2011, who claimed at the time that ”segregation and violence against people of African descent” had impaired their capacity for advancements as nations, communities and individuals”.
AGENDA/RELATIONSHIP
“If it is not on the agenda, I will not attend any functions involving the visiting prime minister, Sir Hilary Pickles of the Commission in Jamaica insisted, and I will cry shame on those who do, considering that there was not a dissenting voice in the debate in parliament,” Pickles told the Jamaican Guardian, in a long letter to the newspaper. Britain has never opened the table for any such discussions and does not look like that position will change
A spokesperson for Downing Street said: “This is a longstanding concern of theirs and there is a longstanding UK position, true of successive governments in the UK, that we don’t think reparations are the right approach.
“The PM’s point will be he wants to focus on the future. We are talking about issues that are centuries old and taken under a different government when he was not even born. He wants to look at the future and how can the UK play a part now in stronger growing economies in the Caribbean.”
“He looks at that kind of relationship and who the Caribbean see as their major partners and sees them looking to China and Venezuela and thinks Britain should be in there. Britain has long historical ties with these countries,” Downing streets spokesperson said.
That relationship may be impossible to develop properly if this issue remains at the forefront of the debate. The fact remains though, that some sort of reparations may logically be deemed necessary, but they have to be practical too. Jamaica can’t ask for figures that could potentially destabilize the British economy since the present government was not responsible for the slavery in question. The State of the British Economy has to be looked at, and we have to also look at Jamaica’s Economy and how they are using the resources available to them. Is the wealth of the country being decentralized to the people? This are are all issues to look at, although they don’t justify the acts of the colonial countries.
BENEFIT
The assertion that Britain continues to benefit from that slavery at the expense of Jamaicans is a valid issue to look at. The British museums still store several paintings and antics that are the direct products of slavery, and many African historians are incensed by this. A discussion can be had about having all those returned, but we also have to look at any extent to which the Jamaican government themselves might be enslaving their own people by not affording them the full benefits from the natural resources of their land; then ask whether the Jamaican government should themselves compensate the millions of people who have been the victims of corruption and mismanagement in their country, and also whether we should examine the history of every country and make them all pay for slavery of the past. This does not mean that I am undermining the anguish caused by the years of slavery, or any deprivation that has followed from it.
What it means is that any expectation for Britain to pay the requested Billions, fails to recognize the impractical precedent such a move will set for all countries who have enslaved any other country in their history to also pay heavy sums of money in reparation. Yet most countries and all cultures have been guilty of slavery at some point. Many countries put under the pressure of such precedent will fear for the economic effects on the country of paying huge sums back. Those who refuse to pay will spark up tension between such countries, and the whole thing could potentially affect the dynamics of the world economy adversely.
I accept that not only David Cameron, but all English Brits like myself whose ancestors contributed to unjustifiable slavery, may have benefited from the fruits of this barbaric event of history that shames those European countries who participated in it. However, it really shames all humans too since a large part of the world took part in slavery of some sort. There aren’t many innocent countries in this respect.
This issue could be viewed from different standpoints, so perhaps it should be debated fully. It looks like Cameron’s trip to Jamaica will be overshadowed by this topic because it is a hot topic that will not be swept under the carpet easily.
