Despite growing calls for reparations for slavery, the UK refuses to accept that it’s high time to pay up. So much is clear from recent remarks by its new political leaders – and from King Charles’ failure to apologise at the recently concluded Commonwealth summit in Samoa.
Although the devastating generational impact of the empire’s brutality alone should warrant restitution, when the enormous gains from slavery, colonialism and relentless neocolonialism are taken into account, the case for reparations is bulletproof.
The stark economic inequalities between White Westerners and Black Africans is a direct consequence of slavery. The UK is adamant that its former colonies are owed no damages, even though it felt the need to compensate slave-owners when slavery was abolished.
The UK’s position is at odds with that of other Commonwealth nations. A 2023 report for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) concluded that Britain owes $19.6 trillion for the European slave trade. The Chairwoman of CARICOM’s reparations commission says ‘the crime is huge’ and therefore ‘the responsibility for what happened is huge.’
Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/british-lawmakers-accuse-starmer-colonial-mindset-slavery-reparations-debate-2024-10-27/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn01ljdl07xo
Britain’s Slave Owner Compensation Loan, reparations and tax havenry
Britain’s colonial shame: Slave-owners given huge payouts after abolition
The Impact of the Past: How British Colonialism Affects the Modern World
https://heritagecollections.parliament.uk/stories/the-transatlantic-slave-trade
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zc92xnb/revision/1
https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/all-britons-benefited-from-colonialism-regardless-of-class-42cd2777949
https://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-monarchy-has-benefited-from-colonialism-and-slavery-179911
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6vy79p750o
https://www.brattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Report-on-Reparations-for-Transatlantic-Chattel-Slavery-in-the-Americas-and-the-Caribbean.pdf
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/caribbean-countries-seek-trillion-slavery-reparations-b1106585.html