Slavery Reparations case gathers steam in Caribbean, Evidence collection
By Tony Best From the New York Carib News
Caribbean nations which revised the century–old issue of reparations for slavery with their announced plans to bring a lawsuit against Britain for its commercially profitable role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade are moving a step further in preparing their case.
Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Antigua, Grenada, Suriname, the Bahamas and their neighbors are accelerating the pace of research, collecting evidence at the individual national levels to boost the region’s legal argument for compensation for the brutality of slavery and native genocide. The evidence collection exercise picked up steam when representatives of almost a dozen Caricom states met recently in Barbados and decided to gather the relevant evidence that would support the demand for reparations.
Research in the United Kingdom where a case is to be filed has already shown that some of Britain richest and most influential families, including the British Royal family, benefitted from slavery, and the United Kingdom should therefore provide financial compensation to the developing countries for the lingering effects of the abhorrent trade in human beings.
Earl Bousquet, Chairman of St. Lucia’s National Reparations Committee, NRC, who represented his Eastern Caribbean country at the meeting in Bridgetown, said afterwards the sessions agreed on a regional approach designed to guide the way evidence was compiled and presented in a court of law.
“The meeting adopted a regional strategic and operational plan to guide the work of the reparations movement at the regional and nation levels and in its interface with Africa and Europe as well as the Caribbean and African Diaspora,” said Bousquet.
“We also looked at research and translation, mobilization and public education, inter-governmental relations, media strategy, preparation of a regional strategic and operational plan and financial of the regional commission and the national committees,” he added.
In the meantime, the threatened lawsuit is attracting attention Europe where legal experts, historians and analysts are assessing the case’s merits and are already warning the case was going to trigger a protracted battle.
A British cabinet minister, reflecting the attitude of the current David Cameron Administration has rejected the Caribbean’s claims for compensation and in Scotland which is mounting its own campaign to become a sovereign nation, separating itself from the U.K., the issue hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“Scotland will no doubt hear” about the human rights abuses that are central to the reparations case “as it prepares to move forward into self-government, history speaks to the present,” wrote a reader of the Herald Scotland publication. “History speaks to the present.”
In Copenhagen, Enhedslisten, a far-left party, has called on Denmark to apologize to the Caribbean for its role in the slave trade between 1670 and 1802.
“An official apology is important for two reasons: one is to pay sympathies to the descendants of slaves and the other is to have a debate in Denmark about slavery and our slavery past,” said Nikolaj Villumsen, the party’s foreign affairs spokesman,
Denmark had a colonial presence in the Caribbean for several decades, ending in 1917 when it sold the U.S. Virgin Island to Washington for $25 million. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 slaves were transported on Danish ships to the Caribbean, North America and Europe before the European country became the first to prohibit slavery in 1792.
With Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, St. Vincent’s Prime Minister, taking over the chairmanship of Caricom, the 15-member grouping of English, Dutch and Creole-speaking Caribbean states, the reparations issues is expected to become more highly visible during the next six months. Dr. Gonsalves is a strong backer of the reparations movement and of the decision to bring a case against Britain as well as begin a dialogue with countries that benefitted from the trade in human beings.
For more on this story go to:
http://www.nycaribnews.com/news.php?viewStory=4490
Related story:
Jamaica leads Caribbean demand for slavery reparations from the UK
From Daily Stormer
Instead of Whites paying reparations to blacks for slavery, we demand that blacks pay reparations to us for the destruction of our once prosperous cities and colonies. These reparations can take the form of manual labor on our plantations. And while we’re at it, we should demand extra repayment from the Jamaicans for the scourge of reggae music and rasta culture that has corrupted our youth.
From the Telegraph:
A coalition of 14 Caribbean states, including Jamaica… is now mounting the first united campaign for reparations from Britain over its role in the Atlantic slave trade.
The group is ready to sue in the courts and has hired Leigh Day, the London law firm that last year won £20 million for Kenyans tortured by the British during the Mau Mau rebellion of the 1950s.
This month it will unveil a list of 10 demands for Britain, France and Holland, including funds likely to total billions, an apology, and assurances slavery will never be repeated, The Telegraph can disclose.
Professor Verene Shepherd, the chairman of Jamaica’s reparations committee, said British colonisers had “disfigured the Caribbean,” and that their descendants must now pay to repair the damage.
“If you commit a crime against humanity, you are bound to make amends,” Prof Shepherd told The Telegraph. “The planters were given compensation, but not one cent went to the freed Jamaicans”.
As usual, the Caribbean Negroes demanding reparations fail to mention the fact that their islands were incredibly prosperous under White rule, but have fallen into third world status after Whites were kicked out.
