The Caribbean Community Claims 7.5 Trillion Pounds for Slavery Damages

In an interview, Prof. Verene Shepherd, Jamaica’s chair of the Reparations Committee, defines reparations as “repairing the damages,” and she insists that the Europeans should pay damages to slave descendants. Shepherd argues that, when freeing the slaves, the British government paid 20 million pounds to slave owners for the loss of their “property,” and the Caribbean community is now claiming that compensation, which is equivalent to 200 billion pounds. Shepherd adds that Europeans should also consider supporting development in the Caribbean and help eliminate institutionalized racism, which is faced by black communities.

In addition, the chair of Jamaica’s Reparation Committee claims that France should pay back the 90 million francs they demanded from Haitians in exchange for freedom. France should also consider paying back what they took from Haiti during the colonial period. In total, the Caribbean community is demanding 7.5 trillion pounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvbgK9Wfn-Y

The Europeans occupied and exploited resources from the Caribbean and this stunted the economic growth of these Islands. If the reparations demanded by slave descendants are awarded, I believe these Islands will be able to pay their debts, (most of which they owe to Europeans), and revive their economy. 

                                                         image adopted from google.com

The Caribbean Community Claims Formal Slavery Compensation

The Caribbean Community says an apology is not enough and every nation in the Caribbean is forming a national reparations commission to develop their cases. These Islands are claiming reparations for over 400 years of colonization and their leaders have already presented their cases to the United Nations .

France, Britain, and Netherlands are being asked to compensate for the damages that came as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade, which they took part in. Britain exported 3 million slaves and even though the compensation that the Caribbean is claiming hasn’t been revealed, I think the British government might pay reparations worth hundreds of billions of pounds. When the British government abolished slave trade in these Islands, they compensated slave owners by giving them €240 billion. As a matter of fact, one would have expected the slaves to be compensated for their sufferings.  

It has taken European countries a long time to express their apologies (some have not apologized yet), and none of them seems ready to compensate their colonies. Slave trade “impaired [Caribbean’s and other colonies] development options,” and I believe reparations would enable these countries to eradicate some of the problems they are facing today, which originated from colonialism and slave trade.

                                                          Slave Trade Routes

                                               image adopted from google.com

Justification for Colonialism

Below is a poem by Rudyard Kipling, a British imperial poet, who discusses the need to save a community of people. This poem describes the American imperialism for taking over the Philippines after the Spanish-American War. But the reason why I posted this poem is because it explains the belief that the whites had to impose civilization on the black people, and this was their justification for colonization. 

White Man's Burden -1899

Take up the White Man's burden--
Send forth the best ye breed--
Go bind your sons to exile                       
To serve your captives' need;
To wait in heavy harness,
On fluttered folk and wild--
Your new-caught, sullen peoples,
Half-devil and half-child.

Take up the White Man's burden--
In patience to abide,
To veil the threat of terror
And check the show of pride;
By open speech and simple,
An hundred times made plain
To seek another's profit,
And work another's gain.

Take up the White Man's burden--
The savage wars of peace--
Fill full the mouth of Famine
And bid the sickness cease;
And when your goal is nearest
The end for others sought,
Watch sloth and heathen Folly
Bring all your hopes to nought.

Take up the White Man's burden--
No tawdry rule of kings,
But toil of serf and sweeper--
The tale of common things.
The ports ye shall not enter,
The roads ye shall not tread,
Go mark them with your living,
And mark them with your dead.

Take up the White Man's burden--
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard--
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light:--
"Why brought he us from bondage,
Our loved Egyptian night?"

Take up the White Man's burden--
Ye dare not stoop to less--
Nor call too loud on Freedom
To cloke your weariness;
By all ye cry or whisper,
By all ye leave or do,
The silent, sullen peoples
Shall weigh your gods and you.

Take up the White Man's burden--
Have done with childish days--
The lightly proferred laurel,
The easy, ungrudged praise.
Comes now, to search your manhood
Through all the thankless years
Cold, edged with dear-bought wisdom,
The judgment of your peers! 

Fordham University

(c)Paul Halsall Aug 1997

Slaves for Sale

In my African Politics class, I learned that during the 16^th and the 17^th century, 4 million slaves were exported through the Indian Ocean, 4 million were exported through the Trans Saharan routes, and 10 to 15 million were exported through the Atlantic Ocean, to Europe and America. But an article from the PortCities Bistro states that there are no “complete records” of the exact number of slaves that were taken from Africa. However, the article gives the highest estimation of 100,000,000 slaves.

 The most thrilling thing about African slave trade is the slave sales and auctions. In slaves market, slaves were advertised, examined, branded, and sold together with other properties such as furniture. In the advertisements, the sellers included the physical description of the slave, the tasks that the slave could perform best such as cooking, and the price.

                                                       

                                                       

                                                              Images adopted from google.com

 Virginia University provides a series of graphics about “The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas” and after reviewing these graphics, I wondered what slave traders would say about their actions, if they were still alive. Would they be sorry, or would they be unremorseful?

Europeans to Pay Reparations to African Descendants in the Caribbean Countries

14 Caribbean countries voted to simultaneously sue Britain,France, and Netherlands, over sufferings that they endured during the colonial period. The victims think that by suing these European countries at the same time, they might end up getting more compensation compared to other countries such as Kenya, whose freedom fighters were recently compensated by the British government. However, these countries hired Leigh Day, the British law firm that represented the Mau Mau veterans from Kenya, to represent them. Lawyers from this firm argue that there are possibilities for an out-of-court-agreement, but the fact that the Caribbean countries hired them indicates that these countries are “serious.”

Speaking at the U.N.’s General Assembly on October 1^st 2013, Saint Vincent and Grenadines’ Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, insisted that these “Europeannations must pay for their deeds.” However, an article posted on a Catholicwebsite argues that it is unjust for the Caribbean countries to ask for reparations since “the guilty, as well as the victims, are long dead.” The article also argues that if “the great grandchildren of slavers [must] pay the great grandchildren of slaves,” then African nations should also be sued because “the first perpetrators of slavery were African themselves.”

                                                            google images.com

The African Philosophy

Did you know some lyrics of the "Redemption Song" by Bob Marley were obtained from Marcus Garvey's speech of 1937? Garvey, a Pan-Africanist, states that the “African philosophy” is the only thing that will “save” African people. He adds that this philosophy requires Africans to free their minds from slavery since all people were created equal. In his speech, Garvey insists that Africans should think independently, for if not, “we (Africans) are absolute and positive slaves.” Marley echoes Garvey’s words by saying that, “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds.”  For “Even the worst of your own is better than the best of the other,” Garvey said.

After reading Garvey’s speech and listening to Marley’s song, I came to a conclusion that the "African philosophy" might have influenced Kenyan freedom fighters to request for colonial reparations. These guerrillas are claiming what is rightfully theirs! Do you agree with me? As you think about it, click on the video below, relax, and enjoy!

Redemption Song

   Old pirates, yes, they rob I;

Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.
But my hand was made strong
By the 'and of the Almighty.
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly.

Won't you help to sing
Another songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our minds.
Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them can stop the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look? Ooh!
Some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfill de book.

Won't you help to sing
Another songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever have:
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs;
Redemption songs.

[Guitar break]

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery;
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Wo! Have no fear for atomic energy,
'Cause none of them-a can-a stop-a the time.
How long shall they kill our prophets,
While we stand aside and look?
Yes, some say it's just a part of it:
We've got to fulfill the book.

Won't you help to sing
Another songs of freedom? -
'Cause all I ever had:
Redemption songs -
All I ever had:
Redemption songs:
Another songs of freedom,
Songs of freedom.

Important Events in Kenyan History from 1952 to 1960

Here’s a link to the National Army Museum website that describes the history of Kenya from 1952 to 1960. On this website, you'll find 12 slides providing a brief history concerning important events that took place in Kenya during the colonial period such as the uprising of the Mau Mau (Kenyan freedom fighters), the State of Emergency, detention, the hiding places of the Mau Mau, and among others. Along with the descriptions, there are images showing some weapons that were used by the Mau Mau. The most interesting image is the “pass” that was given to Mau Mau guerrillas who surrendered during the State of Emergency in 1955. Below is a copy of that document written in English, Kiswahili, and Kikuyu. Click on the image to enlarge it.

image adopted from wikipedia.com