Caribbean nations have demanded that Britain give up its overseas territories in the region as part of ‘slavery reparations’. The Telegraph has the story.
A delegation representing 15 Caribbean countries has been sent to London to advocate an expanded set of proposals to address the effects of “extractive colonialism”.
The detailed manifesto from the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which is being put to MPs, says that former colonial powers should not only offer financial compensation but also give up their territories in the region.
This “key demand” would cover the British holdings of Turks and Caicos, Anguilla, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
Decolonisation would stop residents of territories colonised by Europe living as “second-class inhabitants”, the Caricom Reparations Commission states.
Caricom’s new working document for reparations – backed by national governments in the Caribbean – states: “Caricom supports the notion that the process of decolonisation of the still existing European and North American colonial territories is an important component of the reparations cause.
“Colonised territories are economically constrained by imposed constitutional arrangements. Structural economic decolonisation and political autonomy should be based upon and infused with the principle and praxis of reparative justice.”
The issue of overseas territories has been added to a reformulated 10-point plan for reparations, a set of demands first produced in 2014, which has been greatly expanded amid a renewed push from both the Caribbean and African nations to secure compensation.
The original plan, which has been rebuffed by successive UK governments, calls for measures ranging from a formal apology to debt cancellation.
Territories including Saint Martin, Aruba, Curacao, Martinique and Guadeloupe have a “legitimate claim to nationhood and freedom” which has been suppressed by “colonisers”, the new plan says.
Sir Hilary Beckles, who chairs the Caricom Reparations Commission, told the Telegraph: “We are still here, from being the first part of the world to be colonised. The world has been maybe 90% decolonised.
“But the Caribbean remains the most colonised part of the world, and this has to stop.”
The Chair of the commission added that the King should support decolonisation to “break the chains of imperial governance”.
Sir Hilary added: “We cannot abide the fact that maybe 20% of the population in the Caribbean are still living in colonies.”
Caricom members have said that the framework for negotiations over the new demands will be worked out between leaders in the region and in Africa, before European governments are approached.
In the meantime, the commission was understood to be putting its case to MPs in Parliament on Tuesday evening in an event hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations, chaired by Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour backbencher.
While in the UK, the delegation also met with “very senior” members of the clergy representing the Church of England, which has promised a £100 million reparations package to atone for its alleged investments in the apparatus of the trade.
The expanded 10-point plan now also calls for compensation measures to address not only slavery, but the subsequent use of indentured labourers following abolition, as well as redress for climate change, as “colonialism is an historical and ongoing driver of the climate crisis”.
Worth reading in full.
Of course, the African populations of these islands are also imported, albeit originally as slaves. Many had no indigenous inhabitants. Perhaps then full decolonisation should simply mean abandoning them to the wildlife.
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The Government Policy should be obvious to all with any brain. We offer to ship these people back to Africa at zero cost! The Countries in the Caribbean belong to Britain and could be used for our own purposes. Africa might accept these people, but I doubt it as they are of a considerably different culture now. In realistic terms we gave the slaves relatives now a huge boost to their wellbeing and wealth. They are looking the wrong way! History says that slaves were sold by other Africans, often instead of killing them after tribal battles, surely the only reason that they now exist? Basically they OWE us. It cost Britain huge sums to end Western slavery, both in lives and cash. Let us have it back please!
Time to reverse the policies and take this land back for England, deport the inhabitants and start founding white colonies again.
Excellent scheme! We could avoid the demise of Britain by exporting ourselves!
Trollocks!!!!
Give us da munny!
What better “reparations” than to send back all the descendants of these chancers who have settled in Britain, and abolish the Parasitic Commonwealth, which has never brought the slightest benefit to the English, Scots, Welsh, or Northern Irish people and their descendants around the world, whose ancestors built these small islands into one of the greatest nations on earth.
The Message of the West should be:
“Dear Third World, we owe you nothing. Stop whining & get over it !”
Of course they do. They see how the Uniparty are trying desperately to give away the Chagos – with £100 billion on top – and want some of this action themselves.
I don’t blame them for trying it on.
A simple ‘No’. With no further debate.
By all means fully decolonise these territories – by terminating the Commonwealth. These territories are in Washington’s hemisphere, not Britain’s.
Surely these reparations cannot be paid in the colonialist currencies used to buy and sell slaves, this filthy lucre. In any case, reparations are only ever paid by the defeated. The Germans had to pay reparations after losing the Great War and the Chinese after losing the Boxer rebellion.
The extension of reparations into climate change and indentured labour indicate what a shake down this is. And of course the simpletons of the Church of England are only too keen to comply.
Then there’s the question of decolonising Britain.
Hey, that should give the sales of wode a boost!
Give it “back” to people who didn’t own it in the first place?
If we are to “give it back” we first must deport the current contents back whence they originated – Africa – then seek out the descendants of the original indigenous people – if any survived.
Sounds like a plan.
Alternatively – Foxtrot Oscar.
From what I know there are no pureblooded indigenous people, think they either got wiped out or interbred.
Some of these territories might serve some useful purpose for us but not sure what it is. Most of them and the others coming under other countries almost certainly cost us money in subsidies so we are best off without them.
The people on the islands don’t want to change.
Yes they are better off in many ways staying “with us” so to speak.
On the one hand, our central government provides substantial aid to them.
On the other hand hey are part of the City of London financial system. Huge amounts of money flow through these territories to be managed by CoL financial institutions.
So from the perspective of British taxpayers, they cost money. From the perspective of UK financial institutions, they make money.
That’s one of the main functions of a central government. To take money from one group of people to benefit another group of people.
“ Huge amounts of money flow through these territories to be managed by CoL financial institutions.”
Maybe Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Not sure about the others. Surely they would continue to do that anyway – I expect they take money from all over the world.
That’s right. They are major hubs for financial transactions and that won’t change.
Perhaps, but no guarantee they will funnel as many funds towards City of London if they stop being UK overseas territories. At the end of they day, the world is a web of protection rackets. At the moment they are “protected” by the UK. If they split away from the UK it will be to become a protectorate of some other big fish, to whom the bulk of the spoils will go.
It helps a lot to understand what is going on in the world if one looks at it all in terms of mafia protection rackets.
Foxtrot Oscar was indeed my reaction as well.
Between climate reparations and slavery reparations, there’s not going to be too much left in the kitty.
Perhaps Mr Burnham can sell the whole British Isles to Mauritius or something to help pay for it all?
He will not get any money, just promise Billions to seal the deal (and no doubt get a huge personal kickback!).