Why are Commonwealth leaders asking the UK for reparations?

Published

2 weeks ago

October 25, 2024

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Calls for the UK to pay slavery reparations have grown louder in recent years.

Soon after the Second World War, former British colonies across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean started gaining their independence.

This independence movement led to some countries demanding financial compensation for all they had suffered under British rule.

More recently, social media, the Black Lives Matter movement, changes in the monarchy, and the challenges posed by climate change have seen the campaign for reparations build momentum.

This week, both the King and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are in Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) where they both face renewed calls for reparations.

What are reparations?

In 1661, Barbados became the first British colony to operate under a “slave code”.

This gave Britain the legal right to take people from its colonies in Africa on deadly ship journeys to the Caribbean, where they were treated as property and made to work for no money.

They grew sugar, cotton, and tobacco, among other produce that was then sold for profit, bolstering Britain’s economy and infrastructure.

The Royal Family was also heavily connected to the slave trade.

Slavery was abolished by the UK in 1834, with the British Empire only formally coming to an end with its handing back of Hong Kong to China in 1997.

Following abolition, the British government paid former slave owners compensation – for loss of “property” – that totalled £20m (the equivalent of £300m today).

No compensation or offer of relocation was offered to the former slaves themselves or their families. This is what Commonwealth countries are asking for now in reparations.

How are the royals involved?

As head of state, British kings and queens were heavily implicated in slavery.

Starting in the 16th century, Elizabeth I sold a ship to one of the country’s biggest slave traders John Hawkins.

Both James I and Charles I granted monopolies on the trade of slaves in Africa to merchants connected with the royals.

In 1663, Charles II founded the Royal African Company, which took more slaves to the Caribbean than any other institution. He also appointed judges to bolster the legal framework for the system – effectively making it a state enterprise.

Successive monarchs then defended slavery and used its power to defend British slave bosses.

Before he became king, William IV, then the Duke of Clarence, boasted of time spent in the Caribbean befriending planters and contracting a sexually transmitted disease. Before the trade was abolished in 1834, he claimed enslaved people were “comparatively in a state of humble happiness”.

What is being asked for?

Fifteen Caribbean governments, which form CARICOM (Caribbean Community), have created a 10-point plan for “reparatory justice”.

This includes a formal apology for slavery, a development programme, which helps nations with their economies, increasing difficulties caused by climate change, and to move out of poverty.

It begins: “Over 10 million Africans were stolen from their homes and forcefully transported to the Caribbean as the enslaved chattel and property of European.

“This trade in enchained bodies was a highly successful commercial business for the nations of Europe.

“The lives of millions of men, women and children were destroyed in search of profit. The descendants of these stolen people have a legal right to return to their homeland.

“A repatriation program must be established and all available channels of international law and diplomacy used to resettle those persons who wish to return.”

It argues that “European colonial rule is a persistent part of Caribbean life” and the repercussions are the “primary cause of development failure in the Caribbean”.

Why £205bn?

As the reparations movement has gained pace, experts have tried to put a figure on how much Britain and other former colonial powers should pay.

Earlier this year, Reverend Dr Michael Banner, Dean of Cambridge’s Trinity College, claimed Britain owed £205bn in reparations.

In 2023, a report carried out by an American consultancy firm, the American Society of International Law, and the University of the West Indies, concluded the UK owes 14 countries a total of $24trn (£18.8trn).

The report was led by leading International Court of Justice (ICJ) judge Patrick Robinson.

Some UK institutions have offered reparations for their role in the slave trade – including the Church of England, parts of the NHS in Scotland, and the University of Glasgow.

What has the UK said?

Both the King and Sir Keir have avoided directly addressing the subject on their trip to Samoa.

In a speech on Thursday, the King said he understood how “the most painful aspects of our past resonate” and how “history [can] guide us to make the right choices in our future”.

He referred to the “wrongs of the past” and said his family would commit to “learning lessons and finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure”.

Previously, he expressed his “profound sorrow” over the slave trade, with his son Prince William describing it as “abhorrent” last year.

Although the royals have failed to go any further – the King has suggested he would support research into his family’s links with slavery.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir has said reparations are still off the table.

“On the question of which way we’re facing, I think we should be facing forward,” he told reporters.

“I’ve talked to a lot of our Commonwealth colleagues in the Commonwealth family and they’re facing real challenges on things like climate in the here and now.

“And in all the conversations I’ve had with them, what they’re most interested in is can we help them working with international institutions, financial institutions on the sorts of packages they need right now in relation to the challenges they’re facing right now.”

World

Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris reveals planned date for general election

Published

1 hour ago

November 6, 2024

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Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris reveals planned date for general election

Ireland’s prime minister has announced the planned date for a general election to be held this month.

Taoiseach Simon Harris said he hopes the election will take place on 29 November, formally kicking off a truncated campaign which will last mere weeks.

Mr Harris, 38, was appointed Irish prime minister – the youngest in the country’s history – after Leo Varadkar’s shock resignation in March.

He will travel to Aras an Uachtarain on Friday, the official residence of the Irish president, to seek the dissolution of Ireland’s Dail parliament.

Speaking to RTE News on Wednesday, Mr Harris said: “As I would have discussed with the other coalition leaders, it’s my hope that we will have polling day on this country on November 29.”

He added: “I’m looking forward to the weeks ahead and asking the people of Ireland for a mandate.”

There’s a clear reason why this election has been called

So the worst kept secret in Irish politics is finally out, and the people look set to head to the ballot boxes on 29 November.

The taoiseach employs several lofty explanations for why he has decided upon an early election, but it’s hard to look beyond political expediency.

The Fine Gael party has been flying in the polls since Simon Harris became leader in April, while the opposition is in freefall. Sinn Fein, Ireland’s main opposition party, dropped to 16% in one recent poll – the lowest level of support since 2019.

Its leader Mary Lou McDonald – once seen as Ireland’s first female taoiseach in waiting – has been battling a serious decline in support for a year, and is bogged down in firefighting a damaging series of internal party scandals, north and south of the border.

Why wait until next March for an election?

You can read Stephen Murphy’s full analysis here

After refusing to be drawn on the election date for weeks, Mr Harris made the announcement less than an hour after his coalition partner-turned-campaign rival Micheal Martin revealed that the election would be called on Friday.

Mr Harris could have waited until March when the coalition’s five-year term comes to an end to go to the polls, but he has been paving the way for an election in recent weeks, announcing 10.5bn euros (£8.75bn) in tax cuts and spending increases last month.

The election will bring to an end the historic coalition that brought together Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, who had been rivals dating back to the civil war.

It saw Mr Martin, the Fianna Fail leader, taking the taoiseach role for the first half of the lifetime of the government, later replaced by then-Fine Gael leader Mr Varadkar.

The last election was seen as a monumentally successful performance for Sinn Fein, which had the highest percentage of first-preference votes, but the party has struggled in more recent local and European elections.

World

Should we be worried about a Donald Trump presidency?

Published

1 hour ago

November 6, 2024

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Should we be worried about a Donald Trump presidency?

A man described by not one but two of his closest former aides as a fascist will become the most powerful man in the world when he takes office. How worried should we be?

Very, say another dozen White House staffers who served under Donald Trump and watched him in action for his first four years in power.

In a second term, they are warning that those who once tried to prevent him from acting on his worst impulses will no longer be there to rein him in.

Follow latest: Trump wins US election – as world leaders congratulate him

“The grown ups”, as they were called in Mr Trump’s first administration, will have gone, replaced by people more aligned with his agenda and pushing their own.

What is that agenda and what is to come? That is harder to say. We have learned not to take Donald J Trump literally – his empty promises, lies, and false threats come thick and fast.

The first time round, many of his promises came to nothing; to build a border wall and have Mexico pay for it, to bring peace to the Middle East, to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, and Iran’s too.

But we can say what is likely; trade wars with China, Mexico, and Canada seem probable.

The extent of the tariffs Mr Trump imposes are harder to predict but the impact on the global economy will most likely be considerable.

He could rip up more treaties the US has signed, including climate commitments made by his predecessors.

Mr Trump is likely to undo much of the Biden administration’s work to reverse climate change and the negative impact on the planet may be substantial.

And he is likely to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war largely on Moscow’s terms if his words and those of his team are anything to go by.

His running mate JD Vance says Russia will keep the land it has taken and receive a guarantee of Ukrainian neutrality. Putin could not have hoped for more.

Those hoping for an end to the war in Gaza may be disappointed too.

Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are close allies.

He is likely to give the Israelis plenty of latitude when it comes to the conflict. And there are fears he would not restrain Israel in any future confrontations with Iran unlike the Biden administration, with all the risks of a wider Middle Eastern war that might ensue.

NATO’s uncertain future

Trump’s impact on NATO is harder to predict. His team has floated various plans for the alliance. They all arguably weaken America’s support for it.

Without America’s cast-iron guarantee, will other countries seek their own security arrangements? It seems likely.

One of the great pillars of the post-world war order will have been weakened. But Mr Trump in his first term showed contempt for all its multi-lateral, multinational organisations.

America swings through cycles of isolationism, retreating from the world, then having to re-engage at huge cost to protect its interests.

Mr Trump may prove unwilling to learn the lessons of that history.

Those who regard America, for all its faults, as a positive influence in the world, an example to follow, will be most worried and disheartened.

A demagogic populist, regarded as a fascist by some of those who know him best and who openly admires authoritarians and dictators, will be taking up the reins of power again in the world’s most powerful democracy.

Half of American voters have opted for a man who refused to accept election defeat four years ago, used lies and dirty tricks to try and undermine its result, and stood by while an angry mob ransacked the citadel of American government.

All of that will only embolden other strongmen the world over and damage, perhaps beyond repair, the democracy that Americans have long believed stands as an example for all the world to follow.

World

Ireland’s election was a badly-kept secret – and there’s a clear reason why it’s been called

Published

1 hour ago

November 6, 2024

admin

Ireland's election was a badly-kept secret - and there's a clear reason why it's been called

So the worst kept secret in Irish politics is finally out, and the people look set to head to the ballot boxes on 29 November.

The taoiseach employs several lofty explanations for why he has decided upon an early election, but it’s hard to look beyond political expediency.

The Fine Gael party has been flying in the polls since Simon Harris became leader in April, while the opposition is in freefall. Sinn Fein, Ireland’s main opposition party, dropped to 16% in one recent poll – the lowest level of support since 2019.

Why wait until next March for an election? Going now ensures the voters will be getting the first benefits of the recent bumper €10.5bn (£9bn) giveaway budget (“buying votes” according to the opposition) as the polling cards arrive.

Going the parliamentary distance risks the current government buoyancy being sunk by events. A week is a long time in politics, four months an eternity. Why take the risk?

This election will largely be fought on the same issues as 2020. Four years of this coalition government has done nothing to convince voters that Ireland’s chronic housing problem is healing. Homelessness has hit a record high of 14,500.

The health system still creaks and groans under pressure, despite huge investment.

Immigration may be a new factor; concerns over a surge in asylum-seekers arriving in Ireland mean the topic could be a key issue for the first time in an election here.

A chunky budget surplus, full employment, tax cuts and benefit hikes – what Sir Keir Starmer wouldn’t give to be in Simon Harris’s shoes.

But for many citizens, Ireland is a rich country that often feels like a poor country. So the saying goes, at least.

Success for the government parties in this election will rely on reminding the voters of the first part of that truism and glossing over the latter part.

Extra pre-Christmas cash for punters, a hamstrung opposition and that new leader bounce all help greatly – Mr Harris kicks off this campaign in a strong position to be returned as Ireland’s prime minister.

It’s the government’s election to lose.