![]() ![]() ![]() The day honours the more than 12 million men, women and children brutalised under a slavery system that endured for more than 400 years. I wonder if William knew he was making his statement on the eve of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which passed almost unnoticed on 25 March. One has only to look at how the Windrush generation has been treated to understanding the Caribbean’s plight, how much it has given and how little it has had in return We also believe that we have much to do today and in the future to address the reality of slavery in the UK and around the world.”īut hey, let’s move on! Reparations are not part of our approach and neither is a formal apology or, worse yet, making things economically right. The statement went on: “While reparations are not part of the government’s approach, we feel deep sorrow for the transatlantic slave trade, and fully recognise the strong sense of injustice and the legacy of slavery in the most affected parts of the world. Sound familiar? Prince William reiterated this in Jamaica. They are among the most abhorrent chapters in the history of humanity.” In August 2020, the UK government’s response was: “The UK deplores the human suffering caused by slavery and the slave trade. Britain has been remorseful in words but not emphatic in action. Talks over the last 60 years or so, since independence began, have offered no cause for celebration. ![]() In 1834, reparations of over £20m were paid, not to the slaves but to the plantation owners, in compensation for their loss of free labour after emancipation. Reparation seems a dirty word whenever Caribbean leaders utter it, and talks have taken on a farcical narrative. Outlining the strides the Caribbean had made in reversing legal inequalities, she made the case that only reparations could help tackle the psychological, sociological and economic inequalities that still exist within Caribbean countries and between them and their former colonisers. Mottley had strongly opined that the Caribbean had won political independence but was denied any developmental compact. ![]()
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