Demands for reparations[edit] In 1999, the African World Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission called for the West to pay $777 trillion to Africa within five years.[1] Note that the gross domestic product of all countries in the world was somewhat more than 70 Trillion in 2011, in other words these claims amount to the value of over 10 years production of goods and services of the entire planet. In 2004, Lloyds of London was sued by the descendants of African slaves. The case was not successful.[2] In Jamaica in 2004, a coalition of Rastafari movement groups argued that European countries formerly involved in the slave trade, especially Britain, should pay 72.5 billion pounds sterling to resettle 500,000 Jamaican Rastafarians in Africa. The claim was rejected by the British government, which said it could not be held accountable for wrongs in past centuries.[3] In 2007, Guyana called for European nations to pay reparations for the slave trade.[4] In 2011, Antigua & Barbuda called for reparations at the United Nations, saying that segregation and violence against people of African descent had impaired their capacity for advancement as nations, communities and individuals.[5] In 2012, Jamaica revived its reparations commission, to consider the question of whether the country should seek an apology or reparations from Britain for its role in the slave trade.[3] Also in 2012, the Barbados government established a 12-member Reparations Task Force, to be responsible for sustaining the local, regional and international momentum for reparations.[6][7] Barbados is reportedly currently leading the way in calling for reparations from former colonial powers for the injustices suffered by slaves and their families.[8] In 2013, in the first of a series of lectures in Georgetown, Guyana, to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the 1763 Berbice Slave Revolt, Principal of the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, Sir Hilary Beckles urged Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries to emulate the position adopted by the Jews who were prosecuted during the Second World War and have since organised a Jewish reparations fund.[9][10]
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 22:57:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015