The issue of reparations was in the spotlight last strong as a result of David Cameron’s visit to Jamaica, the first by a UK Prime Minister for 14 years.  Although it has been high on the grassroots agenda for several years it has now been taken up by at governmental level by the CARICOM (Caribbean Community, of which Jamaica is a member) nations with the release of their ten-point plan in March 2014.  The points are: 1. Full formal apology; 2. Repatriation; 3. Indigenous peoples development program; 4. Cultural institutions; 5. Public health crisis; 6. Illiteracy eradication; 7. African knowledge program; 8. Psychological rehabilitation; 9. Technology transfer; 10. Debt cancellation.  When the issue was raised with Cameron, his response was consistent with his political peers and predecessors:

“Slavery was and is abhorrent in all its forms. It has no place whatsoever in any civilised society, and Britain is proud to have eventually led the way in its abolition.  That the Caribbean has emerged from the long shadow it cast is testament to the resilience and spirit of its people. I acknowledge that these wounds run very deep indeed. But I do hope that, as friends who have gone through so much together since those darkest of times, we can move on from this painful legacy and continue to build for the future.”

Cameron added that he was in Jamaica to strengthen the bonds between the UK and the Caribbean.  While there he announced the UK would give £300m to the region to pay for infrastructure. He also announced that the UK will donate £25m towards the building of a prison in Jamaica for Jamaican nationals serving sentences in the UK.  The £25m reportedly accounts for 40% of the building costs with Jamaica having to put up the remainder as well as the running costs.

The issue of reparations is a poignant one for David Cameron and his ancestors (and indeed those of his wife) were amongst the 46,000 British recipients of the £20m government pay out to enslavers due “loss of property” due to abolition.  £20m represented 40% of government expenditure at the time and is equivalent to £17bn today.  However, the government then recouped its outlay through the ‘apprentice’ system (i.e. ‘free’ Afrikans paying for their freedom by working for free).

Various studies have tried to calculate the amount now due to Afrikans. Famously, academic and theologian Dr Robert Beckford, calculated for his Channel 4 documentary The Empire Pays Back that the UK owes £7.5 trillion (£7,500,000,000,000 – which is around four times the UK’s current GDP) to its former colonies, of which Jamaica is due 30.64% share totalling £2.3 trillion.  The three main factors Beckford’s team took into account were: unpaid labour, benefit to the economy or unjust enrichment and calculation of human cost/pain and suffering.

However, University of the West Indies Professor of Social History Verene Shepherd, who is also the Chair National Commission on Reparations in Jamaica argues that Beckford’s figure is incomplete, as it does not take into account differences in labour classifications or pre-arrival suffering and trauma of capture in Afrika.

“It also does not include the trauma and pain of the ‘Middle Passage’ journey, punishment, death through execution and the sexploitation which were daily features of the plantation society, both during and after slavery. And it excludes the cost of repatriation.”

There is also the concern that the Caribbean governments, as currently constituted lack the capacity to pursue meaningful reparations.  As Black Agenda Report Executive Editor Glen Ford asserted in HIS 29/10/13 article How Serious is the Caribbean Reparations Suit?:

“Real reparations means nothing less than a revolution in global power, because without such a revolution, those nations that became rich from slavery will maintain their position as overlords deep into the future… Most of the Caribbean leaders, on the other hand, are already allowing their British lawyer to telegraph that all they really want is a nice package of aid with a “reparations” bow tied around it.”

Moreover, the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament (iNAPP), argued from a from a grassroots perspective  at its Community Law Circle back in December 2013, that reparations is more than just about monetary compensation, outlining five key strands: 1) Cessation and guarantees of non-repetition; 2) Restitution; 3) Satisfaction; 4) Compensation; and 5) Rehabilitation.  This perhaps indicates the level of misunderstanding about what reparations really are and some in the community reject the idea.  Academic Cecily Jones reveals in her 16/03/14 article for The Guardian, The Caribbean people have a legitimate claim for slavery reparations: “Doing my own mini-research, I am struck by how many reject reparations through what I interpret as a deep sense of shame. It seems people are still coming to terms with a history of enslavement, and many would rather the topic wasn’t discussed.”  Similarly, the Jamaica Gleaner report on 30/09/15, Money’s Not
Everything: Another group of Windward Road Primary Students Say Reparations Not Necessary, also raises questions about our history is taught to our young.

So we ask the question,

Should Jamaica have asked for reparations or should they just “move on”?

1.    If reparations were paid, how would it be distributed?
2.    Is it pointless asking for reparations as the UK has neither the intention, or means to pay?
3.    Are those that reject reparations well-informed or ill-informeed?
4.    Is the CARICOM case essentially an “aid package”?
5.    How can the non-monetary aspects of reparations be addressed?
6.    What is the interim National Afrikan People’s Parliament position on reparations?

Our special guests are:

Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and UNIA-ACL Ambassador for the UK.  A veteran activist of over 30 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An Africentric Guide To Excellence.

Professor Verene Shepherd:  a fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society, is University Director of the Institute for Gender & Development Studies and Professor of Social History at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies.  She is also the Chair Person of the Jamaican government’s National Commission on Reparations. Among Prof. Shepherd’s publications (sole-authored, co-authored, edited and co-edited are Livestock, Sugar & Slavery: Contested Terrain in Colonial Jamaica (2009); I Want to Disturb My Neighbour (2007); Maharani’s Misery: Narratives of a Passage from India to the Caribbean (2002) and Engendering History: Caribbean Women in Historical Perspectives (1998). She also writes for High School students, producing, with Hilary McD Beckles. Liberties Lost: Caribbean Indigenous Societies and Slave Systems (2004) and Freedoms Won: Caribbean Emancipations, Ethnicities and Nationhood (2006). As a member of the United Nation’s
Working Group of Experts on People of African descent she authored a damning report highlighting the “rampant inequalities” faced by Afrikans in the UK, while exposing the UK government’s inactivity in addressing this. Prof. Shepherd is the host of “Talking History” on Nationwide 90 FM and is A much sought after speaker, she has presented numerous seminar and conference papers and delivered many public lectures locally, regionally and internationally; and she has been the recipient of several awards, including the Jamaica National Heritage Trust Award for contribution to Jamaican history and heritage and the Africana Studies distinguished African Award (2007) from Florida International University.

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