Michelle Loubon of Trinidad and Tobago’s Guardian, speaks to Hilary
Beckles about his new book on reparations for slavery.
Caribbean
nations which ignore the human and civil rights of the citizenry will never be
able to access reparations. Visiting Barbados economic historian Hilary
Beckles, campus principal of Cave Hill and Pro Vice Chancellor of UWI, made
this comment at a public lecture and launch of his book Britain’s Black Debt at
Daaga Auditorium, St Augustine Campus, on May 23. Among those present were
St Augustine campus principal Prof Clement Sankat, Prof Funso Aiyejina, dean of
the Faculty of Humanities and Education, literary icon Earl Lovelace and head
of the department of history Dr Heather Cateau.
Beckles
dedicated his book to the late eminent historian and T&T’s first prime
minister Dr Eric Williams, author of the seminal work Capitalism and Slavery. Beckles said his book should be seen
as a sequel to Williams’ work and dedicated it to him. His narrative revolved
around a cover photograph of a young queen Elizabeth of England taking a stroll
with her cousin, the 7th Earl of Harewood on his sugar plantation (the Belle)
in Barbados in 1966. It was bought by the earl’s ancestor in 1780 and there
were 232 slaves. Before delving into the post pan-African conversation,
Beckles said he had to “purge himself” by writing this book which he deemed to
be a case study of the need for reparations for the descendants of enslaved
peoples. He felt Britain had a case to answer, which the Caribbean should
litigate. Beckles said he believed there would be no social justice until the
matter of reparations was addressed.
“Reparations,
or the concept of repairing damage, is based on the search for a higher level
of humanity and is intended to lay the foundation for healing the human family.
I believe if Williams were alive he, too, would have argued the case for
reparations,” said Beckles. But he sounded a warning bell. Beckles said,
“All across the world what we do know is weak nations and weak peoples and
disorganised communities never receive reparations. If you take 100 random
cases of reparations in the last 50 years, not one has been paid to a nation
that is disorganised and is weak and furthermore that does not recognise the
human and civil rights of its citizens. Nations only engage in reparatory
discussions when they have reached a stage where they are concerned about the
human and civil rights of their citizens. In the Caribbean, we have not yet
reached that level.”
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| Japanse vrouwen houden portretten op van Aziatische vrouwen die als seksslavinnen voor de Japanners werkten |
Beckles
cited the shining examples of Korea and the Maldives of New Zealand. “I
was in Korea about five years ago and I listened. The Japanese had made
criminal use of Korean women. They were taken out of villages and used as sex
slaves in the army camps. That matter has been repaired and they have put
millions of yen into the Korean Workers’ Development Fund to repair the damage
done to women of Korea. The Maldives of New Zealand have received reparations
from the British government because the government said the genocide must be
addressed.” But Beckles said there was a lot of work to be done since European
governments had consistently refused to give apologies. “Europeans first have
to acknowledge a crime has been committed. Most of the countries have not
admitted slavery was a crime against humanity. You have to admit responsibility
and admit to the damage,” said Beckles.
For the
original report go here
[from Repeating
Islands, June 9, 2013]
