Reparations For UK Role In Historic Slave Trade?

[Psamathe]

The other aspect that concerns me about "reparations" is why they focus on the British Government paying these reparations ie the general UK taxpayer.

Much of the wealth of our (British) Royal Family came from the historic slave trade. The Royal African Company (formerly the "Company of Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa") operating with Royal Charter and probably the largest slave trading operation in the world, setup by the House of Stuart by the Duke of York (later to be King James II) and granted a monopoly by the then King Charles II.

So why is the focus on the UK Government and not on one of the most significant beneficiaries much of whose current wealth stems from the historic slave trade.

(My understanding, and please do correct me if I've misunderstood of missed aspects).

 

[Psamathe]

No politician will ever sign off on payments.
It would be instant political suicide.

Although we (UK) are moving closer to reparations

British prime minister has now agreed to structured dialogue on reparatory justice but issue remains off formal Chogm agenda
...
Ralph Gonsalves, a former prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines and a senior figure in the reparatory justice movement Repair Campaign, welcomed Britain’s decision to enter structured dialogue on reparations, but said the UK had come “kicking and screaming” to the conversation.
(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...s-should-not-be-on-commonwealth-summit-agenda)

Maybe Burnham is using the same political strategy with "reparations" ass he us using with "Freedon of Movement" ie introduce the concept gradually, "baby steps" eg "we can consider a structured dialog" .... "who should we make the cheque payable to".

I agree that a money transfer would be unlikely but even things like restructuring loans or negotiating beneficial terms on loans also represent a financial cost. Some have mentioned assistance with infrastructure eg health provisions (more hospital beds), etc. and whilst that might not be sending a cheque it all represents costs that have to be paid by taxpayers.

Few days ago it was all about an apology yet many of those seeking an apology are now talking about reparations.

 

[Blazing Saddles]

An interesting point was made during a tv debate this morning. Any reparations would become the burden of the tax payer, some of whom would be descendents of slaves.

 

[Psamathe]

An interesting point was made during a tv debate this morning. Any reparations would become the burden of the tax payer, some of whom would be descendents of slaves.

I can see an aspect where reparations are compensating for damage to the country rather than paying individuals for abuses those individuals have not suffered (but their ancestors have).

eg in the UK we enjoy a better standard of living, better economy, better infrastructure, better services because of the investments from the profits from the historic slave trade. We benefit from those advantages today enabled by the historic abuses. One could argue that anybody living in the UK enjoys those benefits irrespective of whom they are descended from.

But then maybe, maybe not or maybe to a degree we need to also consider the contributions of colonialism to our current situation ...

Whilst I can see the above might be a case, I'm way beyond my knowledge of history of who got what from where and did what with that ...

 

[PurplePenguin]

The 60 years the UK spent abolishing the trade world wide often gets forgotten.

 

[Pblakeney]

Some have mentioned assistance with infrastructure eg health provisions (more hospital beds), etc. and whilst that might not be sending a cheque it all represents costs that have to be paid by taxpayers.

Is that not what foreign aid is?

 

[First Aspect]

It is an interesting question with no right answer.
The middle passage was horrific, and enormous wealth was built on their suffering.
If reparation is due, what level is fair?

Trillions, supposedly.

 

[First Aspect]

Are similar requests being made of Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, France, the US etc? I'm not suggesting this makes it okay, more whether it is about the commonwealth, and the fact it isn't about common wealth?

 

[presta]

A few days ago I was looking into how much the UK economy has benefitted from slavery, and it seems to me that the attempts to calculate a figure are more about bogus ways to 'prove' it's negligible than to come up with any meaningful answer.