Commonwealth leaders gathered recently in Samoa for the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and at this summit a demand was made about the United Kingdom paying reparations for its role in transatlantic slave trade.
The UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was quick to reply he wanted to discuss current challenges with Commonwealth leaders rather than the past, with Downing Street insisting the issue was not on the agenda for the summit.
I have always wondered the relevance of this organization. What actually is the “commonwealth” amidst these nations association with the UK? Is it slavery or colonialism? And can any of these be considered wealth? Well certainly not for these formerly colonized states in the equation but definitely so in the case of the United Kingdom (unfair gains). Slavery and colonialism are the ties that bind us (Commonwealth countries) and the UK’s hesitancy to face up to its past leaves much to be said. Why should it be hard to understand the present is a result of the past?
The UK amassed wealth from slavery and would never had become the power they became without it and they know this very well. As a matter of fact, it was only in 2015 that the UK finally finished paying off the debt it owed its slave-holders due to the losses incurred after ending slavery. It paid a generous compensation package of millions of pounds to them for their loss of property (slaves). They could make such payments to British families that enslaved Africans in the past in this present day and age but when it comes to compensating the victims of slavery they conveniently claim it is an issue of the past. Even their past kings and queens directly supported transatlantic slavery and benefited immensely from it. It was like an oil boom of that era which many leading European nations took part in.
The Western world as a whole emerged as a world power because of the benefits derived from historical injustices such as the transatlantic slavery and its multiplier effects whiles victims continue to suffer. Haiti for instance still severely suffers. Its past enslaved population generated great revenue for France through the slave run sugar plantations and when they revolted in their quest for freedom, endless wars were waged by the French forces. In the end for peace sake, Haiti was forced to pay French slave-holders reparations for their loss of property (slaves) due to ending slavery. And this reparations were hefty sums of money which took the newly formed state more than a century to pay off. It took a heavy toll on Haiti’s development all amounting to the structural weakness leading to its current state. The West continues to enjoy unfair benefits from the past till this day perpetuating cycles of exploitation in new forms (neo colonialism). I believe any effective reparations scheme will have to equally address these unfair systems such as unfair trade, high interest credit facilities, climate injustice, and other structural factors directly producing economic hardships in African countries. Africa still remains largely a resource extraction place facing exorbitant costs to transition to value addition, with the latest African economic outlook released by the African Development Bank also suggesting the continents current development model not fit for purpose. Some unfair systems in the world too function as invisible barriers that can determine how far one can go by even the virtue of skin colour or ancestry.
Even the composition of the one percent (billionaires) is evidence of a world of unequal opportunities. More than eighty percent (80%) are from the Western world and of white ethnicity. They also possess eighty percent of the entire world’s wealth. You do not need a PhD to infer this global wealth inequality was made possible by historical injustices of slavery, colonialism and land expropriation from others. The Western world maintains this power by upholding unfair systems that control flow of wealth and development, limiting social mobility to a great extent as well in the process. We are all citizens of the world but it is easier for some to move from one country to the other for opportunities than others. And it is also easier for them as well to join the so called one percent than others.
A classical example is the current richest man in the world and Tesla founder who migrated from his home country of South Africa to the West for better opportunities. Unfortunately for many other Africans, they cannot enjoy that same advantage afforded on the basis of white ethnicity/white privilege and some will more likely lose their lives at sea attempting to reach the West illegally for better opportunities in life.
We find it difficult to come to the realization we are largely living in a reality determined by others through exploitation and historical injustice- past and present day actors. By this I mean enslavers of old and present day enforcers of unfair systems. How far can one go against the world?
We are all citizens of this world born free and equal. Let us strife to be masters of our own fate. No one should have the undue power to determine our reality, I personally reject that system. No one is judge over me. We should never accept injustice as a way of life. People are often at times fond of excluding themselves from these issues of historical injustice, branding them as matters of the past and not concerning them but they do concern us, affecting every facet of our present day reality. The commonwealth nations demand is a step in the right direction and they must not let it end there, persistence is key. We must all take a stand in making this world a better place for all regardless of ethnicity, nationality or religion.
Dedicated to the countless and nameless Africans who lost their lives at sea- the present day migrants who perished on their quest for a better life, and not forgetting the enslaved of the past too on the dreadful journey. The story of Africa is a story of a people travelling.