The chairman of the T&T National Committee on Reparations, Dr. Claudius Fergus, has disagreed with the British government’s recent assertion that the topic of reparations will not be discussed at the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa.
October 21–26 is when the CHOGM happens. A representative for Prime Minister Keir Starmer stated that reparations were not on the agenda at CHOGM, according to a report published by a prominent newspaper in the UK Guardian on October 14.
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The spokesperson noted, “Just to be clear, reparations are not on the agenda for the Commonwealth heads of government meeting. Secondly, the government’s position on this has not changed. We do not pay reparation.”
The UK government declared on October 19 that there will be no apology at CHOGM for Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. This information was revealed by the BBC.
According to an official cited by the BBC, the government’s priorities would be pressing problems like propelling economic growth throughout its economies.
Fergus stated in a statement released by WhatsApp on October 20th, “The obstinacy of the British government to attempt to veto discussion on reparation at CHOGM 2024 is an insult and abomination to the descendants of the victims of these crimes against humanity.”
“It must not be tolerated and must be defeated by other conscientious heads of state.”
The chairman of the Caricom Reparations Commission, Prof. Hilary Beckles, stated that no amount of money could ever fully compensate Britain for its centuries-long leadership in the trafficking and enslavement of Africans. He went on to say that the committee completely agreed with Beckles’ position.
“We also affirm that the time-lapse since emancipation in 1838 is not long enough to nullify the justification for reparatory justice for the descendants of the victims of these crimes against humanity.”
Fergus remarked, “On the eve of the Emancipation Act of 1833, Thomas Buxton, parliamentary leader of the Anti-Slavery Society, acknowledged Britain owed the soon-to-be emancipated Africans compensation ‘for their barbarous removal (from Africa) and enslavement’ in her plantation colonies.”
The chairman continues, “Instead of compensation, the government instituted draconian policies to deprive emancipated Africans access to land and keep them in a state of permanent subjugation.”
The reparations groups, according to Fergus, are in a “time of reckoning” and will not back down until they make concessions, beginning with a formal apology.
He explained, “The argument that the current generation of Britons had nothing to do with slavery or the slave trade is without merit because these two crimes were foundational to Britain’s infrastructure of economic and financial prosperity and global power from which the current generation continues to benefit.”
According to the Prime Minister, Caricom plans to talk “forcefully” about reparations at the CHOGM during August’s Emancipation Day festivities in Port of Spain.
Dr. Rowley noted, “When we meet in Samoa, the Caribbean leaders took a decision this week to very forcefully speak to the Commonwealth as one voice, and there is one particular country with a new King (the UK’s King Charles) and a Labor government with an outstanding mandate, and we look forward to the reaction in October.”
He continues, “Because I believe that until respect of people becomes acknowledged by those who hold authority, African people will continue to be viewed as second and third-class, and we will continue to have to fight for freedom and respect.”
Additionally, according to Fergus, the Church of England supplied the theological rationale for the tens of millions of Africans who were trafficked out of the continent and their progeny who were sold into slavery in British and other European possessions in the Caribbean and on the continent of North America.
He cited the announcement made by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in January on a compensation plan of 100 million pounds sterling, which was intended to offset the benefits the church had reaped from the slave trade and imprisonment.
According to Fergus, Welby is the church’s spiritual and administrative leader, but King Charles III is the organization’s present secular head. “It is grossly anomalous that the spiritual head of the church would apologize for slavery and commit to paying compensation while the secular head of the church is prevented from taking a similar course of action by the Prime Minister.”
Fergus remarked, “For the British government, this is a catch-22 situation that could only be resolved by allowing the King to bridge the gap between church and state by issuing an apology at the CHOGM 2024 meeting in Samoa.”
