10/13/2014
The Socialists' agenda comes disguised in many shapes and colors
SAN JUAN – Former European colonies in the Caribbean will resume talks on Monday on developing a strategy to claim reparations from Europe over slavery suffered centuries ago.
In its Second Conference of the Reparations Commission, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will continue discussions over the 10-point plan that contemplates asking former colonial powers for a formal apology, the cancellation of the foreign debt and the repatriation of descendants, among other demands.
CARICOM members’ reparations strategy may serve as a model for African countries looking to do the same, experts told Efe.
“CARICOM member states are not willing to accept a ‘no,’ they are not willing to be marginalized,” University of South Africa law professor Jeremy Sarkin said.
The expert acknowledged that CARICOM has created an exemplary structure since it intends to make demands at “a political level, from state to state,” and not as communities, organizations or individuals from Africa have done.
Sarkin told Efe the concept of reparations gained force in 1993 at the 1st Pan-African Conference on Reparations held in Nigeria, where Jamaican lawyer Anthony Gifford argued that African slavery was a crime against humanity and international law recognizes that those who committed this crime should compensate victims.
The international debate, moreover, gained momentum at the World Conference on Reparations to Africa in 1999 and, two years later, at the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa.
“These past 15 years the climate of reparations is more ripe, people understand the issues more,” Sarkin, the author of “Colonial Genocide and Reparations Claims in the 21st Century,” told Efe.
Caribbean and African countries do not see reparations as an easy way to financial recovery, but they are primarily searching for acknowledgment of wrongdoing, Sarkin said.
“All there has been is a few apologies for concrete instances, and a few reparations for particular cases, such as to former freedom fighters in Kenya,” Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, research chair at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Canada, told Efe.
Previous attempts to gain reparations failed in Africa because European powers lack the political will to meet the demands and all the claims were pursued by individuals or organizations, not by states, Sarkin said in a telephone interview with Efe.
The law professor argued that former colonial powers listen to a certain extent, but they fear “opening a Pandora’s box because they don’t know how many problems will come out.”
“What are the 10 major legacies that European colonization have left behind? Issues of illiteracy. Issues of ill health. Issues of poor infrastructure. Issues of backward agricultural economies. And it goes on,” Hilary Beckles, chair of the CRC, said in May 2014.
The fact that 13 of the 15 CARICOM members have national commissions on reparations indicates “they are more willing to take a stand” as “they are aware of the pros and cons of their actions,” Sarkin said.
“African states feared their claims could undermine their relationships with former colonial powers” since most of them receive European foreign aid, he said.
Howard-Hassmann, for her part, said “former colonial powers are unlikely to offer reparations to Africa as a whole. Any financial reparations would be subject to all the same conditions and problems as foreign aid.”
Both academics agreed that the reparations process would take a long time, but Sarkin emphasized that these cases truly respond to a need on the part of Caribbean and African peoples that wish to heal wounds from the past by getting Europe to accept responsibility for the damage done to their ancestors.
source
The Socialists' agenda comes disguised in many shapes and colors
SAN JUAN – Former European colonies in the Caribbean will resume talks on Monday on developing a strategy to claim reparations from Europe over slavery suffered centuries ago.In its Second Conference of the Reparations Commission, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) will continue discussions over the 10-point plan that contemplates asking former colonial powers for a formal apology, the cancellation of the foreign debt and the repatriation of descendants, among other demands.
CARICOM members’ reparations strategy may serve as a model for African countries looking to do the same, experts told Efe.
“CARICOM member states are not willing to accept a ‘no,’ they are not willing to be marginalized,” University of South Africa law professor Jeremy Sarkin said.
The expert acknowledged that CARICOM has created an exemplary structure since it intends to make demands at “a political level, from state to state,” and not as communities, organizations or individuals from Africa have done.
Sarkin told Efe the concept of reparations gained force in 1993 at the 1st Pan-African Conference on Reparations held in Nigeria, where Jamaican lawyer Anthony Gifford argued that African slavery was a crime against humanity and international law recognizes that those who committed this crime should compensate victims.
The international debate, moreover, gained momentum at the World Conference on Reparations to Africa in 1999 and, two years later, at the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa.
“These past 15 years the climate of reparations is more ripe, people understand the issues more,” Sarkin, the author of “Colonial Genocide and Reparations Claims in the 21st Century,” told Efe.
Caribbean and African countries do not see reparations as an easy way to financial recovery, but they are primarily searching for acknowledgment of wrongdoing, Sarkin said.
“All there has been is a few apologies for concrete instances, and a few reparations for particular cases, such as to former freedom fighters in Kenya,” Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, research chair at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Canada, told Efe.
Previous attempts to gain reparations failed in Africa because European powers lack the political will to meet the demands and all the claims were pursued by individuals or organizations, not by states, Sarkin said in a telephone interview with Efe.
The law professor argued that former colonial powers listen to a certain extent, but they fear “opening a Pandora’s box because they don’t know how many problems will come out.”
“What are the 10 major legacies that European colonization have left behind? Issues of illiteracy. Issues of ill health. Issues of poor infrastructure. Issues of backward agricultural economies. And it goes on,” Hilary Beckles, chair of the CRC, said in May 2014.
The fact that 13 of the 15 CARICOM members have national commissions on reparations indicates “they are more willing to take a stand” as “they are aware of the pros and cons of their actions,” Sarkin said.
“African states feared their claims could undermine their relationships with former colonial powers” since most of them receive European foreign aid, he said.
Howard-Hassmann, for her part, said “former colonial powers are unlikely to offer reparations to Africa as a whole. Any financial reparations would be subject to all the same conditions and problems as foreign aid.”
Both academics agreed that the reparations process would take a long time, but Sarkin emphasized that these cases truly respond to a need on the part of Caribbean and African peoples that wish to heal wounds from the past by getting Europe to accept responsibility for the damage done to their ancestors.
source
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