https://isj.org.uk/case-for-reparative-justice/

Issue: 184
Posted on 30th October 2024
Steve Philip

[Another generous helping]

This article seeks to build a Marxist case for reparations related to transatlantic slavery—an issue that has recently returned to the political agenda of the left and crossed over into mainstream discussions. Until recently, reparations were often seen as a matter for, in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ words, “unserious black nationalists”.1

However, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has awakened a new generation of activists eager to address both contemporary and historical racist injustices, giving the reparations debate a greater resonance.2 The toppling of the statue of the once prominent slave trader Edward Colston during a BLM protest in Bristol in June 2020 became a lightning rod for a series of debates. These included reviews of institutions with historic connections to slavery. The National Trust’s review of its country houses’ connections with slavery continues to induce weird and negative responses from right-wing newspapers such as the Daily Mail. The Church of England initially established a £100 million fund to address past wrongs due to slave trade links, but this was deemed to be insufficient, and it is now looking to raise £1 billion.3

On an individual level, some of those who have learnt their ancestors profited from slavery have paid reparations, leading to the founding of the campaign group Heirs of Slavery. A notable case is that of Laura Trevelyan, who quit the BBC to pursue reparative justice.4 However, the oppressed should never rely on the largesse of wealthy British families. Consider another slave owner descendant, Charles Gladstone, who also apologised for his family’s involvement in the trade. His ancestor, John Gladstone, father of William Gladstone, was among the largest slave owners in the British West Indies, but the current-day Gladstone family has only offered a symbolic payment to the University of Guyana and to other projects instead of full reparations.5

There is also a hypocrisy when it comes to how reparations are viewed by the most powerful states. Reparations are often presented as toxic or divisive when claimed by representatives of formerly colonised nations. However, they were presented by the British government as entirely legitimate when it came to demanding compensation in the aftermath of the First World War, for instance through the punitive reparations imposed on Germany.

Nonetheless, political pressure for some form of reckoning with slavery, one of the greatest crimes against humanity, continues. In November 2023, a new partnership between the 55 members of the African Union and the 20 states of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) formed to lobby European governments to pay for “historical mass crimes”. There have also been grassroots campaigns in Europe, including in Dorset, where the local branch of Stand Up To Racism has campaigned against the Drax Hall Estate, responding to calls from Caribbean activists such as Hilary Beckles. They have demanded that the now former Conservative MP for South Dorset, Richard Drax, who lost his seat at the recent election, pass his Drax estate of 625 acres to the people of Barbados.6 Ctd....