Who owes what… and to whom?
Or is it just Aunty stirring the pot again
is there a conversation to be had here?
Nothing to do with Aunty: it was also reported in all the serious newspapers (and probably in the less serious ones as well.)
They should just leave it well alone. You cannot change what happened back in history.
Edit. How do you work out who should get the payments.
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@Dave49 Did they (the broadsheets) report the findings of the Brattle Group Report… or the suggested opinions of one man (Co-author) that the sum involved is a significant underestimation…
I note that later on in the article, the beeb says-
He said the sums in the report “accurately reflect the enormity of the damage cause by slavery”.
Surely that negates the headline???
Wouldn’t it be better to address modern slavery instead and actually end some suffering thats going on today?
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Perhaps the source should be made accountable as well. It were mostly Ashanti that sold members of other tribes into slavery. The family names are well known.
It’s a difficult issue. Undoubtedly some people in Europe and the United States made fortunes out of transporting slaves or using them on their plantations, as did African and Arab slave dealers who captured and sold them. Some of that money has come cascading down the generations as family money. Unbelievably. when slavery was abolished in Britain, it was the slave owners who were paid generous compensation, not the slaves. My own forebears were humble working class folk, little better than slaves themselves, who didn’t benefit at all from the trade, and I’m sure this will be true for most of us.
I can see that there is a moral case for those who have benefitted from the trade to compensate those who have lost out by it, but who precisely should pay, and to whom, seems impossibly difficult. It’s often said that the UK is a rich country, but it isn’t: it’s a poor country with some very rich people in it.
I imagine a country due to pay reparations will need an increase in the tax burden of its general masses… rather than rattling the banks who had their fingers in it at the time etc
Precisely, and as a fully paid up member of the general masses, I would not be in favour of that. As the old song says: “It’s the rich wot gets the pleasure, It’s the poor wot gets the blame.”
I bet someone will “identify” as black and demand money if this pans out.
Relax, it’s not going to happen. No UK politician wanting to be elected or re-elected is going to sign up for it.
So is Auntie stirring the pot after all?
That seems to be their default setting unfortunately…
I’m actually feeling quite dark at the moment…