BVI News

Caribbean asks Europe for $33 trillion in reparations

It might seem like a futile effort to many, but Caribbean nations are again making another push for reparations from European nations that enslaved millions of Africans in the region for more than four centuries.

The CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) – made up of 15 countries – is hoping to negotiate with Britain, France, Spain and Denmark as they seek a formal apology for the trans-Atlantic slave trade and $33 trillion dollars to go along with it.

According to a report from the UK Times, an American consulting firm has helped the Caribbean countries to quantify some of the money they need:

“Britain owes $19.6 trillion, Spain should pay $6.3 trillion and France owes $6.5 trillion,” the UK Times reported.

Verene Shepherd, a Jamaican professor of history and vice-chairwoman of the reparations commission for CARICOM, said it is impossible to quantify what the European nations owe but added that the figures are starting points for negotiations.

And while many continue to call for the Caribbean to abandon the reparations argument, these nations continue to highlight that the British government compensated slave owners after slavery was abolished and only finished paying those debts in 2015.

Many scholars have concluded that Caribbean nations have been permanently crippled by slavery, which left a lasting economic legacy. Thus, the Caribbean countries say the money being requested will be used to fund health and education and help with the huge debts they currently carry.

Like other Caribbean countries, the BVI is home to people of African descent, whose ancestors endured slavery in the region. Elected leaders have always supported the Caribbean’s push for reparations despite being a territory of the United Kingdom.

The new push for reparations comes weeks after the family of former British Prime Minister William Gladstone, visited Guyana and apologised for their family’s role in Indian Indentureship — a system which followed after slavery and which brutalised immigrants who worked for low wages.

The Gladstone family also pledged to provide funding for the University of Guyana. Despite the efforts of the Gladstone family, many across the region frown upon their apology and call on them to apologise for slavery since their ancestors also have huge investments in that system of brutality as well.

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28 Comments

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  1. european says:

    These dudes must have been high, no way we are paying you that much

    Like 13
    Dislike 4
  2. .............. says:

    So, what about Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium they were big players in that time too? Is it because they are too small and cheap that you do not waste your time?

    Like 11
    Dislike 2
  3. Sigh says:

    Futile is an understatement. This thing done a long shot already now you ask for 19.6 trillion!? They come up with this after a smoke session man, got to be them boy was smoking loud.

    Like 8
    Dislike 1
  4. AM NOT NEGATIVE says:

    but , unless you believe in miracles , I don’t see that happening in this life time / and if am wrong the that’s is going to start world war 3 because everyone is going to turn on eachother to get the lions share , in other words ( RAT RACE ) all the predators in the Caribbean countries will be flexing off themselves for their own benefits

    Like 5
    Dislike 1
  5. Really? says:

    What will the Africa pay? It was the African leaders that went out and captured the people to sell on to others

    Like 23
    Dislike 3
  6. Yeah, really says:

    The same West African countries that are now threatening to send ground troops against their brothers in Niger, while France will bomb
    safely from the air. I’ve never been more ashamed to identify with West Africa (especially Ghana and Nigeria)

  7. The Ark of Injustice says:

    The America, UK, Germany, France, Israel, Arabs, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium are just some of the countries who were morally bankrupt and devoid of a human soul, conscience or decent mind or heart.

    The hypocrisy attached to this issue is staggering, all because of unadulterated hatred for the victim, the Black man,. The man who worked for free for five hundred years making all of them rich. The man who endured the most horrific atrocities amounted upon a human body, mind and soul.

    Everyone (hater) jump up in opposition to the notion of paying the enormous dept. How can any living person have such an horrific disagreement given the history, yet everyone is stone cold quiet when everyone else has and was paid their reparations?

    It is a horrific mental deficiency and a glaring view on immorality, decency and conscience by those who harbor such views, because they have successfully brainwashed the entire human population into hating the Black man.. ..

    However, the amount due is incomprehensible. And until it is paid, because it is the right thing to do and must be done, there will be continuous agitation. And, those that are suffering from unconscious guilt will ever exist in psychological contentment of mind.

    Injustice towards the Black man will be the end of certain civilizations. The ark of injustice will eventually lean towards justice.

    Like 4
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  8. @ Really says:

    Stop the falsehoods and disingenious narratives. Your assertions are completelt false. Do bring the evidence to confirm your assertions.

    Facts are, Africn/tribal leaders, in the beginning rented out prisoners of war who were then shipped into slavery. That is how it was.

    The narratives you are peddling are narratives Europeans and Aabs have been using to ease your guilty conscience and to issuade culperbility.

    Indeed, after the tribal leaders found out what was really been done with the prisoners of war, they stopped the trade with the Europeans. They then went into total resitnance against the trade. This you will never say or hear about. The entire continent was in rebellion against the trade.

    Indeed, 99.9% of the Black people that were captured and shipped out were kidnapped by Europeans and Arabs. There was no financial agreement between a leader and the buyer. It never existed. The people were kidnapped by guns and dogs. That is fact..

    Like 2
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  9. lol says:

    and 33 trillion more from their brothers in Africa who profited from selling their ancestors.

    Like 7
    Dislike 1
  10. Rubber Duck says:

    Best of luck with that.

    We need to stop looking for handouts and think about building an efficient productive society.

    Like 6
    Dislike 1
  11. Futile says:

    is definitely the key word in this unnecessary article.

  12. Anonymous says:

    The narrative is wrong. They were deliberately constructed by Europeans to make Africans look bad. The truths are, most to 99% of Africans were kidnapped and shipped by Europeans. It is well documented.

    Like 2
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  13. @@@Really says:

    False narrative paid for and created by Europeans to fool the world. In fact, the vast majority that left Africa were kidnapped by white Europeans. This fact is well documented in Europe especially, but well hidden away.

    Like 2
    Dislike 4
  14. Lots of Sense says:

    I’m sure a current Law maker in UK parliament, recently said in the news that he is go to pay reparation to Guyana / Guyanese for his father or grandfather’s involvement in Slavery there..

    If only I could put google on it…
    https://rowlandbrothersinternational.com/locations/repatriation-to-guyana/

  15. Tarzan says:

    @Anonymous

    So, you believe Europeans went into unfamiliar jungles all along Africa’s vast western coastline. From Senegal to Angola, they kidnapped millions of Africans. They did that over centuries, all by themselves.

    Are you a lunatic?

    Like 3
    Dislike 1
  16. All I will say…. says:

    Good luck with that.

  17. Bad Idea says:

    Exactly. I wonder why those countries aren’t mentioned!

  18. Woah says:

    I thought they were saying trillions in aid. Foolishness to go into debt with past slave owners but repercussions & reparations from those condescending imperialist & racist I can support.

    Their governments & Royals sponsored slavery yet we fight their war on drugs to our detriment, discrimination & the slow degradation of our region through failed policies.

    Like 1
    Dislike 1
  19. @really says:

    I hate to hear the lies you are spreading which are a comfort only to the unabashedly racist mind. How dare you, your history is as shameful as the Germans deal with it don’t white wash it.

    Europeans colonized the whole of Africa except a select few countries including Ethiopia which fought a war against the Italians.

    When people with guns start making demands you pray they don’t shoot all the elders dead and take what they want by force as they did across the continent.

    Like 1
    Dislike 2
  20. sincerity says:

    I see a lot of mud slinging going on in here, a lot of twisted assertions and a myopic appreciation of history. Firstly, it is impossible to calculate the cost of ‘slavery’ to the enslaved never mind to their very distant descendants. But never mind that because who owes who? The first land owner in the USA to make his indentured servant a full on slave was a black man named Anthony Johnson, who himself was a former indentured servant. People here might not like it but during the potato famine there were also a lot of Irish taken to work as indentured servants in the USA. The report bemoans the short life expectancy of a slave, well guess what life expectancy back then was short for a lot of people. If you were a boy in England in the 18th century your life expectancy was 15 years or so, due to the hard life working in the mills etc. But lets move on because it is important to note that human trafficking was the centre piece of the African economy which existed long before the white man turned up. For example, King Mansa Mussa of Mali took thousands of black slaves with him on his pilgrimage to Mecca. He could do this because people were his commodity. So, if you want reparations, go to Mali first. And good luck with that!

  21. Mrs Tubman says:

    Nothing beats a trial but a failure. We would be remiss to not demand what we are owed,however far fetched. Demand publicly on the record and let it be known and documented.
    The records will be there to show that we asked and requested our due and was not passive and accepting of the right to be compensated.

    Like 1
    Dislike 1
  22. E.V. says:

    The goal of reparations is to make a group of people whole again after they have been wronged by a society and its government.

    The number one cure for racism/white supremacy is financial independence.

    In the group’s quest for economic power, the primary goal should be retriving debts owed for work completed.

    Restoring past established businesses, institutions, systems, and networks should come next…

    Like 1
    Dislike 1
  23. @ Tarzan says:

    Yes, very much a lunatic of the facts, truths and the European’s strong aversions to them.

  24. SOME PEOPLE says:

    Just love drama @ The ARK of ĺĺJustice , and we suppose you was either NOAH or you built the ARK in that DREAM you had boi that WIG is really playing tricks with yore head

  25. @ THE ARK OF JUSTICE says:

    you better go drink some EPSOM SALTS and while you flushing throw in your WIG I think k this is the reason the REAL AFRICAN HISTORY IS NEVER TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS / TOO MUCH FAKE HISTORIANS ,like ( E lie on nerd ) around with selective AMNESIA

  26. Anonymous says:

    We as A People HAVE COME Too Far as a people To LEAVE without Due Reparations.

    It is only the demonic and hatefilled person would disagree with giving the victim reparations to repair and rehabilitate himself.

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