The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said his country is open to apologising for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade but ruled out reparations, which campaigners have for years called for.
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campaigners → say → years
Burnham wrote in an opinion article in The Guardian on Friday that Britain would also work on debt restructuring for the poorest countries, marking an historic turn in London’s stance.
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Britain → write → stance
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list of 4 items- list 1 of 4Burnham opens door to formal apology for Britain’s slave trade
- list 2 of 4King
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4Burnham → open → trade
Caribbean tour: Will he discuss slavery reparations?
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he → discuss → reparations
- list 3 of 4King Charles on Caribbean tour as calls grow for slavery reparations
- list 4 of 4Ghana slavery apology:
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calls → grow → 4Ghana
Why many descendants say words are not enough
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words → say → ?
The move comes ahead of a four-day summit starting Sunday of the 50-plus Commonwealth nations formerly colonised by Britain.
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move → come → Britain
The UK’s King Charles, who arrived in the Caribbean last week, is hosting the leaders in St John’s, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda.
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who → arrive → Antigua
“I want to express my sorrow and regret for the pain and suffering of so many millions of people, and to recognise the way it still shapes our world today,” Burnham wrote, in what amounted to a personal apology.
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what → want → apology
Caribbean nations that have more forcefully demanded reparations in recent years said they expect more from Britain, while opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has criticised Burnham’s move as “navel-gazing”.
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Badenoch → demand → gazing
Here’s what we know:
What was Britain’s role in slavery?
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role → ’ → slavery
Transatlantic slavery lasted between the 16th and 19th centuries and saw some 12 million enslaved Africans torn from their homes and forcibly transported on ships to the Americas with the help of local warlords.
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Africans → last → warlords
Enslaved people were sold on plantations and as domestic workers, and their labour produced goods that built wealth in Europe.
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that → sell → Europe
Britain and Portugal accounted for about 70 percent of all Africans exported to the Americas, while France, Spain and the Netherlands also traded in significant numbers of enslaved people.
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France → account → people
Britain alone transported 3.1 million Africans to British colonies in the Caribbean, the Americas and other countries, according to its national archives.
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Britain → transport → archives
Only 2.7 million arrived, as many perished in treacherous sea journeys.
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many → arrive → journeys
British abolitionists began campaigning against slavery in 1787, particularly in cities like Manchester.
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abolitionists → begin → Manchester
In 1807, Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act, essentially banning new enslavement.
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Parliament → pass → enslavement
More than three decades later, in 1834, Britain banned slavery in its entirety, although the practice continued for several years.
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practice → ban → years
Amid calls for accountability in 2006, then-Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed “deep sorrow” for Britain’s role in the slave trade, but fell short of apologising or speaking about reparations.
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Blair → express → reparations
Burnham’s apology came during Britain’s Black History Month and as the Commonwealth is meeting in Antigua and Barbuda.
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Commonwealth → come → Antigua
In his article, the British prime minister said London wants to keep diplomatic and trade ties with its Commonwealth allies.
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London → say → allies
“In an increasingly divided and dangerous world, our family of nations in the Commonwealth is vital to our interests,” he wrote, adding that Britain “can seize opportunities for trade and economic collaboration”.
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Britain → write → trade
Britain will allow the most vulnerable countries to repay their debts over a longer period, he added, with former Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, who spearheaded the UK’s 1991 initiative to reduce debt for poorer countries, leading the charge.
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who → allow → charge
What is the debate regarding apologies and reparations?
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debate → regard → apologies
Since 2013, the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) has called on Western countries involved to acknowledge their role and institute monetary reparations for slavery.
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Community → call → slavery
In recent years, those calls have grown louder, led by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley.
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calls → grow → Mottley
Ghana, where around 10-15 percent of enslaved people were transferred from, has also played a major role and pushed a historic resolution at the United Nations in March that saw 123 countries vote to declare trafficking of enslaved Africans the gravest crime against humanity.
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trafficking → enslave → humanity
All European nations abstained while the United States, Israel and Argentina voted against the measure.
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States → abstain → measure
Campaigners argue that there is a legal and moral case for financial payment and debt cancellations for the centuries of damage caused by enslavement.
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Campaigners → argue → enslavement
Those damages, they say, are evident in the structural inequalities that continue to plague countries where human capital was stolen from and those in the Caribbean that faced genocides after Europeans arrived.
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Europeans → say → genocides
They also point to the loss of lives, the erasure of cultures, the looting of artefacts in the colonial era that followed, and ongoing economic disparities and development challenges that see those nations struggle to access international financial institutions.
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nations → point → institutions
In June, Mottley announced a 19-point manifesto at a conference in Ghana, as Caribbean and African countries increasingly align to more strongly push their case.
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countries → announce → case
It called for a “full and formal apology”, monetary compensation from nations, but also institutions, including corporations and churches.
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It → call → corporations
It also called for technology transfer, education and healthcare funding, debt relief and economic development.
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It → call → transfer
The plan revised an earlier CARICOM 10-point plan.
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plan → revise → plan
“We live in a world today where people call out people for everything, for misogyny, for sexual assault, for all kinds of behaviour.
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people → live → behaviour
But yet we have not found the moral courage to state unanimously across humanity that this grave crime against humanity that persisted for centuries ought to be declared so by all,” Mottley said at the conference.
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Mottley → find → conference
European nations, including Britain, argue that those crimes were committed long ago and that, as such, their people should not pay for them.
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people → include → them
Some also point to the role of local African chiefs who worked with the Europeans to kidnap and enslave people.
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who → point → people
…and 15 more, not listed.
The Aporia
