‘It is time UK get a new loan for reparations’- Hon Julian Fraser RA
‘Reparation is the word’- Hon Fraser
Honourable Fraser was at the time giving official remarks at the official opening of the Bernard ‘Yampi’ Nibbs Festiville at Festival Grounds, Tortola on July 27, 2022, when he sought to leave the word ‘Reparation’ as a takeaway for those present.
“But the one word I want to leave with you this evening is reparation. Reparation is a word I want you to remember. Reparation means whatever we were emancipated from we are going to be compensated for.”
‘Uk should get a loan for reparations’
According to the Opposition Leader, the British Government recently finished off paying off a loan that they used to compensate slave masters and plantation owners at the time of emancipation and can now seek a loan for reparations.
“It is time they get a new loan for reparations,” Hon Fraser said.
The British government in 1835 borrowed 20 million pounds – the equivalent of around 17 billion pounds today – to compensate slave owners for the lost capital associated with freeing slaves. This payout was a massive 40% of the government's budget and required many bonds to slave owners to effectuate the law.
The loan was one of the largest in history and was paid off by the UK government only in 2015.
‘DOVIS’ will be eligible for reparations
According to Hon Fraser, “Reparation shall come to Virgin Islanders who will be here to get it and I want for the new constitution review to reflect that. In that new constitution review we shall establish, we shall create a new section in the constitution and establish a new category of persons in the Virgin Islands called indigenous Virgin Islanders. Those indigenous Virgin Islanders will be referred to as DOVIS - Descendants of Virgin Islands Slaves and they will be compensated through this reparation for that which we were emancipated from,” Hon Fraser stated.
Meanwhile, the Opposition Leader charged the crowd at Festival Grounds to be reminded of the true meaning and relevance of emancipation even while having fun.
Avoid pitfalls- Hon Fraser to VIF&FC
“I want to wish you a happy emancipation, I want to wish you a safe emancipation, I want to wish you joy and happiness during that period and I want to wish the Festivals and Fairs Committee all the best and I want them to make sure that the pitfalls that came the way of former Festival and Fairs Committees; they avoid them and make this year’s festivals and fairs exemplary and far different from anyone we have before. I have seen it and it can happen,” he said.
Other officials who gave remarks were His Excellency Governor John J. Rankin, Acting Premier, Honourable Kye M. Rymer (R5); Minister for Education, Culture, Youth Affairs and Sports, Honourable Sharie B. de Castro (AL); Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, Honourable Julian Fraser RA (R3) and Chairman of the Virgin Islands Festival and Fairs Committee, Mr Dirk L. Walters.
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31 Responses to “‘It is time UK get a new loan for reparations’- Hon Julian Fraser RA”
In the US there are millions of people undocumented, who snuck in or were born to people who came in illegally. They are demanding rights in the US and most decent people think they should have them after a certain amount of time because it is a basic human right.
I get that you don't like outsiders, but it doesn't mean you should talk nonsense to try and hide your prejudice.
As a VIslander this pisses me off.
In my honest opinion, in reference to a sport game named baseball, you are pitching balls, not strikes at this time.
In spite of, you are looking more presentable with your new hair style with a smile on your face in the photo, facts.
#2. The Governor if aint speaking on Reparations shouldn't even be invited.
#3. $30 and $40 is way to high. Charge less and make more $$
#4. The village is name after a man who will be in there trying to rob the public.
Sir Richard Attaway during an Oxford Union debate on reparations noted that paying reparations to former colonies would be patronizing and unnecessary. Undoubtedly, the slave trade and slavery built the UK’s economy. It is also undeniable that slave labour fueled the birth of commercial capitalism and that the dizzying profits from commercial capitalism give birth to industrial capitalism. Further, the profits generated by slave labour was the life blood that carried the oxygen to provide the seed money to fund the industrial revolution. Moreover, it is also undeniable that the West Indian “sugar islands” contributed significantly to building the UK economy.
Moreover, though 01 August 1834 was a joyous and celebratory time for slaves, the plantation owners freed them barefooted, in rags, property less, jobless, pence less, etc. To date, their descendants have not gotten even a simple apology or a “hapeney” for the brutality, dehumanization treatment, exploitation, rape, pain and suffering, and other atrocities. Slaves were the credit card on which British wealth was built but everyone save for slaves and their descendants benefited from slavery. For example, consistent with 1833 Abolition Act, the UK appropriated £20M to compensate slave owners. The family members of some present day prominent Britons were compensated. Slaves and their descendants are well-deserving of reparations. One point of disagreement with the Hon Julian Fraser, RA, R-4 and Leader of the Opposition. The UK does not need a new loan. The UK just needs to do the right thing and appropriate the funding for reparations. Perhaps, I missed Hon Fraser’s point.
Man stop with your crop, talk about real issues
Roads
Sewerage
Schools
Health care
Minimum wage
Increment
Goverment workes need a raise
High prices
Sick of you guys small minded way of thinking
Let say the uk offer us $500m that money not going to be used to help us the same leaders who dont want transparency with find ways to make it dissapear
Talk about issues people car about my brother
Bvi love
TRANSPARENT / THEN EVERY VOICE SHOULD BE HEARD , IN OTHER WORDS LIVE AND LET LIVE ,/ THIS LAND IS NOT OUR HOME WE ARE ONLY PASSING THROUGH ,WE DON'T OWN IT , AND WHEN ARE THE HIGHLY EDUCATED ONES DO AND SAY THE RIGHT THING ❓ ???? KNOWLEDGE BIS POWER , BUT NOT TO BE USED ON OTHER HUMANN BEINGS , HOW CAN YOU JUMP ON THE WHITE BOYS AND AND DOING THE SAME THING THAT THEY ARE DOING / HELLOOOOOOOOOOO ????
The BVI is better served by investing in education and infrastructure to build its future instead of spouting rhetoric that implies wishful thinking for free money. Yes, slavery was awful. So are wars and pandemics.
Imagine they pay BVIslanders - even with a long-term development fund. Now they have opened themselves up to being liable to pay everyone else. Antiguans, Kittitians, Jamaicans - all of the Caribbean ex colonies will be hollering for their slice.
In fact, everyone everywhere who has an ancestor affected by the British Empire now has a claim. Most of Africa. All of India and Pakistan. A huge number of countries around the world.
Even the USA could claim for injustices before the War of Independence.
And don't even begin on how much is owed to real indigenous people who were 90% wiped off the face of the earth!
This argument sounds morally righteous but it is not a practical demand. It is a way of setting the present in the past to divide people and control them for people like Esteem and Fraser's little political shenanigans. That's what he and them guys do. Pure shenanigans.
Better we think about how to make a great future for all BVI people and stop this talk about something that, for sure, is not going to happen.