Sir Hilary’s call for reparatory justice ‘deeply resonated with me’- Premier Fahie
Premier Fahie was at the time delivering a statement at the Fourteenth Sitting of the Second Session of the Fourth House of Assembly (HoA) at the Save the Seed Energy Centre in Duff’s Bottom today, September 22, 2020.
His statement was on the Virgin Islands participation at the virtually held 28th Session of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) on September 10, 2020.
‘Historical exploitation’
According to Hon Fahie, the CDCC keynote address was given by Sir Hilary, who described the historical exploitation of the Caribbean by the colonial powers, which he argued is at the root of the fragile position the countries of the region are in today.
He said Sir Hilary also called for reparatory justice from the European powers to help place the Caribbean on a stable footing for the future.
“To achieve this, Sir Hillary said a Marshall Plan for the Caribbean is needed in which there is massive investment into the region by those countries, banks, corporations and other institutions that benefitted from slavery and colonialism.
“Mr Speaker, his core message deeply resonated with me and I am sure would resonate with many persons here in the BVI,” Hon Fahie stated.
Gov Jaspert's take on reparations sparks outrage
The issue of reparations has been one of hot debate and even outrage recently, following Governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert’s remark that the Virgin Islands should not look forward to any reparations for slavery.
To add insult to injury, Governor Jaspert also defended preserving the names of landmarks in the Virgin Islands after perpetrators of slavery, murder, rape and torture.
At least two talk show hosts were brave enough to publicly call on Governor Jaspert to apologise, while others have blasted the Governor on social media.
A former educator, Mr Elroy M. Turnbull recently said the statement by the governor on reparations was made in a derogatory way.
Apologies not enough- Sir Hilary
Some European states and commercial enterprises that profited handsomely from the trans-Atlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans to the Caribbean have recently apologised and issued statements of regret; however, Sir Beckles believes apologies are not enough.
“Apologies are not enough,” said the CRC Chairman while addressing a virtual media engagement entitled, ‘From Apology to Action’ back in July 2020.
“Apologies are precursors for reparations. Apologies are signals of intent to participate in the reparatory process. Apologies are stage one of an effort that says we acknowledge the harm we have caused and we are prepared to enter phase two which is a discussion and negotiations about how to repair that harm and that suffering that continues to be the legacy of slavery in the Caribbean today.”
‘Time to repair the harm’
He added that “the colonial mess” the Caribbean has inherited from Britain and from Europe remains visible in every aspect of the Caribbean, because Britain chose to walk away from this mess that they created and have left it entirely to the democratic leadership of Caribbean governments and civil society to clean up.
Sir Hilary argued that this was a deliberate strategic effort on the part of Britain and Europe to refuse to take responsibility for the living legacies of slavery and colonisation.
He made it clear that Britain left behind “a pandemic of chronic diseases”, such as hypertension and diabetes where over 60% of all the people in the Caribbean today over the age of 60 have either hypertension or diabetes or both.
“The Caribbean is the diabetic, hypertensive capital of the world,” he stated. “More amputations are done in the Caribbean per capita than in any other part of the world. This is because for 300 years, the people of this region were forced to consume a diet based on what they produced—sugar. In this part of the world, sugar was consumed, not as a sweetener but as a meal.
“The consequences and the legacies of an enforced diet of sugar and salt to which the people of the region are now addicted is a direct consequence and legacy of slavery and colonisation.”
“This is a moment for responsible leadership,” he said. “This is not the time to continue to brush this matter under a carpet. There is no carpet in the world large enough to conceal and contain the legacy that must now be confronted and removed. This is a time for moral leadership. This is the moment of reparatory justice. This is the time to repair the harm and the suffering resulting from the crimes that were committed against enslaved and indentured peoples in the Caribbean and the long legacy of colonialism.”
During that same forum, Professor Verene Shepherd, who is the Director of the Centre for Reparations Research (CRR) at the University of the West Indies, said the United Nations Human Rights Council on June 17, 2020 urged countries to confront the legacy of slavery and colonialism “and to make amends for centuries of violence and discrimination, including formal apologies, truth-telling processes and reparations in various forms.”
The CARICOM Reparations Commission which has representation from 12 Member States in the Caribbean, was established by the CARICOM Heads of Government in 2013, to pursue reparations for native genocide and African enslavement from former colonising European governments and commercial enterprises.
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25 Responses to “Sir Hilary’s call for reparatory justice ‘deeply resonated with me’- Premier Fahie”
Please Hon Premier and Government,
Make a formal complaint to uk about this wretched governor who is on our necks insulting undermining and mistreating us
Please investigate his office
Please find out if they hire any locals and if not, why not
Please expose them for what they are
Please hold them accountable
We know how he bullied and insulted our government
Please make a formal complaint and don’t let it go
Racism will not be accepted nor tolerated on our shores
Please lead by example and hold this rac**t big** governor and his w**** only office accountable
the governor must find ways and means to interact with the people of the virgin islands but the governor is not obligated under the constitution to serve the people of the virgin islands.
only ministers of government took an oath to serve both her majesty and the people but the governor took one oath to serve her majesty at buckingham palace.
you people are behaving like as though the governor must answer all questions you ask.you did not vote to elect a governor,who the hell are you to question him.
stop misleading yoursel,thinking like as though the governor must answer to our plea or what ever we asking.from inception,politicians never like the idea that a governor from the uk is there to control corruption in government,so people who benefit from hand outs and petty contract in a corrupt way dislike the governor.
bring back governor savage,who took down the financial secretary and all the others who were arrested and charged in 2001 for public corruption.
bring back governor savage who give the born bvi cop his walking ticket in 2004 or face criminal charges for misappropriation of police canteen funds.
bring back governor savage,so he can come out like a savage man to clamp down on corruption in bvi.
bring him again from buckingham palace.jaspert is too soft for you racist ppl who hate white leaders in bvi.
The slave trade, plantation economy and slave labour played a critical role in developing European countries, eg, UK, France, Portugal, Denmark, Spain......etc, along with US economies. Slavery played an integral part in multinational system of credit and trade in the 15th and 16th centuries. The slave trade, slave labour.....etc stimulated shipping, manufacturing, mercantilism, industrialism.......etc. The slave trade, slavery.......etc was Europe’s largest and most profitable industry. Nonetheless, despite slaves forced free labour and their contribution to European countries economic growth, the only people that have not benefited are the slaves and their descendants.
For example, the slave trade, slavery/slave labour, plantation economies......etc created huge profits and built the UK economy. Huge profits from slavery provided capital/credit to spur innovation and growth of the industrial revolution. Further, in addition to building the UK economy, slavery created a system of racial hierarchy, White supremacy and White privilege. With White privilege, the slave owners descendants enjoyed special privileges in healthcare, education, jobs/employment, housing, voting........etc. In addition to these preferential privileges, slave owners descendants benefitted with inheritance(at Emancipation, all the slaves had were the rags on their backs). They invested blood, sweat, tears and tears and got nought. Furthermore, slaves descendants enjoyed none of foregoing benefits and are still adversely impacted as stated by Sir Hilary Beckles from slavery.
Moreover, with the Abolition Act of 1833, the UK borrowed and appropriated £20,000,000 (£17,000, 000,000 itoday), which equated to 40% of its budget, to compensate some 3,000 slave owning families for lost of their chattel property. The families of some prominent Britons were compensated. The loan was paid off in 2015 and means that some Black Britons have been contributing to pay off a loan that was used to pay slave owners who owned their foreparents. Nevertheless, to date, neither slaves nor their descendants have received a “hapeny.”
One potato turns to 9 tablespoonfuls of sugar in the body. Alcohol turns to sugar. Bread turns to sugar when digested.
People are fat ( and so often diabetic) because they eat too much. No other reason. And certainly not because they chew on sugar cane.
The Lloyd’s of London insurance market has apologized for its “shameful” role in the 18th and 19th Century Atlantic slave trade and pledged to fund opportunities for black and ethnic minority groups. http://bit.ly/LloydsOfLondonIns
About 17 million African men, women and children were torn from their homes and shackled into one of the world’s most brutal globalized trades between the 15th and 19th centuries. Many died in merciless conditions.
The Church of England has voted to apologise to the descendants of victims of the slave trade. An amendment "recognising the damage done" to those enslaved was backed overwhelmingly by the General Synod.
Debating the motion, Rev Simon Bessant, from Pleckgate, Blackburn, described the Church's involvement in the trade, saying: "We were at the heart of it." http://bit.ly/ChurchOfEngUk
I fully agree with Sir Hilary Beckles approach to the Reparations dilemma. The damage done is far to severe and deep to be simply let go of and our fragile tourism and financial Service economies are taking to long and unsustained to take us where we are trying to advance to in reasonable time. Additionally we are exposed to the natural disasters of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, pandemics etc. Reparations along the lines of Development appears to be more acceptable and reasonable approach. For example development along the lines of building schools, hospitals clinics, engineered roads, airports, scholarships, training and assistance with the things we are already doing like marine engineering. From the above links, can be seen that some European countries though not mentioning the word Reparations directly are never the less saying the same thing in a different manner. Neighboring countries such as Jamaica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St.Kitts/Nevis are already well on the way to getting organized. BVI needs join in sooner than later. Teamwork makes the dream work