Former British colonies demand reparations for slavery at Commonwealth summit: NPR

LAUREN FRYER, HOST:

Dozens of former British colonies are challenging their old colonial rulers to make amends for slavery and other injustices that plagued the British Empire. The idea of ​​reparations was floated at a Commonwealth summit this week in the Polynesian country of Samoa. King Charles III was there.

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KING CHARLES III: As I listen to people across the Commonwealth, I realize that the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate.

FRAYER: But his government refused to apologize and said it was ruling out cash compensation. However, in their official communiqué published following the summit, the leaders of the Commonwealth confirmed, I quote: “the time has come to talk about reparations.” On the last day of the conference, we checked in with Dan Bloom, Politico’s senior program writer, in Samoa. And he told us that, in monetary terms, it is not entirely clear what the Commonwealth countries want out of this conversation.

DAN BLOOM: Well, they’re asking for the R word – reparations – to be sort of on the table. And that could mean, you know, money put towards, say, a slavery museum or projects aimed at righting injustices. But it could also mean educational programs to curb the effects of climate change, especially in some small island developing countries, and some kind of improvement in what is loosely called the “global south” of developing countries that are simply not as rich as countries. who historically profited from slavery as well as from carbon emissions in a kind of industrial age.

FRAYER: But why did British royals and officials refuse?

BLOOM: The king is technically and constitutionally not a political person. The reason the UK government is not interested in this is because when you say the word reparations people think of very large sums of money. And the new Labor government here – their whole approach was that they don’t have the money to spend and they just can’t afford it. And even when you ask them about reparations in monetary terms for developing countries, projects in developing countries – which the British government supports – they say we don’t pay reparations; We’re not talking about reparations.

And the problem for them is that this word has a lot of meaning, especially in many Caribbean countries. Britain came to this summit saying it was not on the agenda. Now, at the end of the summit, Keir Starmer’s only speech included a hint that I understand the strength of feeling about reparations. So he’s talking about it now, and the king – going back to the beginning of your question – sort of referred to it very diplomatically in his speech. And this is quite important because the king is sort of put in place to send these subtle “we hear you” messages when necessary, and in a somewhat economical way, which is sort of how the diplomatic double act works in the British system.

FRAYER: Dan, the idea of ​​the word reparations, which officially emerged at this Commonwealth summit, what does that say to Britain?

BLOOM: It says that Britain doesn’t have complete control over the Commonwealth summit agenda, and it shouldn’t, because the whole point of the Commonwealth is that Britain is no longer an empire. And this is just one of the 55 countries participating in this summit, although it is very rich and relatively developed. And I know that we went back to this interview before the communiqué was agreed upon, and it plays out afterwards. So I’ll give you my prediction, which may not stand the test of time. But if by the time you listen to this interview the communiqué does contain the word “reparations”, it will be a blow to Britain and its hopes for this summit, because it did not want the past to be talked about. It didn’t want the R word in it. And it didn’t want it on the agenda. The communique following the summit largely determines the agenda of the summit.

FRAYER: That was Dan Bloom, senior anthology writer at Politico, joining us from Samoa. Dan, thank you very much.

BLOOM: Thank you.

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