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

LAUREN FRAYER, HOST:

Dozens of former British colonies are challenging their former colonial rulers to make amends for slavery and other injustices suffered under the rule of the British Empire. The idea of ​​reparations was raised this week at a Commonwealth summit in the Polynesian nation of Samoa. King Charles III was there.

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KING CHARLES III: As I listen to people across the Commonwealth, I understand that the most painful aspects of our past still reverberate.

FRAYER: But his government has refused to apologize and says it has ruled out monetary reparations. However, in an official communiqué issued at the end of the summit, Commonwealth leaders reiterated, quote, “it is time to talk about reparations.” On the last day of the conference, we reached out to Dan Bloom, senior guide writer for Politico, in Samoa. He told us that, financially, it was not entirely clear what the Commonwealth countries wanted from this conversation.

DAN BLOOM: Well, they’re asking for the R-word – reparations – to be on the table. And that could mean, you know, money going to, say, a slavery museum or projects to sort of reverse injustice. But it could also mean educational programs that somewhat stem the effects of climate change, especially in some small island developing countries, and in some sense generally improve the situation in what is loosely called the Global South of developing countries, which are precisely not as rich as countries that have historically profited from slavery as well as from greenhouse gas emissions during the industrial era.

FRAYER: Well, why did the British royal family and officials say no?

BLOOM: The king is technically and constitutionally non-political. The reason the UK government is not interested is that when they say the word ‘compensation’ people mean very large sums of money. And here is the new Labor government – their attitude was that they had no money to spend and they simply couldn’t afford it. And even when they are asked about monetary reparations for developing countries, projects in developing countries – which the British government supports – they say that we do not pay reparations; we are not talking about compensation.

The problem is that this word has great power, especially in many Caribbean countries. The UK came to this summit stating that it was not on the agenda. Now, at the end of the summit, Keir Starmer’s only speech included a nod to “I understand the strength of feeling about reparations justice”. So he’s talking about it now, and the king – going back to the beginning of your question – sort of addressed it in his speech in quite a diplomatic way. And that’s quite significant because the king is kind of committed to sending these subtle “we’re listening to what you say” messages when needed, kind of sparingly, which kind of works doubly diplomatically in the British system.

FRAYER: Dan, the idea of ​​the word “reparations” formally appearing at the Commonwealth Summit, what does that say to the UK?

BLOOM: He says that Britain doesn’t have total control over the agenda of the Commonwealth summit, and shouldn’t have that control, 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 very rich and relatively developed. And I know we mentioned this interview before we agreed on the message, and then it’s being played out. So I’ll give you my prediction, which may not stand the test of time. However, if by the time you listen to this interview the word “reparations” actually appears in the announcement, it will be a blow to the UK and its hopes for this summit, because the UK did not want this to be a thing of the past. He didn’t want the R word in it. And he didn’t want it on the agenda. And the communiqué at the end of the summit is basically the definition of the summit agenda.

FRAYER: That was Dan Bloom, senior guide writer for Politico, who joined us from Samoa. Dan, thank you very much.

BLOOM: Thank you.

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