Writes: James N Kariuki
Calls for compensating Africa by former colonisers has gained momentum over the years.
According to the London-based Africa Reparations Movement (ARM), the campaign for reparations is as old as enslavement itself. In Africa, the first international Conference on Reparations was held in Lagos, Nigeria, in December 1990.
This was followed by the 1993 Abuja Conference in Nigeria, attended by representatives from the Diaspora. That conference issued a declaration, the Abuja Proclamation, which called for a national reparations committee to be set up throughout Africa and the Diaspora. The Africa Reparations Movement (UK) was formed in 1993 as a result of this proclamation. The momentum for reparations increased with mobilisation before and during the World Conference Against Racism, which was held in Durban South Africa, from August 31, 2001 to September 08, 2001.
The question whether colonies should be compensated for evils visited on them by former masters has been under discussion for many years now. Over 200 years ago, Black Haitians launched a successful slave revolt against their French colonisers. In 2003, Haiti was again in the world’s headlines with a demand from France. The Haitians were demanding $22 billion from their former colonisers allegedly extorted by landowners (French) as a condition for independence in 1825.
Haiti’s 21st Century demand for reparations had special symbolism for Global Africa. First, it came prior to 200th anniversary of the country’s revolution — the first successful strike against racial subjugation of Black people anywhere. Second, the demand came as the 30th anniversary of the 1974 coup in Portugal neared. That historical event precipitated the collapse of Portuguese empire. African anti-colonial rebels played a key role in the phenomena that led to collapse of Portugal as a global force.
In 2004, South Africa celebrated its 10th anniversary since the end of apartheid. The end of anti-apartheid marked the death of ‘legal’ racism in Africa and around the world. It also became the last successful revolution against racial subjugation. In a real sense then, South Africa completed the process that Haiti initiated in 1804. If Haiti was the first-born in the successful struggle for racial justice, South Africa became the last born in that lineage–a familial bond is very much there between the two states.
Finally, Haiti’s demand for restitution came up as Black people’s global crusade for reparations was gathering steam one more time. Developments in Haiti earlier this century found a point of convergence with the global crusade for reparations, including the quest for reparations by South Africa’s victim of apartheid.
The Haitian demand for payment from France had a ring of crude and hollow absurdity as we are tuned into thinking of Third World debts rather than the other way round. In this sense, the Haitian demand was also a subtle invitation to reorient our minds and revisit the question: “Between Africa and the West, who really owes whom?”
SA was caught in an animated debate on the same issue of a debt. Should the Black victims of apartheid seek legal restitution from those corporations that benefited from their exploitation in the past?
Opinions differ on this question but powers-that-be urge that we should let bygones be bygones, go on with our lives. In short, South Africans should resist the temptation to seek compensation by means of litigation, particularly on foreign soil. On this issue, the SA Government finds itself caught between a rock and a hard place, a condition symptomatic of foreign dependency generally. The underlying preoccupation here is not whether Black South Africans have legitimate claims; it is whether pursuing those claims would not be too disruptive to society at large.
Is this a case of political considerations of ‘collective good’ obstructing the wheels of justice for a few injured parties? Lawsuits could trigger greater racial polarisation within South Africa. What is more, would demands for reparations not scare off foreign investors and touch off an avalanche of unemployment?
REFERENCE: Global Reparations vs Human Exploitation
Technorati Tags:  African Reparations Movement |  Black America Reparations |  Haiti French Revolt |  South Africa Apartheid |  Apartheid Reparations |  Abuja Proclamation |  Colonial Racism
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September 11th, 2007 at 3:40 am
A good article by Mr Kariuki - still I see something missing.
My criticism with most articles that I read about African reparations in general is that there is no activist element. In other words, no matter how many conventions, statistics and passionate rhetorical podium pounders are representing the cause, few people see that they must act.
No government or bureaucracy gives out concessions.
Anything African people in Diaspora gained was because of forceful agitiation and the reasoning of a sane mentality.
Years ago, in practical terms, people in the Black America I grew up in got the idea: Don’t Buy Where You Can’t Work and numerous campaigns created a dialogue with an oppressor.
I can recall that in Philadelphia in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s we didn’t bother to shop in the city center. No need to do business with racists and ignorant people who had no intention of circulating money with you or engaging in a human relationship even for the brief period of a financial transaction. Nine times out of ten, a real bond emerged with that Brother or Sister and you had stuck it with one motion to the ’system’.
In time, I truly desire to see and hear more reparations proponents deal with the concept of a general strike and further actions to get the attention of the so called authorities. Toussaint, Nanny, Harriet Tubman, George Padmore, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, Queen Mother Moore and Malcolm X put these ideas into action and so can we.
As the old saying goes, Nothing Comes to a Sleeper but a Dream.
Keep Strong,
Bankole
September 18th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Here is another good article by Mr. Kariuki: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard/Article/Global-reparations-vs-human-exploitation/43544
September 20th, 2007 at 3:37 am
This is another good one, this is comprehensive in scope.
Mr Kariuki has a position in an institute, which is positive. But my experience is that the task needs different persons each doing specific work.
I would go into the details of international law strides we have made–but for security reasons I won’t here. We have engaged as certified Human Rights Defenders since 1999. For ten years we have been immersed in international law and not from an intellectual basis but as UN Convention Refugee claimants and stateless persons.
Guide to Action
In my view there are a few tiers in which to look at reparations:
1. Legal professionals enabled in international law (Mr Kariuki is right to distinguish between Haiti, US and other regions and their legal thrusts for reparations.) A common mistake is for us to see the diaspora as a blanket situation here–not so!
2. NGOs and activist organizations.
3. Educational institutions at the grassroots
4. Public Campaigns led by Africans
5. Public Campaigns by sympathetic others
6. Autonomous agitation groups
In my view, academia has to be downplayed. Writers and editors organically grown from the grassroots take care of the sure opposition that will rise, paid and bought by enemies.
Future
The future is cloudy because education on the issue is at a low point. Not understanding power relationships does not help. In the midst of the mass imprisonment of youth in the US specifically (that is where there is a history of reparations being slaughtered)technology and resources can’t easily be utilized. It goes without saying that when you are trying to survive and have been criminalized you cannot go overseas to network. And so a visit by Bush to Goree is not a viable trigger to get to work. Cultivating a mindset from an early age, or if circumstances force it, at the prison gate or street corner or university should be paramount.
With that, I’ll wrap up.
Many Thanks for posting Mr Kariuki’s work.
Bankole