The partnership between the 55-member African Union and the Caribbean Community (Caricom) of 20 countries will aim to intensify pressure on former slave-owning nations to engage with the reparations movement.

Delegates also announced the establishment of a global fund based in Africa aiming to accelerate the campaign.

  • @Xenon@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    As far as I know the fact that slave trade was already a well established business in western Sub-Saharan Africa, mostly with Muslim nations played a huge role. European colonizers were in desperate need for workforce in their new American territories. Plagues from the old world had absolutely decimated most of the indigenous population plus many Europeans also struggled severely with tropical diseases that they weren’t used to.

    Originally, African slaves were mostly used out of economic convenience and not for specific ideological reasons. It’s quite disturbing to consider how this particular anti black racism that is still very prevalent today developed directly as a result of and as an instrument to maintain the institution of slavery. The economic circumstances of the 16th or 17th century still have enormous implications for our moral landscape in the 21st century.

    • Melkath
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      1 year ago

      So white men landed on African soil with beads and spice, didn’t die, and went home with black slaves.

      Then, alerted to a ‘new’ resource, white man alerted a new Chief to what the other Chief did, then went home with more black people, more beads, and more spice than the first ship went home with.

      I’m understanding “white devil” more, but I’m still wondering how the bloodlines that sent their brothers and sisters into slavery abroad deserve reparations.

      It smells to me of a man born in Sudan immigrating to America, eventually hearing about how da white man owe dem reparations (which that man was correct about. That man). The Sudanese immigrant going back home for Christmas dinner (please insert the appropriate gathering of the genes annual event), and informing auntie and papa how whites owe blacks money.

      Then that just spread… because “dey eat da poo poo”.

      So fucking racist but I don’t know how to word this idea better.

      Slavery was horrible. Families disadvantaged by the bullshit start of being enslaved, then dumped on the front lawn and told “Go” do deserve some recompense, in my humble opinion. But a bunch of countries who sold their brothers and sister cheap coming back and saying “we want to negotiate”…

      … fuck. Imma do it again. Native Americans.

      And Native Americans actually did deserve what they asked for. Literally. They should have gotten to renegotiate land.

      I’m not keen to renegotiate slaves sold.