THERE has been much comment recently about the possibility of financial reparations being paid by the UK to the Caribbean countries in the Commonwealth to which slaves were sent in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
It would appear that guilt for this terrible injustice is being focussed almost exclusively on the UK, and the UK taxpayer is being urged to pay for any perceived benefits it may have received from slavery.
What is never mentioned in these demands is that the crime of slavery was made possible only by the eager participation of African tribal leaders in Dahomey, Nigeria and neighbouring countries. The slave ship crews never attacked the coastal villages to capture their victims but simply paid the local chiefs, usually with ingots of copper, for prisoners captured from neighbouring tribes by these same chiefs. These African countries are at least as guilty as the UK, if not more so.
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In a world where slavery was endemic, and had been since the days of Ancient Rome and Greece, the UK was the first country in history to ban the slave trade and the Royal Navy subsequently spent many years patrolling the Atlantic and the Red Sea, freeing thousands of captured slaves, while other countries tried to break the British blockade. This surely is to the credit of the UK.
Incidentally, in 1778 Scottish courts refused to uphold the demand of an English slave owner for the return of a slave known as John Knight, saying slavery had always been incompatible with Scots law.
My ancestors were poor Highland crofters scraping a living in the harsh northern climes, and living in conditions akin to slavery with hard labour and minimal comforts. I cannot see how they benefitted in any way from slavery or were in any way responsible or liable for it. So why should my taxes be raised to pay compensation for the benefits that accrued almost exclusively to the aristocracy and even the Church of England, which had large slave plantations?
James Duncan
Edinburgh
I THOUGHT that Starmer’s arrogant refusal to consider reparations to citizens of the Commonwealth was totally inadequate when you realise that the British plan to abolish slavery was only able to go ahead AFTER Britain had agreed to compensate financially those who had owned slaves. Hypocritical or what?!
Margaret Forbes
Blanefield
A FASCINATING juxtaposition of meetings occurred last week. At one, the elderly king of a bygone colonial empire and the hapless leader of his most recent government were together in Samoa for the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), a gathering of the empire’s former colonies, now independent nations, who come together to rub shoulders with their former oppressor.
At the other, 38 heads of state, including Commonwealth heads of state from India and South Africa, were in Kazan Russia for a meeting of the Brics nations to discuss the development of a new global financial and trading structure to replace the sclerotic and corrupt current one dominated by the US, the former empire’s former colony.
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The Brics countries represent 37.4% of global GDP vs the G7’s 29.3% and comprise a quarter of global exports, dominating markets such as energy, metals and food. An additional 13 partner nations were approved – a prerequisite for full membership. The West had a collective freak-out to see Russia, which it has vilified and tried to isolate, host the world’s top leaders, who sat at a round table, reflecting a group of equal sovereign nations.
The West has facilitated the rise of Brics by weaponising a financial system it created and has controlled to achieve geopolitical goals including weakening Russia. But international systems based on fear and coercion don’t last, which is why an alternative voluntary system based on cooperation is being developed. The Kazan Declaration revealed elements of the new system – Brics Bridge, a unified payment system; Brics Clear, an independent depository system; and Brics Pay, a cashless payment service for foreign nationals.
World trade is shifting towards the east. And where trade goes, finance, economic activity and science and technology follow. The West shows no sign of changing its approach to other nations, so its economic and cultural decline will continue. I hope that an independent Scotland will be a member of the new global system. We have the people, the resources and, most importantly, the desire to cooperate and trade with the world’s nations. This faux and failing union was never a good fit. Let’s end it and move forward.
Leah Gunn Barrett
Edinburgh
THANK you, Roddie Macpherson for your detailed and forensic deconstruction of the salmon farming disaster and the inaction of our Scottish Government and its agencies (Letters, Oct 27).
Just a wee bit more needs emphasised. If a land-based industrial farm had the death rates experienced by salmon farmers, it would be shut down in 24 hours.
Our Scottish Government seems to be feart of the corporates.
Willie Oswald
Blanefield
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