Jamaican campaigners want Britain to pay slave reparations

Black British activists have warned prime minister David Cameron that the pressure to make reparations for slavery will not go away, after he faced calls to make amends for Britain's historic role in the trade ahead of his trip to Jamaica.

His arrival on the Caribbean island has been overshadowed by letters in the Jamaican press urging reparations.

One letter described him as “privileged and enriched by your forebears’ sins”.

Following the threat of legal action by the Caricom Reparations Commission in the International Court of Justice, Mr Cameron was told by activists that his argument that reparations or apologies for slavery are not the right approach is not good enough.

Fernne Brennan, the author of a forthcoming book on reparations and a senior lecturer at the law school at Essex University, said: “An apology is the first step.

“[The lack of one] is a glaring omission. Quite clearly it’s something that needs to be addressed.

“There is going to be more and more pressure on the state to apologise and engage in discussion for reparations because we are in the [UN] international decade for people of African descent.”

The UN has called on those “that have not yet expressed remorse or presented apologies” for slavery “to find some way to contribute to the restoration of the dignity of victims”.

It also suggested memorial sites in countries that have profited from slavery and educating children about the trade as part of the international decade.

Ms Brennan said that these are the key elements of the idea behind reparations, and are often lost in the focus on money.

She said: “Reparations stands for government action in terms of programmes to help people of African-Caribbean descent.

“A hymn that would acknowledge Britan’s involvement in the slave trade would be an example.

“People think you want to litigate so you can give blacks a bit of a good time, and really that’s a bit of an insult.”

Blair apology

In 2006, Tony Blair expressed his "deep sorrow" for slavery, months after the Church of England apologised for its role in the trade, but the prime minister stopped short of admitting historical guilt.

The British government’s reluctance to fully apologise is believed to stem from a fear that doing so could make it financially liable for what happened.

However, campaigners have insisted they will only be satisfied with a full apology.

A pro-reparations demonstration from Brixton, an area with a large African-Caribbean community, to Downing Street last month illustrated that many black Britons still feel strongly about the issue.

Patrick Vernon, a political activist and the founder of Every Generation Media and 100 Great Black Britons , said: "We'd have to bankrupt Britain three times over to pay the money. Some people want money, some of it is about remembrance.

“The UN has recognised that the legacy of enslavement still has [an] impact on people of African descent.

“There are inequalities around education, housing and criminal justice. It’s really complex, but there needs to be some acknowledgement that the past has an impact on today.

“To pretend it doesn’t is very naive and, at worst, it doesn’t respect our history.

“There have been all sorts of apologies for all kinds of misdemeanours Britain has been involved in and this is the biggest one.”

While Mr Vernon said he was more interested in an apology, Lester Holloway from Operation Black Vote (OBV) said financial reparations were based on increasingly robust calculations.

He wrote on the OBV website : “The longer Britain and other former slave trading nations delay, the more detailed the analysis will be, and the higher the notional value of compensation will be.

“Factors such as the compensation slave owners got on emancipation, inflation and interest, the “cost” of emotional and generational damage, and the economic impact of racism, can all be added to the equation that at present is based on simpler calculus.”

Guardian service