REVELATIONS IN THE BRITISH PRESS

“Historians from University College London (UCL) spent three years compiling the database, which exposes individuals and companies who made a fortune from the Empire’s dark past” revealed The Voice newspaper in its 26th February 2013 issue. The project conducted by the University College London (UCL) during a period of three years headed by Project leader Professor Catherine Hall highlights how million of pounds in compensation was paid to agree to the Emancipation Act. The list available to the public shows approximately 3,000 slave-owing families, including Prime Minister David Cameron’s ancestors, as recipients, many of them commoners who owned a few slaves and were able from the proceeds of their toils to buy titles, build mansions, invest in promising industries, even become philanthropists.

The  slave owners of yesterday probably thought black people too dim-witted to ever bother finding out (either on their own or with some assistance) about the financial arrangement. Let’s hope the breakthrough will strengthen the reparations movement and spark similar investigations in the other former colonial nations.​

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It so happened that TV channel BBC2 broadcasted a compelling documentary in July 2015 looking at the abolition of slavery in Britain and the government's payout to slave owners to compensate them for their loss of 'property' -- confidently and sensitively presented by historian David Olusoga who brought back to life the above mentioned database.

 

Leaving the United Kingdom for the Netherlands, in early summer 2013, the Council of Protestant Churches of the Netherlands released a statement admitting its implication in the inhuman practice of the Transatlantic Slave Trade as well as its reinterpreting The Scriptures for the justification of slavery.

 

NO LETTING GO

The question of Reparations is making progress in France thanks to the dog determination of President of CRAN (Representative Council of France's Black Associations), Louis-Georges Tin.
Several amendments aiming at moral repairs were adopted in June 2016 by members of parliament of which the proposal to abolish two unfair colonial laws which allowed to indemnify the colons of Saint  Domingue/Haiti (1825) and those of Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guyana and Reunion (1849) at the Abolition of slavery.

 

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​References
Campbell H., Reparations and regrets: Why is the US Senate apologising now, Pambazuka 2009-07-02, Issue 440
Camus Jean-Yves - ‘The European Legacy’, Commemoration of Slavery in France and the Emergence of a Black Political Consciousness, pp. 647-655, London: Routledge, 2006, vol. 11, No 6

Saugera E., La Traite des noirs en 30 questions, France: Geste Éditions, 1998
Henri F, Tator C, Mattis W, Rees T - The Colour of Democracy, Racism in Canadian Society,  Canada: Harcourt Brace, 2nd ed.2000, pp128-132
Black Bright, Bicentenary Edition (Spring 2007), p 4,5

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​Internet references​​​​

Africa Trillions demanded in slavery reparations

Counting the cost of the slave trade

Obama Opposes Slavery Reparations

Reparations (transitional justice) Wikipedia

Reparations for Slavery

France Forced To Face Slavery Reparations Question

What price slavery? What price freedom?

Pope apologizes to Africans for slavery

Portugal falls out with CPLP partners

Denmark cannot apologise for slave trade

François Hollande apology’s tour–and what Americans should learn from the new republic

Congress apologizes for slavery, Jim Crow

Timely regrets: Britain's guilt for its slave trade history

Peru apologises for abuse of African-origin citizens

Brazil's Lula 'sorry' for slavery

An apology for slavery

Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson suggests Britain apologizes for slavery

Caribbean countries call for slavery reparations

Slavery

Slavery Reparations: Money to Descendants of Slaves?

Taking back what is ours

'Prime Minister, Where Are My 40 Acres And A Mule?

Les réparations avancent à l’Assemblée

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Table

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reparations_(transitional_justice)

Canada apologizes for religious and cultural genocide against native Indians

Canada Arrives at Controversial Reparations Agreement

Compensation for Orphans of Deported Parents

Peru leads the way for Latin America's indigenous communities

Obama Admin Strikes $3.4B Deal in Indian Trust Lawsuit

What compensation did Germany pay to Jews for their Nazi crimes?

France to compensate American survivors of Holocaust

Pour le rôle de la SNCF dans la Shoah, Paris va verser 100 000 euros à chaque déporté américain

Britain agrees settlement for Kenya’s Mau Mau victims

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​Links:

Reparations: Barbados government establishes Reparations Task Force

Jamaicans form commission to investigate slavery reparations from Britain

France urged to repay Haiti's huge 'independence debt

Treatment of German restitution payments

Slavery reparations information center

Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks – and Racist Too David Horowitz

Advocates quietly push for slavery reparations

www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs Database that exposes ordinary people and companies who made a fortune from the British empire’s slave trade and compensation received for loss of revenues following the Abolition Act