Caribbean News
Barbados has tallied the cost of Slavery, Mottley says it’s in the TRILLION$
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#Barbados, December 10, 2023 – Around $4.9 trillion, that’s what Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados says her country is owed for the atrocities of slavery committed there.
“We are not begging for an apology, but human moral behavior demands it, is it, and an apology doesn’t work if it’s insincere, and it can only be sincere if there is a genuine desire to seek redemption,” she said during a lecture at the London School of Economics and Political Science of which she is an alumnus.
Citing the recent study from the Brattle Group on behalf of the University of the West Indies which quantified reparations for Trans-Atlantic slavery what was owed to Caribbean countries by Europeans she explained the basis of the cash,
“In our own case, Barbados, because we were the home of modern racism, that’s where it was first institutionalized. On a small rock in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, the Atlantic ocean 166 mi.² more or less the size of the Gaza Strip, $4.9 trillion.”
She warned not to take the numbers out of context, but to balance them alongside the years of unpaid labor stolen from Africans.
“The parliament, that I know about the honor and privilege to lead–– the [same] parliament that passed the first ever qualification of slavery in the western world— we talked today about atrocities, and we must, but we talk as if it is new to the western world without recognizing that the western world as we know, it was built on atrocities we do not have the luxury of changing history, but we do have the solemn obligation to right our wrongs.”
Mottley maintained that for too long the realities of slavery have been spoken about in hushed tones.
“For too long the conspiracy of silence has diminished the horror of what our people faced for more than four centuries— there is no institution in the western world that has endured more pain and tribulation than those who were either the subject of genocide or whose bodies were enslaved.”
It’s not just money that the Prime Minister wants to recover, referencing the destruction of the family unit that happened under slavery she said, “It is not only economic poverty, but poverty of mind, poverty of spirit, and the other aspects of poverty that downpress and suppress people. We must work with each other— to create a movement that sees people, feels people, that hears people, that understands that when all others and other things are gone, the family ought to be that nurturing unit— that speaks to them about the fact that there is nothing nothing to be gained from retribution but what is required is never to forget, but always to aspire.”
She also criticized British Media for its role in ignoring the conversation of reparations and lauded King Charles III for his courage to speak on the reparations conversation.
She maintained that until the world could have mature conversations about the linkages between slavery, racism and the treatment of Black people the process of redemption would not be complete.
“The unconscious bias which the George Floyd, and Black Lives Matter movement, pointed us to is very much appreciated and everything that we do— the institutionalization of racism became a standard for the establishment of modern civilized America and the Caribbean.”
In this vein, Mottley called for a strategic moral leadership across the globe.
“Principles only mean something when they’re not convenient to standby because none of us are made perfect and there will be times when we will fall short but it’s the ability to acknowledge that to seek redemption that will be fine us as a civilization and our ability to move on rather than languishing in the shadows of a disgraceful history,” she said.
KINGSTON, April 29 (JIS):
Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator the Hon. Matthew Samuda, says the outcome of discussions arising from the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) will assist in guiding the Government’s planning for climate change.
This, he points out, is important for climate mitigation as well as building Jamaica’s resilience.
“We look forward to the discussions that will, no doubt, take place. We look forward to the basis of planning for the Government to streamline its investments to ensure you have the tools that you need to better advise us, that the WRA (Water Resources Authority) has the tools to digitise its monitoring network, and that all of the agencies that touch our planning mechanisms have the tools. But we need to know what we are facing, and we’re guided by your expertise,” Minister Samuda said.
He was addressing the opening ceremony for the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in New Kingston on Monday (April 29).
Senator Samuda said given the fact that the climate has changed and continues to do so, investments in and collaborations on building Jamaica’s predictive and scientific capacity must be prioritised.
“Ultimately, we need to be able to assess our current climatic realities if we are to better plan, if we’re to insist and ensure that our infrastructure meets the needs that we need it to. I’m very happy that this event is happening… because this is a critical issue.
“Jamaica, last year, faced its worst and most severe drought… and this year, we’re already seeing the impacts of not quite as severe a drought but, certainly, a drought with severe impacts, especially in the western part of the country,” he said.
Principal Director, Meteorological Service of Jamaica, Evan Thompson, explained that the forum aims to, among other things, establish a collaboration platform for climate services providers and users to understand risks and opportunities of past, present and future climate developments, as well as improve inter-agency coordination of policies, plans and programmes.
Among the other presenters were Ambassador, European Union to Jamaica, Her Excellency Marianne Van Steen; Chief Scientist/Climatologist, Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology, Adrian Trotman; and Head, Regional Climate Prediction Services, World Meteorological Organization, Wilfran Moufouma-Okia.
The Meteorological Service of Jamaica hosted the Jamaica National Stakeholder Consultation on Climate Services and the 1st National Climate Forum (NCF-1) in partnership with the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology and the World Meteorological Organization.
The National Stakeholder Consultation is a governance mechanism that guides how different sectors or actors work together to create products that contribute to adaptation and resilience-building. It seeks to create a road map for the development and implementation of climate services to inform decision-making.
NCF-1 aims to bridge the gap between climate providers and users. It increases the use of science-based information in decision-making and operations with the aim of generating and delivering co-produced and co-designed products and services.
CONTACT: CHRIS PATTERSON
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