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Dudley J. Thompson O.J. Q.C. *W7/2000
1111 1111 MI 1111 1111 1111 WI 1111 1111-1111-1111
SARAFINA • Vantage Point 44 Portview Rd # 8 • P.O. Box 2989 Kingston 8 Jamaica West Indies
• Telephone (876) 969-9671 • Fax (876) 969-1042 • e-mail dudjt@cwjamaica.com
Notes on Emancipation to Reparation
I enclose herein some 16 headings on the subject and a separate
address on Reparation. If the last 8 paragraphs or so is in the form
of an address , do forgive me, It is not presented as such but I
wrote as I thought.
1 The Theme. To Repair the Past while Preparing for the Future.
From EMANCIPATION through INDEPENDENCE to
REPARATION.
2 The Ultimate Goal: To _enerate Public and Political interest in the
present and historical experiences of the African people and the diaspora so
as to create an environment and public movement that can be utilised by
Black leadersin the political and financial world to increase investment and
the restoration of African dignity and power and to grant Relief from all
Foreign National Debt of Black 3rd world countries.
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3The Message.History has clearly demonstrated that the Peoples of
Africa and the Diaspora have been preyed upon, humiliated and exploited
for centuries. This still continues today in a lessening degree. This
oppression has in turn limited the possibilities and opportunities of global
competitiveness Many of the Richer countries of the developed world have
benefitted from the systematic removal of human and non human capital
from Africa and should now begin to repay the continent and its people.
Through slavery and colonialism and their aftermath Black people have
enriched our former political masters while they have kept us poor. Listen to
the words of Sir Winston Churchill,"It is our possession of the West Indies
gave us the strength, the support but especially the wealth,the capital,at a
time when no other European nation possessed such a reserve which
enabled us to come through the giant struggles of the Napoleonic wars,
the keen competition of commerce in the 18th and 19th centuries and
enabled us not only to acquire the appendages of possessions which we
have , but also to lay the foundations of that commercial and financial
leadership which when the world was young, when everything outside
Europe was undeveloped to make our great position in the world "
4 On EMANCIPATION the DEBT HAS NOT BEEN PAID
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5 The Law of Unjust Enrichment as well as the Moral claim s for
retribution justifies our claims for the restoration of Black Dignity and Equa
lity as Normal Members in International Affairs.
6The Black Struggle for Independence in Slave rebellions, the
Maroons, Our Heroes and Heroines Tacky, Cudjoe, Nanny, The Christmas
rebellion, Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman and others.
7EMANCIPATION WAS NOT SO MUCH a HUMANITARIAN Act
as it was a Commercial Transaction. It is necessary to grasp this fact
. 1, Reparation (some 2 billion dollars by todays calculation)
was paid to the slave owners for their "rights' in the property they lost.
The slaves got nothing for the'wrongs' they had suffered to make them
rich. 2. The words of the Proclamation itself made it
clear that it did not aim at emancipating the slave into freedom but
transformed him into the semi=slavery of
COLONIALISM, It is vital to see this. The Act reads "An Act
to emancipate the slaves throughout rthe Empire and to
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Picture the first Emancipation by the slavemaster with his white
family at the great house steps reading out to his ragged slaves who could
not read the proclamation "Queen Victoria has set you free.You are now
Free/ You can only remain in your barracks as my labourers at 1 shilling per
day"
Imagine the courage and Guts of our forefathers and their spouses
who bravely went off into the hills to eke a hard living from the grudgeful
earth.
9 When we speak of HARD TIMES TODAY think on these
things.(Pause)Repeat When we speak of hard times today think of these
things
10 Freedom and Liberation ,great as they are was not the End but the
Beginning of SELF RELIANCE.They had it. It brought them through.
11 The help of the Church BAPTIST, MORAVIAN,WESLEYAN
PHILLIPPO. The QUAKERS, REV,KNIBB etc/all helped to put them on
their feet
12They started with nothing but HOPE and Guts and SelfRelivance
as The Debt had not been paid.Today if at the workplace a workman
is dismissed he is by law entitled to severance pay, How far we have gone.
13 Colonialism had us limited half-slave half- free Our newly
emancipated and aroused saw Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle, Norman Manley,
Bustamante calling for full Independence. That was another step. Many of
you can remember 1963, We got our own flag,anthem etc but we entered a
very competitive world. We had to borrow money to start up. Because THE
BOOKS HAVE NOT BEEN CLOSED> THE DEBTS HAVE NOT BEEN
PAID.
We are struggling today to catch up. Yes we have gone far on our
own. Jobs, houses, education, transportation think of the days when we
didn't have those and our girls couldn't work in the banks etc, Today our
ordinary workman can send his son to the best schools that he could not
attend. But these cost money , not just the high cost of living but the cost of
higher living today.Further although we are politically free we are in debt as
they fix the prices of our products like bananas, and they also fix the prices
of our imports like their motor cars and medicine, Wqe are caught in the
double squeeze of the Debt Trap.We therefore have a foreign Debt, If we
got Relief from this Foreign Debt as the beginning of closing the Debt, that
would be Reparation. OL
crej-k
15 Reparation is not just about money.We say that as a people we
were dehumanised and prevented from our own full development, robbed
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not only of our history and faamily support and tradition but robbed from
our full development as a people with lasting traumatic result
psychologically. As a subculture we are not able to make our full
contribution to the present problems of the world, and some of these
problems like AIDS, Ecological disaster, international crime and terrorism
can not be solved without the cooperation of all, We demand our rightful
place at the table of Empowerment for International Affairs as Equals. That
is what Reparation is about. It is not about Guilt but about responsibility.
The Industrialised citizens of today inherit the latter,
16 There are several Non monetary options open to the process of
Reparation
a An African Marshall Plan. (Post War white enemies received over
$60 billions for devastation to start them up. We received nothing for
centuries of devastation to Africa who were not enemies.
B Power sharing a seat on the power points Permanent Member UN.
World Bank or IMF, Mass transfer of training in technical and managerial
skills
C Debt Relief. This would cost less than 1 month of modern war.
Legal precedent based on the law of Unjust Enrichment has seen the
Jews receive over $60 billion for less punishment, The Poles received
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Remuneration for forced labour, The Japanese received 1.2 billion for what
the Tribunal in an official apology sayd was an act of clear racial bigotry,
The Maoris and the Eskimoes anrd Aborigenes have all received vast sums
as Reparation from the jighest Tribunals who have described slavery as a
"crime against humanity" We should join the forces today in bringing the
cause kr the Conscience of the World through the United Nations.
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