This Evil…

Has to be resisted.

The government of Barbados is considering plans to make a wealthy Conservative MP the first individual to pay reparations for his ancestor’s pivotal role in slavery.

The Observer understands that Richard Drax, MP for South Dorset, recently travelled to the Caribbean island for a private meeting with the country’s prime minister, Mia Mottley. A report is now before Mottley’s cabinet laying out the next steps, which include legal action in the event that no agreement is reached with Drax.

As he has property in Barbados, he is vulnerable to land seizure, so much like Zimbabwe. However:

Barbados MP Trevor Prescod, chairman of Barbados National Task Force on Reparations, part of the Caricom Reparations Commission, said the UN had declared slavery to be a crime against humanity: “If the issue cannot be resolved we would take legal action in the international courts. The case against the Drax family would be for hundreds of years of slavery, so it’s likely any damages would go well beyond the value of the land.”

This sinister move needs to be stopped in its tracks. Okay, so in Barbados, they can do what they want, regardless of how nasty it may be. But to chase a man through the international courts for something that happened long before he was born is outright evil. And it won’t stop there.

David Comissiong, the Barbados ambassador to Caricom and deputy chairman of the task force, said that besides Drax, other families whose ancestors benefited from slavery are being considered including the British royal family: “It is now a matter that is before the government of Barbados. It is being dealt with at the highest level.

The approach to this is for any cases to be rejected out of hand. Whatever the international courts might decide, they should not be allowed any jurisdiction here. Let these grifters get a toe in the door and it will never end. Slavery is simply an excuse for theft. Drax cannot protect any property he has in Barbados, but he damned well should, nay, must, not pay the fuckers one single penny outside of that. Nor submit to any judgements by international courts. This is rampant thievery. It needs nipping in the bud.

19 Comments

  1. It probably will not go down very well with the Barbadian community anywhere, but if I were Drax and the case was a lost cause I’d really upset them by offering them all free boat trips back to West Africa so that they can meet up with their distant relatives and swap stories about “quality of life”.

  2. Short term gains but the West Indies will soon be bankrupt as all the white-owned money and property flees from their countries. Could be hilarious to watch.

  3. And Britain can present the bill for their costs in abolishing the transatlantic slave trade by the Royal Navy and the West African Squadron from 1808 to 1860. The Government of the day paid out 20 million pounds which, adjusted for inflation etc. is the equivalent of 20 billion (that is 20,000,000,000) and only finished paying the debt off in 2015.

    That 20 Billion excludes the cost of the interest accrued on the debt.

    Plus, as only the British abolished slavery, the Brazilians and Portuguese could and did produce sugar using slaves and destroyed the economies of the British sugar producing islands (like, for instance, Barbados) so that will be an additional amount the British can claim.

    I wonder what the proportion and amount of that claim Mr. Mia Mottley is liable for?

  4. Mia Mottley doesn’t give a damn about the consequential effects of this, she just wants an issue to carry her from the PM’s office in Barbados to the UN Secretary General’s office in New York.

    There are enough former colonies eyeing up land, property and corporate title held by those who can be tagged with the rather nebulous sobriquet of “former slave owners” that they might heft her into the UN’s top office to push that agenda, or at least post-rationalise the expropriations when they happen.

    Zimbabwe and South Africa demonstrate that such expropriations seldom lead to anything more than the Kleptocracy getting rich, while making the rest of the county poorer. Indeed Zimbabwe went from being a net food producer and exporter to starvation levels and food aid in less than a generation.

    Maybe the Barbadians deserve the same for bringing this vile bitch to power?

  5. So the descendants of anyone who was murdered may sue the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson or granddaughter of the murderer? Just because they are rich, obviously.

  6. @Jaded48, John Galt,

    Indeed and basically to hell with them. They’re going to steal white owned property and that’s the end of it. It’s not really feasible to stop this, but there is no need to grovel before this filth like some little whipped bitch: “take it then, but don’t come whining when you’re all reduced to scraping in the dirt with pointy sticks”

    Ditto the whole slavery thing. When all current slavery is abolished, when the 40 million current slaves are freed, then you can perhaps think of mentioning the historical slave trade to us and we may begin to formulate some appropriate response (which would, of course, be “get fucked”).

    These places haven’t been colonies for generations and when they gained independence they typically had working infrastructures, the gift of centuries of hard won western achievement.

    They have let all this decay and the collective trillions they have been gifted since?

    It’s not the developing world, too often it’s the incapable of developing world.

    Best of luck with china, you’ll need it!

      • He might be doing so to provide substance for a future court case (i.e. that he did everything possible to prevent expropriation). Then if it does happen, put a claim in against Barbados itself through Club of Paris (related to repudiation of state debts).

        Might work. Better than doing nothing.

  7. I insist on sugar: no artificial sweeteners, so I must have contributed to the slave trade before my ancestors stamped out the slave trade. Should I be looking over my shoulder? No, I’m skint so no profits for those shysters there . . .

  8. I used to enjoy visiting Barbados for holidays. Most of its inhabitants have been friendly, although in many cases racism against local white and Asian people is obviously apparent. (I have only ever personally encountered two cases of racism against me – in Barbados and St. Vincent). But if that is the way they are going to act, maybe I’ll holiday elsewhere, and I hope others do likewise. And considering that a large part of the country’s income is from tourism, maybe they’ll realise that they’re not doing themselves any favours by acting that way.

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