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Honourable Gaston Browne
Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
Address at
The Opening of The Second Regional Conference on Reparations
Multipurpose Centre, Antigua
12 October 2014
Excellences, Most Honourable PJ Patterson Caribbean Revered
Statesman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
We are gathered here today in a noble cause.
It is a cause best defined as morally right.
It is not a cause of retribution or of vengeance.
The ancient wrong, done in our region to the indigenous people of
this area and to the transplanted people from Africa and Asia who
were forced into slavery and servitude, sears the awareness of us
all.
For several centuries, our motherland, Africa was plundered and
raped of its human resources. Our forefathers were forcefully
removed from their home land and sold as slaves, as chattels
around the world to include the Caribbean.
The transnational slave trade resulted in the separation and
destruction of many families and in the cultural values, tradition,
beliefs and artefacts of our people. The atrocities committed
against our people rank among the worst examples of human
barbarism. This institutionalised trade in humans and its attendant
atrocities have resulted in a state of underdevelopment in the
Caribbean and Africa,180 years after its abolition.
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Notwithstanding these atrocities; what we seek now is reparation not reprisal.
Our concept of reparations is not defined or limited to economic
reparations; it includes reconciliation, racial equality, inclusivity,
equality of opportunity and justice.
We hold no living person of any European nation responsible for
the evils of the ruling classes that controlled their societies and
enriched themselves from the cruelties and barbarism to which
they subjected our ancestors in this region. This however, does not
preclude them from acknowledging these wrongs and to commit
themselves to the noble action of resolving them by honouring our
reparatory claims.
We recall their brutalities with particular abhorrence.
Our hearts still cry out against the suffering of our progenitors.
But, we also recall that within the societies that justified slavery by
the wealth it brought to them, also existed men and women who, at
risk to themselves, stood up to proclaim the profound evil of slavery
and the criminal nature of its barbarities.
There were then – as there are now - individuals and groups in
Europe who saw in the uprisings of slaves and indentured
labourers in the Caribbean legitimate protests against a vicious
system of violent and pernicious oppression.
So, let us be clear.
Our argument today is not with the peoples of Europe; it is not a
formulation based on race; nor is it a war of revenge.
Simply stated, our contention is that our predecessors in this region
were subjected to the most inhumane treatment that would today
be legitimate matters for trial by the International Criminal Court.
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In the course of that treatment, they were deprived of their liberty
and the right to their lives; they were treated not as human beings,
not even as animals – they were treated as “property” to be used
or disposed as suited the thinking of their owners.
And when, eventually, so-called ‘emancipation’ came, those who
had been in forced labour, who had toiled from sun-up to sun-down,
who were tortured and maimed for the smallest infraction – those
people received not a cent in compensation.
They were left penniless and adrift.
In contrast, their previous owners, whose wealth had already
swelled on the backs of their blood, sweat and tears, received
billions of dollars in today’s value.
The fortunes made from slavery and the further riches secured at
its abolition, helped to build many of the economies of Europe,
making them the industrialised economies they now are.
In contrast, the fortunes acquired from the Caribbean through the
system of slavery, and the further riches appropriated at slavery’s
abolition, left the Caribbean as a backwater of the world.
Just imagine what our region would have been today if the huge
sum of money given to former slave owners had been paid – as it
should have been – to the victims, the former slaves.
We would have, by now, one hundred and eighty years of
investment and in wealth creation.
Our economies would have been much better developed and the
quality of life of our people much more advanced.
Instead, our countries were left bereft of educational institutions,
proper health care, and infrastructure.
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The long arm of those conditions of deprivation, of dispossession
and of disdain have stretched over the centuries to place our
countries and our people at the most severe disadvantage.
What we are seeking, therefore, is reparation for the longstanding
damage done to our economies and to the lives of our people.
There can be no question of the moral validation of our case; nor
can there be any doubt about the economic justification of it.
However, our demands are non-confrontational.
We seek, instead, to persuade and negotiate.
We maintain the hope that those nations that have benefitted from
the exploitation of our countries and of our progenitors, will
recognise the morality, justice and honour that summon them to
settle reparations with us.
They cannot, in today’s world, justify interventions in other
countries in defence of human rights and the rule of law, if this
disgrace continues to stain the annals of their history.
But, let no one doubt the resoluteness of our purpose or the
strength of our resolve.
If our efforts to persuade, to negotiate and to motivate fail, then we
will be forced to litigate – and we certainly will. We will be
unrelenting.
Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
For centuries the narrative of our peoples have been sketched by
persons from outside our region many of whom understood neither
the history nor the cultures that have shaped our societies.
Even today, there are writers, commentators and even diplomats
who depict us as a ‘’rum punch’’ civilization or a ‘’sun-sea-andsand’’ society.
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Some have even described our workers as lazy and our work ethic
as lethargic.
This has occurred, of course, because we are caught in the horns
of a dilemma.
On the one hand, because of our dependence on tourism; we
ourselves promote the notion of carefree leisure and the idea of a
“don’t worry, be happy” culture.
That is the idea that makes many of our countries appealing to
tourists seeking a Caribbean paradise of palm trees, bright
sunshine, cooling breezes and a good glass of rum punch.
But while that is part of our presentation of ourselves and, indeed,
it is a valid part of what we are; it is not even a significant part of
our entire story or of who we are.
Much more relevant is what generations of our people have worked
to accomplish in this region on the platform of deprivation that was
inherited at Slavery’s abolition and the end of indentured servitude.
With nothing more than the strength of our will, and the talents of
our wits, our people have made something of our countries and of
ourselves.
It was our people that built secondary schools and universities; it
was our people that constructed roads, bridges, sea ports and air
ports; it was our people that established hospitals, improved
medical care and created social welfare programmes.
No other region in the world, with such very small populations and
limited resources such as ours, has achieved nearly so much.
Despite being robbed of our material well-being for centuries, the
Caribbean has acted as a crucible for excellence.
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We can boast four Nobel Prize winners from Guadeloupe, St. Lucia
and Trinidad.
We can hail our world class writers from Guyana in the south to
Jamaica in the north.
We can celebrate our cultural artists, drawn from every corner,
nook and cranny.
We can applaud our cricketers, our entrepreneurs, our bankers, our
jurists, our priests.
We can be proud of our leaders who have played important roles
on the international stage – leaders such as the Most Honourable
P J Patterson whose wisdom and experience will contribute to the
thinking over the next two days.
Today, we still provide doctors, nurses, teachers, scientists and
thinkers to the developed countries of the world.
The Caribbean talent-pool has carved out a civilization that is, quite
frankly, amazing.
Yes, we have reason to work harder, to learn better, to think
smarter, to integrate our efforts more purposefully, and to discard
narrow differences that are obstacles to our greatest potential.
But, we should be proud, that we have accomplished all that we
have on a legacy of dispossession and poverty.
Think how much more we could have done, had we begun the task
of building our countries with the basic tools to do it.
That is why we are pursuing reparations.
It is to right that wrong.
We are also pursuing reparations because the international
community appears unmindful of the legacy of neglect upon which
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we have built. While some may be limited in their knowledge of this
issue others are intentionally ignorant of it.
This is the harsh reality of the unresponsiveness and sometimes
uncaring and selfish posture of the international community.
Though we are the victims of their pollution and of the change in
climate that their profligate actions produce, they are reluctant to
help us mitigate the ravages of the hostile environment they have
created.
Thus today in Antigua we have to spend millions of dollars to
convert sea water to portable water in the face of a long-lasting
drought.
Though we are at the crossroads of drug trafficking that has
brought guns and violence to our countries, their response is
inadequate and grudging, limited to fighting their self-interest in
trafficking but doing nothing about poverty.
That is also why we are seeking reparations.
And that is why as I said at the beginning and I repeat now – your
cause is noble; your purpose just; and your objectives honourable.
Thank you very much for undertaking this very important initiative.