Guyana president calls for slavery reparations forward of Gladstone household's apology

Guyana's president has referred to as for these concerned within the slave commerce to be posthumously charged with crimes towards humanity, forward of a proper apology from the descendants of a British slave proprietor.

Read more

President Irfaan Ali has additionally stated individuals whose ancestors profited from the transatlantic slave commerce ought to pay reparations to immediately's generations.

Read more

Mr Ali - who previously called for the UK to apologise for its role in slave trade - spoke as six members of the Gladstone household are deliberate to journey to Guyana to formally apologise on behalf of Scottish Nineteenth-century sugar and occasional plantation proprietor John Gladstone.

Read more

He was the daddy of former British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone and whereas he by no means set foot within the South American nation or the neighbouring West Indian islands, he owned greater than 2,500 slaves in Guyana and Jamaica.

Read more

Gladstone was in cost when the 1823 slave insurrection started on his plantation at Success Village on Guyana's east coast.

Read more

Records present lots of of slaves had been killed. Their heads had been then chopped off and positioned on poles which lined the highway to the capital, Georgetown, as a reminder to different slaves.

Read more

Gladstone was paid greater than Β£100,000 in compensation when slavery was abolished in 1833.

Read more
Read more

Mr Ali has referred to as for the household's apology to go one step additional and handle the problems of compensation and reparative justice.

Read more

The president stated that whereas he welcomes the household's plans to acknowledge the previous, it additionally implies "an acknowledgement of the cruel nature of African enslavement and indentureship in Guyana and an act of contrition that paves the way for justice".

Read more

"The Gladstone family has admitted that it benefited from African enslavement and indentureship on the Demerara and other plantations owned by its patriarch, John Gladstone," he added.

Read more
Read more

More world news:Putin sends condolences after Prigozhin 'death'Donald Trump's historic mugshotWhat we learnt from India's moon landing

Read more

Making the case for compensation, Mr Ali argued that "reparations [are] a commitment to righting historical wrongs".

Read more

"The transatlantic slave trade and African enslavement were an affront to humanity itself," he stated. "The heinousness of this crime against humanity demands that we seek to right these wrongs."

Read more

The 15 nations of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) bloc have already employed a British regulation agency to look at their case for compensation from Britain and different European nations.

Read more

"The descendants of John Gladstone must now also outline their plan of action in line with the Caricom… plan for reparatory justice for slavery and indentureship," Mr Ali stated.

Read more

The present plan contains the apology and investments in well being, infrastructure, schooling and cultural revitalisation to ensure that "future generations are unshackled from the chains of history".

Read more

The Gladstones will make their apology on the opening of the University of Guyana's International Institute for Migration and Diaspora Studies, which they're reportedly serving to to fund with a Β£100,000 grant.

Read more

The Gladstone household couldn't be instantly reached for remark.

Read more

Did you like this story?

Please share by clicking this button!

Visit our site and see all other available articles!

UK 247 News