What the UK owes in reparations

By Hasit Shah (Deputy editor, global finance and economics–Quartz)

The day before the United Kingdom finally left the European Union, Bell Ribeiro-Addy gave her first speech in Parliament. The debate that day was about the broader future of “global […]

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France’s Colonial Legacy Is Being Judged in Trial Over African Art

Activists are being tried in Paris over the attempted theft of an African artwork from the Quai Branly Museum, which they say was a protest of colonial-era practices.

PARIS — Wearing a long, white tunic with the names of two African ethnic groups written on it, the defendant stepped forward to the bar, took a breath, […]

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Centre for Reparations Research

In a suburb of Chicago, the world’s first government-funded slavery reparations programme is beginning. Robin Rue Simmons helped make it happen – but her victory has been more than 200 years in the making

by Kris Manjapra

It began with an email. On an especially cold day in Evanston, Illinois, in February 2019, Robin Rue Simmons, 43 […]

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How the shadow of slavery still hangs over global finance

When the infamous Zong trial began in 1783, it laid bare the toxic relationship between finance and slavery. It was an unusual and distressing insurance claim – concerning a massacre of 133 captives, thrown overboard the Zong slave ship.

The slave trade pioneered a new kind of finance, secured on the bodies of the powerless. Today, […]

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The case for British slavery reparations can no longer be brushed aside

There is now a global debate focused on all those nations who built their wealth by denying black people humanity.

Ionce asked a British cabinet minister why the country had never apologised for the transatlantic slave trade. After all, this nation trafficked more enslaved Africans than almost any other – at least 3 million on British […]

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No apology for slavery, says Dutch PM in bad-tempered debate about racism

The Dutch government has no plans at the moment to offer an apology for slavery and the Dutch role in the slave trade, prime minister Mark Rutte said during an often heated debate on racism and discrimination on Wednesday evening.

Two of the four coalition parties – D66 and ChristenUnie – had called on the […]

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The United States owes Black America reparations

By Khury Petersen-Smith and Akua Gyamerah

The uprising sparked in Minneapolis by the police murder of George Floyd – which spread across the country and around the world – is building on and moving beyond the movements against racist policing that preceded it.

As community activists challenge officials to slash law enforcement budgets and force a serious […]

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Reparations bill gains steam following the death of George Floyd

By Mike Lillis (The Hill)

Legislation exploring whether Black Americans should receive restitution for slavery may soon get a huge boost, as a growing number of Democrats are hoping to move reparations this summer as another response to the death of George Floyd.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) will huddle Wednesday to discuss their next […]

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Belgium – Moving from Regrets to Reparations

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, celebrations for the 60th anniversary of independence on June 30 were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead of the usual festivities, the government called for a day of “reflection.” The Belgian king, Philippe, wrote a letter to the Congolese president that contained few words but much to reflect […]

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