EVERY SO OFTEN in the life of a writer and public intellectual, there emerges one signal work which seals and confirms beyond any doubt for his and future generations, the purpose of his life’s mission, his reason for being and the very essence of the cause for which he was born.
In the case of C. L. R. James, it was Beyond The Boundary, for Walter Rodney it was How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, with Eric Williams it was Capitalism And Slavery.
I have no doubt that Britain’s Black Debt will be the work that establishes Hilary Beckles amongst the pantheon of West Indian intellectuals whose contributions survive several generations after their temporary physical terrestrial sojourns have been fulfilled.
What is significant about such works is not that they are necessarily more analytically rigorous than previous works produced by these writers. Instead, their importance resides in the timeliness of the statements that they make, the fact that they answer a particular social need at a time when the societies for which they have been written require a qualitative breakthrough from “ordinariness” and potential reversal, and that they spark broader political movements that discerning observers can identify as opening doors from one epoch to another.
None of this means that Beckles’ book will suddenly open the hearts of our former colonizers or that a sharp reversal in global attitudes will ensue once the book is read widely (and I am certain that it will be). Instead, what is of significance is that by its very publication, it has created a new material reality and, as a consequence, will give rise to a new consciousness and, by extension, a new politics.
While C. L. R. James’ Beyond The Boundary did not create the conditions for the emergence of West Indian global cricket supremacy, it certainly heralded and provided the intellectual explanation and anticipation of it.
It should be noted that the publication of Beckles’ book has provided an important platform for the establishment of Caribbean-wide reparations committees, with an eventual view towards reparations conferences and the ultimate adoption of the issue by CARICOM itself. Already, Ralph Gonsalves has declared that he will be using his remaining time on earth to make the reparations for the indigenous people of St Vincent and the Grenadines his next big mission.
Significantly too, Britain’s Black Debt is coming at a time when the Caribbean post-colonial project is need of an intellectual “jump-start”. Whilst cynics may argue that the global economic crisis might mean that in Britain and Europe will be far less inclined to entertain reparations discussion, the important issue is that Beckles’ book provides a qualitatively new political framework upon which the Caribbean’s rightful demand for reparations can be organized going forward.
The eventual outcome will be determined by future politics. Eternal gratitude, Professor.
•Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, specializing in regional affairs.
