WHEN THE NEWS broke that Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron would be officially visiting Jamaica, the Caribbean Reparations Movement was concerned that he was on a mission to split and scuttle the regional reparations movement by offering an unprecedented development package to Jamaica, and thus separate the spiritual and regional cultural heartland (and most populous Caribbean state) from the regional reparations effort.
Alas, however, it appeared that too much credit was being given to the leader of the British Conservative Party. It was widely expected that Cameron would come bearing gifts. Instead, he came with one crudely packaged in an insult.
Not only did Cameron refuse to apologise for British state-sanctioned enslavement of millions of Caribbean peoples, but he arrogantly admonished Caribbean people to “move on” from the human rights abuses which they suffered. Lacing the insult with further injury, his anticipated “development package” proved to be a £25 (BDS$75.8 million) prison, for housing British criminals of Jamaican origin.
It is indeed a clear indication of the bankruptcy of the world’s capitalist powers that in an era of crisis their most creative responses to the development needs of the Caribbean region cannot extend beyond a self-interested “prisoner transfer deal”. Everywhere, from the United States to Hungary, the most urgent development need is the building of fences and detention centres.
It is mind boggling that Cameron, prior to his arrival in Jamaica, could not turn his mind to assisting with education, health, industrial development or any of the myriad points of insertion which would have allowed for a genuinely respectful partnership. To make matters worse, his condescending proposal came at a time when, given the weight of the reparations question, he was under scrutiny to demonstrate good faith and mutual respect. That he took an opposite road is an indication of his insensitivity to Caribbean feeling on reparations as well as an acknowledgement of the exhaustion of the development possibilities of crisis-plagued capitalism.
The good news of all of this is that Cameron’s callousness has galvanised the Caribbean reparations movement into a steely resolve to press on. Secondly, it has opened a space for a more progressive British perspective, with the current opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, indicating his willingness to apologise for slavery.
Finally, it has exposed the poverty of the current Caribbean leadership, who are now willing to “accept anything”, and is forcing a more progressive approach on to the agenda. It is significant that former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding has been indicating that as far back as 2007, he had rejected a similar proposal from former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
At the very least, the reaction to Cameron’s anti-reparations prison insult might shake the region from its smug, defeatist stance and open our consciousness to the reality that we have a dignity worth defending. A progressive addenda must re-emerge.
Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, specialising in regional affairs. Email tjoe2008@live.com.
