Barbados Prime Minister Demands $4.9 Trillion in Slavery Reparations; Barbados PM Says Country Owed $4.9tn as She Makes Fresh Call for Reparations; British Crown Seemingly Agrees

Former slave-trading colonial powers should pay Barbados $4.9 trillion (£3.9 trillion) in reparations, the Caribbean country’s leftist prime minister demanded.

Speaking at the London School of Economics this week, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley redoubled her push for slavery reparations, saying that the movement demanding payment for historical wrongs had become a more pressing issue following the resurgence of Black Lives Matter and the killing of George Floyd in the United States in 2020.

The leftist Bajan leader, of the Barbados Labour Party, claimed that her country was owed a staggering $4.9 trillion in reparations for slavery from former colonial powers, but acknowledged that repayment of the supposed debt would “take time”.

“We’re not expecting that the reparatory damages will be paid in a year, or two, or five because the extraction of wealth and the damages took place over centuries. But we are demanding that we be seen and that we are heard,” Mottley said according to the left-wing Guardian newspaper.

The Barbadian prime minister cited figures compiled by the Boston-based Brattle Group, which has claimed that Britain owes $24 trillion to 14 different countries over the transatlantic slave trade. The group has also asserted that France owes $9.2 trillion, the Netherlands owes $4.86 trillion, and Spain owes $17.1 trillion for their roles in slavery. —>READ MORE HERE

Barbados PM says country owed $4.9tn as she makes fresh call for reparations:

King Charles’s comment that the “time has come” to acknowledge the enduring impact of slavery has been welcomed by the prime minister of Barbados as she spoke in London about the need for reparations.

Mia Mottley said Barbados was owed $4.9tn (£3.9tn) by slave-owning nations, noting that conversations over how this debt should be repaid would “be difficult and will take time”, she said on Wednesday evening.

“We’re not expecting that the reparatory damages will be paid in a year, or two, or five because the extraction of wealth and the damages took place over centuries. But we are demanding that we be seen and that we are heard,” she said.

Mottley met David Cameron on Tuesday but would not give details of the foreign secretary’s thoughts on the UK’s slavery-related debt.

“I’m not going to get into the details of our conversation but suffice to say I think the foreign secretary will take his lead from his majesty,” she said.

During a speech at the London School of Economics’ International Inequalities Institute, she repeatedly commended King Charles’s apparent willingness to confront slavery. Her belief in the king’s openness to discussion stems from a speech he gave in June 2022 at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda. —>READ MORE HERE

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