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Jun 01, 2014 News
The local reparations committee has its eyes set on June 15 for the completion of its report which will be presented to Europe as Caribbean countries move toward compensation and corrective restoration for the activities of genocide and slavery committed against Amerindians and African slaves.
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is seeking to approach the colonial leaders by June 18. By then, all participating countries are expected to have the reports completed and ready to be submitted to the European countries guilty of crimes committed against humanity during the takeover of the New World.
Chairman of the Guyana Reparations Committee, Eric Phillips, explained to Kaieteur News yesterday that the local committee, despite the organization recently coming into being, has already completed 80 percent of its work.
He said that the body is now in the compilation and writing stage and at the same time is seeking input from the relevant local groups to be incorporated in the findings.
Phillips added, “We are circulating documents that were written to relevant experts and getting their comments so that they can be incorporated. We are actually writing to have our stuff ready by next Friday.”
There are four specific areas highlighted in the Terms of Reference (TOR), and so far, Phillips noted, the Guyana body completed the research yesterday, leaving next week therefore, for the information to be compiled and written. The four TORs include a correct historical narrative which speaks to the events of genocide and slavery. This is being spearheaded by committee member Jonathan Adams.
Phillips is spearheading the other three terms to be addressed. This speaks to linking past discrimination to present day inequality. That aspect is fully drafted and is being circulated. It includes 17 chronological acts of discrimination leading to today’s inequality.
In this study, one aspect that was looked at by the committee was a comparison between Guyana and Barbados whose emancipation and independence came the same year respectively. At the time of Independence, Guyana’s GDP was twice that of Barbados, but according to statistics, today, Barbados’ GDP is nine times that of Guyana, and the argument lies with Guyana’s exposure to indentureship.
That point, for example, speaks to the strategy of maintaining Africans at the bottom of the race ladder, while the research also includes Guyana’s political climate as a means of fostering discriminatory practices.
The third TOR speaks to defining present day equality and how it exists. As part of this research, Phillips said that the committee is looking at African business ownership, political and social cultural economic power. This aspect, he noted, could spill over to the second TOR.
The fourth TOR is to show the influence of European policies and its effects on current day. To this aspect, the committee has highlighted the task of the contentious issue of the religion. “African Gods were taken away.”
There is this whole Christianity role, while African religion and believe was made to look primitive and evil, Phillips said. He noted that slavery disconnected Africans from their beliefs and their own Gods, and this is one point that has been used by Europeans to maintain the grip on Africans. He added that while other races that came as indentured labourers long after Africans had worked free for hundreds of years in the West, and were allowed to maintain their beliefs and lifestyles, Africans were not.
“African Gods were taken away, Hindu Gods were not taken away, and Chinese Gods were not taken away.” He added, too, that throughout the Caribbean some 128 clergies were paid for slaves during emancipation. The church and the State was one at the time, and that is how the churches ended up with much of the land after their disconnection.
CARCIOM countries are vigorously pursuing reparations and have promised to engage the International Court should Europe decide to ignore their claims. While many countries such as Suriname, Jamaica and Trinidad had established reparations committees, Guyana recently created the body to fulfill CARICOM’s requests.
President Donald Ramotar had given the commitment to CARICOM for Guyana to earnestly pursue reparations.
Findings have shown that Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago were the most productive colonies during slavery. Africans there cost the most at the time. The two countries basically had the largest exports.
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