Sorry for the long post. Peeps will probably get bored...
It's not really the right thread but as we're on the subject... I did read once but I haven't tried researching to confirm or debunk this as figures are very hard to come by... what I once read was that per head of population more people have been taken as slaves from the British Isles than were taken from Africa during the trans Atlantic slave trade. Don't know if that's true or it may be more than were taken than by the British during the transatlantic slave trade but even if this is not true it is true that certainly large numbers were taken by the various invaders including the Romans, Vikings and raiding Barbary types over a period of well over 1,000 years as the Barbary raids only ended in the late 17th century or so.
We have to remember that westerners didn't normally raid inland Africa and capture slaves as that wouldn't have been practical or economical. There was an existing ongoing slave trade with African nations economies depending on it. The western powers bought from Africans doing the enslaving and the selling, the western powers being the willing customers parked off the coast dealing with the African nations and slavers. So who should pay reparations? The British public haven't had slaves for 1,000 years as the abolishment in Britain arguably began with Willian the Conqueror although British institutions and individuals could no doubt profit from slavery abroad. Individuals, companies and institutions may have left wealth garnered through slavery to present day beneficiaries but the people of Britain, institutions and companies have very probably paid vastly more in taxation to fund the various Royal navy and army actions and campaigns to end slavery. The East African slave trade carried out by various Muslim nations went on for far longer than the transatlantic slave trade and was arguably even more barbaric. Where are the calls for reparations from them?
All in all I personally don't want to see a single penny in reparations paid by the UK govt or any organisation I help to fund. Individuals can donate any or all their wealth to whoever comes forward to claim it if it's that's what they want to do. Sorry if that offends anyone but equally I wont be seeking any reparations from any decedents of the Vikings who did so much slaving and other damage in Britain. My family are from Wales and down south (oh the shame...) and I don't know who raided and enslaved there but in the Middlesbrough area there are many Viking/raider named areas including Ormesby, from good old raiding and pillaging and probably slave trading Orm. My family are more likely to have been enslaved rather than been slave traders or owners so do I/we owe anything to anyone currently living in the Caribbean?
All this has prevented me from donating any significant amount to the CofE and any other organisation which has mentioned reparations because I just don't know who's a worthy recipient and who should in fact be paying reparations rather than receiving. As an example, in the USA when slavery was legal and although the figures are probably disputed certainly thousands of Africans / people of African decent were in fact slave owners/traders.
