Making Reparations

Session Objective: to redistribute resources and reshape norms through policies that take responsibility for past harms

class slides for the session:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13jjv_T2MnPtsQKHPQo-ohr68IR0iWb4E_LCD3FiIK4k/edit?usp=sharing

Consider: reparations, one of the most tangible ways to redress environmental racism and systemic injustice. The articles below discuss examples of reparations around the world, and call for further programs.

conflict-specific reparations:

Rwandan reparations fund breaks ground but is still not enough, say victimsThis article tells the story of the Genocide Survivors Assistance Fund (FARG), created by the Rwandan government and still in operation today. It shows how in a country without resources it was still possible to set up a reparations system, albeit imperfect.

Iraq makes final reparation payment to Kuwait for 1990 invasionMore than 30 years after the UN Compensation Commission (UNCC) was created to ensure restitution for Kuwait following the Iraqi invasion of 1990, the reparations body announced on Wednesday that it had processed its final claim, amounting to $52.4 billion in total.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers orders reparations, but will victims ever see the money?Salih Mustafa, a former KLA officer during the Kosovo war, has been ordered to pay reparations to his victims. Will this decision be applied?

reparations for Indigenous communities:

To Native Americans, reparations can vary from having sovereignty to just being heardTo Native Americans, reparations can vary from sovereignty and land to being heard

Stolen generations survivors to get $73m in NSW compensation packageSome survivors say offer of $75,000 each a positive first step, while others call it an ‘insult’ compared with a lifetime of damage wrought by government policies

Canada settles residential school reparations lawsuitCanada to pay more than $2bn to settle lawsuit seeking compensation for harm to Indigenous languages and cultures.

climate change reparations:

The case for climate reparationsEither we allow climate migrants to move in, or we compensate these refugees financially for the damages caused by our greenhouse gas emissions.

Are climate reparations finally on the way for vulnerable countries?‘Significant change in action’ under way to compensate nations under direct assault from climate chaos, observers say.

US refuses climate reparations for developing nationsClimate envoy John Kerry made the remarks before he travels to China to discuss climate change issues.

international reparations for the slave trade:

Barbados PM says country owed $4.9tn as she makes fresh call for reparationsMia Mottley tells London audience that King Charles’s comments about slavery’s impact were welcome

A Ghana reparations summit agrees on a global fund to compensate Africans for the slave tradeDelegates at a reparations summit in Ghana have agreed to establish a Global Reparation Fund to push for overdue compensation for millions of Africans enslaved centuries ago during the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

The billionaire demanding slavery reparations from BritainOne Irish billionaire has listened to those calling for reparations and is now demanding Britain and other European nations step up and pay for the horrors of transatlantic slavery.

Slavery: Rishi Sunak rejects call to apologise and pay reparationsThe PM says "no" to reparations, adding "trying to unpick our history is not the right way forward".

Keir Starmer rejects calls for slavery reparation talksThe prime minister says he wants to focus on challenges faced by Commonwealth countries "right now".

Gladstone family urged to pay slavery reparations to JamaicaFamily of the former prime minister are accused of ignoring the case for reparations in Jamaica.

Britain’s Slave Owner Compensation Loan, reparations and tax havenry | Tax Justice Network It’s hard to believe but it was only in 2015 that, according to the Treasury, British taxpayers finished ‘paying off’ the debt which the British government incurred in order to compensate British slave owners in 1835 because of the abolition of slavery. Abolition meant their profiteering from human misery would (gradually) come to an end. […]

domestic US reparations for Black Americans:

The Thorny History of Reparations in the United StatesBy Erin Blakemore, History — In the 20th century, the country issued reparations for Japanese American internment, Native land seizures, massacres and police brutality. Will slavery be next?

Why we need reparations for Black AmericansRashawn Ray and Andre Perry outline the history of reparations in the United States, missed opportunities to redress the racial wealth gap, and specific details for a viable reparations package for Black Americans.

Reparations: The US town paying its black residentsEvanston, Illinois is in the middle of an unusual experiment to redress racial injustice.

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