(Adnkronos) – The main war reparations committee for Caribbean nations (Caricom) has asked the United Kingdom to return the British Virgin Islands and King Charles to commit to the decolonization of the remaining British overseas territories, warning of the risk of a “resurgence of colonialism” worldwide. The Guardian writes this, referring to the visit to the UK this week by the Caricom Reparations Commission, during which the body, which advocates for reparative justice for slavery, colonialism, and their consequences on behalf of the alliance of Caribbean states, deplored the fact that the Caribbean remains “the most colonized part of the world.”
Recently, Caricom launched a new manifesto outlining the “moral, ethical, and legal justifications for reparations,” and during a briefing held yesterday in London, David Comissiong, Barbados’ ambassador to the body, stated that “decolonization has been included in this new manifesto as a fundamental demand.” The British overseas territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos enjoy internal self-government but remain under the control of UK-appointed governors, with authority over defense, international affairs, and some security and legal matters.
Hilary Beckles, chairman of the commission, stated that the Caribbean is the most colonized part of the world, a situation that must cease. “We are telling the world and the United Nations,” he emphasized, “to put an end to colonialism, because if we do not include them in the framework of reparative justice, we could witness a resurgence of colonialism elsewhere. And we are starting to see the signs of this. People sending their armies and so on into other people’s territories and taking control of them. We are beginning to understand how power can lead to a resurgence of colonialism.” Comissiong stated that it is “inconceivable” that, after overcoming the oppression of slavery and being “exploited to the bone” by colonialism, black people still find themselves “lacking self-determination.” He added that in the Caribbean there are “no less than 20 colonies – British, French, Dutch, and American” and that “reparations and decolonization go hand in hand.”
King Charles will be the keynote speaker at the annual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, to be held in November in Antigua and Barbuda. Comissiong stated that, while acknowledging that the King is a constitutional monarch with “constraints,” the people of the Caribbean expect to see if their king will advance the debate on “sovereignty, decolonization, and reparative justice for crimes committed.” “I would not presume to advise the King on how to address his subjects,” he added, “but the time has come to let the people go, to begin the process of decolonization, to break the chains of imperial rule. And to tell the subjects: ‘We take responsibility for 300 years of exploitation of wealth, human degradation, and the future moral order.'”
