I think reparations are morally right, in general, but still not a great idea.
It just feels a bit like getting working class people today to pay for the actions of the ruling class in the past.
I realise that this isn’t a complete view, and that it can definitely be argued that British working class people will have benefited from an economic climate that was partly built on the slave trade. But I only find this argument partly convincing.
My problem with it is that there are just so many varied historical injustices that the UK ought to pay for - even ones going on now. The questions of who to compensate and how much and for crimes going on how long ago, are just cripplingly difficult to answer.
And what would the total effect be to the UK, and who would bear the brunt of this? We at least know the answer to this latter question.
The point is that global capitalism is based on exploitation and the abuse of advantage, and continues to be, and all rich nations in the world have benefited and continue to benefit from this. So I cannot personally support making the people of one particular nation suffer for this, especially as that country is so unequal, and that suffering would not be equally borne.
As someone who identifies broadly as communist, however, I do think that wealth should be spread and shared. But not by individual countries based upon specific historical injustices (even when these are as horrific as the slave trade). How messy would this become, if it were to be common practice? Who decides how much money a particular atrocity is worth? What about countries which suffer or are poor for more mundane reasons - who pays them?
