The Dutch government has apologised for their role in slavery. Apart from invoking “Dutchmen” rising from their graves and scaring the daylights (at night!) from the unwary, we haven’t really focused them and slavery. But they actually started the whole slavery business here – and it WAS a business to them first and foremost – as far back as the 1620’s in what became known as Essequibo. In fact, they continued o form plantations along the river banks – and it was only after a hundred years when the fertility of the soil was exhausted – they then came out to the Atlantic Coast. This they did in what was to be called “Demerara” and expanded slavery and plantations – mainly to export cotton and coffee.
In the meantime, they’d independently done the same over in Berbice – which we should all know about because of the Slave Rebellion of 1763 led by our national Hero Cuffy. It was interesting that the Dutch allowed British settlers to own plantations. This signalled that plantations weren’t their main thing but trading in enslaved Africans. They developed banking and trade relations which increased their power enormously! They were shipping slaves to all the other European Empires and bear an outsize responsibility which they’re finally accepting. Slavery’s the reason that such a small nation became so incredibly wealthy!!
By the time the British government came into the picture – after one of the interminable European wars and took possession in 1796 – their settlers were very known well known on our “Wild Coast”. After a lot of back and forthing during the Napoleonic Wars that opened up the 19th century, the three colonies traded hands and was even run by the French for a while. It wasn’t until 1815 that the Brits officially took over– after they’d abolished their slave trade in 1807!! They finally united the three colonies into “British Guiana” in 1831 and promptly abolished slavery entirely in 1834 followed by a 4-year “apprenticeship”.
The point of this long history lesson is that it was the Dutch that was mostly responsible for African Slavery in our country! It’s more than passing strange that more attention hadn’t been paid to them in our calls for reparations. It’s probably because our claims are being pushed by CariCom in which only us and Suriname experienced Dutch African enslavement. We’re gonna have to take the lead to follow up on their apology and make sure they move on to what’s it’s all about – compensation for us in Guyana and in Africa.
Surely, your Eyewitness doesn’t have to rehearse all the arguments for reparations writ large, does he? The Dutch have already conceded them with their apology! Over to the Reparations Committee!
…to slavery by Brits
Hard on the heels of the Dutch apology came the admission by the Church of England – the Anglican Church – that they were ready to start paying for their role in the slavery crime against humanity! They’d already done the apology bit back in 2020 when they called it a “disgrace” that some of its members had “actively profited” from slavery. However, they limited their “involvement” to their financial arm that had been funded from an 18th century fund that earned their wealth by owing slaves.
Now this financial arm manages a £10billion investment fund to support “church and clergy activities”. Yet from this they’ve allocated only £100 Million for reparations over the next nine years. The’ll have to fess up on how they arrived at this figure. But in the meantime they’ll have to accept that their role went far beyond the old contributions. THEY were the institution that actually justified slavery by using the Bible, then passed on its insidious premises in running “schools” following “emancipation”.
They gotta do better!!
