Should UK pay reparations to Jamaica for slavery?

[The Birdman]

Shit the Aussie will ask for compensation next.

 

[alfredmizen]

WOW.............................. And I thought the the view of our country had moved on in the last 400 years...........obviously not.

To be honest I really don't think that financial reparation should be made. That's only because I don't really thing that current generations should be held responsible for the ''sins of their father's''

And boy do we have a lot of sins in those years all over the world but then again so to the Dutch, The Spanish, The French, The Italians (to a lesser extent) and The Portuguese in the same period.

If the people who had endured slavery were still alive I would take a different view but i do feel a lot of shame for what went on and how the European Nations treated their colonial countries

why ?? it was nothing to do with you, and you couldnt have done anything about it , its not even in living memory.

 

[lawros left foot]

why ?? it was nothing to do with you, and you couldnt have done anything about it , its not even in living memory.

Do you feel proud that we won the two World Wars? You personally had nothing to do with it, and its not even in your living memory.
I'm ashamed of some of our country's history, we haven't always done the right thing, and have made many wrong choices, but, we have also done things as a country, that we should shout from the rooftops, as they are things no other nation could manage to do

 

[JC Footy Genius]

The rest of the world should club together and pay a yearly thank you gift of around £100 billion to the UK for the wonderful legacy this great country bequeathed leading to modern liberal democratic civilisation. Without us no bastions of democratic common law nations such as USA, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand even South Africa to name but a few. The British Empire may have had one or two minor faults but c'mon people enough with the tedious self loathing and historical relativism.

 

[jameswestport]

How much would ye owe Ireland?

 

[Soulman]

The rest of the world should club together and pay a yearly thank you gift of around £100 billion to the UK for the wonderful legacy this great country bequeathed leading to modern liberal democratic civilisation. Without us no bastions of democratic common law nations such as USA, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand even South Africa to name but a few. The British Empire may have had one or two minor faults but c'mon people enough with the tedious self loathing and historical relativism.

Magnificent post.

 

[Soulman]

How much would ye owe Ireland?

Barely six potatoes i would imagine.

 

[bobby baxter]

WOW.............................. And I thought the the view of our country had moved on in the last 400 years...........obviously not.

To be honest I really don't think that financial reparation should be made. That's only because I don't really thing that current generations should be held responsible for the ''sins of their father's''

And boy do we have a lot of sins in those years all over the world but then again so to the Dutch, The Spanish, The French, The Italians (to a lesser extent) and The Portuguese in the same period.

If the people who had endured slavery were still alive I would take a different view but i do feel a lot of shame for what went on and how the European Nations treated their colonial countries

Why do you feel shame? It's likely that your, and mine, forefathers were experiencing an existence not too dissimilar to the hellish lives of the colonial slaves.

 

[lawros left foot]

One or two minor faults!!!!!!!
That is the understatement of the year, The Irish famine, the concentration camps during the Boer war, the Bengal famine, The Opium wars, The 1920s Iraq slaughters, the Kenyan round up in the fifties, to name but a few.

 

[alfredmizen]

Do you feel proud that we won the two World Wars? You personally had nothing to do with it, and its not even in your living memory.
I'm ashamed of some of our country's history, we haven't always done the right thing, and have made many wrong choices, but, we have also done things as a country, that we should shout from the rooftops, as they are things no other nation could manage to do

Yes i do, and of course it s in living memory, my grandad was badly wounded at El Alamein , i finally got him to talk about it once , he always told me it was a part of his life he wanted to forget, i was born 20 years after the end of ww2 , and it was still having a massive effect on society even then.

 

[lawros left foot]

Yes i do, and of course it s in living memory, my grandad was badly wounded at El Alamein , i finally got him to talk about it once , he always told me it was a part of his life he wanted to forget, i was born 20 years after the end of ww2 , and it was still having a massive effect on society even then.

As slavery is still having a massive effect in all the places Europeans shipped slaves to, witness America and their race troubles.

I'm not saying everything this country has ever done is bad, but we can't whitewash all our mistakes, and pretend that everything we ever did was beneficial to anyone but us

 

[JC Footy Genius]

One or two minor faults!!!!!!!
That is the understatement of the year, The Irish famine, the concentration camps during the Boer war, the Bengal famine, The Opium wars, The 1920s Iraq slaughters, the Kenyan round up in the fifties, to name but a few.

Yes relatively minor in the big scheme of things and rather emotively described if I may say so !

 

[5mins-from-amex]

One or two minor faults!!!!!!!
That is the understatement of the year, The Irish famine, the concentration camps during the Boer war, the Bengal famine, The Opium wars, The 1920s Iraq slaughters, the Kenyan round up in the fifties, to name but a few.

How do you feel about the positive contribution that the British empire had on its colonies?

Pax Britanica - peace - law & order - government - civil service
Public Works - roads - schools
Technology - roads - canals - railways - industry
Freedom - home rule and democracy for Canada - New Zealand - Australia - Hong Kong - Singapore etc
Religion - Religious toleration - Christianity
Medicine - hospitals - vacination - infectious diseases
Commonwealth - shared values and ideals
Trade - Free trade within British Empire / USA and later with French Empire
Slavery - abolition of slave trade and later slavery within the British Empire
Language - India & africa - Unifying World language which helped to break down ethnic and cultural differences

 

[Soulman]

Do you feel proud that we won the two World Wars? You personally had nothing to do with it, and its not even in your living memory.
I'm ashamed of some of our country's history, we haven't always done the right thing, and have made many wrong choices, but, we have also done things as a country, that we should shout from the rooftops, as they are things no other nation could manage to do

"You personally had nothing to do with" the Boer War, The Kenya, Irish famine etc that you mentioned and i doubt it's " even in your living memory." Strange how people will state that WW2 has nothing to do with the Germans of today that were not around then, but love to feel ashamed of our history.
I think we have helped many countries, with foreign aid etc, probably why people have emigrated here.......so we can't be that bad, perhaps the shame and those that are saying they are ashamed about our past (i am sure we will get back to the Crusades soon, at least another few centuries to be ashamed of eh) ought to take a look now, not years and centuries before they were even born.

 

[lawros left foot]

How do you feel about the positive contribution that the British empire had on its colonies?

Pax Britanica - peace - law & order - government - civil service
Public Works - roads - schools
Technology - roads - canals - railways - industry
Freedom - home rule and democracy for Canada - New Zealand - Australia - Hong Kong - Singapore etc
Religion - Religious toleration - Christianity
Medicine - hospitals - vacination - infectious diseases
Commonwealth - shared values and ideals
Trade - Free trade within British Empire / USA and later with French Empire
Slavery - abolition of slave trade and later slavery within the British Empire
Language - India & africa - Unifying World language which helped to break down ethnic and cultural differences

I haven't denigrated our positive influence on our world at all, in fact in every post of mine on this thread except that one, I have said that we weren't all bad, but, none of the above amounts to a hill of beans if you have been bombed by the RAF, bayonneted by a British squaddie,or starved to death as a consequence of Government policy. Very nearly everything we have done as a country, has been for the benefit of a small percentage of our society, and if others have benefited, that has been more out of luck than judgement

 

[Pavilionaire]

I imagine that if the Jamaicans think they have a claim then the Native American Indians have an even better one.

Ridiculous posturing from the Jamaicans.

 

[symyjym]

How much would ye owe Ireland?

As soon as we get our compensation from Rome, the Vikings and the French we can certainly look into it.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

The British empire was bad & good. It also built hospitals, schools, roads, railways & universities. Countries were eventually given independence but now voluntarily joined the Commonwealth, which is the envy of the world. It is formed of relationship, not fear or power.

 

[drew]

How do you feel about the positive contribution that the British empire had on its colonies?

Pax Britanica - peace - law & order - government - civil service
Public Works - roads - schools
Technology - roads - canals - railways - industry
Freedom - home rule and democracy for Canada - New Zealand - Australia - Hong Kong - Singapore etc
Religion - Religious toleration - Christianity
Medicine - hospitals - vacination - infectious diseases
Commonwealth - shared values and ideals
Trade - Free trade within British Empire / USA and later with French Empire
Slavery - abolition of slave trade and later slavery within the British Empire
Language - India & africa - Unifying World language which helped to break down ethnic and cultural differences

But apart from that, what have the British ever done for everyone else?

 

[Soulman]

How do you feel about the positive contribution that the British empire had on its colonies?

Pax Britanica - peace - law & order - government - civil service
Public Works - roads - schools
Technology - roads - canals - railways - industry
Freedom - home rule and democracy for Canada - New Zealand - Australia - Hong Kong - Singapore etc
Religion - Religious toleration - Christianity
Medicine - hospitals - vacination - infectious diseases
Commonwealth - shared values and ideals
Trade - Free trade within British Empire / USA and later with French Empire
Slavery - abolition of slave trade and later slavery within the British Empire
Language - India & africa - Unifying World language which helped to break down ethnic and cultural differences

Now you've done it, surely you could have dragged up more of our atrocities before posting our achievements, come on we have barely managed back to the 1800's, lots more bad things we have done.