Activists see meeting as opportunity to demand UK confront role in transatlantic enslavement

“The royal family enslaved us! Apologise now! Reparatory justice now!”

King Charles and the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, will be greeted with messages as they travel through Antigua’s capital, St John’s, to attend meetings at the Commonwealth leaders’ summit next week. On billboards, placards and T-shirts, in letters and at a candlelight vigil for the thousands of Africans trafficked to Antigua and Barbuda during the transatlantic slave trade, the message from the Caribbean will be pervasive: slavery reparations is not an issue they “are going to be able to dodge”.

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© Photograph: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock

Activists see meeting as opportunity to demand UK confront role in transatlantic enslavement

“The royal family enslaved us! Apologise now! Reparatory justice now!”

King Charles and the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, will be greeted with messages as they travel through Antigua’s capital, St John’s, to attend meetings at the Commonwealth leaders’ summit next week. On billboards, placards and T-shirts, in letters and at a candlelight vigil for the thousands of Africans trafficked to Antigua and Barbuda during the transatlantic slave trade, the message from the Caribbean will be pervasive: slavery reparations is not an issue they “are going to be able to dodge”.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Victoria Jones/Shutterstock

The premier’s comments represent a major change in British policy, but they are unlikely to satisfy those who hoped that reparations would follow.

© Pool photo by Russell Cheyne

Financial reparations are not the answer. Working together with our Commonwealth family is the best way to ensure prosperity for us all

• Andy Burnham open to calls for formal apology for Britain’s role in slave trade

On 28 October 1787, Thomas Clarkson pushed through the crowds to reach the pulpit of Manchester Cathedral. A campaigner for abolishing slavery, he spoke urgently about the horrors of the slave trade and the humanity of enslaved people. “He drinks the cup of sorrow,” Clarkson said. “And he drinks it at our hands.”

During Black History Month, these are the stories it is important to remember. They show us the complicated truth of our history. Thousands of people in Manchester signed a petition against slavery after Clarkson’s sermon. And yet Manchester’s cotton industry was built on the labour of enslaved people. There are similar stories up and down the nation. We are a country where brave people led the way in abolishing slavery, but we are also a country that participated in the trade in human lives.

Andy Burnham is prime minister of the United Kingdom

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© Photograph: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

© Photograph: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

© Photograph: Pictures from History/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

Exclusive: UK PM to launch drive to restructure debt of poorest Commonwealth countries but rejects demands for reparations

• British people can’t be made to pay for the wrongs of slavery – but we must confront our complicated history | Andy Burnham

Andy Burnham has gone further than any previous prime minister towards offering a formal apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade, in a Guardian article ahead of a Commonwealth leaders’ summit where the subject is expected to dominate.

As he prepares to fly to the Caribbean next week, the prime minister said he was open to calls for an official apology on behalf of the state and offered formal talks to those affected, including individual countries and campaign groups at home and abroad.

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© Photograph: Russell Cheyne/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Russell Cheyne/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Russell Cheyne/AFP/Getty Images