Reparations

Reparations are a particular concept of justice that calls for compensation for injustices or crimes committed by governments or countries against a particular group of people.

• Bernie challenges the prime minister

Throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, there were increasing calls for Britain to not only acknowledge the pain and suffering caused by the period of slavery and enslavement and colonialization. Bernie’s voice was one the loudest. These calls for reparations were not just about potential financial payments but they were also for the return of artefacts and treasures such as the Benin Bronzes which were taken from the Kingdom of Benin in modern-day Nigeria following the Benin Massacre of 1897 by British troops.

For those advocating the main point was not necessarily financial gain but that reconciling the present with painful and complex history has to start with a meaningful acknowledgement of that history and the pain that it caused, reparations are one way of achieving that acknowledgement.

As both a member of parliament and as chair of the Africa Reparations Movement Bernie was one of Britain’s leading voices campaigning for reparations.