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this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
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Transatlantic slavery is easily traceable to the countries which committed it and which suffered from it. The time period is irrelevant. In fact Israelis are primarily the Jews which didn't suffer from the Holocaust because they went to colonize Palestine instead of staying in Germany. So your argument works against you.
Should today citizen of Portugal (under the 1976 Republic) be accountable for the legal (at the time) actions of the Portuguese Crown? Should the citizen of Benin be accountable for the atrocities committed by Dahomey to secure the slaves from nearby tribes? Are the people of Benin both beneficiary and responsible for that? How much? Should Brazil pay for the action of the Portuguese Crown? Should Italy pay because the Republic of Genoa bankers benefited from the loans and contracts with the Portuguese merchants? How much is an Italian descendent from a Venetian born in today Croatia responsible for the sins of Genoese banker that finances the Portuguese crown to pay the Imbangala people to capture slaves?
Yes they should at least pay some reparations. Now why is Germany sending money to Israel?
reply to the entire question if you can, and bring a reasonable justification about who and how much should pay to who. We have Italian descendent from Dalmatia, we have Brazilian descendent from Portugal, we have people from Angola descendent from Imbangala, Benin people descendent from Dahomey, that needs to pay how much to other people from Angola and Benin?
Countries in Africa are still suffering from the consequences of Western slavery. The entire countries as a whole, not taking into account the people. The only reason Africa is still underdeveloped is because of Western slavery and colonialism.
(Primarily black) communities in the West could also be given restitution funds to make up their deficiency in socio-economic status caused by past discrimination
You are still not saying who should pay. The west? Is Poland, Italy, Germany, Greece, Norway, Finland, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and tens more supposed to pay for the past government of Britain, France, the US, Denmark, the Netherland, Spain and Portugal? Should also Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Gambia, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Sudan pay for the trans-saharan slave trade?
Yes. Primarily the countries which benefitted from slave labor in the past which is the primary responsible factor for their current socio-economic status.
The trans-saharan slave trade wasn't a top down institutionalized government instrument and not nearly as bad or prominent as the horrific and institutionalized Western mass slavery of Africans. I recommend you educate yourself a bit on slavery before throwing out random whataboutisms.
So, 10 to 13 million people is bad, but 7 to 10 million people is not as bad? Not even 70% as bad? So if we are counting the countries that benefited we should also add Turkey and Saudi Arabia (the ottoman empire) to the list. Great, now how much, and who gets the money? If I am a mixed American with ancestry from both Ireland and West africa, should I get money or should I pay money? Is Mexico paying me? Is Turkey paying me? Which percentage?
we can go on an on. This is just silly...
Transatlantic slave trade is nothing more than a deflection argument filled with disinformation and little substance. Even the conditions of the slaves were nowhere near comparable. Slaves deported to the Americas were treated as literal cattle. https://review.gale.com/2025/04/08/african-slavery-vs-trans-atlantic-slave-trade/
You're right. The trans-saharan slaves only had to walk from Africa to the middle east.
So much better.
Is that what the article said?
So you are saying that the main problem finally is the way that the US treated the slaves working in the US. I can live with that. So the US needs to recognize the atrocity committed in the past and rectify currently rooted economic disparity in their society so that they can work to support those in disadvantaged condition. That is easy, solid reasoning, does not depend on tracing century old actions and works about fixing the problem. A more social democratic US would be good for sure.
The treatment and also the scale of the slavery which drained Africa of manpower over a short periode of time and left huge critical gaps in its society which effects echo till this day.
So, the Caribbean, North, Central and South America, and Russia? That's quite different from "the West" you said earlier.
Wait till you discover what the word colonialism means and who ran the countries you mentioned.
What exactly is "Western" slavery, and how does it differ in your view from other forms of slavery?
Read the comments below and find out
Except that many of the descendents of the people who suffered most from slavery are now citizens of the countries which "committed it", if by that you mean the countries which enslaved them. So telling the US to pay reparations to Ghana would in effect make descendents of enslaved people in the US pay reparations to the descendants of the people in Ghana who weren't enslaved.
Add to that, as someone else pointed out, the people who actually captured Africans in Africa to sell to the European enslavers, were other Africans, often from rival tribes.
So not only would it mean US descendents of enslaved people would pay reparations to countries of descendants of non-enslaved people, but they'd actually be paying it to people who are in some cases the descendants of the people who captured their ancestors.
There's no way to do this with precision, and people need to stop calling it racism every time someone points that out.
And guess what? The people living in those countries are still the most systematically disenfranchised and discriminated against of the population. Frequently getting the blame for all the problems caused by the right-wing politicians, white people keep voting in.
And the countries of their ancestors are still in shambles from the slavery and colonialism. So returning is not an attractive option.
That doesn't change the fact that saying "the US should pay Africa reparations" misses the mark by a long shot.
And the countries in Africa are in shambles for many reasons, but the transatlantic slave trade is a relativey small part of that. Try colonialism more broadly, especially ivory trade and gemstone mining. Try the rivalries and warlords that colonial powers left in their wake when they left. Try harsher environmental conditions, harsher epidemiological condition, harsher pests and parasites.
There's lots of reasons QOL in most of Africa is among of the lowest in the world, but transatlantic slave trade mainly affected the African diaspora, who today are mostly citizens of countries that you're suggesting should pay Africa reparations. It's an overly simplistic attempt at a solution which ignores reality in favor of convenient half-truths.
Also, I never suggested returning as an option. You're just full of red herrings, aren't you?