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The United Nations General Assembly has voted to recognise the enslavement of Africans during the transatlantic slave trade as "the gravest crime against humanity", a move advocates hope will pave the way for healing and justice.

The resolution - proposed by Ghana - called for this designation, while also urging UN member states to consider apologising for the slave trade and contributing to a reparations fund. It does not mention a specific amount of money.

The proposal was adopted with 123 votes in favour and three against - the United States, Israel and Argentina.

Countries like the UK have long rejected calls to pay reparations, saying today's institutions cannot be held responsible for past wrongs.

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[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 months ago

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.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 months ago

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.

[-] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 3 points 2 months ago

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?

this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
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