By Yero S. Bah
The Africans Rising Network, which fights for Justice, Peace and Dignity of human beings through the unification of all Africans on the continent and the diaspora, is calling on the erstwhile colonial invaders like Britain, Belgium and other colonial masters, to redress, in the form of reparations, “crimes against humanity” committed by Europeans during slavery and colonial days in Africa.
“We need your help to heal the wrongs of the past and to dismantle the racism of the present, Muhammed Lamin Saidykhan, a prominent Gambian human rights advocate, intimated. He added that the tragedies of slavery and colonialism are not experienced by Africans alone, noting exploitations of people and the environment continue to cause suffering that is plain to see.
The brutal killing of George Floyd stemmed from this unbroken thread of systemic racism, as the human rights activist held; reminding that “you must have heard the world echoed with the words #Black Lives Matter”. Saidykhan, who was speaking recently, called for a better world for all, especially blacks.
The seasoned rights advocate charged that Britain was the largest colonizer in Africa and across the globe, maintaining it benefitted from, and perpetuated, the slave trade and thus, owns a particular responsibility to redress the injustices of the past.
Consequently, activist Saidykhan and his movement laid down four conditions for European nations that, he believed, committed heinous rights violations against the black person both in Africa and in the diaspora, for thea path to salvation. He outlined that an honest acknowledgement of the harm and human cost of slavery and colonialism, submitting that actions taken during the colonial period tantamount to the “most gross violations” of human rights in world history; asking for the British government to make a heartfelt and genuine apology; that Truth and Healing Commissions be established to create a space for all Africans to express their sorrow; the UK and Belgian governments to begin a Truth and Reconciliation process with regard to its colonial crimes; cancellation of all African debts-Africa is not a poor continent, but it’s been impoverished by slavery, colonialism and corruption.
Saidykhan opined the cycle of debt and borrowing demands unsustainable development projects that destroy the natural environment on which African communities have depended for millennia, adding that debt continues to burden the continent today, and has been made more devastating by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The UK’s economic policies put profit before people, discriminate against black and people of color, support unfair trade and maintain the ‘global-economic Apartheid’. It is time to right these wrongs,” Saidykhan underlined.
Besides, the rights movement is also asking for reparations befitting equals, while it acknowledges: nothing could fully repair the human cost and natural devastation that had been wrought; reparations can open the door to equality and harmony through willing reparations; and the British people should acknowledge the past and the ongoing social and environmental costs of Northern appetites that are inextricable from their colonial foundations.
According to the Gambian human rights crusader, this price that’s left unpaid, “rubs salt” in the colonial wounds and locks African nations in debt and short-termism [concentration on short-term projects or objectives for immediate profit at the expense of long-term security] that prevents unity and health; causes corruption and instability, and is driving the planet towards a climate and ecological catastrophe that people could already feel in Africa.
He rounded off by positing that the people of the United Kingdom (UK) should join them in their struggle for global peace, justice and dignity.
