Tony Blair's expressions of sorrow over the transatlantic slave trade have reopened an important debate. His statement recognised that 'Britain's rise to global pre-eminence was partially dependent on a system of colonial slave labour.'

But it ducked the crucial issue, which is: If Britain was enriched by slavery, and the people of its colonies were brutalised, does that create a moral or legal obligation for Britain to repair the damage which it caused?

I believe that there is an obligation, well grounded in international law [www.jamaica-gleaner.com], for Britain and other powers whose wealth was built in slavery, to provide negotiated reparation to Jamaicans and other African descendants who continue to suffer the consequences of the slavery system.

I also believe that in the coming year where attention will be focused on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, Jamaica's [www.jamaica-gleaner.com] Government should take the lead in calling Britain to account.

Moral force

Many Jamaicans think that the call for reparations is unrealistic, pie in the sky. They do not realise that a demand for justice has a moral force. The bicentenary is an opportunity for Jamaicans to get up, stand up, stand up for their rights. When the day of emancipation finally came, it was the slave-owners who were lavishly compensated.

The ex-slaves were left to fend for themselves, and Jamaica's inequality and poverty have never been rectified. Jamaican governments borrowed in an attempt to make up [www.jamaica-gleaner.com] for lost ground, and we are now saddled with crippling debts. The historical responsibility of the British cannot be denied.

Compensation

There is a friendly and constructive relationship between the United Kingdom [www.jamaica-gleaner.com] and Jamaica. Britain's contribution to policing is especially valuable. What I am calling for is a new and more honest basis for that relationship. Jamaica need not be a suppliant begging for aid, but a proud nation which was wronged and which demands compensation.

Jamaica should show solidarity also with its diaspora in Britain who are calling for other forms of reparation. They face the racism which continues to infect British life, and which is another consequence of the slavery system. For a supposedly Chris-tian country which had to justify its barbarism by doctrines of racial superiority which have not lost all their influence.

Blair went as far as his advisers would let him. One day a genuine apology will come from Britain, and with it a real programme of reparation. It is not a question of guilt, but of responsibility.

The church

The Archbishop of Canterbury has recognised that the Church is a body which spans the centuries, so that the present generation must take responsibility for the crimes of its slave-owning forebears. Governments are no different. In 1995 the Queen in person signed a reparations bill in New Zealand, which apologised to the Maori people, restored land and made a financial payment. This was a small example of the truth that a historical injustice can be effectively faced up to and repaired.

In 2001, at the World Conference on Racism, the nations of Africa, with support from the Caribbean, put the issue of reparations back on to the international agenda. The U.K. was not happy about it; but two weeks later, Tony Blair made a landmark speech pledging a new resolve to end African poverty. In 2007, I hope that the nations of the Caribbean again will take up the torch of justice.