A
big topic of conversation today (well, it's a big topic among the people I talk
to, anyway...) is that of climate justice. Roughly speaking, this means the
need to take into account that some countries have a historical responsibility
for the large amounts of pollution they have created, while other countries
need help dealing with the effects of that pollution, and with ensuring that
they do not create an equally large amount of pollution. Thus, the historically
responsible countries should help the other countries. Simple, when you put it
like that, but it's actually quite complex to arrange in practice.
It
does bring to mind another similar, but much older, issue that has also been in
the news recently – that of reparations for slavery. The effects of the slave
trade between Africa and North America and the Caribbean are still being felt
sharply even today, 150 years after the American Civil War ended slavery on
that continent (and even longer since it was ended in much of the rest of the
world). We see the relative poverty and discrimination against black people in
the US; the resource based economies of the Caribbean that keep them poor; and
the conflicts and troubles of places in West Africa where slaves were taken
from.
Whenever
these issues are brought up, western nations tend to try and bury their heads
in the sand and ignore the people asking the questions. They are scared that if
they admit any wrongdoing in the slave trade, they will be expected to pay billions
of dollars in compensation and reparations for the damage they did over the
centuries. And although we might say that maybe they should pay that money,
they rightfully point out that handing over huge amounts of money to
governments in countries that have conflict and corruption problems may not be
the wisest solution – unless we want to help boost the balances of a few secret
Swiss bank accounts.
However,
a recently announced plan by the heads of various Caribbean states provides a
much better way of looking at the reparations issue. Rather than directly
asking for money, they are asking for European nations to help with medical
treatment and education on the islands, and to help forge cultural and
political links between the Caribbean and the West African nations that most of
their citizens originally came from. This could help these countries become
less reliant on western money, rather than more so – as an educated, healthy
population with strong trading links with others countries would be much more
able to fend for itself.
Hopefully,
this plan will prove more amenable than demands for monetary reparations have
proven to be in the past, and the European states will help it to get off the
ground. It could provide some excellent opportunities for communities that have
been oppressed and exploited throughout history, but it could also provide a
good example for how we can approach climate justice in the future. Rather than
obsessing about money and figures, we can instead focus on working together to provide
the skills and resources necessary for poorer communities to survive climate
change – whether that be the ability to make their own solar panels or hydro
electricity, or to build houses in ways that will resist sea level changes, or
anything else. This will take a lot of coordination, and, yes, will cost some
money – but if we can manage to agree to do this kind of thing over the
incredibly divisive topic of slavery, then we should be able to manage it when
it comes to environmental issues that affect us all.
[ historical justice, climate justice, American civil war, Carribbean states, European states, Swiss bank accounts ]
[ historical justice, climate justice, American civil war, Carribbean states, European states, Swiss bank accounts ]
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