Commonwealth presses King Charles to atone for Britain's brutal past

Maybe he can take reparations from the proceeds of Boris Johnson's autobiography. Should raise a few quid.

He ain't got that much money anymore. Were they too ashamed to go begging to the UK Parliament?

He ain't got that much money anymore. Were they too ashamed to go begging to the UK Parliament?

The royals are pretty minted, believe me. If we trimmed them down a bit, we'd raise a decent amount of money which could then be used for other things.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finances_of_the_British_royal_family

History is thousands of years old but it was the British Empire that banned slavery in all its colonies in 1834.

You are welcome, world.

Human trafficking, i.e. slavery was rife in Lesotho until about only 10 years ago.

Joshua Setipa has a few reparations to pay himself.

Good start, return all looted/robbed/plundered/etc cultural/art/etc items. Instead of hiding behind purposed enacted legislations to avoid such responsibilities.

PRoxy is right. The UK should ask for reparations for using the Royal Navy to block and charge slave ships operating off the coast of Africa. Or for bringing technology, medicine, infrastructure, and the rule of law to the colonies.

Seriously, enough of this demanding apologies and Great Leap Forward style grovelling.

Best wishes to the King.

And I

And the best hope for western democracy

Without a hitch

Cheers

The monarch should end as we are not in the middle age now.

Many African, Caribbean and Pacific nations want to see Britain -- and other European powers -- pay financial compensation for slavery, or to at least make political amends.

Problematic as the slave trade was a legal business at the time. Also the Africans were slave traders too. And of course all those involved are now long dead....

It's the sympathetic versus the unsympathetic. The unsympathetic will always see possible exploitation of those who show any sympathy simply as a way to justify their own flint-heartedness and they may even dig in. They will accuse the sympathetic of merely being virtue-signallers and not acting in good faith because it is possible that the sympathetics' morals are making them feel guilt about their own lack of them. Guilt should not be felt under any circumstances because it implies responsibility to the wronged. Avoiding responsibility is also important for them. All kinds of sophistry will be displayed to avoid it. On the other hand, the sympathetic really can be exploited by self-interested actors within and without. There are, among the sympathetic, those who fly the sympathetic flag but are really also narcissists and self-interested. Even the otherwise unsympathetic can sometimes feign sympathy for those they think of as like themselves. Maybe some believe deep down that it is actually they who are deserving of sympathy and resent others getting it. There are bad actors all round. In the end it is not about reason or history, it will often come down to whether you feel humans are good or bad, naive or wise.

proxyToday 01:15 pm JST

History is thousands of years old but it was the British Empire that banned slavery in all its colonies in 1834.

You are welcome, world.

Human trafficking, i.e. slavery was rife in Lesotho until about only 10 years ago.

Joshua Setipa has a few reparations to pay himself.

Welcome? For what? For CENTURIES they stole everything, brought disease, death and destruction and after somewhat gaining a conscience they banned something only in the letter of the law as it was not particularly enforced. The American Confederates benefitted and extended the U.S. Civil war by trading with elements in the U.K., among other things. You're welcome for the REAL history, not his-story lesson. What the hell does Lesotho have to do with that?

History is thousands of years old but it was the British Empire that banned slavery in all its colonies in 1834.

And replaced it with indentured labour. Why do you think there are so many people of Indian origin in Africa, Caribbean, Malaysia among other places.

But I have nothing against the British Empire since they made up for all their misdeeds by giving the world the gentleman's game - cricket.

Only the most civilized person can appreciate this sport, which also explains why most of the Western nations are not interested, and also why England itself has struggled with declining interest in the game.

The royals are pretty minted, believe me. If we trimmed them down a bit, we'd raise a decent amount of money which could then be used for other things.

Like what?

Reparations being demanded by opportunists seems to be becoming a fashion.

I am no friend of the British royal soap opera, but this endless harping on the British empire is ridiculous. Should be demand Erdogan to atone for the doings of the Ottoman empire (which would put the British one tos shame)? How the Morocco and Tunesia atoning for the Barbary states, which enslaved some of my ancestors? We could go on for a long time.

@EvilBuddha

Good point. All of the descendants of the Irish indentured servants are probably asking for their reparations, including me.

Good point. All of the descendants of the Irish indentured servants are probably asking for their reparations, including me.

I think the Brits are still waiting for their cheque from the Romans.

UK can't get rid off their history of piracy, slavery, colonialism and ethnic genocides..

The first narco-state in history, remember opium wars..

""I understand, from listening to people across the Commonwealth, how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he said. "None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure.""

The problem is nothing has been learned from the past, as we watch another INJUSTICE unfold right in front of our eyes in Palestine and many parts of the world supported by the very same colonial powers.

""UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has publicly rejected calls to pay reparations, and aides have ruled out an apology at the summit.""

Should have NEVER allowed them on the Islands.

The problem is nothing has been learned from the past, as we watch another INJUSTICE unfold right in front of our eyes in Palestine and many parts of the world supported by the very same colonial powers.

and a large number of westerners and other foreigners on this platform as well. This has been an eye opening experience for me. I am slowly starting to understand why Japanese consider lots of foreigners living in Japan as weird to the least.

WoodyLeeToday 01:44 am JST

""I understand, from listening to people across the Commonwealth, how the most painful aspects of our past continue to resonate," he said. "None of us can change the past. But we can commit, with all our hearts to learning its lessons and to finding creative ways to right inequalities that endure.""

The problem is nothing has been learned from the past, as we watch another INJUSTICE unfold right in front of our eyes in Palestine and many parts of the world supported by the very same colonial powers.

Nontraditional to call China and Russia colonial powers, but the effect is the same, so it checks out.

No chance of any cash with Brexit Britain skint for a decade or two and an austerity regime in power in the UK.

The most likely scenario is that the UK will be suspended from the Commonwealth. India will eye up the opportunity to replace it as lead. It would give Modi substantial leverage in the Global South, whose resources are the new gold rush. It is a position unavailable to Russia nor China.