Final speech- shortened version

The question I have chosen to discuss is whether Western or European countries owe reparations to the countries they colonised. The definition of colonialism is ‘ the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial control over another country, occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically’.And reparations are ‘the action of making amends for the wrongs one has done, by providing payment or other assistance to those who have been wronged’. However they are more than that, as in most cases by paying reparations you are admitting you have done wrong and showing that you are trying to correct the moral imbalance created.  

People living in former colonial countries continue to benefit from the exploitation that took place. Several people in countries like Britain made their personal fortunes, which got passed down through the generations ,during the colonial period through things like slavery yet the opposite happens in some former colonies, where an endless cycle of poverty trickles down the generations. There are roads in this country named after slave owners. One famous example is Penny Lane in Liverpool, immortalised by the Beatles’ song, Penny Lane in 1967 and named after James Penny, a  notorious slave ship owner and anti-abolitionist The government debated renaming some of the so-called slave streets but they decided not to because if they had, it would be like it never happened and they believed that you should not change history, however disagreeable it may be.

So what did these colonisers do? European countries such as Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal  and Denmark, took over land that wasn’t theirs, often slaughtering the indigenous population in the process.

Most of the world has been colonised by a European country at some point, with some countries even being colonised by more than one country at various points during the European colonial period . For example, Sri Lanka, my country of origin, was colonised by the Portuguese in the 16th century, then the Dutch in the 17th century and finally the British in the 19th century. The British used a ‘divide and rule’ tactic, that caused a devastating civil war that lasted almost 3 decades and only officially ended in May 2009.

A famous example of the evils of colonialism, is the Scramble for Africa It began with the Berlin conference of 1884, during which several European states , decided how they would divide Africa among themselves. But there were no actual Africans or any Europeans speaking on their behalf present. The new borders completely disregarded the historical, political or ethnic boundaries established by the Africans themselves. As most of these borders were retained even after independence,they still remain a cause of conflict in Africa.

An example of European exploitation happened, when it was decided at the Berlin conference that although most African colonies were to be controlled by countries, King Leopold II of Belgium, could be the sole owner, of a large area in Central Africa, now the  Democratic Republic Of The Congo. Their intent was that this area would be an area of free trade for all Europeans in Africa. A famous quote of  King Leopold is ‘ I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake’,Under King Leopold’s instructions the indigenous people of the Congo were forced to farm wild rubber as a form of tax payment to the colonial government. Those unable to meet the quota,often had a hand or foot chopped off or were killed by Leopold’s agents.

I believe that the main reason why colonialism was so terrible is that the colonies were run for the benefit of the colonial powers. One example is the Indian subcontinent. before being colonised India’s share of the world economy was 23% but after colonisation, it had gone down to below 4%. In India alone up to 29 million Indians died from British induced famines, with the most famous being the Great Bengal famine of 1943, during which an estimated 4 million people died. This happened because Winston Churchill made a policy to divert essential supplies from civilians in Bengal to Europe to act as reserve stockpiles for well-fed British soldiers and countries like Greece . He even said ‘the starvation of anyway underfed Bengalis is less serious than that of sturdy Greeks. I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion’. When concerned British officials wrote to him, pointing out that people were dying, he wrote in the margins ‘why hasn’t Gandhi died yet?’ and blamed the Indians for ‘breeding like rabbits’.

In conclusion, I think that some form of payment is needed for the atrocities committed but others think that reparations should not be given because they believe that the colonialists gave their colonies valuable things like infrastructure and democracy. However, the infrastructure was definitely put there for the colonialists themselves to use and not for the indigenous population. And although I agree that democracy is a good thing, did these countries really have to go through decades or even centuries of brutal violence to gain it? I do not believe that one can put a price on human suffering or that any amount of money can truly atone for the damage done . But I also do not think that nothing should be done and reparations are needed as an apology and an attempt to fix the moral imbalance. So when they help former colonies, it should not be done from a moral high ground or as a favour, help should be given as a reparation, with the acknowledgement that they are responsible. Also reparations do not always have to be financial so I think that they should do things like freely repatriate stolen artefacts,like the ones currently in the British museum.

Do Western countries owe reparations to the countries they colonised? First version.

Do Western Countries owe reparations to the countries they colonised?

The question I have chosen to discuss is whether Western or European countries owe reparations to the countries they colonised. But this topic is very broad, and I cannot include all the information. The dictionary definition of colonialism is ‘ the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial control over another country, occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically’.

So what are reparations? The dictionary definition is ‘the action of making amends for the wrongs one has done, by providing payment or other assistance to those who have been wronged’. But reparations are more than that, because in most cases by paying reparations you are admitting you have done wrong and showing that you are trying to correct the moral imbalance created.  

You may be wondering, why I am discussing this now . Its because the crimes committed still go unrecognised today and most people have no idea of the horrific actions of the colonisers. People living in former colonial countries continue to benefit from the exploitation that took place all those years ago. Several people in countries like Britain made their personal fortunes that have been handed down through the generations,during the colonial period through things like slavery but the opposite happens in some  former colonies, where poverty trickles down the generations. Did you know that there are roads in this country named after slave owners and that some of their houses are listed as English heritage sites? One famous example is Penny Lane in Liverpool, named after James Penny, a  notorious slave ship owner and anti-abolitionist, and forever immortalised by the Beatles’ song ‘Penny Lane’. The government debated renaming the some of the so-called slave streets but they decided not to because if they had changed the names, it would be like it never happened and they believed that you should not change history, however disagreeable it may be. While I agree with this, I think that they should never have been named this way.

Most of the world has been colonised by a European country at some point, with some countries even being colonised by more than one country at various points during the European colonial period . For example, Sri Lanka, my country of origin, which was colonised by the Portuguese in the 16th century, then the Dutch in the 17th century and finally the British in the 19th century. The British used a ‘divide and rule’ tactic, which means dividing the population into manageable chunks so that they can’t come together and fight, that caused a civil war that lasted almost 3 decades and only officially ended on the 18th of May 2009.

So what did these colonisers do? The most notable colonial powers were Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Denmark and their combined territory at various times covered the whole of America, Africa, Australia, most of Indonesia, a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean and much of South Asia. With the British empire alone, at its height, covering almost a quarter of the earth’s total land area. They took over land that was not there, often slaughtering the local indigenous population in the process, as if they were vermin. The local population were treated as second class citizens or worse in their own home countries.

The colonisers maintained their colonies through brutal violence and economic exploitation but there were many disadvantages to the locals because of this for example the destruction of many economies.This happened because the colonisers took whatever they could take out of the colonies for example food, raw materials, oil, precious gems and stones and minerals. This meant that the exports of these countries multiplied, with all the profit going to the colonisers and the imports decreased meaning that after decades sometimes centuries the people of the colonies had nothing to show for it.

When European colonialists first discovered the ruins of an ancient city in Rhodesia or modern day Zimbabwe. The white minority government refused to believe that it could have been built by Africans as it had very skilled stone-masonry, of which they did not believe the Africans were capable of, and they encouraged archaeologists to do the same. They preferred to believe that the city, now called Great Zimbabwe, was built by Biblical characters from the North, Arabs, Persians, Portuguese travellers or the Chinese rather than by the Africans. When an archaeologist finally managed to prove that the city was undeniably of African origin, it was considered blasphemous and archaeologists were banned from the site for 25 years.

The colonialists saw the countries they planned to conquer as empty, uninhabited spaces, ‘terra nullius’ in Latin, where the countries were in their eyes just waiting to be colonised. One example of this is Australia, which the colonialists saw as empty whilst there was actually  an indigenous population of around 350,000 living there at the time.

The same thing happened in Africa, during the Scramble for Africa, which was the cause of Africa’s borders today. It began with the Berlin conference of 1884, during which European states, involved in colonisation, decided how they would divide Africa among themselves. There were representatives from Germany, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Austria- Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Italy, Turkey and Russia. But as you may have guessed there were no actual Africans or at least any Europeans to make sure the Africans had a voice were present. At this time most of Africa was still unexplored territory, but the colonialists still saw it as land waiting to be colonized. By 1914 90% of Africa had been divided between 7 European countries and only Liberia and Ethiopia remained as independent countries. The new borders completely disregarded the historical, political or ethnic boundaries established by the Africans themselves. And because most of these borders were retained even after independence, even today they remain the cause of ongoing conflict in Africa.

An example of European exploitation, is what happened when it was decided at the Berlin conference that although most African colonies were controlled by countries, they let King Leopold II of Belgium, become the sole owner, of a large area in Central Africa, now known as the Democratic Republic Of The Congo,with the intent that this area would be an area of free trade for all Europeans in Africa. A famous quote of Leopold is ‘ I do not want to miss a good chance of getting us a slice of this magnificent African cake’, and I think this shows the attitude greedy, European rulers had on having lots of colonies. Under King Leopold’s instructions the indigenous people of the Congo were forced to farm wild rubber as a form of tax payment to the colonial government. Those unable to meet the quota,often had a hand or foot chopped off or were killed by Leopold’s agents. Luckily,once this situation came to light in 1908, Leopold was stripped of his colony and the Congo was put under the control of Belgium as a country until it gained independence in 196.

And, who can talk about Africa during the colonial period without mentioning the slave trade, when 24 million Africans were forcibly transported to the Americas to work in plantations. Cities in the UK like Bristol, London and Liverpool grew rich off the slave trade. And when slavery was finally abolished in 1833, the government handed out compensation of 20 million pounds, not those who had suffered or been oppressed but to those who had lost their ‘property’,

I believe that the main reason why colonialism was such a bad thing was that the colonies were run for the benefit of the colonial powers, and not for that of the indigenous population. One good example of where this happened is the Indian subcontinent, in other words South Asia. It can be argued that Britain’s industrial revolution was premised on the de-industrialisation of India, this can be seen through the fact that before being colonised India’s share of the world economy was 23% but after colonisation, it had gone down to below 4%. During the colonial period, India’s exports multiplied, with the profits going to Britain and the imports languished. In India alone up to 29 million Indians died from coloniser induced famines, with the most famous being the Great Bengal famine of 1943, during which an estimated 4 million people died. And these deaths could have been prevented, as this famine happened because Winston Churchill made a policy to divert essential supplies from civilians in Bengal to Europe as well-fed British soldiers and countries like Greece to act as reserve stockpiles . He actually said and I quote ‘the starvation of anyway underfed Bengalis is less serious than that of sturdy Greeks. I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion’. And when some concerned British officials wrote to him, pointing out that people were dying, he wrote in the margins ‘why hasn't Gandhi died yet?’ and he blamed the famine on the Indians for ‘breeding like rabbits’ and he was even known to have declared himself as ‘strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes.’

So in conclusion, do European countries owe reparations to their former colonies? Personally, I think that some form of payment is needed for the atrocities committed.But other people say that they don’t and shouldn't pay reparations because they believe that the colonialists gave their colonies valuable things like infrastructure and democracy. However, the infrastructure was most certainly put there for the colonialists themselves to use and not for the indigenous population. And although I agree that democracy is a good thing, did these countries really have to go through decades or even centuries of brutal violence to gain it? Can’t they have found another way? Other people believe that countries should not pay reparations to their former colonies as they believe that after paying the money, the former colonialists would feel no further obligation to their former colonies and would feel like they have washed off their guilt. I do not believe that one can put a price on human suffering or that any amount of money can truly atone for the damage done . But I also do not think that nothing should be done either and reparations are needed as an apology and an attempt to redress the moral imbalance. So when they help former colonies, it should not be done from a moral high ground or as a favour, help should be given as a reparation, with the acknowledgement that they are responsible.And even if they were to pay reparation how would they do it,who would they pay them to and how would they make sure that the money does not get embezzled by corrupt politicians? Well, reparations do not always have to be financial so I think that they should do things like repatriate stolen artefacts,like the ones currently in the British museum for example, without asking for payment.