Reparations for slavery: if not now, when? Global South Thinkers

Ismail Akwei is joined by Mia McMorris, a researcher at the Centre for Reparation Research and Lavender Namdiero of the African Futures Lab to discuss how to reverse the legacy of transatlantic slavery.

The issue is about much more than money, according to the panellists.

Namdiero said a payout on its own would only be a sticking plaster. Institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank need to be reformed to give Global South nations more influence, she said.

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"The important question is not what might be owed, but what needs to be changed so that the conditions that allowed slavery to happen no longer exist," she said.

Some of the legacies of slavery are less obvious. In some countries, laws restrict "noise-making" — yet drumming and singing have always been central to African cultures that slavery sought to erase.

Education systems that teach the benefits of colonialism also ensure the legacy of slavery continues to cause harm today, Namdiero said.

But financing must be part of the discussion too.

"Debt relief is a major concern. We have to look at the fact that almost immediately after independence, when all of the wealth had been sucked out of Africa and the Caribbean, they are shoving IMF deals on us," McMorris said.

The panel also discussed gender, which forms a growing part of the demand to unpick the legacy of slavery.

"Colonialism wasn't just a project of conquest, it was also a reorganisation of power in African countries," Namdiero said. "And we didn't get to write our own history," McMorris agreed.

The panellists pointed to UN research showing that women today do several times more unpaid work than men.

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Who should bear responsibility?

Colonialism was never the work of a single actor. The governments of colonial powers need to take up their responsibilities, but churches and missionaries also played their part, as did financial institutions.

Namdiero identified three groups that need to respond to the claims of the victims of slavery:

• those with power, such as states, corporations, financial institutions and religious organisations;
• those who benefited from the crimes;
• and those who bear moral responsibility for what happened.

Those groups need to make amends by taking responsibility and by acting on it, the panellists said.

"I'd disagree that apologies have been abundant. What I would say is that people have been throwing out words," said McMorris.

Mia McMorris is a Junior Research Fellow at the Centre for Reparation Research, The University of the West Indies. She holds an MA in Public History from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a BA in History from The University of the West Indies, Mona. A 2024 United Nations Fellow for People of African Descent, her research spans reparatory justice, gender, Caribbean history and colonial legacies. She has presented at international conferences on CARICOM development goals, Jamaican rum history, legal reparation, and food and nutritional histories, at forums including Columbia University, Northeastern University and the Caribbean Studies Association. Her public history work includes authoring the walking trail Women Feeding Boston, writing for the Jamaica Gleaner, and presenting the radio show History for Tomorrow.

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Lavender Namdiero is a human rights advocate with more than eight years' experience campaigning for social, cultural and economic justice across Africa. From grassroots organising to global advocacy, she has worked at the intersection of activism and policy, amplifying voices too often left out of the room. She has led and supported campaigns on food justice, political inclusion, reparative justice and racial equity through roles at the SDG2 Advocacy Hub, Amnesty International and other movement spaces. Her work on reparative justice focuses on advancing African-led advocacy for historical accountability, repair and transformative justice, while challenging the enduring legacies of colonialism and systemic inequality.

She brings a decolonial and feminist lens to her work, building coalitions, shaping narratives and mobilising collective action. She currently works to advance racial and gender justice across the continent, connecting grassroots movements, research and policy advocacy to strengthen demands for justice and systemic transformation. She holds a Master's degree in Human Rights from Central European University and believes deeply in the power of African communities to tell their own stories, reclaim their histories and shape their own futures with joy, courage and creativity.