ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO TALK ABOUT REPARATIONS
……….by Yves Ephraim
As humans, a significant part of our identity is belonging to a country or motherland.
The land of our birth has always been synonymous to a place where we can always retreat when we are not welcomed anywhere else in the world. We talk about going back to where “me navel ‘tring bury”.
Even if your country is not the most livable, yet you take great pride in wearing your national colours or unapologetically displaying your national flag.
In international sports, like the Olympics, many of you who would not normally follow sports, would for a moment or two, glue yourselves to a TV, anxiously hoping to witness and join in the celebration if your countryman or woman captures a win. And when there is a win, we can hear the spontaneous and rapturous uproar throughout our neigbourhood.
For that brief moment we forget our neighbourly quarrels and “rally around the West Indies”, so to speak.
Sometimes our sense of national pride causes us to be antagonistic to those foreigners who would dear criticise our country, even if that criticism may be founded.
I recall that this country made Guyanese commentator, Colin Croft persona non grata for questioning the readiness of the Antigua Recreation Grounds for an international cricket match. To be fair, some of us quietly shared his concern about our last minute grounds preparation. The issue was not that what he was saying was untrue, but rather he deared to besmirch our national identity.
As Caribbean people, it is not uncommon that in order to give our children the chance of a better life, pregnant women would risk travelling to the US with the hope of having their baby, there. They figure that their child would have a better life being a US citizen. This country would be the land of their child’s birth. And no one can take that away from them. The thinking is that being a US citizen would give their offspring an advantage that they could not get at home.
It is therefore fair to say that our country of birth means a lot and is fundamentally a part of our own identity. To unjustly take that away or occupy a peoples homeland is devastating for any people and that peoples’ mental health.
For a country that purports to care about mental health, this is quite ironic. I would hope that those who advocate for mental health will join me in condemning what is being perpetrated against the Barbuda people.
I hear our politicians talk about the atrocities and inhumane treatment of slavery and colonialism. They talk about how our black ancestors were stolen from their motherland and brought to these shores against their will. They talk about how the descendants of those slaves, having been rob of a country, were now being denied land in their new home. They talk about how these freemen were made into the underclass and robbed of all opportunities. These same politicians would attempt to make the case that all this was unfair and even clamour for an apology and reparations from the Europeans!
It is worth noting that the very day that the emancipation declaration was made, the freed slaves became trespassers on “massa’s” land. Even when our descendants were free they had no land they could call their own. Land and freedom are therefore inextricably linked.
For all of the reasons previously articulated, this is why we all are intrinsically and emotionally connected to where we are born. It is part of our personal identity.
Your homeland is where you spent your childhood; where you made lasting friendships and relationships. It is where your family home is, regardless of how humble.
It is not uncommon to see those who made it in the world retreat to their humble beginnings, where they started in life, and do so with much emotion, fond memories and gratitude.
Antigua and Barbuda has been at the forefront of the effort to hold the UK and other European countries accountable for slavery and demanding reparations. We make those claims on the grounds of morality and justice.
It is indeed hard for me to see the broad daylight colonization of the land of the people of Barbuda and not highlight the blatant hypocrisy and immorality.
Where are the voices of those who would canvass for reparations? Can they not see the hypocrisy with Barbuda situation?
What slavery and the robbery of the lands of the Barbudan people have in common, is that they were both justified in the name of economic development: one for sugar and the other for tourism.
How can Antigua and Barbuda criticise the Europeans for having invaded and taking over African countries and disregarding the aspirations of the native people when Antigua and Barbuda is following the same playbook.
Like the European conquerors of Africa, the Antigua and Barbuda government sees the Barbudans as uncivilized and uneducated savages who are being mere obstructionists, thereby justifying the use of unbridled force to get these “deracinated imbeciles” out of the way of “progress”. Even to the point of violating the law and natural justice.
It is ironic that the meaning of “deracinate”, from the Webster dictionary is: “to remove or separate from a native environment or culture”. Indeed the Barbudan people have been forced out of their own land.
Obviously, our government considers all things fair in war and economic development!
I question your sense of morals, if you justify the alienation of the people of Barbuda from their own lands but play sanctimonious about the atrocities of slavery and colonialism.
How can Antigua and Barbuda take an official stand for the people of Palestine but deny the people of Barbuda the basic fundamental right to even have a say about their land. I do not follow the logic.
It matters not that a privy council ruled, in the same way that the privy council oversaw over 200 years of slavery.
You are a hypocrite in my opinion, to support what is being perpetrated against the Barbudan people.
I am ashamed! A case of black on black crime!
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Antigua and Barbuda is one country. Barbudans have the right to land ownership in Antigua. Why can’t Antiguans do the same. Barbuda is 2 times bigger than St Martin/St.Marteen. If Barbuda get a fraction of the GDP of St.Martin/St.Marteen every citizens of Antigua and Barbuda livelihood would significantly increase. We need to thing big.
Well said Yves! When I read articles or listen to speeches, supporting the abuse of our Barbuda brothers and sisters, I am reminded of the Battered Woman Syndrome. In local folklore, battered women will tell you that “is love he love me why he beat me.” Just as the freed slaves praising and defending Massa for providing them with work.
I hope people will open their ears and eyes and recognize the abuse being perpetrated against Antiguans and Barbudans, with the willing connivance of our elected leaders. Time up. Kick the abusers and enablers out of town.
I could see with the author’s narrative if not for two things. Firstly, Barbudans are not enslaved. They have been supported by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda since Independence. Secondly, they benefit from free education and healthcare and Social Security and can buy land on Antigua just like everyone born here. Why then should they want to prevent Antiguans from owning land in Barbuda. I agree that there must be some fundamental rules put in place, such as preventing resale, so that land passes down through the generations and stays in the family. The MP for Barbuda owns a big property in Antigua passed on to him by his ALP father, yet he wants to separate Antiguans and Barbudans and prevent us from owning land in Barbuda? Mind you I’m not in support of the overdevelopment of Barbua, but the act of opposing every single attempt at development is tiring now.
I’m a bit confused with the comparisons made with the European and Africa with Antigua and Barbuda which is two islands one State (Country). Africans were forcibly removed from their homeland and we subjected to 400 years of the most inhumane conditions known to man.
This commentary is clearly political in broad daylight. I’m a third generation half barbudan born in Antigua with desire to own a home in Barbuda but can’t base on the
Barbuda land act.
If a mother decided to her child born in the United States for what ever reason is a personal choice and not a policy of Antigua and Barbuda…so why the mention.
The commentary didn’t not address the reason why “Antigua and Barbuda should be Ashamed to talk about reparation.
Hey….BARBUDANS NO WANT NO PROGRESS. JUST SEND THE MONEY FROM ANTIGUA TAX FOR THEM, AND THATS ALL THEY WANT.
JUS SEN D MONEY MAN!!!
Yet again, Yves Ephraim has exposed just how politically tainted his thinking is. I particularly like when folks like Yves attempt to appear impartial but end up demonstrating quite the opposite.
The fundamental flaw in Yves’ argument that exposes his political bias is the attempt to somehow equate Barbuda as being invaded by the government of Antigua and Barbuda. The state of Antigua and Barbuda is a unitary one, meaning that Barbuda is as much a part of Antigua as any other village or town in the country. It matters not that we are separated by water: what applies in Antigua also applies in Barbuda.
Barbuda is not a separate country or state that is being “conquered or invaded” by Antigua. Instead, the government is simply trying to bring Barbuda in line with the laws of the state of Antigua and Barbuda. It is inimical to any unitary state to have one part of the state operating as if it is a republic. Barbuda in NOT a republic and therefore has to conform to the laws of the unitary state.
People like Yves deliberately fail to acknowledge that there have been no less than six rulings by the courts, the latest being by the Privy Council, that assert that ALL lands not privately owned in Antigua and Barbuda belong to the Crown. How then can you, Yves, assert the nonsense that “the Barbudan people have been forced out of their own land”? It is NOT their land; it never was. It is the property of the government of Antigua and Barbuda!
To paraphrase you, I question your sense of honesty when you attempt to justify lawlessness with a lie. You are a Christian hypocrite, in my opinion, to support such a position with a contrived argument. Always remember, Yves, you must speak the truth and shame the devil!
I am somewhat confused by this peice written by Yves Ephraim. Just what is he t writing about?. Firstly, to compare Antogua and Barbuda to Europe and their slave plantations in the csribbean is just eronious. As far as our constitution asserts, Antigua and Barbuda is one unitary state with Barbuda a constituency just like city west. Recently, the lands of booby ally in city west was taken by the government for a housing project that will benefit the people of booby ally and the people of booby ally protested but where was the outcry in support of the people of booby ally? I find Eyves Ephraim’s article full of bias, mis-information and falsehood designed to fool and confuse tge citizens of Antigua and Barbuda.
it’s important to have these discussions. Antigua and Barbuda, like many other Caribbean nations, has a painful history of colonization and slavery that continues to affect its people today. Talking about reparations isn’t about assigning blame but about acknowledging the wrongs of the past and working towards a more just future for all citizens.
I find it hard to support the call for reparations when there are so many pressing issues facing the country right now. Rather than focusing on the past, we should be investing in the present and future of our people—improving education, healthcare, and infrastructure. Constantly looking back and pointing fingers might distract us from solving the problems at hand and moving our nation forward.
@observer…. “Rather than focusing on the past, we should be investing in the present and future of our people—improving education, healthcare, and infrastructure.”
So what do you think reparations is about, if not the issues you identified above? Reparations is about securing justice for past wrongs so that you can secure the country’s future. Reparations is about Europe making restitution for the past exploitation so that we can use that money to improve education, healthcare, and infrastructure.
Yves Ephraim has chosen to deliberately misrepresent the well-documented FACTS about the original creation of the twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda for presentation to the unschooled, gullible, politically charged people of Antigua and Barbuda. Shame on political goons like Yves Ephraim who disperse their poison then sit back and watch rabid ignoramuses sink deeper into dunceness.