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Compensation, bankrupt?

10:17 / 26.09.01

I was thinking recently about what it was that made me very wary of reparations for slavery, and I suddenly realised that it was because I just didn't believe in the concept of compensation. Not for past slavery, not for present crimes, not for anything.

Repairing the damage done is one thing but "compensation" I take to be money over and above what is necessary to fix things. If someone is injured by someone else, a fair award would be enough to make up for earnings lost, medical and court expenses. Compensation for the unpleasantness of actually having had that happen, though, I don't agree with.

Any help that the person needs to come to terms with the attack, say counselling, should be provided, but just giving someone money because they've had a bad time I don't consider the job of any legal system.

Now I come to look at it this does seem very close to a "blame culture" rant, but I think it qualifies as a slightly different issue. It does open up the point of where the dividing line is between suffering that you should just put up with, and suffering that deserves to be put right. (Either way, money rather than help is not going to be putting it right.)

Ramble ramble... I'll stop there for the moment. Any comments?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

15:17 / 26.09.01

I agree with the person who said that they would pay when it could be proved that it was his fault. I don't actually remember people from the 18th century and before travelling forward in time to ask for me to condone what they did. By this logic I could sue the world for not being born rich and famous...

06:43 / 27.09.01

I believe compensation for slavery is being asked for *as* "repairing the damage done". The thinking behind it, I've read, is that the Western European nations and the USA swooped into Africa, buggered up the political situations there, nicked a bunch of land, and enslaved a bunch of people. African nations and peoples are still dealing with the fallout from that, and there is resentment about getting 'aid' money (and crippling loans) from the West as though it wasn't the West's fault in the first place.

Not like awarding damages for "pain and suffering", more like pointing out that it's insulting to cut someone's leg off and then donate to a charity for the one-legged rather than compensate them for the damage you've done.

And I think it's a little short-sighted to say that a 21st-century individual is not responsible for anything hir nation has done in the past.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:26 / 27.09.01

Why not? Why should I have to accept responsibility for stuff that happened before I was born in a country that I just happened to be born in? And how far back do you want to take it? Waterloo? The Crusades? Should we try and find some Roman's to pay compensation to for the Ancient Britons scaring the shit out of them by wearing wode on their faces?

Why should I accept moral reponsibility for stuff that if I had happened to be around at the time of, I would have strongly disagreed?

18:51 / 27.09.01

I think the question is not so much, "did you do it" as "have you and are you benefitting from it, in which case it'd be nice if you paid your own share." Which does raise the question, is throwing a bunch of money at people an effective way of addressing past injustice, or do you just end up with a year of really good parties without actually dealing with systemic issues?

19:04 / 27.09.01

One small problem with the compensation arguement is that in many parts of africa slavery was an already established part of the culture. All the western slavers had to do was turn up in port and have the slaves brought to them.
To be honest I feel very little guilt about what my country did a few hundred years ago, I save my guilt for what my country's done in this century.
If you want to throw money at africa, go with the campaign to dump the debt, I think thats something thats got more of a chance of happening.

19:27 / 27.09.01

I'd agree that the west should compensate African nations for the way in which they've fucked them up in the past. After all, we have profited from it, and it's immoral earnings. As well as that, measures to eliminate racism from western society would help reduce the disadvantage suffered by descendants of slaves who are currently living in the west.

However, the prospect of giving large sums to governments just on that basis makes me very cynical. Surely it would end up as just another aid fiasco, with the money going into swiss bank accounts and contracts with companies from the nations providing the aid.

I would say that the economic exploitation of Africa rates far more seriously than slavery and that is what should be addressed.

And no, I don't think that I'm responsible for what my ancestors did. I don't even know what my ancestors did. I've profited from it, and I'm prepared to pay to redistribute that profit, but I don't accept any responsibility for it.