The book began with Orfemi Tauwe, declaring that “trans-Atlantic slavery and colonialism have built up the world we live in.” And what is the better place to start this bold clarification of compensation released in paperback now, rather than analyzing the crimes of Georgetown University, designed by his own institution, the Jesuits, or the crimes of his own institution, his own institution, associate professor of philosophy?
Throughout the 18th century, the Catholic population grew in Maryland after the slave revolutions of Haiti and the French Revolution. Catholics remained in the minority, with only 12% of the local population, they were extremely influential, and through a bundle of land grants from the Maryland colonial governor, the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order of Priests) became important landowners.
It was owned by seven plantations spanning thousands of acres of land, originally the territory of the indigenous Piscataway and Nacostine people. To fund the construction of the academy that would become Georgetown University, the Jesus Society began using the labor of enslaved Africans to exploit the land they had acquired.
Tawau uses the words of Mukoma Wa Ngugi (son of Kenyan writer ngũgĩw Thiongo), a poet and scholar who spoke at the 2020 International Literature Festival of Writers. Ghana) The church was built directly above the slave dungeon.
I'm thinking about compensation
Given the global scale of slavery and colonialism, and the number of institutions in which its history is embedded, how justice can begin to come to fruition, Tawau asks.
International pressure on reparations is steadily building. The African Union and the Caribbean community (Caricom) formed strategic alliances and funds to pursue reparations for the historical injustice of slavery and colonialism.
A special UN court has been proposed, which helps establish legal norms for complex international and historical claims, its supporters say.
Most theories about reparation treat it as a social justice project. They are rooted in reconciliation justice, focusing on current revisions. Or they focus on the past and highlight reparations for historical mistakes. TáĂwò offers these two approaches, a “harm repair” approach and a “relationship repair” approach.
Building from scratch
However, TáĂwò is proceeding with another case of compensation. It is rooted in a hopeful future that addresses the issue of climate change, with distributive justice at its core.
“Was the compensation project a “safeer neighborhood and better school” project and a “non-punitive judicial system” project? What happens if we build a fair world: “decent and dignified rights to livelihoods”?
“It is certainly… what other forms of compensation are meaningful in our real-life context?” writes TáĂwò.
This view argues that “reparation is a “construction project”” should be viewed as a future project engaged in building a better social order, and that the costs of building a more equitable world should be distributed more to those who have inherited the moral responsibility of past injustice.
As TáĂwò writes in the book's preface, “In my view, projects that address the impact on the descendants of the colonies enslaved by the effects of yesterday's injustice require projects that build a world that will improve rather than exacerbate those injustice.”
Climate Justice
TáĂwò argues that the politics of climate justice contributes to rebalancing the legacy of racism and colonialism as well as survivors of genocide invasions such as the American Indian massacre.
Until now, this legacy has led to the author being “global, racial empire” and the people being in two groups.
The big difference between the wealth levels between the Global North and Global South is clearly a problem at the forefront of Tawau's thinking. He says that the development of institutions such as universities and research institutions, and national capabilities can determine people's living conditions and opportunities for living.
As the Brookings Institute reports in its research, why do we need reparations for Black Americans: “Wealth is positively correlated with better health, education and economic outcomes. Furthermore, assets from households, stocks, bonds and retirement savings provide an inevitable shock to the economy and personal finances that occur across a person's life system and financial safety nets for personal finances.
TáĂwò is not trying to design any particular reparation programs. Instead, he says that reconsidering compensation is a book on “On justice, on a global scale, on a global scale, on a proper response to past injustice and the future climate crisis.”
Its central argument argues that a fair world is a world where everyone enjoys the capabilities needed to relate to each other equally. This vision argues for recognizing that it serves as a reparation for the injustice of transatlantic slavery and colonialism. And it warns that the project is being threatened by the climate crisis. TáĂwò states that “politically serious projects must focus on climate justice.”
The threat of future fraud
However, “Our political and economic systems distribute risks and vulnerabilities according to patterns developed by the history of global racial empires.”
This “threatening not only presents future racial injustice, but also effectively brings benefits towards racial injustice in recent decades.”
TáĂwò admits that the task is huge, but his inspiring book is an important contribution to starting a conversation.
“We need deliberate political efforts to reverse and suppress the political trajectory that is operating in the present moment, which will lead us to the consequences of very bad racial justice… in the coming decades,” he writes.
Reconsideration: Why climate justice and constructive politics are needed in the wake of slavery and colonialism
olĂşfĂ©miO.TáĂwò
ÂŁ16.99 Haymarket Book
ISBN 9798888903698
