Following the historic London Reparations March from Brixton to 10 Downing Street organised by the Rastafari Movement in Britain on 1st August 2014, the PASCF issues the following statement – they all owe us:
The Capitalists, the Working Class and the Trade Union Movement all owe
Reparations to Afrikan People
The enslavement of Afrikan people created unprecedented levels of wealth for the imperialists who controlled the slavery system. As part of their agenda of stealing other peoples’ wealth they managed to usurp Afrikan people’s labour without having to pay. The imperialists then used the massive quantities of wealth that they accumulated from slavery as capital to invest. These investments were the cause of many new beginnings including: a proliferation in the development of technological inventions in Europe; the creation of factories in Europe; the development of mass production in Europe; the development of industrialisation in Europe; the birth of capitalism as a social, political and economic system; the birth of the capitalist phase of world history; and the birth of modern racism.
These changes also meant that the newly created mass producing factories of Europe needed labour in order to operate effectively. This new need was hindered by the fact that the labour of European peasants was tied to the land in a form of bondage called serfdom. The requirements imposed by the newly emerging capitalist system meant that the European peasants had to be released from serfdom by their Lords and Masters. Their release was one of the essential ingredients that brought capitalism into existence. It was the release of European peasants from serfdom that gave birth to the European working class (i.e. proletariat). The European working class was created by the new capitalist elite for its own diabolical purposes. The European working class was also born out of the terrible suffering of enslaved Afrikan people.
The European working class was created precisely so that the capitalists could exploit them as a means of making profits. In order to resist this exploitation the working class was forced to organise for self defence. Trade unions are the result of the European working class’ organised struggle against capitalism – the same capitalist system that was created by and profited from anti-Afrikan slavery.
Trade Unions which were the European working class’ legitimate response to capitalist exploitation have at their root the terrible suffering of enslaved Afrikan people. The outcome of this process is that European working class suffer capitalist oppression on the basis of class; Afrikan people suffer double oppression – class and race; and Afrikan women suffer triple oppression – class, race and gender.
In short, if there was no slavery there would be no capitalism. If there was no capitalism there would be no working class. If there was no working class there would be no Trade Union Movement. Capitalism, the working class and Trade Unions all owe their existence to the enslavement of Afrikan people. They are all indebted to and owe reparations to Afrikan people, from whose genocidal scale suffering (i.e. exploitation and oppression) they arose.
