Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up KINGSTON/NEW YORK, Sept 8 (Reuters) – King Charles’s ascension to the British throne has sparked renewed calls from politicians and activists for former colonies in the Caribbean to remove the monarch as head of state and for Britain to pay reparations for slavery . Charles succeeds his mother, Queen Elizabeth, who ruled for 70 years and died on Thursday afternoon. read more Jamaica’s prime minister said his country would mourn Elizabeth, and his counterpart in Antigua and Barbuda ordered flags to be flown at half-mast until the day of her burial. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up But in some quarters there are doubts about the role a distant monarch should play in the 21st century. Earlier this year, some Commonwealth leaders expressed dismay at a summit in Kigali, Rwanda, over the transition of leadership of the 54-nation bloc from Elizabeth to Charles. read more And an eight-day tour in March by now-Chairman Prince William and his wife, Kate, of Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas was marked by calls for compensation payments and an apology for slavery. read more “As the role of the monarchy is changing, we anticipate that this may be an opportunity to advance discussions on reparations for our region,” Niambi Hall-Campbell, a 44-year-old academic who chairs the Bahamas’ National Reparations Commission, said Thursday . Hall-Campbell sent condolences to the Queen’s family and noted Charles’ recognition of the “terrible atrocity of slavery” at a ceremony last year marking the end of British rule as Barbados became a republic. He said he hopes Charles will lead in a way that reflects “the justice that the times demand. And that justice is restorative justice.” More than 10 million Africans were trapped in the Atlantic slave trade by European nations between the 15th and 19th centuries. Those who survived the brutal voyage were forced to work on plantations in the Caribbean and America. Jamaican reparations advocate Rosalea Hamilton said Charles’ comments at the Kigali conference about his personal regret over slavery offered “some measure of hope that he will learn from history, understand the painful impact that many have endured nations “to this day” and will face the need for reparations. The new king did not mention reparations in his Kigali speech. The Advocates Network, which Hamilton chairs, published an open letter calling for “apologies and reparations” during William and Kate’s visit. The Queen’s grandchildren have an opportunity to lead the reparations debate, Hamilton added. Jamaica’s government last year announced plans to seek reparations from Britain for forcibly transporting some 600,000 Africans to work on sugarcane and banana plantations that created fortunes for British slavers. “Whoever takes the position should be asked to allow the royal family to pay reparations to the African people,” said David Denny, secretary general of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration, from Barbados. “We should all work to remove the royal family from our nations head of state,” he said. Jamaica has signaled it may soon follow Barbados in abandoning royal rule. Both remain members of the Commonwealth. An August poll showed that 56% of Jamaicans are in favor of removing the British monarch as head of state. Michael Phillips, an opposition member of the Jamaican Parliament, in 2020 tabled a motion in favor of removal. “I hope, as the prime minister said in one of his speeches, that he will move faster when there is a new monarch,” Phillips said on Thursday. Allen Chastanet, St. Lucia’s former prime minister and current opposition leader, told Reuters he supported what he said was a “general” movement toward republicanism in his country. “Certainly at this point I would support it becoming a democracy,” he said. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Kate Chappell in Kingston. additional references from Robertson Henry to St. Vincent and Michela Moscufo in New York Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Leslie Adler Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
