Sunday 15 December 2013

The memory of late Nelson Mandela misused by groups of countries promoting dubious cash schemes

It is sad to note that the late Nelson Mandela's name is misused by propagandists of two groups of countries promoting schemes to get almost unlimited free cash from rich industrialized countries:

LDC Chair‏@LDCChairUNFCCC 2h
"It always seems impossible until it's done." World can truly honor by doing what seems impossible--agreeing 2 a bold climate deal.

What the Chair of Least Developed Countries means is that rich countries should pay almost unlimited compensation for "loss and damage" caused by non-existent human-made global warming.

CARICOM, representing 15 Caribbean nations and dependencies, is also misusing the memory of Nelson Mandela in an effort to force a number of "former slave-owning nation of Europe" to pay "reparations":         
 
The Executive of the CARICOM Reparations Commission met on December 9, 2013 in Jamaica at the Regional Headquarters of the University of the West Indies in order to define and set in train its plan of action.
It did so within the context of the global celebration of the life of Nelson Mandela, who, by his sacrifice and teachings, provided the world with a moral and ethical framework within which the diplomatic and political search for truth, justice, and reconciliation can be attained. The Commission affirmed its commitment to the principles inherent in the living legacy of Mr. Mandela.
The Commission affirmed the argument that Caribbean societies have been built upon transatlantic slave trading and chattel slavery, which have been declared by the United Nations as crimes against humanity. These societies are uniquely placed to advance the global cause of truth, justice, and reconciliation, within the context of reparatory justice for the victims and their descendants who continue to suffer harm as a consequence of these crimes.

The Commission called upon the former slave-owning nations of Europe - principally Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark - to engage Caribbean governments in reparatory dialogue to address the living legacies of these crimes.
The Commission noted that Caribbean societies also experienced the genocide of the native population, which was also declared a crime against humanity by the United Nations. The victims of these crimes and their descendants were left in a state of social, psychological, economic and cultural deprivation and disenfranchisement that has ensured their suffering and debilitation today, and from which only reparatory action can alleviate their suffering.

PS

The slave trade was of course a very sad and shameful chapter in the history of a number of European countries. However also African rulers profited from it:

When Europeans first came to Africa in search of slaves, the African leaders themselves were eager to contribute. Initially, the slaves were war prisoners, criminals or people in debt. However, as the European demand for slaves grew, African leaders turned to new ways to find slaves. Wars were started for the sole reasons of taking prisoners to sell, and many were simply kidnapped (either by people from their own tribe, or from competing tribes). Some African rulers earned great profits by controlling the regional slave trade.

Will CARICOM also call upon some African countries to "engage in reparatory dialogue"?

I mention this only to show that this type of "loss and damage" and "reparation" demands could lead to similar actions by hundreds - if not thousands - of countries, nations, tribes and other groups in different parts of the world - a completely impossible and uncontrollable situation.

The groups of Least Developed Countries and the Caribbean countries should abstain from this kind of bogus financing schemes, and instead start working on e.g. promoting democracy, better governance and rule of law in their respective countries.

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