Not even the rain can dampen my excitement about being ⁦Williams College⁩ to speak to students today on the topic of reparatory justice! Thanks for the invitation - thrilled that Arley Gill, chair of Grenada’s Reparations Committee, is joining us from the Caribbean.

Ah - top of my summer reading list! Nick Bryant strikes again, as America braces for a polarizing presidential election.

This morning we visited Nantes’ slavery memorial. Associations say the memorial is far from perfect (it celebrates abolition instead of focusing on paying tribute to those enslaved) but it is an example of how European cities can acknowledge & confront the past.

“Constituting a European
community of heirs of the slavery trade, slaves or slaveholders, in a process of moral and/or material reparation.” The aim of Dieudonné Boutrin + Pierre Guillon de Prince. Uncle Tom Trevelyan + cousin ⁦John Dower⁩ went to Nantes in support.

Fascinating, wide-ranging interview with David Comissiong, Barbados’s Ambassador to CARICOM, by Lucy Maguire of The Repair Campaign
in which he discusses Richard Drax, the reparatory justice movement, and the importance of international allies.
jamaica.loopnews.com/content/richar…

A significant gathering in Nantes this weekend - as descendants of the enslaved and descendants of enslavers from both sides of the English Channel came together to discuss how to confront the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade. The reparatory justice movement is growing.

How a UK trust with historic links to an enslaver in Jamaica is now trying to make amends for this horrible past. The Hibbert Trust is working with ⁦Verene A. Shepherd⁩ of the Centre for Reparations Research ⁦The UWI Mona Campus⁩. jamaica-gleaner.com/article/focus/…

Island nation of Sao Tome and Principe to ask Portugal for colonial reparations reuters.com/world/island-n…

Thousands protest in Georgia against 'foreign agents' bill reuters.com/world/europe/t…

Look at what’s happening in Georgia. Protests against a law which critics say is Russian inspired.

The incomparable ⁦lyse doucet⁩ on how Iran’s new doctrine has changed everything - via the New Statesman. newstatesman.com/diary/2024/04/…

Portugal needs to ‘pay the costs’ of slavery and colonialism, says president - if this means Portugal would consider paying reparations for its historic role in the slave trade, it would be the first European government to do so. theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

Barbados leader halts £3m payout to UK MP for Drax Hall plantation theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

Thank you, America!

This is more than just a bill. This is our shared will.

The will to win. And we will.

Hi The Booker Prizes, I really appreciate the transparency. The enslaved African people referenced are my family.

Josias & George did not 'manage' my family. They enslaved them. Thats why we STILL have their last name. They were enslavers, not 'managers'.

thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-bro…

It's not everyday that the Prime Minister of Barbados makes a personal response to one's story. theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

The PM of Barbados puts a pause on the acquisition of Sir Richard Drax’s
land, and announces consultations - following a backlash against the idea that he’d be paid for the land on which his ancestors enslaved Africans.
H/T plashmar and Jonathan Smith
youtu.be/0bLnxlCTpTE?si…

Port-au-Prince is almost completely sealed off because of air, sea and land blockades, UNICEF Executive Director tells United Nations Security Council. #Haiti

Thanks, James. That definitely takes me back!

Grenfell, in the words of the survivors, is a riveting play @saintannswarehouse directed by Phyllida Lloyd produced by Kate Pakenham - a compelling account of the cost cutting and disregard for safety which led to the deaths of 72 people in a raging inferno.