CLS Sunday Meeting held on Sunday 6 October 2024

Speakers: Anthony Gifford, Luke Daniels and Steve Cushion


Luke Daniels, president of Caribbean Labour Solidarity, and Anthony Gifford discussed the latest developments in the Reparations campaign, relationships with the trade unions and the need for a mass movement in both UK and the Caribbean. At the First Pan-African Congress on Reparations, held in Abuja, Nigeria, in April 1993, Tony Gifford delivered a paper entitled “The legal basis of the claim for Reparations”.

Steve Cushion, author of the forthcoming book Slavery in the British Empire and its Legacy in the Modern World, will examine the historic links to enslavement of the Church of England in the UK and Codrington College in Barbados.

The Church of England in the UK, and their financial arm the Church Commissioners, as well as the United Society Partners in the Gospel and the Codrington Trust in Barbados have both recently announced projects aimed as addressing their links to African enslavement. Are either doing enough to apologise and make restitution? How have they dealt with the record of enslavers? Is the money they are offering adequate? How does all this fit into the modern campaign for Reparations?