Caribbean historians want Richard Drax to pay reparations – but now Barbados plans to buy his land for homes

The Conservative MP under fire for his ancestors’ role in Caribbean slavery is in line for a multimillion-pound payout from the Barbados government.

Despite threats to make Richard Drax pay reparations and seize his family’s plantation – described by one historian as a “killing field” of enslaved Africans – the government is now planning to pay market value for 21 hectares (about 15 football pitches) of his land for housing.

The move has angered many Barbadians, especially those who say the Drax family played a pivotal role in the development of slavery-based sugar production and the Barbados slave code in the 17th century. This denied Black Africans basic human rights, including the right to life.

Critics have called the planned deal an “atrocity” and said this is “one plantation that the government should not be paying a cent for”.

  • Squizzy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    2 months ago

    What an absolutely monumental can of worms to open for Britain to do anything other than what they have been for generations.

  • circuscritic@lemmy.caEnglish
    15·
    2 months ago

    The fact they don’t just seize former colonial holdings makes it appear as if the UK’s foreign office has applied serious pressure, local officials have been paid off, or maybe a bit of both.