The Debate about Reparations for Slavery

In the last few weeks, the University of Edinburgh has started to come to terms with its past and published a slavery and decolonisation review.

One of the recommendations is that they should fund a new Centre for the study of racism, colonialism and violence against people of colour. But this is not the way to remedy centuries of colonialism and slavery.

Many of the countries from which the slaves came from, primarily in Africa, are still impoverished by a system that is not enabling them to escape that poverty and indeed the economic framework that has been set up by the colonisers.

Here is where a different approach is needed. The academics at this and all the other universities throughout this country, as well as France and the USA, are trying to monopolise another area of funding, introducing what they see - perhaps with some innocence - as the right way to address the challenge.

It will produce more learned papers and more learned people and the 'damned of the earth' (Franz Fanon) will remain damned. It is a pity because the Government of Scotland has for many years funded an aid initiative which is by no means perfect, but does some good work, the Scotland-Malawi partnership.