King Charles heads to Caribbean with first stop in idyllic Bahamas

An umbrella organization preparing to formally demand reparations payment from Britain and other European former slave trading nations is adamant that an upcoming Commonwealth leaders summit in Antigua next week must be mostly about Britain’s brutal role in the slave trade. The Caribbean Reparations Commission (CRC) argued that with Britain’s King Charles attending as head of the grouping of former British colonies, the issue must be allowed to take center stage as it has been simmering for a while yet. The three-day summit of 56 nations from the Caribbean to Africa to Asia and The Pacific begins on November 1. “The region is mobilized, the governments are mobilized, so there is no way to describe this CHOGM meeting other than the reparations CHOGM. That is what it is,” said Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, the Chairman of the commission. “We are going to make sure that that is what it is.” In statements preceding the King’s arrival in the region, Buckingham Palace had said that while the King will not shy away from the issue, there are no plans for London to issue a formal apology for the brutalities of the slave trade, but regional activists think otherwise. Britain has also bluntly refused to entertain discussions about reparation payments for the slave trade. “There will be no attempt to embarrass His Majesty or any member of the Commonwealth, but in the back of everyone’s mind there’s going to be the dialogue of reparations," said Beckles who had previously addressed British lawakers on the issue back in 2014. "There will be a 'dialogue of decency.' There’s gonna be tremendous civility, yes. There’s gonna be tremendous flexibility.” King Charles was scheduled to arrive in The Bahamas on Oct. 27 for a two-day tour on the first leg of his swing through the region, his first as monarch, and will then fly south to Guyana on Thursday where he will also spend two days before heading to the Eastern Caribbean federation of Antigua and Barbuda for the biennial summit, last held in The Pacific island nation of Samoa two years ago. He was last in the region as monarch in April on an official visit to Bermuda, currently a British colony. “I am appealing to the man, I am appealing to Charles Windsor – a parent, a grandparent. A man today who reflects upon the history of his family and he can see the enrichment that slavery has presented to his family. He can see that the wealth he is passing on to his children and grandchildren all came out in significant sums to this process of the chattelization of the African people. We are calling upon the King as a man, as a human brother, to provide leadership to this organisation over which he presides,” Beckles said recently.