By -Arley Salimbi Gill
When Commonwealth heads of state meet in Apia, Samoa from 21st October to 26th October, they will be meeting under the theme, “One Resilient Common Future: Transforming Our Commonwealth”. This meeting and its theme are timely and provide an important platform to raise the issues of climate change, sustainability, and reparative justice.
One resilient common future must include a serious conversation on climate change and given the location of the meeting— Samoa, a small island developing state— facing an existential threat to sea level rise, it would be a missed opportunity if climate change is not at the top of this year’s meeting agenda. Finding solutions to a sustainable common future must be a key goal of this meeting.
Similarly, Grenada and other small island states in the Caribbean are also dealing with uncertain futures because of the changing climate—we have seen the disastrous effects of Hurricanes Ivan and Emily and more recently, Hurricane Beryl.
However, it is hard for me to imagine one common future without remembering the past. A past that was marred by hundreds of years of exploitation and extraction from our land—leaving our islands bare and unable to withstand the social, economic, and infrastructural impacts of natural disasters such as Hurricanes Ivan, Emily, and Beryl.
Grenada is in an environmentally precarious position and, therefore I would argue that climate change adaptation is an integral part of the reparative justice conversation. We must be reminded that global warming is just one outcome of industrialization, the slave trade, and slavery. If Commonwealth nations are being asked to dream of a resilient and common future, they must connect the dots between industrialization, the slave trade, and climate change.
Additionally, we must acknowledge that the unequal trade relationship that exists between the Global North and the Global South is rooted in resource exploitation. What we are witnessing today is what Reverend Desmond TuTu once called: Adaptation Apartheid. The countries that can adapt to climate change are the same countries that benefited from the slave trade slavery, and industrialization— systems and industries that were fueled by the exploitation of labour. Grenada is unable to adapt to climate change, not because of its geographical location, but simply because it was unable to develop on par with European nations. This as we know is because of colonization, slavery, and colonialism.
And to assume or state that underdeveloped countries in the Caribbean, Africa, and the Pacific have a common future with England, Canada, and Australia is to suggest that our countries’ economic development is on par with nations in the Global North, and it is to assume that global warming and climate change impact all —equally and that we share the same lived experiences and therefore—a common future— is hypocritical at best. We do not have a common future because we do not share a common past or a common reality.
However, England can begin to make amends by recognizing that its past is vastly different than that of islands like Grenada. Small islands that were conquered, plundered, and colonized. England as the conqueror, plundered, and colonizer built an empire on the backs, land, and labour of the colonized. From every vantage point— this exploitative relationship yielded unfair social and economic advantages and disadvantages. The now richer countries are recipients of economic and social benefits, and the now “poorer” countries bear the disadvantages.
The Commonwealth indeed needs to be transformed. Let me ask: Is the wealth truly common? Or is this an aspirational goal of the British Royal Family, or a mere distraction from our economic reality? From my perspective, I do not see how Grenada shares in the wealth of the British Empire.
A shared commonwealth would look like economic parity—Grenada being transformed from a developing country to a developed country with adequate healthcare, educational opportunities, housing and employment opportunities for all, and physical infrastructure and planning capability to secure a resilient future. One way to achieve this vision is by having a serious conversation on reparative justice.
England, as the nation head of the Commonwealth, and its King, Charles as the head of the Commonwealth and the sovereign of 14 Commonwealth Realms have been two of the greatest direct beneficiaries of Indigenous genocide, the Atlantic trade in human beings, and chattel slavery. History provides overwhelming evidence of the roles England, and the royal family played in sanctioning and perpetuating crimes against humanity.
Therefore, a discussion on how they can repair the damages caused to islands like Grenada, as England built its empire and expanded its realms is consistent with the theme chosen for this upcoming gathering of heads of nation. Finally, we have a moment— the conditions and context are ripe for a conversation on what is needed to secure one resilient common future for former colonies on the brink of extinction— conditions brought about by climate change. I believe reparations must be the starting and ending point of this conversation.
The Caribbean and African regions will be well represented at this upcoming Commonwealth meeting in Samoa. There are twelve (12) CARICOM countries in the British Commonwealth namely, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago. There are twenty-two (22) African countries in the Commonwealth which makes it thirty-four (34) countries from CARICOM and the African Union that have committed themselves to climate justice and reparative justice. Now that is thirty-four out of 56 (the total number of countries in the commonwealth), a clear majority— comfortably over fifty percent (50%) of the membership of the Commonwealth. We have the numbers to set the agenda and tone of this meeting if we organize ourselves around a common goal and a shared vision of what it would take to achieve a resilient future.
Furthermore, with a comfortable majority and a strategic alliance with India, and our friends in the Pacific— who we in the Caribbean and with whom our brothers and sisters on the African continent need to seriously engage on this issue— we can ensure that the subjects of climate justice and reparative justice will be at the core of discussions at this meeting.
We are aware that the agenda for this upcoming Commonwealth meeting is set— regardless CARICOM and AU members should seize the opportunity to highlight issues most important to their respective country and region. The idea is that every CARICOM head of state must make climate justice and reparations a central theme of their presentation— so, too, should African leaders. And if CARICOM and AU issues are mentioned by the Indian and Pacific Islanders— then, whatever agenda set by King Charles will be truly torpedoed by the majority of Commonwealth members attending the upcoming meeting in Samoa.
Moreover, the margins of these meetings should be a swarming ground for reparative justice advocates. I am unsure if any member of CARICOM’s Reparations Commission (CRC) is part of their country’s delegation, but it appears to me that this upcoming meeting would be a good opportunity for them to be included in their country’s delegation and make the case for reparations.
To do so, will not be an additional cost to the state, but rather an investment in the struggle for climate justice and reparative justice. Truth be told, CARICOM governments have been guilty of not doing enough to fund this struggle. Most of the territorial committees or commissions are without central government funding. They are without a Secretariat or the necessary structural support. Magnificent work has been done and is ongoing— but more can be done with greater government support.
The goals and objectives of these Commonwealth meetings remain unclear to me and to most citizens of the British Commonwealth. Now is the time to make these meetings have real relevance to our daily lives by raising genuine issues that if addressed could be the difference between a doomed future and a resilient common future. For us in Grenada— we have lived through the aftermath of Ivan and our brothers and sisters in Carriacou and Petite Martinique are living through the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl. Our farmers and fisher folks can testify to the impact of a changing climate on their lives and livelihoods.
To King Charles, climate disasters are life and death matters for millions of British Commonwealth people. I hope the upcoming Commonwealth meeting in Apia, Samoa is an opportunity for serious discussions and strategic planning to ensure a resilient common future for vulnerable Commonwealth members. As you look forward to one resilient common future—I implore you to look back at the unjust past and make amends by committing to the development of a reparative justice agenda that better positions islands like Grenada to adapt to the challenges of climate change and to securing climate-resilient futures for British Commonwealth members who built the British Empire as a result of the colonization, the slave trade and slavery.