Dear Editor,
With the world becoming one community where knowledge and information is readily available, it is increasingly challenging to hide, disguise, or even misrepresent facts.
The global community is also becoming less tolerant of abuse and injustices meted out to the vulnerable and ignorant. Therefore, demands are being made of those with the knowledge and means to act responsibly, and where there is a breach of any of these tenets, redress is demanded and expected. In fact, in many instances, the perpetrator of the injustice is ostracised by the public.
We see this playing out in instances in which women and girls are sexually assaulted by powerful men in the United States, with even one member of the British royal family being so accused.
Nowadays, being accused of sexual misconduct and abuse, irrespective of how long ago in your past, excludes you from running for public office and/or holding positions of prominence and influence in media, business, and public life.
Development also now demands that there is balance with the environment, thus development must be sustainable and environmentally friendly. The environment cannot protect or defend itself against the developers and occupiers of its space. We who have the knowledge and power must act responsibly to protect the vulnerable and helpless.
We can argue that this type of thinking and stance is part of the maturing of societies and would or may not have existed in the past when the world was more disconnected and information and education was a luxury available to the elites. Notwithstanding, this would not excuse or nullify acts of injustices, oppression, and moral blunders.
The fact is, Africa and Africans were exploited by European empires for hundreds of years. During said time, millions of Africans were slaughtered, and millions lost their lives on the Atlantic crossing to the New World.
Centuries and multiple generations of forced labour was used to establish and sustain multi-billion-dollar industries and trade in sugar, cotton, construction, and so on.
The world is now divided into First World and Third World nations. First World nations are predominantly rich countries and former active participants in the slave trade, whilst Third World countries are predominantly poor and former enslaved colonies.
There is no coincidence in this reality.
A nation and people benefiting from free slave labour for over 400 years would naturally be rich and developed, while the nations and people they enslaved would, as a consequence, be impoverished and underdeveloped.
The modern-day wealth of these nations that participated in slavery is anchored by the blood and sweat of slaves, and the benefits from the atrocities of slavery continues to accrue value to these people and nations today and for generations to come.
With the maturing of the global citizen and the acceptance that the weak and vulnerable must be protected by the strong, knowledgeable, and powerful, there will be an increasing intolerance and disgust towards the British royals and representatives of other countries that enslaved Africans.
Members of the royal family will increasingly face objection and protests, not just when travelling outside of Britain, but also within their own kingdom because they will increasingly become the modern-day representation, face, and reminder of one of the world's most dastardly acts of oppression and injustice.
A world tour is not an exercise British royals can embark on with comfort, and in the future, such a tour will probably be confined to European nations.
Nations of Africa, Asia, and the Americas will not respond positively to a request to be on their itinerary, given what they represent and the intolerance and disgust of people to their presence.
The persistent refusal of nations that participated, benefited, and continue to benefit from slavery to offer a genuine apology is not only abhorrent, but fuels the increased intolerance of the British monarchy.
Their continued stubbornness and refusal to make right this abominable wrong will increasingly become their shackle - social, emotional, and moral enslavement.
Michael Gibbs
perfecthighq@gmail.com