Reparations – A Hidden Agenda?
A Critical Analysis of the Campaign for Reparations 1
Preface
Before getting to the article itself, allow me to reproduce some introductory material from
our memoirs, Every Square Inch.2
A major missionary “technique” of mine all along was to address issues that were of current
public interest and then shine the light of the Gospel on them, either directly or by inviting
others to explore doing so, always in a bid to demonstrate the comprehensive nature of the
Christian faith. That was a way to ensure that people would pay attention to my lectures,
writings and events and discuss them, including the surprising religious aspect that they never
had associated with these so-called “secular” issues. It was always meant as a witness to both
Christians and Muslims.
During the early 1990s the topic of reparations was catching international attention once
again. It was, of course, a subject not far from that of the External Debt (ED) campaign of the
Institute of Church & Society (ICS) with which I was associated. 3 Conferences were held,
including a major one in Nigeria, organized by Chief M. K. O Abiola, a Muslim icon among
Nigerian politicians and businessmen, and held only three weeks after the ICS’ ED conference.
I picked up on that and wrote an article on the subject that was published in the popular
Christian magazine Today’s Challenge (TC).
That article drew the attention of a group of lecturers at Unijos, who invited me for a
discussion. In a letter to our parents, Fran, my wife, commented, “Being academics of Marxist
orientation, they properly tore everything apart. It was so interesting listening to their
radically different views on the subject.” But they were also surprised at the radical nature of
1 Originally published in Today's Challenge, No. 1/1992, pp. 10-13.
2 Vol. 2, pp. 393-394.
3 J. Boer (ed.), The Church and the External Debt. Jos: ICS, 1992.
my Christian-oriented stance, something they had seldom, if ever, encountered before. Some
were downright shocked.
And now, on to the article itself.
Introduction
Nigeria’s illustrious and colourful Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola has started a movement
that could have tremendous implications for Nigeria and for Africa as a whole. I
refer to the push for reparations. He is calling for reparations from the West for
the damages inflicted upon Africa by the transatlantic slave trade and by
colonialism and its aftermath, neocolonialism.
Abiola’s campaign started off with a two-day international conference on
Reparations to Africa and Africans in the Diaspora, hosted by his own Concord
Press and held in December, 1990, only about three weeks after the ICS hosted an
ED Conference in Jos. Like almost everything else he does, Abiola’s conference was
successful in attracting many important Black personalities from various countries
– but not, to the best of my knowledge, from the Arab world. I wonder why.
There is no need to restate all the points made at this conference, for these can be
gleaned from the various Concord Press published reports as well as from other
newspapers. In short, the conference demands that Africa’s external debt to
Western nations and banks be cancelled as reparation for the violence those
nations have let loose on Africa. One speaker, apparently adept in accounting,
concluded that Africa’s external debt is about equal to the level of damage and
suffering inflicted on Africa.
One point emphasized repeatedly in the reports is that there is nothing new about
the concept of reparations on an international level. Dudley Thompson, Jamaica’s
High Commissioner to Nigeria, reminded the participants that “payments of large
sums have been offered to the Jews, the Japanese-Americans, the Germans and
others to expiate injuries meted out to them.” Another speaker made reference to
Japanese reparation payments to North Korea of five billion (dollars?). And, of
course, these days we hear much about reparations demanded from Iraq for war
damages to Kuwait. So, the principle has been firmly established in the
community of nations.
In the rest of this article I want to point to a serious problem that must be
overcome if this campaign is going to be successful and receive international
credence. The problem is that this campaign has started off on an extremely one-
sided and biased note – and therefore is bound to fail. There are some indications
that would lead one to suspect that this crusade has been launched for the sake
of a hidden agenda in the interest of one religion and of one social class.
Hidden Agenda No. 1 – Religion
Arab Slavery
No one in his right mind would deny that the transatlantic slave trade caused
untold suffering for the victims and incomparable damage to Africa. That point is
settled. But the African slave trade had an additional dimension, namely the Arab
slave trade. It should puzzle every objective right-thinking person why that
dimension is consistently left out of the picture, especially so since it was still
going strong well into this century – 50 years after it was outlawed in the USA.
Karl Kumm was the founder of the Sudan United Mission, that large international
and interdenominational mission in the north of Nigeria that developed six church
denominations and spawned The Fellowship of the Churches of Christ in Nigeria,
popularly known by its Hausa-language acronym, TEKAN. Kumm trekked across
Africa, from West to East, and wrote two books about his experiences, both
published in 1910. Kumm was astonished and horrified at the forms of slavery
that he witnessed with his own eyes in this century.
He wrote of emirs sending slave raiders into their territories in order to
collect the annual tribute due to him and in the process destroying, killing,
enslaving, utterly devastating large areas. “I have known close on five
thousand square miles of territory absolutely depopulated by the ruling
emir.” He had personally seen “huge walled towns deserted, thousands of
acres of farm land relapsing into jungle and an entire population absorbed.
And this sort of thing is not done once or twice in a century, but it is
absolutely being done somewhere or other every day.” The refinements of
torture that suggest themselves to the lustful mind of … (these rulers) … are
many and peculiar.”
The impact on individual people was as devastating as it was on the land
and society in general. The following conveys the unutterable misery
experienced by the hapless victims of this devilish trade: “Real misery is
seen written on the faces of those whose families have been destroyed or
torn from them. There is the mother who has lost her children; the lover
who has seen his sweetheart torn from his arms; the chief who has lost his
authority; the slaves on whom privation and disease have set their mark;
the woman with sunken eyes, gaping rib spaces, and long skinny breasts
and the man with tumid spear – thrust or raw, oozing sword-slash fresh
upon him. Behind the shed is the body of a slave who has just drawn his last
breath, his thin limbs tangled in the agony of death.”
Here we have landed in what Livingstone referred to as “hell,” the place
where “Satan has his seat.”
The side-effects of this terrorism as Kumm described them were
astounding. During his trans-Africa safari in 1909, he came across the Sara-
Kabba people, who had their women stretch their lower lip to incredible
ugliness … to make them unattractive to Muslim slavers. After centuries of
harassment, these peoples had withdrawn themselves into swamps. As
soon as a stranger came in sight, in this case Kumm himself, he “heard
shrieks, a rush, a rustling in the grass, and there was silence; the population
of the village had decamped.”
During his trek, Kumm carried on him a photograph of a Bisharin, one that
haunted him and refused to release him. “Only a dark-eyed Bisharin, an
untaught desert ranger, lithe, sinewy …, proud, bold, free. He sits there
leaning forward, searching us with unfathomable issues, sunk in a deeper
silence, hanging on his relation to us. “The eyes that look at us from that
one silent face are eyes innumerable, hopeless eyes of slaves, anguished
eyes of tortured women; keen eyes of clever traders and the proud glance
of chieftains; others dull, bewildered, shadowed by life’s miseries, unlit by
any of heaven’s rays. The face with its grave question stood for the face of
thousands -- faces of slave drivers, of fanatic Imans, rich Emirs, lazy princes
….”4
No one wants to defend the transatlantic slave trade, not even Westerners. They
are embarrassed by that part of their history. Their churches often bend over
backwards to support the descendants of those slaves. But what conspiracy seeks
to block the history of Arab slavery from our consciousness? These reports of
Muslim slavery are from eyewitnesses, of this 20th century, in our own Africa.
Recently, Dr. Yusufu Turaki, General Secretary of ECWA, asked about the
descendants of this Muslim slavery. Where are they? Why were there no pictures
of them in the reports? The descendants of Western slaves have joined Abiola’s
campaign. They are here to tell their story and demand reparations. But the
others …?
Abiola is too educated to be unaware of this history. Why is this equally horrible
and much more recent story of slavery left out of the campaign for reparation? Is
there a hidden agenda?
Neocolonialism
I have spent seven and a half years doing research in and writing on the nature of
colonialism in Nigeria, especially its relationship to religion, and have published
two major books on the subject. Subsequently, for some eight years I spent a
considerable part of my time studying the role of multinational corporations in
4 Quoted in J. Boer, Missionary Messengers of Liberation in a Colonial Context: A Case Study of the Sudan United
Mission, 1979, pp. 126-127. Missions: Heralds of Capitalism or Christ? 1984, pp. 36-37.
the era of neocolonialism and a major manuscript on the subject is now under
scrutiny by a publisher.5 I flatter myself to think I know something about both of
these movements.
One thing that is sure is that it is not possible to separate colonialism from
neocolonialism. The one is largely an extension of the other, though with a
different political structure. Whereas the dominant alien structure of the colonial
times was the foreign government, this was replaced at “independence” with the
multinational corporation, which is shielded by the local heirs of colonial power.
Nigerian writers have applied terms like “devils” to multinationals and have
written about the “demonology of multinationals” (Nigeria Standard, 11 Sept/79;
A. B. Ahmed, New Nigerian, 6 Sept/70). Professor Onimode of the University of
Ibadan accuses multinationals of misleading consumers, cultivating wrong tastes,
wasting scarce resources and of undermining national cultures. Bishop Okullu of
Kenya charges that, for the sake of profit, multinationals tempt people to forsake
their own culture and to embrace alien social and economic values. There is no
space in this article to list all the perversions multinationals introduce into their
host countries.6
The class that fought colonialism emerged as the rulers of the neocolonial setup.
Colonial rulers were replaced by their local trainees who represent them and their
interests, according to various Nigerian authors. The anti-apartheid crusader,
Patrick Wilmot, charges that multinationals have “created a parasitic native class
of compradors and commission agents who serve as a buffer and transmission line
between exploiter and exploited.” Bala Usman refers to this group as “gatemen”
who collect tolls on behalf of neo-colonial interests. Prof. Onimode talks about
“imperialist commission agents” and of a “pliant domestic comprador
bourgeoisie, who can be relied upon as intermediaries to suppress the mass-
5 J. Boer, Caught in the Middle: Christians in Transnational Corporations. Jos: ICS, 1992.
6 See above for details.
majority, secure corrupt contracts, licences, concessions and other favours for the
imperialist looting of Nigeria.” These represent the interests of multinationals and
other neocolonial parties at the expense of the masses in Nigeria.
The direct relationship between colonialism and neocolonialism has been clearly
affirmed in documents supporting the call for reparations. An editorial in the New
Nigerian (27 Mar/91) supporting the call states, “The result of all this monumental
debauchery, which … is still continuing in the form of neocolonialism, explains
Africa’s prostrate condition today.” In fact, Abiola himself, in an address to the
African Bar Association during March, 1991, spoke of the “crimes of slavery,
colonialism and neocolonialism” (National Concord, 28 Mar/91).
One multinational that has evoked more cries of anger than most is ITT. That
corporation is held responsible by many for the overthrow of the government of
Chili. That is also the corporation that has helped Abiola to the top of the
economic, political and social ladder in Nigeria. While he was ITT’s chief in Nigeria,
that corporation won huge contracts from the Nigerian government to improve
our telephone system. But after expenditures of what in today’s naira would
probably amount to billions, it remains almost impossible for me to call Kano from
Jos.
The purpose of this article is by no means to accuse Abiola of corruption.
However, his participation at the top of the neocolonial class in Nigeria requires
that he clear himself and demonstrate beyond doubt that he has not served as a
typical neocolonial gateman, so that no one can call into question his qualification
as a crusader against neocolonialism. It would be interesting to know what kind of
pension he continues to receive from ITT and what dividends from his investment
in that corporation. Or, for that matter, what advice he gives his company even
today and what influential strings he continues to pull on their behalf with
Nigerian governments. I do not know the religion of ITT directors – most likely a
typical bunch of secular western humanists – but we all do know the religion of
Abiola: Islam.
Arab Petrodollars
The major reparation demanded is the cancellation of Africa’s external debt. Well
enough. At the ICS we are well aware of this debt, in view of our recent
conference on the subject. A large part of the money that was lent to African
countries by Western banks was not Western money. These were surplus funds
that flooded Western banks, but that were deposited by Arab governments. This
fact ought to raise the question in our minds what Arab governments are doing,
collecting interest from their investments in capitalist banks, when Islam is against
the notion of interest. But apart from that question, it is simply impossible for
many of these banks to cancel these huge debts – unless the Arabs are prepared
to forfeit these deposits.
The potential leverage Arab countries have over Western banks was illustrated in
a recent report about Kuwaiti threats to these banks that they will withdraw their
funds if the banks refuse to freeze Iraqi accounts (New Nigerian, 23 March ’91).
Well, over to Abiola! Can he persuade them? There would not be many Nigerians
who would have more clout with Arab governments than he does. If he is
successful at that front, the question of cancellation of debts would become much
easier. But why is he quiet at this front? He surely is not ignorant about this aspect
of the question. The suspicion of a hidden agenda will not be suppressed.
Hidden Agenda No 2: Class and Corruption
I have already referred to the possibility of potential class interests that seem to
conflict with the call for the demise of neocolonialism. There is, however, another
aspect of potential class interest that would favour reparations and the related
question of debt cancellation.
No responsible discussion about the external debt and reparations can avoid the
problem of corruption. The speakers at the ICS’ ED Conference repeatedly pointed
out this complicating factor. Much of the borrowed funds were said to be
siphoned off to the secret foreign accounts of the officials in charge. In some
cases, it was alleged, the funds never left the bank, but were simply transferred to
another account within the same bank! And where are the projects that were
supposed to be carried out with these loans? Which ones can be said to benefit
the public? Which ones are finished? Of course, in the case of Nigeria, the people
voted a loud “No!” to such loans.
The above factors lead one to ask: reparation for whose sake? It would seem to be
a crusade to let those who benefited from the loans, who diverted or wasted
them, off the hook. One cannot help but suspect that a major reason for the
crusade is that the powers that be want the pressure taken off from themselves.
They want to lay the matter to rest so that no one will ever again make these
beneficiaries uncomfortable by raising such disturbing questions. The organizers
had enough money, power and prestige to gather an international host of
prominent personalities to lend respectability and clout to this crusade, but all the
while the suspicion of a hidden agenda remains. There are too many factors at
work here to simply dismiss such suspicions as baseless – unless the call for
reparations is also directed to those who have diverted or mismanaged those
funds.
All the allegations about past abuses of slavery, colonialism and neocolonialism,
valid as they are, cannot get around this problem of corruption. That must be
addressed in this crusade. Without seriously addressing this aspect, the entire
crusade loses its credibility and will become a mere laughing stock.
Conclusion
The point of this article is not to counteract the call for reparations or the idea of
cancellation of external debts. The purpose is to redeem the crusade by pointing
to certain obvious defects that must be taken care of at this early stage. This
crusade, to gain credibility, must be totally above board without any suspicion of a
hidden agenda. Its extreme one-sidedness must be corrected by considering the
role Arabs have played and continue to play in the devastation of Africa as well as
the role of the West. Of course, I have not even mentioned the suppression of the
original native populations of countries now considered Arab Africans. As it now
stands, the crusade appears too obviously an effort to exploit the common feelings
of the Black race for the advancement of the interests of one religion and one
class.
One final word of positive advice to the organizers. Investigate who might be your
potential allies. One sympathetic friend would be the World Council of Churches
(WCC), based in Geneva, with several Nigerian churches as their members. Others
would be the council of churches in various Western nations. You might be
surprised how sympathetic these organizations would be towards your campaign.
I would be prepared to help you make contact. Of course, if the suspicion of a
hidden religious and class agenda is true, then you will brush this advice aside as
irrelevant to your real though unstated concerns. Abiola’s response to this offer of
the service of a middleman will help the skeptics among us either to retain or
correct the suspicion of a hidden agenda.
