Stuart Leslie
Office of the Prime Minister
Cain Building
Belmopan
Cayo District
November 29, 2021
Greetings Cabinet Secretary Stuart Leslie,
RE: Reparatory Justice for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Slavery in British Honduras Motion 2021 & Government of Belize not having the right to lead Afrikan Belizean Reparations Education/Advocacy/Consultations/Negotiations Nationally, Regionally, and Internationally.
On October 29, 2021, UBAD Educational Foundation (UEF) sent you an email to which you acknowledged receipt however, we have not received any response to our detailed Afrikan Belizean Reparations Community Concerns. Within the email, UEF requested a response to our questions within 14 working days of the letter being sent however 21 working days have passed with no response.
This inadequate response on behalf of Belizean parliamentarians further demonstrates a lack of respect for and recognition of the rights of Afrikan Belizeans to be consulted on Akrikan reparations proposals. This is unfortunate as our fore-parents suffered by way of chattel enslavement and colonialism which we continue to face through neo-colonialism. Chattle enslavement impacted our Ancestors right to life, liberty, freedom, and justice, and continues to impact us as their ascendents.
As such, UEF has made this Afrikan Belizean Reparations injustice an international concern. UEF intends to tell the truth about our stories from the ground up to ensure that the Government of Belize neo-colonial state-driven reparations plan and narrative are not the only plans heard globally. Additionally, we would like the Afrikan people in the Diaspora; and Europeans in Britain and other European countries to hear the realities as Afrikan Ascendants in Belize/Caribbean for international collaboration and solidarity.
Currently, Afrikan Belizeans do not experience substantive Afrikan Representation and the Belizean state cannot arrogate to itself the right to represent the interests of its Afrikan citizenries on this question of Reparations for Afrikan (Genocidal) Enslavement and Native Genocide. Therefore, the ascendants of Afrikans are to be sole proprietors in defining and explaining the concept of Afrikan reparations and the support by way of reparatory justice transformation and redress, as well as transformative adaptation in the context of the Worldwide Climate and Ecological Crises.
State formation in Belize was a structurally and epistemically violent process that included the killing of our Afrikan Ancestors Afrikaness, as well as the state-sponsored institutionalised suppression and demonisation of Afrikan heritage, identity and culture within all spheres and institutions of people activity. This enduring group-based injustice has never been acknowledged or repaired by those who took over the running of the Belizean nation-state at independence or in any subsequent generation since.
Our intention is for this information to be shared within their circles of solidarity engagements in their respective Afrikan Heritage and other Global Majority World communities and that we re-build our dismembered Afrikan Heritage Communities together through our communal practices based on our lived experiences, and Afrikan epistemologies of repair and redress. Below is a list of UEF’s international solidarity partners and interested bodies that we have been and/or are in the process of engaging with to gain support in amplifying our voices:
• All-Party Parliamentary Group on Afrikan Reparations (APPGAR)
• International Network of Scholars & Activists for Afrikan Reparations (INOSAAR)
• Pan-Afrikan Reparations Coalition in Europe (PARCOE)
• Stop The Maangamizi: We Charge Genocide/ Campaign (SMWeCGEC)
• Global Afrikan People’s Parliament (GAPP)
• Glocal Afrikan Reparations Forum of London (GARFOL)
• Europe-Wide NGO Consultative Council for Afrikan Reparations (ENGOCCAR)
• Extinction Rebellion Internationalist Solidarity Network (XRISN)
• Global Majority Versus Campaign (GM vs)
• European Centre for Constitutional & Human Rights (ECCHR)
As we believe we are not being heard or listened to by the Government of Belize and our requests for dialogue have gone unanswered. UEF will share the first email we sent you and this email with them.
Carolyn “YaYa” Marin Coleman
UBAD Educational Foundation (UEF) Chairperson