Reparations for Reform

 

This week Reform announced that they would halt visas for nationals of countries demanding slavery reparations from the UK. In response, a number of Commonwealth politicians claimed that attempting to "punish" countries seeking "justice" for slavery would "harm and isolate" Britain.

The United Kingdom's original role in establishing the transatlantic slave trade will forever be a stain on the history of this country, as a perpetrator of one of the most heinous crimes in history. Our role in the slave trade is rightfully taught in schools, as are the effects of the collectivist ideologies of racism and imperialism used to justify the practice.

Less attention is given to the United Kingdom's leading role not just in abolishing the slave trade, but in enforcing abolition globally from 1807. While other nations continued enslaving their fellow man - with the Americans persisting until 1865 and Brazil until 1888 - the Royal Navy's West Africa squadron captured over 1600 slave ships and rescued over 150,000 Africans. 1500 Royal Navy personnel gave their lives in fighting slavery, as the British Empire spent hundred of millions in today's money actively suppressing the practice, in addition to applying diplomatic pressure on Portugal, Spain and Brazil.

This period of our past is now barely mentioned in history textbooks or the speeches of our "progressive" politicans, not to mention the recent calls of some of our Commonwealth "allies."

The British taxpayer was paying the cost of abolition right up to 2015. No one alive today bears responsibility for the crimes of their ancestors. To punish those alive today for the crimes of their distant ancestors (notwithstanding the fact that few modern Britons have any link to the Transatlantic slave trade, and are more likely to be descended from indentured labourers or have had relatives fall victim to the Barbary slave trade themselves) - is antithetical to liberty.

Equally, it is not Libertarian to punish individuals for the actions of their governments today. While a Libertarian government would not entertain any calls of reparations from our Commonwealth friends, refusing visas to citizens of said countries represents the same sort of collective punishment that calls for reparations themselves rest on.

All of those of good character willing to work and pay their way should be permitted to apply for a visa to the United Kingdom. (Through the proper channels, none of which involve crossing the one separating England and France in a dinghy.)

The immigration crisis is not the result of calls for reparations from Barbados, but rather the attraction of a bloated welfare state that rewards the workshy at the expense of the taxpayer. Under a Libertarian government, individuals moving to the UK would forfeit any right to state benefits until a minimum of ten years of net tax contribution have elapsed - Reform demand only five. Remove the incentives, and the problem solves itself.

Only Libertarianism offers the common-sense approach: welcome those who are willing to contribute - wherever they come from - and withdraw taxpayer handouts from those who don't.