Reparations today
Britain’s Reparations Movement, although heavily impacted by the passing of Grant and ceasing of ARM’s activities, continues today. One interesting development in the movement has been the continuing visibility of women activists, often at the frontlines of Reparations organising. Bell Ribeiro-Addy, who became a Member of Parliament in 2019, took up the baton as a Reparationist voice in the House of Commons and within British Parliamentary activities, paying tribute to Grant. In April 2023, in the same month as the 23rd anniversary of Grant’s passing, Ribeiro-Addy asked the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for an apology for Britain’s role in slavery and colonialism. Alongside others, Ribeiro-Addy also helped to organise the inaugural UK Reparations Conference in October 2023. Esther Stanford-Xosei has been a leading figure in Britain’s Reparations Movement for decades, and was a mentee of Grant’s. She has established and chaired many Reparations-focused groups and committees, and alongside others heads the Stop the Maangamizi Campaign. Today, much of Britain’s Reparations activism takes into account the connected issue of climate change and ecocide as part of the legacy of enslavement, colonialism and imperialist capitalism.
