Knowledge
OPINION 41
Knowledge
Is It Time for us
To Get Paid?
Many people in business, especially the‘ Black and Asian Minority Ethnic’( BAME) run businesses might not have been aware of the front page headline of 30th January 2006 in The Independent. reports Dr Darren Henry
The Independent headline reads:
“ UN unveils plan to release untapped wealth of $ 7 TRILLION dollars( and solve the world’ s problems at a stroke)” with a subsequent article written by economics correspondent Philip Thornton.
This made interesting reading for African and Caribbean business leaders primarily, because we are only now being made aware of a potential $ 7 TRILLON DOLLARS of untapped wealth.
The article is also making for interesting and great discussion amongst African and Caribbean business leaders, political leaders, academic leaders, and community leaders. Why is this article creating such debate among people of colour or MELANIN- POSITIVE people at business lunches, barbeques, and dinner parties?
The reason is because of the unlawful and illegal actions of powerful religious institutions and countries now part of the United Nations, which from the end of the 14th Century on into the 20th Century took part in the inhumane commercial and illegal practice of kidnapping indigenous Africans.
According to International Law these practices still have to be answered for. Just saying sorry only recognises the problem and has yet to solve the economic problems and struggles which Black and ethnic minority communities still have because of this legacy of kidnapping. So where has this amazing sum of money come from? And why is Africa still starving?
According to HIS-TORY religious institutions and nations who claim to believe in God, such as the United States of America, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Spain, France and Germany became very wealthy because of the kidnapping, slavery and colonisation of African and Caribbean people. All of these countries have now signed up to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The resulting legacy that we have to deal with daily is that, now in the 21st Century, we unfortunately find that the African-Caribbean economic and business world is led by global organisations, such as the G8( which has no African or Caribbean nations involved) the World Bank and World Trade Organisation. These institutions now dictate economic and business globalisation policies for the African and Caribbean nations and peoples instead of allowing our communities to control their own economics and businesses.
Most of the resources, both natural and human, that made the U. S. A and the European Union nations and United Nations wealthy has come from these African-Caribbean nations. There are no European born indigenous African- Caribbean professionals as Presidents or Chief Executives of European multi-national globalised corporations or major European stock market companies.
We can see no evidence of African or Caribbean Nations as members of the G8, neither do we see African or Caribbean peoples billionaires lists being published for our children to aspire to be in. Therefore, are we not still suffering and struggling because of servant / master attitudes in our every day businesses? Institutionalised Racism in economics and business is something which all leaders of called BAME communities are still experiencing today in the 21st Century.
In our diverse multi-cultural societies and our diverse multi-cultural globalised world, this is only a part of the legacy left to us from the illegal act of kidnapping.
So is it time for us to get paid? YES! So can all other nations and races wake up to that reality and pay us our dues please we would really appreciate it right now.
References
Check out www. spartacus. schoolnet. co. uk / USASafrica. htm and www. un. org / WCAR / e- kit / indigenous. htm) for further information.
( www. un. org / Overview / rights. html and www. unhchr. ch / html / menu6 / 2 / fs2. htm)
SPRING ISSUE 2006 engage