overview
Reparation for colonialism ?
The long road to historical justice in Spain .
Celeste Muñoz ( historian , professor at the UNED and EUROM collaborator ) and Sarai Martín ( anthropologist , University of Barcelona )
For decades , racial and colonialist reparation has occupied a prominent place on the political agenda of anti-racist and decolonial movements , and demands and initiatives for a new transitional justice have multiplied throughout the Atlantic area . Without elaborating on the characteristics of these movements , it is clear that the pressure exerted by them has made possible one of their main objectives : that these demands form part of the political plans of the different states that have been called upon to adopt measures that address reparation . One example is the European Commission ’ s resolution of 26 March 2019 on the “ Fundamental Rights of People of African Descent ”, which recommends that member states take measures to make reparations for colonialism — heritage restitution , declassification of archives , increasing the visibility of people of African descent , and so on . 1 In this context , and taking the “ African-American Redress Network ” initiative 2 as a reference , EUROM and the NIOD-Institute of the Netherlands set out to map and analyse reparation initiatives in the Spanish and Dutch contexts . The experience was developed throughout 2021 and 2022 and we can now provide some results , while also launching questions that we hope to answer better in the coming years .
The Spanish and Dutch maps have forced us to open up debates that allow us to situate the singularity of reparation demands in Europe , distancing us from simplistic approaches that seek a homogenous transatlantic approach . Historical , socio-demographic or academic processes must be delimited and taken into account , without denying that reparation movements share an agenda or constitute a global movement . The main questions raised
1
See : https :// eur-lex . europa . eu / legal-content / ES / TXT / PDF /? uri = CELEX : 52019IP0239 & from = ES
2
A project led by Columbia University ( NY ) and the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University , whose objective has been to map and promote reparations for individuals , families and groups who suffer or have suffered historical racial injustices in the US . See : https :// redressnetwork . org /
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Observing Memories Issue 6