"We've got to recognise that the formal abolition of colonialism doesn't address the ongoing and very racially discriminative structures that have been built by those practices, which continue to resonate today in a variety of forms. Many contemporary manifestations of racial discrimination have to be understood, I think, as a continuation of insufficiently remediated historical harms and structures of racial injustice and inequality."
In this podcast: False binaries: Reparative approaches to the legacy of colonial injustice, Partner Ben Brandon and South African barrister and academic, Max du Plessis SC, discuss the idea of reparations for colonial wrongdoing and the forms that reparations can take.
They explore the contemporary objections to reparative justice and why, despite the difficulties, colonial injustice and its present day legacy of racism and violence can and should be addressed.
About Mishcon de Reya's Black History Month programme:
The programme, entitled "Colonial Amnesia: A Legal and Historical Review of the Afterlife of Britain's Rule in Africa", takes a critical look at the history and legacy of over two centuries of Britain's colonial rule in Africa. It explores alternative perspectives to the celebration of the British imperial age that our building, Africa House, represents.
We are proud to welcome a range of impressive speakers and experts to help us embark on a process of recovering lost memories of a frequently overlooked and misunderstood period, in doing so we hope to tap into a vibrant and dynamic intellectual space where history, law, race and culture combine to produce fresh ideas to challenge the toxic legacy of colonial injustice.
Visit the Mishcon Academy for more learning, events, videos, podcasts and reports.