Reparations task force plans new strategy to bring Drax to talks

National Task Force on Reparations Chairman, Ambassador David Comissiong (File Photo) The National Task Force on Reparations is planning a new strategy to bring Richard Drax, the ancestral owner of the historic Drax Hall Plantation in St George, into negotiations over his family’s role in slavery, after what its chairman described as repeated refusals to engage. Task force chairman Ambassador David Comissiong said the former Conservative Party parliamentarian, whose family played a pivotal role in the development of slavery-based sugar production and the landmark Barbados slave code in the 17th century, continued to refuse to meet Barbadian officials to discuss reparations for the inhumane treatment of enslaved Africans on the plantation. Comissiong, Barbados’ ambassador to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said the matter involving Drax remained unresolved. He told Barbados TODAY: “Richard Drax has proved to be a very intransigent human being. He has resolutely refused to come to the table with any dialogue; any process of negotiation. He even rebuffed an outreach by the heirs of slavery. An English organisation comprising representatives of establishment families that were involved in enslavement and have recognised that they have to apologise, and that they have to make some gesture of reparation. “So, he is even unwilling to follow their example, or to accommodate any outreach from them.” “Mr Drax is playing hard ball; but we want him to know that we are just as capable of playing hard ball too. So, the issue is still very much a live issue. The task force [is] going to brainstorm a way of bringing Mr Drax to the discussion and negotiation table. Just like the British government which was adamant that there would be no discussion on reparation, that they are not entertaining reparations. Now they have come around. And similarly, we anticipate that Mr Drax will come around as well,” the ambassador said. You Might Be Interested In Following the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua and Barbuda last week, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham indicated his willingness to engage with the task force on reparatory justice talks. Comissiong said the Labour party leader had expressed an interest in a “structured dialogue” about the history of slavery and Barbados’ claims for reparations. He added: “We are very conscious now that the Task Force has a very important role to play. We now really have to up our game, because it is going to be critical, that once that structured dialogue gets into gear, it’s going to be vitally important that our Barbadian people are fully informed and apprised about the whole issue of reparations; the history that underpins it; that they be kept informed about the developments within that structured dialogue.” In December 2020, the Observer newspaper revealed that Drax had taken control of the 250-hectare plantation on his father’s death in 2017 but had not declared it in the UK MPs’ register of interests. He subsequently declared the plantation but said the registrar had told him he was not required to do so until probate was complete. Drax is one of the wealthiest MPs and is worth at least £150m, or about $406m. Historian Professor Sir Hilary Beckles has described Drax Hall as a “crime scene” where tens of thousands of enslaved Africans died in terrible conditions. The Drax family also owned a slave plantation in Jamaica, which they sold in the 18th century, and at least two ships that brought enslaved Africans to the Caribbean. Former task force chairman Trevor Prescod MP said: “Slavery is a crime against humanity. This is one plantation that the government should not be paying a cent for. We are pursuing efforts for reparations for damages that were done by the enslaver. One of the greatest examples of this is Drax Hall, not just for Barbados, but the whole Caribbean region.” (EJ)