(15 Aug 2013) SHOTLIST
AP TELEVISION NEWS
1. Wide of people attending Rastafarian conference
2. Mid of audience listening to speaker UPSOUND Applause
3. Mid of audience applauding
4. Wide of conference
5. Mid of audience
6. Pan of audience
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jahlani Niaah, conference organiser:
"The whole context of reparations is really one that has been formulated in the public imagination by Rastafari. I think the steps taken by the government to officially establish a commission is the kind of indication that we're being heard at some levels, as to what kind of reaction and the pace at which this reaction takes place, that's a different thing."
8. Mid of sign on lecture hall at University of the West Indies campus where conference being held
9. Wide exterior of building where conference being held, with a table with Rastafari objects set up in front of it
STORYLINE
Dozens of Rastafarians gathered in Jamaica on Wednesday to brainstorm ways of pressuring European countries to pay reparations for slavery.
It's a key tenet of the religion that countries that benefited from the slave trade should pay reparations.
Now, the Caribbean Community bloc of more than a dozen nations is launching an effort to seek compensation for what they say is the lingering legacy of the Atlantic slave trade across the region.
Caricom, as the organisation is called, has enlisted the help of a prominent British human rights law firm and is creating a Reparations Commission to press the issue.
"The whole context of reparations is really one that has been formulated in the public imagination by Rastafari. I think the steps taken by the government to officially establish a commission is the kind of indication that we're being heard at some levels" said conference organiser Jahlani Niaah.
Mostly dreadlocked and colourfully attired followers assembled on Wednesday at lecture halls at the University of the West Indies as part of a week-long conference at the University of the West Indies campus in Jamaica.
A melding of Old Testament teachings and Pan-Africanism, it emerged in colonial-era Jamaica in the 1930s out of anger over the oppression of blacks and evolved into a unique spiritual movement.
Members have unsuccessfully petitioned Queen Elizabeth II for compensation over the years.
But the claims were rejected, as the monarchy said the U.K. government could not be held accountable for wrongs in past centuries since slavery wasn't a crime when it was condoned.
About a decade ago, a coalition of Rastafarian groups estimated that European countries formerly involved in the slave trade, especially Britain, needed to pay 72.5 billion pounds sterling (112 billion US dollars) to resettle 500,000 Rastafarians in Africa.
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
