AIBU to think I should get reparations?

[PositiveEngine]

I’m from a working class background. My ancestors, going back 200 years, were also working class people and before that, agricultural labourers. They weren’t slaves, but they were engaged in backbreaking manual work, for very little pay, housed in what were effectively slums, to make capitalists rich. They had no practical way out of that life and the impacts are still felt; I’ve done alright for myself, but the biggest determinant of where someone ends up in life remains where they started.

AIBU to think some reparations would level the playing field a bit?

There absolutely is. You see it in the US very clearly. I don't think the structural racism due to the ongoing impact of slavery even compares in the UK

I don't think this is about reparations to individuals anyway - it's at the community level. There's definitely a case in the US, maybe a case with the British colonies due to the damage caused but definitely not any individuals who can prove they have personally been damaged.

Firstly I think these are quite widely known events. Secondly the OP hasn’t said anything about slavery.

I come from a family of miners too. My grandad died young from the affects of asbestos. Can I come with when you rock up to wherever you’re going? We can have a nice lunch with some of the ££.

Quite - I really should have factored that into my wedding plans..... 😂

We shouldn't be giving anyone reparations for things that happened 200 years ago IMO. Of course we should be tackling inequalities and modern slavery - because slavery is still going on - but not handing money out to individuals for things that happened to their ancestors.

This is obviously a reverse.

But what you've set out is a case for a more redistributive economy along more socialist lines. Tax wealth, tax assets, tax inheritance at +50%.

The people of this country have repeatedly voted against this type of model. Personally I don't hate it. Not because of identity politics to do with anyone's great grandparents but because if we had a more equal society I think people would be happier and actually social mobility would increase.

But that's just my view. No political party is proposing this and if they did no one (else) would vote for them. Just me.

I'm not sure how widely known they are. That in modern terms Haiti lost $26 billion.

I know the OP didn't mention slavery or colonialism but I was assuming that this case is being made in that context. The only other context I know of national reparations is Gemany in the Holocaust and I assume the OP is not going as far as to suggest what happened was genocide (whereas the slave trade certainly has parallels)

It is very very clearly a reverse to take down the arguments in favor of reparations for the descendants of slaves. The post isn't making a massive leap joining the dots here.

Repatriations are not always- in fact they’re not often- cash payments to individuals. I don’t know why everyone is so fixated on that.

Maybe she thinks both should be repatriated? You haven’t asked her

I don't think I've ever seen so many socialists in one place on mumsnet. I thought everyone on here was proto-reform

Agreed. But they vote against it because they’re bootlickers who think their 3 bed semi being subject to IHT is exactly the same as lord cecil paying it on £400m of gifted land.

Walking round Quarry Bank mill last year and seeing how hard the workers had it made me wonder why old money is regarded as so much superior by some people as new money. Seeing the working conditions that made that mill owner richer made me very happy to count myself as ghastly new money!

Exactly! Bootlickers

My family were once wealthy merchants but aren't now. So does that mean I owe you reparations OP? Slight problem - I don't have any money.

I think it was the enclosures act or something like that when the UK land grab happened by the now rich.

I don't agree because I know people who had a privileged childhood who work bloody hard as adults.

No. Also from a working class background (miners, servants, farm hands). In the last couple of decades my parents and grandparents have made the difference through education and career opportunities. I went to a uni alongside people whose ancestors will have benefitted from the physical labour of my ancestors. I and my kids have more freedoms and opportunities than previous generations and they're ambitious.

If someone wanted to give me a load of money, lovely! But I realistically can't see it ever ever happening and the people who should have benefitted from that money are long gone.

Yes there are still huge inequities but I don't think this the way to address that.

Some of my ancestors came from County Mayo as a result of the famine. I think its only right I could have a slice of reparations too 😁

Well I guess your experience negates the reality of Structural inequality/ class determinism then?

Yes, I absolutely deserve some extra/free money from someone/anyone, please.
My g g g aunt was imprisoned in Ayrshire for stealing food for her family, aged 79.
So if that judges decendants feel any guilt I would be more than happy to receive their guilt money 😁
Please pm me for bank details into which you would like to pay
TIA x

Yes, YABU. As you mentioned, your ancestors weren’t slaves, so have already been compensated for their labour with wages.

I've got handed down family stories about one of my relatives being a union agitator trying to unionise farm labourers. That's from about 120 years ago.
They had to move every time he got sacked. They lived in farm tied accommodation which would have been beyond basic. I know where two of the 'cottages' where and it's dismal to think of a miserable wet June day living there let alone the depths of winter.

I think there should be a statute of limitations on historical wrongs. Once the people involved in the issue are gone, we put the matter to rest. Since we don’t want to discourage murder, we set it at 100 years.

Does that mean we accept that there are individual people living in strife today? Absolutely not. Instead of addressing those problems by trying to fight old battles, we tackle them as they are today.

Understanding that poverty is a generational issue doesn’t require inflaming a class war to fight the problem.

God sometimes I truly love the 'hide thread' function.

<hides thread> <for being irritating nonsense>