HISTORIC LITIGATION

PART I:  Introduction

By:  Munyonzwe Hamalengwa, August 8^th, 2000

There are many outstanding legal issues facing people of African ancestry crying out for redress every day.  These legal issues also portend for far-reaching political consequences worldwide.  Today’s article is aimed at identifying these issues.  Later articles will deal with each and other individual issues in detail.   

What are these legal issues coming under the rubric of “Historic Litigation”?  Slavery is one of them.  A U.S. African-American congressman from New York has been sponsoring a bill every year since the 1980s in the U.S. congress to address the issue of reparations to African-Americans for slavery but to no avail.  That bill has never been passed at all. 

In the mean time, the U.S.  and Canada have apologized to the Japanese-Americans and Canadians respectively, who were interned during the Second World War.  The U.S. pressured the German government to agree to compensate Jews who were enslaved during the Second World War.  Jewish organizations had independently sued Germany in the courts for reparations.  Jews were enslaved for a brief period.  Africans were enslaved for centuries. 

Inexplicably, African-Americans have never sued in the U.S. courts or anywhere else for that matter, for reparations.  No one knows whether that suit would survive.  People say it is a political question.  May I remind those people that politics has failed to resolve this issue.  A legal suit may just trigger a political response.  We have seen this over and over again in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere; lawsuits triggering political responses.

I am now calling for people to draft a legal claim.  The deadline for comparing notes is January 15^th, 2001.  Something has to be done about reparations for slavery.  Slavery would now be considered an international crime, an issue that is now potent within the international community.  There has never been a better time to sue than now.  Jews have just settled a suit for reparations for having been enslaved.  It is a hot topic.

There is a cadre of lawyers all over the world including Canada, who would be willing to undertake this and all historic litigation proposed here.  

The second issue deserving a legal suit is colonialism and the consequences of colonialism that still reverberate.  Colonialism would now be considered an international crime, with no statute of limitations.  Suing for reparations for colonialism would presumably be easier than suing for reparations for slavery.  Colonial countries are known:  They are Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, the U.S. and European Canadians who colonized Native Canadians.  The former colonies are also known:  Nigeria, Zambia, South Africa, Kenya, etc. etc. There is also a lot of evidence on the devastating impact of colonialism.  The Pope recently apologized for colonialism, among other issues.  There are still live witnesses.  I myself was born during the tail end of the colonial era in Zambia.  My father remembers plenty of injustices.  Native Canadians through their land claims and court battles are seeking redress and reparations for colonialism. 

A legal suit against colonialism can be initiated in any of the former colonial or colonized countries or anywhere agreed upon by the concerned parties.

It took a few individuals to find a sympathetic judge in Europe to indict former Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet.  Pinochet ruled less than 20 years.  Colonialism devastated Africa for close to a century.  There would be a whole history and masses to found a suit against the colonial powers.  Please draft a suit and present it to me by January 30^th, 2001 for further action.  No more political talk and posturing is required.  Legal action is the answer to these historic injustices.

The third legal issue would be to sue for the crime of apartheid, which was regarded as an international crime by the U.N. Convention on the Crime of Apartheid.  I have previously written about this issue, including an 80-page paper which is now with the War Crimes Unit in Ottawa and at the Hague.This suit like the others mentioned above would comprise multiple counts including conspiracy to commit this crime. This would capture individuals as well as countries and companies that sustained apartheid, or slavery or colonialism.  The suite for the crime of apartheid could be brought up practically anywhere including Canada, the U.S. and the Hague.  The Truth Commission would not be engaged.  That has limited legal application only in South Africa.  Plaintiffs would have to come from South Africa or must have been affected by Apartheid.

In terms of criminal indictment, any country wherever perpetrators or conspirators are found, can do.  

I challenge the public to draft indictments or legal suits for presentation to me for further action by February 15^th, 2001.

The fourth issue worthy of legally pursuing is the offence of aiding and abetting despots in the Third World to commit international crimes.  Who ordered and abetted Papa Doc and Baby Duvallier of Haiti?  Where is Baby Duvallier?  France.  Who aided and abetted Augusto Pinochet?  The U.S.A.  Who aided and abetted General Stroessner of Paraguay?  Where do African dictators run to when they lose power or are overthrown?  Europe and the U.S.A.  Where do they hide the money they plunder?  Switzerland.

Can there be dictators without aiders and abetters from the so-called Western world?  Hardly; evidence on this is massive.  The deadline for drafting a statement of claim on this legal issue is February 29^th 2001. 

Some legal and political issues can never disappear without some sort of cathartic resolution, whether in the form of a victory or a defeat.  Slavery, colonialism, apartheid and genocidal dictatorships aided and abetted by the West are some of these legal issues crying out for historic litigation and cathartic resolution.