The Commonwealth Games are rooted in slavery – it’s time to axe them

They should be replaced with a sporting event that isn’t bonded by racial trauma against a backdrop of Eurocentric denialism

“The Commonwealth Games are little more than a PR exercise for Rule Britannia,” a friend of mine said during a discussion about the major sporting event.

Although the games are an opportunity for talented athletes from various walks of life to showcase their abilities on a world stage, and potentially change their individual lives, I’ll admit that the concept of it sticks in my throat a bit.

I love a good game as much as the next person, but the event is unpalatable because the Commonwealth, as an institution, is rooted in chattel slavery and the brutalisation of African people: people such as my ancestors, who were abducted from Nigeria, brought to Jamaica and forced to work.

Moreover, the fact that so many contemporary socio-economic inequalities experienced by citizens of Commonwealth countries and their families is a direct consequence of the evils of the British Empire is not lost on me. How to celebrate when justice to those affected has been delayed and hence denied?

After the abolition of slavery in 1833, financially prosperous Britain skipped off into the sunset without investing in the economies of its former sources of slaves in any meaningful way – and those left behind in the former colonies have grappled with poverty and destitution ever since. Britain paid nothing to the freed slaves in an attempt to redress the injustices they suffered.

Headed by Queen Elizabeth II, the Commonwealth is a voluntary, political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former British Empire colonies. The tangible benefits of the Commonwealth for former colonies are debatable, though its supporters says developmental support and cooperation on international goals are among the benefits.

The long and short of it is that the wealth is not common in these countries, so what’s the point of the organisation? How may people living on the breadline in Ghana and Barbados, for example, say they owe a debt of gratitude to the Commonwealth?

Recent reports indicate that Britain controls more than $1 trillion (£830bn) worth of Africa’s most valuable resources. Moreover, more wealth leaves Africa every year than enters it – by more than £31bn – according to research that contradicts common perceptions of the continent flourishing through foreign aid.

The Commonwealth purports to be about “promoting justice and human rights”, yet reparatory justice for chattel slavery, a heinous crime perpetrated against African people by colonialists, has not been paid.

On the other hand, British taxpayers finished paying off the debt that the British government incurred in order to compensate British slave owners in 1835 because of the abolition of slavery and the inconvenience of not having free African labourers to make them rich.

Entities that have the ability to pay reparations to former colonies – such as the British government and the royal family – have, so far, refused to engage with calls for that. Yet Westminster, local government and other stakeholders have managed to fork out at least £778m to cover the costs of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. It is clear that the money is there.

The games will open a wealth of new opportunities for people who live and work in the UK – specifically Birmingham, which is expected by ministers to contribute millions to the UK economy, lasting far beyond the conclusion of the event. As such, it is revealing that the games have been disproportionately hosted in white-majority Commonwealth nations over the years, even though the Commonwealth comprises mainly Black-majority countries. This essentially means that money and opportunities are being afforded to these locations over and over again.

Despite the opening ceremony’s nod to diversity, there’s much more that needs to be done to balance out the playing field, so to speak.

No one I know who is from a “diverse” racial background, Black and Asian mostly, is following the games closely because there are more pressing things to be focusing on – such as the disproportionate impact of the cost of living crisis, which sees Black people more likely to go hungry than white people, more likely to face fuel poverty, more likely to face higher living costs and less likely to have substantial savings to fall back on.

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As the song says, “ain’t nothing going on but the rent” – and Her Majesty’s government, which continues to implode as I type, stands accused of not doing enough to help people from marginalised groups who are in dire need.

The Commonwealth Games should be scrapped and replaced with a sporting event that isn’t bonded by racial trauma against a backdrop of Eurocentric denialism. The end of slavery was marked on Emancipation Day, 1 August, and the UK establishment’s silence on the matter is a reflection of the anti-Black racism that thrives in this country. The government, by contrast, rightly issued a statement in observation of Roma Holocaust Memorial Day.

When you interrogate the wider context of the Commonwealth Games, it is difficult in all conscience to celebrate the event while the suffering of African people is the order of the day.

Leading up to the disastrous Royal Caribbean tours and beyond, former colonies have been examining their relationship with the British monarchy. It’s time we were all honest about the past. This is the only way we can productively move forward.