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A Windrush caution
By George Alleyne
While uncertainty over the exact level
of personal compensation that will eventually
be paid to Caribbean persons who
suffered discrimination as the ‘Windrush
Generation’, activists in
Barbados are advising not
to trust the British government
to honor its word.
Guy Hewitt, a former
diplomat and one of the
leading personalities in the
fight for compensation of
thousands of Caribbean
nationals who suffered discrimination
from the British
after serving that country,
and Buddy Larrier a
‘Windrush Generation’ victim
have warned that Britain
is veering towards the
Former Barbadian diplomat,
Guy Hewitt.
Photo by George Alleyne
political far right, which
would make the government cancel its
undertakings so victims should hasten to
get their paperwork in order.
The Windrush Generation comprises
Caribbean emigrants mainly from Barbados,
Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago
who were invited to England to fill a need
for workers following World War II, from
1948 to 1971.
Most of them travelled on the vessel SS
Empire Windrush, though in later years
they departed by plane.
Many of these persons who helped
rebuild a war-devasted Britain were unceremoniously
deported to their original
countries, and those who remained in
England along with their descendants
have suffered major ill-treatment.
Following a huge international outcry
with Hewitt as Barbados high commissioner
to Britain in the forefront last year,
the British Government agreed to compensate
these persons from a fund — said
to be open ended — starting at 200 million
pounds sterling, and to regularize the
citizenship status of the ones who did not
have such documentation.
Hewitt warned Wednesday that the
historical evidence says the British government
should not be trusted and urged
Caribbean governments, current diplomats
in the UK and non-governmental
organisations to join in ensuring the British
keep their word.
“It was only under immense duress
that the UK government was willing to
come to the table and start to address
this,” he said.
Hewitt cited an attempt at further discrimination
following the British government’s
pledge to compensate as a reason
that it cannot be left to honor its word.
“The recent deportation
of some persons from
Jamaica where there had
to be a judicial injunction
to stop further deportations
again is a sign that
the British government is
pandering to an extreme
right.”
He spoke of persons
informally termed ‘Yabos’
who are known for supporting
nationalist parties
in England and said, “those
types have been brought
into the political mainstream
because they are
voting.”
He warned that for this reason policy
may change because the British government,
“wants to make it seem that their
concerns are reasonable and rational.”
Larrier, who spent almost three decades
working in England as a member
of the ‘Windrush Generation’ and later
becoming an activist on behalf of the
suffering Caribbean workers, a few days
ago called on fellow nationals of the era
to speed up their applications for British
citizenship that is available to them now,
if they never obtained it while working in
England.
He advised the affected Caribbean persons
who are back in the region now to
make haste in regularising their documents
before the cut-off period, after
which all benefits will be lost.
“There are a number of people … who
do not get pension from the UK but
because of the reparations scheme …
Those people are entitled to their pension,”
he said in the Walled Garden Theatre
of the Museum.
He added, “there are some people who
get their pension but they do not have citizenship,
if they don’t be careful the cut-off
is going to come where you only get a pension
if you have British citizenship. And
that’s why it is now offered as part of the
compensation scheme.”
“If you apply for the British citizenship
once you have lived in England for those
periods you would get it and it wouldn’t
cost you anything.”
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