Let’s deal with colonialism: DiEM25 backs Repair campaign

Across Europe, the legacies of colonialism remain unaddressed, written into our wealth, our institutions, and the deep inequalities that persist between continents. DiEM25 has long pledged to confront those legacies honestly and act in solidarity with those demanding justice.

Now, our movement is putting that pledge into practice. DiEM25 and its members are proud to support The Repair Campaign – a social movement and not-for-profit organisation raising awareness and building solidarity for the Caribbean reparations movement, guided by CARICOM’s Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice.

The Campaign’s message is clear: the time to act and bring about real change is now. The governments, institutions, and individuals in the UK and Europe who perpetrated and profited from chattel slavery and colonial exploitation must apologise and commit to repair.

You can add your name to this call here.

What is the Repair campaign?

The Repair Campaign was created to support and amplify the growing Caribbean reparations movement – a movement rooted in historical truth and moral responsibility. Its mission is twofold:

To build solidarity and strengthen advocacy. By mobilising people across the world, the campaign is amplifying the voices of Caribbean nations and their regional reparations committees, united under the CARICOM Reparations Commission’s Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice. This increase in activism around the world, underpinned by the thousands of signatories to its ‘Sign in Solidarity’ campaign, demonstrate to parliaments in Europe that global public opinion supports formal apologies and meaningful commitments to repair.

To support the delivery of reparations through long-term structural projects. The Repair Campaign isn’t about calling for change; it is about making it happen. Working with the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), The Repair Campaign helps develop country-specific projects designed to address the enduring damage of slavery and colonialism. These include initiatives for education, healthcare, land reform, and debt cancellation which are the foundations of real, lasting repair.

In July 2025, the campaign facilitated a delegation of Caribbean researchers and advocates to brief parliamentarians in Brussels and London. Hosted by Irish MEP Seán Kelly in the European Parliament and by MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy in the UK’s House of Lords, the delegation shared evidence, research, and testimony about the ongoing impact of colonial exploitation. The visit built new alliances among European representatives and signalled growing recognition that reparatory justice is not only a Caribbean issue — it is a European responsibility.

Why Repair matters

The impacts of chattel slavery are not confined to the history books. The consequences of the Caribbean’s colonial history are still keenly felt today:

• High rates of diabetes, hypertension, and other public health crises
• Underfunded education and limited access to land
• Structural racism and high youth unemployment
• Ongoing debt burdens and economic dependency
• Generations of trauma, violence, and inequality

Between 1514 and 1887, the Caribbean was at the epicentre of some of the greatest crimes against humanity: the trafficking and enslavement of over 5.3 million Africans, the genocide of Indigenous peoples, and the systematic extraction of wealth that built European empires.

Millions of Africans were transported to the Caribbean under unimaginable conditions. Enslaved men, women, and children were treated as property, forced into brutal labour, and subjected to systemic torture, sexual violence, and murder.

These atrocities were legally codified and economically calculated to maximise profits. Most enslaved people died within three years of arrival.

When emancipation came in 1834, the people who had endured generations of suffering received nothing. Instead, European enslavers were paid billions in today’s currency as compensation for their “lost property”.

Caribbean societies, left impoverished and deliberately underdeveloped, were forced to rebuild amid crushing debt and persistent racial hierarchies that continue to shape the region’s economies and health systems today.

The wealth extracted through slavery and colonialism financed Europe’s industrialisation, infrastructure, and modern institutions. Repair is therefore not about guilt — it is about justice.

What reparatory justice means

“Reparatory justice” is often misunderstood as simply monetary compensation. But as the CARICOM Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice and The Repair Campaign both make clear, it is much broader than that.

Reparatory justice means repairing the damage caused by centuries of exploitation – moral, social, cultural, and economic. It acknowledges responsibility and focuses on transforming the conditions that still deny equality and dignity to Caribbean people.

That includes:

• Formal apologies and public acknowledgment of historical crimes
• Debt relief for Caribbean nations trapped by financial systems created during colonial rule
• Investment in public institutions – healthcare, education, and technology – to undo centuries of deliberate underdevelopment
• Open technology transfer and knowledge-sharing to enable self-determined, sustainable growth

Rather than acts of charity, they are obligations of justice and solidarity.

DiEM25’s commitment

For DiEM25, supporting The Repair Campaign is part of a broader effort to decolonise Europe’s political imagination. We cannot build a democratic, just Europe without confronting the foundations of our privilege, the extraction and exploitation that enriched European nations at the expense of others.

Our members have voted to make confronting colonialism a priority for our movement. Supporting the Repair Campaign is how we put that commitment into practice: by amplifying Caribbean voices, advocating policy change in European institutions, and mobilising members across the continent to act.

Change requires courage, organisation, and persistence. The Repair Campaign offers a framework – and a movement – through which we can all contribute to repair.

How you can help

• Learn more and sign in solidarity at repaircampaign.org/sign
• Join DiEM25 to take part in our upcoming campaign activities and briefings with Caribbean partners
• Spread the word: share this article, talk to friends, and raise awareness in your community or local DiEM25 collective

Colonialism built the world we live in. It’s time we rebuild it, together.