this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
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The United Nations General Assembly has voted to recognise the enslavement of Africans during the transatlantic slave trade as "the gravest crime against humanity", a move advocates hope will pave the way for healing and justice.

The resolution - proposed by Ghana - called for this designation, while also urging UN member states to consider apologising for the slave trade and contributing to a reparations fund. It does not mention a specific amount of money.

The proposal was adopted with 123 votes in favour and three against - the United States, Israel and Argentina.

Countries like the UK have long rejected calls to pay reparations, saying today's institutions cannot be held responsible for past wrongs.

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[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml -4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, [...] What I do about Slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union - Abraham Lincoln

[–] GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So the president felt more responsibility to his nation than to the slaves, at a time where slavery was much less frowned upon than today. I have a hard time retroactively faulting him for that. If he did the right thing for the wrong reasons, is it not still the right thing to do?

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml -4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

The war was not fought over slavery. That was only a convenient add-on. The US south was the primary party benefiting from slavery and the north wasn't. Therefore it was easy for the North to tack that on the list.

While I don't see it as a bad thing, it was certainly not the primary motivator or reason the civil war was fought. Also it took quite a while after the civil war to actually abolish slavery and even now there are have things like forced prison labor which is primarily done by black men whose neighborhoods are overpoliced.

[–] Mulligrubs@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

The war was fought over slavery according to the South's constitution.

You quoted the wrong side, I suggest that you correct this mistake in the future.

The statement that "the war was not fought over slavery" is a falsehood according to history. It's not an obscure fact, you can read their constitution at any time. Educate yourself, please, you make me wince in embarrassment

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 0 points 7 hours ago

That's weird, Abe just said that he didn't really care about slavery, so why was there a war then?

[–] belastend@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

It was not a primary factor for the north. For the south, slavery was the single most important issue for fighting this war.

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 0 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Can't you see how this story doesn't make sense? Slavery already existed. So if the North didn't care about slavery, then why would the South need to fight for it?

[–] belastend@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 hours ago

Brother. Don't take it up with me, take it up the politicians of the south who named slavery as the number one issue for seceding and going to war. The north did not want an expansion of slavery, for the south the expansion of slavery was essential. And with Lincoln, there was a president in the white House, who at least tacitly supported the abolition of slavery before the war.