The Truth Commission on The British Empire

Sathnam Sanghera suggests the Commonwealth is a good place to start the conversation on Truth, Reparations and Reconciliation on the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism. Recorded just before the last election it is more relevant now than ever, as sadly little has altered in attitude with the change of government. He also discusses his latest book Empireworld and his bestseller Empireland, an...

Netsayi is a critically acclaimed singer, who returned to Zimbabwe after living in the UK. She gives a vital alternative point of view on whether a GB TRC could ever work, whether its possible to discuss this across the races and whether financial reparations would ever appease the ancestors. She calls for African sovereignty to be respected, and reflects on how the patterns of the past are simply...

Today I speak with Richard Atkinson, author of Mr Atkinson's Rum Contract , the story of a tangled inheritance-a detective biography uncovering new truths in his family archives about Britains role in Transatlantic slavery. Evidence which can no longer be denied.   Richard speaks of his conflicted feeling in writing and exposing this story, but ultimately feeling morally obliged to publi...

Today is part two of our documentary series on the Seychelles Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission . Beneath the surface of this paradise archipelago lies a hidden and tragic history of torture, murder and forced disappearances. I speak with Demetri Wijesinghe, an international investigator at the TRC and ask him how he managed to persuade the high level intelligence operatives, mil...

Today we begin our 2 part documentary on the Seychelles Truth, Reconciliation and National Unity Commission. Beneath the surface of this paradise archipelago lies a hidden and tragic history of torture, murder, and forced disappearances,. I chat with renowned international legal practitioner and and Chair of the Seychelles TRC Gabrielle McIntyre.   Against all odd and expectati...

I speak to Peter Lepping, a consultant psychiatrist in Wrexham, and an honorary professor in Bangor University in Wales and Mysore medical college in India. Peter grew up in Germany and experienced the countries struggle to come to terms with its past, moving beyond shame by learning the lessons that gave a greater sense of responsibility for the future . ,When he moved to live in Britain he...

Today I speak with Sibo Kanobana, Postdoctoral Researcher, sociolinguistics and lecturer in postcolonial studies at Ghent University, Belgium and The Open University, Netherlands. We discuss his paper “Black activism through colonial monuments” which was presented at a conference on Courts, Commissions and the Making of an "official" Colonial Memory at NIAS in The Netherlands . These podcasts are...

Alex Renton  is a British journalist and broadcaster. He is the author of several historical and investigative books, most recently Blood Legacy: Reckoning With a Family's Story of Slavery (2021). In April 2023 he co-founded Heirs of Slavery, a group of descendants of people who had profited from British transatlantic slavery and want to make amends in the form of reparations. The group has c...

Nana-Jo Ndow founded the African Network Against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED), following her family tragedy when her father, Saul Ndow, was forcibly disappeared in 2013. She is a Human Right Activist, storyteller and gender rights specialist, based in The Gambia. In this episode we follow her search for the truth of what happened to her father, and her...

Richard Rogers is an expert in international human rights and international criminal law. He has held senior positions in the UN and the OSCE dealing with war crimes, human rights and legal reform, in Kosovo, Cambodia, and Yugoslavia. Recently he has advised on The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in The Seychelles. In this episode Richard draws on examples from his experience to discuss topics...

This taster has extracts from the interviewees recorded for the series so far. We hear clips from International UN Lawyers, Chairs of Truth Commissioners, victims and perpetrators who have testified, journalists and authors writing about British slavery and colonialism, human rights activists, psychiatrists, academics, those who have discovered new truths in family archives and those still searchi...

How can we move beyond the divisions and toxic culture wars polarising us over Britain's colonial past? Over this series I interview Conflict Mediators, International UN Lawyers and Investigators, Truth and Reconciliation Commissioners, victims and perpetrators that have testified at commissions, human rights activists, “Heirs of Slavery”, authors, artists, and psychotherapists.  We hear new...