Marc-William Palen
History Department, University of Exeter
Follow on Twitter/X @MWPalen

From starvation as a weapon of war to repaying Haiti for independence ‘reparations’, here are this week’s top picks in imperial and global history.

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Starvation is a weapon of war

Ateqah Khaki, Husein Haveliwala, and Vinita Srivastava
Conversation

On Monday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war and provoking famine in Gaza. Israel denies the allegations, which are some of the strongest words we have heard from a western power about the situation in Gaza since October. The EU statement comes on the heels of a UN-backed report that warns that more than one million people — half of Gaza’s population — face catastrophic starvation conditions.

The report compiled through a partnership of more than 19 international agencies, including the United Nations and the Canadian International Development Agency, goes on to say that without an immediate ceasefire and a major influx of food especially into areas cut off by fighting, famine and mass death in Gaza are imminent. [continue reading]

BONAIRE: A HISTORY OF SLAVERY, A PRESENT OF SOCIAL INEQUALITIES

Ann Van Mourik
Justice Info

The plaque stands adjacent to the ‘slave cabins’ (kasnan di katibu, in Papiamentu, the local language on Bonaire’s island), shelters for enslaved individuals built from 1850 to 1863 as lip service to those criticising the living conditions of slaves. It depicts enslaved laborers toiling in the saltpans – vast, pink-hued pools where seawater evaporated, leaving behind crystallized salt. And it bears the following inscription:

“Captains on the salt exporting ships would describe the beauty of the island, the colourful salt ponds, blazing sunsets with pink flying flamingos and the singing women who looked like mermaids carrying the salt for the ships anchored off shore. (…) These women indeed looked like mermaids from the sea. Their working-song, which later became a lullaby sung to children of the island, told their story. It starts with ‘Man pa makut’I Maria’ translated as ‘Give a hand to the basket of Maria’.” [continue reading]

Peace Museum to reopen at new location in August

Charles Heslett
BBC

Bradford’s Peace Museum will reopen in early August at its new location in Salts Mill. The museum opened in 1998 in Piece Hall Yard in Bradford city centre, although objects for its collection were being gathered from 1994 onwards. It is the only museum of its kind in the UK and it closed at the start of the pandemic as the original site was no longer viable.

A National Lottery Heritage Grant of just over £245,000 and £150,000 from Bradford 2025 City of Culture helped fund the move to a Grade II listed building in Saltaire, near Shipley. Museum director Joe Brooke said: “We’re opening in August, watch out for the official launch date because that’s going to be announced soon, but you heard it here first. [continue reading]

France urged to repay billions of dollars to Haiti for independence ‘ransom’

Reuters in Geneva
Guardian

France should repay billions of dollars to Haiti to cover a debt formerly enslaved people were forced to pay in return for recognising the island’s independence, according to a coalition of civil society groups that is launching a new push for reparations.

The Caribbean island state became the first in the region to win its independence in 1804 after a revolt by enslaved people. But in a move that many Haitians blame for two centuries of turmoil, France later imposed harsh reparations for lost income and that debt was only fully repaid in 1947. The group of about 20 non-governmental organisations currently in Geneva for a UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) are seeking a new independent commission to oversee the restitution of the debt, which they refer to as a ransom. [continue reading]