Two letters to the editor have challenged the growing movement for colonial reparations, arguing that advocates often overlook practical obstacles and the full scope of historical injustices. Graham Hadibi-Williams, a London nurse of English heritage, questions who should finance reparations, noting that his ancestors were impoverished Lancashire miners and cotton mill workers rather than slave owners.
Hadibi-Williams contends that the primary beneficiaries of colonial wealth were landowning classes and those with inherited assets now hidden in offshore accounts. He warns that asking the modern British working class to fund reparations through taxation, when they already struggle with housing and living costs, will hinder public support. He calls for targeting specific institutions and squirrelled-away profits rather than general moral appeals.
Separately, Indian expat Abhishek Kalyankar criticises the exclusion of the Indian subcontinent from the reparations dialogue. He points to the systematic extraction of wealth, millions of lives lost to manmade famines in Bengal, and the displacement of cultural heritage, such as the Koh-i-Noor diamond and temple statues held in British institutions. Kalyankar also highlights the bureaucratic hurdles and high costs faced by Indian professionals seeking visas to the UK, arguing that any discussion of colonial injustice must include all 1.4 billion Indians whose history was fundamentally shaped by empire.
