What does the UK, France and the Netherlands have in common?

[Rhyfelwyr]

Apologies for not giving a point-by-point reply, since I'm short on time, but let me say this...

The very act of giving sanction to private enterprises like the East Indian Company to operate is enough to hold the British state accountable to some degree for their actions. And even when the slave trade was banned through Wilberforce etc, slavery continued to be supported. The British state cannot shift responsibility for slavery in the colonies, since it clearly had the legal jurisdiction over them to enforce slavery policies, as can be seen from the fact that an Act of Parliament eventually abolished slavery throughout the Empire (save a couple of territories) in 1833.

And as for the wealth controversy, it may be that Britain had to rebuild its financial reserves from scratch after WWII, but even then slavery fuelled the very infrastructure that the ability to do that relied upon. Glasgow, Liverpool etc - a lot of the architecture in these Atlantic port cities was built by leading families in the slave trade. Naturally not every British citizens benefited, with markets and competition being what they are. But at the national level there is no question that Britain has historically benefited from slavery and the slave trade.

And as for those who suggest that by my logic FYR Macedonia should pay reparations for Alexander the Great - well, that line of thought is so obviously flawed I will only go into it if they ask me to.