By Michael Franczak and Olúfẹ́mi O Táíwò, Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/PA, The Guardian, January 14, 2022
ctivists pushing for global reparations for colonialism and slavery are often accused of asking for the politically impossible. At the international scale, however, reparations are more plausible than one might think. That is because an international mechanism to move resources to the formerly colonized world in a politically feasible fashion already exists: the policy instrument of “Special Drawing Rights” (SDRs) managed by the International Monetary Fund.
Calls for changing SDR allocation are not new, nor is the idea that SDRs could function as reparations for trans-Atlantic slavery and colonialism. Professor Cynthia L Hewitt of Morehouse College argued for exactly this strategy as early as 2004. What is new is the political possibility opened by growing awareness of the global climate crisis, which requires solutions that are not only practical but historically just. SDR reallocation, as the Barbadian prime minister, Mia Mottley, suggested in her “stinging” speech at Cop26, is both.
Introduced in 1969, SDRs are essentially “IMF coupons” distributed to central banks or national treasuries around the world, which can either hold them or exchange them with other member countries for cash. “Adding SDRs to a country’s international reserves makes it more resilient financially,” the IMF explains. “In times of crisis, a country can dip into its savings for urgent needs (eg, to pay for importing vaccines).”
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