This House Would Pay Reparations | Cambridge Union

November 10th 2022 at 20:00 in the Debating Chamber
Debate Results: Prop: 302 | Absn: 67 | Opp: 93
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Thumbnail Photographer: XXXXXXXXXXXX
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The University of Cambridge has recently launched an extensive investigation into the legacies of slavery at this university. Additionally, the University Council decided to return the collection of Benin Bronzes held in Cambridge back to the government of Nigeria following their looting long ago. There is no better time to revisit the question of whether Britain owes reparations to its former colonies.
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Proposition
1. Bell Riberio-Addy has been the labour Member of Parliment for Streatham since 2019. She is a self-described "life-long socialist" and feminist, and served as Shadow Minister for Immigration in 2020.
2. Dr Meera Sabaratnam
Dr Meera Sabaratnam is a reader in International Relations at SOAS University of London. Her research focuses on the colonial and postcolonial dimentions of world poltics, and her book Decolonising Intervention seeks to criticise the current model of development aid.
3. Student Speaker
Opposition
1. Fr Calvin Robinson
The Reverend Calvin Robinson is an Anglican Deacon, TV/Radio Presenter and Conservative Commentator. He regularly features on GMB, BBC Radio, GB News and in print for The Telegraph, Daily Mail, Spectator and Spiked.
2. Rafe Heydel-Mankoo
Rafe Heydel-Mankoo (FRCGS, BA, LLB, MA) is an author broadcaster and historian specialising in British institutions, the Monarchy and the Commonwealth Realms. From the BBC to ABC, Rafe is a well-known commentator in national and international media. He is a trustee of the Royal Canadian Heritage Trust and a senior fellow at the New Culture Forum think tank.
3. Studnet Speaker
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[@between-paradise-and-hell]

Is this cambridge university or an adult daycare centre?

[@travtotheworld]

Yes.

[@BN-hk6wf]

What a smug self important and prejudice audience. Absolutely no self awareness and incapable of listening to reason.

[@Alun49]

This is a tame version of how debates take place in the Houses of Parliament in the UK every day. I actually think this is closer to how debates should take place, and takes us back to how the Greeks debated two thousand years ago. Politeness has its place, but challenges from the floor are essential, as is the right of the audience to express their responses to the arguments presented.

[@WaaDoku]

Adult??

[@lloydgush]

Both.

[@econoclast6284]

Very disappointing that attendees at one of the most prestigious universities in the world cannot listen to opposing opinions without jeering, laughing, and gasping.

[@bubandlisa]

The Americans were the most cringe

[@robertmcdougall1144]

@@bubandlisa Na, these "prestigious" universities are the most cringe

[@briandelaney9710]

You should have heard the Common Market debate at the Oxford Union in 1975. Much jeering and catcalling. It’s not a new phenomenon and occurs all the time in the House of Commons

[@herculeholmes504]

Try to see it from their point of view. I am cringing at the absolute garbage spewed by Bell Riberio-Addy, and if I'd been there to hear her speak live, I'd struggle to not pull faces. I am quite sure that the indoctrinated Marxist and extreme-liberal students of the audience equally struggled to listen to claims that black people aren't entitled to reparations and that the white man did more good than bad; these are ludicrous and highly offensive statements in their world.

[@Alun49]

They are simply reflecting the kind of debating style which is at the heart of the British Parliament.

[@lapun47]

The reputation of Cambridge University takes a massive hit here. These students are unbelievably rude and apparently opinionated.

[@straighttalking2090]

Yup.. this is one up for Oxford.

[@13thcentury]

Well yes. They've been indoctrinated.

[@adam_p99]

Being opinionated is not a negative. However I strongly disagree with this laughable outcome

[@adam_p99]

@@straighttalking2090Cambridge invented football. Oxford created the word, “soccer”. I rest my case 😊

[@straighttalking2090]

@@adam_p99 Yup, put your baggage down, have a rest while you think up something meaningful to say.

[@justmemimi7338]

The behaviour of the audience members is appalling: Talking, sneering, chatting, laughing, on their phones and sticking their fingers in their mouths like toddlers. They seem incapable of sitting still and listening. I hope thé second speaker is offered an apology from the Union, for the disgraceful way he was treated. This was certainly not the way we conducted ourselves at debates when I was at university, regardless of our agreement or disagreement with individual speakers or the topic as a whole.

[@maxxwellbeing9449]

I agree 100%. They show just how ignorant and immature that they are showing very little maturity or respect for views that don’t align with theirs. It’s a definite mark of a simpleton.

[@albertgrant1017]

The actions of these students is absolutely incredulous.acting like spoiled children. God help Western Civilization !

[@GroundedTech]

The way these young people are laughing at what Calvin is saying shows how totally out of touch and uneducated they are. Is this really the best we can do?

[@allenpoe17]

They are bored, purposeless, they have no meaning in their lives and it shows.

[@James-th7wb]

@@allenpoe17 That Chinese Cambridge student acting like he isn't privileged. LOL. Wow. They have no self-awareness.

[@pollymath2010]

They are pampered and lazy, they have no curiosity whatsoever. Our society is so screwed.

[@Jason88215]

One member raised a point of information drawing attention to those still suffering the repercussions of Empire - such as the Windrush Generation - but Robinson asked: “In what way are you suffering?”. How is that an apt response to that member’s POI which actually raises a good point? Calvin’s reply was just as childish as the ‘your mom’ POI. If being privileged means that you cannot speak out on social issues, then most MPs shouldn’t have a say on anything and won’t be able to do their job. It’s a ridiculous argument.

[@chadseeber3998]

The level of globalist brainwashing is astounding....private schools all the way for my kids

[@SonOfAnders73]

The gasps of shock and horror when someone dare point out they are privileged !

[@Jason88215]

One member raised a point of information drawing attention to those still suffering the repercussions of Empire - such as the Windrush Generation - but Robinson asked: “In what way are you suffering?”. How is that an apt response to that member’s POI which actually raises a good point? Calvin’s reply was just as childish as the ‘your mom’ POI. If being privileged means that you cannot speak out on social issues, then most MPs shouldn’t have a say on anything and won’t be able to do their job. It’s a ridiculous argument.

[@SonOfAnders73]

are you referring to the laughing hyena in a snoopy jumper ? And I believe Calvin is a direct descendent of the Windrush generation accepting the fact he himself is privileged . So should the little Asian child pay reparations to Calvin is that the argument ?

[@Jason88215]

@@SonOfAnders73 Wow Calvin definitely speaks for the whole Windrush generation. I just don’t see what ‘privilege’ adds to this debate. It certainly shouldn’t take away a person’s right to speak out on social issues. People are born into ‘privilege’. It happens purely by chance.

[@SonOfAnders73]

@@Jason88215 No but you and the Asian kid do ? Some people drag themselves out of poverty in to positions of privilege . Look you seem to be arguing with a voice in your head so best of luck with that and bye

[@Jason88215]

@@SonOfAnders73 Yes? That’s my point. Being privilege is not necessarily ‘bad’, so it is a flawed argument by Calvin to use it to attack many audience members in the debate. What matters is how you use it. So it’s commendable for someone to use its privilege status to speak out for the less privileged, when they can easily try to protect their own privilege by excluding other people from joining it.

[@thesealord4693]

The behavior of the Chinese kid is appalling. What a disgrace for a person who is on a good University.

[@bubandlisa]

And those 2 american idiots too. They 🤬 up their country then move here to spread their 💩

[@909mrwill]

The term "Jumped Up" has never been more apt than for that kid.

[@bobimoto28]

I pity his parents spending their money for nothing...or maybe they are important members of the C C P and thats even worse ....the North Korean dictator studied in the west...Switzerland i think

[@unrealharry]

These kids don’t want to listen, just tunnel vision on what’s trendy.

[@jaibonaparte]

Worse still, they probably don't even like Huey Lewis and the News

[@gilltrewick5219]

Unfortunately this was a lost debate before stepping into the room. They are not prepared to listen.

[@dayaruthbenzaquen7229]

sadbuttrue

[@SirRodericSpode]

Credit due to Calvin for walking into the heart of the woke cathedral and nailing his theses to the door. It is clear to see that the mind virus has infected almost all but a brave few. Will humanity overcome this great evil?

[@hamilcarofcarthage4178]

The reason these kids at Cambridge behave as they do is because not only have they never experienced real life, they have no fear that they ever will.

[@thehypest6118]

This is arguably the truest statement in this entire comment section, they are children playing make pretend who have no incentive to grow, I grew up cold and hungry and watching these privilaged buffoons act this way is insulting

[@daveblack1000]

actually terrifying how all these young minds are laughing at the only voice making any sense.

[@WaaDoku]

It looks like a mob that has been completely brainwashed in addition to not being educated on their own country's history. How did they make it into such an elite school?

[@properpolymath2097]

They're laughing because they're in shock and don't know how to process what they're hearing

[@hughoxford8735]

I'm not angry at these kids, I'm sure I would have been one of them. I'm angry at the superannuated grifters who exploit their ignorance, and a system which gives them the vote.

[@alexgibson2871]

me too, its nigh on impossible to prove who is grifting i guess (unless a crime is committed), but theres a sense, like with ngozi F, where the integrity seems to be lacking. Would make a good "An inspector calls or 'Dial R for Racism' for 2023 :)

[@kpamafrederic6558]

You could not give a better example of how failing the school system is than to show these Cambridge students. Definitely the best argument for rqising the voting age

[@AAWT]

And a very good argument to stop treating post-Y2K university "education" as anything valuable. These people are not educated, they're just indoctrinated. Most non-university "educated" people are way smarter, better behaved, and capable of being productive members of society. If you hire a Cambridge graduate, you're asking for a woke lawsuit over some nonsense that ends up offending these snowflakes.

[@grumscott]

Look at the state of the students they are incapable of listening to anything Calvin said. If that's the future we are in trouble.

[@laughingachilles]

Notice the number of times Socialism was mentioned, or at least negative opinions of Capitalism. The students are being taught by Socialists and Communists of various flavours who have a single common goal; the destruction of society in order to build a new Socialist/Communist system. In order to destroy a society you need to demonise everything it did in the past, make people ashamed of their history and even make them hate it so much they will tear it down and try to expunge it completely from memory. These kids are smart but they are not wise. They can memorise facts but their thought processes are so infected with far-leftist positions they cannot interpret things in an even-handed way. Anyone mentioning a single positive aspect of the British Empire is obviously just a racist, because to them it's not possible for anything good to have happened during British rule. The girl at 1:13:00 proves this point rather nicely when she demands the opposing side not mention any good things about the empire and saying we put in railroads and hospitals is itself racist. It is difficult to fathom how people who are obviously intelligent can make such moronic statements. Only indoctrination can produce such results.

[@odoggow8157]

I'm investing in a robot bum wiper

[@shinyshen805]

So true

[@bath_neon_classical]

“All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health..........”

[@odoggow8157]

Indeed

[@laughingachilles]

I don't pay taxes for politicians to give them away to foreign powers. How dare they give money away over such nonsense when there is a gaping hole in the budget which is about to be fixed by raising taxes and cutting services.

[@JaKommenterar]

Then you’re in for a surprise when you find out what they actually spend the taxes on, abroad and at home.

[@laughingachilles]

@@JaKommenterar I'm well aware of how it's spent, the awful corruption, funding coups and weapon deals etc. IT's one of the reasons I'm in favour of massive tax cuts. It would force the wasteful spending to be reduced; that is unless they simply printed more and continued to deflate the currency.

[@Dave5400]

Hang about, how did the first speaker get from "Should this House pay reparations?" to "Look at all the right-wing nationalism rife in Europe" and "Brexit isn't working"? Stay on topic, please!

[@MiguelBaptista1981]

This is Cambridge. Not some suburban middleschool. The immaturity on behalf of the students is frightening, and our future looks pretty doomed to be honest.

[@victoriarose1840]

"Your Mom"- great stuff. These little prats should be ashamed of themselves. Academia is in an absolute mess

[@WaaDoku]

Well, at least they learn using each other's correct preferred pronouns. That's the important stuff that students in one of the best schools in the world should take away. History or present day slavery can wait.

[@MrSpunkyspunky]

Calvin is an absolute legend 👏👏👏👏

[@pete3122]

In his mind

[@herculeholmes504]

He did well enough, but the real star of the show was surely Rafe.

[@biggoards2772]

​​@@herculeholmes504 He was absolutely brilliant! So much so that his argument seamlessly countered the opposing argument which he himself pointed out during his statements.🙂

[@Andrew-fy9wu]

@@pete3122 In most objective minds.

[@nigelralphmurphy2852]

No, he's a myth.

[@KH-gn3tl]

Gosh. I’m grateful that Calvin is willing to stand up and debate and in such a reasonable way.

[@elizabethhumphries5429]

Sorry, is this actually the Cambridge Union? Is it not high-school students visiting or something hearing a debate or an opposing view for the first time? This can’t be Cambridge…these can’t be the brilliant minds of the future… what a disgrace.

[@travtotheworld]

This is Cambridge, but you're right, these aren't the brilliant minds of the future. The universities are a disgrace and their graduates should be actively discriminated against in hiring. A high school drop out with five years of work experience is better than a college grad well over half the time.

[@alexgibson2871]

i wonder if they read these comments out in the SU bar. Now that would be privilege.

[@CleverGirlAAH]

Yeah it's a room full of creepy 15 year olds.

[@tybaltyrant1]

I wasn't like this at uni... What has happened?

[@TABSF1]

The immaturity of some of the younger people in the audience, they should be embarrassed. They wasn't willing to listen, even give them a chance to speak. The final argument against pretty much sells it. Cash fixes nothing, real systematic change is everything. I really do implore the younger members/audience members look into slavery. Almost every nation was involved with slavery. It was considered normal and morally acceptable. Religion says its morally acceptable in their "great" books. Furthermore Africa had its own internal slave trade 1,000 years before Europe and Middle East got involved. The second speaker against also makes a great point that slavery is still a problem in 2022 within African nations, sales of people too Arabic speaking countries. Finally, holding 17th-19th century people up against 21st century standards is completely laughable. Likely the same will be said about us in 22nd century.

[@TABSF1]

@@ImperialMindMusic Kids... At one of the most prestigious universities. And they're at least 18! As stated some of the most privileged people in the world within that room!

[@MrJohnnyDuke]

Re your para 5 above. The answer is Oil, Arms sales, wealth and the fear of being called names is why the Saudis and others aren't called out for the ongoing situation in the region. The World Cup is a case in point where such wealth and a strange desire accommodate 'the other' have led to a perfect storm of hypocrisy. Even the estimated deaths of 7000 'workers' seems to be able to be ignored in the haze of political correctness. Makes an absolute mockery of 'taking the knee'.

[@robertmcdougall1144]

@@ImperialMindMusic They are not "kids"... this is the issue here.

[@suburbanyobbo9412]

@@ImperialMindMusic The behaviour of many in that crowd was unacceptable.

[@ToxicallyMasculinelol]

I can't speak to the Quran, but just to be clear, the Hebrew Bible does not say slavery is acceptable. It contains numerous references to slavery and a handful of rules about the rights and obligations of slaves and slave holders that we would find appalling today in the west, but 1) it never says slavery is morally permissible, 2) it contains the subversive seeds of an intellectual theological argument against slavery, and 3) the reason we find such compromises appalling is because we have already abolished slavery. It's easy for people born after the war against slavery was already won to look back at things like Deuteronomy or the Three Fifths Compromise and sit in judgment of their forebears. It's easy to be absolutists when we don't live in a society where the most brutal kind of slavery is normalized, in which the unegalitarian slave rules of the Bible would reform society, drastically reduce the brutality of slavery, and ensure the liberation of slaves after a period of time. Obviously it would have been better if the Bible just said slavery is illegal and eliminated it with the stroke of a quill. But that's a fantasy. In a Canaanite civilization whose culture and social norms were based on Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, both societies organized from the ground up around the most extreme subjugation of the many to the few, who would have accepted it? How would this revolutionary new idea of a higher, politically independent law-a set of proclamations above and binding on kings-have ever got off the ground if everyone but the slaves found it unacceptable? It's better to make a compromise and actually move the needle than to shout futilely about your moral principles and have no effect. If your options are 1) to prohibit the killing and maiming of slaves, guarantee the basic necessities of life for slaves, and command that slaves be released after 7 years, in return for prohibiting slave revolts; or 2) to try and fail to prohibit slavery altogether; it's not some kind of moral failing to take the first option. Especially since nothing is ever final. It's easy to sit in judgment in 2022 when you've never had to make any contribution whatsoever to abolishing slavery. It's easy to judge people for compromising with evil when you've never even had to look at it face to face. At the time, the Hebrew Bible made the lives of slaves better and at least gave them a strong chance of being set free. In return for requiring that slaves be provided for, that their basic rights (other than freedom) be respected, and that they be liberated after 7 years, the Bible gave the slave holders peace of mind by ordering the slaves not to rebel or kill their masters. Is that morally right? Don't slaves have the right to do whatever is necessary to liberate themselves? Maybe, but if the Bible said so, the masters would have seen it as subversive propaganda. They would have suppressed it. It's precisely because it makes a compromise that it came to dominate Canaanite society. And that society and the religious principles on which it was founded became the foundation of the eventual abolition of slavery. Like it or not, those who abolished slavery did so because of religious inspiration. For a modern person, a beneficiary of their risks and sacrifices and hard work, one who never had to reason about slavery for himself, who never had to think about it independently, who never had to buck against a society that universally tolerated slavery, who only knows slavery is evil because that's what he was taught, to retrospectively blame slavery on the religion of the actual abolitionists, is absurd.

[@michaelpcoffee]

Reparations is actual proven victims being compensated by their actual violators. Forcing the innocent to pay nonvictims for something that happened to neither of them is not reparations.

[@odoggow8157]

your comment is all needs said! An hour and a half debate is just a waste of time when it can be simply put

[@michaelpcoffee]

@@odoggow8157 Too many people have redefined reparations as getting a windfall from the government for being a race.

[@Tomas-ml9nv]

Reparations to the Irish first then...

[@michaelpcoffee]

@@Tomas-ml9nv Nobody gets paid reparations for being an ethnicity.

[@aliciafletcher9739]

Isn't that what Britain did, by paying slave owners 20 mil, the loan for which that wasn't paid off until 2015; n obligating the slaves to pay reverse reparations to slave owners, in the form of 4 years free slave labour?? What about Haiti paying France 150 million Francs?? The payments ran for a total of 122 years from 1825 to 1947, with the money going to more than 7,900 former slave owners and their descendants in France. By the time the payments ended, none of the originally enslaved or enslavers were still alive. But what often gets forgotten by those who oppose reparations is that payouts for slavery have been made before - numerous times, in fact. And few at the time complained that it was unfair to saddle generations of people with a debt for which they were not personally responsible. There is an important caveat in these cases of reparations though: The payments went to former slave owners and their descendants, not the enslaved or their legal heirs.

[@iceniwargames6347]

the fact that they are more worried about paying for slavery that took place generations ago than they are stopping slavery taking place right now shows how lost they are.

[@pamelajulian1789]

If I hadn't decided to watch in full, I would have thought it was a Primary School debate, such adolescent behaviour, badly supervised, one couldn't fail to notice the bad manners and lack of respect for the first opposition speaker, Calvin Robinson. I can only assume such disdain was due to lack of knowledge. Was this really Cambridge University! God help those students in the real world. Personally I am opposed to any suggestion of reparations, not only because of the arguments very ably and factually put forward, but because I felt the arguments for reparations were not strong enough, or indeed sensible, and as was pointed out, who would pay? The fact that Britain is now a multicultural country, it would mean descendants from ancestors in those colonies, now living here, would have to pay too. This debate leaves me thinking that if Britain is considered to be such a bad country, because of it's past history, why do so many wish to come here? 🤔

[@mrb2843]

It is an activist mindset, disruption and chaos. No dissent allowed. It's clearly encouraged and taught within the microcosm of academia and the result is activism throughout all areas of society.

[@josm1206]

I'll give you a true anecdote that reveals how dangerous and divisive this biased revisionism is. I was in London visiting a university when two precocious Nigerian students, born in Lagos but brought up in London from a young age, still with a Nigerian lilt to their accents told me that white British people owe them reparations for slavery. At which point, I gave them a history lesson. Their birth city of Lagos was forced to stop slaving by British bombardment in 1851. Britain struggled to stop Nigerians slave trading. That's a fact. Not only that, but after Britain left, Lagos renamed it's Independence Square after a local slave trader. You can see her statue there today! So, these Nigerian immigrants were harbouring hate and entitlement for slavery from people who stopped their ancestors slaving.

[@odoggow8157]

@@josm1206 so ur saying ancestors of slavers think they are owed reparations from the British ancestors of slaves. Everyone I know is struggling to heat and eat yet we are expected to care for 7billion selfish and lazy ungrateful haters. Talk about bighting the hand that feeds them is too polite a response!

[@orythesaint]

Watch the kids body language. It's distinctly toddler like. Picture them sitting on a rug in a classroom and you'll see how underdeveloped they are. Cambridge should truly be embarrassed.

[@Flamable1]

You can tell these kids only care about how they appear in front of their peers. What's important to them is having an opinion which is socially acceptable and seen to be "good" The truth is not important to them, in fact the post modern idea is that "Truth" is not objective, but subjective. We will eventually find out that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. The future of our nation is in the hands of many of these young people. God help us 🙏

[@harveyyoung3423]

I fear the road to hell is intentionally paved without intention. I've just added a comment here an hour ago on this. On these young people: i was worse when i was at uni. I probably would've either been: at a party; or sleeping the previous parties excess off, instead of been at some debate.

[@DanielSanchez-nj2oj]

It’s easy to argue for reparations when you haven’t paid a single bit of tax in your life. When they start taking up to 60% of their salary we’ll see what they do/say

[@odoggow8157]

It needs put to them, those that wish to pay reparations sign a contract that taxes them 90 percent for their entire working life see how many virtue signallers reach for their pens 🖊 😑 its just the same crowd that are for immigration but wouldn't offer a spare room in their own home or street

[@dannyarcher6370]

You're assuming they'll be employable.

[@DavidDavid-kl4ru]

Brilliant comment. It's always different when it's other people's money

[@vvwalker7261]

Couldn't have put it better myself

[@tc5273]

When you are young, naïve and easily led, its easy to buy in to the ideology of 'socialism' because you think you know the cost of everything and think 'equality' means 'fairness'. When you grow up and understand the value of everything, you tend towards the opposite because you realise fairness has nothing to do with equality.

[@ninjajvs769]

It's looks like Calvin is debating with alot of childish, immature and ill mannered individuals.

[@hammersmithbridge9115]

I hope the guy withe the REd Tops parents are watching this. I would be so embarrased about his complete lack of understanding of how India and Paikstan was created after WWI and how the Rwanda crisis started. How embarrasing not withstanding the constant interupting and gigging like a child. I expected more of this from our so called Elite University - its clearly less intellgent than a lower 6th debating society at any school in the country. What has Cambridge done to itself!

[@mrb2843]

The chinese students are hilarious. How soon they have forgotten Tibet and Hong Kong.

[@CleverGirlAAH]

"Don't mention the war!"

[@roykliffen9674]

Wasn't Genghis Khan Chinese?

[@JohnJohnson-zt3bv]

@Roy Kliffen Mongolian

[@roykliffen9674]

@@JohnJohnson-zt3bv thnx, but he did rule China, didn't he?

[@JohnJohnson-zt3bv]

@Roy Kliffen he ruled parts of modern day china but not Han china, that was his successors.

[@Liam-yr4uf]

One of the worst debates I've seen. So poorly managed. Audience and speakers interjecting with questions and repudiations midway through speeches?!! The whole point of a civilised debate is that you respect each speaker by listening to and acknowledging what the speaker says, then having considered their argument(s) thoughtfully, you then rebut and carry on with your planned speech.

[@TheEvilAdventurer]

Why were the hecklers not removed? I doubt that if it were the proposition who were treated in that way there would not be such a light touch

[@adulthumanfemale8666]

Cambridge Union, aren't these people supposed to represent the best and brightest in the country? How come your uni has gone so down hill since the turn of the century?

[@lewislee9201]

Probably because 1) those who have been running the show at Cambridge are fully on board with DIE, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, etc. seemingly fetishizing non-white people, and 2) being woke as a middle- or upper-middle class Cambridge undergraduate has become a wonderful, socially acceptable way to deal with feelings of guilt at being at a privileged institution without it really hurting you in any way, virtue-signalling in other words.

[@odoggow8157]

No just thr most spoilt and privileged from around the world. It's an international business at this point!

[@virginiacharlotte7007]

Look into the work of James Lindsay and the New Discourses podcast. He breaks it all apart in the best form I have encountered thus far.

[@reddevil3527]

Watching this was just depressing, these children are unable to listen to opposite points if view respectfully. These are Cambridge Students for God's sake. Maybe the Union needs to set some expectations and standards for the Students

[@DavidDavid-kl4ru]

My reaction was the same as yours but it was at least heartening to read the comments here including your own. It seems the whole world hasn't gone mad and these kids will eventually grow up. Hopefully

[@blackskyirregular9876]

Is the uploading of this video supposed to make Cambridge look good? Because it doesn't. Why are your students behaving like immature, disrespectful children?

[@alexgibson2871]

interesting how none of them seem to engage the comments either. too prolly maybe.

[@ronanflynn8690]

Describing the British Empire as ‘evil’ really lowers the standard of debate. I think the American has been watching too much Star Wars.

[@bubandlisa]

IKR?! Self righteous yanks are THE MOST ANNOYING CRINGE LORDS ON 🌎

[@briandelaney9710]

Indeed. The Empire was an historical phenomenon with good and bad elements

[@ILUVBlogs1]

Genuinely looks like a day care centre

[@lewislee9201]

If racism, oppression and colonialism still exist, how on earth did the Right Honorable Lady for Streatham ever manage to become an MP in the home country of the world's arch-oppressors?

[@bobimoto28]

FACT

[@annmhmoore0771]

Her intelligence didn't earn her the spot. Her skin did.

[@josm1206]

The irony that so many of the students attending originate from countries Britain stopped slaving, some by force.

[@odoggow8157]

their lack of self awareness is on a new level

[@AldaHunter]

When Calvin hit him with the “Privilege card”! Best part of my day, no… week, no… year! 😂😂😂

[@peakexperience]

Came here to witness a serious debate left because of the kids sniggering at the speakers.

[@techtipsuk]

How utterly ridiculous. Reparations, really.

[@bossmanbossy]

The natives and jews got it why not us?

[@Sam-vp3pw]

@@bossmanbossy Exactly, the native English should have reparations from Britain for still being colonised by them.

[@bossmanbossy]

@@Sam-vp3pw the "Native English" come from a medieval people called the Angles, a Germanic tribe they used to reside in northern Europe. They came over to medevial Briton to war conquer fight and subjugate the Native Briton population who had settled what we call England today. So if you are suggesting that the English were the original settlers in this land you are wrong. It was the Brits, pick up some old books

[@Sam-vp3pw]

@@bossmanbossy a country belongs to those that built it. If you care about originality then cede your lands to the plants and wildlife.

[@bossmanbossy]

@@Sam-vp3pw the britons did build it, contrary to popular believe. I recently read a book written by a medevial monk around 1000 AD, his writings were about the Britanic kings of BRITON from Brutus (who came to the British isles from Troy after the trojan war accompanied by his uncle Lucious I believe who settled in Italy) to Constantine and host more. In the book the city's we call london, Surrey, Birmingham and pretty much every city we have today in the UK was built by them, including the bridges, castles, "cathedrals" and also, contrary to popular believe the straight roads that the Roman's have been credited for. So what's your point? The English or Angles, as well as the Roman's (whose main goal was to take tribute/taxes and spread their Catholicism) merely came over to conquer and benefit from the fruits of seeds already planted by the Britons.. the Britons were not savages as they attempt to paint them as in "mainstream" history, they had customs and law and were a noble people. That being said they did live among people britons referred to as savages, this included the picts, Irish and those that helmed from Albion which is what we now know as Scotland

[@Graeme726]

Why do these students feel like they're the most righteous people going, they'll be gone in 3 to 4 years and a new bunch over privilege "righteous" people will take their place. Also I can't wait to contribute tax money to India for something that I never had a part in, maybe the taxpayers money we can pay will go towards a new launch pad for the Indian space agency

[@Marci124]

This cycle prevents any crystallization of cultural values, which is handy if you want to keep the conversation under chaotic control. The weakness of progressivism being that it's always heading somewhere, but never really **is** somewhere.

[@odoggow8157]

Or another nuclear silo

[@ghostoftanelorn9928]

This is a house of madness.

[@virginiacharlotte7007]

I notice that at the Oxford Union debates- everyone wears formal dress, rather than looking like they just stumbled out of the Young Ones student digs.

[@virginiacharlotte7007]

Why isn’t it a standard of this house to have all smartphones switched off during an event like this?

[@craigsmith3353]

I love how amused and excited these petulant kids get when they hear something 'outrageous' from Calvin. They're there to have fun, being outraged is entertainment for them, their liars' smiles are the key indicator of this, and there's no real empathy. If they cared, genuinely were worried for tHe GlObAl SoUtH they'd be dejected and upset.

[@Mitchell_is_smart._You2bs_dumb]

its exactly like the comments here why bother talking about the subject matter when you can follow the meme of picking on children

[@craigsmith3353]

@@Mitchell_is_smart._You2bs_dumb lmao "picking on children' I'm observing a bunch of privileged young adults (they're at uni, they aren't kids anymore) that clearly have been taught to feel and not think.

[@GailPlatt]

The sniggering little group of four behind and to the left of Rafe Heydel Mankoo as he spoke. . . . So rude. Smug in their own little bubble of moral rectitude, and in their ignorance so confident of their own all encompassing knowledge. Not listening but nattering between themselves and glued to their phones they were there for the rabble rousing, to be one of the gang on the 'right' side not to actually listen or absorb ideas. What a total waste of an education, they will learn nothing there because they know everything already....

[@ITSMEAGAIN1]

MOST INCAPABLE OF LISTENING TO FACTS THEY HAVEN'T HEARD BEFORE. THESE STUDENTS WILL BE LET LOOSE WITHIN THE POLITICAL CIRCLES IN A FEW YEARS TIME TOO. GOD HELP US ALL!

[@jduffell4132]

The title was enough for me not to endure. which in reality takes away my entitlement to comment. But the British people were effectively slaves in their own lands for many centuries. Doing the bidding of the ruling classes, mostly not Britons. The wealth created to reparations to those who lost revenue from the abolition of the African slave trade probably came through the British people. So now the future elites expect to finance further reparations for the ruling classes again. How about putting your efforts to actually ending slavery. Something that was never achieved and plagues tens of millions today.

[@odoggow8157]

Exactly 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 💯 facts

[@thehypest6118]

I cannot wait for this talking point to gain traction, the English, not the British elite, but the average English are the group who have paid the most and suffered the most for the empire

[@TheDandob1982]

Why are ‘Asians’ treated as a homogeneous group? British Indians, Chinese and Koreans are some of the highest achievers in our society. In Africa, British Nigerians are similarly successful as a group. If there are groups that don’t succeed let’s be honest about why that might be, family breakdown is a massive factor in British Caribbeans. This is a wealth issue not race, look at the failure of British working class males to achieve representation in high achieving roles.

[@DavidDavid-kl4ru]

Agreed. I find the way different groups of people are classified to be very loaded.

[@rossck88]

Good Lord, keep your children away from Cambridge University if this is the standard of debate available.

[@mrgambino3406]

The Oxford University debates and the Cambridge University debates are night and day. . If your’e in a position to go… go to Oxford because these children were embarrassing.

[@RorytheRomulan]

Thousands of Americans fought against each other for or against the practice of slavery, and independently from that, the sovereignty of the Confederacy. You ever wonder how we might have been able to avoid that? Gosh, it's almost like the British Empire had the clairvoyance to repel such a strong motivation, by finding a peaceful solution within their borders.

[@SMewett]

I couldn't watch all of it as the students were far too cringy. The virtue signalling is strong with these spoilt and privileged individuals

[@thehypest6118]

Their weakness is what defines them, they will have no say in the coming age

[@CleverGirlAAH]

@@thehypest6118 You underestimate this cancer of righteous ignorance.

[@thehypest6118]

@@CleverGirlAAH righteous ignorance is nothing compared a decent bl0w to the head with a cr0wbar

[@SpiralDiving]

The convenient lies are astonishing. I takes but a few seconds to find out that Tuvalu is NOT sinking but actually growing in size.

[@munyansebastien7127]

A few seconds of research brought me this, from Wikipedia: _It is estimated that a sea level rise of 20-40 centimetres (8-16 inches) in the next 100 years could make Tuvalu uninhabitable_

[@Ed-hh5dp]

The behaviour of those students is disgraceful

[@95keat]

I came here to hear the argument after seeing a clip. But stayed when I say this insanely weird room with a blue dress woman sitting in a throne

[@odoggow8157]

Aye me to lol

[@ullscarf]

If any of the woke students at the debate are reading this comments section, which is almost entirely opposed to the motion, doubtless they will throw up their hands in horror. And I would say to them, 'welcome to the real world'. The rarefied atmosphere of university is totally disconnected from the lives of ordinary people and I suggest that they climb down from their ivory towers once in a while and take the time to listen respectfully to what the hard-working proletariat that service them have to say.

[@yamoto1833]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@sephiroth6839]

The Revered is a living saint.

[@dickygeemusic]

What has happened to our political discourse and debate? It seems that we can only debate if we agree with the left. Let's stop worrying about what has gone before and deal with what is happening right now. Slavery is still a huge trade. Does it not matter because it isn't Africans that are enslaved? These privileged kids need a dose of the real world before they start chanting kumbaya from their ivory towers.

[@daveblack1000]

cheering and whooping for the socialist. God help Cambridge uni

[@MrWestos]

You can see the shock and disbelief on their faces when Calvin has opinions they've been told that they don't agree with. Cambridge university everybody

[@TheSoulgirl]

Bell is mistaken. Everything that happened to her homelands was done at the behest of the greedy leaders of those lands. What a load of codswallop this debate is.

[@odoggow8157]

Yup

[@hornchurchtower7108]

Employers look at those faces and remember them . Would you employ them? How can you debate if you do not listen and just snigger. Everyone of those so called students can fully fund this. Do not ask me and my family to pay for this.

[@odoggow8157]

They keep rallying for it they will through their taxes so joke's on them

[@dislikebutton8789]

Incredibly saddening to see the amount of jeering and downright aggressiveness towards ideas at the highest educational institution in the land. Heartbreaking. Thank you for putting this debate on and up online. For not blocking comments and allowing the people to bear witness to this generation’s greatest achievements portray themselves akin to primary schoolers.

[@CleverGirlAAH]

Not just ideas- Facts.

[@909mrwill]

The absolute state of the children in the background. Gormless personified.

[@willwinstanley]

It was at Cambridge that the end of slavery began. Britain has paid out billions already to free slaves. This bedate is pointless.

[@MrSandancer]

Accusing someone of ‘cherry picking arguments’ whilst referring to their mobiles seems a bit hypocritical.

[@FoxholeFightClub]

virtue signalling and Victim mentality

[@hughoxford8735]

Most of these items weren't stolen, they were rescued, would have been destroyed had we not rescued them, and will be destroyed if we return them. Is that what these activists want? Actually, don't answer that question.

[@CowMaster9001]

Don't forget that many of the more precious items were created by empires where human rights were even less than under the British. For example, the pyramids specifically weren't made by slaves, but the entire Pharonic system that could devote thousands of man-hours to these monuments to their ego required slavery and imperial conquest to sustain. Before industrialization, the kind of leisure class that jewelry or fine marble carving would appeal to would require an exploited party.

[@hughoxford8735]

@@CowMaster9001 excellent point.

[@munyansebastien7127]

Sorry to inform you that these countries have museums, in case you didn't know.

[@johncorliss2759]

It is quite apparent that those oppose Britain's colonial past, are those who have benefited the most. If they were to calmly sit down and think where they would be without Britain's colonial past, they certainly would not be in Cambridge.

[@ewanwarr3745]

Would be great if I could anything any of the people are saying...

[@denverbritto5606]

It'a very quiet

[@fifth1613]

They're not all like this, for every person present in that debate hall, there are a hundred students just getting their credits and getting the hell out.

[@suburbanyobbo9412]

I’d want to get the hell out of there asap.

[@goyonman9655]

And that's why people lime these dominate Because good people hide and cower

[@CowMaster9001]

30:04 So the response is to take the same thing from those who resemble past oppressors? Imagine if the response to a rape was for the male descendant of the victim to be allowed one free rape of the female descendant of the perpetrator. Also his implication that slavery (31:35) is a uniquely American evil is such a factually wrong statement that I'm surprised Minerva, goddess of knowledge and wisdom, didn't strike him dead on the spot.

[@GailPlatt]

Loving your answer!! Spot on!

[@xxkhandikidxx]

When does he imply slavery is a uniquely American evil? I went back and re-watched it from the time you marked down, and I even rewound it a bit, but I didn't hear him say anything like that. That being said, I think his arguments are completely ridiculous.

[@CCaribou]

The conduct of those students was absolutely appalling. The millennials and gen x'ers have quite apparently failed in their task of raising well rounded offspring. Embarrassing and scary that these people are our future.

[@johnmoorefilm]

Smartest kids on the planet? They haven’t even realized how microphones work…still, they’re doing us a favor by apparently censoring their own questions through incompetence…

[@MrJohnnyDuke]

A very disappointing product. Whilst both initial speakers performed well, it was the behaviour of the audience that really made the most impact. I take it that the failure to allow us to hear the constant interference from the floor is deliberate in an attempt to shore up it's reputation.

[@hammersmithbridge9115]

Are these the latest batch of Cambridge students. It's clear Cambridge Uni is about as difficult to get into now as a bog-standard Polytechnic was when I went to college. Gone are the days when if someone said they went to Cambridge I would have nodded with respect and awe now it simply means nothing more than going anywhere else. Goodbye Cambridge, it was nice knowing you now is nice not knowing you.

[@lewislee9201]

You probably wouldn't get in because Cambridge takes in a much higher proportion of foreign students than it used to because of those lovely overseas fees, or maybe because of the leftwing opinions of most of its leaders. Over 40% of students are in fact from overseas according to the university. I don't know that Cambridge University is really serving the UK anymore.

[@ullscarf]

@@euanparker2534 Left wing, liberal and establishment have been merging for some time. It's known in certain circles as the wokerati.

[@ullscarf]

@@euanparker2534 You haven't been keeping up.

[@ullscarf]

@@euanparker2534 I'll take your word for it and I was encouraged by the resignation of Stephen Toope. My point is that liberalism and Marxism, fundamentally at odds with each other in many ways, have merged to form what is known as Wokeism/Progressivism/Neo-Marxism et al (take your pick) and that it has become the dominant mindset of the Anglosphere's cultural elite.

[@ullscarf]

@@euanparker2534 I said that Neo-Marxism is a label; I'm not condoning its use as an accurate synonym for progressivism. 'Woke', for want of a better term is Marxism mixed with liberalism and I forgot to mention the other critical ingredient - post-modernism. The dominant belief system in academia in the UK and the US, as well as in multinational corporations (especially tech companies), a large proportion of the media, entertainment and the laptop class is that we are divided by invisible power structures that perpetuate the dominance of certain groups at the expense of others. That is based on Marx's teaching except that where he focused on social class, the woke are interested in immutable characteristics. The cynical view is that it's convenient for the rich to espouse (virtue-signal) this belief system because it diverts attention away from their economic privilege.

[@travtotheworld]

If former colonies deserve reparations how much do they plan to pay the United States?

[@jamesthenabignumber]

I have little sympathy for The Church, but these students have treated Calvin Robinson with disrespect. Cambridge should be ashamed. I thought the whole purpose of higher education was for individuals to forge their own intellectual path. These dummies are behaving like a herd.

[@etc2913]

How can one be forced to pay reparations? Isn’t this a crime in the name of justice?

[@odoggow8157]

It would amount to, slave owners ancestors stealing off enslaved ancestors to pay other slave ancestors 🙄 it's absolute lunacy and an absolute oxymoron

[@Englishman999]

This is a great debate and one that needs to be had. The Cambridge Union though is clearly the wrong place to have it. Like all debates around sensitive and important issues, it needs a level of maturity, a willingness to consider the case for the opposition and a degree of intellectual integrity in order to state your own case. Cambridge seems to have none of the above. A couple of decades ago I worked at a successful academic sixth-form college and it was apparent that a great number of the students had progressed higher in their academic lives than genuine ability should have taken them. There were though a good number, many of whom went on to Cambridge that were deserving and capable. What I see in this debate confirms what I and a great many others back then thought to be a slippery slope that would eventually see a complete dumbing-down of academic life. If Cambridge wants to maintain it's reputaion, such as is left of it, then it ought to stop this ridiculous public showing of ignorance and immaturity. I'm British, I'm proud to be British, though I am ashamed of it's lack of real educational standards and it's institutions.

[@TheSoulgirl]

Deary me; these kids literally don't have a clue...

[@adam_p99]

Are we owed money from the Holy Roman Empire? Cool.

[@CowMaster9001]

Don't forget the Normans, Saxons, and Romans

[@tm1rt2vv8i]

Gosh, that girl is so ridiculous with her silly faces.

[@odoggow8157]

Saw that to and she is an embarrassment to her parents

[@AQueenOfTheStoneAge]

You call almost smell the cognitive dissonance, lack of self-awareness & ignorance oozing from these immature students.

[@tc5273]

The chap @1:07:40 (ginger, beard, glasses) was absolutely spot on. Its such a shame more don't have his grasp of reality.

[@tyrastravels7468]

Spot on.

[@hornchurchtower7108]

Are these university students? Surely not my five year old has more respect for people than these silly billies. Honestly, if my child acted like that I would be ashamed. Sniggering, laughing and not listening worse than kindergarten children NO that is unkind to kindergarten children. Apart from anything else they were very unkind to a person who has taken the time to address them. I hope my children get apprenticeships and not have anything to do with such rude foolish people with closed small minds. My five year old has an open, curious mind and is brighter than anyone of them.

[@lisacadogan]

They are very young so I'd make allowances as their opinions will develop with age. The fiddling with the phones, smirking, talking and chewing of the fingernails is unforgivable.

[@SM-hn7sh]

Is amazing how these students believe they are morally and intellectually superior to their ancestors. They arrive at conclusions by completely discarding the contextual realities and struggles of those eras, like the fact that 98% of the population lived in poverty, yet they enjoy all the massive benefits and sacrifices that allow them to have the comfy world they have today.

[@kingspagge]

I've seen more maturirity from KZbin comment sections compared to this 'debate'.

[@CleverGirlAAH]

What a terrifying thought, too lol

[@patriciaperfect2627]

This was an interesting debate. What a pity there were no microphones, for the crowd so that we the listeners, could hear their counter argument. From watching this debate it appeared, the crowd sat listening quietly in favour of repatriations but sneered, laughed or were busy on their mobiles (those mobiles which are made, in part, by child slave labour) when Calvin and Raffe spoke against repatriations.

[@stuartmcnair4809]

Those kids might change their views when they have to grow up and get a job like ordinary people. Well done Calvin 👍🏻

[@lewislee9201]

I would not be as sanguine about their 'real world' They are destined to be our future politicians, HR and diversity managers, Quango leaders, charity heads, etc. It will not be funny.

[@CleverGirlAAH]

Nooo. They'll get jobs as Diversity Inclusivity and Equity Advisors where they ram this down everybody's throats and make 200k a year doing so.

[@pureblood1415]

When other countries are arguing amongst themselves for reparations not just attacking England for them,then I’ll think about it. Then I’ll say no anyway. IVE NEVER OWNED A SLAVE

[@odoggow8157]

Exactly! At the same time u r probably owed reparations! Most of us are decendents of slaves 99 percent to be accurate.

[@denverbritto5606]

Calvin was best

[@ullscarf]

Nah, Rafe by far.

[@bfFAN221]

@@ullscarf Both of 'em were great, just that Calvin's turn was heavily hijacked to the point that Rafe had enough time to *Get Psyched!*

[@StevenCovey-ct3sx]

The critique of colonialism is always “white” colonialism. The Mughals (mongols) and other Muslim invaders unleashed horrific colonialism on India. Worse than anything done by Europeans. Ask any Sikh. The Mughals were also contemporaries of the British and Portuguese. Indeed, the Congress party has alway tried to hide the conduct of the Mughals for the sake of national unity.