Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands recently joined the ranks of countries that publicly apologized for their part in the ancient slave trade. At first sight, it may seem sympathetic. But the pattern surrounding the incident is full of confusion and cynicism. In the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter*, Amat Levin now demands in a column that Sweden and other countries “that have so far kept silent” follow suit. Several such voices will undoubtedly be raised in the future.

No one has tried to keep history secret in this regard, least of all Western countries. It is about how formal recognition can be twisted further into demands for “compensation.” Money, of course. It explains why the emotions go in such a clear direction toward the Western world. Namely, that is where the potential money is.

The logic is, therefore, a different matter. Slavery is, after all, a universal phenomenon, where the uniqueness of the Western world most likely consists of its opposition to the trade. Nevertheless, the West has been cast as the main villain.

Few know it, but more Europeans shipped as slaves to North Africa than Africans shipped to the United States. The Berber states were gangster states that robbed everything they could along the coasts. In 1627, they even made several slave raids in Iceland.

This notion of guilt and excuses is based on a lack of history. Should Crimea’s remaining Tatars apologize for centuries of the organized slave trade? Has Finland inherited part of the Swedish debt? And also the blame for the Viking slave trade? Is Ireland to blame for the large slave market that the Vikings established on the island in the Middle Ages?

And that’s just the one dead end. Since money is involved, it is only a matter of time before the demands are formulated more and more precisely, down to the micro level, to smaller and increasingly defined groups, and finally to individuals. In the United States, this trend is already evident.

The principles of the government accounting system that needs to be established would make South Africa’s former apartheid architects gasp for breath. But how is a person who turns out to be a descendant of slaves and slave traders “compensated”? Or if the bloodlines show an overweight in one direction or the other?

It may seem strange, considering how much money the Gulf states are sitting on. Those interested in the case know that the worst slave traders were the Arab countries. Of course, even the African actors who are now employing the West in the matter know this. Especially as the Arab slave trade ended so late, but demands compensation from the countries on the Arabian Peninsula are rarely heard.

The reason is that the Arab states are not receptive to that kind of complaint. The governments in question would hardly bother to respond. The moral argument only affects the culture that has shown moral courage and voluntarily abolished the slave trade. And it is precisely that quality that gives off the smell of money. Western countries are easier to fool into signing checks.

As Levin points out, the demand model is not only attached to the Western world. Even some of the worst African slave-trading nations have apologized. But those are peripheral events. The main thing is when more people like Levin call for apologies from European governments.

* Levin, Amat; Nederländernas ursäkt för slaveriet borde följas av andra länder. Dagens Nyheter 5.1.2023