Topics Justice

Question The other day I overheard a discussion over immigration, one man obviously to the right of the political spectrum said "we should not let foreigners in the country", the second, obviously on the left said that "we owe them, that as britain managed to control over a quarter of the world at one time and we subjicated and abused the people for financial gains and power it's about time that we made up for acting like bullies". The first replied "we owe them nothing, that we never treated them like this it was people who have now all died". Leaving out the political factors of immigration the question is, can a country morally owe someone? If it can, does it only stand as long as the generation responsible are alive or can the next generation (that disagrees with imperial ideas) be held responsible for the actions of a previous, and what if the subjugated people are also dead, are their descendants owed? Where does responsibility end?

Accepted:
July 2, 2009

Comments

The immigration debate you mention reminds me of the reparations for slavery debate that happens on my side 'of the pond.' These are wonderfully interesting issue, but you are right: let's put aside the particulars of those debates to talk about justice, then pizza, and then I’ll swing back around to responsibility.

It is true that people alive today cannot be to blame for the evils of the British Empire or American slavery. This is why it seems strange to some that 'we' should pay the price for injustices committed long ago. However, history isn't a matter for the history books. The lingering effects of past historical injustices stay with us long after the occupiers have left or the shackles have been removed. One of these lingering effects is that people alive today may well continue to benefit from injustices committed hundreds of years ago - injustices which they deplore, but nevertheless continue to benefit them. For example, British citizens now could be said to enjoy a high standard of living today because of the colonial exploits of previous generations abroad. Similarly, it may be that the citizens of former colonies are now are impoverished because of the damage done then.

An analogy that might be helpful: think pizza. For a long time I ate entire pies of pizza, delicious pies which you made but were denied the chance to eat. Today I feel bad about being such a pig. So I now offer to treat you as an equal; you make your own pizza and eat it, while I will make and eat my own pizza. Each to his own, fairness all the way, no more pizza exploitation! But this hardly seems fair, as you will be in constant pizza-deficit relative to me. You will never catch up, no matter how may pies you try to make and eat. In fact, it may be really hard for you to make your own pizzas at all now, because so much of your ingredients and energy were already expended to benefit me - perhaps you hardly even know how to make a pizza that you yourself would like to eat. The remedy to achieve justice might be for me to now assist you: making pizza for you, donating part of my “fair” share to you, giving away ingredients, and the like. Therefore I think the only way to overcome the lingering effects of past injustices is to actively fight them.

Finally, I wanted to say that what philosopher Claudia Card wrote in her book Unnatural Lottery has helped me to think about ‘responsibility.’ We use the word ‘responsibility’ in different ways. People alive now are “not responsible” – to blame – for past injustices. But we can nevertheless “take responsibility” by looking ahead to a more just future.