Trans-Atlantic Redress Network: Spanish Case

The EUROM implemented the Spanish case within the Trans-Atlantic Redress Network in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Human Rights of Columbia University, the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center of the Howard University, and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (The Netherlands).  The project aims to identify processes of historical injustice for which there are processes of reparation and memorialization. Oriol Lopez (EUROM) coordinated the Spanish work team in collaboration with Dr. Celeste Muñoz Martinez (UNED), being composed of three MA students.

The Trans-Atlantic Redress Network is an extension of the African American Redress Network and a collaboration between Howard University’s Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center, the Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights, theInstitute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD) and the European Observatory on Memories (EUROM). Both networks were created as an urgent response to the discourse on reparations and social justice, both in the United States and in Europe.

Related publications 

• Report 1 | Trans-Atlantic Racial Redress Network – Spanish Case
• Report 2 | Reparation for Colonialism and Slavery in Spain

The research goals

 Processes of historical injustice for which there are processes of reparation and memorialization in Spain, including:

• Legislative bills that include colonial and slave-owning historical memory, as well as formal petitions from third countries.
• Removal/Request for removal/Resignification of monuments/addition of new .
• Renaming of streets, squares, and buildings/schools
• Curricular adaptations and implementation of education plans that integrate matters concerning colonialism and racism.
• Protest movements, entities, and associations promoting visibility and advocating for reparations for Spanish colonialism, slave-owning, and racism (hate crimes). In addition, movements, entities, and associations promoting visibility and advocating for reparations for hate crimes and historical injustices in the present day.
• Exhibitions or other cultural initiatives that have generated public impact

Historical periods

• Slavery & American Colonialism 1492-1872
• Modern Colonialism 1872-1950
• Civil Rights – Decolonisation 1950-1975
• Civil Rights 1975-Present

Historical injustices classification

• Slavery
• Colonialism
• Racist violence
• Racial Discrimination

Researchers

• Oriol López Badell (Coordinator) and Celeste Muñoz Martinez (Chief Researcher)
• Sarai Martin, Maria Pereira and Marc Riu.

Background

The pilot project documented more than 100 local efforts to redress historical racist incidents along the Atlantic Coast from Delaware to Florida.

As police violence and structural racism continue to pose a grave threat to American society as seen in both the death of George Floyd and the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately affected people of color, the Redress Network aims to better understand how communities are addressing historic racial transgressions. It also expects to increase awareness of redress efforts across different regions and fields such as activism, academia and policy-making.

Categories of redress are framed within the U.N. international covenant on civil and political rights (2004), which offered guidance on reparations. This covenant expounded that states are obligated to assure basic human rights and further maintained that when states fail to do so, there is a legal obligation to make reparations.