I see the benefit of pursuing reparations as a practical-critical means to engage in a struggle by the working class for larger social gains. Such reparations would have to function on a social basis, as Frank pointed out.
However, I see little benefit in reparations which are carried out within the confines of a capitalist system. They will create no real balance as wealth, since the redistributive factor will be outweighed by the ensuing rise in commodity prices, among other things.
I don't see how any past attempts at reparations have changed the exploitative basis of those societies, let alone shaken the foundation of global capitalism. German reparations to Jews? Nope. The South African TRC? Nope. Glastnost? Hah. Thousands of people had just been killed and slaughtered in a brutal civil war in the US, and there were still no 40 acres and a mule; I don't see that a bunch a screaming liberal ladies with granny glasses will have much more of an impact.
And forget about reparations: Global capitalism has not even provided the social basis for the abolition of slavery. NGOs say there are now more slaves in the world than there ever were at any point in history. Did the Cocoa Protocol end capitalist exploitation?
I'm not saying there aren't reasons to pursue reparations in the US; clearly the idea is not going away, and won't any time in the future. But we should be clear that reparations have no revolutionary implications for society at large. Rather, they will just cause a slight shift in the personification of the bourgeoisie.
Instead, reparations should be made to all wage and non-wage workers and their descendants, in the sum of all monies stolen-- and currently being stolen-- through theft of surplus value. This could be calculated just like anything else. A immediate tax break of $30,000 to all wage workers-- figure about $6 trillion-- is one way to begin to put a dent in it.
--adx
===== "Mary Poppins is alive and well in Argentina, she sends her regards." - Rod McKuen, The Mud Kids
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