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THE 186th<\/sup>\u00a0ANNIVERSARY OF THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY BY<\/p>\n DR. THE HONOURABLE RALPH E. GONSALVES On August 1, 2020, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) commemorates the l86th \u00a0anniversary of the abolition of the enslavement of Africans in the CARICOM member-countries which were colonized by Britain. In 1833, in the British Parliament, an Act for the Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire\u2019 proclaimed Emancipation Day to be August 1, 1834. A so-called \u201capprenticeship\u201d period followed; and on August 1, 1838, the enslaved Africans were, finally, legally freed.<\/p>\n Today, all but two of the fourteen member-countries of CARICOM commemorate and celebrate Emancipation Day on August 1st, annually. So, too, the Associate member-countries. The other two member-countries of CARICOM, Haiti and Suriname, had slavery abolished in 1801 and 1863 respectively. The overwhelming majority of the population of CARICOM member-countries are of African descent. Joyously, people of all ethnicities in CARICOM join in commemorating and celebrating Emancipation Day; all rightfully claim this historic day as their own.<\/p>\n This year, Emancipation Day takes on a greater international significance for the THE FOCUS OF REPARATIONS ON EMANCIPTATION DAY, 2020<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n I urge all in CARICOM to focus on reparations for the enslavement of Africans on Emancipation Day, 2020. In our region, and elsewhere, we need to have a more thorough-going public education programme on the meaning and significance of reparatory justice for the Caribbean. Further, our governments must ramp up the political, diplomatic, and international legal struggle for reparations. All hands are required on deck as a matter of urgency!<\/p>\n CARICOM has established a Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Reparatory Justice headed by the Prime Minister of Barbados. (I am also on this Prime Ministerial Sub- Committee). CARICOM has set up, too, a CARICOM Reparations Commission, chaired by Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West Indies. The Commission has advanced a 10-point CARlCOM Reparations Agenda which has been adopted by the CARICOM Heads of Government Conference. In each country, a National Reparations Commission has been established with broad-based representation.<\/p>\n Solid groundwork has been done thus far, but we must not lose any momentum or be side-tracked. The circumstances are now propitious for escalating a coordinated push for reparatory justice. And CARICOM must engage the African Union fully on this.<\/p>\n Recently, several CARICOM member-states have been strengthening their links with Africa in profound ways; so, too, CARICOM and the African Union. Much more is required to be done, and urgently, too. At the United Nations Security Council, a new institutional linkage of much consequence has been forged known as the A3 Plus One (the African 3: Niger, South Africa, and Tunisia, Plus St. Vincent and the Grenadines); this represents a collaboration between the regions of continental Africa and a representative country (St. Vincent and the Grenadines) of the sixth region of the African Union, namely the African diaspora.<\/p>\n A high quality of abundant research has been done and published, on Reparations for Native Genocide and the Enslavement of Africans. More is still required to be done, but there is more than enough for us to proceed upon in our many-sided struggle. So, let us highlight reparatory justice on Emancipation Day, 2020, even as the individual countries in CARICOM engage in commemorative and celebratory activities of a cultural, social, political, and religious nature.<\/p>\n SUMMATION<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n I end with an apt poem by Ellsworth \u201cShake\u201d Keane of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1927-1997), entitled \u201cPrivate Prayer (for Walter Rodney)\u201d, and written in April 1973, on the occasion of the publication of Walter\u2019s\u00a0How Europe Under-developed Africa<\/u>:<\/p>\n \u201cTo understand<\/em> \u201cTo understand the form<\/em> \u201cTo ask<\/em> \u201cTo understand history<\/em> Please remember, too, on Emancipation Day, 2020, that June 13, 2020, was the 40th<\/sup> anniversary of Walter Rodney\u2019s assassination. No one has yet been brought to court for the killing of Walter. The next government of Guyana must address this matter fully; it is a gaping wound in our collective consciousness which must be healed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE 186th\u00a0ANNIVERSARY OF THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE CARICOM MEMBER-COUNTRIES WHICH WERE COLONISED BY BRITAIN BY DR. THE HONOURABLE RALPH E. GONSALVES PRIME MINISTER OF ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES AND CHAIRMAN OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM) On August…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":253492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,17,162,235,9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-health","category-historical","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-regional"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nIN THE CARICOM MEMBER-COUNTRIES WHICH WERE COLONISED BY BRITAIN<\/p>\n
\nPRIME MINISTER OF ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES AND
\nCHAIRMAN OF THE CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY (CARICOM)<\/p>\n
\nfollowing reasons:<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\nHow the whole thing run<\/em>
\nI have to ask my parents<\/em>
\nAnd even my daughter and son<\/em><\/p>\n
\nOf compromise I am<\/em>
\nI must in my own voice ask<\/em>
\nHow the whole thing run<\/em><\/p>\n
\nWhy I don\u2019t dream<\/em>
\nIn the same language, I live in<\/em>
\nI must rise up<\/em>
\nAmong syllables of my parents<\/em>
\nIn the land which I am<\/em>
\nAnd form<\/em>
\nA whole daughter a whole son<\/em>
\nOut of the compromise<\/em>
\nWhich I am<\/em><\/p>\n
\nI have to come home\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n