Now Reparations In Kweyol

NRC Plans Youth Rally for October.

THE National Reparations Committee (NRC) is reporting success of and thanking Saint Lucians and Caribbean people the world over for their attention to and participation in the Colloquy on Slavery and Emancipation, Reparations, Marcus Garvey and the Decade for People of African Descent.

Now the committee is getting ready for its next major activity, which it promises will be even bigger than that hosted here earlier this week and broadcast live to the rest of the region – and the world.

NRC Chairman Earl Bousquet says the event this week proceeded as planned and was broadcast live here and across the Caribbean – and it became available on You Tube immediately after the three-hour event ended shortly after 10:00 p.m Wednesday.

Said Bousquet: “The highlight of the evening, for most, was the inaugural Reparations lecture delivered by the new Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) Dr June Soomer.

“But,” he added, “the high level of involvement from across the Society – from the Heads of State and Government to the Rastafari Community and the Youth – also drew much attention, as well as the contributions through cyberspace by regional and international participants.”

The event was attended by deputy Governor General Mc Donald Dixon, acting Prime Minister Dr. Gale T. Rigobert, Senate President Andy Daniel, Health Minister Mary Isaac and other senior government officials, including Ambassador to ALBA and PetroCaribe Eustace Vitalis.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Regional Integration and Diaspora Affairs Unit of the Prime Minister’s Office were also represented.

Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Venezuelan Ambassador LeiffEscalona also attended, along with the Ambassadors of Argentina, Brazil and Morocco, with representation too from the Mexican Embassy.

Overseas representation came from Ambassador Dr. Damien Dublin, Chairman of the NRC of Dominica; and Mrs Penda Guyan represented the Guyana NRC.

A message also came from Mr Shelley Moorhead, spokesman for African Caribbean Reparations and Resettlement Alliance (ACCRA) of the US Virgin Islands, as well as from the Coordinator of the CARICOM Reparations website Don Rojas in Canada and the Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, UWI Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles.

The event heard a Declaration of the Adoption of the Decade for People of African Descent by Acting PM Rigobert, who, as Education Minister, also said she was personally interested in pursuing curriculum review to ensure true Caribbean history is reflected in what is taught at schools.

During the ceremony, the official CARICOM Reparations Baton was symbolically passed from Guyana to Saint Lucia in a process that saw it handed by the Guyana delegate to the Governor General, who passed it to the Prime Minister, who then handed it to the NRC Chairman, who eventually handed it to the representative of the National Youth Council.

The NRC Chairman said the event received much support and endorsement from the CARICOM Secretariat and the CARICOM Reparations Commission, as well as from fellow NRCs in OECS and CARICOM states.

But, Mr Bousquet also said: “It could not have been possible without the full support of the local and regional media houses, especially NTN, RSL and Calabash TV, as well as the GIS, The VOICE and the PM Office’s Communications Unit.”

He said, “The feedback from home and abroad, near and far, has been all positive and encouraging and the NRC plans to keep the momentum going with plans already in place to start planning the next NRC event,” which he says, “will be of an even more national, regional and international character.”

According to the Chairman, the NRC already has plans for that other major Reparations activity later this year.

He said: “The CARICOM Secretariat and the CARICOM Reparations Commission have agreed to work with the NRC, the Government of Saint Lucia, the National Youth and Student Councils, the Rastafari Community, the Folk Research Centre and other interested stakeholders, to host a major Reparations Youth Rally here in October, to coincide with International Creole Day 2016.”

Said Bousquet: “It is not possible to sell the Reparations Message in Saint Lucia without telling it in Kweyol.

“But there are also millions of other Kweyol-speaking people in the Caribbean and the wider world and we will share that message with them, at home and abroad, for JounenKweyol (International Creole Day), when our message will be communicated in one of the least-recognized but most effective Caribbean indigenous languages.”