The Saint Lucia National Reparations Committee (NRC) welcomes the second annual observance of Emancipation Month and says it offers Saint Lucians another good opportunity to further enlighten themselves about issues related to Emancipation.
In an exclusive interview with The VOICE yesterday on the NRC’s participation in the second of three Emancipation Months designated by the Philip J. Pierre administration in 2021, NRC Chair Earl Bousquet said the government and the Cultural Development Foundation (CDF) “have again gone all-out to present a national program with some of everything for everyone.”
According to Bousquet, “The CDF and a Stakeholder Committee reviewed the 2022 Emancipation Month and presented a similar programme to ‘Enkindle National Consciousness’, but “with different aspects for 2023.”
The Chair said that “Like last year, the intent is to allow opportunities for further discovery and discussion about Emancipation-related issues — from before and after Slavery — including Abolition, Apprenticeship, Repatriation, Reparations for Slavery and Native Genocide, CARICOM’s 10-point Plan for Re-paratory Justice and the State of People of African Descent the world over, today.”
He said the 2023 national program sparked-off with a Virtual Launch on July 21 and an official Press Launch on July 26, and continued at the Castries Waterfront on Tuesday morning with “another high-quality presentation that displayed the existence of the related cultural innovations and talent to fur-ther public education for better understanding and appreciation of our history and culture and their links to Africa.”
The official launch on August 1 at the Waterfront was attended by the Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Ernest Hilaire, Castries Central MP Richard Frederick and Cabinet Ministers; and it featured a wide range of related cultural performances, again starting with an early morning Drum & Dance Ritual on the theme ‘A Celebration of Identity’ and continuing along the highway into the city.
The morning’s official agenda also included staged dances and steel band presentations, as well as calypsos and drumming.
On August 1, the National Emancipation Lecture was delivered by Kris Manjapra, a history professor at Northwestern University, broadcast on NTN, on the topic ‘Emancipation Day and the Reparations Tradition’.
Bousquet also referred to the appearance on Emancipation Day by internationally-acclaimed and conscious Jamaican and Caribbean reggae singer and dub-poet, Mutabaruka, at the Freedom Concert ‘One Empire’ event at the Philip Marcellin Grounds in Vieux Fort.
On Emancipation Day, the Anglican Church annex also hosted its second ‘Breadfruit & Breadnut Festival’, highlighting what Bousquet said were “numerous possibilities of creation of value-added products, as well as Import Substitution possibilities to help reduce our Food Import Bill.”
He said August 9 will be observed as International Day for Indigenous People and the national programme will feature a panel discussion on ‘Why Reparations for Native Genocide?’ on NTN from 8pm. (Also on the calendar is observance of August 11-17 as Inter-American Week for Indigenous Peoples.)
On August 12, International Youth Day, the National Youth Council (NYC) and the National Students Council (NSC), along with other entities, will co-host a hybrid forum on the topic ‘Youth, Students and Reparations’, to be broadcast on NTN from 8pm.
There will also be an Emancipation Pageant on August 12 featuring ‘Miss Curves With Confidence’ at the Soufriere Estate.
August 14 will see ‘Unveiling of the Emancipation Mural’ on Jn Baptiste Street in Castries, while an ‘Emancipation Outreach: Youth Summer Arts Platform (YSAP)’ is under way until August 19 at the Patricia James and Vieux Fort Primary schools.
On August 17, there’ll be an online colloquium to coincide with Marcus Garvey’s birthday, at the UWI Open Campus at The Morne, from 10am.
August 23 is also designated by the UN as International Day for Remembrance and Condemnation of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and there will be an international panel discussion on ‘Heirs of Slavery and The Enslavers – Building Bridges for Reparations.’
That discussion, Bousquet said, “will include presentations by representatives of the Saint Lucia NRC, Caribbean Reparations advocates and private UK and Caribbean based families and businesses interested in atonement and reparations repair.”
August 24 will see a virtual panel discussion on ‘The History of Vieux Fort’ on NTN from 8pm, featuring the sub-topic ‘Slavery & The Root of Landlessness: Emancipation & Empowerment in Vieux Fort Today’.
August 28 will feature a workshop on ‘Emancipation and Art’ by famous Trinidadian artist Makaemba Kunle from 3pm at the Folk Research Center (FRC) at Barnard Hill, Castries, as well as a short documentary on NTN (and all local media platforms) from 8pm, on ‘Uncovering the History of Street Names in Saint Lucia’.
NTN will also feature an Emancipation Cultural Documentary entitled ‘Mizik Se Festen Fle Sent Lisi’ (‘Music of Saint Lucia’s Flower Festivals’) throughout Emancipation Month, also to be shared with other media houses.
The ‘La Woz Festival Gwan Fet’ will include community church services on August 30, followed by a parade at midday and performances from 2pm in Gros Islet.
August 31 is also designated by the UN as International Day for People of African Descent and the day’s programme will be a panel discussion on NTN from 10am on ‘Black Hair Matters’, that will also include an update by Ambassador Dr June Soomer on the latest state of affairs relating to what’s left of the International Decade for People of African Descent, which ends in 2024.
However, since the Day for People of African Descent will be a Thursday, the Black Hair Matters theme will be combined with a series of related activities for an all day affair on Sunday, September 3, from 10am at the new Corinth Estate Museum and Health Retreat, at Corinth.
That session will include African hair and clothing fashion shows and exhibitions of local hair, health and beauty products, as well as a ‘Grounding with Youth and Elders’, which, Bousquet said, is “to pay homage to contributors to the ongoing quest for knowledge and appreciation of and for our African ancestry.”
The NRC Chair also acknowledged “the full cooperation of GIS and NTN in bringing the 2023 Emancipation Month activities to the nation, the region and the world.”