Chairman of the National Reparations Committee (NRC) and St. Lucia’s Envoy on Reparations Earl Bousquet has outlined the committee’s approach to recognizing Emancipation Month 2026.
The committee and its members have agreed to recognized the 183rd anniversary of the birth of Marcus Garvey which will form the backdrop of the observance of Emancipation Month 2026. The Iyanola Council for the Advancement of Rastarfari (ICAR), a member of the NRC, has scheduled a number of events to mark the occasion, including a rally held in Micoud on Monday to observe Garvey’s August 17 birthday. On Saturday August 22nd, ICAR will feature a market day in the vicinity of the Castries Market while the following Saturday, August 29th, the Derek Wlacott Square will come alive with a concert designed for the occasion.
Bousquet says while the NRC is committed to the month-long observance there is yet a major event on the horizon. In so far as the NRC is concerned, we will not just be observing today (Monday) and the rest of Emancipation Month to pay reverence to the 183rd anniversary of Garvey’s birthdate, but on the 17th of October this year will mark the 90th anniversary of Marcus Garvey’s visit to St. Lucia (October 17, 1936), during which he spent a week and delivered at least four lectures at the then Clarke’s Cinema, which is where S&S is located now on Micoud Street. That was a very significant event in St. Lucia’s history because it coincided with the period when the Ethiopian government and the Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassi, was under attack by Italy and St. Lucians, like other Caribbean people, were very much in solidarity with Ethiopia.” Bousquet asserts that as a result of Garvey’s lectures here, there were indelible marks left on the minds of many. One remaining feature of the era is the Marcus Garvey Society Hall in Choiseul, a landmark that the NRC plan to use to further enlighten the local population.
Bousquet believes that, among the individuals those attention was captured during the 1936 visit, was a young Arthur Lewis who went on to publish work that is still recognized as the blueprint for assessing reparations.