Emancipation and our youth within a modern context

When one thinks about words such as slavery, emancipation, or freedom, it is usually done while one is in an extremely reflective mode. Accompanying these thoughts are most often reflections on the misery of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, of huge sugar plantations manned by displaced Africans, an Emancipation Act in 1834, a failed Apprenticeship system and the like.{{more}}

This is partly so because many of our history lectures are structured and delivered so as to focus on History as a subject solely of the past. There are some teachers however, who at the expense of straying from the syllabus go to great lengths to marry our history with many of the processes which are currently unfolding in our society, politics and economy. We must however not for a moment ever think that the experiences of the past are disjoined from the realities of today. In fact, History is always to be viewed along a continuum. It is only by so doing that we will begin to focus on the impact of the demise of slavery and the resultant implications within a context which is current and understandable as a part of the excesses of globalisation and the many changes which await us all.

In most instances, if we are to value our efforts of how successful we have been in readily availing ourselves of the benefits to be derived from a content analysis of History and its use as a guide to assist us in charting the territory of an unsealed and ever changing future, then our region may not be credited with an above satisfactory grade. Instead, we seem to readily use bad experiences of the past simply to instill in our minds a deep sense of frailty to the extent that we think that second guessing each step with pessimism is the accepted and cultured mode of operation. Are we surprised that a century and a half after the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies that very few territories in the region have been able to sustain a properly planned, structured and conceived diversification programme within their national agricultural plan? When one analyses the dynamics of the evolutionary shifts in production that we have experienced, then one cannot help but realise that they are in sync with historical trends which have had negative implications on the strength of our economies in the past. What has really changed? Throughout our history we remain either dependant on tobacco, sugar cane, or bananas and now we have seen shifts to tourism or other service sectors at the expense of each other. The experiences of the transition from one type of production to another are usually marred by circumstances and eventualities which are often poorly managed. The natural result is that those who are barely able to survive on the fringes of our society are left to fight their own causes. If we fail to break this trend we will simply be repeating the mistakes of our past. In short, we must move away from the approach of placing too many of our eggs in one basket.

It is within this context that we must begin to analyse the advancements which we have been able to make since emancipation.

For this year’s Emancipation Day celebrations we have chosen to focus on the theme “Understanding Our Past, Exploring Our Future”. It is imperative that our people fully understand and appreciate the past in order to explore the future. In so doing we must by the same token particularly ensure that our national youth product is on the same page. The roles to be fulfilled by our youth must be clear, and we must ensure that our vision of a truly emancipated and developed 21st century Vincentian society is supported by our best efforts.

Any attempt by our youth to understand a past that is so distant, must be guided by a valuation which reveals the meaning of emancipation as the condition or fact of being set free or freed from some restriction in order to assume certain responsibilities. This definition in itself can be used to empower the youth of today who face multidimensional challenges on a global scope. The evidence is lucid that some of our youth display behaviours and conditions that they are enslaved by uncensored music, premature involvement in sexual activities and drug abuse and trafficking. Consequently such enslavement leads to insurmountable amounts of self-despair and doubt.

True emancipation of our youth will begin with freedom from the chains of crime and violence, which plague our national and regional youth populations. This effort has to be a voluntary and determined one in order to establish a sustained vigor and a great sense of urgency showing that emancipation is an ongoing process.

Emancipation among our youth has been correctly centred on the role of higher education as a critical aspect in our national development. As the Education Revolution undertaken by our government continues to improve the quality and quantity of participation of the youth population, our youth must keep in mind that higher education is the method used to sharpen the cutting edges of our minds which will promote a culture of life long learning and study. Therefore, we must never neglect the ready access provided for us by the Education Revolution since it is a means of consolidating the achievements to be derived from our emancipation. Let us then endeavour to enhance the meaning of emancipation among our youth population in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.