Police lead re-enactment of 1979 Flag Raising Ceremony

The Ministry of Urban Development, Energy, Seaports, Grenadines Affairs, and Local Government hosted a flag-raising ceremony outside the Cruise Ship Terminal on Monday, October 21, 2024, as activities to mark this country’s Independence anniversary gain momentum.

This event was a sort of re-enactment of the flag raising ceremony which took place at Victoria Park in 1979, when St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) officially celebrated its status as an independent nation on the night of October 27, 1979.

The audience, comprising mainly persons who had just ended their work day, and a few school children, gathered outside the terminal gate where they witnessed the arrival of the Acting Commissioner of Police, Enville Williams, and Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves.

Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), Francios handed the flag to Commissioner Williams, who handed it to Gonsalves who then passed the flag on to Police Constable Neverson, who hoisted the flag at the ceremony, which was presided over by Superintendent of Police, Junior Simmons.

Making remarks at the event, the Prime Minister who was the only speaker, used the occasion to reflect on the 1935 riots, which were sparked by a legislative proposal aimed at increasing taxes on a variety of essential items, including matches and kerosene that were commonly used in households during that period.

“And people rose up!” he stated.

“Some historians called what happened on October 21, 1935, ‘riots’, I’ve always seen them not as riots, but as anti-colonial uprising, which set in train a social democratic revolution for change.”

The ‘uprising’ was also fuelled by stagnant minimum wages; low school attendance; and “non-existent” medical facilities, on top of an “extremely problematic” public health system.

Gonsalves pointed out that it was around 15 years after the abolition of slavery when “We had three terrible public health emergencies- smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera, which killed a large number of persons and the situation had remained problematic”.

He described the riots as a monumental moment in SVG’s history as many of those who were involved in it were imprisoned , and some were served charges that lacked evidence.

“Most of them were taken to Grenada to serve sentences, and some of those sentences were commuted into short terms,” he pointed out.

Persons who did not encounter any legal disputes were among many who subsequently made significant contributions to the society, particularly in the field of education, and this continued over the several decades since.

Gonsalves noted that in more recent times, the political leaders had stipulated that all children aged 12, should be enrolled in a secondary school and this objective was accomplished in September, 2005, under the Unity Labour Party administration of which he is the leader.

In his near two and a half hour address, Gonsalves spoke as well of the fate of those who completed primary school, but had nowhere else to go, and so sought out available employment.

The lack of institutions for higher education led to the call for a university, and in 1948, the University of the West Indies was established, which currently has over 40,000 students on its various campuses; “and we have Global Campus here, where we just accorded nearly 2000 tuition scholarships for Vincentians.”

The Prime Minister also restated the aim of his administration that by the year 2030, every household should have at least one college or university graduate, “and we are on target, but that is a social democratic task which we are

in the process of completing”, he remarked, acknowledging that sometimes there are setbacks and delays.

Gonsalves, who has been Prime Minister for more than half of SVG’s 45 years of independence, said that the 1935 uprising is an essential part of the country’s history which must be embraced.