Let’s revisit reparations, part 2

Having been derailed slightly in our timing of comments on this critical issue by an unfortunate slip-up, even as I apologize, I would have wanted to make relevant comments on the Christmas festival in SVG. However I must complete the reparations comments as promised.

So, in the Christmas spirit of sharing, I am devoting my traditional Christmas space to the commitment on reparations.

This is a very serious commitment indeed given the magnitude of the issue and its impact on our societies even after centuries. We recommenced our struggle on this front in a very high-profile way but somewhere along the line, enthusiasm at the leadership level seems to have waned somewhat regionally, with a few exceptions.

Even SVG, once considered a “shining star” of the regional Reparations Movement, seems to be stuck in traffic somewhere.

On a positive note, though, we must applaud Barbados and Jamaica for keeping the reparations flame alive, at least in the public domain. Both countries have taken positive steps towards completing the anti-colonial constitutional steps. Barbados took the step that seems so gigantic for most of its regional neighbours by detaching itself from the British monarchy when it became a constitutional republic three years ago with its own Head of State replacing the British monarch.

In its public celebrations this year, several prominent persons who have contributed to the development of the country were honoured at a Republic Day parade on November 30. Among these was an icon of the regional music and cultural movements, Eddy Grant. Though a Guyanese by birth, Grant made a huge contribution to regional cultural development via his music and role in building Black and Caribbean consciousness. It was especially gratifying that this award, the highest National Honour, was given to a person not born in Barbados. It points to the direction in which we should be moving, leaving behind us petty nationalism, long exploited by colonialism and imperialism, as we emphasize our oneness as a people.

Interestingly, Barbados also took another step in developing regional consciousness by inaugurating a Marcus Garvey Amphitheatre as another feature of its Republic Day celebrations. Like Eddy Grant, Marcus Garvey was not born in Barbados, but, in the words of Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, “it is important for our people to understand that the messages of Garvey resonate with our people”. Honouring a Guyanese-born in the case of Grant, and a colossus of the anti-colonialist and black consciousness movement, in the case of Garvey, speaks volumes of Barbados’ commitment to regionalism, a key ingredient of the Reparations Movement.

Another positive development has come from Jamaica, the government of which is considered one of the most conservative in the region. Jamaica has a rich history as demonstrated in the works of Garvey among others, and gained independence from Britain in 1962, but it seemed to park its anti-colonial bus in that spot.

However, after six decades, the Jamaica government has at last announced that it is placing legislation before Parliament paving the way for dumping the monarchy and gaining Republican status next year, if approved.

These developments must cause us to wonder and ask what has happened to SVG’s anti-colonial bus, the headlights of which used to shine so brightly throughout the region. We made what can in retrospect be considered an over-ambitious attempt at whole-scale constitutional reform in the very first term of the Ralph Gonsalves administration. I was very much a part of this process and, like many patriots, was very disappointed by its defeat in the Referendum of 2009. But we must only reflect that the stars were not in alignment to win public approval, and the backward nature of the anti-republican campaign by the political opposition, aided by mistakes and an overestimation of the level of consciousness of the people, contributed to the rejection of republican status in the referendum.

Yet, as we are fond of saying, we have to turn that setback into an advance. We cannot allow personal pique to retard our forward movement. We must pick up the pieces, dust off our garments and resume the march. SVG seems to be lagging in these important matters. Why, and how can we rectify this lapse, are important issues for our people.

The Reparations Movement is in its essence an anti-colonial, anti-imperialist one. Our former colonisers, and those who benefit from continued foreign domination of our region, are aware of this much more than we understand. That is why they want to limit us to weak apologies and offers of sop, but reject frank discussion of our enormous claims. It is not just Britain, the major coloniser in the English-speaking Caribbean. Other European nations are equally as guilty. Today, after more than 500 years, Britain still has Caribbean colonies, in Montserrat, Anguilla and BVI for instance. The Virgin Islands have British and American colonisers and even small St Martin, has overlords from France and the Netherlands.

The French refuse to budge from overlordship in Guyana (Cayenne), Martinique, and Guadeloupe, and the USA insists on saying that Puerto Rico,the USVI and St Thomas are under its tutelage.

Those are tasks intertwined with the Reparations Movement. We must insist that we play our leading role in it.

• Renwick Rose is a Social and Political commentator.