Jamaica will honour African resistance in 2007 and push for reparations, says Bicentenary Committee Monday, December 11, 2006 11110 Reads Discuss 5 Comments 5 Prints 5 Sent

Deborah Gabriel

Jamaica determining its own agenda for 2007 to lead the Caribbean in honour of freedom fighters From our very first meeting we banned the word ‘commemoration’. Everybody said – no, we are not doing that... we are turning it around in order to use it as an opportunity for us to honour our ancestors. Donna Mc Farlane, Chair of the Monuments, Exhibitions and Memorialisation Committee A member of the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee for 2007 insists that it will be determining its own agenda next year which will be honouring black freedom fighters who fought against their enslavement. Jamaicans in the Diaspora were horrified by an announcement in the Jamaica Gleaner last week which said that the UN General Assembly had adopted March 25 2007 as the “International Day for the Commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.” The story, which was inaccurate, was referring to the Bicentenary of the British Parliamentary Abolition. March 25 has provoked anger amongst African descendants for its association with William Wilberforce, to whom a museum, park and various exhibitions will be dedicated next year, whilst the Blair government continues to refuse to heed calls to pay respect and acknowledge the African resistance to slavery on August 25, the date of the Haitian Revolution. The Chair of the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee, historian, Dr Verene Shepherd, is currently out of the country, but Black Britain spoke at length to Donna Mc Farlane, Chair of the Monuments, Exhibitions and Memorialisation Committee. Mc Farlane told Black Britain that she had no idea of the date but said she was aware that Jamaica has met with the Secretary General of CARICOM : “To advise them of what Jamaica was doing as an effort to mark the end" (of the Transatlantic Slave Trade). She said that as far as she is concerned, Jamaica “Is taking the opportunity to do something that was never done before, we are going to honour our ancestors in an African way.” Mc Farlane said she has consistently resisted the idea of a Christian memorialisation, because she does not feel “that in any appreciable way, they have thanked our ancestors for even surviving so that we can be here today.” Mc Farlane said that in terms of the abolition of slavery, Haiti played an crucial role, pointing out the fact that Jamaica celebrated the 200th Anniversary of the Haitian Revolution in 2004. She said: “It had nothing to do with Wilberforce; we were the ones who were burning down the plantations and doing all kinds of things.” In terms of repairing the lasting damage caused by the enslavement of Africans, Mc Farlane told Black Britain that the Bicentenary Committee have already established committees on reparations and public education and will be hosting conferences island-wide: “We are really trying to raise consciousness about what happened to us and it’s quite comprehensive, what we are doing.” Mc Farlane insisted that as far as the Bicentenary is concerned, Jamaica is determining its own agenda: “From our very first meeting we banned the word ‘commemoration’. Everybody said – no, we are not doing that. All of us said that we are turning it around in order to use it as an opportunity for us to honour our ancestors.” The Bicentenary Year in Jamaica is about honouring its ancestors and thanking them: “For enduring the pain and suffering of the middle passage and the pain and suffering of slavery thereafter, so that we could be here today,” she said. Mc Farlane told Black Britain that the Bicentenary planning committee are trying to bring traditional healers from Ghana, South Africa, Brazil, Trinidad and Cuba who along with Jamaica’s own healers would perform libation and traditional honouring ceremonies across the island: “So everyone can be involved…wherever they are, in a healing and memorialising effort.” There will be exhibitions the length and breadth of Jamaica including the Africans who fought for liberation. Mc Farlane admits that people who do not know better still repeat the same accusation: ‘Africans sold you into slavery,” which makes it even more important for children to learn about freedom fighters like Queen Zinga: “And all the others who fought against our enslavement.” According to the Ministry of education, 438 people were executed with Paul Bogle, leader of the Morant Bay Rebellion in the parish of St. Thomas. Mc Farlane told Black Britain that the names of all the other people have been revealed and war memorials will be erected next year in their honour: “Many of them were women,” she said.

Jamaican government must now go further and push for reparations through the United Nations The Jamaicam PM has been called upon to press the UN for a conference on reparations for the chattel enslavement of African people. Reparations is one of the most critical issues of our time and the government and people of Jamaica should not retreat from this most serious mater on the bicentenary of a freedom our people fought for and won. GAC International's letter to the Jamaican Prime Minister But the war memorials to honour those who resisted enslavement may be somewhat undermined by several towns, highways and public buildings still named after former colonial administrators. In addition, Mc Farlane told Black Britain: “One of my biggest fights with the Institute of Jamaica is that the highest honour for arts and science is named to Musgrave – a racist governor of Jamaica.” The Musgrave Award is given in gold, silver and bronze. Despite being the Director/Curator of Liberty Hall, which is part of the Institute of Jamaica, Mc Farlane has steadfastly refused to sit on any committees for the Musgrave Award, out of principal. Lady Musgrave, the wife of the late colonial governor refused to pass Devon House in Kingston, because it was built by Jamaica’s first black millionaire, George Stiebel. Mc Farlane told Black Britain: “If we can’t even name our own honours, how can we even begin to change street names?” she reasoned. But she assured Black Britain that these issues can be put on the national agenda and debated in 2007. She said: “Jamaica has come a long way and we stand for a lot, but we also have a long way to go.” Mc Farlane told Black Britain that the idea of commemorating the Bicentenary of the British Parliamentary Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade was initiated by former Prime Minister P.J Patterson. The National Bicentenary Committee approached the Parish Councils to enlist support for its efforts to organise events, but the Parish of St. Elizabeth wrote back saying they wanted nothing to do with it: “It was a shameful part of our history,” they said, but their stance prompted a huge debate on the issue which forced them to back down, Mc Farlane said. Whist the efforts of the Jamaica National Bicentenary Committee will be broadly welcomed for putting the focus on African resistance, education and reparations, the government is under pressure to go further. The North American Region of the Global Afrikan Congress recently wrote to Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, calling her on her to use Jamaica’s membership of the United Nations to request a conference on reparations. The letter also called on the Jamaican Prime Minister and all Caribbean parliaments: “To have a full and open parliamentary debate on the British Empire crime of slavery and colonialism against Afrikan people in the Caribbean, the Americas, the various Afrikan countries and within the UK itself.” GAC International also said that Caribbean leaders have a duty: “To ensure that our history of struggle against racial oppression is reflected in every institution, history book and classroom from kindergarten to university.” Educating African Caribbean people on its history of resistance was, it said: “A fundamental part of our reparations demands and a critical aspect of repairing the damage of slavery.” GAC International said the Bicentenary offers an opportunity to correct mistakes made at the time of independence, which was a failure to demand reparations: “For the enslavement and colonial plunder of Afrikans in the Caribbean.” The letter called on Portia Simpson Miller: “To make the claim on behalf of Afrikans in Jamaica.” Mc Farlane stressed that the idea of the Bicentenary is to create a cathartic event for people to honour their ancestors using traditional faith healers from Africa and the Diaspora. Although much of the focus has been on organising funding and events for next year, 2007 is being viewed as a year to instigate change that will continue beyond the Bicentenary year. “We have a publications committee that will be working with schools…and I am sure that afterwards we will be able to build up some continuity through the school intervention,” Mc Farlane said. And most importantly, the issue of reparations is definitely on the table, Mc Farlane told Black Britain: “We have a huge committee on reparations headed by Barbara Hannah Blake. We are trying to draft a document that we can use for the government to put forward.” GAC International said in its letter to the Jamaican Prime Minister that reparations: “Is one of the most critical issues of our time and the government and people of Jamaica should not retreat from this most serious mater on the bicentenary of a freedom our people fought for and won.”

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