Dorbrene E. O’Marde
Chairperson, Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission
The Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission joins the rest of the
Caribbean in the celebration of Africa-CARICOM Day on September 07 th , 2023.
The Caribbean philosopher CLR James in an essay titled ‘Mighty Sparrow’ reminds us that
‘the recognition of Africanism, the agitation for recognition of Africa, the literary creation of
an African ideology, one powerful sphere of African independence, all were directly the
creation of West Indians.’
The yearning for a homeland, for Africa – understandably has been strongest among those
who were forcibly removed from the continent. The development of a Pan-African
philosophy emerged through the work of great West Indians such as Haitian sociologist Dr.
Price Mars, Martiniquan politician and writer Aime Cesaire, and Edward Wilmot Blyden
born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
Henry Sylvester Williams, Trinidadian born, as early as 1897 had formed the African
Association to promote and protect the interests of people of African descent. Four years
later in 1901, he organized the first Pan-African Conference. It was that thinking that led to a
re-centering of Africa and thrust the continent onto the world stage of the twentieth century.
Prophet Marcus Garvey took the baton, he and others including Trinidad-born George
Padmore, political organizer and theoretician worked to ‘achieve the heroic feat of placing
Africa and Africans and the people of African descent upon the map of modern history’.
There is much to learn about Africa-Caribbean relationships in the study of the period 1890
to 1940 when there seemed to be a pause to the brilliant individual contributions. Since then,
until recently, African-Caribbean relations were conducted ‘via an array of different
groupings and configurations operating within the structures of multilateral organizations as
well as at the regional and national levels.’
We can name – for example, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) organized around an
agenda of solidarity in pursuit of independence; The United Nations: G77+ China; The
African, Caribbean Pacific Group of Countries (ACP); The Commonwealth and The WTO.
[Much of the following history is due to Dr. Len Ishmael in her essay ‘Under Invested The
Caribbean-African
Relationship]
More specifically however a number of African Union (AU) and & CARICOM frameworks
have emerged aimed at promoting more focused region-to-region relations between Africa
and the English-speaking Caribbean. The first African Diaspora Forum was held in
Washington DC in December 2002. The South African, African Union and Caribbean
Diaspora Conference of 2005, was convened in Jamaica under the theme ‘Towards Unity
and United Action by Africans and the African Diaspora in the Caribbean for a Better
World: The Case of South Africa’ where a call was reiterated for the need to revitalize the
“historical and cultural bonds between Africa and the African Diaspora in the Caribbean, to
establish mechanisms for building stronger political and economic relationships.
We have witnessed since 2003 visits to the region by various Heads of African countries
starting with that of President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki to attend the CARICOM
conference where he proposed an ‘African Renaissance’ to encompass “all Africans, both in
Africa and the Africa Diaspora – addressing poverty, under development and
marginalization.’ Many CARICOM leaders have staged official visits to the continent.
The Global African Diaspora Summit was held in Johannesburg, South Africa 2012 under
the leadership of the President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. A Development of the Diaspora
Initiative which was adopted by the AU’s Executive Council in Maputo, Mozambique, in
July 2003.
In 2013, the UN launched the International Decade of People of African Descent (2015-
2024). CARICOM’s Secretary General and the AU’s Deputy Chair have met to initiate
further action on issues of mutual interest on the global stage – to include climate change.
Space does not allow for a further detailed description of the various attempts over the last
five years to reassure both regions of the importance of their relationship, promote
cooperation, and strengthen the deep bond of friendship. Special mention however must be
made of the 2018 CARICOM-AU meeting with the International Civil Aviation
Organization where objectives included the boosting of trade and tourism between the
regions and strategies were discussed to improve connectivity between the Caribbean and
Africa.
This journey led to the 2021 inaugural Africa-CARICOM Summit under the theme ‘UNITY
ACROSS CONTINENTS AND OCEANS: OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEEPENING
INTEGRATION COMMUNIQUÉ’ with the objective ‘to reaffirm the bonds of ancestry
and friendship between Africa and CARICOM and to build a foundation for lasting robust
socio-economic and political engagements as well as partnerships between the two regions
for a collective prosperous future’. The Summit was chaired by Hon. Gaston Browne, Prime
Minister of Antigua and Barbuda
The inaugural Session of the Africa-CARICOM Summit – inter alia – recalled the spirit and
vision of Pan-Africanism championed by African and Caribbean forefathers in the first Pan-
African conference of 1900 and affirmed the commitment of the current African-Caribbean
leaders to revive and renew its tenets to affirm the unity and common aspirations of all
people of African descent for a fairer more inclusive global order.
The Summit called for Member States to address issues of climate change, reparatory
justice/reparations, and the need to foster increased trade, investment, air travel, and
maritime shipping links with a view to realizing greater economic integration and enhanced
people-to-people contact between Africa and the Caribbean, and to this end committed to
establishing a Multilateral Air Services Agreement, to conclude an agreement to abolish
double taxation, and to review the requirement for travel visas, and establish regular weekly
direct flights between African and Caribbean regions.
Leaders committed to institutionalize cooperation between Africa and CARICOM and the
diaspora by designating September 7th of every year as Africa-CARICOM Day and called
on Member States to support this initiative.
ABRSC, in recognition of the day, stages a panel discussion ‘YOUTH and Reparations in
the context of AFRICA-CARICOM unity’. Speakers will include representatives of the
ABRSC, CARICOM Ambassadors, National Youth Parliamentarians, The Guyana Youth
Reparations Movement, and Spoken word artists.
We specifically highlight the commitment of the AU to support the CARICOM reparations
claim for historical crimes. We call on those of us of African descent to give deeper
consideration to the wide range of potential social and economic benefits that can accrue
from solidifying the relationship between us and the mother continent.
06 September 2023
