Ambassador O’Marde attends African Studies conference in DRC

Chairperson of the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission
(ABRSC), Ambassador Dorbrene O’Marde, was one of the invitees to the fifth
biennial African Studies Association of Africa conference held in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Ambassador O’Marde is one of three vice chairs of the CARICOM Reparations
Commission. His participation in the conference was facilitated by the Rutgers
Global Study Abroad Programme, headed by Antiguan citizen Dr. Dan Waite.
O’Marde presented as a member of a Rutgers University panel on the creation of a
Reparatory Justice Lab and was afforded a 90-minute plenary session on the final
day of the conference, where he delivered an extremely well-received paper,
‘REPARATIONS IN A PAN-AFRICAN CONTEXT: Experience and vision of the
CARICOM REPARATIONS COMMISSION.’
He reports that his participation at the Conference further revealed the
disconnections between Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora, noting that
Antigua and Barbuda is virtually unknown to many of the continental members of
ASAA. “Many of us in the Diaspora have little appreciation of the ruthlessness of
the continued exploitation of the resources of mineral-rich countries like the DRC
and the abject levels of poverty that many there live in,” O’Marde observed.
He used the opportunity to deepen the collaboration and networking required for
the strengthening of a global reparations movement, one reinforced by the
diplomatic voices of African countries/governments and organizations.
ABRSC/CRC is invited to participate in the Accra Reparations Conference hosted
by the government of Ghana from 14 – 17 November, where the global reparations
movement will be further developed.