Unbreakable Cultural Ties Underpin Solidarity

Just four days after we as a people celebrated a most historic day, a day rich in cultural history, the May 21 Spiritual Baptists Day. The anniversary of an international Day, one which connects with our African origins, African Liberation Day (ALD) passed far more quietly on Sunday.

That is not to say that the cause of African liberation is a forgotten one where we are concerned, but circumstances of today have altered the context of the occasion. When we first commemorated ALD in 1974, our local situation, and those in Africa and the international community were very much different. African Liberation Day was a day of international solidarity, decreed by the Organisation of African Unity, the forerunner of today’s African Union.

It was a day which resonated with the black populace of the Caribbean, given our African origin and more so, common history of imperial plunder, slavery, in the case of the Caribbean, and racist servitude in the case of apartheid in South Africa and racist domination in Namibia, Zimbabwe and the then Portuguese colonies of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea Bissau. There was common purpose between our two regions, for in addition to skin colour most of the Caribbean islands were still colonies, and plantation agriculture headed by the offspring of the white colonists was very much our experience.

It was therefore no surprise that the Caribbean responded so positively to the solidarity call. With black consciousness rapidly spreading in the region, the campaign for an end to apartheid and colonialism in Africa struck a responsive chord. ALD marches and rallies became significant occasions throughout our region, with SVG being prominent.

The situation today has changed, a lot indeed. Colonial rule and racist regimes are a thing of the past in Africa. In the Caribbean, most islands have regained their independence though the stubborn face of colonialism, whether by the French, Dutch, British or Americans is still present. But on both sides of the Atlantic which separates us physically, millions of people, black people, still wallow in poverty and destitution. Giant multinational corporations still plunder the wealth of both regions, and discrimination, and exclusion is still the fate of hundreds of millions of black people in Africa as well as the Caribbean.

There is even greater urgency for solidarity between us and cooperation to combat the stranglehold. The context may have changed but the tasks are still before us. We have to continue to build the links and extend the solidarity. Days like the Spiritual Baptists Day remind us not only of the ties which bind us to Africa but the commonality of our struggles.

The British did not only try to crush our African forms of worship as in the case of our Spiritual Baptists, but they and the other European colonisers tried the same thing in Africa. That we have been able to maintain our rights to worship as we desire says a lot about our determination to resist. That determination must now be displayed on the economic, trade, cultural and other levels as we work in solidarity to throw off the yoke of foreign domination.

The cause of African liberation is by no means dead. We are still one people with unbreakable cultural roots.