Eye of the Needle

ONE OF THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMent in St Vincent and the Grenadines, and indeed the wider Caribbean, has been the identifi cation of our people with our sisters and brothers in Africa

and the demonstration of solidarity with the African liberation struggle.

We, Vincies, were in the forefront of the commemoration annually of African Liberation day, May 25, so much so that as it developed, we even went

RENWICK ROSE

further into a series of activities for African Liberation Month, the whole month of May.

Times have changed a lot over the last four decades. The wars of liberation against apartheid, racism and colonialism in Africa were won, the Portuguese colonies achieved independence, the oncemighty South African army was defeated in Angola, and, finally, apartheid itself collapsed leading to the release of Nelson Mandela and his compatriots and the ushering in of a democratic South African state.

Since then, there has been difficulty in realising a clear focus for African Liberation day, and its significance has significantly diminished. Yet, if one follows developments worldwide today, as ever before there is need for greater consciousness about the plight of people of African descent in the face of a resurgence of blatant racism. Whether it is in the form of the continuing rape of the African continent, the greed, corruption and irresponsibility of many African leaders causing massacres, hunger and poverty on a massive scale, or the brutal gunning down of young black men in the United States of America, or, worst of all, open slavery in Libya, black people are literally catching their———-.

“We people, who are darker than blue,” to quote the late, great American soul singer, Curtis Mayfi eld, cannot ignore what is happening to us, and around us. As he asked in that classic song, “Are we gonna stand around this town and let what others say come true?” Look at how our own people, resident in the UK for more than 40 years, the so-called “Windrush generation”, are being treated, deprived of citizenship of the only country in which they have toiled for all those years. They were made targets for removal from the same UK, and in the face of the exposure of the blatant racism, the United Kingdom government had to scramble to apologise, to promise to rectify, and in the process used the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings as a cover.

There are countless other examples, one of which would make the spirit of my mother, who has just passed away, want to rise in outrage. I make mention here of the relentless efforts to humiliate one of the most outstanding black female athletes of our time, the South African middle-distance runner, Caster Semenya.

At the age of 18, she won the 800 metre race at the 2009 World Athletics championships. Such was her margin of victory that the racist international media and persons in the leadership of the International Athletics Federation, immediately embarked on a programme of denigration, humiliation, and harassment of this outstanding young woman. She was called a “man”, subjected to physical examination to verify whether she was indeed a woman. No such treatment was ever meted out to countless white big-bodied athletes who were allowed to set all kinds of records, particularly in field events.

It did not stop there.

The International Federation then introduced a rule to prevent female athletes with high levels of male hormones from participating. It took an Indian athlete, Dutee Chand, to successfully challenge it in 2015. But lo and behold, after Caster Semenya’s double gold medals in the 800 and 1500 metres at the recent Commonwealth games, a new rule change has been made, forcing Caster and other females in similar position, to either have to race against men, for races up to one mile, or to take medication, or only race in long-distance events.

Whatever excuses, named “reasons” are given, if we want a focus for African Liberation activities, then these racist acts provide it.