Pan African community reports ‘very good year’
President of the Haynesville Youth Club Peter Skeete; and General Secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI) David Denny speaking about Kwanzaa 2020 celebrations.
2020 has been very good to the Pan African community in Barbados, according to General Secretary of the Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration (CMPI) David Denny.
He said that the movement achieved a lot because of their “struggles and actions”.
“We were successful in getting the Government of Barbados to discuss and to pass a Black Lives Resolution in Parliament; this year we also benefited from the June 13thmarch that would have called for the removal of Lord Nelson; and that would have also called for the removal of the Queen as Head of State and for Barbados to become a Republic.”
His comments came during the launch of Kwanzaa 2020 in Barbados. December 26th marked the beginning of the seven-day celebration of African American and Pan-African culture.
“The Pan-Africanist and the Progressive Forces in Barbados benefited from this year and therefore we will be recognising these things during the period of Kwanzaa. And part of our vision for the future, coming out of the Kwanzaa programme this year, would be to create the conditions for discussion about the type of Republic that Barbados should look at,” he said during a press conference on Thursday at the Police Outpost in Haynesville St. James to reveal the schedule over the next few days. On Sunday, December 27th the Haynesville St. James Community will come alive with a parade leaving the Desmond Haynes Sports Complex at Holders Hill at 3 p.m., led by the popular Haynesville Youth Group.
A community project in the Ivy is planned for Wednesday, December 30th and Kwanzaa celebrations will culminate on January 1st, 2021 at Pelican Village at 5 p.m. with a cultural ceremony recognising the Haitian Independence and Cuban Revolution. Specially invited guests include – Cuban Ambassador to Barbados, Sergio de Jesus Jorge Pastrana; Barbados Ambassador to CARICOM, David Comissiong; and Special Envoy for Reparations and Economic Enfranchisement, Trevor Prescod.
“We will dedicate this day as a day of solidarity with the people of Haiti and Cuba. And the reason why is because January 1st is Haiti’s Independence and the Haitian people all over the world will be celebrating 217 years. And January 1st is the anniversary of the victory of the Cuban Revolution celebrating 62 years…. We have already started extending an invitation to the Cuban and Haitian communities in Barbados to join us and participate in the activity on January 1st,” Denny further revealed. (TL)