Local Media Making History

Colloquy Remembering Garvey, Slavery etc To be Broadcast Worldwide.

HISTORY will be created here tomorrow night, when a series of events to commemorate a Caribbean Hero will be broadcast live from Saint Lucia to the rest of the world by local media – and for the first time too, members of the public will be invited not to attend the event — but to follow it from home.

The event is a colloquy on Slavery, Emancipation and Reparations that will also feature the words and works of Marcus Mosiah Garvey – as well as the legacy of John Quinlan, a Saint Lucian who was a major player in the quest for justice for freed slaves across the Caribbean and the Americas after Emancipation.

The Saint Lucia Colloquy on “Emancipation & Reparations, Marcus Garvey & the UN Decade for People of African Descent”, to take place at the UWI Open Campus at Morne Fortune to coincide with Garvey’s 129th birthday, will hear a lecture covering all these themes to be delivered by the new Secretary General of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) Ambassador Dr June Soomer.

Until recently the Saint Lucia Ambassador to CARICOM and the OECS, Dr. Soomer will speak on the theme “Reparations – A ragtag collection of racial malcontents marching to the beat of their own drum”.

But, unlike ever before, everything said by Dr Soomer and others at the event will reverberate across the Caribbean and worldwide – and at the very same time.

The fare is big. Apart from the new ACS Secretary General launching the Inaugural Lecture in a planned series to be co-sponsored by the NRC and the UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia, Education Minister Dr Gale Rigobert will declare Saint Lucia’s adoption of the UN Decade for People of African Descent.

Sir Hilary Beckles, Vice Chancellor of the UWI and Chairman of the CARICOM Commission on Reparations, will also speak. So too will Earl Bousquet, Chairman of the Saint Lucia National Reparations Committee (NRC).

The CARICOM Reparations website will be introduced and launched live and online by its coordinator Don Rojas, out of Canada.

A statement will be made on behalf of the Dean, the CARICOM Youth Ambassadors and local CARICOM Youth Advocates.

Herb Black will perform his “Reparations” song. Music videos about Garvey, Slavery and Reparations will be shown – and it will all be broadcast live, here and to the region, by the National Television Network (NTN) and Radio Saint Lucia (RSL), Calabash TV, as well as through the UWI Open Campus and other related UWI regional teleconferencing networks.

The unprecedented live event broadcasting Saint Lucia to the world has brought together the technical teams of NTN and RSL with the ICT Unit at UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia and Calabash TV will join the live telecast and stream the event as well.

The historic colloquy will also feature an interactive element during which viewers and listeners will be invited to text, e-mail and WhatsApp brief messages.

The event will also be telecast live to and in all UWI Open Campus territories, as well as in campus territories, where National Reparations Committees and members of the public have been invited to attend and participate in the live Saint Lucia event.

The location for this big event is small and it will be attended by the Governor General and the Prime Minister, the Cabinet of Ministers, Government and Opposition MPs, members of the Diplomatic Corps, special overseas guests and special local invitees.

Said NRC Chairman Bousquet, “This is the reason why the event will be brought to you at home and across the region and throughout the world through all the modern media means and methods, utilizing traditional mainstream and new ICT facilities.”

He added: “The old normal that the public be invited to these sorts of events at venues accommodating rallies and mass crowd events.

“But what we will do on Wednesday, will be the new normal – asking the public to stay home while we bring the event to them in their living rooms or bedrooms, on their TV or computer screens, on their Smart phones or through their radios.”

“Besides,” he continued, “everyone tuned in that night, in Saint Lucia or anywhere else in the Caribbean or the world, will be able to participate — without leaving home – by simply using their phones, computers and other smart gadgets during the interactive part of the session. ”

The colloquy takes place, from 7:00 p.m. sharp — and will also be streamed live to the world through NTN and CalabashTV.