PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders are traveling to Samoa in October to attend the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which will be held under the theme “One Resilient Common Future: Transforming our Commonwealth.”
The meeting of former British colonies takes place October 21-25.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, speaking at African Emancipation Celebrations marking the 168th anniversary of the end of the slave trade in the Caribbean, said regional leaders at their just-concluded summit in Grenada are going to the meeting with a plan regarding reparation for the Atlantic Slave Trade.
“Freedom is something we will have to continue to demand and respect. We will have to continue to demand it,” he told the ceremony.
“In a few months, the Caribbean leaders will meet the rest of the Commonwealth in Samoa. It is exciting because Sir Hilary Beckles (Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies) has been leading the intellectual argument. CARICOM has a body of people, many of them intellectuals, one kind or another, or leaders of one sort, demanding more loudly and persistently at this time. As Martin Luther King said, the art of freedom bends towards justice.
“We genuinely believe that it will bend to a point and a day when justice will be recognized by all and handed to those who deserve it,” Rowley said.
“So when we meet in Samoa, the Caribbean leaders took a decision this week to forcefully speak to the Commonwealth as one voice. There is a particular country with a new King and a Labour government with an outstanding mandate, and we look forward to the reaction in October,” Rowley said.
Rowley was no doubt referring to the United Kingdom, the ceremonial head of the Commonwealth, with King Charles replacing his late mother, Queen Elizabeth 11, who died on September 8, 2022, at the age of 96,
In addition, the country elected a new government led by the Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The communique issued at the end of the CARICOM summit on Thursday said the regional leaders held an audience with Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland KC, who noted that CARICOM has been central to re-establishing the Commonwealth as a powerful force for good.
“She said the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Apia, Samoa on 21 October 2024 will examine debt and reform of the global financial architecture, urgent action needed at COP 29, and will put forward a new oceans declaration,” the communique noted.
Rowley said he believes that “until respect of our people becomes acknowledged by those who hold authority, African people will continue to be viewed as second and third class, and we will continue to have to fight for freedom and respect.
“We are not afraid of that fight. Our ancestors were not afraid to resist …and we in the 21st century must continue the conversation and the demand,” Rowley said, even as he expressed his disappointment that young people were not too involved in the Emancipation story.
“Let us, as one happy, strong, resilient people, not be afraid of our identity, not be afraid of our history, but with respect for all, particularly ourselves and our ancestors, take up our rightful place in world society…which is sometimes so harsh and so unfair.
“We will come out on the streets, and hopefully, we will have more of our young people with us because, without them, the fight will not be as effective as it should be. Many of our young people are unaware of our circumstances and history. It needs to be taught, spoken about, and lived…,” Rowley said.
The grand finale of Emancipation Day begins with Kamboule, a large procession through the streets of Port of Spain. This mass procession is highly theatrical and features African drumming, steel bands, moko jumbies, and dance groups. The procession leads into the large Emancipation Village for a day of performances. The day is a national holiday in Trinidad and Tobago.
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