HEARTICALLY YOURS

My Sister of The Click Song is gone. On Sunday 9th November 2008, the legendary Miriam Makeba died in Italy age 76, collapsing as she left the stage at the Castel Volturno after taking part in a concert for Roberto Saviano, a writer threatened with death by the Mafia. While the audience of 1,000 shouted for an encore, the star had fainted and was lying on the floor before being rushed to the Veneto Verde hospital near Naples where she later died. The cause of death was given as a heart attack.

It is that time of year again when the Rastafari communities world wide celebrate the anniversary Ras Tafari Makonnen who, on November 2nd 1930, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was crowned Haile Selassie I (Power of the Trinity). This year I celebrated with the Rastafari community in Nevis, where the recently formed One Love Rastafari Movement assembled along with the brethren from the Nyahbinghi Order in St. Kitts for a spirit-filled, educational encounter.

Warmest congratulations to the Klassique Academy of Dance (KAODA) on the attainment of a breath-taking first year. One of the outreach activities to celebrate the milestone was the highly stimulating Arts Talk symposium held at the Teachers’ Resource Centre Auditorium on Monday 27th October 2008.

Save for loss of life, limb and property, the aftermath of a hurricane still holds a child-like excitement for me. In this regard, Omar was no different. My first real hurricane was Jorge as I was in Beijing during Luis in 1995, returning to a changed, seemingly charred landscape that others explained was the effect of salt water way inland. Since Jorge I have got over the “want to see a hurricane” syndrome and now focus much more on the preparedness.

An important meeting took place in Trinidad and Tobago this week. It was a gathering, in Port of Spain, of Permanent Secretaries and high level officials from the Caribbean and Chile to analyse social protection strategies in the Caribbean. The meeting was convened to consider the results of “Network-Based Capacity Building on Social Protection Strategies in the Caribbean” to see how lessons learned from the Chilean Puente Programme could be transferred to Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia. While Anguilla may not have the comprehensive institutional arrangements for social development that can be found in Jamaica and T & T, the fact of St. Lucia’s involvement is important as I believe that Chile Puente can be brought home to the member countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). In his budget address on April 21, 2008, the Honourable Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Stephenson King, was optimistic that St. Lucia’s adaptation of the programme would improve the delivery of social protection services to indigent families in St. Lucia. The political commitment was endorsed in the budget. Anguilla may not have been able to benefit directly from the support given by the Organization of American States (OAS), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Government of Chile, and I am not sure if Anguilla found a way to be represented. However, the Caribbean social development scenario has so many factors in common that we too can benefit from the planned extension of the programme to other Caribbean nations. The wider goal of the programme is to bridge the cultural gap between the Caribbean and South America, in particular Chile, and once again, whether you like it or not, Rastafari leads the way.

The controversial Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) that Caribbean Countries were expected to sign on September 2, 2008, are not endorsed by all of the Regions peoples. The EPAs are the critical element of the Cotonou Agreement between the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States and the European Union (EU) and are intended to create a free trade area between these entities, in response to the criticism that preferential trade agreements offered by the EU are not compatible with the rules of the World Trade Organisation.

It is very tempting to say that CARIFESTA X is the worst CARIFESTA ever but that may be neither true nor fair. The Opening Ceremony of the Caribbean Region’s premier festival of Arts and Culture was not as impactful as it could have been and the long, windy rain just before the long (it seemed never ending) production did not help. I was among the damp, tired crowd that could not see what was happening on the poorly positioned stage but I am not sure what the organizers could have done about either the dampness or the tiredness, short of cutting out the official speeches which came at a time and under circumstances when they simply could not command my attention. As a matter of fact, it took me several minutes and the help of the person sitting beside me to figure out where “the voice” was coming from and that was determined by the cluster of media people surrounding what I believe was a podium somewhere on the opposite side of the stage across a vast field. At least we could see the stage. The inclement weather prevented the parachute jump display by the Guyana Defence Force whose plane flew very low over the gathering several times to determine whether the jumps were feasible. They were not and that was a major disappointment but a most spectacular air display by Brazil on day two, more than made up for the absent jumps. The inadequacy of the production did not help the Anguilla contingent who headed the parade. There was too long a gap between the announcement for Antigua to follow and visually, that left much to be desired. Pundits writing in the newspaper the next day described the event as “Carifiasco” and many of the detractors who had issues with the way in which that mega-event was organized, seemed gleeful. It was clear that I would need to be diplomatic when the inevitable mic was pushed into my face with the inevitable question seeking my views about CARIFESTA X. I know you all did not think I could be diplomatic but I was in Guyana to represent the government and people of Anguilla as well as the Caribbean Rastafari Organisation (CRO), so I sought diligently to find the positive aspects and I did.

“This race of ours gave civilization, gave art, gave science, gave literature to the world”
(Jamaican, Marcus Mosiah Garvey born on 17 August 1887)

Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser, at 21 takes Olympic gold in women’s 100m in 10.78 seconds.
Sister Jamaicans, Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart share the silver in dead heat at 10.98 (17 August 2008)
Ethiopians Kenenisa Bekele and Sileshi Sihine took the gold and silver in the men’s 10,000m in 27:1.17 seconds and 9:89 respectively while Micah Kogo of Kenya won the bronze in 27:04.11 (17 August 2008)
Jamaican Usain Bolt at 21, takes Olympic gold in men’s 100m in 9.69 seconds, Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago took the silver in 9.89 seconds (16 August 2008).

Today it is difficult to write because life seems so complicated and at the same time so cheap.

Today I thought I would be sharing with you the progress and lack of progress observed during the Nyahbinghi Global Consultation held in Jamaica from July 24 -29, 2008.

Last August when the Government of Anguilla declared Thursday 16 August a day of mourning repentance and prayer and organized a rally against violence in Anguilla, I wanted more than a public relations exercise that would make everyone feel good. I wanted action on recommendations long made in a number of reports. I wanted outreach programmes to get right to the young people who are not attracted to meetings in cold concrete rooms.

An exciting and necessary venture is taking place in Anguilla to revive the spirit of community throughout Anguilla. It is an initiative of the Ministry of Social Development being spearheaded by the Department of Youth and Culture that began in Blowing Point and has now turned it attention to Anguilla’s capital, The Valley.

The long vacation period is almost here. We’ve been preparing for a whole year and yet the month of June seems to have sneaked up on us surprising us into the realization that 2008 is half done. Last week we bade farewell to one of our best volunteers, Joanna Burt-Kinderman and her family, who were pillars of support.

Even though I go along obediently because they are such worthy causes, there is still a twinge of resentment when I reflect on the fact that the United Nations effectively dictates what we pay attention to with every declaration of a day, year or decade set aside for special observances to highlight specific issues.

Anguilla Day is celebrated annually only five days following African Liberation Day (ALD) and this year as I celebrated ALD with the Pan-African community in St. Croix, it was impossible not to think about the destiny of these two countries, caught as it were in the time warp of colonialism in the 21st Century. I’m not sure why it took me so long to return to St. Croix after my first visit twenty-five years ago but after last week-end’s experience, it will not be so long before I visit again.

On Wednesday 21 May, World Day for Cultural Diversity passed quietly enough. Heartically Yours today shares the principles of the UNESCO Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted in November 2001.

There are a couple of experiences that I would not have chosen if there had been options. One of these is the experience of having my home gutted by fire in 1996. So as I empathize with Brother Dread Ites whose house was completely destroyed by fire a few weeks ago, all these feelings that I thought had been put to rest, rushed to the fore.

“Everyone knows that Laws bring the greatest benefits to mankind and that the honour and interest of everyone depend on the wisdom of the Laws, while humiliation, shame, iniquity and the loss of rights arise from the absence or insufficiency…The Law, whether it rewards or punishes, must be applied to everyone without exception.”
Qedamawi Haile Selassie

... when my turn comes into the air, I will raise up a cry so violent
that I will spatter the sky utterly, and by my shredded branches
and by the insolent jet of my solemn wounded bole
I shall command the islands to exist
- from “Lost Body”, by Aimé Césaire, trans. E. Anthony Hurley

Whew! Finally! I had begun to think that Anguilla was content to remain a colony all the days of my life. While I breathe a sigh of relief that we are finally going to be exploring all the options and exercising new options enveloped in the term “self-determination”, I still cannot explain why it took so long for us to recognize the inevitability of this moment. At last we are about to begin talking the talk of full internal self-government and independence and I hope we will emerge with an agenda in which we at least plan the walk.

This week I am en route home spending endless hours in various airports trying not to feel like a victim but instead, like a beneficiary of hundreds of flights grounded in the name of safety. The delays have provided much time for reflection on the theme of development as experienced by life in Anguilla and from a visitor’s perspective of New York and the tiny portion of Ghana that I have enjoyed immensely for the past fortnight.