1st Edition Newsletter 2017
25 Years On: Celebration, Reflection, Recommitment The ESCTT Celebrates its 25th Anniversary
AYA Endurance, Resourcefulness
Winnie Mandela formally opens the ESCTT Secretariat in 1996
In this the United Nations-declared International Year for Sustainable Tourism, the Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago celebrates its 25th anniversary. For the ESCTT this is a coincidence full of possibilities as it comes at the time that the celebration of emancipation has been rebranded as the Pan African Festival TT Commemorating Emancipation. The festival is now widely recognized as a premier cultural heritage tourism product. This is the segment of the tourism market which international experts identify as the fastest growing and most profitable. The festival is therefore a major asset for the country’s new tourism thrust. At the ESCTT, there is celebration and great pride internally about what the organization has been able to accomplish over the last 25 years. The organization has travelled a long road from when it was formed in 1992 as an umbrella body to strengthen the commemoration of emancipation. Its agenda over twenty-five years expanded to include programmes that address human and social
development - with major focus on education, culture and community building. The agenda embraced business development with national and international dimensions and human rights advocacy. The ESCTT also serves as the Secretariat for the Caribbean Pan African Network with membership in 22 countries and has a long-standing working relationship with the Economic Social and Cultural Council of the African Union. In this its 25th anniversary year, the ESCTT will Launch of the 2017 Pan African Festival TT on the grounds of its headquarters, Emancipation House, at 5B Bergerac Road, Maraval on Sunday 28th May 2017. In keeping with the expectations of our national and international publics, the Festival will encompass events such as the Kwame Ture Memorial Lecture Series and Film Festival; the Yoruba Village Drum Festival; the Qurux Africa Fashion Show; the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Symposium; the Trans-Atlantic Expo and Market Place at the Lidj Yasu Omowale
Village, which will throb with varied entertainment, shopping, children’s fun and educational activities, food, art and much more; the phenomenal Kambule Parade on the morning of August 1 and the inspiring flambeau parade that night. All the ingredients that have moved overseas visitors to describe the Festival as “the experience of a lifetime”, experiences that have drawn superlative praise from visiting African Heads of State, leading to an African Union Summit decision in 2006 to declare August 1 as a continent-wide Day of Observance. On this our twenty fifth anniversary, the Executive of the ESCTT extends special thanks to all those on whose remarkable legacies we have built, to our widespread membership, to staff members who work sacrificially throughout the year, volunteers, supporters, financial contributors and committed participants from home and abroad who add to the unique vibration and splendour of the multitude of events that constitute our annual Pan-African Festival TT Commemorating Emancipation
THE CARICOM CLAIM FOR REPARATIONS AND THE FUTURE OF THE REPARATIONS MOVEMENT Statement delivered by Khafra Kambon at a Colloquium in Guadeloupe (February 4 - 5), in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Comité International des Peuples Noirs, CIPN] Part 1
I am here today to discuss the gamechanging move by CARICOM governments to seek reparations from specific European governments for major crimes against humanity, crimes which still affect the peoples of the region - chattel slavery, the mass human trafficking labeled the TransAtlantic Slave Trade and, to CARICOM’s further credit, genocide against the native peoples. But before I deal with anything else I want to congratulate the CIPN for the milestone it has reached - 25years of hard work and dedication to the struggle for the liberation of the French -controlled territories in which you live and indeed the liberation of Africans globally. As we can see from this turnout here and the quality of the program, the CIPN is still vibrant and organized after 25 years. A true cause for celebration. I feel a special bond on this significant anniversary. The Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad & Tobago, the organization to which I belong, is also commemorating its 25th anniversary. Strategic Issues of Language and Projection At the outset I wish to state a personal opinion on a particular concept that has been expressed quite often at this conference, the idea of the three R’s of the reparations movement recognition, reparations and reconciliation. I hear them quite often but I must confess that I only subscribe to two R’s - recognition and reparations. Reconciliation may well be an outcome of reparations. If so, that would be welcome for humanity. However I believe that if anyone should be seeking reconciliation it is the people who have wronged us, those who committed the most grievous crimes against our foreparents and continue to subjugate and exploit us.
Apart from the moral principle, we need to look at this issue strategically. When demands for reparations come from Africans, even simpler compensation demands, Europeans go on a war footing. The counterattack combines intellectual warfare, psychological, economic and political warfare, and in some cases military action. Examples stare us in the face. Given that reality:
Secondly we notice the difference in the quantum of compensation. While there was a difference in the scale of pollution, the difference was nowhere near the difference in compensation. The oil which polluted the Gulf of Mexico was 6 times the amount that damaged the Boko Village in Nigeria (3 million barrels in Mexico; half million barrels in Boko). But the compensation for the Gulf was 734 times greater.
• We have to be psychologically prepared for battle and therefore the concepts and language we internalize must not blind us to reality or undermine our resolve to fight for what is morally and legally due to us. • We also have to ensure that we do not communicate weakness to those from whom we seek reparation. We have to be very conscious that we are demanding reparations in a world where we are not respected. Our approach must therefore command respect. There are very good examples every day of the contempt in which we are held. Here is a recent one:
The oil pollution in the devastated Niger Delta as a whole is approximately 600 million barrels, 200 times the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Does anyone expect Nigeria to get 200 times the compensation paid for the spill in the Gulf of Mexico? We do not expect that or even anything near that, despite the massive human disaster it has caused, because we are all aware of the gross inequalities in the status assigned to different human groups. We are especially aware of the perceptions of Africans held by the former colonizers. If we keep joining the word reconciliation to reparations I believe we are strengthening the environment for equally contemptuous settlements. I will use elements of CARICOM’s bold and, I am sure we would all agree, important step forward to illustrate the effects of internalizing reconciliation as a goal. CARICOM’s 10 point plan (and “plan” here is a misleading term; it is not a plan) begins with a reconciliationinspired idea. I quote: “The healing process for victims and the descendants of the enslaved and enslavers requires as a precondition the offer of a sincere formal apology by the governments of Europe. ...” We should continue to demand apologies but not because we cannot heal without them. We should see getting apologies as part of our strategy since the legal experts inform us that an apology is an admission of guilt and therefore strengthens the basis for legal claims. But to express the desire for an apology that is “sincere” and conceive of it as a “precondition” for reparations is to shoot ourselves in the foot in our sincere desire for reconciliation.
In 2015 two oil companies paid compensation packages to two different regions which had been affected by oil pollution. In January 2015 Shell paid $83.4 million to the people of Boko Village in the Niger Delta for polluting their land and sea with oil in 2008. In July 2015 BP agreed to a pay an environmental fine of $18.7 billion for damages as a result of oil pollution in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. This was in addition to $42 billion they had already paid in cleanup costs, fines and victim compensation in the years immediately after the event. BP’s total payment up to 2015 therefore was $60.7 billion. First we need to note the much faster response time to the Mexican disaster even though the Africans were represented by the British law firm, Leigh Day & Company, the firm which CARICOM has chosen to spearhead our legal claim for reparations.
Empowering Single Fathers to Play and Equal Part in Parenting Their Children
Training Consultant, Dr. Peter Weller conducts a training session with members of SFATT
The project Gender Equality and Fatherhood: Empowering Single Fathers in Trinidad and Tobago to Play an Equal in Parenting Their Children, which is funded by the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is in its second year of implementation. The project aims to address inequalities in the judicial sector which negatively affect fathers’ rights to parent their children. activities of To ensure the successful implementation of the Project a number of consultants have been contracted including a Research Consultant, a Training Consultant, a Media Consultant and New Media Technology Consultant. The consultants together with representatives from the ESCTT and the Single Fathers Association of Trinidad and Tobago (SFATT) form a Project Team which directly oversees the implementation of the Project. Since the launch of the Project in March of 2016, significant progress has been made with respect to the implementation of the major project activities: Research: The Research Consultant has reviewed fifty custody cases and the project team is currently administering a survey to gather further data on the experiences of parents and children as regards judgements of custody cases. At the end of the research, findings from the study will be widely circulated and used as part of the strategy for the promotion of shared and correction of existing gender biased practices within the legal system. Training: The training of SFATT Outreach Officers was completed in 2016 and sensitisation workshops were subsequently developed to inform relevant stakeholders of the issues faced by single fathers and their families.
In this regard, north and south/central region Community Action Councils (CAC of the Citizen Security Programme (CSP) and employees of the Gender Division in the Office of the Prime Minister participated in the workshop. Outreach Facilitators Toolkits which contain information on counselling, mediation, family law, child maintenance and support agencies have been developed and presented to thirty four trainees. The trainees are expected to use the toolkits to begin their engagement with persons who need assistance and each person is required to submit a report before receipt of a participation certificate. President of SFATT, Rhondall Feeles receives his Outreach Facilitators Toolkit
Members of SFATT participate in a Capacity Building Workshop
Advocacy and lobbying: This is a critical activity of the project as it aims to address policies and practices, which may be gender biased and promote shared parenting. The Multi Sector Committee was established to review current relevant legislation and policy, identify where there is need for change in favour of shared parenting and gender equity, develop the required advocacy positions and lobbying strategies. The Committee has met fourteen times since the Project was formally launched and comprises seven government and non-government agencies as well as members of the Project Team. The Multi Sector Committee has to date reviewed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Family Law (Guardianship of Minors, Domicile and Maintenance) Act and are now in the process of working on the Child Act. As part of the public awareness effort a number of information products have been produced including brochures,
Training Consultant, Dr. Peter Weller conducts a training session with members of SFATT
booklets and a Facebook Page, Gender Equality and Fatherhood Capacity Building of SFATT: Members of SFATT have been participating in Capacity Building Workshops which aim at strengthening SFATT’s organisational structure and management. To date there have been six workshops resulting in the articulation of a new vision and mission for the oprganisation, a new membership form and decisions re the structure of the organisation and composition of membership. The Project is scheduled to end in June of 2018 and the ESCTT thanks the Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for continuing its support of ESCTT’s efforts to make a positive contribution towards addressing one of the major socio economic challenges of our twin island state.
ESCTT UPDATES COMMUNITY MOBILISATION AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Three monthly Community Mobilisation and Development Committee (CMDC) Meetings have been held so far for the year. In recognition of the 25th anniversary of the organisation, there have been much discussion on the history and achievements of the ESCTT, led by the Chairman. Members have also been given the opportunity to share their experiences with the ESCTT. The next meeting of the Community Mobiisation and Development Committee is scheduled for Saturday June 3rd at Emancipation House 5 Bergerac Road Maraval. At this meeting there will be discussion on preparation for this year’s Kambule Procession.
AFRICAN UNION / DIASPORA RELATIONS The 2nd Ordinary Session of the 2 nd Permanent General Assembly of the Economic Social and Cultural Council of the African Union (ECOSOCC) was held from the 27th-31st March 2017 at the Ramses Hilton Cairo, Egypt Mr. David Comissiong, Chairman of the Caribbean Pan African Network (CPAN) represented the network at the Conference. A major outcome of the GA, with significance for the Caribbean, was the appointment of Mr. David Comissiong to a 6-member working group of General Assembly members for the purposes of reviewing the ECOSOCC Statutes.
Youth Mobilisation Committee The Youth Mobilisation Committee has continued its work in 2017 and the Committee has met twice for the year. The ESCTT hosted a Youth Conference on the International Decade for People of African Descent on Saturday 10th September 2016 at Normandie Hotel. Young individuals from across Trinidad and Tobago engaged in dynamic discussions about issues which uniquely affect young persons of African descent. The report of this conference is available to the public at Emancipation House upon request Preparations have begun for 2017 African History Quiz and Spoken Word Competition. Winners of the 2016 competitions were St Francois Girls College and Irita Bhagwatsing of St. Anthony’s Girls Primary School. Remember to register for this year’s competitions. 2017 could be your year!!!
Mr. David Comissiong, seated in the front row in white participates in the ECOSOCC General Meeting
On the 25th April 2017 Khafra Kambon, Chairman of the ESCTT and Mrs Asha Kambon met with the Deputy Chairman of the African Union and the Acting Director of the Citizens Directorate of the African Union
Members of the St Francois Girls College AHQ Team
Irita Bhagwatsing of St Anthony’s Girl Primary School
On the 25th May the ESCTT hosted a meeting of national Pan African Organisation to discuss the CPAN Chairman’s participation in the ECOSOCC General Assembly and Khafra Kambon’s meeting with CIDO’s Acting Director. At the meeting decisions were also taken re the way forward for the mobilisation of national civil society organisations to address issues related to reparations and the International Decade for People o African Descent. The next meeting of National Pan African Organizations is carded for Wednesday 14th June 2017 at the ESCTT Secretariat
Business Development: On Wednesday 17th May seventy micro entrepreneurs participated in the Annual Micro Entrepreneurs Development Workshop at the Emancipation House. Participants were provided with information about the government Fair Share Programme and access to credit