CARICOM reparations relay

ST. LUCIA:  The relay will take a ‘reparations baton’ and ‘reparations torch’ from one CARICOM country to the other over the coming months.
The CARICOM Reparations Commission has launched an international reparations relay and rally initiative in Barbados that will take a ‘reparations baton’ and ‘reparations torch’ from one CARICOM country to the other over the coming months.
The baton and torch will be presented to National Reparations Commissions across the region at youth rallies organized under the banner ‘Roots, Rock, Reggae, Reparations.’ The rallies will celebrate the principles and programs of the Caribbean and global reparatory justice movements.
The Barbados launch of the reparations relay coincided with the bi-centennial commemoration of the death of General Bussa, the inspirational leader of the Barbados slave rebellion of 1816. At an April 16 cultural/historical ceremony entitled “From Bussa to Barrow,” at the site where Bussa was killed, Professor Pedro Welch, chair of the Barbados Reparations Task Force passed the ‘reparations baton’ to the Deputy Consul General of Guyana in Barbados who, in turn, will pass it to the Guyana Reparations Commission at a youth rally in May. From Guyana, the baton will be taken to other CARICOM countries during the course of 2016.
Beautifully carved, the baton is a symbol of justice that is engraved with a map of Africa; the words “Reparations Now”; and rings representing the 15 CARICOM states.
The relay will culminate in Jamaica later this year where the Emancipation Rebellion led by Sam Sharpe will be remembered and celebrated.