PRESS RELEASE

Raising Pan-African Consciousness is the theme of a public lecture and slide presentation to be held in the Federation during the month of July in the lead up to Emancipation Day in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The presentation will be made by Ms. Ijahnya Christian, a national of the Federation who is an executive committee member of Caribbean Pan-African Network, and the Caribbean Rastafari Organisation’s Liaison to the African Union in Addis Ababa.

In Nevis, the presentation will be held at the Red Cross Building in Charlestown on Saturday 16th July at 7 p.m. In St. Kitts the lecture/presentation will begin at 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday 19th July at the St. Johnson’s Village Community Centre and on Thursday 21st at the Anglican School Centre in Sandy Point. All three events will begin on time and will be preceded by a session of African-Caribbean and Rastafari drumming.

According to the presenter, many people may ask, ‘What does Africa have to do with us here in St. Kitts and Nevis?’ The answer is that St. Kitts and Nevis are very much part of the Pan-African world and if we are able to organise ourselves along these lines, our societies can benefit economically and socially as well as culturally.

It is said that knowledge is power so self-knowledge must mean more power. It is important for all people to be able to feel powerful in positive and creative ways so that negativity and destruction are minimised.

Since the Caribbean islands were identified by Marcus Garvey as having a critical role to play in African Redemption, the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is an excellent place to begin that process of re-educating and re-acculturating its populace so that every young person can be empowered to participate meaningfully in the African Renaissance.

The lecture will focus on a sample of Pan-African intellectuals and activists sharing their methods of organising for self-knowledge and power among people of African descent. These include Bob Marley, Walter Rodney and Marcus Mosiah Garvey whose organising accomplishments remain a relevant blueprint for the 21st century.

Persons attending the lecture presentations are asked to bring along monetary contributions in support of a social development project with young mothers in EJERSA GORO, Ethiopia.

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