Rich Dialogue Marks IBW's Symposium on The Future of Democracy in Africa & the Caribbean - Institute of the Black World 21st Century

“Its not often that grassroots activists, Pan-Africanists and progressive academics get an opportunity to interface with statesmen from Africa and the Caribbean and mingle with diplomats from those regions over a period of two days,” commented one of the invited participants at the Symposium on the Future of Democracy & Development in Africa and the Caribbean organized by the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW).

Her sentiments were echoed by several of the more than 100 participants who gathered from around the country at Washington, DC’s historic Metropolitan AME Church to listen to keynote speeches from the Prime Minister of St. Vincent & the Grenadines Dr. Ralph Gonsalves on the evening of Oct. 17th and from the former President of Cape Verde, Hon. Pedro Pires, on Oct. 18th.

Also speaking at the opening session of the symposium was Congressman John Conyers, the longest serving African-American representative in the US Congress and legendary author of the bill that mandated Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday as a national holiday and HR 40, the bill that calls for reparations for centuries of African enslavement in the United States.

Following the keynote speeches, the participants assembled in the Frederick Douglass Hall of the church for a rich dialogue on a wide range of issues pertinent to democracy and development in both regions with panels of experts in African, Caribbean and Pan-African diaspora affairs.

In welcoming the symposium attendees, Dr. Ron Daniels, president of IBW, said that in a world where economic and political power matters, “the preeminent issue facing us is how the sons and daughters of Africa—those who are still striving with varying degrees of success to overcome the devastating inter-generational impact of the European slave trade and colonialism—build and sustain the kind of cultural, economic and political relationships that will promote our collective empowerment.”

He added that IBW viewed the symposium as an important step in a process designed to address the critical questions of democratic governance, human rights and socially responsible economies. Such questions, he noted, call for an engaged discussion on what is the nature of progressive Pan-Africanism and the vision/mission of principled Black solidarity and empowerment in the 21st Century.

“It is our hope that with your participation, over time, the process we initiate during this symposium will yield answers to these questions and thereby serve as a source for the building of just, humane, non-exploitative and prosperous Black communities and nations,” he said.

Also welcoming the symposium attendees was Rev. Dr. Ronald Braxton, senior pastor of the Metropolitan AME Church. He noted the long history of involvement in freedom struggles by the Black church in the USA and cited the active presence today of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church in countries throughout Africa and the Caribbean, with congregations that are making positive contributions to democracy and development in those two regions.

At the opening session on the evening of the 17th, the Institute of the Black World presented its Legacy Award to President Pires and its Pan-African Service Award to Prime Minister Gonsalves. In attendance were several current and former ambassadors from Africa, the Caribbean and the United States.

To watch the opening session of the symposium featuring the keynote address by Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves and the speech by Cong. John Conyers please click here to access IBW’s YouTube channel–

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deey8rWOE

Panelists: The Future of Democracy & Development in Africa:

Moderator—Dr. Jemadari Kamara, Director, Center for African, Caribbean and

Community Development, University of Massachusetts at Boston.

H.E. Amina Ali, African Union Ambassador to the U.S.

Dr. Pearl Robinson, President Emeritus, African Studies Association

Mel Foote, President Constituency for Africa

Emira Woods, Co-Director, Foreign Policy in Focus, Institute for Policy Studies

Wale Idris Ajibade, Executive Director, African Views Interaction with Participant Resource People

Panelists: The Future of Democracy & Development in the Caribbean

Moderator—Hulbert James, Executive Director, Diasporic Project

Don Rojas, CEO Progressive Communications Online, Founder of The Black World Today