THREE MILLION JAMAICANS SHAKING UP AFRICA! Please bear with me while I respond to a Nigerian brother, Bolaji Laurance who made a sweeping statement that he does not think Jamaica has anything to show Nigeria. Kiss my Jamaican teeth, sir! We are far more instrumental in many African political and social affairs than Nigeria has been and I challenge you to differ! Jamaican anti-apartheid antagonism peaked in the 1970s under former Prime Minister Michael Manley. He was the most forceful anti-apartheid voice outside South Africa, with major United Nations speeches in Maputo, Mozambique; Kingston, Jamaica; and UN headquarters. Manley was in 1978 awarded the UN Gold Medal for his significant contribution in cooperation with the United Nations and in solidarity with the South African liberation movement in the international campaign against apartheid. In 2006, he was posthumously awarded a gold Order of Companions of O R Tambo in South Africa. Likewise, former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, was awarded the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo. In 2011, Ambassador Dudley Thompson, Jamaicas former envoy to several African countries, created history by being the first person to given a passport by the African Union (AU). The African Union declared him the first citizen of the continent because of his work for Africa internationally. In 1952, Thompson assembled the international legal team that defended Jomo Kenyatta in his trial after being seized by the British colonialists. Kenyatta said: This man saved my life. Jamaicas Marcus Garvey led the biggest and most influential movement to advance Black people’s interests in the history of the world. At the height, his movement had more than 11 million followers. His memory is maintained in Nairobi, Kenya and Enugu, Nigeria have streets bearing his name, the township of Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa, put his name on an entire neighborhood. Yenagoa,Bayelsa State, Nigeria has a library named for him. A bust of Garvey was created and is on display at a park in the central region in Ghana. Today, Ghana has a significant Jamaican community based on foundations of Bob Marley and Marcus Garvey. They have created their own governing & financial empowerment council comprising credit union “Black Star Line”. The United Nation’s Peace Medal of the Third World was given to Bob Marley in 1978. He was bestowed the award by the African delegation to the UN, led by Senegalese Youth Ambassador to the UN on behalf of 500 million Africans. On Tuesday, 18 April, 1980, Zimbabwe was changing its name. Two officials from Zimbabwes government was in Bob Marley’s office inviting him to perfrom at the Independence ceremony. Cost was to be no barrier!! The Shashamane settlement in Ethiopia traces its roots to the 1948 Shashamane Land Grant by Emperor Haile Selassie I to members of the Ethiopian World Federation in gratitude for defence during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Jamaicans now form a notable presence in the Shashamane settlement, nicknamed Little Jamaica. SO WE DWEET!
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 11:33:56 +0000
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