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Comment by dadieshak on March 28, 2009 at 11:56pm

As I gaze across the vast expanse of the Afrikan diaspora, I see that, today the Afrikan at home and abroad has been brought to the point of extinction. Darfur....the Congo ....the Streets of Soweto ...the Ghettoes of Amerika ...the shanty towns of Jamaica and Haiti and right here in the Bahamas, Over the Hill in Bain Town and our other inner city communities.
The formation of the Bahamas Pan Afrikan National Congress has been grounded in this reality and we wish that over the course of the next few nights we will be able to engage in constructive dialogue and strategic planning for the development of a concrete plan of action, to move not only the diaspora in the Bahamas but the wider community of Afrikans at home and abroad to the next level in the Pan Afrikan liberation struggle. In essence we want to chart a way forwards for our survival as a people.

The Congress belongs to the People and over the course of the next year we will be drawing on our legal experts to construct a constitution to ensure our sustainabilty for future generations. We will also develop and enhance the strategies and solutions raised in our collective discussions over the next 2 nights.

Our agenda is to save the Bahamian nation and people from the present inertia which has so greatly contributed to our currrent sad state of affairs in which ordinary, everyday Bahamians are increasingly finding themselves as second class citizens, landless, disempowered and disenfranchised!

The sound of the conch shell tonight is a warning that we will not accept the status quo. There will be no more business as usual. The Party is Over. Now is the time to place our shoulders to the wheel in the important task of nation building! This is that time for constructive and collaborative work and effort (Ujiima!)
Today, the winds of change are sweeping across our beloved Bahamaland, from the Pine Barrens of Grand Bahama and Abaco, across the coral crested beautiful shores of Bimini, through the Berry Islands across into the continent of Andros.

The winds of change blows across the shallow seas of our archipelago onto the shores of New providence and rushes through the streets of our inner cities, from Bain Town to Kemp Road, from Fox Hill to Carmichael Road and quickly gathers pace as it crosses the fertile hills and valleys of Long Island and the emerald jewel of Exuma and the Cays.

It gathers pace and swiftly sweeps across the former slave plantations of Cat Island, where not even the highest peak in our land can with hold or withstand its intensity nor its relentless momentum and it sweeps swiftly through San Salvador, Rum Cay and Mayaguana and even unto the southernmost reaches of our beloved Bahamaland, Acklins, where my ancestors sojourned in ignoble slavery, across to Crooked Island and ultimately sweeping across the vast expanse of Inagua and beyond to not only the rest of the Caribbean but indeed across the entire Pan Afrikan world.

Tonight we witness the intensity and historic moment of this wind of change. It comes with the force of a whirlwind and at its epicentre, the bold, learned and dynamic visage of the Rt Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey.
Tonight we fulfill the prophecy of the Rt Hon Marcus Mosiah Garvey, that the day in which Bahamians rediscovered their Afrikan identity, would be a signal to the rest of the Afrikan world that our day of deliverance has come and that Black Star Line liberation was at hand!

Yes we are the final and missing link in the Pan Afrikan equation for the liberation of Afrikans at home and abroad.

At long last our day of deliverance has arrived with the flames of freedom firmly within our grasp and our liberated destiny of self empowerment, justice, and independence is now within our reach and only awaits our acknowledgement that "Yes We Can Move from Disempowerment to Empowerment and from Dependence to Independence.

I thank you for your patience in listening to my brief comments and look forwards to working with you in or cruc

Comment by dadieshak on March 28, 2009 at 11:56pm

I look into the whirlwind and gazing into the firey visage of the Rt. Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey and invoke the Black Star Line vision of redemption through repatriation to Mother Afrika and empowerment through independence, self reliance and self sufficiency!

The sacrifices and struggles of our ancestors, many of whose bones lie bleaching at the bottom of the Middle Passage, otherwise known as the Atlantic Ocean, are the foundations on which we stand tonight and in invoking our ancestors we awaken our historic memory, shackled and clouded by over 500 years of colonial and neo colonial misrule.

500 years of slavery, colonial and neo colonial misadventures have left an indelible impression on the sands of time and on a historic and significant occasion, such as that which draws us together tonight, I am obligated to reflect on the heroic struggles of our ancestors and the burning flame of freedom which their collective toil, blood, sweat and tears have bequeathed to us.

Comment by dadieshak on March 28, 2009 at 11:56pm

Below is the speech of National Organizer Dion Hanna which launched the Congress:

Blessed Heart of Love
Salaam in Afrikadesta
Madam Chairperson, Distinguished Delegates; My Brothers and My Sisters; Friends ; Comrades
I am pleased and honoured that you all have joined with us tonight to celebrate our Mother Afrika and over the course of the next 2 nights to join with us for critical analysis and strategic planning on the many vital issues that impact on our people at home and abroad.

The sound of the conch shell tonight has signalled the launch of the Bahamas Pan Afrikan National Congress and the dawning of a new era in the annals of Bahamian history. It is important that each one of us here tonight realizes the historic significance of this moment and its importance to the overall context of the global Pan Afrikan Liberation struggle.

In this regard, it is crucial that, as I stand here today to declare the formation of the Congress, that I invoke the names and blessings of our ancestors and elders, whose many sacrifices have enabled us in this time and space to take concrete action for the liberation of, not only our people in the Bahamas, but more importantly, for the liberation and unification of our Mother Afrika and her sons and daughters across the diaspora.

I invoke the name of Pompey, ancestor to 4 of my 9 children and a national hero who stood up to the injustice of slavery!

I invoke the names of Sam Sharpe, Denmark Vesey, Paul Bogle and those freedom fighters who, in their rebellions and uprisings, paid the ultimate sacrifice in the liberation struggle!

I invoke the patriotic names and fighting spirits of Toussaint, Dessalines and Christophe and the raging flames of the Haitian Revolution!

I invoke the revolutionary zeal of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglas, Kwame Taure, Huey Newton, Fred Hampton, Angela Davis Mumia Abu Jamal, and El Hajj Malik Al Shabazz, whose eloquence and courage still strike fear in the hearts of our oppressors !

I invoke the vision of Osegefeyo Kwame Nkrumah and his blueprint for a united, free liberated Afrikan Nation!