Barbados, which became a republic at midnight and said goodbye to the reign of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, declared the singer Rihanna a national hero, world agencies reported. The decision was announced by Prime Minister Mia Motley during the lavish celebrations announcing the Barbadian Republic. Rihanna accepted the honor.
At midnight, Barbados officially declared itself a republic and no longer recognized Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. The island nation of the Caribbean, known for its paradise beaches, rum and world-born star Rihanna, already has another head of state. This is Sandra Mason, who until now was the country’s governor-general. Mason, a 72-year-old judge and prosecutor and ambassador to Barbados to Colombia, Venezuela, Chile and Brazil, was sworn in as head of state at midnight in Barbados’ capital, Bridgetown.
The lavish ceremony at Heroes’ Square was marked by the replacement of the British Queen’s flag with the country’s flag. “The people of Barbados must shape the country’s future. The people are the guardians of the country,” he said in his first speech as President Mason. The national anthem sounded at the ceremony and 21 cannon salutes rang out.
Prince Charles, son of Elizabeth II and heir to the British throne, came especially for the ceremony in Barbados. He conveyed to the local authorities the warmest greetings from his mother. “The creation of this republic is an opportunity for a new beginning,” Charles said. “From the darkest days of our past and the appalling cruelty of slavery that has forever marked our history, the people of this island have built their own path with extraordinary strength of spirit,” Charles added.
Due to the proclamation ceremony of the republic, the curfew in Barbados, imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic, was temporarily canceled so that Barbadians could take to the streets of the capital and other settlements and enjoy the lavish fireworks at the end of the festivities.
Barbados declared independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, but since then, like Australia or Canada, it has recognized the British queen as its head of state. Now, after the proclamation of the Republic of Barbados, it has become clear that the country remains a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
During the celebrations, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Motley presented Prince Charles with the most prestigious state award, the Order of Freedom. But this sparked controversy. According to Christina Hinds, a professor of international relations at the West Indian University of Barbados, the British royal family is to blame for the exploitation of the area and has not made any formal apologies or paid damages.
According to local activists, British colonization and slavery were directly responsible for the island’s inequalities. Although the physical chains of slavery are broken, mental chains remain in people’s minds, said Firhana Bulbulia, founder of the Muslim Association of Barbados. Between 1627 and 1833, about 600,000 enslaved Africans arrived in Barbados to work on the sugar plantations from which English owners made fortunes.
Barbados also recall that the young republic has even more urgent problems to resolve, such as the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which only underscored the country’s dependence on tourism, especially Britain’s. Prior to the pandemic, the island was visited annually by more than 1 million people. The streets of the settlements are now deserted, and unemployment has reached nearly 16 percent, up 9 percent from the previous year, despite government loans to finance the public sector and create jobs.
Barbados has a population of 300,000.
The last Caribbean republic was declared in the 70s of last century. Then Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana became republics. And the last time the British queen was removed as head of state was in 1992, when Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, declared itself a republic.
Barbados presents the removal of Elizabeth II, who is queen of Barbados and 15 other territories, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Jamaica, as a sign of self-confidence and a way to finally break with the demons of its colonial history. “This is the end of the story of the colonial exploitation of the mind and body,” said Professor Sir Hillary Beckles, a historian from Barbados.
He said it was a historic moment for Barbados, the Caribbean and all post-colonial societies. “The people of this island are fighting not only for freedom and justice, but also to free themselves from the tyranny of imperial and colonial rule,” said Beckles, vice chancellor of the University of the West Indies.
The birth of the republic, 55 years since the day Barbados declared independence, finally severed almost all colonial ties that kept the small island in the Lesser Antilles tied to England since an English ship conquered it in the name of King James I in 1625.
It could also herald a wider attempt by other former colonies to sever ties with the British monarchy in preparation for the end of Elizabeth’s nearly 70-year rule and the future accession to the throne of Charles, who will attend the celebrations. the proclamation of the republic in Bridgetown.
Barbados’ move is the first time the British Crown has removed the queen as head of state in nearly 30 years: Mauritius, an island in the Indian Ocean, has declared itself a republic but remained in the British Commonwealth, an association of predominantly former British colonies. home to 2.5 billion people. Buckingham Palace says the decision is up to the people of Barbados.
Originally inhabited by waves of migrants from Saladoid-Barankoid and Calinago, the island is depopulated due to Spanish invasions. Barbados was uninhabited when the British first arrived. The British originally used white British hired servants to cultivate tobacco, cotton, indigo and sugar plantations, but Barbados would become England’s first truly profitable slave-owning society in just a few decades. Barbados received 600,000 enslaved Africans between 1627 and 1833, who were sent to work on the sugar plantations, earning a fortune for the English owners.
“Barbados, under English colonial rule, has become a laboratory for plantation societies in the Caribbean,” said Richard Drayton, a professor of imperial and world history at King’s College London who lived in Barbados as a child. “It became a laboratory for slave society, which was then exported to Jamaica, Carolina and Georgia.”
More than 10 million Africans were captured and sold in the Atlantic slave trade by European nations between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries. Those who survive the often brutal journey end up working on the plantations. Although slaves were given complete freedom in 1838, plantation owners retained considerable economic and political power in the twentieth century. The island gained full independence in 1966.
Prince Charles, the 73-year-old heir to the British throne, will travel to Barbados for ceremonies marking the removal of his 95-year-old mother as head of state. Barbados will remain a republic within the British Community, a group of 54 countries in Africa, Asia, America, Europe and the Pacific that has always been a priority for Elizabeth, who heads it. Although his name will remain simply Barbados, the removal of the queen could sow the seeds of republicanism further in the Caribbean, according to Drayton.
“This will have consequences, especially in the English-speaking part of the Caribbean,” said Drayton, who said there was talk of a republic in both Jamaica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
“The Queen has had great personal relationships with many of these countries and has shown her own commitment to the vision of the British Commonwealth that she inherited from that imperial moment of the 1940s and 1950s, so I think that after the Queen’s death some these issues would become more urgent in places like Canada and Australia. ” The Queen made many visits to Barbados and, according to Buckingham Palace, had a “unique connection with the easternmost of the Caribbean”.
Photo: Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Motley, new President Sandra Mason, singer Rihanna, former cricketer Garfield Sobers and British Prince Charles at a ceremony in Bridgetown, Barbados.
