Yet, among the nations of the region, Barbados, in recent times has chosen to be the most courageous.”Ĭynthia Barrow-Giles, a professor of constitutional governance and politics at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, Barbados, said she doesn’t expect Barbados’ transition to lead to any snowballing or domino effect across the English-speaking Caribbean. There is no hope for ‘Little England’ we would say. “We ridiculed Barbados whenever we had the opportunity. “For years we treated Barbados as the most anglophile nation in the Commonwealth Caribbean,” Anthony said. Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Anthony, saluting Barbados’ courage, asked if his eastern Caribbean nation, which still has Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state, has the same courage? Still, the language currently in vogue in Barbados - self-determination, charting one’s destiny - is finding appeal among a broad cross section of the Caribbean public as it raises the specter of nationalism in a region where the celebratory mood that once characterized independence from England has been replaced by growing disenchantment and general political malaise with the political, bureaucratic, academic and economic elites across the region.įor example, in a post on his FaceBook page, former St. Vincent and the Grenadines have tried to ditch her majesty in the past, their constitutional requirement that the matter be put to a public vote, has led to defeat. With Barbados’ move, just eight former colonies in the English-speaking Caribbean will be left paying allegiance to the queen. Barbados is about to cut ties with the British monarchy, but the legacy of a sometimes brutal colonial past and the pandemic’s impact on tourism pose major challenges for the Caribbean island as it becomes the world’s newest republic. Clement Osbourne Payne, an advocate for labor reform and one of ten National Heroes of Barbados, delivered a speech at Golden Square in 1937, urging black Barbadians to stand up to the white plantation owners. Women dance during a cultural presentation during the official opening of the Golden Square Freedom Park in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Nov. Four centuries in the making, it’s happening in a political climate in which colonial and Confederate-era statues are being hauled away, Caribbean nationals are reassessing colonialism and racism amid the Black Lives Matter Movement and their leaders are asking how one can be independent and yet still bow to the queen? ‘Momentous occasion’ Still, the move from a constitutional monarchy to a parliamentary republic is no small feat in the island of barely 300,000 inhabitants. Her current representative, Sandra Mason who had served as governor general since 2018, was elected by the Barbados Parliament last month to serve as the island nation’s first president, a role like that of Queen Elizabeth II’s will be mostly symbolic. The word “royal” along with signs and symbols associated with the British monarchy also will be removed from all government institutions, and the queen will no longer be represented, meaning Barbadians no longer have to swear allegiance to her. Royal Salute, which comprises the first and last bars of Barbados’ national anthem, and always precedes the governor general’s entrance, will be replaced with Presidential Salute after it is played for one last time at Monday’s presidential inauguration.
The royal’s presence has triggered debate and talk of planned protests, underscoring the reality shaping Barbados’ push toward self-determination nearly 400 years after English settlers first inhabited the island in 1627 and transformed it into one of their richest colonies based on sugar and slavery.įor now the changes will be largely symbolic with the prime minister retaining governing power.