The Saint Lucia National Reparations Committee (NRC) and several stakeholder entities are organizing a year of activities leading to the XXX Anniversary of the passing of Sir Arthur Lewis, the island’s first of two Nobel Prize winners, who was also a pioneer of the Caribbean Reparations Movement.

The planned activities will follow the successful 2020 Sir Arthur Lewis International Symposium (SALIS) sponsored by the CARICOM Reparations Commission (CRC) and hosted by NRC on June 15, 2020, which recorded significant overall online attendance and participation.

The activities are aimed at encouraging a wider and better national appreciation of the works of Sir Arthur, particularly as they relate to Reparations, taking his words and works to the people of his native land in both their national tongues.

They will also include examining best ways to pay tribute to Sir Arthur’s role as an early pioneer of the 20th Century Caribbean Reparations Movement and the intellectual author of the first Caribbean Blueprint for Reparations from Britain for Slavery and persistent racist colonial exploitation in its West Indian colonies after Emancipation, as contained in his seminal 1939 work ‘Labour in the West Indies’.

The events will include the CRC’s Renaming Project (aimed at identifying offensive standing remnants of slavery and/or racist colonial rule), a national competition for a logo for the NRC, observance of the Decade for People of African Descent and further outreaches to schools and communities.

Lectures on Sir Arthur and his works will be delivered online and school lectures will also be aimed at discussing his legacy with History teachers. Sir Arthur will also again be specially featured in one of the January 2021 Annual Lectures sponsored by the Nobel Laureates Festival Committee. The year of activities is being jointly planned by a National Preparatory Committee (NPC) that includes representatives of the NPC, the Nobel Laureates Festival Committee, the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC) and the UWI Open Campus Saint Lucia.

The year of activities, starting with this public announcement, will culminate in and on the actual XXX Anniversary of Sir Arthur’s passing on June 15, 2021, when the NPC will expect to be joined by more stakeholders interested in paying appropriate tribute to Sir Arthur three decades after he was officially laid to rest in eternal peace at the SALCC compound at Morne Fortune.

The National Preparatory Committee (NPC) planning the events includes Dame Pearlette Louisy and Monsignor Patrick Anthony, UWI Open Campus Head Leslie Crane-Mitchell and Sir Arthur Lewis Community College Principal Dr Keith Nurse, as well as members of the NRC.