Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress
International Women’s Day, 8th March 2024Written by: Marsha M. Hall Far from an average day on the annual Calendar, March 8 is celebrated globally as International Women’s Day since gaining formal recognition by the United Nations (UN) in 1975. Subsequently in 1977, the…
World Radio Day 2024 – Celebrating Radio’s History in Jamaica
Written by Georgette McGlashen-Miller Declared in 2011 by the Member States of UNESCO and later ratified by the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/67/124) in 2012, February 13th was designated as World Radio Day (WRD). (https://www.un.org/en/observances/radio-day). World Radio Day seeks to highlight the…
International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust
By: Marsha M. Hall “Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant”- Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize winner, humanitarian and Holocaust survivor The world has witnessed numerous atrocities of…
Distant Relative: African Influences in Jamaican Patois
Written by: Chelsea Stephenson The continent of Africa has been characterized by migration and mobility whether voluntary orinvoluntary for millenniums. Africans over the centuries have migrated for different reasons toevery corner of the world but none as profound as the forced migration of…
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition
“Fighting slavery’s legacy of racism through transformative education” For decades, the institutionalized system of slavery and its horrific effects and traumatic presence have lingered within the global community, whether in the faces of descendants of the former enslaved African people; powerful images;…
The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People – The Legacies of the Taino
Indigenous peoples are inheritors and practitioners of unique cultures and ways of relating to people and the environment. They have retained social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. In Jamaica’s…
“Never Again”: International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in
Established by the United Nations General Assembly on December 23, 2003, and adopted by Resolution 58/234, the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda is commemorated annually by UNESCO on April 7th. This date marks the start of…
THE 1865 MORANT BAY Rebellion
THE PRELUDE TO THE REBELLIONWith the British government’s passage of the Emancipation Act in 1834, the enslaved population throughout the colonies was granted freedom from working on the sugar plantations, and the right to establish themselves as free persons. However, by the…
Two to One … Ghana
The Republic of Ghana is a West African nation believed to be the ancestral home of the vast majority of Jamaica’s Black population. Its national flag – much like the Ethiopian flag, which is revered by Jamaica’s Rastafari community – consists of…
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
The United Nations’ World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development is recognised and celebrated around the world on May 21. The designation came in 2001 when the UN adopted the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity and, in 2002, the UN…
UNESCO International Youth Day
Despite almost every nation grappling with its own challenges, there is a global push for diversity, equity, and inclusion for everyone – regardless of race or ethnicity. At the core of this thrust are common topics and pervasive societal issues ranging from…
UNESCO International Literacy Day
This year, UNESCO is celebrating International Literacy Day (ILD) 2022 on the 8th of September under the theme – Transforming Literacy Learning Space – a global call to action that informs and inspires people of the importance of literacy learning spaces to…