Barbados Labour Party achievements on display

FOR the next two weeks, the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) will be highlighting the tremendous role it has played in the development of this country.

 

The stories of Adult suffrage – right to vote, introduction of Free Secondary Education, Grantley Adams International Airport, Bridgetown Port, Plantation Tenantries Freehold Purchase Act, Financial Services, Nation Drug Service, among others will be told through the exhibition “BLP – Cornerstone of Nation Building” at Speedbird House, Independence Square.

 

The exhibition, which is part of the political party’s 78th Anniversary activities, was officially opened by General Secretary, Dr. Jerome Walcott, alongside former politician, Dame Patricia Symmonds, yesterday.

 

“The fingerprints of the Barbados Labour Party are all over the Barbados we know today,” expressed Dame Billie Miller, former BLP Member of Parliament for Bridgetown during the opening ceremony.

 

Although the exhibition may seem small, Dame Billie stressed that it speaks to a very large statement in the history of Barbados. She said that “in time of need”, the Labour Party has always been there for Barbados and Barbadians.

 

She recalled, “The 1930s, 1940s going back to what we called the ‘hard time, the bad time’ that led to the riots of 1937 – those were grave times of need and out of that was born the Barbados Labour Party… And out of that came the vote for everyone.

 

“Again, the Barbados Labour Party in a time of need in 1976 – it was the time of the first oil crisis and today we are in another oil crisis. What happened in 1976 was the beginning of the Barbados Labour Party in a time of great need, bringing a new pillar to the economy of Barbados and that is the legacy of Tom Adams… In another period of great need in 1994, we had seen a recession when compared to the recession of 2008 was almost minor… In a time of great despair and a time of great need, the Barbados Labour Party again under the leadership at that time of Owen Arthur turned it around and brought us to a place where we had never been before.”

 

Party Leader, the Hon. Mia Mottley, took the opportunity to commend Dr. Walcott and his team on the exhibition, which she said takes Barbadians on a journey from 1938 until today.

 

“This exhibition is to start a process of reminding people that Barbados’ history is a total history,” she pointed out, also sharing that she regrets that the exhibition could not come as part of an overall government exhibition celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Independence.

 

“I would have been the proudest person to stand at that this microphone with the Prime Minister of Barbados to salute the contribution of those who went before… And I would have been the proudest person to say to you today that National Heroes Day is being celebrated saluting our Prime Ministers with the knowledge, understanding and partic-ipation of the Barbados Labour Party. But you and I will learn what will unfold on Thursday night because we have not even been notified as to what is intended.”

 

Mottley added, “We are part of the same whole and we must now raise above that type of politics that would seek to carve up this 166 square miles as a territory of colours – because it is not a territory of colours”. (TL)