by WENDY BURKE

BARBADOS' PAN AFRICANISTS are making no apologies about not celebrating Emancipation Day in unity today.

The Clement Payne Movement will be marching to the Emancipation (Bussa) Statue at daybreak, the Pan African Commission will walk from Heroes Square to Bay Street Esplanade in the City from 3 p.m.; while the Cuban Barbadian Friendship Association says it will not be seen anywhere near Heroes Square.

David Comissiong, head of the Clement Payne Movement, said the event was not an issue of "David or Ikael" but of celebrating the day in a non-partisan fashion.

Would play role

When asked if he would join with the commission to stage a national celebration, he said it was not something they would lead.

"I would play a role in any truly national unification effort if we get serious about Emancipation," said Comissiong.

He said he believed Barbados should pattern itself after Trinidad and Tobago and have an all-race celebration run by a non-governmental entity, with thousands of people attending.

However, Ikael Tafari, director of the Pan African Commission, said the reality was that "some people did not want a grander celebration because they used their small walks where ten to 12 people gathered to attack the Government and anything bigger would dilute that".

He added the commission's celebration was a national effort and "all were welcome".

Meantime, David Denny, president of the Cuban Barbadian Friendship Association and also a Pan Africanist, in a Press release yesterday said his group would not join forces with the commission to celebrate the Emancipation of African people and pay tribute to the ancestors at National Heroes Square in the presence of Lord Nelson's statue.

"Our association sees the assembling of African people next to the statue of Lord Nelson as an insult to black people and our ancestors who fought against slavery," he stated.

He called on all Pan Africanists to boycott that march.

Responding to Denny's statement, Tafari said it was "childish", since six months ago he, Denny and others were in the same place [at a meeting].

"Suddenly it is a problem to them. When we were there sitting and talking for three hours, Nelson did not move. We should not get obsessed with the place," said Tafari.

He added that the significance of the day was not about attacking Whites and merchants but "Barbados moving forward as a society".

* wendyburke@ nationnews.com