African Liberation Day, May 25, will mark the launch of the 2025 Pan African Festival Trinidad and Tobago (PAFTT) commemorating Emancipation.

Hosted by the Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago (ESCTT), in collaboration with the Port of Spain City Corporation, the launch will take place at the Murchison Brown Auditorium, City Hall at 5 pm, said a media release.

The theme of this year's festival is Shaping Sustainable Futures Through Reparatory Justice.

"As we observe both the 187th anniversary of the end of chattel slavery in TT and the start of the United Nations’ Second International Decade for People of African Descent. The theme of the festival is indicative of the view of the ESCTT that there can be no sustainable development and achievement of the sustainable development goals without reparatory justice," the release said.

It is reparatory justice which would enable the transformation of society to one in which the human rights of all are guaranteed and there is equitable distribution of resources.

The public will get the first glimpse of the exciting activities which the ESCTT has planned for this year's festival and it will be an opportunity to commemorate African Liberation Day, also known as Africa Day.

African Liberation Day is an annual commemoration of the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union) on May 25, 1963.

The OAU was established to support the eradication of colonialism, neocolonialism and apartheid on the African Continent; to promote unity and solidarity amongst African States; safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and to facilitate political and economic integration among African states. It also recognizes the unity of all Africans those on the continent and those in the Diaspora, the release said.

The keynote speaker will be Dr Claudius Fergus, distinguished historian, current chair of the National Committee on Reparations of TT (NCRTT), former ESCTT education and research director, now adviser and co-director of the Caribbean Freedom Project. Fergus is also a former senior lecturer and head of the Department of History at The University of the West Indies (UWI), St Augustine Campus. He is the author of two books, Revolutionary Emancipation: Slavery and Abolitionism in the British West Indies (2013) and Against Toleration: Britain’s Persecution of the Spiritual Baptists (2024). He specialises in the abolition of British colonial slavery and its transatlantic slave trade and has conducted extensive research both within and beyond TT, addressing issues pertinent to reparations and the African diaspora.

An African Union representative and members of the Diplomatic Core are expected to bring greetings. Michelle Benjamin, Minister of Culture and Community Development, is expected to formally launch this year’s festival. The Ministry of Culture and Community Development will continue to partner with the ESCTT and offer its full support for this important annual festival, the release said.

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