Reflections: Reclaiming Our Independence and Defending Democracy

This volume, the third in a series, illustrates the role that organizations of people - trade unions, youth and community organizations, as well as civic and religious bodies - play in democratic

societies. The book highlights the competing rivalries at the heart of the failed West Indies Federation and how its collapse left various Caribbean territories to fend for themselves, setting in motion decades of independence celebrations throughout the region based primarily on the Westminster model. This booklet focuses on developments in St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the two years leading up to independence in October 1979.

Renwick Rose is a distinguished political and social activist from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He was a founding member of the Black Liberation Action Committee (BLAC) and later the Youlou United Liberation Movement (YULIMO), advocating for genuine independence and socialism. He worked to raise political awareness among Vincentians and fostered regional and international networks to amplify the voices of the masses. Between 1974 and 1989, as a journalist, Rose managed and edited several newspapers, including FREEDOM, JUSTICE, and JUSTSPORTS. He was a weekly columnist in the NEWS newspaper from 1989 to 1994 and has been a weekly columnist in the SEARCHLIGHTnewspaper since 1995. Rose was one of the leading members of the 2009 Constitutional Reform Committee and is considered one of the first feminists in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.