Jan 21
Dudley Thompson was the quintessential Pan Africanist and a lifetime fighter for reparation for Africans everywhere. He was a member of the Pan African movement from his early days at Oxford where he was a close associate of giants such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, George Padmore of Trinidad and Tobago.
The Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) and the Clement Payne Movement (CPM) of Barbados would like to publicly bid farewell to one of the greatest Pan-Africanists and Caribbean nationalists that we have been priveleged to know and work with – the Honourable Dudley Thompson, OJ, QC, M.A (Oxon), B.C.L. Ambassador Thompson made his transition to the ancestral realm on Friday 20th January 2012 – one day after celebrating his 95th birthday.
Dudley Thompson was widely regarded as “˜the”™ Pan-Africanist elder par excellence, and indeed, as a living, breathing embodiment of Pan-Africanism. He was extremely well known to the Pan-Africanist community of Barbados, and had visited and lectured in Barbados on several occasions as a guest of the Commission For Pan-African Affairs.
But for those Barbadian and Caribbean people who might be relatively unfamiliar with this giant of a man, we present the following biographical sketch:-
Dudley Thompson was born in Panama in 1917 to Jamaican parents and was subsequently educated in Jamaica. He attended the Mico Teaching Training College of Jamaica, served as an officer in Britain”™s Royal Air Force during World War II, and won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University in 1947. He qualified as a lawyer and made his way to East Africa – Kenya and Tanzania – where he practised law and became involved in anti-colonialist, nationalist politics. As a lawyer, he represented Jomo Kenyatta at the height of the so-called Mau Mau rebellion, and played a key role in Kenya”™s liberation struggle. On his return to the Caribbean he rose to great heights in Jamaican politics as a member of the Peoples National Party, and held several ministerial portfolios as well as serving as Jamaica”™s Ambassador to several African countries. In his latter years, he was made an Ambassador Plenipotentiary, and created history when the African Union (AU) made him the first person to be granted citizenship of the entire continent of Africa.
However, as impressive as this biographical data is, what it does not reveal is Dudley Thompson”™s profound passion for and commitment to the related goals of Pan-African unity and “˜reparations”™ for the damage inflicted on Africa and the African Diaspora as a result of centuries of European orchestrated oppression and exploitation.
It was Dudley Thompson who played the key role in propelling the issue of “˜Reparations”™ unto the international agenda when, in 1990, he joined forces with the late Chief Moshood Abiola of Nigeria to stage the “˜First International Conference On Reparations”™. This historic conference led directly to the Organisation of African Unity establishing the Group of Eminent Persons on reparations under Thompson”™s leadership, and to the 1993 ground-breaking Abuja Declaration on Reparations.
Dudley Thompson also went on to play a critical role in advancing the cause of reparations at the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa. Thompson, the revered elder stateman, formed a formidable partnership with Barbadian representatives – David Comissiong and Hilary Beckles – and was instrumental in overcoming much of the European and North American opposition to the reparations-based resolutions that were debated and adopted at the World Conference.
In spite of his advanced age, Dudley Thompson proceeded to work with and for the newly formed African Union (AU), and up to the time of his death, at the age of 95 years, he was still travelling all over the Pan-African world lecturing and presiding at important meetings.
Truly, Dudley Thompson was a giant of a man – a brilliant intellectual, a dedicated and disciplined Caribbean and African patriot, a man of good humour, compassion and impeccable manners, a world historical personality who not only placed himself on the right side of history, but who often outlined the path and led the way to the right side of history. He has earned a place of immortality in the hearts and minds of all true sons and daughters of Africa and its Diaspora! May he rest in peace, and may light perpetual shine upon him.
　
　
DAVID A. COMISSIONG
President
The Most Hon P.J.Patterson in his tribute has said it all for all of us who knew and worked in our different capacities with the late Dudley Thompson. Dudley Thompson will be long remebered, especially in Africa, as one of the outstanding champions for Africa’s liberation and the dignity of the African person. His commitment and promotion of a common humanity is never-to-be-forgotten. He will be mourned by very many, including some illiterate “elders of the community” whom he met on the two occasions when he, as High Commissioner of Jamaica to Nigeria, was my guest in my ancestral village, Obosi, from where I am writing this. Adieu Dudley! And may your soul rest in perfect peace.
Chief Emeka Anyaoku
Former Foreign Minister of Nigeria
Former Secretary General of the Commonwealth