The Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago (ESCTT) will launch the 2026 Pan African FestivalTT (PAFTT) commemorating Emancipation this Sunday, May 24th, 2026.
The event, which is being held in collaboration with the Port of Spain City Corporation, will take place at the Murchison Brown Auditorium, City Hall in Port of Spain at 5pm. The Minister of Culture and Community Development, Michelle Benjamin, is expected to formally launch this year’s Festival and the Mayor of the City of Port of Spain will bring greetings on behalf of the city.
Igniting African Consciousness: Dismantling Colonial Legacies is the theme for this year’s Festival in commemoration of both the 188th anniversary of the end of chattel slavery in the English-speaking Caribbean and the second year of the United Nations’ Second International Decade for People of African Descent. The organisers said the theme is intended to deliver the message that decolonisation or uncolonisation is key to the liberation of our minds and the completion of the emancipation process.
At the launch, the public will get their first glimpse of the 25 events which the ESCTT has planned as part of this year’s PAFTT, scheduled to take place in the months of June and July leading up to August 1st, Emancipation Day.
To commemorate African Liberation Day, also known as Africa Day, there will be solidarity messages from the continent of Africa and members of the Diplomatic Corps. African Liberation Day is an annual commemoration of the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union) on May 25th, 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 recognises the unity of all Africans at home and abroad.
The keynote speaker will be Professor Rose Marie Belle Antoine, Principal of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. She is a human rights activist, award-winning scholar and author of 15 books and scholarly articles, and the only person from Trinidad and Tobago to be elected President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She also served as Chair of the CARICOM Regional Commission on Marijuana.
Persons attending will be welcomed by a spectacular launch of 2026 Ewa Afrika which will take place at 4:30pm in front of City Hall.
For further information on activities of the 2026 PAFTT, check ESCTT’s website, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or call Emancipation House at 235-5008.