If you’re looking for a dominoes game in the middle of Bridgetown, it’s worth trying your luck at the tables in Golden Square Freedom Park. Come Friday night, things get livelier as people finish work and shoot the breeze. As the sun goes down, the soundtrack in this part of the park is provided by the slamming of dominoes and tiny whistling frogs – a constant of night-time in Barbados.
It was here, more than three quarters of a century ago, that trade unionist Clement Payne held rousing meetings, spearheading resistance to the white planter class and demanding better working conditions.
Of course, the colonial government had Trinidad-born Payne marked, and he was deported in July 1937. For four days the people rioted, and it’s thought that this uprising, as well as the work of Payne and his comrades, was crucial in bringing reform.
With its artworks celebrating the island’s culture and marking some of the key moments in its history, the park is a statement of a new Barbados. It was officially opened in November 2021, on the eve of the country becoming a republic.
This was a significant moment. A Caribbean country hadn’t done this since Dominica became a republic upon gaining independence in 1978. Of all the countries to have had the British monarch as head of state, Mauritius was the last state to ditch the Queen in 1992.
Now other nations look set to follow suit. Jamaica has started a constitutional reform process with the republic as its goal and the idea has also been mooted in Belize and Grenada.1 But, unlike Barbados, many would require a referendum to allow the change. When the British monarchy was put to the vote in Australia in 1999 and St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2009, citizens decided to maintain the status quo.2
Outdated concept
Although Barbados became independent in 1966, the late Queen Elizabeth II remained head of state as the island became a constitutional monarchy, even if her role was seen as largely ceremonial. Now it is a republic, Sandra Mason, the last governor-general – the royal family’s appointed representative – has become president. She maintains her role of giving assent to bills passed by legislators – which
