Professor Tony Martin has written extensively on Garvey's life and times

The suitcase and travelling bag in Tony Martin's hotel room at the Courtleigh Hotel were half packed though he had a full day left in his brief visit to Jamaica, a stay that was far more pleasant than his last trip to this country.
On Monday, the lanky Trinidadian was one of the speakers at the re-launch of the People's Political Party (PPP) which was founded in 1929 by Pan African icon, Marcus Garvey, whose work Martin has studied for over 30 of his 60 years. The function was attended by PPP members and Garvey scholars who believe the time is appropriate for the revival of this party which upholds black pride and upliftment.

To Martin, a professor in Africana Studies at Boston's Wellesley College, the second coming of the PPP is significant. "It was (in 1929) a major event in Jamaican history and hopefully Monday's launch is substantive because it's trying to recapture the essence of the Garvey movement," said Martin. "Garvey has amazing relevance to African people but in Jamaica, it's special."
Martin's relaxed demeanour was a complete contrast to 18 months ago when he attended the Kingston premier of the Public Broadcasting Service's (PBS) Marcus Garvey - Look For Me In The Whirlwind documentary at the Little Theatre.

Marcus Garvey as commander in chief of the Universal African Legion

According to Martin, he was so incensed at what he claims were inaccuracies in the film which was produced by African-American filmmaker Stanley Nelson, that he publicly took Nelson to task.
"There was stuff in there that Nelson made up. He had young boys stoning Garvey, there is nothing in the historical records that prove that," said Martin, who was interviewed for the documentary. "I still believe it was a deliberate effort to undermine Garvey's legacy."

Much to his, and the Garvey family's dismay, the PBS feature has been shown several times since it first aired and is still on the station's website. Martin says though its broadcast continues to cause discontent. The Garveys are not contemplating legal action. Says Martin, "That would be like a guerilla force taking on a superpower."
Despite the perceived inaccuracies in "Look For Me In The Whirlwind," Martin believes a bio-pic on Garvey's life would help introduce his message to a mass audience in the same way Spike Lee's epic 1992 film, Malcolm X, reignited interest in the slain Muslim leader.
"The Spike Lee movie was done by a black filmmaker who had a certain level of consciousness and maybe that's what we need for Garvey...somebody with that level of sensitivity to make a film," said Martin.
The idea to make a Garvey movie has come up before. Director, Perry Henzell of The Harder They Come fame tinkered with such a project seven years ago and was reportedly in discussion with prospective investors, but that has long fallen through the cracks.

Garvey in custody of US marshals en route to Atlanta federal prison, 1925.

Miguel Lorne, one of the convenors of the PPP, agrees with Martin that a feature film would place Garvey in a different light. "Once you get the right people (to produce the film) I'm all for it," Lorne told SunDay.
"It would bring home Garvey to a younger generation."
Through numerous books, documentaries and plays, a younger generation in North America, Europe and Africa are familiar with Marcus Garvey whose ideas and philosophy reached blacks around the world in the 1920s, long before the advent of mass media.
The Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) he founded in 1913 had chapters throughout the world including Trinidad and Tobago where
Martin said had fourth most offices in the Western Hemisphere.
The son of a civil servant father who later earned a law degree, Tony Martin was born in Port Of Spain. In the early 1960s, he went to England to study law at Gray's Inn but it was while studying economics at the University of Hull that he says he discovered the teachings of Garvey, a pillar of the Harlem Renaissance, who died in London in 1940.
"Here was this man who had done all these things we were trying to do 30 years ago. It was a revelation to me," Martin recalled.
After moving to the United States in 1969 to study African and Caribbean history at Michigan State University, Martin's interest in Garvey intensified. Over the years he has written extensively on Garvey including the book, The Ideological and Organizational Struggles of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association.

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