Lest We Forget

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of homophobia, homophobic language, murder and police brutality. There are also brief mentions of slavery and rape.

By no stretch, is the Jamaica Constabulary Force the most loved civil servant organisation. However, the organisation colonial roots, anti-black mode of operations and the nation’s homophobia lead to a rumour that the organisation is been overrun by queer male police officers; and despite being untrue, this rumor has lasted for almost a century and at one point, even prompted a government inquiry into the force for their alleged "homosexual behaviours".

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On this episode, we discussed how the colonisation of Barbados by Europeans led to the rise of mosquitoes in the region as well as look at other ecological transformation that have led to other present day problems across the region

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In 1979, a swine virus outbreak occurred in the Dominican Republic. Still, the situation would have far reaching changes in Haiti as a US-Canada-Mexico partnership saw 1.3 million of their Kreyol pigs been slaughtered.

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In 1975, Cuba sent troops to Angola to help them fight against an invasion by apartheid South Africa. Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State was angry at this, so he set out to get countries to denounce Cuba’s actions. Jamaica was one of these countries. So, in December 1975, Kissinger met with prime minister Michael Manley on the issue. On this episode, we hear from Manley, himself, how this conversation went and the events that occured in its aftermath - events, that forever changed Jamaica.

-Michael Manley’s account is taken from, Jamaica: A Struggle In The Periphery by Michael Manley. pg 111 to 117

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In Jamaica, there is the famous Devon House. A historical landmark, it is popular for its patties, the Devon House ice-cream and on any given weekend when the weather is suitable, it also serves as a public park for families. However, there’s a popular story that involves Devon House that most Jamaicans grow up hearing. Basically, the story goes that Lady Musgrave, the then governor of Jamaica’s wife, was so angry at seeing Devon House, this grand mansion owned by a black man, that she authorise the building of another road, to avoid driving passed it. And it’s for this reason why the road is known today as Lady Musgrave’s Road. However, as much as the story is popular and accepted by Jamaicans, it’s not true. Entirely debunked by historical facts, on this episode, we outline why the story of Lady Musgrave and George Stiebel, Devon House’s owner, is just a myth. While we are, the story of Annie Palmer, the White Witch of Rose Hall, was all based on a racist novel. That story, too isn’t true.

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Upon the arrival of large numbers of Indians to the Caribbean, through the Indentureship system, they also brought their religion and other aspect of their culture. Their aversion to not assimilating to whiteness, was seen as a problem by the colonial governments. And no other event in the 1800’s would portray this than the 1884 Hosay Massacre in Trinidad which say agents of the colonial state - the police- turn their guns on Indians taking part in the annual Hosay festival.

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On August 1st, 1838, Jamaica, alongside the rest of the countries in British West Indies, achieved emancipation and thus all enslaves black people on the island, gained their freedom. Immediately after, the topic of land became a major issue.  For even though freedom day come for all black persons, land throughout the British colonies were not accessible for former enslaves. Then white planter landowners bined the former enslaved population with long labour contrasts and labour rent tenants contracts. This drove thousands of freed Blacks right back to the plantation, they were once freed from. By the 1840's, the colony government of the British West Indies took it a step further by implementing numerous legislation and taxation, that made it extremely difficult for black peasants to make a living, own and have access to land. Soon after, protest and riots took place across the region as the peasantry class realise that the promises of freedom, black people in the British West Indies were not privy to. By February 1859, residents of Westmoreland, a western parish in Jamaica, had enough. Inspired by the Rebecca Riots of Wales, some persons dressed in women clothing, joined others to demonstrate their grievances with the state. 

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Content Warning: this episode contains mentions of violence, slavery and wider harm. 

Most scholarship on Caribbean chattel slavery of enslaved Africans largely covers the the sugar and tobacco plantation systems throughout the region. However, there was another massive industry that was built upon the enslavement of Africans - that was the cultivation of salt. Saltpans, the name given to the areas of salt production, were spread across the region: Turks & Caicos, Haiti, Jamaica, Barbuda, Sint Maarten, Bonaire and other areas. Throughout the 18th and 19th century, the region was one the main supplier of salt to Europe and the United States; and as events unfold, the documentation of the life of one enslaved black woman who worked on a Caribbean saltpan played a major role in the fight for emancipation in the British West Indies. Still, it is the history of salt production in the region that shaped the West Indian diet we know today. 

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On March 10, 1979, according to all persons who were personally involved in the documentation of the revolution, the New Jewel Movement leadership got word through their informats at senior levels of the police force, that orders were left for the arrest and assassination of the leading members of the political party i.e -  Maurice Bishop, Bernard Coard, Unison Whiteman and Hudson Austin. Thus, all leadership members would go into hiding immediately except for Vincent Noel who did not receive the information in time and was arrested and detained. Then on March 12, when Gairy departed the island on government business to attend a function in New York, he allegedly left orders for the capture and murder of the NJM leadership.  Through a pattern of behaviour, NJM leadership knew that if they wanted to live to see another day, they would have to act urgently - they had to move soon and not just soon, they had to move tonight. In one night, Tuesday, March 13, 1979, a group of young persons  would attempt an event that has never happen in Caribbean history: a successful revolution in the English - speaking Caribbean.

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Content Warning: This episode contains mentions of police brutality

As Sir Eric Gairy’s tenure as head of government continued throughout the 1970’s, the country was on the brink of economic and social collapse. After Bloody Sunday and Bloody Monday occurred, two of the most brutal cases of police brutality in Caribbean history, Eric Gairy was beginning to face opposition from all sides. However of all the oppositions that formed, one stood out: an organised group of young professionals who called themselves the New Jewel Movement. The New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation was founded in 1973 and  born out of two organisations: MAPS, Movement for Assembly of the People, founded by UK trained attorneys, Maurice Bishop and Kenrick Radix; and JEWEL, Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education, and Liberation founded by US educated economist Unison Whiteman and Sebastian Thomas. By the mid 1970’s, the Marxist Leninist political party was now headed by a group of leftist young professionals: Maurice Bishop, Bernard Coard, Unison Whiteman, Kenrick Radix, Vincent Noel, Hudson Austin, George Lousion, Selwyn Strachan and Jacqueline Creft. With a national grassroots approach to political organising, NJM would attract the support of the poor, youth, women and members of the Rastafari community in Grenada; and by 1977, would position themselves as the main opposition party on the island.

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