Lest We Forget

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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.

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.

At the beginning of the 1970’s decade, Grenada's representative Jennifer Hosten, won the Miss World pageant and almost four years later, the country achieved one of its greatest fete: independence from the United Kingdom. Still, in the midst of this independence, the country was experiencing islandwide strikes and protests due to its economic deterioration and domestic repression in the hands of its premier now first prime minister, Eric Gairy. These were highlighted by the many cases of Gairy’s alleged bribes and corruption, real estates scams, extortion deals, sex scandals, international partnership for his own self interest, and his now growing obsession with religion and flying saucers. But even most alarming, they would have to wake up everyday and come face to face with the reality of one of the most famous institutions of Gairyism: the Mongoose Gang, Gairy's allegedly secret police which came down on anyone and anything that stood in his way of power.

After years of societal tension in Grenada, everything would come to a head in 1951 at an event now known as the 1951 Revolution. The person who propelled this event was a former primary school teacher name Eric Matthew Gairy. Due to the success of this 1951 event, Gairy would become Grenada’s leading trade unionist through his organisation, Grenada Manual and Mental Workers Union (GMMWU). Gairy capitalise on this new fame among the locals and register a political party, Grenada People’s Party (GPP) which would ultimately become the Grenada’s United Labour Party (GULP). Soon after, at the age of 29, Gairy would Grenada’s most powerful political leader. Over the next decade and through the 1960’s, Grenada became the setting for Gairyism. Gairyism is defined as the “pride and rebellion Gairy inspired; the self-seeking excesses of the man himself”. Popularism, reports of vast government corruption and lack of policies geared towards the working class, could not deter Grenadians from voting for Gairy. As such by the time Grenada achieved self governance in 1967, Gairy would be ushered in as Premier and Grenadians, unknowlingly, would have to brace themselves for the full force of Gairyism.

1950 would be one of the most significant years to understand the Grenadian Revolution, however, the events of this year were years in the making. It was years of build up tension arising from the neglect of the country’s majority black and poor population, coupled with the organising influence of Uriah Butler in nearby Trinidad and Tobago and the national black power empowerment movement enhance by of T.A. Marryshow. Grenada, unlike other countries in the anglophone Caribbean region, did not have large scale union backed labour protest in the 1930’s and this would add to this palpable tension. This episode also contains a brief history of the Banda Massacre which exposes the dark history of nutmeg cultivation and European colonisation

The audio that opened this episode is a recording of McGodden Kerensky "Cacademo" Grant, one of the persons who started the Working Men and Women's Association with T. Albert Marryshow. Later, he would become National Chairman of the New JEWEL Movement (NJM) Council of Delegate. At the time of the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG), he worked with the militia until his death in 1982. 

A introduction of what to come for the season 4 of the Lest We Forget Historical Podcast. This season will be a five part series entirely dedicated to Grenadian Revolution as we examine the events, people, causes & consequences that led to the March 1979 overthrow of the Sir Eric Gairy government by the New Jewel Movement.  

The audio compilation features the voices of Maurice Bishop, Claudette Pitt, Sir Eric Gairy, a rare recording of Cacademo Grant & the first radio broadcast to hit Grenada's airwave on the morning of March 13, 1979

In March of 1795, a French free coloured, Julien Fédon, would lead a revolt against the white British elites on the island of Grenada. Inspired by the Haitian Revolution, the French Revolution and activities happening in Guadeloupe; for the next 16 months Fédon would range a battle against the English colonisers. At the end of the uprising, at least 7000 of the Grenadians enslaves were killed along with over 1000 Europeans and free coloured; and wide destruction of property. Even though the Fedon Rebellion was not successful in its mission to overthrow British colonisation in Grenada, the rebellion would be one of the most important events that led to emancipation of enslaves in the anglophone Caribbean in 1838; and also start a revolutionary tradition in Grenada. 

Content Warning: this episode contains mentioned of physical and emotional abuse. If this is something that you know is a trigger for you, please skip forward to 8 minutes in this episode or if you rather just not, please checkout other episodes of the Lest We Forget Podcast. 

Alexander Bedward, emerged during 1889 as a minister in the Jamaica Native Baptist Free Church. Throughout the 1890’s and beyond, he would emerged as one of the leading christian preachers in Jamaica. Tales of his healing power in the Hope River, his power of prophecy and his proclamation of been a reincarnation of Christ and would ring out throughout the island, the rest of Caribbean region and even as far as Costa Rica. Thousands travel to August Town to be baptised and witness the great preacher in action. Still, Bedward emerge as one of the earliest black nationalists in Jamaica. Bedward called on the black majority to organise and take action against the institution of racial discrimination, socio-economic deprivation, injustice, the tyranny of minority colonial rule that exist on the island.  Even though he was respected by the oppressed masses on the island, attracting thousands of followers, he was feared by the upper classes and colonial authorities, who saw him as a threat to political stability that was given even more priority after the 1865 Morant Bay Rebellion, which was led by men who were Native Baptist. This image of Bedward by the colonial powers would lead to over 20 years of him been labeled as an enemy of the state where eventually, he was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to the lunatic asylum, where he later died.

“Among the tiny minority of politically motivated criminals in the 1970s none won as much notoriety and anxious concern from the authorities as did Dennis “Copper” Barth. Born in Kingston in 1951, Barth’s turn to crime came at an early age after he dropped out of the Rennock Lodge Elementary School at age twelve. By the time he was eighteen years old Barth had been convicted of several major offences, including murdering a policeman, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment.19 By the mid- 1970s, Barth, who operated out of the Rennock Lodge area in East Kingston, had been declared “public enemy number one”. By age twenty-six, Barth was the youngest of the “most wanted” men in the country since the violent reign of “Rhygin” – Vincent “Ivanhoe” Martin – a feared gunman who was killed in 1948”

- Obika Gray

Song: Guard Up - Insedius

In 1979, 1985 and 1999, Jamaica experienced three protests which would become known as the "Gas Riots" which were triggered by a hike in fuel prices by the respective governments of the time. In 1979, the Micheal Manley led PNP government announced that as of January 10, the price of premium gas will be increased by 20 cents a gallon; from $3.00 to $3.20 and the price of regular gas will move from the present $2.85 to $3.10 an increase of 25 cents. In 1985, the Edward Seaga led JLP government announced that as of 14 January that the price of a gallon of premium gasoline was to increase from J$8.99 to J$10.90 as well other similarly sharp increases in the prices of diesel, kerosene and cooking gas. In 1999, the PJ Patterson led PNP government would announced a $100 million in new taxes, most by a 30% levy in gas that raised prices from $1.55 to $2.00. All three protests, would see Jamaica be brought to its heel but not all three were successful in making the government roll back these new taxes. 

Song: Declaration of Rights - The Abyssinians

"In most scholarship, the Rastafari movement is thought to have formed from a rethinking of biblical prophecies enabled by Black consciousness. Rastafari scholars have not sufficiently probed the tentative connections between the movement and Hinduism. Most map the movement in a dialectic between White oppressive Christianity and oppressed Afro-Jamaicans, which has produced a Rastafari that reappropriates, repurposes, and reproduces the Black and African ethos while actively disentangling the Afro-Indian intimacies that are found across the archives. Moreover, this view diminishes the agency of the members of the Jamaican lower class (the Indo and Afro-Jamaicans) to organize among themselves. This [audio] article... aims to excavate the historical silences of the Hindu contributions to the genesis and development of the movement’s metaphysics" 

Song at the beginning of episode: Super Cat - Ghetto Red Hot

Song at the end of episode: Beverly Pancham Ramparsard - Chitawaniya Me Naina 

On January 5 1978, the Green Bay Massacre took place. The event came about as a result of secret operation by a special unit of the Jamaica Defense Force, called the Military Intelligence Unit, under a People’s National Party governments. The secret operation resulted in five men of the Jamaica Labour Party were shot dead by the JDF,  after they had been ambushed at Green Bay. 

Song: Green Bay Killing - Papa Kojak

In 1976, the government of Jamaica did not allow for a Miss World Jamaica pageant to be held. As such, on paper, technically there is no Miss Jamaica 1976 winner. However, wearing the sash of Miss Jamaica World, Cindy Breakspeare became the second Jamaican to win the global beauty pageant when she won in 1976. On this episode, we explain how these two things are true.

The Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt was an attempt to overthrow the government of Trinidad and Tobago, instigated on Friday, 27 July 1990. Over the course of six days, Jamaat al Muslimeen, held hostages at the Red House (Parliament building) and at the headquarters of the state-owned national television broadcaster, Trinidad and Tobago Television (TTT).  In the end, the prime minister was shot, persons died and numerous others would never be the same again. 

Song: Babylon Fallin - Kabaka Pyramid 

In 1918, the first of 3 Anti-Chinese riots took place in Jamaica. It began in Ewarton, St. Catherine between a Chinese grocer who found his black employee in bed with a police officer. The Chinese grocer brutally beat the black man but a rumour spread that the Chinese and his friends had killed the black man and pickled his corpse which then instigated the riots. 20 years later, in 1938, the Labour Riots gave birth to the uprising of looting and arson attacks on the Chinese grocery establishment. Then the trifecta occurred in 1965 when three Chinese brothers brutally attacked their black Joyce Copeland over the purchasing of a radio. There is also another version of the latter event where it is rumoured that the Chinese man was having an affair with said black employee. Still, a riot broke out.  

In 1976, on the 3rd of December, at his residence of 56 Hope Road, Bob Marley survived an assassination attempt mostly by his manager, Don Taylor, been a barrier between him and assassins. Almost 3 years later in a Gabonese hotel room, Bob Marley apparently beat up Don Taylor. The incident is said to serve as the inspiration for one of Marley's most famous track, Bad Card

Most discussion around discourse among Jamaica’s national heroes whose life and work was throughout the 20th century usually entails Alexander Bustamante and Norman Washington Manley as their roles as president of Jamaica's two main political parties in the 1940’s and beyond. However, in this episode we looked at discourse that took place between Norman Manley and another national hero - Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Marcus Garvey, then a councillor in the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation and Norman Manley, at the time a barrister who was developing a reputation as one of the best in the region, would go head to head in 1932 at a KSAC meeting over a gas station dispute. Even before that, both men would meet in a legal issue where Garvey was alleged to have been married to two women at the same time, a fact unknown to both “wives”,  one of the wives, Amy Ashwood, brought a legal case against him.

Every year, around May to August, usually, there’s a repetitive argument that exist in Jamaica society. Whether on traditional or social media, this debate takes place where person inquire why do Jamaica’s authorities continue to mandate the wearing of jacket and tie for men in formal spaces - especially in a tropical climate. The thing is however, there was once a time in this country’s modern history, when the government of Jamaica went on a campaign to change societal norms - that is: change what male formal attire means in the Jamaica. Through this campaign, the safari styled dress suit known as the Kariba became arguably, the most popular formal dress suit in 1970’s Jamaica.