The Neofascist Colonial Agenda

What's the Agenda of the Neofascists and Neocolonialists?

Deo Adjuvante, Non Timendum

“With God as My Helper, I Have Nothing to Fear”

Understanding the Neofascist Colonial Agenda: African Solidarity, Global Oppression, and the Struggle for Black Liberation

By Dr. Kevin J. Turnquest-Alcena
Nassau, NP, The Bahamas

Introduction

In today’s rapidly changing world, it is more important than ever for the people of Africa, the Caribbean, and the wider diaspora to understand the dangers of the neofascist colonial agenda.  Although classical colonialism officially ended in the twentieth century, its strategies have evolved into more subtle and sophisticated systems designed to control weaker nations through political marginalization, economic dependency, and cultural domination.

While slavery and direct colonial rule may belong to the past, new forms of oppression have emerged under the labels of progress, globalization, and development.  History has shown us repeatedly that when societies fail to learn from the struggles of the past, they are destined to repeat them.  Our ancestors fought courageously against slavery, colonization, and systemic injustice, believing they were securing freedom for future generations.  Yet today, many of the same forces that once divided and exploited humanity are resurfacing in modern forms.

As Malcolm X warned, “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”  The manipulation of information has become one of the most powerful tools of modern domination.

African Solidarity and Pan-Africanism

Across Africa and the diaspora, the call for solidarity has always been central to the fight for liberation.  Pan-Africanism, pioneered by leaders such as Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, and W.E.B. Du Bois, taught that people of African descent across the globe share a common history and a shared destiny.  It called for unity between Africa, the Caribbean, and global Black communities as a strategy to resist oppression and reclaim sovereignty.

Modern institutions such as the African Union (AU) and CARICOM are building on this vision.  The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) aims to increase intra-African trade, reduce dependency on foreign markets, and strengthen Africa’s bargaining power on the global stage.  At the same time, CARICOM has launched a Reparations Commission to demand accountability for centuries of exploitation.

In recent years, CARICOM and the AU have begun coordinating their diplomatic efforts at the United Nations to ensure that reparations, debt justice, and equitable development remain central to the global agenda.  Pan-African solidarity is not symbolic. It is a practical strategy for empowerment.  By pooling economic resources, harmonizing policies, and strengthening regional alliances, African and Caribbean nations can create collective bargaining power in a global system that is still stacked against them.

Neofascism and the Global Power Struggle

Neofascism represents a dangerous resurgence of authoritarianism, systemic control, and concentrated power.  It does not always resemble the fascism of the early twentieth century. Instead, it has adapted to modern contexts, embedding itself within global policies, financial systems, and cultural institutions.

Although many African and Caribbean countries are politically independent, their economies remain tied to powerful global institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the World Trade Organization (WTO).  These institutions promote policies that often deepen dependency rather than strengthen self-reliance.  Unequal trade agreements, restrictive loans, and one-sided investment deals are now tools of control designed to maintain global hierarchies.

As Kwame Nkrumah warned, “Neocolonialism is the last stage of imperialism.” Many nations appear politically free but remain economically constrained, unable to shape their destinies without external approval.

The Resurgence of Neo-Colonialism and Neo-Classism

In recent decades, there has been a clear resurgence of neo-colonialism.  While direct colonial rule has ended, new systems of control now operate through debt dependency, exploitative trade agreements, privatization policies, and resource extraction that benefit external powers far more than local populations.

At the same time, neo-classism has become a growing internal challenge. A small elite, often aligned with foreign interests, gains wealth and political influence while the majority face limited access to opportunities, poverty, and systemic inequality.

This resurgence is dangerous because it creates a double oppression. Nations are pressured externally by neo-colonial systems and internally by widening class divides. Those in power are sometimes co-opted into maintaining these global hierarchies, weakening resistance movements and fragmenting solidarity.

Neo-classism also deepens existing social divides, including elitism, privilege, and exclusionary access to education and economic advancement. Without addressing these structural inequalities, the vision of Pan-Africanism and Caribbean integration will remain incomplete.

Systemic Inequality and Global Dependence

Global economic systems continue to sustain dependency in developing regions.  International financial structures often favor large economies while limiting smaller nations’ ability to compete on equal terms.  Resource-rich regions still struggle with unfair contracts that undervalue exports, while illicit financial flows drain billions annually that could otherwise fund healthcare, education, and infrastructure.

As Marcus Garvey stated, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.”  Understanding the systemic nature of these challenges is the first step toward dismantling them.

The Caribbean Experience: Discrimination in Latin America

There is also a growing concern over how Caribbean citizens, especially Jamaicans, are treated when traveling to certain Latin American countries.  Many are initially welcomed through tourism campaigns and diplomatic agreements that appear friendly on the surface.  Yet, when they arrive, some face discrimination, hostility, or are even asked to leave despite following immigration rules.

This is not an isolated issue but part of a broader neocolonial pattern.  These nations create the appearance of openness and regional partnership, yet they engage in practices that exclude and marginalize Caribbean citizens.  It reflects deeper systemic biases disguised as immigration control.

CARICOM has a responsibility to act.  As a regional body, it must defend the dignity and rights of its citizens wherever they travel.  Stronger diplomatic negotiations, fairer travel agreements, and policies that ensure equal treatment across Latin America are necessary.

True Caribbean integration cannot exist if CARICOM members remain silent on these injustices.  Solidarity requires collective action to challenge discriminatory practices and ensure that Caribbean citizens are respected and protected.

External Destabilization and Regional Instability

African and Caribbean nations continue to face destabilization through geopolitical manipulation.  From economic sanctions and predatory loans to covert political interference, powerful actors often undermine independent leadership to secure strategic advantages. Conflicts are fueled, governments are destabilized, and economies are weakened in ways that make external intervention appear inevitable.

Modern strategies rarely rely on military invasion. Instead, influence spreads through financial dependency, trade manipulation, and security agreements. Achieving true sovereignty requires recognizing these patterns and creating regional strategies to resist them.

Self-Reflection: Internal Barriers to Progress

While external systems shape much of the struggle, internal challenges cannot be ignored.  Corruption, mismanagement, and weak governance in many African and Caribbean nations deepen poverty and inequality.  Transparency International’s 2024 data shows Sub-Saharan Africa scored lowest globally on the Corruption Perceptions Index, highlighting major accountability gaps in institutions.

Brain drain also weakens regional development.  Skilled professionals often leave in search of better wages and working conditions, depriving their home countries of vital talent.  While diaspora remittances are important, sustainable growth depends on creating conditions that encourage skilled workers to remain, return, and invest.

How Do We Fight Against These Things

The first step in fighting neocolonial and neofascist systems is awareness.  We must expose these structures and reveal the forces that continue to undermine sovereignty and development.  Many operate quietly, disguised behind trade policies, debt programs, and diplomatic partnerships.  By bringing these practices into the open, we weaken their influence and empower communities to act.

As Frederick Douglass said, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.  It never did and it never will.”  Progress requires confronting systems directly rather than accepting the narratives we are given.

Education must be prioritized.  Schools and communities across Africa, the Caribbean, and the diaspora need to teach accurate histories of colonization, exploitation, and resistance.  Without knowledge of the past, we cannot defend our future.

Economic independence is equally critical.  Initiatives like the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and CARICOM integration strategies must be accelerated to strengthen intra-regional trade and reduce dependency on external markets.

CARICOM also needs to defend Caribbean citizens more forcefully, especially in cases of discrimination when traveling within Latin America.  Stronger diplomatic representation and legal protections are essential.

Externally, reforms are needed in global financial institutions and trade systems to ensure fairness.  Exposing exploitative contracts, restructuring unfair debt, and closing channels of illicit financial flows are critical to breaking cycles of dependency.

Internally, greater transparency, strong governance, and community-driven development are necessary.  Corruption, neo-classism, and elite capture must be addressed so that resources benefit populations rather than narrow interests.

Finally, regional unity is our most powerful defense.  A united Africa, Caribbean, and diaspora can speak with one voice, resist manipulation, and negotiate equitable partnerships on the global stage.

Conclusion

The neofascist colonial agenda threatens to reverse decades of progress by replacing open conquest with systemic dependency, financial manipulation, and cultural domination.  However, the power to resist lies within collective action, informed leadership, and regional solidarity.

As Malcolm X stated, “You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.”  Through education, exposure, economic cooperation, and unity, African and Caribbean nations can reclaim sovereignty and chart their own path toward development and dignity.

The future depends on vigilance, collaboration, and a refusal to accept systems that exploit, divide, and silence us.

August 21, 2025

Source / Comment

The Sacred Honour of Emancipation

Celebrate Emancipation

Deo Adjuvante, Non Timendum

“With God as My Helper, I Have Nothing to Fear”

Appreciating Our Emancipation

By Dr. Kevin J. Turnquest-Alcena
Nassau, NP, The Bahamas

Emancipation is a profound reflection on the brutal enslavement of Africans forcibly brought to the Americas.  We must never forget the arduous journey of our ancestors, as history remains a vigilant reminder of our resilience and collective strength.  Today, racism and fascism loom ominously, rearing their heads in ways reminiscent of past oppressions.  Many individuals harbor intentions rooted in repeating the dark chapters of history, aspiring to once again subjugate Black people.

In confronting such threats, we must steadfastly remember the significance of emancipation—where we originated, where we stand today, and where we must venture tomorrow.  We must remain acutely aware that slavery was a mere six generations past, yet its scars remain palpable in our contemporary societies.  Nations throughout Latin America are persistently entangled in structural apartheid, exemplified by classism and systemic racism.

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.” – Marcus Garvey

Garvey highlights the vital importance of historical and cultural education for identity and resilience.

Exposing the neo-colonial agenda rooted in racism and the geopolitical exploitation of resources, especially within our ancestral continent, Africa, is imperative.  We must decipher and dismantle the mechanisms perpetuating racism, economic exploitation, and resource extraction.

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

King emphasizes the necessity of active resistance to systemic oppression.

The pursuit of self-reliance through education and strategic partnerships with nations in Asia and Africa is vital.  Realizing autonomy requires concerted efforts and robust collaborations globally.  “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela

Mandela’s words underline education as essential in dismantling oppression and fostering equality.

We must acknowledge that hate and racism persist, stemming largely from inherited colonial governance systems characterized by political clientelism.  Such governance stifles Caribbean development, compelling urgent reform.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass

Douglass argues that genuine advancement arises from persistent effort and resistance.

Democracy inherited by default necessitates deliberate reform, including significant improvements to our prison systems.  Proactivity in preserving and sharing our ancient history is vital.

“You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom.” – Malcolm X

Malcolm X clarifies that peace fundamentally requires freedom as its cornerstone.

Our emancipation celebration must impart a profound sense of responsibility to younger generations, emphasizing enthusiasm, unity, and brotherhood.  Recognizing our ancestral origins in the motherland enriches our cultural appreciation and underscores our historic contributions to humanity.

“History has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.” – Michelle Obama

Obama inspires us to harness courage and hope in confronting ongoing challenges.

We, descendants of profound innovators and creators—pioneers of mathematics, astrology, chemistry, physics, and inventors of the wheel—must reclaim our rightful place in history.

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change.  I am changing the things I cannot accept.” – Angela Davis

Davis encourages us to actively challenge and alter unjust realities.

History must cease the systematic reclassification erasing our truths.  Affirming the true identities of historical figures such as Jesus and Moses as Black individuals is integral to cultural authenticity.

“Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” – Cornel West

West underscores justice as an expression of communal love and equity.

Governmental institutions across the region must rectify historical neglect within educational curricula, ensuring accurate representations of our history and the influential Haitian Revolution.

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” – Chinua Achebe

Achebe highlights the need for self-narration to accurately reflect our histories.

On this Emancipation Day, let unity prevail in meditation and celebration, never forgetting our shared humanity and inherent dignity.

“I am because we are.” – Ubuntu Philosophy

This philosophy encapsulates the interconnectedness of human existence and collective well-being.

“No one is free until everyone is free.” – Fannie Lou Hamer

Hamer’s words stress the universal nature of liberation and justice.

“Truth is powerful and it prevails.” – Sojourner Truth

Truth inspires resilience and steadfastness in our ongoing struggle for equality.

“The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.” – W.E.B. Du Bois

Du Bois reminds us that freedom, despite its challenges, is always preferable to subjugation.

“The future belongs to those who prepare for it today.” – Malcolm X

We must proactively shape the future we desire by investing in our communities now.

August 01, 2025

Source

The Haitian Revolution was the worse nightmare of colonial powers with possessions in the Caribbean - the ghost of Saint-Domingue disturbed the sleep of slave holders for years

Cuba, Haiti, the Helms-Burton and the crime of insubordination

Empires never forgive rebels; an insubordinate rebel plants a seed that can sprout many generations later

By Raúl Antonio Capote

The Haitian Revolution was a breeding ground of revolutions

Haiti was the first free nation in Latin America and the Caribbean, the first nation in the modern world emerging from a slave revolt, and the second most long-standing republic in the Western Hemisphere.  The Haitian people overthrew the French colonialists in 1804, abolished slavery, and declared independence.

Their revolution was worse nightmare of colonial powers with possessions in the Caribbean - the ghost of Saint-Domingue disturbed the sleep of slave holders for years.

The imperial powers imposed a rigorous cultural, economic and political blockade on the new Haiti, to prevent the extension of its example.

Two decades after independence was proclaimed, in 1825, French warships returned, blockaded the young nation and issued an ultimatum: pay compensation or prepare for war.

An emissary from King Charles X delivered the message.  France demanded payment for properties confiscated by the Haitian Revolution: 150 million gold francs, some 21 billion dollars today, payable in five installments.

According to the colonial empire, the young nation was obliged to compensate French planters for the property and slaves they had lost.

On April 17, 1825, Haitian President Jean-Pierre Boyer signed the Royal Decree presented by Charles X, who promised French diplomatic recognition in exchange for a 50% reduction of tariffs on French imports and the outrageous compensation.

For Haiti the figure was impossible to pay, given the conditions of its economy, ravaged by the French naval blockade and a devastating war, but the "generous" colonialists made a proposal "they couldn’t turn down."

A group of French banks offered Haiti a loan to cover the compensation, resulting in a double debt that, along with the interest, bled the small country to death, over the course of the 122 years required to pay off its "independence debt."

What’s more, The New York Times recounts in a recent five-part series of articles, when the U.S. army invaded Haiti in the summer of 1915, a group of Marines entered the national bank and stole some 500,000 dollars in gold, that days later made its way to a Wall Street bank vault.

The United States, using the financial and political chaos the island was experiencing as a pretext, occupied the country militarily, continuing its longstanding policy in the region.  Haiti was to be governed by a U.S. military proconsul.

For more than ten years, a quarter of all Haitian income went to pay off debts to the National City Bank, incurred by the country to cover the expense of "assistance from the U.S. government," according to The Times.

ANOTHER ISLAND DARES TO CHALLENGE THE EMPIRE

In January 1959, another small Caribbean island, Cuba, defying U.S. imperial power, declared itself the first free territory of the Americas and dared to announce its decision to build the first socialist nation in the hemisphere.

The "crime of insubordination" committed required immediate action by the "superpower.”  Since then, all variants of war have been waged against the rebel island, including the economic, without success.

As an essential part of the plan to break the soul and subsequent extermination of the Cuban people, a monstrosity known as the Law for Cuban Democratic Freedom and Solidarity was concocted.

What similarities can be seen between this legal atrocity and the one foisted on Haiti by the French empire? 

Let's skip some frightening sections of the Helms-Burton Act, as it is also known, and consider the plan it envisions.

Let’s imagine two hypothetical scenarios, totally impossible for those of us who have confidence in the capacity for resistance and courage of our people.

First: The imperialist enemy and his allies, making use of their military power, would manage to occupy most of the country and establish a transitional government, after proclaiming the end of the Revolution.  Second: Division, deception, and discouragement sown by the enemy would lead to betrayal, another Baraguá, and we would “let the sword fall,” as in 1878.

Would we then have "free and democratic" elections?  No, the transitional government, handpicked by the occupying forces, would not call elections until the United States Congress approved such a move.  

The U.S. President or his proconsul, appointed for this purpose, would prepare a report to Congress every six months outlining progress being made in the transition process on the occupied island.

How long would this process supposedly last, if they are requiring a report every six months?  How long would Yankee troops remain in Cuba?

The answer to both questions is “Who knows?” (Reading the Bush Plan is recommended.)

Finally, after who knows how many years, the U.S. Congress would approve elections.  

What about the economic, commercial and financial blockade?  Would it be lifted when the end of the Revolution was proclaimed?

No, this is not part of the plan; the blockade is to remain intact during the transition, as an ironclad mechanism to apply pressure.

Once the elections were held in U.S. occupied Cuba, with the Revolution removed from power, we would have a president and government, in the style of the imperialists and to their liking.

Insistent questions remain: Would the blockade be lifted?  Would the economic war end?  The answer is no, that's not what the Helms Burton proposes.

The new Cuban "president" would verify to Congress that all U.S. citizens who were “former owners” had been compensated with the full value of all properties nationalized or confiscated in accordance with revolutionary laws and in line with international law, including those Cubans who, after 1959, became “Cuban-Americans.”

The “indemnity” or “compensation,” according to U.S. experts in 1997, would have an approximate value of 100 billion dollars.

The empire has a solution that would allow the Cuban government to pay for the legal procedures, compensation and debt: loans from U.S. banks, the IMF, etc., which would generate ever-increasing interest payments and create an endless spiral of plunder.

Cubans, like Haitians years ago, would spend decades paying off a practically impossible debt.  How could a country devastated, depleted, impoverished by war and occupation, a country that had lost a good part of its population of working and productive age, afford to do so? 

It must be clear that they could never occupy our island, without defeating a Cuban people determined to defend every inch of our homeland.

We would be left in the hands of our hangmen, ready and willing to drain every last drop of our national wealth.

Thomas Piketty, one of the economists consulted by The New York Times, in his work on Haiti, referred to this policy as "neo-colonialism by debt."

The "crime of insubordination" is the greatest "sin" that a people can commit.  Empires never forgive rebels. 

An insubordinate rebel plants a seed that can sprout many generations later.

The Haitian Revolution was a breeding ground of revolutions.  The punishment, the viciousness of the colonial master, could not erase its example. Inspired, Our America rose up to fight for its independence, again and again, as tireless as the courageous Haitians who defeated Napoleon’s best generals, in the first years of the19th century.

Source

Anatomy of slavery and reparations

By Franklin JOHNSTON

One author says slavery as an institution was an assault on the African male’s role of husband and father

IT is time to deconstruct slavery. We must peel the onion layer by layer and examine each without the hype and emotion.

New World slavery was the first global, cutting-edge enterprise — Europe's banking, manufacture, finance, insurance, shipbuilding. Yet men were sold as slaves in Africa and Jamaica, not Europe. Slavery was the model for commodities trading — buy and sell by specs, divert cargo on the high seas, no need to see the goods. A lot of evil was done, but to personalise slavery as "race hate" perverts history and blurs our insight. The enterprise spanned four continents, major nations, and here — the 17th century New World Logistics Hub under Henry Morgan — was the 19th century node of a global triangular trade. The slave trade was risky, exciting, but did not get you entry to exclusive club "Boodles"; owning a plantation did. Reparations came to mind when I examined MSS in the Public Records Office.

I learnt about slavery beyond the insipid local armed struggle and Wilberforce's crafting a weak political solution. I was flippin' angry that Africans traded my Dad for "brass bands, tobacco and beads" — what? Coloured beads? Not even a rifle? An outrage! Sue them! Life is still cheap there. The slave trade was distinct from slavery; both began randomly for Europe, but were a way of life in Africa. We do not have the nous to move slavery from tearful diatribe to cogent analysis, despite Eric Williams' Capitalism and Slavery. Today, barbarity reigns in Jamaica. They rape kids, slash throats, gut women, and hack men into pieces. This makes slavery look good. So weep for yourself, not your ancestors. The slavery chronicles need scholarship as Africa has not told its side of the story.

New World slavery was not social, political, tribal or God punishing black people, it was business. Europe and Africa did not invest to watch men squirm. Europeans worked Tainos to extinction and, while Africa was not their first choice, they found men with a devalued sense of self as substitutes. Europe could not buy men in China or India, but in Africa men were on sale. Slavery went viral when cane farmers' demand for workers exceeded the normal supply of men; prices rocketed. Caboceers — native slave traders — made super margins, so "let's trawl the next village and steal some men!" The rest is history. The slave trade and slavery had different investor profiles. Let's unbundle them.

Trade is a willing buyer engaging a willing seller. The English buyer and African seller were not slavers per se, they were traders; they sold anything. The slave trade was high risk-high gain; an adrenalin rush to some investors. Slaves were a premium — a poor risk profile, short shelf life, disease, injury, robbers; A rapid stock turn given the time value of money. Who in Europe bought goods to trade in Africa? Who in Africa traded people for goods? Who were the investors in Africa and England? Sea captains were fast-talking men who attracted rabid investors. Royals were involved, merchants, MPs, captains and crew, even widows. Just as today's stock market, no investor saw product or factory (did you visit the Salada factory before you bought shares yesterday?), the deal was the thing. The slave trader was a seaman adventurer doing business with likeminded land-based Africans. The captain and the caboceer were united in cash. Ponzi schemes existed long before Carlo Pietro Ponzi and captains exaggerated profits and oversold to entice investors. Will Africans tell us caboceers did the same thing to fund raids on villages? Write the history damn you!

The English slave trader was usually a seafarer and entrepreneur using leased ships and investor's cash. The captain risked his life — ocean, pirates, disease, mutinous crew. In Africa he bought broken people; the French or Spanish might steal his cargo at sea; some died; others were decanted overboard to escape pirates. Caboceers caught or bought people to fill the warehouses. Do you worry that the elephants in the z oo are not happy? Same difference! The trade in fabrics, beads, guns, ammunition, animals, salt, metals, cotton, pots, pans, and people was good. The seafarer made big profit, big loss and some died — high risk. Caboceers profited and lost lives too? What of slavery?

New World slavery was to farm sugar cane. The farming was tedious, the factories cutting-edge; sugar and rum had strong demand, but you could lose given the long wait for a crop. Farming and manufacture is not trade. Farm work varies for planting, crop care, reaping, and despite slave theory, no one cuts cane all year. Reaping and factoring time was short, intense; planting relaxed; crop care easier. In Europe many fought slavery by writing, protest and in Parliament. Will they be excluded from reparations? As today, there was no such activism against slavery in Africa. Why not? Should all Africa pay reparations?

I once thought reparations meant those paid should return their immoral gains. Who should pay? Should those who paid Africa cash for a man pay again? Is the original sinner the African who caught your ancestor? The captain who sold him to a cane farmer within six weeks? The investor (English and African), who sought profit? The cane farmer who used slaves for years? One prime target should be Africans who caught our ancestors and abridged their freedom. This is original sin! Repent! I don't want money, but may accept "mea culpas". Their kids must know truth. The second target is the English trader — his Christian faith condemns him — he knew it was morally wrong. Every English ship's flag to fly at half-staff; a major monument to Africans lost at sea in Bristol, London, every slave port and on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square. Or will you trade a race's dignity for cash? Do not allow them to say, "Shut up nigger you took the cash in 2015!" I want slavery seared into Europe's conscience like the Holocaust numbers; monuments down Pall Mall, Buckingham Palace, stately homes "to the nameless Africans who built this land!" Selah!

We need economic scholarship to deconstruct slavery and its the bleeding heart history — slaves in chains and on auction blocks. Don't screw up your kids. Invent a cathartic video game "Ultimate Slave Trader" with ships, lazer spears and have fun. Don't let history freak you out; make money from it, innovate! No European said, "let's invest cash, go to Africa to jerk-up a few black people". Caboceers chasing men for sale through the jungle were not having fun. Africa was the epicentre of slavery — trans-Sahara, Indian Ocean, trans-Atlantic, and their domestic type; up to today! Why Africa? God only knows!

We need research to fathom slavery, but the Africans say nothing so we should help them. UWI needs a Chair in Slavery and Diaspora Studies (African, Chinese, Indian, Jamaican); professors from business, not bleeding hearts. I am all cried out. What's Africa's take on slavery, reparations? Can their oil tycoons, rich entertainers, the diaspora endow a Chair? Most African historians are white; no black writes Europe's history; go figure! "Up you mighty race!" Stay conscious, my friend!

Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategist, project manager and advises the minister of education. Comments: franklinjohnstontoo@gmail.com

March 28, 2014

Jamaica Observer

The Bahamas National Reparations Committee has been established to prepare a legal claim ...to present to the International Court of Justice (ICOJ) ...for reparations for the infliction of slavery on Caribbean colonies ...by certain former European colonisers

Govt Forms Reparation Committee

By Jones Bahamas:

The government has established The Bahamas National Reparations Committee and its members were revealed yesterday.  The committee will be responsible for preparing a legal claim to present to the International Court of Justice (ICOJ) for reparations for the infliction of slavery on Caribbean colonies by certain former European colonisers.

The committee will also be responsible for an educational campaign and invoking dialogue on the issue which Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell said is in the best interest of the country.

"The government thinks that this is in the best interest of the country to have research done,” he said during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Goodman’s Bay Corporate Centre.  “What often happens with these things is as [they] unfold people will tend to accept that it is the right thing to do.”  “As I tried to indicate in as gentle way as I can, those of us who came up in the 60s and 70s are astounded at how polite a society we have become on this subject which still resonates throughout all of the things that we do.”

Reparations is the process of repairing the consequences of crimes committed and the attempt to reasonably remove debilitating effects of such crimes upon victims and their descendants.

National Reparation Committees have been established on the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.  In preparation for a legal claim, each National Reparation Commission is to gather information pertaining to each claimant state; illustrate the link between historic discrimination and present day racial discrimination; outline modern racial discrimination resulting from slavery in areas of health.

In addition, illustrate the link between, socio-economic deprivation and social disadvantage, education, living conditions, property and land ownership, employment participation in public life and migration and identity policies of the United Kingdom, which have perpetuated the discriminatory effects of slavery in The Bahamas.

Minster Mitchell said the committee is expected to have a legal claim developed by this June.

Recently, CARICOM leaders unanimously adopted a 10-point plan for reparations during the first day of heads of government meetings in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The 10-point plan includes calling for a formal apology for slavery and debt cancellation from former colonisers such as Britain, France, Spain and the Netherlands and reparation payments to repair the persisting “psychological trauma.”

Former parliamentarians, Alfred Sears and Philip Smith serve as chair and co-chair of the committee.

Additionally, there are 22 committee members who include, Dr. Chris Curry, Dr. Gail Saunders, Fr. Dacid Cooper, Rev. Williams Higgs, Ms. Marion Bethel, Rev. Timothy Stewart, Ms. Keisha Ellis, Mr. Pedro Rolle, Ms. Theresa Moxey-Ingraham, Dr. Niambi Hall-Campbell, Mr. Michael Symonette, Mr. Michael Stevenson, Ms. Elaine Toote, Ms. Kim Outten-Stubbs, Dr. Tracy Thompson, Mr. Whitman McKinney, Mr. Elsworth Johnson, Mr. Bianca Beneby, Ms. Alesha Hart, Mr. Travis Cartwright, Mr. Cecil Thompson and an attorney from the Office of the Attorney General.

According to Minister Mitchell, the members were chosen because of their broad expertise and their representation of the Bahamian Society.

March 25, 2014

The Bahama Journal

...reparations for Caribbean slavery and native genocide

Payback for slavery's terror

By Omar Ryan, Guest columnist:



Over the past few weeks, the matter of reparations for Caribbean slavery and native genocide has become very topical, and rightly so, because of the developments in CARICOM and the active media discussions carried out by ourown National Commission on Reparations (NCR).

Despite the NCR's efforts to educate our people about these historical injustices, the sufferings of their ancestors and the contemporary implications of past atrocities, the ignorance, self-denial, even self-hate are still apparent among our people trapped in colonial-style education and historical amnesia.

I was appalled by the view expressed in your Letter of the Day of August 9, 2013 titled 'Stop flogging reparations', in which the writer said advocates for reparations are wasting their time, and even quoted the Bible justifying slavery.

I want us not to forget that the enslavers and colonialists were armed with the Bible while they took away Africans and brought them to the Americas to be treated less than humans. I believe that the voices of the naysayers, the non-interest and apathy with regard to the issue of reparations are mental attitudes resulting from our people not being fully aware of what justice means.

There appears to be a willed ignorance that a great injustice was carried out against their own people.
The fact was that Africans were forcibly taken away from their continent, exploited and enslaved for almost four hundred years, and upon the ending of bondage, the enslavers were paid twenty million pounds for loss of 'property' (enslaved Africans), not land. Hitherto, no compensation has been paid to the victims.

Against slavery

It must be noted that Africans, from the outset, were against the forcible taking away of their people from the continent. One African, King Nzinga Mbemba, wrote to the king of Portugal in a letter dated October 18, 1526 outlining the ramifications of the kidnapping of Africans and his opposition to it.
However, the opposition of the Africans was no match for the military and naval power of the mighty Europeans.

Well over 100 claims for compensation were filed by members of the Church. One such example was the Rev Charles William Davy, who filed six claims for 661 enslaved Africans on properties in Trelawny and who received £12,641 in compensation).

Among the recipients were educators like the Rev Thomas Pierce Williams, principal of Wolmer's, 1813-14, who received £7,054 for 356 enslaved in the parish of Manchester.

They and others amassed wealth that set the catalyst for the economic prosperity we now see countries of especially Western Europe reaping.

It must be known that one Hermann J. Abs, a German Jew, helped to finance the Auschwitz concentration camp where thousands of Jews met their demise. As a Jew, he played a role in the terrible crime against fellow Jews, and it never stopped the Jews from getting reparations from the German State. And it was the offspring of the victims that were compensated, not the victims themselves.

So it must be understood that a crime was committed against Africans and native peoples of the Americas (Caribbean), and no compensation was paid.

Within a world where we hope to move forward as peaceful beings, reparations must be paid to the descendants of the victims who are living with the scars and ills transmitted through generations from slavery.

The NCR urges people to rid themselves of that mental slavery that continues to trap them in a cycle of ignorance, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Such attitudes as displayed in The Gleaner's Letter of the Day and the responses to it remind us that "Aluta continua!"

Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and omaryan@live.com.

August 12, 2013

Jamaica Gleaner

Bahamas Blog International

It’s time we emancipate ourselves from mental slavery... ...None but ourselves can free our minds...

Rethinking Freedom in The Bahamas

By Nicolette Bethel

In 1833, the British Parliament passed an Act to abolish slavery in the British Empire.  As of August 1, 1834, all slaves throughout the empire were to become free to some degree — if they were under the age of six, they would become free immediately, but if they were over six, they were to be apprenticed to their former masters.  Apprenticeship was finally abolished on August 1, 1838.

It is partly for this reason that Emancipation Day is a holiday in The Bahamas.  It is a holiday throughout the former British slave colonies of the Caribbean as well — and the reason that Jamaica, for example, chose it as its Independence Day.  We don’t celebrate our holiday on August 1, although we remember the date; rather, we have chosen to make the nearest Monday the holiday.

Here, then, together with hot weather, rain, and hurricanes, the summer months bring the twin holidays that commemorate our freedom.  As a nation, we have the opportunity of remembering how far we have come, of honouring our ancestors who — slave and master alike — were dehumanized by the institution of slavery and indentureship.

So far, though, we have not made the most of this opportunity.  Oh, we celebrate all right.  We have a Junkanoo parade on Independence Day, and two Junkanoo parades on the August Holiday weekend.  We have cook-outs (what better way to party than eating?)  But that’s about as far as it goes. Indeed, considering the amount of time we spend speaking of such things, it’s possible to imagine that if a Bahamian child didn’t grow up watching American television, they might be surprised to learn that Bahamians were once ever slaves.

And yet.

As I’ve written before, slavery is not over in the Caribbean.  I’m not talking about the kind of “slavery” that people like to raise when making these kinds of statements — a “slavery” that assumes that every Black Bahamian is subordinate to and poorer than every White Bahamian, that assumes that all Whites were slave owners and all Blacks slaves, that believes that Black Bahamian slaves were captured in African jungles and transported to The Bahamas on slave ships — an image of slavery that has more to do with history as outlined in the ABC miniseries Roots than our own story, which is far more complicated and interesting.

No.  I’m talking about the kind of slavery Bob Marley recognized in his own people when he wrote and performed his “Redemption Song” — the mental slavery that continues to dominate our society.

What do I mean by mental slavery?  It manifests itself in a number of different ways.  There are the obvious — the concept that Bahamians aren’t able to do things very well, and the resultant habit of looking elsewhere for models and expertise; the preference for hiring consultants from abroad to give advice that Bahamian experts have already considered and rejected; the willingness to privilege outside plans for development over local ones; the general contempt for anything home-grown, and the overconsumption of anything from across the sea.

But as common as these tendencies are, I’m thinking of other, smaller, more insidious actions and habits that show the residue of slavery in our everyday lives.

The biggest one is the apparent reluctance of the ordinary employee ever to make a decision.  Decisions, you see, require that one take responsibility for those decisions, and if one is wrong, one gets in trouble.  The result — particularly in the civil service, but not only there — is that for too many people, there is only one way of doing something.

How many of us have found ourselves in a situation where we make a request that is unusual, that takes a salesperson out of her comfort zone, that surprises her, forces her to think?

The result: roadblock.

Another one, though, that I get to see often in my line of work, is the tendency of many people who are possessed with a good idea to seek first and foremost the kingdom of Government Money.  Despite the fact that we live in a society which welcomes millions of tourists every year, in which money flows like water, in which Bahamians as well as visitors are willing to spend good cash on things they enjoy, we seem to believe that our enterprise must first and foremost be supported by handouts from the public treasury.

A third is the paralysis that I also witness, as a manager of a department and as a teacher of students, among people who seem to be waiting for someone to tell them What To Do.  They can’t — or won’t — act unless they get an order or a clearance from above.

All of these are examples of the mental slavery from which we continue to need emancipation.

Emancipation, you see, only begins with the awarding of political freedom.  It is true that on August 1, 1834, slaves were given the gift of themselves; they were able, for the first time since their enslavement, to own their bodies, their loved ones, their offspring, and their possessions.

But the residue of slavery lingers still.  The political and physical emancipation of the slaves didn’t mean that there was a corresponding psychic and mental freedom that came with it.  That has to be worked on.

So it’s that time of the year again; it’s our freedom time.  Massa’s long gone.  It’s time for us to realize that every West Indian who refuses to make a decision, every Bahamian who seeks a handout, every West Indian who looks outside our region for validation, every Bahamian who believes that what we do isn’t good enough, is in need of emancipation still.

It’s time we emancipate ourselves from mental slavery.  None but ourselves can free our minds.

thenewblackmagazine.com

Jamaica: ... History, shame and emancipendence

By Michael Burke

WHAT has shame or embarrassment to do with communicating history?  And what has this to do with our emancipendence celebrations, particularly in a year when we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of our Independence?  One of the unfortunate legacies of certain types of government and economic models is the class system.  It has created the misleading belief that some people are better than others.

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the notion of superiority and inferiority based on class and colour is a sin against the great commandment of "Love thy neighbour as thyself".  The said church further teaches that with regard to race it cannot be proved either in scripture or in a science laboratory that any race is superior to the other.

But like any other religious institution, not all Roman Catholics have the same level of understanding.  So even within a church that abhors class prejudice, in its doctrine it exists within its borders.  And wherever it exists, there is usually a sense of shame on the part of the victims of such prejudice.

Many young people do not appreciate how far we have come since Independence, let alone slavery, because they were not taught what it was like before.  Many times their parents do not want to tell them what Jamaica was like as they are ashamed to admit the conditions under which they lived because they were looked down upon and ridiculed by others.

Fifty-two years ago in 1960 when I was six years old, my parents left me and my siblings in the care of our maternal grandmother while they went on tour of New York, USA, England and the European continent.  My father heard the following story in England and told us on his return.

A Jamaican living in England where he was courting an English girl (white-skinned, I believe), showed her a picture of Hope Gardens and told her that it was his backyard.  After the wedding she wanted to take a trip to Jamaica to see the place.  The man was ashamed to tell his wife the truth.  But how would his children learn to appreciate his efforts to improve their lives if he was ashamed to tell them where he grew up, even if on Spanish Town Road or Back-o-Wall?

In 1967 when I was 13 years old, I saw a photograph in the Star of a Jamaica Omnibus Service (JOS) bus driver who had received an award for good driving.  A cloth badge was sewn to his right shirt sleeve.  On several occasions while taking a JOS bus, I recognised him as the driver who won the award.  Fourteen years later in 1981, I saw him in Papine.  By this time he walked with a limp.

The JOS awardee told me that he was retired.  He sat on the stone wall by the Hope Aqueduct next to what was then CAST (now UTech) and told me of his struggles to give all his children a good education by sending them to some of Jamaica's best high schools. He also spoke about attaining the award from JOS.

During the conversation I learnt that the retired bus driver was a Roman Catholic like me and that he had seen me at church.  He surprised me by telling the names of his sons because I knew some of them from Roman Catholic circles of which he was very much aware and was the reason for telling me that he was Roman Catholic.  He was extremely proud of his eldest son, who by that time had become a senior accountant at a large company in Jamaica and who, I believe, became a chartered accountant.

That top-level accountant today is himself retired from the company where he was employed, although his youngest children are still of high school age.  He holds a prominent position in the Roman Catholic Church, particularly in the Archdiocese of Kingston.  His father, the retired bus driver, died some years ago.

Less than three weeks ago, I was at a Roman Catholic Church and saw one of the sons of the top-level accountant and grandson of the late retired bus driver.  In discussion with him, I told him that I knew his grandfather who had won an award as a JOS bus driver.  The boy, about 15 years old, looked at me and asked in a tone of disbelief, "A bus driver, Sir?"

The boy's father had clearly not told him that his grandfather had been a bus driver, which I suspect was for reasons of shame, although I would not say that to the boy.  I "polished it off" by telling him the teachings of our church on the dignity of labour.

I will not stand in judgement of this top-level accountant who has not revealed his humble beginnings as the son of a bus driver to his children.  How much ridicule - if any - did he endure from upper-class students at the prominent high school he attended?  I do not know, although I am aware that no one enjoys being ridiculed.

But how can the young people appreciate the struggles of the last 50 years of Independence, let alone the struggles before emancipation if we do not get over the shame that is totally unwarranted?  The only thing that anyone should be ashamed of is sin.

ekrubm765@yahoo.com

August 02, 2012

Jamaica Observer

Back Pay For Slavery

Carolyn Cooper, Contributor

jamaica-gleaner



THE PRINCIPLE of reparations was established long ago in the 1833 Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British colonies. But there was a catch to the act - not much different in essence from the original sin of catching Africans for enslavement in the Americas. Reparations were to be made to the perpetrators of human trafficking, not to the victims.

This is how the act opens: "Whereas divers persons are holden (held) in slavery within divers of His Majesty's colonies, and it is just and expedient that all such persons should be manumitted and set free, and that a reasonable compensation should be made to the persons hitherto entitled to the services of such slaves for the loss which they will incur by being deprived of their right to such services ... ," etc.

This is a classic example of the diabolical mindset of 'wicked white people'. Slaveholders were legally entitled to the services of their slaves and therefore had a right to 'reasonable compensation' for loss of service. The enslaved had no such rights or entitlements. They were freed with nothing in their two long hands; just like that rather sad-looking couple standing in a basin of water in New Kingston's 'Emancipation Park'.

When I talk about 'wicked white people' I don't mean specific individuals who have done me personal wrong. I'm not speaking about singular acts of evil. It's a far bigger issue. What concerns me is the collective crimes against humanity committed by gravalicious people who consider themselves absolutely entitled by God and nature to dominate the world. In many instances, these self-proclaimed rulers just happen to be white.

In the age of colonial conquest, 'wicked white people' as a special interest group committed crimes of unapologetic horror. They ravaged other people's bodies, souls, lands and histories; they vandalised sacred objects and then locked them away in 'museums' - those cemeteries of other people's culture. 'Wicked white people' invading and stealing, stealing, stealing without conscience.

I know I'm going to be accused of racism for exposing 'wicked white people' to public scrutiny in this way. But that's just another ploy of 'wicked white people' and their collaborators to perpetuate mental slavery. It's racism to talk about racist behaviour. But actual racist behaviour is not racism. It's just human nature. What an irony!

Justice versus expediency

So let's say instead that 'nice and decent' white people agreed that it was "just and expedient" to set the enslaved free. But the yoking of justice and expedience in the Act for the Abolition of Slavery reveals the central philosophical and practical dilemma at the heart of the emancipation enterprise.

Justice seemingly puts emancipation on solid moral ground. Expedience erodes all claims to moral authority. It was expedient to emancipate enslaved Africans because plantation slavery had become an expensive proposition. The substitution of beet for cane turned West Indian sugar into a rather sour deal.

After centuries of mostly verbal outrage - incessant talk, talk, talk about 'wicked white people' - we, the collective victims of transatlantic slavery, must finally decide to take legal action in the largest class-action suit in the history of the world. This is a truly wonderful idea. Not the wishy-washy, everyday sense of 'wonderful', meaning simply 'great'; it's the mind-blowing, original meaning of the word: full of wonder.

Five hundred years after the rape of the body and land of the original inhabitants of this part of the world; 500 years after the violent uprooting and enslavement of millions of Africans, we, their descendants, both native and immigrant, must lay claim to rights of reparation.

In the sweet by and by

For many Africans in the diaspora, it is in religion that we find hope for reparations. The Christian religion seems to recommend long-term investment in the celestial stock market. The concept of reparations has best been expressed in pious hymns like this: "In the sweet by and by I'll have a mansion so bright and so fair, won't it be glorious when I get there in the sweet by and by?" God will repair the breach. God is the ultimate human rights arbitrator.

Then we have those Africans who want hard cold cash in the here and now. Think of the title song from the movie The Harder They Come: "They tell me bout the pie up in the sky waiting for me when I die. But between the day you born and when you die, they never seem to hear even your cry. So as long as the sun will shine, I'm gonna get my share, what's mine. The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all."

That's an excellent anthem for the Reparations Movement, the Garveyism of our times. It's the same kind of daring that made Marcus Garvey conceive the Universal Negro Improvement Association and Communities League: a global movement of African peoples who see themselves as having a shared history and a common destiny.

And don't think it's a joke. With derisive laughter cynics like to say, 'when you get the money you can check me.' But the Jews got compensation from the Germans; Japanese-Americans got compensation for the atrocities committed against them. Why not Africans? I'd like to know what, exactly, our National Commission on Reparations is doing about it.

If you think that after 500 years it's now too late for reparations, just remember Psalm 90:4 in which David, himself a Jew, converses with the Supreme Arbitrator: "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past." Come to think of it, all we're really talking about is half a day's back pay.

August 7, 2011

jamaica-gleaner

Bahamas Blog International