bigdrumnation

Reading Time 5 mins August 31, 2022 Trinidad and Tobago became an independent nation on 8/31/1962; I was eight years old.  As I look at some of the cultural changes that have happened and are happening in the region, I am fascinated by the idea that pre-1962 T&T artistic expressions, statements, and development showed more of an independent outlook than some of the current manifestations of “our culture.”   Several amazing things happened when T&T was a British colony and after.  Pre-Independence Calypso came about primarily as a way for the masses, especially those of African descent, to voice their protest… Read More »REFLECTIONS ON OUR CULTURAL INDEPENDENCE–ULRIC DONAWA

Reading Time 7 mins August 23, 2022 BOOK SYMPOSIUM: Hilary McD. Beckles, How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean: A Reparation Response to Europe’s Legacy of Plunder and Poverty: Kingston, University of the West Indies Press, 2021, 292 pages: ISBN 9789766408695 (Paperback) “Dr. Beckles has written a book rich with emancipatory promise… [a] worthy addition to the compendium of development studies, and West Indian economic and political history, [which] must be read by all those seeking an engaged understanding of the historical circumstances that have profoundly influenced our contemporary Caribbean.”  The contemporary Caribbean presents an interesting duality. Once the site of intense… Read More »A POWERFUL MORAL CALL TO ACTION — LESTER ADAMS

Reading Time 2 minsAugust 23, 2022 BOOK SYMPOSIUM: Hilary McD. Beckles, How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean: A Reparation Response to Europe’s Legacy of Plunder and Poverty: Kingston, University of the West Indies Press, 2021, 292 pages: ISBN 9789766408695 (Paperback) “The emotions, feelings, thoughts of the ‘underclass’ — … are not recounted in books. But their history lives on in the memories of their grandchildren.” Edna Brodber, quoted in David Scott(1). Designated by UNESCO, today,  August 23, is commemorated as The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.  It is a day celebrated each year to memorialize… Read More »BRITAIN ON TRIAL: SYMPOSIUM ON “HOW BRITAIN UNDERDEVELOPED THE CARIBBEAN: A REPARATIONS RESPONSE TO EUROPE’S LEGACY OF PLUNDER AND POVERTY.”

Reading Time 6 minsAugust 23, 2022 BOOK SYMPOSIUM: Hilary McD. Beckles, How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean: A Reparation Response to Europe’s Legacy of Plunder and Poverty: Kingston, University of the West Indies Press, 2021, 292 pages: ISBN 9789766408695 (Paperback) The first person I heard speak of seeking reparatory justice for descendants of enslaved Africans was Randall Robinson, the founder of TransAfrica. Established in the 1970s, his organization sought to address myriad issues impacting the lives of continental Africans and their descendants in the Diaspora. He was a strident advocate of the global anti-apartheid movement and for dismantling apartheid. Years later, his book The Debt: What… Read More »Britain on Trial–Margaret Prescod-Cisse

Reading Time 6 minsAugust 23, 2022 BOOK SYMPOSIUM: Hilary McD. Beckles, How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean: A Reparation Response to Europe’s Legacy of Plunder and Poverty: Kingston, University of the West Indies Press, 2021, 292 pages: ISBN 9789766408695 (Paperback) One of the many striking features of this work is the clarifying critique of the 1833 Emancipation Act. According to the author, the British Government made clear that the Africans, our ancestors, were property for the first time. By implementing this act, the Government was taking away ‘property’ from its owners and fully compensating them for their property loss. The imperial… Read More »In the Tradition of Our Best Truth-Tellers–Kamau Odinga

Reading Time 7 minsAugust 23, 2022 BOOK SYMPOSIUM: Hilary McD. Beckles, How Britain Underdeveloped the Caribbean: A Reparation Response to Europe’s Legacy of Plunder and Poverty: Kingston, University of the West Indies Press, 2021, 292 pages: ISBN 9789766408695 (Paperback)   “It is the British who by their action in past centuries are responsible for the presence in these islands of the majority of their inhabitants, whose ancestors as slaves contributed millions to the wealth of Great Britain, a debt which the British have yet to repay.” Sir Arthur Lewis All four of my grandparents, like others throughout the Caribbean, took… Read More »GREAT EXPECTATIONS: GOING FOR THE WIN – CARLYLE G. LEACH

Reading Time 1 minsAugust 6, 2022 All Herb McKinley, Don Quarrie, Merlene Ottley, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Usain Bolt, etc., and cultural artists and others ever wanted in life to succeed was a fair chance and to have a good start. Yet, in 1962 on the eve of Independence, Britain denied Jamaica any compensation for the three hundred-plus years of what Hilary Beckles refers to as ‘extractive colonization.’ The case laid out by Sir Alex Bustamante and the Jamaican people at the London Independence talks was clear and compelling: Britain bore responsibility for Jamaica’s underdevelopment and for raping the country and walking… Read More »Jamaica @ 60 — BDN Celebrates Jamaican Independence

Reading Time 3 minsAugust 6, 2022 Today marks 60 years of Jamaica’s ‘flag’ independence from colonial Britain. This event follows Emancipation Day, which was celebrated on August 1. Undoubtedly and understandably so, there was much celebration for the former, and August 6 will follow likewise. After all the celebration and hype have died down and as life returns to normal, what is the objective reality of Jamaica’s 60-year ‘independence’? Jamaica’s success and failure in stock-taking are imperative for a critical and judicious examination of the meaning of the independence of Jamaica and its sovereignty. This question further begs two others of… Read More »Jamaica At 60 – Have The Sacrifices of The National Heroes Been Honored? — Richard Dunn

Reading Time 1 mins July 9, 2022 Big Drum Nation joins others worldwide in recognizing ‘Sparrow Day,’ Slinger Francisco’s 87th birthday. In Grenada, Sparrow will be honored by the state today, July 9, 2022, for the first time, with “The Mighty Sparrow Day.” Grenada’s Sparrow Day adds to his many recognitions worldwide, including Nigerian Chieftaincy, a “Rey del Calypso” received from the Venezuelan government during the Chavez era, and an Order of the Caribbean Community (OCC). In 2014 Sparrow also received Trinidad and Tobago’s highest award, The Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. To acknowledge the Mighty Sparrow’s 87th… Read More »CELEBRATING THE MIGHTY SPARROW ON HIS 87th BIRTHDAY!

Reading Time 5 minsOriginally published June 19, 2021 Also known as Liberation Day, Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, “Juneteenth”[1] is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. The celebration marks the events of June 19 (“Juneteenth”), 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger read the Emancipation Proclamation in Galveston, Texas (General Order #3), effectively freeing over a quarter million enslaved Blacks in the state. The problem was that the Proclamation was two and a half years old by then. (While there are varying theories explaining the deferment of freedom, it is believed that this delay… Read More »Juneteenth is our Emancipation Day too — Martin P. Felix