bigdrumnation

Reading Time 4 minsNovember 3, 2022 “…. she was the symbol of an empire built on genocide, slavery, violence, extraction, and brutality, the legacies of which continue in our present day.” Arabindan-Kesson, professor, Princeton University The Queen is dead. Is the long living façade of a kind and gentle monarchy also dead? Probably. Will the “sins” of the mother be visited upon her eldest child, King Charles III? Probably. Queen Elizabeth II reigned from February 1952 until her death in September 2022 for 70 years and 214 days—the longest of any British monarch. Fifteen British prime ministers served under her,… Read More »Queen Elizabeth II: Hiding in a Fairytale*–Carlyle G. Leach

Reading Time 6 minsNovember 3, 2022   “Let us not take ourselves too seriously. None of us has a monopoly on wisdom.” Queen Elizabeth II. “And teifing columbus have a golden plan Dem make a wrong turn and end up in the Caribbean One rass genocide kill nuff Indians Lord fi turn paradise in a plantation And bring cross one ship load a African No hear comes the teifing queen from en gland No she carmwell and envy mother Century pon top a century full a sufferation And after four hundred year mi say no referation And now dem wah… Read More »The Queen and The George Floyd Racial Reckoning!*-Kanene A. Holder

Reading Time 2 minsSeptember 3, 2022 As an aspirational vision for the future, few anthems lay down the pathway to progress as these words from Trinidad and Tobago’s National Anthem, “Where every creed and race find an equal place.” Yet, after sixty years, the debate continues whether or not we’ve made significant strides towards actualizing this lofty ideal. While people’s movements aren’t the primary concern here, this sense informs the contributions to our August Issue. Indeed, August may be the most significant month in Caribbean History, beginning with Emancipation Day on August 1 and demands for Reparations that arose almost… Read More »NOTES ON ‘PROJECT INDEPENDENCE’: WE ‘YOUNG AND MOVING ON’!– BDN INTRODUCTION

Reading Time 6 minsAugust 31, 2022 Set alongside other Third World nations, including those possessing great mineral wealth, Trinidad & Tobago remains exemplary. Eric Williams established a democratic state, which has survived several regime changes and one attempted armed coup. The main bugbear of politics in the 1950s and 1960s was the ethnic divide between Afro-, Euro- and Indo-Trinidadians. In that period, politics were attended by intimidation and patronage. Since then, much of the former has dissipated. Having lived next door to one another and attended school together since the 1970s, Indians, Euro- and Afro-Creoles are considerably more comfortable with… Read More »INDEPENDENCE NOTES: BEYOND A CULTURAL RENAISSANCE–KIM JOHNSON

Reading Time 5 minsAugust 31, 2022 For those of us who were there in those days, whether young or old, involved in the major events of the time or just touched by their atmosphere or influence, there was no escaping the engulfing mood of expectancy and hope that pervaded the entire society. As on other moments of historical importance, once you were alive on August 31, 1962, you remember where you were at one minute past midnight that night of August 30, past the ringing of the midnight bell at the Anglican Cathedral just across the road from the Red… Read More »Celebrating Independence–CLYDE WEATHERHEAD

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