70th Anniversary of the 1937 Barbados Riots- What Future for the Island?

July 26th, 1937- today is 70 years since the Barbados riots. Compared to rebellions, riots and revolutions that have played out in various parts of the world throughout history, these riots were negligible in terms of size and scale. They however had a considerable impact on the modern history of Barbados and helped to shape the island as we know it today.

Barbados in 1937 was a country sharply divided along the lines of race, with a small white elite holding economic and political power and a majority black population largely employed in the agricultural sector and suffering from poverty, lack of opportunity, unemployment, dismal labour conditions and general social and economic malaise. The racial structure that permeated the social, economic and political landscape rigidly reinforced these conditions. The economy was dominated by sugar and land ownership policies and patterns that promoted peasant agriculture and made it impossible to address poverty. The same open economy also made it difficult to redress poverty through wages and employment-related benefits. Barbados was a country still dominated by the plantation a hundred years after the abolition of slavery.

In any situation where people are oppressed, courageous men and women speak out and agitate for change and it was no different in Barbados. Men like Clennel Wickham and Charles Duncan O’neal were followed by a Trinidadian of Barbadian parentage, Clement Payne, who stood up for the working people of Barbados and advocated labour reform and the formation of trade unions.

Payne was able to inspire the common man and such was his influence that the Barbadian authorities deported him to Trinidad on July 26th, 1937. Crowds gathered at the news of his deportation and the anger and frustration that had built up erupted into riots that lasted for four days. The immediate result of the riots was 14 dead, 47 wounded, 500 arrests and millions of dollars worth of damage. The long-term consequences were far reaching.

The British Royal Commission of Inquiry headed by Lord Moyne was appointed in 1938 to investigate disturbances and unrest in the British West Indies and it recommended in its 1939 report that Britain invest in development and provision of social services.

The years following the riots would witness significant social and political reform in Barbados as black Barbadians emerged to rule a country where they were a majority. Payne, who died in 1941, did not live to see his dreams realised but his bravery in rebelling against the status quo was not in vain as generations of Bajans have benefited from his actions. Payne along with O’Neal are National Heroes of Barbados, an honour many also believe should be accorded to Clennel Wickham.

70 years to the day the riots began, Barbados is at a crossroads, with a widening gap between the rich and poor, extremely high cost of living, dissatisfaction among the population over widespread sale of land to foreigners and the inability of normal Barbadians to afford land and a lack of opportunity for the youth. I often wonder what Barbados will look like in 10-15 years time and I think I have a clear picture. It saddens me. I cannot imagine what it will look like in 70 years!

Intellectual Drought

I went to the doctor today for a check-up. He says he will take off the cast next Monday and put on a new one. In the meantime I have to keep my foot elevated to help with the pain caused by having the cast on. The blood flow is restricted by the cast and causes swelling, discomfort, tightness etc.

The doctor’s office is always busy and even though everyone has an appointment, inevitably you end up waiting very long before you are seen. I took along George Lamming’s “In the Castle of My Skin” to read today but did not get further than a few pages. Too much noise and I couldn’t concentrate. Most of the noise was from this obnoxious woman who speaks at the top of her voice or complains endlessly as if the rest of the world really cares to hear what she thinks. Worse of all, she seems to be there every time I go!

I read In the Castle of My Skin many years ago so I decided to read it again. Lamming like so many of his generation is brilliant. Recently we lost a great mind- Oliver Jackman- and I honestly am of the opinion that Barbados is not producing the calibre of minds that we once produced. I think about Clennel Wickham, Charles Duncan O’neal, Wynter Crawford, Frank Collymore, George Lamming, Errol Barrow, Kamau Brathwaite, Oliver Jackman, Austin Clarke, Woodville Marshall, Hilary Beckles, Cammie Tudor, Gladstone Holder and so many others and then I look at our intellectual landscape today and there is a serious dearth. Yes bright minds are still around, but most of them are over fifty and the younger minds are few. There are however a lot of pseudo-intellectuals walking around. When I look at the quality of the social science graduate from Cave Hill, I am frankly appalled. I have read essays students in the social science faculty have written and gotten Grades A and B for and I wonder what the world is coming to. The grammar and sentence structure is poor, there is absolutely no evidence of any analytical or articulation skills and overall it is difficult to grasp the central argument of the paper. If this is the best we are producing, then I am pessimistic about the future of Barbados!

I blame much of this on the way we have whole heartedly embraced so-called modernity (television, dvd, playstations etc) while relegating books and reading to the back burner, along with a continuous lowering of standards and settling for mediocrity. When I was growing up there was no tv in our house, much less whatever gadget was around at that time (I think Atari came out when I was in my teens) and so we read. Instead of having images on a screen, our brains were forced to create our own images based on what we read, to imagine and analyse. We hardly did multiple choice in school and when we did it was mostly for Mathematics. We had to write compositions from the time we were in infant school and we had to do comprehension where proper sentences were expected, not one word answers. We spoke Bajan but we were expected to know how to speak and write the Queen’s English. We have sacrificed much of this to make life easier for our children. We spoon feed them and we lower the bar so that they pass rather than keeping the standard high and ensuring that they aim at the sky. At the end of the day we will have done them a great injustice.