BARBADOS INDEPENDENCE 2015

by Murphy BrowneToronto, OntarioCanada

Monday, November 30, 2015

In plenty and in time of needWhen this fair land was youngOur brave forefathers sowed the seedFrom which our pride was sprungA pride that makes no wanton boastOf what it has withstoodThat binds our hearts from coast to coastThe pride of nationhoodChorus:We loyal sons and daughters allDo hereby make it knownThese fields and hills beyond recallAre now our very ownWe write our names on history's pageWith expectations greatStrict guardians of our heritageFirm craftsmen of our fateExcerpt from the National Anthem of Barbados The Barbadian National Anthem was sung for the first time on November 30, 1966 when Barbados gained its independence from Britain. The Barbadian National Anthem was written by African American (Barbadian mother) songwriter Irving Louis Burgie. In 1966 when Barbados became independent it had been a British colony for more than 300 years beginning in 1625. Before the British colonized the Caribbean island it had been peopled by groups of Amerindians (named by Europeans.) The Arawaks who were the first group of people living on the island named their country Ichirouganaim. It is estimated that the Arawaks crossed over from South America and settled on Ichirouganaim in 400 BC. The Arawaks were joined by the Caribs around 800 AD who reportedly forced the Arawaks to flee the island. It is believed that the Portuguese explorer Pedro a Campos named the island Los Barbados (bearded-ones) when his crew visited the island in 1536 on their way to Brazil. The name Los Barbados (bearded-ones) presumably comes from the beard-like appearance of the fig trees that grow on the island. The Portuguese did not settle on the island. The first permanent European settlers on Barbados were from the British Isles. There are several stories about who did what and when in the colonization of Barbados. One story claims that in 1625 an English smuggler/pirate was sent out by William Courteen a British merchant who wanted to take advantage of the fortunes that the newly discovered lands promised. Powell landed on Barbados, erected a cross and claimed the land in the name of the British monarch James and named the area St. Jamestown. Another story as told by White American travel writer Harry S. Pariser in Explore Barbados: Third Edition (published 2000) is that Powell stumbled unto the island by mistake in July 1625. In Explore Barbados Pariser writes that when Powell told his employer William Courteen about his discovery Courteen ordered Powell to return to the island and establish a settlement. Powell did not return to Barbados and Courteen had to wait until 1627 to realize his dream of establishing a colony in Barbados. All this colonizing/settling was done by Europeans in spite of the fact that there were people already living on these lands. Beginning in the 15th through to the early 20th century Europeans routinely claimed land that was already occupied by indigenous people. The most recent example (June 16, 2014) was a White American from Virginia who travelled to North Africa and very presumptuously claimed a plot of land as his kingdom with no consideration for the people who live in the area.In 1627 when the William and John landed in Barbados there were 10 enslaved Africans aboard the ship. These Africans had been stolen from a Portuguese ship that the British had captured on their way to Barbados. This is not surprising because the British were well known pirates/thieves during this period. Some of the more infamous/notorious were Francis Drake, John Hawkins, Henry Morgan and the Kirke brothers David, James, John, Lewis and Thomas. These men terrorized the high seas burning, kidnapping, looting, murdering, pillaging with impunity. In spite of their crimes these men are regularly considered heroes and their crimes romanticized. White British travel author Melissa Shales writes in Barbados Travel Guide: First Edition (published 2007) that on February 17, 1627 the first group of White settlers arrived in Barbados: 80 English men, women and children and 10 African slaves they had picked up enroute. As though the Africans were sailing by on a cruise ship and the group of English people politely invited them to join their group on the William and John for a jolly good time! The settlers named their new home Jamestown but later changed the name to Holetown. From 1627 with the arrival of those 10 enslaved Africans in Barbados, Africans were taken to the island to provide unpaid labour until August 1, 1834 when slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. Although other colonies changed European overlords several times Barbados remained under British control throughout the period of slavery and colonization. The first crop the British tried to grow was tobacco but the competition from the British colony of Virginia was fierce. Some of the workers in Barbados at that time were White people from Britain who had signed up for a three to five year indentureship after which they were given land. In his 2007 published book History of the Caribbean White Dominican Republic born historian Frank Moya Pons writes of the White indentured servants: They were required to work for three to five years, in exchange for their passage, lodging, clothes, food and a parcel of land at the end of their contract. It was not until a large number of Jewish slaveholders from Brazil arrived on the island with enslaved Africans and knowledge of sugar cane cultivation that the population and fortune of the island changed significantly. A document dated November 8, 1654 petitioned the Council of Barbados to allow Jews from Brazil to settle on the island. There was already a Jewish community in Barbados and the Jewish Nation of Barbados appealed to the Dutch West India Company for funds to help Jewish families flee Brazil to settle in Barbados. With the expansion of the Jewish community in Barbados sugarcane became the main product of the island. The cultivation of sugarcane, the production of sugar and the importation of enslaved Africans made the White slaveholders (Christians and Jews) extremely wealthy people. In 1629, two years after Barbados was settled by the British there were only 50 enslaved Africans on the island. With the introduction of sugarcane cultivation the Africans needed for the backbreaking work grew and by 1684 there were 46,502 enslaved Africans on the island making up 66% of the population. The brutal conditions to which the enslaved Africans in Barbados were subjected led to resistance in several ways. African Barbadian historian and scholar Dr. Hilary McDonald Beckles has written about the resistance in several books including Afro-Caribbean Women & Resistance to Slavery in Barbados published in 1988. Beckles has also argued that there was a 200 Years War' between enslaved Africans and the slaveholders from 1638 to 1838 when chattel slavery was finally abolished in the British colonies. This included numerous uprisings (Barbados 1816) that happened in enslaved African societies throughout the Americas. The resistance to slavery included embracing African inspired religions and clinging to African culture even when it was forbidden. Enslaved Africans also resisted by economic sabotage and fleeing from the plantations. In 1998 Beckles published Bussa: the 1816 revolution in Barbados about Bussa an enslaved African who was taken to Barbados, possibly an Igbo from Nigeria. Bussas War is recognized as the largest uprising of enslaved Africans in Barbados from April 1416, 1816 when approximately 400 enslaved Africans led by Bussa rose up against their enslavers. Today The Right Excellent Bussa is one of Barbados 10 National Heroes. On Wednesday November 30, 1966 when Barbados became an independent country it was a culmination of centuries of struggle. In 1924 African Barbadian doctor Charles Duncan O'Neal who is a National Hero founded the Democratic League. O'Neal was an activist who campaigned for free education and dental care for children, improved housing, the abolition of the Located Labourers' System and the Masters and Servants Act. Errol Walton Barrow was an African Barbadian lawyer who founded the Democratic Labour Party in 1955 and led Barbados to independence. He was the first Barbadian Prime Minister and introduced many improvements to the life of Barbadians including free education and a National Insurance scheme. On December 9, 1966 the Prime Minister of the newly independent Barbados spoke at the United Nations General Assembly and said in part: The people of Barbados do not draw a dividing line between their internal affairs and their foreign policy. They strive in their domestic arrangements to create a just society for themselves. We have no quarrels to pursue and we particularly insist that we do not regard any member state as our natural opponent. We shall not involve ourselves in sterile ideological wrangling because we are exponents not of the diplomacy of power but of the diplomacy of peace and prosperity. We will not regard any great power as necessarily right in a given dispute unless we are convinced of this, yet at the same time we will not view the great powers with perennial suspicion merely on account of their size, their wealth, or their nuclear potential. We are friends of all, satellites of none.In 2005 Barbados adopted the Caribbean Court of Justice as its final court of appeal shedding the British Privy Council. In March 2015 Barbadian Prime Minister Freundel Jerome Stuart announced plans for cutting the final ties to the country and people who had held Africans in slavery for more than 200 years in Barbados. The plan is to make Barbados a republic by November 2016 when Barbadians will celebrate 50 years of independence. The British monarch will be replaced by a Barbadian ceremonial President. The Barbadian Prime Minister said it makes no sense to keep the British monarch as the head of state of an independent country. He reportedly said: Its a little awkward in the year 2015 to still have to stand up and instead of pledging allegiance to Barbados to be pledging allegiance to her majesty the queen.'"Happy 49th Independence Day to Barbadians everywhere!!

by Murphy BrowneToronto, OntarioCanada

Monday, November 30, 2015