Instigate the nation until we remedy the injustices of society.
Motivate our people to set a meaningful path for the coming generations.
Educate our people to free our minds and develop an Africentric consciousness.
VOL. 2 NO. 8 $2.00 Monthly Newsletter of KiMiT October 1994
Published by Chedmond Browne, P.O. Box 197, Plymouth, Montserrat Phone: 809-491-6962 FAX: 809-491-6335
It has become increasingly clear that our course of activities in our recent past has not led us to what might be considered a condition of growth and prosperity.
In fact we would be hard pressed to find a period in our history which can be considered as worthwhile emulating.
Although a number of us are fond of looking to the past for glimmers of prosperity in which we may find some guidance as we attempt to look to a future, others of us tend to look at what others, our neighbors, are up to in an effort to gain inspiration.
One cannot deny that such searching may indeed find fruit but one needs to wonder, and loudly, that if our future lies in our past why is our present so miserable, unless of course our goal for the future is reflected in our present state.
Frankly, I would wish to see a better future grounded in solid development activities, high flying aspirations and achievable goals.
Emulating our neighbors is therefore not encouraging either.
I seem to be speaking of things that go beyond the premise implied in the title of this presentation and indeed I do, but in order to fly high one ought to be flying first.
In today's environment we need to recognize that the outlook that shaped our pattern of activities is no longer valid.
The saying that the world has become a global village is not an idle expression. The technological revolution which has engulfed us has seen to that. It has changed the way the world does business.
In a small village everyone has a role to play that is not duplicated by anyone else in that village.
Everyone is known and each has his or her place in the scheme of things. If there are two small villages we may well have two individuals fulfilling the same role in their respective village.
But even then there will be some uniqueness in their existence.
There is only one world and one Montserrat in this world. We must find our niche. This is not to say that we are not already unique.
What it does say, is that we must find a way to fulfill a need that can meet our perception of what we ought to be.
We must first find a way to survive in our global village and fulfill a niche that can provide the sustenance to achieve our goals and feed our aspirations.
What can we do as a people, as a nation, a small entity, in this global village that will allow us our opportunity?
We need to set an agenda, a set of do's that will enable us to achieve that niche.
That agenda should include the following:-
* We must search, research and develop new ways of looking and doing things.
* We must ensure that the things we do are of the best quality, not just in terms of the measurable but in the passion and the perception of what is done.
We must know and understand what we want, but, most importantly, what others perceive and they must coincide for success.
We must believe in what we are doing and do it to the best of our ability.
* We must ensure that what ever we do must be in a timely manner, and delivered where necessary quickly.
Whether it be a service in the financial sector, tourism or the production of goods in agriculture or manufacturing, speed and timeliness are of the essence.
* We must take a leadership role in the explosive information technology world. We cannot be content with just keeping up.
The computer and electronics medium must be our own. We need it to survive and we must thrive in it.
* We must stretch our boundaries beyond our immediate neighborhood. We must become internationalist.
The information technology enables us to know the rest of this global village as well as our closest neighbor and we must take advantage of it.
* We must be innovators or we will surely die. We must not; we cannot fear failure.
We need to try things with the expectation and certain knowledge that we will succeed and a set back is only a learning experience on that road.
* We must organize ourselves in a manner that will enable us to follow our agenda. We must streamline our management structures so that we do not block innovation.
People must be allowed to try their ideas without fear of retribution.
The decision path between those who make them and those who implement them should be as short as possible.
* We must not just distribute the work but we must also distribute responsibility. Everyone must have a hand in the growth and development process.
Each must have responsibility for his or her contribution to the total product or service and be made responsive.
* We must recognize the contribution of people in the whole process despite the vast emphasis on technological inputs.
The enhancement of any product or service by the people involved is that which makes the important difference.
* We must have a commitment to constant improvement and to the achievement of excellence through education and development of the people of Montserrat.
* We must encourage and develop a leadership that empowers the people and shows due regard for their needs and their development. A leadership that cares.
* We must recognize that all organizations have a tendency towards the development of sluggishness and bureaucracy and guard against it.
We need to develop a system that thrives on change, a system that looks towards change as a measure of an individual's level of security.
* We must measure our vitality by our attitude and acceptance of change as we move towards ensuring our survival.
Several Montserratian women representing non- governmental organisations and the Community Services Department, spent a lot of time and effort preparing a very comprehensive report on the realities of life for women in Montserrat as part of the preparatory activities for the 4th World Conference on Women to be held in Beijing, China in 1995.
The Community Services Department recently submitted the Report titled, "The Status of Women in Montserrat," to the Executive Council who reportedly rejected it and suggested that certain sections be eliminated or modified because they were too negative.
(The women sought executive approval because the Community Services Department has responsibility for women's affairs.)
Since the purpose of the Report could not possibly be to present the British or Government in a positive light, the question that begs an answer is whether or not the preparers of the Report fulfilled their mandate, which was to assess the status of women in Montserrat in light of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women (1985).
And, if they did fulfill their mandate, what is it that the governor and ExCo members are trying to hide from the world and the Montserrat public, and why?
To date, no one has seen a copy of the revised version that was suggested at executive level. The women, however, know that they don't need executive approval to submit a report to the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing about their realities as they see it.
The women have decided that two reports will be sub- mitted in Beijing: their own original report which will come from the NGO's representing Montserrat.
They will also submit, the governor-executive government's report from their representative.
In The Pan-Afrikan Liberator's view, the Report portrays an accurate assessment of the status of women in Montserrat.
Although the colonial and local government find some aspects embarrassing, uncovering the truth about our present predicament can be liberating.
Knowledge of the sources of our dilemma and its political implications can save us.
We cannot reprint the entire report as it consists of more than 50 pages but we have reproduced below, excerpts from the Report which might explain the executive's actions. Are they justified?
"This report identifies the major remaining obstacles to achieving the goal of gender equality and points to the recent pledge of Government commitment to the process of ensuring women's full participation in mainstream development activities as a means of providing both the impetus and the authority for reform of laws, policies, and practices to facilitate the advancement of women."
"Montserrat has been a British colony for most of three and a half centuries, and today it remains one of the few remaining British dependencies in the Caribbean .... ."
"The colonial history of Montserrat has had important implications for its socio-cultural and economic development because of the dominance of the colonial power over all aspects of the colony and the colonized, leaving in its wake a legacy of dependence, and an ideology of gender inequality."
"By 1983, Montserrat was one of only two regional territories which had yet to establish National Machinery to promote the advancement of women.
In the face of growing regional pressure, the government formally assigned responsibility for women's affairs to the Community Services Department of the Ministry of Education, Health and Community Services, but without any additional resources for this new area of responsibility."
"In Montserrat, activities to promote the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies have been undertaken through the efforts of the Community Services Department, the Montserrat Allied Workers Union, women's organisations, and non-governmental organisations, with little further institutional or structural support from Government.
This has meant that there has been no legal framework for the ending of discriminatory practices, and that very few discriminatory provisions in existing laws have been changed."
"The economic boom" that occurred after Hugo "gradually petered out as capital funds were used up and the effects of the worldwide recession began to reach the island by way of reduced development aid, reduced flow of remittances from relatives abroad and the imposition of structural adjustment policies.
Rising unemployment and a slow and fragile economy has brought great pressure to bear on the primary providers of care for the population - the women."
"The Montserrat report records the current status of women within the critical areas of concern, not only to add to the global picture, but also to inform national legislators and policy-makers and to increase awareness, in both the private and public sectors and at all levels of society, of gender issues and their impact on development."
"Women comprise just over half of the population of Montserrat, yet they continue to be under-represented in the power and decision-making structures of the territory."
"Some of the largest churches - traditional sources of influence in Montserratian society -impose constraints to women's leadership because of biblical attitudes to women's roles."
"The lack of impetus for propelling the concerns of women onto the national agenda and for the implementation of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies, results from the lack of a clearly defined policy on the matter of women in development."
"The Constitution of Montserrat of 1989, under which the Government of Montserrat operates, guarantees fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual regardless of gender.
The constitution also offers protection from discrimination, but only on the basis of race, colour, creed, place of origin or political opinions. The omission of a sex discrimination protection order is astonishing in a constitution designed and approved by Britain which has on its own statute laws against sex discrimination such as the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Equal Pay Act of 1970, as amended, as well as several amendments made to existing laws to remove discriminatory or potentially discriminatory effects of these laws.
Britain has also ratified (with reservations) the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women." "There is no legislation protecting the women of Montserrat from discrimination on the basis of sex."
"There is much that is demeaning and psychologically abusive to women, and pornographic, in the lyrics and performances of some of the calypso and 'dance-hall' music which local audiences receive by way of radio and television.
While some of the cruder songs are banned from the local radio station, they are still received from other stations and from the cable television networks."
"Violence against women and its causes have not been perceived as priority issues by either the police or the law makers of Montserrat, and few specific measures have been taken in recent years to ensure its elimination."
"The issue of racial oppression exists as a form of internalized oppression and is informed and shaped in particular, by the many messages of the media. The characteristics of 'blackness' are rarely presented as examples of beauty.
For example, beauty is portrayed in images of whiteness, fairness, 'smaller' facial and body features, and straightened hair, and in may other characteristics such as slimness, and these messages create internal oppression and rob the oppressed of peace, as energy and resources are spent on remodeling the body and psyche to the internalized images of beauty.
The impact of what is effectively the long arm of colonialisation, on the psychology of Montserratians, particularly of women, is one which is difficult to fight."
From the Liberator's point of view, the british are now attempting to convince the world that the remaining colonies are satisfied with their colonial status and are not agitating for their independence.
The governor will not allow any report which highlights colonialism as the root cause for our problems and sends a message of external british control in our internal affairs to be sanctioned by ExCo.
The new british minister with responsibilities for the dependent territories, Mr Baldry, was in Montserrat on the 1st of October.
Also visiting at the same time were all the governors of the remaining dependent territories, their chief ministers, the governors' aides and secretaries and the chief ministers' advisors.
All the pomp and glory that could have been put into such an insignificant gathering was applied.
A banquet was held at the View Pointe Hotel and all the little civil servants from the FCO were made to believe that they were the stuff that royalty is made of.
Each person (british) was provided with a private rental vehicle and a police driver to chauffeur them as they made their little errands around plymouth.
The population for the most part ignored the charade. Only those special guests of the governor, (almost all anglos) who love to display their imagined connections with what they perceive to be expressions of power and the minority of locals who are still of a colonial mentality were in attendance.
Mr Baldry, for his part said nothing new. He came back with the same old song and dance routine that britain will not stand in the way of our independence, but they will also do nothing to encourage it.
If he or any of his advisors had studied the constitution that britain gave us without consultation, they would all have known that the statement contravenes the constitution.
The british had hoped to use the meetings to solidify their hold on the dependent territories by coercing the chief ministers into making positive public statements about their partnership.
Montserrat was used as the venue, because Montserrat's CM has become the most accommodating of all the chief minister's to the british and has proven himself to be the most dominating personality when arguing a british position.
This had proven to be the case in previous meetings of this type. However, this time they met with steel in the new personality of Mr Hubert Hughes and fire in the very agitated conservative personality of Mr Lavity Stout.
The result was that conflicting reports were given to the press. A false front was mounted and Baldry retreated to visit the rest of his shrinking empire and continue the fantasy that the british empire still exists.
Hubert Hughes is the present chief minister of Anguilla. As an opposition council member before the last elections, he did not hesitate to educate his people about the renewed interest that the british were taking in their country and the colonial implications that came with that attention.
Even more alarming, was the easy and comfortable way in which the then chief minister was accommodating the british agenda.
The british went as far as to organise the queen's visit to Anguilla to coincide with elections and knighted the then CM in the hopes that this "honour" would influence the voters.
The Anguillian people, however, did not respond as the colonial masters anticipated.
Two opposition parties formed a coalition and created the new government. Both party leaders see and understand clearly the british intent.
Mr Hughes has the leadership potential the entire region needs in this time of crisis. If the other leaders of the remaining DT's were as courageous as he is, the british would not have been able to step in after years of neglect and pick back up just where they left off.
The Pan- Afrikan Liberator takes this opportunity to congratulate Mr Hughes on his desire to seek the truth and the courage to speak frankly to the people of the region.
We endorse Mr Hughes as a man who you can go to sea with.
Highlighted below are extracts of our discussion with Mr Hughes.
There was a transitional period up to 4 years ago where their policy was to prepare the territories for ultimate independence.
The governors have a wide range of discretionary powers. Up until about four years ago, when contacted, they would always say, 'speak to your representative.'
Now, governors have shifted their positions from one of no commitment or interest in local affairs.
They are now playing a greater role in social activities and taking more direct responsibility in areas where they have discretionary powers.
As the british government enters closer to the european community it has changed its attitude towards the dependent territories.
The british government wants to absorb the remaining DTs without telling them.
They want to brainwash us by saying they are not standing in the way of our independence. But they are in effect blackmailing us.
In my role as opposition, representatives from the FCO used to promote the idea of independence and encourage me to move in that direction.
They would say to me that independence would not stop british aid from coming to Anguilla.
Some of them even suggested that independence would bring more aid.
The british should help with basic infrastructure. The british need to move out but after we know that we can maintain our roads and have a balanced budget
The aid programmes are not objective; they are just first-aid treatment. There are no comprehensive programs to deal with health, education, development of lands, no airport to bolster the tourism industry.
They bring out consultants and tell them what to put into the reports. Any projects that local governments consider meaningful, the consultants say that they are not economical.
There are no conditions for real internal development. We need features to facilitate true development.
Israel turned a desert into productive lands because there was genuine commitment to its development from the governments that supported her.
We, on the other hand are totally neglected by british. We are not talking politics here now. We are talking economics. The british are just not sincere.
The constitution says the governor governs on the advice of the executive council. Now, the governor says, I govern period.
We demand the same democracy in Anguilla as they have in England.
The governor's office is beginning to look more like a british embassy every day and less like a governor's office. His staff is expanding and his office is growing daily.
All the others hint at the problems we are facing with the british. They are not as radical as I am or as upset as the BVI's chief minister.
His present position is greatly influenced by the recent treatment he received from the british. He has previously been very conservative.
In a recent conversation with the parliamentary under-secretary of state, I said to him, the fact that Stout is demonstrating this reaction shows that something is very wrong. We all need to understand the situation.
All of the chief ministers mentioned the question of ultimate self-determination. The british always seem to feel that things are going their way.
We always attempt to match diplomacy with diplomacy but they have us by the throat.
On speaking with the Montserrat CM, I think his caution is due to the devastation that hurricane Hugo caused. I think he wants to create the impression to get them to think he is not tough to get aid.
If that is his strategy, he should not stand in way of people like you and the media who can do the nasty work for him.
The press molds public opinion and he should allow you to say the things that he can't say.
In closed conference with Baldry, every governor said complimentary things about their territory.
The only exception was Anguilla. Here, the governor and the chief minister made opposing statements.
The Anguilla governor says there seems to be a marriage between the DT's chief ministers and their governors.
But not in Anguilla. In Anguilla the governor has a problem. The governor is constitutionally obligated to work the government of the day, but the Anguilla governor works with the opposition.
In this region, we have had to struggle for all the gains that we achieved. From concessions from the plantocracy to the labour movement, all progress that was made came from the demands made by locals to gain advances.
Now the british are ignoring the democratically elected governments.
The CM (Stout) made a mistake by asking the british government to come and review the BVI's constitution.
The review team, talked to the minority opposition, not majority government.
Stout does not understand the role of colonialism. Now, the british agenda has become more pronounced and they are hammering at his power, he is finally reacting.
At-large members on his legislative council can destabilize the government. The british establishment can use the at-large members to swing with the opposition members.
Now, there are more council members to pay. How can they impose conditions when the country can't afford to pay?
What Stout was supposed to do, was to review his own constitution and then notify the british of the sections that needed to be changed.
I spoke to the Committee of 24 in Barbados. They are very interested in our position and want to assist, but the british government is very hostile to them. The british don't support the Committee of 24.
The Committee tried to organize a seminar in New York. They sent me an invitation through the governor and he tried to discourage my attendance.
He said to me that he would interpret my attending the hearing as being hostile. It appears that I am the only CM who responded to the committee so the conference was postponed until 1995.
The Pan-African Movement launched Zawadi Kwafrica to allow the collective resolutions and agendas of the Black World to begin to receive "global practical and financial attention" for the first time in our history.
The fund requires every Black Person in the world to pay just once in a lifetime, a hundred units of their local currencies to the International Foundation of the Movement and fifty units of their local currencies to their national fund.
Two accounts are, therefore, to be opened in every country as follows:
1) Zawadi Kwafrica A/c
2) Pan African Movement A/c Both accounts are to be fixed, that is, no withdrawals can be made from either accounts and the accounts cannot be used as collateral.
Only the interests and or profits accruing from such accounts are to be used to tackle the growing problems of the entire Black World.
At the national level, a trusteeship council is to be set up to manage the local funds. The national fixed account, when large enough is to be used to open the local national branch of the Bank of the Black World.
The local national bank is to be called The Black Bank -(the name of the country that it is in.) the fixed accounts for Zawadi Kwafrica are to be pooled worldwide, five years from now, or as soon as there are enough funds to open the International Bank of the Black World with headquarters in an African country.
The Zawadi account and the bank of the Black World are to be supervised by an eleven member trusteeship council to be known as IRI N'EDU-WA.
The members of the trusteeship council would be drawn from various regions of the world and would be appointed at the 7th Pan African Congress now being rescheduled to convene in August, 1995.
Every Black Person who pays becomes a member of the (mobilization) 'ASRAST CIRCLE' of the movement from where leadership of the movement is to emerge.
Each member of the circle collects among other things, a certificate of membership attesting to the person having fulfilled this obligation to our race.
(Excerpted from ONE BLACK WORLD May-August 1994, Newsletter of The Pan African Movement.
From 9 to 18 December, Ghana's colonial capital city, Cape Coast, will host the second Pan-Afrikan Historical Theatre Festival (Panafest '94), billed as one of the most colourful cultural festivals ever to be held in Africa. Accra, Ghana's new capital, will only host selected events of this 11-day extravaganza.
Panafest is a cultural festival designed to enhance the ideals of Pan-Afrikanism and the development of Afrika. It's held every two years in honour of Afrikans at home and in the diaspora.
Panafest is the idea of Ghanaian author, dramatist, and Pan-Afrikanist, Eufua Sutherland who dreamt of a festival 10 years ago which would bring Afrikans together every two years to celebrate the diversity of the Afrikan cultural heritage and also to remember the evils of the slave trade.
Panafest '94 will attract people from 43 countries, mostly from Afrika, Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas.
World-acclaimed performers like Stevie Wonder, Dionne Warwick, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Mariam Makeba, Alpha Blondy, Lucky Dube, Ras Kimono, Rita & Ziggy Marley will perform at the festival.
One of the objectives of Panafest '94 is to re-establish the truth about the history of Afrika and the experience of its people.
Afrikan unity and the contribution of Afrikan peoples towards the development of Afrika and world civilisation will also be highlighted.
Stevie Wonder, who recently left Los Angeles to live permanently in Ghana, is co-chairman of Panafest '94.
When Stevie Wonder inaugurated the Festival recently in Accra, he said, "We must take anything we have and everything we can offer to make for a united Afrika.
Even though Afrikans are a diversified people with different languages and live in different places, Afrikans are originally one people and must not allow differences to affect their unification."
The main theme of Panafest '94 is the re- emergence of Afrikan civilisation and uniting the Afrikan family. See you there!
The most complete history of Montserrat to date became available recently.
Montserrat, History of a Caribbean Colony, covers the history of Montserrat from the time of irish settlement up until 1991.
The author, Dr Fergus, states in his introduction that he has attempted to fill some gaps knowing that he has left areas to be filled by those who will follow.
Montserrat has a legacy of slavery and colonialism. Consequently, the major part of any book which attempts to put the history of the island into perspective must go in depth into the economic, political and social conditions of the people who have inherited that legacy.
Despite attempts by the established institutions to distort the reality of the true image of Montserratians, one can clearly perceive from this book that the true and real inheritors of the island and its dominating colonial legacy are Afrikans who were brought in chains to labour for nothing so that another ethnic group could live like kings.
If we are ever going to pinpoint and attempt to solve the problems that seem insurmountable to many of us, we are going to have to trace those problems right back to their roots.
The Pan-Afrikan Liberator has highlighted below some of topics covered in this insightful and straight-forward account that it found most directly relevant to the Afrikan population that live on Montserrat.
"The link between sugar and slaves has been well established by historians. It is, however, worth emphasizing that the decision to use African slave labour was a deliberate one . . ." (pg. 39)
"The Montserratians complained that between 1667 and 1670 only two small slavers visited the island bringing between them 300 slaves half of whom were already dead." (pg. 40)
"It is interesting to note that in a plantation costing about £28,000, its 224 slaves together valued at £10,080, were the item of the second highest value . . . ." (pg. 43)
"An act was passed in 1682 restraining christians from federating with negroes . . ." (pg. 53)
"Economic competition of slaves with whites came to be forbidden by law. Slaves could not ply trades of coopers, smiths, tailors, sawyers, masons or shinglers." (pg. 53)
"The slaves were at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder and the system was designed to keep them there." (pg. 54)
. . ." names appear to have been randomly assigned as tags to distinguish one from another, so that plantation demands on them could be better fulfilled.
This reflected their non-entity status and the depersonalisation inherent in the Caribbean slave condition." (pg. 62)
"Slaves had no surnames so after emancipation they adopted the names they knew- those of their masters." (pg. 83)
"Recent archaeological works in Montserrat on the skeletal remains of slaves revealed a high incidence of anemia; and suggests that these individuals suffered the effects of periodic severe malnutrition." (pg. 64)
" The laws betray the economic preoccupation of an exploitative society, but above all they reflect a mixture of fear, brutality and coercion which was the hallmark of slave society." (pg. 66)
"In 1692 Peter Coone was allegedly caught stealing nine pigs . . . he was condemned to be cut to pieces, have his bowels burnt and his quarters displayed in the most public places . . ."
"Dunn himself cites the 1690 case in which a black man was hanged for stealing two turkeys. . . and another case in which one was hanged, drawn and dismembered for running away.
In 1699, Cuffee, ... was convicted of stealing 12 pence...He was sentenced to be hanged, his quarters severed from his body and left upon poles in the public place."
"In 1695, a slave. . . was burnt for stealing a cow. . .the Marshal was to jail him and then burn him at the usual place in Plymouth." (pg. 68)
"In 1693, however, a slave was convicted for beating his overseer almost to death . . .Symbolically this slave had struck a white man and, for his pains, he was hung up in chains and starved to death." (pg. 74)
"The sensational judicial murders followed by public display were obviously designed to terrorise and deter the slave population . . ."
"Even when a slave was not killed, the mutilation was gruesome." "The protection of white persons and property took precedence above everything else. Slave society was a continuous state of emergency."
. . ."In a sense this was a realistic perception, because Caribbean slavery was naked violence." (pg. 69)
"A 1736 law not only struck at the cultural arts of music and dance, but also curtailed the pastimes of the slaves.
Landlords and their attorneys were compelled to prevent their slaves from beating drums, casks or gourds and from blowing horns, shells or loud instruments for diversion and entertainment." (pg. 73)
"In addition to compensating planters at the imperial governments expense for their slaves, the Emancipation Act introduced a clumsy apprenticeship system in which the slaves were free for roughly a quarter of each week, while they were bound to work for their former masters for the other three quarters." (pg. 90)
. . . "The council, however, held a different view and apprenticeship was instituted.
The slaves were bitterly disappointed, and threatened to revolt, but were quelled by an official show of military might." (pg 91)
"Apprenticeship only postponed the problems and challenges of establishing a free society.
Unfortunately all of the compensation money went to the proprietors who could hardly be expected to use it to establish a free society." (pg. 93)
"The pre emancipation attitudes and perceptions of white Montserrat persisted long after slavery and to a great extent, the metropolitan government supported this thinking.
Whites were leaders and landowners while Blacks were labourers." (pg. 96)
"The education available during apprenticeship was fragmentary and religion based, as it was delivered by missionaries."
"The authorities tolerated the missionaries who taught subordination and obedience as prime Christian virtues,. . ." (pg. 93-94)
"Methodist missionaries can claim some credit for black docility. In their bid to cultivate official support, they were at pains to emphasize their loyalty and the harmlessness of their gospel as far as the status quo was concerned."
"John Maddock had in 1820 written the Governor. . . assuring him that he would teach the slaves their duty in that state of life in which it had pleased God to call them." (pg. 113)
"Education was regarded as socially disruptive, irrelevant and even inimical to slave society, and only "harmless" religious teaching was tolerated.
The emergence of formal education had, to wait until after emancipation, and unfortunately the same thinking and prejudices persisted into the new era." (pg. 116)
"The curriculum of these schools was linked more with the hereafter than with the here-and- now imperatives of a livelihood and self-direction." (pg. 117)
"The curriculum bred submission and docility rather than independent thinking and personal autonomy." (pg. 118)
"At the beginning of the twentieth century, primary education was in theory compulsory for children between the ages of five and nine, but attendance was not enforceable."
"Children were required to assist their parents in the fields in the interest of survival, and for the most of the first half of the twentieth century, school space was, in any case, inadequate to accommodate all the children." (pg. 173)
"It was not until 1953 that a comprehensive policy statement which sought to link primary education to the needs of the community emerged." (pg. 177)
"These somewhat rational and relevant sounding intentions were not matched by concrete action and adequate funding." (pg. 178)
"Primary education was driven by this cheap system of training and consequently low remuneration right up to 1960.
With so many deficiencies - unqualified teachers, overcrowded classrooms, inadequate provisions, including too few blackboards and books, unrealistic curricula and reliance on rote learning- it is a wonder that some students achieved so much." (pg. 179-80)
"The truth is that the school reflected and reinforced the class divisions of the society. A study of the surnames of the 24 students on the roll in 1934 is very revealing sociologically. . . .
None came from the labouring classes, whose sweat and toil sustained the school. . . . Secondary education was not just elitist, it was parasitic. (pg. 184)
"In thwarting their ambitions for self rule and self determination, british policy bred and reinforced a sense of inferiority in the black man which militated against real development for many years after." (pg. 103)
It is amazing how much of our past history can be seen reflected in our present realities.
This book should be read, dissected, discussed and used by all thinking Montserratians who want to find meaningful solutions to our current dilemma.
We will not begin to make a sensible approach to solving our current problems if we have no foundation knowledge of their causes.
From the 1600's up to the 1970's this book provides you with that foundation.
"Until the Philosophy that makes One man Superior and Another inferior is finally Abolished and Abandoned,...."