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The Rasta revolution
published: Wednesday | March 22, 2006
THIS WEEK I find myself on a Caribbean island of 12 square miles and 4,000 residents with a very interesting history. In 1979 it had no secondary school and no hospital; a doctor visited the clinic once each month. In the dry season there was almost no water, and the little they had was of questionable quality. Fishing was the only industry; there was no agriculture, no manufacturing and no tourism to speak of. The seat of government was on another larger island, and residents of this little island felt totally neglected. Central government presence was a police station, a tax office and a small airstrip.
The archipelagos nation of which this island was a part was handed political independence on October 27, 1999 and there was to be a general election on December 5, 1979. The islanders wanted change, and threw their little political weight behind the opposition candidate. The ruling party did not even come to the island to campaign, and won the election by a landslide, even though the seat on this island went to the opposition. The frustration of the islanders reached boiling point. They wanted change, and it looked like their suffering would continue.
There was a small group of about 15 Rastafarians on this island led by a man known as 'Bumber' (he must have had Jamaican connections). On December 7, 1979 they got together and took over the island. They locked up the policemen in the police station (in the excitement one policeman was shot in the foot - by another policeman!)
RASTA INDEPENDENCE
They took over the tax office and the airport and closed them both down. They then declared independence, with a Rasta government. They announced to the world that they were doing this because the Government was encouraging foreigners to exploit their natural resources (fish and lobster), taking bread out of the mouths of local fishers; because the Government was selling and leasing their islands to foreigners; and because of profound neglect by central government.
By now I'm sure you know where I'm talking about: Union Island, one of the Grenadines of St. Vincent. Their MP, James Mitchell, would later become Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
SHAVING OF LOCKS
The rebels held the island for a few hours before a contingent of heavily armed policemen from the main island backed by 48 Barbadian soldiers sent by Prime Minister Tom Adams, invaded the island and took control. In all, 46 people including 11 women were captured and detained; their locks were shaved off. Bumber and three followers fled to nearby Carriacou, a Grenadine island politically part of Grenada; they were later extradited to St. Vincent by the People's Revolutionary Government of Maurice Bishop (who had come to power in Grenada a few months earlier by a similar method) to stand trial.
Later that month (December 1979), Barbados revoked the work permit of Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, Vincentian lecturer on the UWI Cave Hill campus; today he is Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. That same month a group of 200 Vincentian New-Year holidaymakers were refused entry into nearby St. Lucia because the 60 Rastas among them were "a threat to security". Nearby Dominica passed what came to be known as "The Dreads Act" outlawing the wearing of dreadlocks.
I guess our equivalent in Jamaica is the blocking of roads. These islanders drew attention to themselves and their plight. Church leaders got together and asked that the reasons for the rebellion be investigated, but they were ignored. Nevertheless, Union Island soon got a secondary school, a hospital and a resident doctor.
Although I have been to St. Vincent many times, this is my first time in the Grenadines. Tourism has now taken over, and looms large. The islanders are still peeved at rule from the big island, and feel that revenue generated there should remain in Union Island to improve their living conditions. Rural underdevelopment comes in many forms.
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Peter Espeut is a consultant in sustainable rural development.
The Rasta revolution
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