The Aftermath of Sovereignty West Indian Perspectives.

221 Pages·2009·11.1 MB·English

The Aftermath of Sovereignty
west
Indian ~soec~"""
Edited and IntrodUCed by David Lowenthal
and Lambfos Comitas
west
The Indl" todly art autonomous 1:Iu~ "III de
per'ldent; their pOhlical ;f\Shtulions as well fl f\II!ionaland
periOf\lll Identity continue 10 reflect colonifl patternl.
Mass p;lrtlelpal'on in \ocfl government hal only beR~n to
re$Ofve Old Pfobleml. while fnilende<;nll new onel.
rr.e
Alle/m.rh 01 ~/~llnfy. tOlItther With SiI~I.
F'H Men. Cililflrn. Wor~ M>d FlHnily Ule and Conse
QUenCeI 01 C"u M>d Color. Nd'I with the sub\Jlle Wtsl
Indi¥! P9r~IIoes. pr"";!IH in/OI'll'\Mlon YI~ to under·
S\¥odin, this sectIOn 01 the Third WOI'Id. This book COlI
~I"" eornp<ehetIsive 'e;Klin, hSlIor.II!!lUI of the books.
Contril>ulors
FrHfiom 11l1li Puwe" Eric Williams; Jesse Harr;1
Proctor. Jr.; Morley "'l"'a~t: Kenneth John; B ..... N.
Collinl: Gordon K. Lew,s; W. .... Domingo: H~gtIW.
511fIn,er; W. "'rthur Lewil; S. S. Ramphal.
On 8elnilll We51Ind'~n." rrantz Fanon: Kerwyn L.
Morr;s; K. V. Parmuad; W. "'rthur lewis; Lloyd Best;
Desmond "'"um; CIi •• V. Thomas; V. S. Naipaul;
C. L. A. Jame-s.
•• ," (i)
THE AFTERMATH
DAVID LOWI!N11IAL, a aeograpber and historian, has devoted
twenty yean to research on the West Indica. He has taught at
Vassar College and has been visiting professor at a number of OF SOVEREIGNTY
univenitiea in the United Slates and at the Univenity of the
West Indies, where he was Fulbright Research Fellow at the
IDItItute of Social and Economic Reaean:h (1956-57). During
1961-62 he worked in the Lesser Anti1lea with the assistance of West Indian Perspectives
a Rockefeller FoUDdation Research Grant and later received
a Guggenheim Fellowship. Until 1972 he waa Secretary and
Research Aaaociate at the AmeriCIIII Geographical Society, and Edited and Introduced by
he ia curreutly Profeuor of Geography at Uniwrsity College,
Loudou. His IIIOIt recent book is Wen Indian Societ/el, a com David Lowenthal and Lambros Comitas
prdleuaIve ltudy of the non·Hispanic Caribbean.
J IVBRDS COUITAB II Profeasor of Anthropology and Educa
tiou, Direc:tor of both the Center for Education in Latin Amer
ica and the Center for Urban Stndiea and Programs, and
Aaaociate Director of the DivialoD of Philolophy and Social
Sciences at Teachen College, Columbia Univenity. He ia also
Aaaociate Director of the Reaean:h Institute for the Study of
Man, an Institution for research and scholanhip of the Carib
bean. Mr. Comitas waa awarded a Fulbright Graduate Study
Grant (1957-58) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1971-72)
and has done field reaean:h in Barbados, Jamaica, Bolivia, and
the Dominic:an Republic. He haa written numerous articles,
waa editor of CtlrlbbellllQ 1900-196$: A Topical Bibliography,
and aerves aa consultant or editor for aeveral publiabing projecta.
Four boob, edited and introdueed by David Lowenthal
and Lambros ComItas, provide a broad variety of material for
the West Indiea aa a whole; each has the IIIbtit1e Wen Indian
Penpectillu:
8LAVIIS, PREB MEN, crnzBNS
won AND FAWJLY LIFB
CONllEQVENCES OF CLASS AND COLOR
1118 AFTI!UlATB Ol' IIOVI!RIIIONrY
Anchor Boob
Anchor PressjDoubleday
Garden City, New York, 1973
l
CONTENTS
The AIu:hor Boob edition Is the fint
pubficatioo of The A/termalh of
$overelgfll7: Wut lndilm Per6p«t1vu.
EDITORS' NOTE
ADdIor Boob edition: 1973
INTRODUCTION: TIm AFlERMAm OF
SOVEREIGNlY
ISBN: 6-385-04304-X
LIbrary of Consr- CataIoa Card Number 72-83153
Copyriabt @ 1973 by David Lowenthal IIIId Lambroe Comitas I FREEDOM AND POWEll
All Rights Reserved
PrioIed in the Uolted Slatea of America 1. Eric Walliams
Massa Day Done (1961)
2. Jesse Harris Proctor, Jr.
British West indian Society and Govern-
ment in TrlUllition 1920-60 (1962) 31
3. Morley Ayearst
A Note on Some Cbaracteristics of West
Indian Political Parties (1954) 67
4. Kenneth John
St. Vmcent: A Political Ka1eidoec:ope
(1966) 81
S. B. A. N. Collins
Some Notes on Public Service C0mmIs
sions in the Commonwealth Caribbean
(1967) 94
6. Gordon K. Lewis
The Trinidad and Tobago General Elec-
tion of 1961 (1962) 121
7. W. A. Domingo
British West Indian Fedetation-A Cri-
tique (1956) 163
-----
,
. I
Contents
vi
8. Hugh W. Springer
Federation in the Carib''.---ufot: An At- 189
tempt That Failed (1962)
9. W. Arthur Lewis
2iS
'The Agony of the Eight (1965)
10. S. S. Rampbal M"''' ..., __ EDITORS' NOTE
West Indian Nationbood- r ...........0 - 237
or Mandate? (1971)
n
ON BBING A WEST INDIAN
The West Indies. the earliest and one of the most impor
11. Frantz Fanon (1955) 265 tant prizes of Burope" New World and the first to experi
West Indians and AfricanS
enco the full impact of the black diaspora from Africa,
12. Kerwyn 1.. Morris were also the most enduringly colonized territories in tho
On Afro-West Indian Thinking (1966) 277 history of the Western Hemisphere. Here more than any
where else masters and slaves constituted tho basic ingredi
13. K.. V. Parmasad 283
By the light of a Deya (1971) ents of the social order; here more than anywhere else
class and status were based on distinctions of color and
14. W. Arthur Lewis 293 raco. Yet out of that past, here more than anywhere else
On Being Ditlerent (1971)
societies with black majorities have emerged as self
IS. Uoyd Best (1970) 306 governing, multiracial states.
'The February Revolution This collection of four volumes-Slave.r, Free Men, Cill
zen.r; Work IUId Family Ule: Con.requencel 01 C1a.r.r IUId
16. Desmond Allum
Legality vs. Morality: A Plea for Lt. Color: and The Aftermath of Sovereignty-cbronic)es the
331
llaIlique Shah (1971) remarkable story. played out on the doorstep of the
North American continent, of transitions from slavery to
17 Clive Y. Thomas freedom, from colonialism to self-government, and from
• Meaningful participation: 'The Fraud of
351 self-rejection to prideful identity.
It (1971) The West Indies faco a host of continuing probIemJ
foreign economic domination and population pressure,
18. V. S. Naipaul 1 (1970) 363
power to the Can"bbeaD PeoP 0 ethnic stress and black-power revolts. the petty tyranny of
local rulers and an agonizing dependence on expatriate
19. C. 1.. JL James
'Ibe Mighty sparrow (1962) 373 culture. For these very reasons, the West Indies consti·
tute an exceptional setting for the study of complex social
382 relations. The archipelago is a set of mirrors in which the
SBLECfBD READINGS Uves of black. brown, and white, of American Indian and
411 Bast Indian, and of a score of other minorities continually
INDEX
"
1
viii Editol'S'Noto Editol'S' Note
Ix
interact. Constrained by local circumstance, these interac requires a broad familiarity with all aspects of culture and
tiona also contain a wealth of possibilities for a kind of SOCiety. Thus the study of economic development relates
creative harmony of which North Americana and Buro intimately to that of family organization, and both of these
peana are scarcely yet aware. Conaequently, while these interlink with upecIs of political thought, systems of edu
volwnea deal specifically with the Caribbean in all its u cation, and patterna of speech. Conaequently, the IUbject
pec:ts, many dimensiona of life and many problems West matter of this collection lies in the domaina of history,
Indiana confront have analogues in other regions of the geogr~phy, anthropology, sociology, economics, politics,
world: mOlt clearly in race relations, economic develop polerrucs, and the arts. For example, essays on wort and
ment, colonial and post-i:OloniaI politics and government, family life by economists and anthropologists are com
and the need to find and express group identity. plemented by other studies tracing the historical back
It can be argued that the West Indies is a distinctive and ground and sociological interplay of these with other
unique culture area in that the societies within it display themes. Throughout these volumes economists and goog_
profound similarities: their inhabitants, notwithstanding raphel'S indicate how social structure beaI'B on and is in.
linguistic barriers and local or parochial loyalties, see fluenced by economy and land use, and linguists, littlrll
themselves as closely linked. These resemblances and rec leurs, lawyel'S. and local journaIists provide insights OIl the
opitions, oriJinaI1y the product of similar economic and impact of these patterns in everyday life.
soclaI forces baaed on North European teUlement, planta The reader will find here not a complete delineation of
tion agriculture. and African slavery, have lubsequently the Caribbean realm but rather a Retch in breadth, with
been reinforced by a widespread community of interest, fuller discuuion of significant themes, given depth and
along with interregional migration for commerce, employ personality by picaresque flavor. He may gain a sense of
ment, maniage. and education. These volumes focua what West Indians were and are like, how they live, and
ma1nIy on these underlying uniformities. Within the Carib what problems they confront; he can see how their own
bean itself, however, one is more conacious of differences view of themselves differs from that of outsiders; he will
than of resemblances. While each Caribbean land is in know where to look for general studies and for more de
part a microcosm of the entire archipelago, local condi tailed information. And if there is such a thing u a re
tiona--aize, reaourcea, social structure. political status-a1so gional personality, this collection may enable him to ac
make it in some significant fashion unique. quire a sense of it
The range of these essays is the entire non-Hispanic What is currently available to most students of Carib
Caribbean, but most of the material that is not general in bean dail'S is woefully inadequate by comparison with
character deals with the Commonwealth Caribbean, a pre many. other regions of the world. A few general histories,
ponderant share of this speclflcaIly with Jamaica and Trini technical analyses on particular aspects of Caribbean ao
dad. This reflects neither a bias in favor of these terri ciety or culture, and detailed studies of one or two individ
tories nor a belief that they are typicaI. but rather the fact ual territories comprise the holdings of ail but the beat
that moat recent acholarly attention baa concentrated on, equipped libraries. Moreover, no boot hu yet been
and literary expression hu fman'ted from. the Common published that includes a broad variety of material for the
wealth Caribbean. Closer understanding of, and expression area u a whole, and few studies transcend national or
in, the amaller French and Netherlands Caribbean and linguistic boundaries. We therefore aim to make available
larger but leu wen-known Haiti lie in the future. a wide range of literature on the Caribbean that is not
In the Caribbean, a real understanding of any problem readily accessible anywhere else.
;
Editon' Note Editon' NOIe
xl
MOlt of tbla collec:tion Is the work of West IDdiaoa IeIn:h lnatitute for the Study of Mua, and Ita DiIec:t«
tbemIeIvea. for they contribute forty-8ve of the _ty Dr. Vera Rubin, to the American Geo. ...p hical SodIiq,'
two lClectionL Seventeen of tbeee are by 1'riDidadiaD8. BDd to Teachen CoJIege of CoI111D1U Univenit BDd no:.
Ifteen by J.mapDI, four by OU)'lUlele, three each by tably to their h'hrary ..... for many facIJitiea. T,
V1JlCCDtiaDa UId St. Luc:iaDs. two by Martiniquaos. UId Our main gratitude aoea to tho ClOIItriIIaton rep. ...D ted
ODe by a Barbadian. Non-Welt lDdian writen contribute in these JII8IIII BDd to their odainaI JIUbBaben. who have
tweoty-eeven 1ClectioDs: fourteen by Americana, ten by in moat cues freeJy BDd UbCOIiiplaininsly IIIIde aVliIable
British, two by Caoadianl, and ODe by a French author. their work BDd have heIped to c:ol1eCt errors. We are par
Many of the North American and European contributon ~cuIarly obliged for cooperatioo from tho Inatitute of S0-
either have been permanent residents in the West Indies cial BDd Economic Studiea and ita Director, AHater Mc
or have worked tbere for long periods of time. Intyre, and to the Deputment of &tra-MuraJ &udiea,
Editorill comment has been held to a minimum, but both. at the Uoivenity of the Welt Indiea, under whose
leaden will find three levels of guidance An introduction auspIces a Jarae Dumber of these Itudiea were orfginaIIy
to each of the four volumes I1IIDIJI8ri7a the genenl 1m done. We are alao obligated to M. O. Smith for encourage
plicatioDl of the issues therein surveyed. A paraaraph of ment throughout the courae of aeIectioo and C01iip08itioo.
topical commentary together with a few linea identifying
the author Introduces each selection. FinIlly, a aeIected
David Lowenthal
Welt Indian reading lial appean at the end of each vol
Lambros ComU. .
ume, and a general comprehensive bibliography is ap
March 1972
pended to The Aftermath of Sovereignty.
The papen and documenta included here have been
altered only for minimal editorill consistency and ease of
reference. All original titles of articles have been retained,
but where none appear or where book chIpter heacJinss
do not identify the contenta of excerpted material, we
have added descriptive titles, identified by lingle as!erisb
in the !ext. Series of asJerisb alao indicate the few in
ItanceI where material is omitJed. When reqnired in luch
cuea, we have completed lOme footnote referencea. 0th
erwise, only obvious typographical and other erron have
been conec:ted. Our own two tranalationa from French
IOurCeI adhere to the originala as c:loaely as pouiblc, within
the Iimita of comprehensibility.
The editorl are grateful to thole who have usiIted
them in tbla enterprise, both in UId out of the Caribbean.
We owe apecial thanks to Marquita Riel UId Caire An
gela Hendricb, who helped with the original lClectiODl
UId atyled the references. Mise lUeI alao made the original
tnnslatiODl from the French. We are indebted to the Re-
1
5
1
,
1
·
1
\
1
INTRODUCTION:
1
The Aftermath of Sovereignty
1
"Government is DOt politics," waraed • Triuidadian re
former. It is not enough merely to elect leaden wbo re
1
Beet their point of view; Weal IDdianI tbemIoIvea IIlUIt
share in the proceaa of dec:i8ioa makin.. TbiI II • lwei
Jason to learn after four ceaturiel of IUbordiDation to im
1
perial overlords and to local clites, upatriate in feeliq If
not in seopphical fact. SubordinatioD did DOt end with
Weal Indian emancipation in the mid-ainftecndl ceatury;
1
freedom left !DOlt ex.ves Itill YOteIeu and wiccIea
Not until the mid-tweDtieth CCI1tIIrY did all Welt IDdiaDa
pin the right to vote. let alooe to bold oIDce; 8Dd 001, in
1
die past decade have larp Dumben of Welt IDdiaDa really
begun to participate in aovemment UId politics.
Popular participation in representative institutions, 0p 1
posed almost every inch of the way by entrenched elites,
was won Jess by mass protest dian by the efforts of tho
middle classes, who had long been deprived of place UId 1
prestige by racial and ethnic prejudice. ID recent years, an
increasingly numeroua and prosperoua middle class baa
almost entirely IUpeneded expatriate 8Dd local white elites 1
in sovemment. But popular participation in public affairs.
notwithltUlding local autonomy and nnlvenaI 1Ulfrase.
,
remains weak UId sporadic, while IDa. clillatilfaction with 1
the new leaden is as widespread u wid! the old 8Dd II
often more YiolentIy expressed.
i Caribbean political forms, transplanted from WesterD 1
Europe, still formany resemble tboIe of the metropolis but
1
1
1
xiv Introduction: 'The Aftermath of Sovereignty Introduction: The Aftermath of Sovereianty xy
have become quite different in function. Most British thrust toward soc:iaI justice and mua aeIf-determinatloa.
West Indian political parties. for example. stem from trade West Indian soc:iaI reform requires CDIIItaDt DOUriabment
union bases and avow a Labour Party. working-cl. .. ori from external. sources, undencorina old paUerna of de
entation; but they are also infused by authoritarianism. a ~ency. Owing to Jack of indiaeDoua modela. the West
tenacious legacy of the colonial era. Whatever their social Indies, more than other U-coloaial area, reaIIin bound
, origins and professed aims. moat present-day West Indian to ~ habits. And owm, to inherited patterns of pro.
i leaden maintain an elitist bias toward their followen. ~on and marketing, reinfon:ed by amaIInesa and is0-
They welcome m... participation as a route to political lation, they also remain ec:onomicaJJy and Itrateg=ically d e
I
power but discourage mass participation. let alone criti pendent on former imperial overlords.
cism. in the actuaI process of government. Similarly. most FOrmal self-government and independenc:o,
Commonwealth Caribbean countries maintain legislative divide thoee who still wield economic control from
JIOI:'eII
systems with government and opposition parties and a Dow poli~ power. Old elites and multinational
l
full panoply of cabinets and shadow cabinets, but there ~ratio~ . dommate the productive resonrces of West
f is a marked tendency toward one-party states. and in sev Indian lOCJeties, whereas formal political control and g0v
eral islands the party in power holds every legislative seat. ernmental services are hi the hands. rcels.p..e.c tively of new
JIOPIIlu:
Thus Caribbean circumstances have transformed the con leaden and the old middle ~ves at
tent of colonial institutions while leaving their structures odds ~th each. other. The dilemma this poses for ratiOllai
substantially intact. pIanning and IDIplementation was IUCcinctJy put by a
The advent of formal self-government has intensified Weat Indian premier who, after electoral victory hi the
I other atresaea and strains. The small size and weak infra late 1950s. noted that "my party is in office but not ,
power." au
structure of moat West Indian societies intimately involves
'!
governments in every aspect of local life and make per et a. felt need for self-assertion commensurate with
t
sonalism. nepotism. corruption. and tyranny ever-present ~litical mdependence drives West Indiana increasingI to
I dangen. Yet efforts to counteract these risks thmugh re reJ~ the. consequences of these realities and to pres"yf or
gional linkages and interisland coJlaboration cootinuaJly reonentations of society as a whole. In this process, 1"0-
founder on the sboals of insular rivalries. One need only fo~ repudiate the present political leaderIbip as un
cite the short history of the late West Indies Federation able, if not unwilling. to transform West Indian states into
(I9S~2) and the recent (1967) secession from St. Kitts fse:lf-Sresp ecting autonoDlOUl entities. Nationalist impulle
of tiny Anguilla (population 6.(00). foJlowed by its re on redresai.ng past IOC:ial and racial imbalancmes.:
venion to colooial status in 1971. Penonal ambitions. lo w . . are seen as both cauaea and conaequencea of
cal needs. and the demands of regional cooperation are pertaIiam: The local governments themselves, whether
more apt to put West Indian states in conflict than in c:mPhaslzinB local cultural forms or African roots, c0n
concert. tinually proclaim intentions to nationalize this or that. to
The ideological consequences of past dependence are rediscover and elevate West Indian ~ Man:ua
likewise at odds with newly gained freedom. Some West Garvey in Jamaica, a Cuffy hi Guyana-to replace old
Indians are now attempting to transform the steeply strati ceremonial forma with new onea-a Trinidadian Order of
fied social systems inherited from the colonial past into the BaIisier inatead of an Order of the British Empire.
more egalitarian and dynamic forms. But this impulse Is Such activities. however. are often more symbolic than
Iesa locally inspired than it is animated by the worldwide substantive. As some West Indians themselves remark, the
xvi Introduction: The Aftennath of Sovereignty Introduction: The Aftermath of Sovereignty zvB
search for West Indianness today is in many respects quix entity to be grounded on reaIiatic economic and --'• •
premises. ........
otic for small islanders whose social ramifications and cul
tural Ilnkasea span both hemispheres. 11le risks and prom •T he ~ Bection, "On Beina a West Indian," opena
ises, tho imaginative extensions and practical limits, of ,!"th a cntique of the West Indian search for racial 'den
emphasizing what is local or what is West Indian c0n ti~: Frantz Fanon, the beat blown of Caribbean J1Idical
stantly shift. depending on relationships among West In WIllers, scores the new West Indian aUacbmeDt to Africa
dians and between them and the world outside. ~ DO.leas visionary and roDWltic than the old West In
The present volume considers aspects of all these ques dian. tie to Europe. The three followina selectiona focus on
tions under two broad rubrics: government and politics apeciflc aspects of the IIWCh for identity: one by a black
and national and personal identity. 11le first section, Vmcentian determined to redreaa the pro-European bias
"Freedom and Power," considers tho institutional dimen of ~ ~est Indian colored middle cIaa; a IIOCODd by a
sions of West Indian government and politics. The open Trinidadian Bast Indian determined to resist the submer
ing selection surveys the broad transition from subjuga gence of his own ethnic identity in a predominantly black
tion to independence, with the author-a West Indian W~ Indian world; a third by an eminent St Lucian econ
prime minister-proclaiming the end of the bad old days omist Who deplores West Indian xenophobia and argues
of master and slave, ruler and ruled, empire and colony. that the search for uniquely West Indian traits is a dead
A detailed account of the growth of electorates and the end street. The West Indian identity crisia is next seen in
development of representative institutions in the various the ~ntext of a specific contemporary event-black-power
territories follows. Responding to these opportunities for manifestations in Trinidad cII'min.tina in a 1970 mutiny
participation, and agitating for their extension, West In of the anned forces. This story is examinr4 in soci~
dians have formed certain characteristic political align DOmic perspective by a local radical leader followed in tho
behait
ments. "Ibeae are studied in the next two selections, the Dext selection by an eloquent plea OD of a convicted
first focusing on the origins and traits of parties in the ringleader in that mutiny, here portrayed as an idealiatic
larger territories, the second examining a case study of dupe of a corrupt colonialiat society. The foUowIng two
personalistic small-island politics. The stress between ma articles graphically express the limits and ineffectiveness
joritarian rulers and administrative cadres is the subject of o~ protest in societies as small and poor as the West In
tho next selection, which describes lOme of the political dies: a Guyanese economist discounts his gnvemment'a
pressures West Indian civil services are subjected to and nationalization of the bauxite industry as mere window
how they are fended off. A case study of a Trinidad elec ~.g, and an internatiooally famOUl Trinidadian nov
tion casts into high relief the interplay of all these political eliat Views the West Indian black power movement as a
forces with race and ethnicity. FInally, four selections deal theatrical substitute for reality. But a creativity that is
with the hopes and disappointments of regional associa uniquely West Indian plays a Valuable role in local ponti
tion: first, a critique of tho fonner West Indies Federa ~ ~d .8OCial ~e; in proof of thiI. an equally eminent
tion by an uncompromising Jamaican nationaliat; second, Trinidadian political activist in the final selection lICCIaima
an explanation of the causes of its collapse by a Barbadian the coDtributioDl of the most celebrated of contempo. ... rv
architect of tho federation: third, a vivid account of vain caIypsonians. --I
efforts by a St Lucian to salvage a small-island grouping
from the federal ruins; and fourth, a recent plea by a
Guyanese Bast Indian for a greater West Indian political
\,
Jl j •
, t
I FREEDOM AND POWER
.f
.,4.