Features
Newsday reporter
On December 12, 1970, the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) hosted a march to rededicate the nation to the creation of a “new and just society.”
This was three weeks after the lifting of the 1970 State of Emergency (SoE), which had been in force from 21 April to 20 November.
NJAC provided the following information in commemoration of the 52nd anniversary of the event.
Rededication Day was a call for continued commitment in the pursuit of a more humane and just society. It was a call to adopt principles and values that could drive the process of national transformation. It was indeed a call to the nation to rebuild the strong bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood, which was used to redefine the entire nation as a family.
The love that grew out of this principle led to a 56 percent reduction in the crime rate in 1970. This still stands as the record for the largest percentage reduction ever achieved in the crime rate in any calendar year in Trinidad and Tobago .
It was also a call for a continued opening of business opportunities to a wider section of citizens in the private sector, while providing access to managerial positions in the then public sector.
December 12 was designated as the day to remind the national community of the critical need to continue taking control of economic, financial, educational, cultural and social institutions to give true meaning to independence and nationhood. It was a very fervent call for national unity as a fundamental principle in building any strong and progressive nation.
As we reflect on the significance of the rededication day, we must pay our highest respects and honors to the leader of the TT Revolution, the late Chief Servant, Makandal Daaga, ORTT, who took to the streets with public meetings immediately after the end of the state of exceptional. on November 20, 1970, and with his characteristic commitment and courage, to mobilize a rededication demonstration within three weeks. The government responded by declaring a limited, month-long state of emergency within the borders of Port of Spain to keep demonstrators out of the capital, using it as an instrument to deter people from taking part in the march.
As we honor the chief servant, we must also remember and celebrate the determined role played by the NJAC and even more, the courageous and heroic stand of the people of TT, all contributing to a movement that inspired the most significant and transformative period in history of our little nation.
It was a revolution which also captured the spirit and imagination of the entire Caribbean, giving rise to the formation of the Caribbean Liberation Steering Committee (CLSC), chaired by Daaga, and including such prominent personalities as Khafra Kambon (TT), Eusi Kwayana, regional coordinator of the committee (Guyana), Raymond Charlotte, head of the National Liberation Front of Cayenne (or French Guiana), Roosevelt “Rosie” Douglas (who would later become prime minister of Dominica), Bobby Clarke (Barbados), Maurice Bishop (later to be Prime Minister of Grenada), Trevor Monroe (Jamaica), Tim Hector (Antigua) and Tony Ferguson, to name a few.
NJAC’s campaign of education and enlightenment provided the intellectual impetus that motivated a search for truth in the nation. NJAC’s fearless commitment to a better society and its determination to throw off the shackles of colonialism that still oppressed the people inspired the masses to respond with an unparalleled burst of creativity and energy, which gave the TT Revolution the traction and influence of his.
Within just 55 days, mass NJAC meetings, demonstrations, circulation of local and national newspapers and thousands of imported books, awakened a “new consciousness” in TT and the Caribbean. The fusion of this “new consciousness” with the principle of “people’s participation” created a unique People’s Movement, where “the Revolution was the people and the people were the revolution”.
The measures spurred changes throughout the Caribbean that gave the 1970s its unique Caribbean character and influence. The People’s Revolutionary Creativity led to great national achievements, during the period that the people’s calypso, Brother Valentino, refers to as the “Roaring 70s”. These achievements include:
Governance:
The creation of people’s parliaments, to institutionalize “People’s Power” (the revolution’s catchphrase)
Promoting the principles of mobilization, consultation and participation.
Influenced the naming of the 1971 Wooding Constitution Reform Commission, leading to the TT Republican Constitution in 1976;
National unity
The principle of “unite the nation” was portrayed on March 12, 1970, when 40,000 people answered the call for African-Indian unity in the march to Caroni.
The economy:
Increased state involvement in the TT economy after 1970, from eight enterprises to 67, which opened up leadership positions for Africans and Indians.
Opening of TT’s first national bank, National Commercial Bank (now First Citizens) on March 23, 1970,
Localization of all foreign banks and insurance companies in 1970 (which has largely been reversed)
Establishment of the National Insurance Board (NIB) in 1971.
entrepreneurship
Growth of the people sector with a large showing of Indian and African businesses.
1970 Small Business Designation; 1971 Year of Cooperatives; and 1972, the Year of the Credit Unions
A record 1,000 percent expansion of the capital base of credit unions in the decade of the 1970s.
Equality and justice
A major reduction in racism (in Tobago’s banking sector, hotels and beaches to name a few)
the elevation of nationals to the church hierarchy, such as Clive Abdullah, the first non-white national bishop of the Church of England in TT (September 1970).
Appointment of Francis Eustace Bernard as TT’s first black (African) Commissioner of Police.
TT is the first nation outside the African continent to grant legal status to African religions with the passage of the Act for the Incorporation of the Orisa Movement of TT, Egbe Ile Wa (of 1981).
In the spirit of rededication, NJAC is partnering with the UWI Chancellor’s office and the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) to host an international conference, the 50th anniversary of the Black Power Revolution of 1970. The event will be held on 20-21 April 2023, at Daaga Hall, UWI, St Augustine Campus.
The conference will teach this generation, and especially our youth, the very important lessons of 1970, which are most relevant to our society today and to the future of our nation.
The most valuable lessons to be learned from 1970 and the spirit of rededication should be used in our nation’s efforts to create a more harmonious and progressive nation.
“The decision for a people does not lie in its past, not even in the present. They will ultimately be judged by the future they create.”
