Today, May 29th, 2016, is the 37th anniversary of the May 29th Uprising which resulted in the removal from office of the DLP administration of Dominica’s first prime minister, Patrick John.
Below is a collection of photographs from the day of the event referred to as “Bloody Tuesday”, and the aftermath, which spans the period from Tuesday 29th May 1979 through 16th June 1979.
The presentation was put together by Arlington James.
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yes Skerrit need to speed up his development plan.an international airport,hospital,improve Roseau,and i guess in the future we would to reinstate back the army like Haiti did recently.the new Dominica Defence force.
I am waiting for this day to come again. An this isthe problem with Dominica today. WE were brave back then. when things went wrong we STOOD up for ourselves and let the authorities know we were not satisfied even if it meant force. Today everybody if a coward and afraid to throw the first stone out of fear. Fear that they are the only one shot, or put in jail, afraid that their family is victimized, afrain of losing their job, afraid that their friends or community will ostracize them. Cowards! No problem to rise up against your neighbor one by one, but to come together to rise up against oppression, corruption, abuse of youth, abuse of power, THE ONLY THING WE KNOW HOW TO RAISE IS OUR VOICE, and maybe our fist against our spouses and family and friends. but not where it counts. I AM WAITING FOR THE REVOLUTION! we need an administration that shows results, thta can make me FEEL like i am progressing wiht my community and my country.
Why was the Mural removed? Who removed it? There is a photo of it being removed. What was the purpose in removing such an important part of our history? It should be permanently displayed for all to see and remember. Maybe then we would not be always asking for the return of a May 29th as often some do.
This was the event that should have placed Dominica and its people on the international scene as a viable regional power like Barbados and the rest.
I think emigration had a big part to play and we have yet to recover from that.
Also when I look at the current situation in Da with corruption and bad leadership I think it won’t get better any better soon.
One man died how was it bloody? STupes
Excellent presentation Mr. Arlington James…Many thanks for putting together such a great compilation. Perhaps in the not too distant future a comparable presentation may be done regarding the Salisbury 2015 protests. In both cases natural disasters were visited upon the island…
May God continue to Bless our Island!
Was Timothy really shot by the DDF? From my recollection the DDF were carrying 303 rifles and Timothy was killed by a .22 round. There are still questions to be answered. It has been suggested that he was killed by a civilian who had close ties with the DFP.
Its’s a shame not even a good paragraph is dedicated to a crucial time in our history.
It’s for me one who was a participant.
It’s like gentrification of our city where mom & pap shps and stores are now Chinese low cost BS gracias a guys of the Neo DLP of Freedom origin.
I wonder how it feels deep in the heart of Charlo the leader of the ring who encouraged and were used by Mamo to fan the flames. this is 37 yrs ago Skerrit was like 5 yrs post diaper. No recollection of what this period means.
The BS continues now with no law nor constitution to guide (it’s of no use) DA continues down stream to nowhere. There are more economic citizens and denizons than the actual population of natives.
The pass/acting presidents, retired Pal secs, Ps’s and all these opportunists sit back and watch cashing in where fesible funeral homes on boards etc. ex-commies etc lawyers all part of the BS currently engulphing DA.
I think history should repeat it self to get these present morons out of their.they are only concerned with their pockets n not the ppl.never have I seen so many flash floods with a particular government,change is a must.
Well presented documentary. To the point. Thanks for the reminder – very important for our remembrance.
Should be a history lesson at all schools on May 29 or the day befor,e if May 29 is on a weekend
Looking back 37 years late, what is clear to me is our people especially the opposition (not necessarily the uwp opposition), are not as intelligent as we were in 1979. In 1979 Savarin, a trade unionist and part of the opposition was able to lead a massive strike that got rid of the DLP patrick John. Look at the opposition today as I type it @9:05 pm on May 29, 2016, I am listening to my favorite radio station Q95, and my favorite program called politics. But with a by election in the Soufriere constituency and so many issues to talk about, Skerrit and his DLP was able to get their Apex company agent to just walk into Q95 and interrupted our program, talking about the sale of our passports. Angelo, I always big you up but not so tonight. Is this guy an elected member of cabinet? Why have him come and explain the sale of his passport sale business to us? At 9:10 now, had it not been for this guy you would have closed the program. Skerrit won us again
Going back to 1979 and the streets and houses in Roseau, is not much different today, 37 years later. The place still looks the same except that the people were much smarter and more godly back then. Sadly, 37 years later the things that Charles Savarin and company would not tolerate and were seen as evil, are now being seen and celebrated as good and godly. Surely Patrick John was no where close to corrupt as Roosevelt Skerrit is. Like in the days of Noah, just before the floods, everything about Dominica is corrupt, ungodly, evil, Satanic and frightening. What is more baffling is, the same Charles Savrin, was made president. If I had a choice between life in Dominica before the events of 1979 verses life in Dominica the past 16 years, I would gladly go back to 1979. Dominica has regressed significantly.
Excellent work – it’s always good to know about your country’s history. It makes you wonder though what kind of place Dominica would be if that revolt had not happened. hmm
God oh God hear our cry oh Lord attend onto our pray .
Please help Dominica and Dominica can we ever move forward these dno people can chewgonney caca pal. Live in the 21st century
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Phillip Timothy was a the son of Labour Party supporters as were most of the students, and young civil servants, who led the revolt. The Labour Party of John betrayed the nation and he was overthrown. John had grown arrogant and started calling himself “Doctor” and “Colonel”. The banana industry was in a slump due to the leaf spot crisis
Labour fell when wise Dominicans and Labour Party stalwarts turned on the nonsense being perpetrated in their name. Good of DNO to remind us of our history. May we avoid such bloodshed and mayhem when the change which is coming comes. Note: We had no chill box in Dominica then. The chill box came in 1980 due to the efforts of Dr Sam Christian who arranged its donation from Pathick Jennings, a Georgia mortician of the Baptist faith. In those pre chill box days Dominicans were buried within 24 hours. We had no funeral home on Dominica then. That meant that Phillip Timothy was buried the next day, May 30, 1979. I know this from personal…
Read about this recently. Dominica has a very rich history which some need to research on.
Great piece mr james more history less junk to those who think they know more about politics than those of us who went through. This period of time they are in paradise cause they were not there to make sacrifice thanks for giving us a pick of where we were to where we are god. Bless keep it up solidarity.
Hurricane season is upon us. The roads around the island are in a very, very bad state. It is nearly a year since Erika. Us Dominicans were proud and in 1979 we did not just have the Patrick John situation but we had hurricane David. So what is going to happen this August. Seriously the Government needs to at least send trucks around the island filled with good stones and fill in the holes in all the roads this would be very good for everyone and would not cost the Government anything at all! Please look after Dominica. Drivers pay their taxes on the road and it is the job of the Government to fix the roads so that Dominicans can get from A to B. Please show us Dominicans that you care about our safety on the roads, I seriously think at the moment this is the most important, necessary thing to be done! History is history, Dominica at the moment is a failing island with no light at the end of the tunnel. Please do something positive for Dominica.
I would really like to know why anyone would not agree that the roads need fixing big time. Why would someone click on the red button? Maybe they do not drive. Never see the Bailey bridges next to the broken bridges? The bridge has just gone by Grand Bay. The people ticking red must be totally retarded!!
AND DNO’s point is????? You are provoking people in this country with this type of news not to get at Patrick John but to get at Skerritt. When you guys will stop your nonsense and give news for people tyo live peaceably with each other?
@ Kingdom Connection. You areone of those empty,vacuous barrels that provide fertile soil for backwardness to thrive,in an already poor,mendicant and failed state….SHAME ON YOU!!!
kingdom connections you are blaming DNO for reporting historical news ? what are you scared of ? this story is telling us and the world how docile we have become as a people. It is certainly true or so it seems that beggars have no choice.
Dear Kingdom connection,
You may ask Skerrit and he will certainly tell U how to live at peace with each other,
CHRISTMAS MORNING 2010 IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE of how people should live at peace with each other after the bombing of the home of 2 ELDERLY CITIZEN that’s how people is living at peace with each other.
When U get a chance please look up the book of PROVERBS CHAPTER 15 AND VERSE 3 and I quote ( the eyes of the LORD is in every PLACE beholding the EVIL and the GOOD) surly the creator knows the ones who attempted murder on the ELDERLIES and surely they will pay for it at the right time
So now go and talk about living at PEACE with each other
Really? This is a significant historical event. I doubt the purpose was to incite any violence nor “get at skerrit”…our young ones need to learn of Dominica’s history…
Scum’s like you should simply disappear; the riot of 1979 is part of our nation history, unless we remember the past we will not know where we are going, people need to know the good as well as the bad.
Hence, the evils of the past might be avoided; there are people born after 1979: (2016-1979 = 37). People born after 1979 may not even have a vague idea of what transpired. We learn by reviewing history, that is why history are thought in elementary, secondary schools, and even in four year colleges, and universities.
Nevertheless, there the lesser educated, ignorant people like you who’s only knowledge derives from the crap the Labor Party operatives spew on their political platform; control you like a puppet, wined you like a clock keep you muzzled for the rest of your life depending on handouts. Start reading, you might learn something!
“Today, May 29th, 2016, is the 37th anniversary of the May 29th Uprising ” – you don’t think that making a note of such an important event in our history is worthy of a news article?
And Dno’s point is (for politically blinded humans like yourself who cannot see past anything but party colors) to remind of us of the part of our history that some labourites like you seem to have conveniently forgotten or blatantly choose to ignore because of what is presently taking place right now. One thing I’d like the likes of you to note is that HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF. When push comes to shove and Dominicans cannot take anymore something will give. Unless we turn away from all these wickedness in high places that we condone we’re doomed. Where there is No justice there is no PEACE.
I always was interested in knowing the whole truth , thanks
if I did not live it .Today’s post would not inform me on any understanding any thing.
Someone once said, “A people who does not know their History will perish”….. Your work on Our History of May 29th. 1979 makes interesting reading and invoke a great deal of emotions. Thanks for this effort and I hope it will help us reflect…. Let the discussion continue…
Nice piece of history, I remember the event very clearly……….. Its a shame that 37 years later we still can not unite and move the country forward.
I lost a very close and good friend PHILLIP on that day, may his soul continue to RIP…………. GOD BLESS MY COUNTRY
People were more concerned with country in those days…Now whenever you meet a friend,the first line of discussion is SEX!!!Adult married men who cannot even pull a rope!!! Same thing for many of the women..Teenagers ha!ha!…Few exceptions!!!…This is a badly broken and sick country…No wonder Justina believes that we have a CABINOT of ministers,instead of a cabinet!!!
This present DLP has injured Dominica plenty more than the John DLP did….People were not disgracefully lazy and begging,agriculture was thriving,no Red Clinic,institutions were properly oiled,tourism was gathering steady momentum,our main export was not passports,we were on par with other countries of the OECS,and more advanced than others….Now in 2016, almost 37years later, a Skerrit led DLP has virtually crippled the country.The majority are beggars,he has cultivated a lazy population,no proper hospital or airport,terrible roads,Lying,Stealing and Cheating are rampant,we are last in every economic indicator…..Between 2000 to 2016 this DLP has terribly failed Dominicans.
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Remember what the experts say about history? If any Nation does not learn from its history, it is doomed to reapeat it. Not in any way shape or form calling or advocating for any violence. Let it be clear! But Dominica are we listening?