Kalinagos advised to consolidate gains

Gregory Rabess

Dominica’s Indigenous people have been advised to consolidate the gains made in the Carib Territory since attaining ownership of the lands there over a century ago.

That was emphasized on Wednesday (July 04 2012) as the Kalinago’s Indigenous Nation Developers (K.I.N.D) organized a special torch relay activity in recognition of the 109 years since the establishment of the Carib Territory.

The island’s indigenous Indians were reminded by Gregory Rabess, Senior Cultural Officer, that  they the Kalinago people had evolved over the years and achieved a significant level of progress.

He singled out efforts made to preserve the Kalinago history through the formation of several cultural groups.

“We will remember the work of the Karifuna cultural group, their appearances in DOMFESTA and all over Dominica. This brought about a new sense of respect and pride for the Kalinago people not just in Dominica but across the region”.

Rabess says Dominicans now look at the Kalinago people with a new set of eyes.

“We use to sort of look down on the Kalinago people. There was the perception that the Kalinago people didn’t have anything important to bring to our civilization – that was the thinking, but this is no more”.

Rabess is advocating that the Kalinago people look back on their achievements as a native people and strive to excel further.

“We have come a long way, we have made some significant gains; we have done many things, and let us not take them for granted. What we need to do now is to take it to the next level, mobilizing young people using the latest communications technologies to assist with the documentation process and to create new Kalinago products”.

The Kalinago Barana Aute is one example of the Kalinago products now operating in the Territory.

The Carib Territory is made up of 3700 acres of land with over three thousand native residents there.

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16 Comments

  1. Kalinago Queen
    July 8, 2012

    the Carib Territory is not the worst and will never be the worst so please. take a look at St.Joseph, Pottersville, Newtown, gutter. clean your backyard before you check our own

  2. santeekalinago
    July 7, 2012

    Things should stay the same tradition wise where a man can pick his jelly in peace in K.C and stop treating the kalinago like we cant make our own decisions. This Rabess guys isn’t even from the territory.Who is he or the government to dictate how we live our life.I strongly believe in a nation within a nation the vatican did it why cant we?

    • January 30, 2013

      stop chat folinish :lol:

  3. anonymous
    July 6, 2012

    @ cia. what does this have to do with the price of eggs in China????

  4. Perplexed
    July 5, 2012

    They are called Kalinagos yet still they live in a place called the “carib territority.” When will our representative officials show respect to the Kalinago people and cease from calling their area “Carib territory”?

    • Danny doway
      July 7, 2012

      But these people are not serious, Here is a beauty representing the Kallinago people and Dominica, There are celebrations on and not one Photo of the Queen on a poster either on entry or departer of the Carib territory, What,s wrong with her,Kallinago people.

  5. Morality
    July 5, 2012

    The land allocated to the Kalinago people is not enough,they need to fight for more land.They also need to demand for their own governance and stop voting for these black governments!They’ll gain more by governing themselves.They’ll be able to collect a tax from every vehicle intending to drive through their territory,this should already be happening!

  6. Morality
    July 5, 2012

    :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: :?: Rabess,stop your propaganda and go give the government good advice! :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: :?:

    • Danny doway
      July 7, 2012

      What advise can Rabess give he is going up next Election have.nt you heard?.

  7. Kalinago in USA
    July 5, 2012

    Kalinago Territory is the poorest area, where is the development? Call center or 5 Star Resort & Spa in the Kalinago Territory to provide much needed jobs.

  8. Fairplay
    July 5, 2012

    If Kalinagos continue to interbreed with Africans they wil disappear as a people. :?:

    • sticky
      July 6, 2012

      are you suggesting that they breed with their relatives?cause from my understanding most of the kalinagos are intertwined families.

  9. CIA on the watch
    July 5, 2012

    I wonderr if this is serious about his pronouncents, does he live in the carib territory, is he not aware of the state of poverty that exist in the territory? He needs to tell us what level development he is talking about. And i mean in this twenty first century the territory is still left without the basic necessities of life

    • sherryl
      July 5, 2012

      I recently visited the territory. If the Kalinagos were given 3700 acres of land and there are 3000 of them, why then the extreme poverty I witnessed? Houses that no human being should be living in. I visited a particular woman and was appalled at her living condition. She used pieces of cloth to block the holes in her house. Mr Rabess think again people living with no running water or bathroom facility. That is a shame. I see little to no progress.

      • CIA on the watch
        July 6, 2012

        In totally agreement with your conclusion. On another note DNO at the begining of my blog i wrote “is this labor party stooge serious” what is so offensive or libel about this?? i notice that you guys edit my blog, guess in the long run you guys will champion the cause of press freedom while you all are infringing on the free expression of the bloggers, Mr Rabess is a Labor Party supporter

      • anonymous
        July 6, 2012

        @sheryl. Did you also observe the number of people who have built some beautiful concrete homes throughoutthe communities albeit without the benefit of a bank loan? I say they ought to be commended or that as well.We are always so quick to highlight the negatives in our community. I distinctly remember seeing some clapboard houses in the US no less. guess what, there are people every where like this not only in the territory. thatis not to say it is acceptable, but surely we can see the strides made. it s time to call a spade a spade.

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