WHAT’S de WORD with NICKI: 36 years of Independence and Political Madness: Part 1

36 years ago, Dominica fought to eliminate its dependence on the colonial rule of Great Mother England. Like a young adult, she could no longer conform to the incidence of colonial rule of her ‘Mother Country,’ and so, rebelliously, she decided to make her own story within the rest of Earth one which she faced on her own two feet, or in this case one soil.

But the story of Dominica does not begin here, as we were all taught in basic primary school Social Studies. It is also quite juicy, as this ‘Game of Thrones’ unravels throughout the years of its existence. In this article, I wish to take you on a short walk down history lane and concise about 50 years of political happenings in about 2000 words. So here goes!

The story of the youngest island in the Caribbean, begins with a volcanic eruption about 26 million years ago, (at least, so Geologists say.) So while we are only 36 years independent we are approximately 26 million years old, suggesting to me that a whole heap of stuff went down within that gap of time. And for that, my dear folks, I went a-digging.

To my surprise, my findings admonished some of what was taught in primary school, as I found out that our first inhabitants were not the Arawaks as we were taught, but in fact, another South American tribe by the name of Ortoroids, who arrived via sea, around 3100 years before the death of world-wide, religious icon, Jesus Christ. (At least so Historians say) About 2700 years after, the dear Arawaks, of whom there docility is most of what we know, inhabited the island. About 1400 years after the death of Jesus Christ, (AKA Catholic Rock star, demi-god, messenger) a determined Kalinago Tribe executed a bum’s rush on the Arawaks, conquering the entire Caribbean region, Dominica included. Such fate was returned in the year 1493, as an era of brutal colonisation and forced Christianity was issued by Christopher Columbus (AKA false prophet/ legal pirate) and his band of jail-bird misfits.

We all know what happened from then. Due to the wealth of Dominica (not gold, but land and tremendous resource) there was an era of violence among the French, Spanish and English, with Dominica passing hands through leaders until Great Britain won the battle (As she usually does) and we became a child of England, whereby adopting her laws and customs, but with a legislature concerned only with the rights of the white population. Because we rock, the non-white population fought against such exclusivity and eventually got The Brown Bill passed in 1831, granting rights to the coloured and initiating the election of 3 blacks to our legislature. By now the fights had begun to become more for the ownership of Dominica by the blacks, who had worked so hard through forced labour to sustain the agricultural industries which supported our island. Slavery was abolished in 1834 and Dominica became the ONLY British Caribbean Colony to have a legislature run by Blacks in the 19^th century. (You rock DA!)

Anyway, most of these black legislators were holders of small farms and enterprises and had obvious conflicting interests and views with that of the Planter Class. This led to further squabbles, giving way to yet another loss to Great Mother Britain in 1896, when a Crown Colony Government was re-established and the Brits, once more, kicked our rights in the fanny.

But hope was not lost. Initiated by World War I, there was a radical upsurge of political consciousness in the people of the Caribbean, then involving many young people about the age that I am now, and the rise of the new governments prevailed. (I swear I am living in the wrong era, because that must have been so EPIC!) This fuelled a united voice, expressing the lack of local representation for Dominica and gave rise to the election of a Dominica Labour Party Government, led by ‘Father of the Nation’ Edward Oliver Leblanc. Still under British rule, Leblanc served under the title ‘Premier’ and went on to win the following 2 elections, due to his tremendous popularity among voters. Leblanc changed up the state of affairs in Dominica and gave access to many poor Dominicans exclusive of the Bourgeoisie class, who were often referred to as ‘little men.’ He was well loved and pushed the agenda for national identity and patriotism until the unexpected happened.

One day, dear old E.O retired from office. With no warnings or reason, and refusing to do any interviews, Leblanc became radically introverted and retired from politics and public life, fleeing into exile in the village of his birth- Vielle Casse, where he would die quietly 30 years past factum.

Dominica was now in need of a new Premier. Can you guess who next held the throne?  If you guessed Patrick John, then you’re right. All that grade 4 Social Studies did you well. Leblanc had appointed John, who was, by then, a well-known political activist, having served as leader of the Waterfront Allied Workers’ Union and the Mayor of Roseau. John served as Premier for two years until the next general election was constitutionally due in the year 1975, 15 years before I was born. Anyway, elections were called and dear old Pat won and ushered the idea of full independence from British Colonial rule.

So, now we come to the part about Independence and what-not. Great Mother Britain decided to grant her young country its Independence and we now stood on our own one soil, fully responsible for our own affairs, economy, and society. A path which we joyfully embarked on bubbling with naiveté and ignorance, similar to an 18 year old child leaving the parents’ den and heading out into the unknown world of independence and total freedom. Little did we know, great peril lay ahead.

To be continued…