January 12, 2022
The fight started before the Africans came. It was initially between those who were already living on the Island and those who came and declared it to be theirs, or better yet, owned by a monarchy not known to or even vaguely related to the ones in possession of the land. The seeds were planted. Name calling, deception, finger pointing, kidnapping morphed into rape, murder and other abominable delights for the newcomers. The old timers, our Taíno and other indigenous peoples of Jamaica and the Caribbean, had their existence restructured by an encomienda (slavery) system that had them sinking lower every time they thought they had hit rock bottom. The new comers started the cultivation of 'plantation' crops on a land that had previously supported small farms and farmers and fostered for themselves a necessity for more people to work the land. They later invented a story that the original 'owners' of the land, the old timers, were all deceased so as to justify their claim to the land…among other things. The fight was underway.
The fight peaked when African peoples were enslaved and brought to the island. Taking to the hills in defiance of the violations of natural and other laws by the slave traders, slave owners, their King, Queen and country, the African peoples found and joined forces with the resilient old timers who themselves had previously taken to the hills as a way of survival and with the emerged alliance fostered whipped the British to the negotiation table and the signing of a peace treaty. The fighting paused.
Without going into indigenous perspectives on the ownership of land, let us just say that the only time sovereignty was enjoyed by the Island of Jamaica was when, under the name Yamayeka/Xaymaca and occupied by the first so far documented inhabitants, the Taíno, as they became known, enjoyed the undisturbed use of the land and exercised upon it their right to self determination. The coming of the Spanish was an end to sovereignty and so Jamaica, lock, stock and barrel, has never been a sovereign State.
The fighting for the ‘ownership’ of our lands, except those acres already returned to our ancestors, under the treaties, was never resumed. Present day Jamaicans have been content with recognizing ‘Crown’ lands (all the lands in the possession of the Government), the practices of Churches being large land owners, second inline to the State, (many of them having been plantation owners*) and with social inequities such as squatting and persons living on marginal lands.
Jamaica land we love, possess but do not own, where is our sovereignty? Where will we exercise it? We still have a representative of Her Majesty the Queen living in our midst, with the authority to (we pray he would not) act against and/or without the advice of the Prime Minister. Whilst our neighbours are moving forward to claim their sovereignty we sit at he edge of another British vs Maroon War. Let us choose our weapons well.
*Perhaps on a tax free or with concession basis while the Government of Jamaica take severe measures (taking away their lands even) to punish ordinary citizens for taxpaying ‘breaches.’
Just a Thought……
