In the conclusion of a two-part exploration of the Black Power Movement in T&T, Peter Ray Blood speaks with various people who were involved in the events of that time, like Raffique Shah, one of the soldiers who was involved in a mutiny and Hindu leader Ravi-Ji who was a young man at the time and speaks about the coming together of the Black Power activists and the Indian sugar cane workers.
Forty-five years ago, on April 21, junior officers and soldiers of the T&T Regiment staged a coup. Among the leaders were lieutenants Rex Lasalle, Raffique Shah, Michael Barzey and David Brizan, Maurice Noray, Ben Parkinson, Winston Bacchus and Carl Lai Leung. They held Camp Teteron in Chaguaramas for over a week but were subsequently arrested and charged for their actions. Some of them served time in prison.
Today a newspaper columnist, Shah, a Sandhurst-trained officer, was the youngest officer involved in the mutiny. Reminiscing, he said yesterday: "Beside being the youngest officer at the time, it's ironic that I was the only Indian officer. Other officers were being deployed to different hot spots in the country but I was the Indian officer chosen to go and to shoot black people in Port-of-Spain."
Shah said his reasons to become involved and identify with the Black Power movement were profound and overwhelming. He said: "There were several reasons behind my decision. First and foremost, most of the junior officers and private soldiers had become militant by then. This was the mood of the moment. In that sense we identified with what the Black Power movement was preaching to the masses. Remember that this entire movement was global at the time. We were in solidarity with the Black Power movement in the States, as well as identified with the opposition to the Vietnam war and protest marches in Paris and across Europe. It was very global.
"In addition, in the internal side of the army, we were trained to build a professional army; to make it the best in the world. But, there were senior officers who had absolutely no training in the military. There was a lot of frustration among the junior officers who had been highly trained but had to take orders from seniors who had no clue about the military. We were being blocked by our seniors to progress in our profession and this caused frustration.
"Eventually, a small group of officers and soldiers agreed that we were not going to allow the government of the day to use the soldiers against the mass movement.
"When we got the orders on April 21, 45 years ago, to come into Port-of-Spain to crush the movement, we decided that the only way we had out was to mutiny. We were daring enough, as well as young and reckless, to take over the people's army which we did very effectively within a couple hours. We held the camp at Teteron Barracks for ten days. During that time we had the Coast Guard firing upon us but we didn't return fire as that would have caused tremendous bloodshed on our hands. Hundreds of military personnel would have died. We withdrew back to Teteron on our way to Camp Ogden. On the second day of the mutiny, Camp Ogden was burnt to the ground by the soldiers. This had nothing to do with what was happening at Camp Teteron.
"The government then initiated talks with us with AG Karl Hudson Phillip leading the government team. We requested that Col Stanley Johnson be relieved as head of the army, and Col Geoff Serrette be reinstated as head, as well as the release of the political detainees. When Serrette was returned as the commanding officer he initiated talks to disarm us."
Today, the Regiment is headed by Brig General Ken Maharaj and former head Brigadier Carl Alfonso is now the Minister of National Security. Shah does see some improvement in the army and soldiering in ournation. "Our army has grown larger and is better equipped than it was 45 years ago," said Shah. "But, is the army suitable to the needs of the country today? That remains an unanswered question.
"I think that we, the country, made some gains from 1970 in the sense that our population at large got more conscious of their roots and culture. The movement sparked an identity consciousness among East Indians, Muslims and Hindus, in that many of them returned to their roots.
"In 2015, the one thing I lament is that generation of that time read voraciously, was well informed, and educated themselves. We lifted ourselves without attending any classrooms to edify ourselves. Today, the youth read less and there is less consciousness. It's amazing that with the Internet and social media young people do not keep themselves well informed.
"My generation did what it had to do. It was a revolution though not bloody and I am glad that it was not."
The arts and culture of the nation also underwent a metamorphosis during the Black Power era. Because the state and its agencies were the target of protests, the voice of the people, the calypsonian, achieved greater visibility. Popular indigenous music changed and there was heightened awareness of social and political calypsoes. Many bards, like Black Stalin, Duke, Chalkdust, Maestro, Brother Superior and Explainer sang "black conscious" songs but the "People's Calypsonian" was Brother Valentino (Emrold Phillip): His discography is imbued with poignant ditties like Life is a Stage (1972); Barking Dogs (1974); Dis Place Nice (1975); Stay Up Zimbabwe (1979); and, Birds That Fly High (1982).
Still performing after more than half a century in the business, Valentino was too distraught last Friday to reminisce about his role in the Black Power movement as his son was killed in a vehicular accident that same morning.
Ravi ji, head of the Hindu Prachar Kendra, disclosed that he was scared during the time of the Black Power movement. He explained: "When the Black Power hit the country I was very very scared, hearing about these Africans coming to Central to join sugar cane workers. I subsequently felt some relief when Bhadase made a statement giving the assurance that the marchers would not actually enter the canefields. Although I attended school in Laventille at one time and was close to a number of African people, I felt a bit intimidated and threatened."
He continued: "Hearing of the march to Caroni I must admit that I had a sense of concern. But, I was curious so I went to Chaguanas to see the march. When I got there my fear dissipated somewhat as, instead of seeing militant agitators, I remember what I saw were many thirsty, tired young people sitting around. At that time I was close to Gerald Bryce, an official then of the Black Panther movement.
"Back then I was also a bit confused that the PNM government would be hunting black young people because they supported Black Power as we thought that the Black Power movement was a PNM movement. It was afterwards that I realised that they were not one and the same, and that the movement was as much against the PNM as the traditional opponents of the party."
After the march to Caroni, Ravi ji left Trinidad for India. He said: "When I returned in 1983 I reconnected to the Black Power movement. It's ironic because I actually went to India with two dashikis. Because of Bryce I became closer to the Black Power movement. One of the things I realised was the impact of the movement opened the way for transformation because there were obvious changes in the employment practices of the country. In the banks you could have easily discerned change (by the ethnicity of the people being employed)."
While Ravi ji believes the Black Power phenomena had some positive impact on our nation he doesn't think it caused a complete transformation of attitudes and tolerance between the races.
He said: "I don't think that the Black Power movement united Indians and Africans, like let's say the national football team did when we qualified for the World Cup in 2006. The political imperative and its race component is too strong and deep rooted in our country for a revolution to make any significant change.
"I think the Black Power movement was worthwhile for the entire country as it created some positive impacts on our people. Africans came to realise that PNM was not the end-all of it, and Indian people realise that PNM would not be in power forever. It created a sense of social justice."
Sunity Maharaj, journalist and MD of the Lloyd Best Institute, said: "I had just done Common Entrance exam and I remember being glued to the radio listening to the news, especially when they were looking for Daaga and others for arrest. I lived in Balmain, and was attending school in Preysal, and the communities were largely Indo. Some of my teachers who were Indians were getting involved and going into Port-of-Spain to join the marches. So, there was a real sense of the 'Indian-African unite' theme. It was an exciting time.
"I was a current affairs junkie from childhood. I used to read the newspapers fervently and I was a real news junkie. Schools were closed for the State of Emergency so we remained at home glued to the radio. We all felt mixed emotions when Daaga was eventually captured as there was a great sense of empathy for the leaders of the movement.
"That sense of energy emerged again in 1975 when there was the industrial unrest when sugar and oil workers came together to protest for better working conditions. I was on the side of the people, the demonstrators and the protesters."