Many of my students do not know much about the 1990 coup. When I ask what they know, they speak about something they have vaguely heard about but do not think is important. Like so many topics in T&T’s history, they believe it happened in the past and has nothing to do with them now. Generally, younger generations cannot relate to our historical past. They see studying history as a waste of time.
Yet July 27, 1990 is not distant history for many of us. I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was at a friend’s home, helping to prepare for her birthday party the next day. We were all turning 16 that year, so birthdays were a big thing. As we decorated, her father quickly switched on the television and shouted for us to look.
There was Yasin Abu Bakr announcing: “At 6 pm this afternoon, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago was overthrown. The Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet are under arrest. We are asking everybody to remain calm. The revolutionary forces are commanded to control the streets.”
I remember being scared. Words like “revolutionary” and “forces” didn’t belong to T&T and asking us to be calm didn’t help in any way. All I saw was that our country had been taken over.
In the days that followed, I remember the looting in Port-of-Spain and the Police Headquarters on fire. For six days we were glued to the television and radio, waiting for news. We said silent prayers of gratitude that we were in Central and South.
Although we felt far away, we worried that the looters would come “down South” or that Abu Bakr might send his men to San Fernando. Geographically, we were away from the centre of the coup, but we were tense, not knowing what would happen.
In those days, patriotism seemed to go deeper. Everything was about country. Race and ethnicity were not as visible to us and political divisions seemed more contained, or maybe we were oblivious to them. At 16, we saw our country under fire and thought that only a madman could do something like that.
Perhaps this is why, back then, I could not understand why we called it an “attempted coup.” People were killed and injured, Parliament and TTT were seized, hostages were terrorised, and sections of Port-of-Spain were looted and burnt.
The violence and fear were real. It was only later that I understood that “attempted” referred to the Jamaat’s failure to achieve its main objective. It captured important buildings but not the State.
The elected government survived and the insurgents eventually surrendered. As the official Commission of Enquiry later stated, the Government was not overthrown or paralysed; it was temporarily destabilised.
It was only years later, as an undergraduate history student, that I really understood what the coup meant. Although I disagreed with what Abu Bakr did, I started to understand the conditions surrounding his actions. T&T was experiencing economic hardship and unemployment and there was widespread dissatisfaction with the NAR Government. There was also the long-running dispute over the Jamaat’s occupation of land at Mucurapo Road.
In a 2020 affidavit, Abu Bakr attributed the coup to alleged police killings, “a corrupt government” and “ripe conditions of social unrest.” Whether we accept his claims or not, they show how he sought to justify his actions. This is where history becomes important.
Understanding why something happened does not mean supporting it. We can despise the violence and destruction while examining the conditions which allowed Abu Bakr and his followers to believe they had the right to overthrow an elected government.
A few years ago, students in my Caribbean Anthropology class interviewed Abu Bakr for their group assignment on the coup. He gave a thorough explanation of why he decided to overthrow the government. It was then that I recognised how intelligent, well-spoken and charismatic he was. But what if another intelligent and charismatic person comes along and decides to do the same?
The events of 1990 remind us of what an individual or group is capable of and why we must remain on our guard. We must always protect our democracy. The coup failed, but it showed how quickly a group of armed men could throw an entire country into fear and uncertainty.
This is why I really believe that the attempted coup must be taught in our schools, beginning at the primary level and certainly continuing into secondary school. The same applies to the Canboulay and Hosay Riots, the Belmanna and Water Riots, the 1937 labour disturbances and the Black Power Movement. These were major moments of socio-political upheaval which helped to shape T&T.
Younger generations need to understand that the T&T they live in today was shaped by those who resisted injustice, demanded change and fought for a better country. Only then will they understand what T&T stands for, what this country gives them and why they should want more for it.
Young people cannot be expected to protect a democracy whose struggles they were never taught.
