The Unions in Barbados require that their members be well educated about Trade Unionism, workers rights and OF COURSE -THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY BARBADOS, -especially as it relates to slavery and the treatment of black people during that period.
Our problems come from that period and our solutions must take into consideration what transpired during that time. Any attempt to solve problems in Barbados without taking into account the reference point of SLAVERY will fail. Racial discrimination in Barbados is still alive and well even though it could be disguised and camouflaged as something else.
FOR EXAMPLE, the structure of the civil service and the whole approach to workers rights by Employers in Barbados are deeply rooted in slavery.
I made a comment on CBC radio call in show with Andi Thornhill that (some) Employers in Barbados treat workers just like slaves. Andi indicated that people in the studio did not agree with me and he himself appeared not to agree with me. My statement was in reaction to a news story that a bajan sportsman was fired from his job because he went overseas to represent Barbados successfuly, I might add.I would get little support in this matter for the simple reason that people dont know their History.
The whole situation with SPOUGE (which I shall spell SPOOGE) is a good example of what I am talking about. How can I make the link ?
The production of ART is about confidence in one’s self. One is confident that what one is doing has merit, has value-spirtual or otherwise. One is free to pursue one’s concepts and dreams through the expression of Art. When this pursuit is intercepted by a slave master that insists that work in the fields is the only pursuit in which you should engaged and that Music that you produce is devil music for example, you are left with self doubt.
When this is transposed to the period before independence and you are told that you have no culture, confidence is therefore undermined-you look elsewhere, you hate yourself, you copy others in dress (jacket and tie in a hot climate), in speech patterns, in music and the list can go on.
Undermining of the confidence of Black people was a large part of the strategies used to keep the Black man enslaved.
Blacks were told of their inferiority in many different ways and after emancipation this was forcibly enforced through many different avenues: the denial of education is a good example. The resulting educational structure of discrimination in education that has led to certain inequalties within the society continued the thread of discrimination and self doubt. A youngster because he did not pass for a certain school is made to feel inferior, infused with self doubt and his confidence undermined. Result he potentially becomes a problem in society.
Undermining of the self confidence of the Blacks was the main weapon used by the Slave Masters. Restoring the confidence of our people must be the strategy to move our people forward. Culture must be used as a tool of liberation: Spouge (Spooge) music can be a component of that tool. The TEACHING OF OUR HISTORY IS A MUST. Everyone including the Trade Unions will benefit from the awareness.
Asiba-The Buffalo Soldier-'why should I wear a jacket and tie' // February 1, 2009 at 12:09 pm
“I am begining to loose faith, I am begining to ask myself some serious questions about the strength of Union and I wonder who they represent. Are they really representing the will and the best interest of the workers? Are they really fighting the fight as they should or are they pretending to fight? ”—Investigator —————————————————-The union is the members not the executive up there somewhere in a Building looking down on you reading your mind and solving your problems. You (the worker in general ) must get active.How many persons attend annual general conferences ? How many persons bring resolutions ?
Some workers, maybe the majority have a mendicant attitude. Some of the females-(the majority) are afflicted by the Damsel-in distress-mentality and with the proliferation of women in the workplace some men have been influenced and weakened by this. The result is inertia, the fight seems to have gone out of the collective.
We need to breathe new life into people. The solution is to TEACH OUR HISTORY. People will be scared when they hear how Black people were treated and it will cause some concern but we have to get pass that. For example people would be shocked to learn that during Slavery that pregnant women were flogged by Masters who dug a hole in the ground , put the women face down on the ground with their bellies fitting into the hole and administering the whip. (Ouch !)
We cannot heal a sore by putting plaster on gangrene, we must clean out the pus , it will be smelly, it will be nasty but it will heal in time and of course it will leave a scar but it will live on with a new leash on life.
I expect some uninformed individual to come on and say that I am talking foolishness. I pity the fool !
