TOMORROW is celebrated as Emancipation Day in Jamaica. Even today, in light of our abject failure since 1962 to complete the process towards psychological liberation or full-free, to many Jamaican patriots this milestone bears more cultural significance than does Independence Day on August 6.

That is because August 1 symbolises the culmination of the pre-emancipation struggles of the Jamaican people, in eventually overturning, against all odds, what was essentially a ruthless, genocidal system against the black race.

For generations throughout slavery, our British colonial masters, in their quest for perpetual, absolute dominance over us, had systematically attempted to implant into our subconscious intolerance of our diversified and unique features, a derision of our African heritage and culture, and a penchant to mimic that of our oppressors, bleach our minds, and equate it to enlightenment. Unfortunately, even after Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley and reggae music have revealed so much about the true African contribution to world history and development, this trait persists among large segments of our populations, across the social classes, and certainly within the state apparatus.

This capitulation of the British was ultimately spurred, in large part, by the last, wellorganised, extensive slave revolt, led by Daddy Sam Sharpe that enveloped most parishes in the south, west and north-western regions of Jamaica, on some of the most profitable estates.

Make no bones about it, however, the Jamaican Maroons had fought hard against the Spanish, followed by a bitter 80-year war against the British whom they defeated decisively, time and time again, forcing them to sue for peace. In so doing, the Maroons finally won their physical freedom, negotiated, expanded and retained control of their independent territories, over 100 years earlier.

In fact, if truth be told, ever since the imposition of chattel slavery on Jamaica, purely to create the surplus that drove the British industrial revolution, and for the economic aggrandisement of the British oligarchy, the plantocracy was never allowed to attain total dominance or achieve peace islandwide. The estates, and by extension the system, was undermined, sabotaged, and disrupted many times, in open revolt. The English authorities and their local surrogates — the plantation owners — had endured, but were losing more and more ground and morale against a determined, considerable and continuous rebellion throughout the 300 years that slavery officially lasted. For this reason, our nation is deeply indebted to our illustrious ancestors for their sacrifices and struggles. Sadly, however, most of us over 50 years of age were then compelled in school, to learn about our history through the eyes, interpretation and books written by the British and their apologists.

In an official attempt to right the omissions of those history books, and give a more objective account of our history, since independence, the Jamaican state has seen it fit to anoint as national heroes, some pivotal, symbolic leaders of our fight against foreign domination and slavery. This includes Nanny of the windward Maroons, who was responsible of the first defeat in battle of the (then) modern British army, and Sam Sharpe, who was defeated by betrayal, but delivered a mortal psychological wound to the British oligarchy, and a crippling depletion through mass desertions from its armed forces. From the immediate post-emancipation period, our National Heroes are Paul Bogle — the leader of a peasant revolt the shook the foundations of the British empire and led to the re-institution of direct rule from London to the ire of the local despotic ruling class who were tricking the masses back into slavery, and George William Gordon, whom they feared more for his increasingly successful mutual security schemes and the economic wealth and independence it was creating among the peasantry, than his direct association with Bogle.

Customarily, we commemorate Emancipation Day in Jamaica mainly through fairs and vigils, largely incorporating traditional art forms. This is very appropriate since these art forms were utilised during slavery, not only for their aesthetic values, but to deliver encoded messages in the developing Jamaican dialect, to communicate critical information, explain and promote planned strategies and tactics for insurrection activities, in language ‘backra’ could not easily decipher.

Throughout our history, the artiste community has been at the forefront and in the vanguard of our striving to liberate ourselves physically and psychologically. It is little wonder then, that reggae has emerged as an outgrowth, to continue this glorious tradition, as we have become a beacon of hope to the oppressed — including indigenous and aboriginal — people all over the world. I wish for everyone, even those yearning for a return to British rule, Happy Emancipation Day and Independence when it comes.

Email: che.campbell@gmail.com