Milestones in 2017
Happy New Year! This year, 2017, has many interesting milestones that should be observed this year. I will make mention of only a few from a rather long list:
• The Port Royal earthquake occurred 325 years ago in 1692.
• The establishment of the parish of Kingston took place 325 years ago, in 1692, as a result of the evacuation from Port Royal following the earthquake.
• Destruction of the district of St David, near Llandewey, St Thomas, was 325 years ago, in 1692, by the same earthquake that destroyed Port Royal.
It is amazing that fishermen still live on beaches rather than travel from inland, given our history of earthquakes. The German Philosopher Georg Hegel (1770-1831) said: “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.”
Every Jamaican should take a trip to Judgment Cliff to understand what can happen in an earthquake. Judgment Cliff should really be marketed as a tourist attraction.
• The establishment of the Roman Catholic Vicariate of Jamaica was 180 years ago, 1837. The English banned the Roman Catholic Church in Jamaica between 1655 and 1791.
• The great earthquake destroyed Kingston 110 years ago in 1907. This is why there is a building code in Kingston and St Andrew.
• The Russian Revolution 100 years ago, in 1917, had effects of the Cold War that were felt in Jamaica.
If the communist Soviet Union did not come about as a result of the revolution, there would have been no Cold War between the Soviet Union with the United States of America after World War II. Also, there would have been no missile crisis in Cuba in 1962, which threatened our existence only months before Jamaica gained Independence 55 years ago this year.
And when Michael Manley announced his policy of non-alignment which in effect freed the Jamaican Government to trade with whoever it wished, there would not have been the ‘cold shoulder’ by the USA to Jamaica during that period. Many Jamaicans believed that the then Government was destabilised.
• The establishment of Jamaica Welfare (now Social Development Commission) 80 years ago in 1937.
• The establishment of the
Public Opinion newspaper in 1937.
• The establishment of the Council for Voluntary Social Services 75 years ago, in 1942.
• The establishment of the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League, 75 years ago, in 1942.
• The establishment of Carib Cement Company 65 years ago, in 1952, which revolutionised the way buildings were constructed in Jamaica.
There is a connection that the above four milestones have on the modern history of Jamaica. National Hero Norman Washington Manley, established Jamaica Welfare. At the time, the elder Manley was the attorney for the Jamaica Banana Producers Co-operative. The aim of Jamaica Welfare was to encourage the workers to return to the countryside to plant bananas following the disease that wiped out crops in the 1930s.
Jamaica Welfare had self-help housing, each-one-teach-one adult literacy, and established several co-operatives. Established in 1937, it pre-dated the establishment of our first modern trade union and modern political party in 1938.
The ferment extended to the early 1940s when credit unions were set up by the Roman Catholic Church, which also set up the first housing scheme at Homestead in Bamboo, St Ann, in the late 1940s. Father Ray Sullivan supervised the construction of a cement quarry to build the houses. This was before the establishment of the Carib Cement Company in 1952.
Carib Cement Company played a key role in the construction of nearly all housing schemes in Jamaica, creating homes so necessary for families. All of this was in keeping with the vision for a new Jamaica being espoused and the Public Opinion newspaper was focused on exactly this.
• The expulsion of the Four H’s (Ken Hill, Frank Hill, Richard Hart and Arthur Henry) from the People’s National Party took place 65 years ago, in 1952, after they were accused of being communists.
• The earthquake that hit Kingston 60 years ago, in 1957, damaged the lone Richter scale in Jamaica (which was then located at St George’s College), so it was not recorded. A building code was established by the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation after the 1907 earthquake. The 1957 earthquake was a strong shake, but with little damage — and no record on the Richter scale — we do not hear much about it.
• The Kendal train crash occurred 60 years ago this year on September 1, 1957, killing 186 people. The allegation was that robbers and vandals who pulled out the brake wires caused the crash. The 20-year-old vandals on that train would be 80 years old this year if still alive.
• The first changing of the political guard began 50 years ago in 1967 when Donald Sangster succeeded Sir Alexander Bustamante as prime minister. Sangster died after 48 days in office and was succeeded by Hugh Shearer.
• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kingston (elevated in 1956 from a vicariate) was further elevated into an archdiocese 50 years ago in 1967.
• The Roman Catholic Diocese of Montego Bay was established 50 years ago in 1967.
• The Roman Catholic Vicariate of Mandeville, established in 1991 was elevated to a diocese 20 years ago in 1997.
• The launch of constitutional reform took place 40 years ago in Morant Bay on the day the four sevens clashed (July 7, 1977), but Jamaica still does not have real constitutional reform.
• Sir Alexander Bustamante died 44 years ago in 1977.
• P J Patterson became prime minister 25 years ago, in 1992.
• Former Prime Minister Michael Manley died 20 years ago in 1997.
• Ten years ago, in 2007, Bruce Golding became prime minister of Jamaica, leading the Jamaica Labour Party to power after 18 years and six months of People’s National Party rule, which spanned four terms in office.
Constitutional reform should never have been delayed as a political tool to force the former Government into a referendum on the Caribbean Court of Appeal. But we Jamaicans should have demanded better from our politicians. Doing so in future should be our first new year’s resolution.
ekrubm765@yahoo.com