Respect D Tribe

Two weeks ago, when I wrote about my 50th anniversary in the journalistic field, I had promised a follow-up last week. I was not able to fulfil that promise, and I got some good licks (second-hand) from an avid reader for not keeping my promise. All I can say by way of explanation that it often happens in the field of journalism, especially when you only have one column, for your plans to be overtaken by current-day events, in this case Shafiqua and the Olympics. Nevertheless, my apologies.

So back to fulfilling my promise. When I embarked on my journalistic career, it was not just narrow journalism.

It was giving expression in the print medium (those days in a stencilled form rather than formal print which we could not afford) to a political commitment. The paper I edited (and substantially wrote) also represented a new stage in not just my political involvement but in the political evolution of our country.

FREEDOM, beginning on August 1, 1974, also signalled the launch of a new political movement, YULIMO (Youlou United Liberation Movement) formed primarily by the merger of two small “Black Power” organizations, (OBCA and BLAC) and a small socialist one, the Young Socialists Group (YSG). It was a significant development in our political history though we did not realize it at the time. Up until then, the progressive political organizations had largely been protest movements concentrating on fighting injustice and claiming human rights. These activities continued under YULIMO, but it also signalled that one of its major objectives was, via FREEDOM, “the education and mobilization of our people for the revolutionary tasks ahead”. It may have sounded romantic then, but we set ourselves the task of achieving political power so we could address the critical problems facing people and country.

Also of major significance is that these ambitious young people identified the end of colonialism and the achievement of independence for our country as a major task. This was at a time when most Vincentians were almost afraid of such a step, accepting the colonial view that we could not take care of ourselves, a view also then held by all our politicians, whether Government or Opposition. We also differed from the existing politicians in the expressed commitment to “the involvement of the masses in decisions which affect their lives”, in other words, popular democracy.

The most remarkable aspect though is that this was essentially a movement of young people, all below the age of 30 at the time. When YULIMO was launched, Mike Browne was the only university graduate associated with the movement. Yet this did not dampen ambitions about the need to achieve political power. Today, with all the educational accomplishments of our young graduates, they seem afraid, lack confidence, unprepared to make the sacrifices necessary for independent political organization, preferring to hinge their ambitions on the fortunes of the existing parties.

It was the boldness of these young “nonentities”, their remarkable commitment and above all self-sacrifice, which laid the basis of the remarkable transformation we have seen in our country for the past two decades- far from perfect but laying the basis for impetus and improvement. “D Tribe”, as I fondly refer to them, by the demonstration of their commitment, was able to attract further intellectual capital of the likes of the late Ronnie Saunders and his brother, CCJ Head, Justice Adrian Saunders among others. It was able to convince the intellectual Democratic Freedom Movement of the likes of the late Dr Kenneth John, P.R. Campbell as well as Carlyle Dougan, to put aside their middle-class hesitations and take the plunge in 1979. And of course, there was our current Prime Minister Dr Ralph

Gonsalves, who did not just join PPP or Labour but by 1976 joined the unfancied YULIMO and played a major part both in its development and its merger into the UPM which he led into the 1979 general elections.

Yet it was the solid, unreserved commitment of “D Tribe” that anchored it. A solid group of young men, and women, frequented our party office, the only one in the history of our country which functioned outside the context of general elections, without financial or material resources. It was this group which organized countless pickets and mass demonstrations, produced and sold FREEDOM on hungry bellies, sometimes working through the night and then hitting the road to sell the papers.

We organized public meetings in little rural communities which only saw politicians at election time. I can never forget the enthusiastic reaction of the little village of Riley, a community then without electricity, when we not only with the use of a car battery held a public meeting there, but also put on a film show, The film show experience, often showing films from the African liberation struggle, was a great mobilizer, whether in the Kingstown Market Square or rural communities including “over the Dry River”.

D Tribe, with the equally committed participation of our cultural artistes led by “Blazer Williams’ New Artists Movement (NAM), on Sundays visited communities in rural areas and Kingstown, bringing cultural entertainment at a time when TV and internet were non-existent.

There were others, not so visible, but equally valuable. Among these, special mention must go to our female administrators/typists Erica Morgan/Nicholls and my own wife, Ancelma. I will later expound on this vital contribution of women.

(To be continued next week)

• Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.