Black Power Revolution 1970 – a cry for people power, unity
EMBAU MOHENI
Servant President of NJAC
TODAY, April 21, marks the 51st anniversary of the declaration of the first State of Emergency (SOE) during the Trinidad and Tobago Revolution of 1970.
This revolution, also referred to as the Black Power Revolution of 1970 was led by the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), under the visionary leadership of the late chief servant Makandal Daaga (then Geddes Granger), for a new and just society in TT.
The events of this day were preceded by a series of mass demonstrations which included the well-known March to Caroni on March 12, 1970, when thousands of people from the urban communities in north Trinidad marched to central Trinidad in solidarity with their East Indian brothers and sisters.
NJAC: ‘Special Branch incited the violence [to] give gov’t an excuse’ remembering 21 April 1970
Wednesday 21 April 2021
Thursday 7 January 2021
Wednesday 4 November 2020
Tuesday 20 April 2021 Breaking News
NJAC: ‘Special Branch incited the violence [to] give gov’t an excuse’ remembering 21 April 1970
“[…] With the declaration of the SOE on Tuesday 21 April 1970, [Makandal] Daaga and other members of the NJAC leadership, were detained on Nelson Island and at the Royal Jail.
“In the ensuing months, a reign of terror was released on the population. A dusk to dawn curfew was imposed, from which several persons suffered detention, often with physical brutality…”
The following is a release from the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) on the 51st anniversary of the 1970 uprising:
Demming: T&T must free collective imagination beyond ‘lower-level basic needs’
Crime and the lack of personal security have featured in calypso through the years. For example Caruso’s ‘Gun Slingers’ (1959) celebrates ‘beating them [criminals] with the cat’ while Sparrow’s ‘Royal Jail’ (1961) is about revenge as captured in the line ‘licks for them criminals’.
If calypso is the people’s commentator, the quality has evolved as has the nature of our problems. Unfortunately, the recurrent themes of crime and personal security are still present in today’s media headlines with the following added: water scarcity, a poor economy, rising food prices and inadequate transportation.