CAPE CARIBBEAN STUDIES

2020-21
MODULE 1
RESPONSES TO OPPRESSION AND GENOCIDE
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE NEWS?
WHAT IS OPPRESSION?
Before we can understand the
responses of the Caribbean
people that occurred because
of oppression we must first
understand the meaning of the
word. So…what is oppression?
Oppression, simply put, is the
exercise of authority or power
in a burdensome, cruel, or
unjust manner.
WHAT IS OPPRESSION?

Oppression, simply put, is

the exercise of authority or
power in a burdensome,
cruel, or unjust manner.
How were Caribbean Natives Oppressed?

• We must revisit the history of slavery where the oppression of Caribbean natives
originated; the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the introduction of the
Encomienda System among other forms of oppressive actions;
• Since the coming of the Europeans the history of the Caribbean has been plagued
by violence and genocide;
• His desire for expansion and trade led to the settlement of the colonies. The
indigenous peoples, mostly peaceful Tainos and warlike Caribs, proved to be
unsuitable for slave labour in the newly formed plantations, and most were
quickly and brutally annihilated.
OPPRESSION AND THE GENOCIDE OF THE
TAINO NATION.
• Tainos were oppressed by Kalinagos through raids and enslavement.
• Tainos were oppressed by Spaniards through the Encomienda System- overworked,
beaten tortured, killed.
• Apart from warfare, the Tainos also resisted the Spaniards by running away and
withdrawing from settled areas so that the encomienda could not be enforced.
• They also resorted to suicide and sabotage.
• Deprived of their crops and fields, many fell prey to diseases such as dysentery and
typhus, were worked to death or were left to starve to death. After the death of
Columbus his terrible legacy would live on, by 1514, a census showed only 22,000
Taino remained alive. By 1542 there were only 200 remaining and after they were
considered extinct, as was becoming more and more the case throughout the
Caribbean basin.
OPPRESSION AND THE GENOCIDE OF THE
KALINAGO NATION.

• Their tactical responses were well suited to the mountainous terrain of

their islands, where they could engage in guerilla warfare.
• The Europeans could not fully subdue the Kalinago's, they established
treaties that ensured their survival as a race.
• The Caribs were drove off the following islands due to intimidation from
the Europeans and their weapons: Dominica and Grenada
• In St. Vincent they intermixed with Africans to form the group known as
Black Caribs, who later migrated to the coast of Belize.
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN

• Tainos resisted the Spaniards by running away and withdrawing from the
settled areas so that the encomienda could not be enforced;
• They resorted to sabotage and suicide;
• The Caribs were more warlike and more likely to put up resistance as
opposed to the Tainos
RESISTANCE AND REVOLTS
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN

• Given the fact as a result of slavery the use of physical violence and death
was not the only force used to compound slavery. Some degree of
‘brainwashing’ was also used.
• Resistance has to be understood against this peculiar background – that it
would take both active and passive forms, and that sometimes it would not
even be understood as resistance.
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN

• The slave resistance to their condition was

an everyday feature of their lives, ranging
from working or obeying orders as slowly as
possible to full-scale rebellion involving
murder and the destruction of property.
• This shaped the form of plantation society
and turned slavery into an inefficient
economic system.
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN
• By the early years of the nineteenth century such prolonged and
continuous resistance had made it obvious that slaves could never
become efficient or willing workers, no be ruled without ever
increasing repression.
• Their perseverance played a great part in bringing an end to chattel
slavery as an institution.
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN
Responses:
• Migration: to Greater Antilles by Tainos; to urban centers by indentured
servants; other countries by present day people.
• Passive resistance: pretense (deaf, lack of understanding of oppressors
language, fake illnesses, malingering , satirize /mimic European lifestyle,
suicide, infanticide,)
• Active resistance: Destruction of property (maiming of animals, damage to
machine burning of fields); killing of overseers; riots and rebellions: attack on
La Navidad (Amerindians), 1831 Christmas Rebellion, Maroon wars, Haitian
Revolution, Berbic revolt, Bussa revolt, Bush Negro uprising, Tacky Rebellion,
Guadeloupe blow up
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN

Responses:
•Marronage - escape to hills, wage wars- attacks and raids),
• Purchase contracts thus freeing themselves, went into business
(indentured servants}
• Accepted Christianity or practiced African religion (voodoo, obeah,
myalism).
• Today: demonstrations, riots, looting & burning, protest songs, radio talk
show debates, strikes, 'sick out', 'go slow' etc.
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN

Cultural Resistance:
• Europeans made a priority of wiping out different aspects of African
culture in order to substitute European culture.
• Africans continued to do the following:
1. Use African Words
2. They infused African religions onto Christianity
3. Practiced story telling, such as Anansi stories
4. They made up songs and dances that mocked their oppressors
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN

Passive Resistance:
• Slow working and malingering.
• Pretending ignorance.
• Deliberate carelessness, or carelessness. resulting from a casual attitude
which usually went undetected but caused trouble later.
• Pretending to be ill.
• Telling lies to avoid doing something or to create confusion.
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN

Armed Resistance:
• More active forms of resistance were practiced, but not on a wide scale
because many Africans had few weapons and could not communicate
effectively;
• Isolated incidents were common for example an African being a threat to
the whites, through poisoning by their slaves.
• Rebellions that grew into full-scale revolutions, the most famous and
successful revolt was the Haitian Revolution.
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN
Armed Resistance:
• Major acts of active resistance were rare because of the penalties, but
there were many major acts of sabotage.
• Damaging and destroying the owner’s property by disabling the farm
machinery.
• Maiming and killing of livestock
• Petty stealing of estate property caused inconvenience and expense to the
owner as well as a personal gain to the slaves.
Colony and name of St Dominque/Haiti: Haitian
rebellion Revolution
Colonial Ruler France
Main Leaders -Toussaint L’Ouverture,
-Jean-Jacques Dessalines
-Henri Christophe
Date 1791-1804
Main Causes Disenfranchisement of the
Haitian mulattos be Haitian and
metropolitan whites-all non
whites were excluded from most
white privileges and practices.
Outcomes Escalated in war with France and
350,000 were killed by 1804.
victory for the rebels resulted in
most whites being expelled from
the colony and the first black-led
republic in the Caribbean.
Barbados: Barbados Guyana: Demerera Rebellion Jamaica: Christmas
Rebellion Rebellion/Baptist War
Britain Britain Britain
Bussa and Nanny Grigg Jack Gladstone and His Father, Samuel Sharpe
Quamina
1816 18-19 August 1823 1831-1832
An attempt to About 10,000 slaves protesting poor The belief King William had
overthrow the British treatment and the desire for freedom. granted emancipation led
planters, gain freedom Slaves mistakenly though they were to 60,000 slaves in revolt
and take control of the legally freed by Britain and were being demanding more freedom
island illegally detained by their masters. and a working wage.
One quarter of the The rebellion was brutally crushed More than 500 slaves and
island’s sugar crop was and approximately 250 slaves were 14 whites were killed, and
destroyed and nearly killed. the economic damage was
1,000 rebels were killed. estimated at more that 1.5
More than 200 were million pounds at the time.
tried and executed.
 The indentureship system of production
became widespread in the years following the
ending of African slavery in 1834.

RESISTANCE AND It was mainly in the larger British colonies after

the failed attempts to recruit and use
European indentured labourers and the ending
RESPONSES TO THE of Apprenticeship in 1838.

INDENTURSHIP It involved the recruitment of labourers from

China India to work on plantations on a
contractual basis.
SYSTEM
The contracts lasted 4-5 years
 Many labourers became frustrated with their
strained relationship with the planters and
abandoned their contracts prematurely to work
for their peers who settled and started their
own business.
RESISTANCE AND
RESPONSES OF The planter policy to segregate Asian and
African workers under the principle of divide
and rule led to additional racial tension
INDENTURED between both groups.

SCHEMES Reports of abuse and comparisons to slavery

did nothing to promote the system in the eyes
of potential migrants or their governments.
Both Chinese and Indian Governments later
pulled their endorsement of the system.
RESISTANCE AND REVOLT TO EUROPEAN
FORMS OF OPPRESSION IN THE CARIBBEAN
Video Representation of Slave Resistance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHIq1LWpEbY