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What do the 1937 riots, the 1970 Black Power revolution, the 1990 attempted coup, and the current crime wave have in common? They are all eruptions of dissatisfaction over the distribution of the national income earned from our energy sector.
We will continue to have these episodes until we reset our expectations and learn to manage and transform our economy as a nation.
The square was a popular gathering point for Black Power activists in the city.
(Copyright AP Photo)
Like all Rentier economies, ours is significantly different from others. National wealth comes from the exploitation of natural resources by foreign firms that either own the natural resource-based activities or control the technology used and markets in which the output is sold.
Their taxes form the state’s earnings. The government then divides these funds as it deems necessary.
This is the reverse of what usually happens in other economies. Katouzian (1981) points out that the state allocates the funds, causing the entire system—economic, social and political—to depend on its strategy for public expenditure.
Two issues arise from this arrangement. Firstly, there is the clique of parasitic, non-productive elites, who barter support for political parties in exchange for control over the national income.
In 1994, Basdeo Panday had this to say: “…the drug lords were working in collusion with the ‘parasitic oligarchy’ and the ‘corrupt’ PNM government. Sometimes, they think they are white, and because of that, they hold sway in the country.
“Indeed, the black managerial class only had office, but the parasitic oligarchy had the power… every five years, the black masses win the elections, but the oligarchy wins the government.”
We saw behind the sordid curtain of campaign financing with the court case between Jack Warner and Krishna Lalla. Justice Frank Rampersad said: “In the absence of regulations, financiers can legitimately purchase goodwill and exercise undue influence over politicians and political parties.”
The second is the bulk of the population must be made to believe that this national wealth is never-ending. The thinking is that we may run low on funds, but more will soon come. Another discovery is always promised.
(Copyright AFP 2017/ Federico Parra)
Nowadays, the Dragon and associated fields are the next horizon. An awareness that this wealth is non-sustainable can lead to calls for economic transformation or violence.
Both George Chambers and Selby Wilson learned the hard way that the population was not ready to adjust their ways.
George Chambers, the country’s second prime minister, stood firm in the build-up to the 1986 general election in the face of demands from public servants who wanted a 15 per cent increase in salary.
(via Caribbean National Weekly)
He refused to budge from his offer of not exceeding six per cent. As a result, the PNM suffered a humiliating 33-3 defeat.
Mr Wilson, the finance minister of the National Alliance for Reconstruction Government, admitted that the public servants’ salary cuts and suspension of their Cost of Living Allowances may have been bitter pills to swallow.
But he maintained that: “had we not implemented the economic measures, things would have been more painful and detrimental to the country.”
Using Venezuela as a test case, Dudley Seers explained the dynamics inherent in economies such as ours:
“[…] If oil exports level off… The conflict of interests between petroleum companies, trade unions, local farmers, manufacturers, importers and the unemployed, which can be accommodated in a rapidly expanding economy, is suddenly exposed, and tensions mount.
“A petroleum economy has a potentially explosive character … One is tempted to say that the mechanism of a petroleum economy resembles a bomb. (Seers, 1961:236).”
In 1937, Tubal Uriah Butler confronted Colonel HCB Hickling, the managing director of the Apex Oilfields who also represented the government, regarding what Butler deemed “starvation wages”.
Butler was unhappy with the efforts of Captain Cipriani, who was leading the union representing the workers. Butler’s proposed meeting on 19 June 1937 was interrupted by gunfire from the Volunteer Army.
Apart from Police Corporal Charlie King, 14 people were killed, 59 wounded, and hundreds were arrested. Inspector Bradburn was shot and killed, and the police were driven out of Fyzabad.
We should note the confluence between the government and the oil company. It is instructive that impatience with the pace of negotiations can trigger more strident protests. Pain, felt at the national level, often can lead to expressions of violence.
In April 1970, the argument was the same. Black Power was a response to racism but also the harmful socioeconomic effects of colonialism and imperialism. Even though the country had gained independence in 1962, the foreign oil and sugar companies had remained in control of the economy.
Threats by Karl Hudson-Phillips, the attorney-general, did not work. The 23 March promises of Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams did not calm the waters.
(Courtesy Embau Moheni/NJAC)
The leaders of the movement, the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), were motivated by ideology. Jennifer Jones-Kernahan remarked: “1970 had its antecedents in the dashed hopes of what independence would mean: a better quality of life, better opportunities for employment.” (Hebert, 2016).
Andrea Jacob, a woman leader of the National United Freedom Fighters (NUFF), reminisced in her recent book, Andrea’s Journey: From Freedom Fighter to True Liberation:
“[…] These young men were not ordinary criminals but were people with a vision for a better society and a better world…” (2024: 45)
(Copyright Apoesho Mutope/ NJAC)
The 1990 event resulted from the economic decline of the previous four years. The National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) administration promised to “reflate” the economy.
In the first Budget speech, ANR Robinson assured that his government would not go to the IMF. He did within two years. A tragic outcome was the acceptance of the “Washington Consensus”, which increased social inequalities and reduced support for low-income people (Reddock, 2022).
A significant difference between 1970 and 1990 was the character of the agitated crowd. The intellectual ideologues gave way to the unemployed masses and reportedly some middle-income folk. Raoul Pantin described the men as “little, hungry, lost boys”. (2007: 139)
The ethnic split within the NAR Government was another issue. The division between the ethnic groups had widened since the 1970 marches. According to Selby Wilson: “[…] the Panday faction was finding it difficult to keep their followers and supporters happy, and their response was to bring up the race element in the politics.”
Another remarkable feature was the tone of the anger against the political leaders: their physical fates were deemed unimportant. According to the Commission of Enquiry: “… during the six days of captivity, the MPs were the victims of unspeakable indignities.”
In a London School of Economics Crisis States paper (2002), the link between tax evasion, gang warfare and citizen insecurity in Rentier economies is put forward.
“[…] Gang murder, like tax evasion, is surely an instance of a failure to accept the political rules of the game (ie, thou shall not commit murder) and thus constitutes, in part, a rebellion against the institutional structure of the state…”
Furthermore, it is not clear that political violence only involves deaths related to rebellion against the state. Since the state is the set of institutions in charge of defending the rule of law, the inability of the state to defend citizens from violent aggression from other civil society members constitutes a form of political violence.
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