Project Independence – After 56 Years - Part 1

​Project Independence – After 56 Years:
The Approaching Years & Context
As we approach the 56th Anniversary this month-end, we have the opportunity once more to reflect on Project Independence with the valuable experience of these years behind us.
I guess the fact that 1962 – the birth of our nation was only 6 years beyond my own coming into being in this world provides me with the excuse or possibility of reflecting on the experience. For the elder ones, their reflections would probably be more profound than mine could ever be.
Like with all worthwhile projects, it is useful to engage in evaluation at points along the timeline to see Where We Were, Where We Are and Where We Are Going. Such evaluation would be most effective if we had Gantt Charts (Project Plans) which would have projected a critical path, the targets of which would be timed and measurable.
What we had at Day One, were more hopes, sentiments and expectations rather than a chartered course for the journey we set out on as a newly-independent nation on August 31, 1962.
A look back at what our circumstances were in the approaching years and the context – internal and international - which would have helped to shape those circumstances would be useful only if to remind us of Where We Were.
The Context of History
It is tempting to go all the way back to the point of European contact with our islands in 1492 to establish context. However, for the purposes of evaluating Project Independence, a more useful starting point may be what might be called the Struggle for Independence 1937 -1962.
That period began with the anti-colonial revolt we call the Butler Riots. This anti-colonial struggle was spread across the nation and linked to similar events in other Caribbean territories.
It was both an economic and political battle which challenged the very foundations of the colonial imposition of the British Empire. Inscribed on its banner were 2 vital slogans – Let Those Who Labour Hold the Reins and the Demand for Home Rule (the call for self-determination).
This Struggle for Independence, of course, was built on the experience of developments and movements of our people in the early years of the 20th Century, extending back to Emancipation.
Here are some mile markers in this important period:

• 1937 – 1939 – the Butler Riots and the legalisation of modern trade unions
• 1939 – 1945 – devastating World War, defeat of the Axis powers, strengthening of US global power, expansion of the Soviet Union and emergence of the Decolonisation Period
• The major boom in the oil industry based on the importance of supply to the British war effort; the leasing of bases to the US on TT soil
• 1946 – first elections under universal suffrage and emergence of parties claiming to represent labour
• 1947 – Constitution Reform recommendations for an elected majority in the Colonial structures of Governance; the emergence of even more political parties and independent candidates
• 1946 onward – the resumption of trade union organisation and industrial action starting with the release of union leaders from detention after the War
• 1955 – 62 the rise of the PNM with its first election victory with 39% of the vote in 1956, forming government and First Chief Minister, the PDP (later DLP) won 20% of the vote. PNM shifted positions in an attempt to widen its political base by supporting strikes, the March on Chaguaramas in 1960, etc.
• 1958 – PNM and Williams instigate racial hostility with remarks about ‘recalcitrant minority’ in an effort to maintain power by using racial division.
• 1961 – Elections involve open racial tension and violence and a State of Emergency. The outcome – PNM won 20 seats and DLP 10 – the establishment of the two-party system
• 1955 – 61 After economic growth of an average of 10% per year, downturn in the economy began in 1961-62 as international oil prices began to fall
• 1960 – major strike in the oil industry and demand for nationalization of the industry.

On to Independence
With this background of emerging economic downturn, the rise of divisive racial tension in politics, cementing of 2-party political and electoral processes, growing strength and militancy of the trade union movement, the Independence Day approached.
This was a development also encouraged by the rapidly successful Decolonisation Movement among the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America which were gaining momentous victories in their struggles for an end to colonial rule.
The successes of Indian Independence (1947), the Chinese Revolution (1949), defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu in Viet Nam (1955), the convening of the Bandung Conference (1955) involving 29 newly independent Asian and African countries, the Cuban Revolution (1959), establishment of the Non-Aligned Movement (1961) – all of these provided more encouragement for countries seeking Independence and accelerated the demise of the British and other European Empires.
The emergence of Cold War and superpower rivalry for world hegemony was also a factor in the context of the situation as August 31, 1962 approached.
It was a complex historical moment, with both positive and negative aspects.
Internally, the demand for Home Rule, for Representative Government, for Nationalisation of the oil industry were all driving the demand for Independence.
However, the emergence of racially divisive politics between the Federal Elections in 1958 and the 1961 Elections, were a negative factor which was to influence the very negotiation of the Constitutional arrangements for Project Independence.
All of these factors would also have a profound effect on the nation-building project that was to begin from Independence Day 1962.
In the next instalment of reflections, I shall examine the commencement of the nation-building project and some of the choices made in and after 1962 and their effect on Project Independence.
 
Clyde A Weatherhead
A Citizen Fighting for
Democratic Renewal of
Our Society
11 August 2018

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