Raffique Shah, 1970s army mutineer, is calling on Prime Minister Patrick Manning to apologise for saying he doesn't know from where the UNC "dredged" up Makandal Daaga, leader of the NJAC. "It's a disrespectful and derogatory statement and a bad example for our children. Daaga is a hero in our country," Shah said. "Daaga has made a significant contribution. That's why Manning and others with him can be where they are today." Shah, who met Daaga during one of his two six-month stints in prison for acts during the Black Power Revolution, recalled: "We never had a close associaton. "I was part of the army mutiny in 1970 and he was on the streets. "1970 triggered mass social and economic changes in the country."
"Even Dr Eric Williams, in the wake of 1970, actually agreed with the number of issues raised during the Black Power Revolution. "He recognised that what they were crying out for was legitimate. "Blacks and Indians were coming out of school with O-Levels and couldn't get work. "Unemployment was 25 per cent. Youth unemployment was 40 per cent. After 1970, doors were opened." Shah said the Black Power Revolution was a global movement and was influenced by what was happening in America where Trinidadian, Stokely Carmichael, was at the forefront of the struggle after the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King.
To illustrate the extent to which Daaga wielded influence among the people at the time, Shah recalled the funeral of Basil Davis, who was killed by the police during the revolution, at the San Juan cemetery on April 9, 1970. "There was a reported 50,000 people at that funeral. The funeral was in San Juan but people were still in Barataria. "Manning has never done anything like this in his whole life. Daaga earned his fame." Shah believes, however, that Daaga may have some problems rekindling that spirit of 1970 because of the mental state of the nation. "I think the Opposition is probably hoping he can rekindle that spirit of struggle among young, Black people in the East/West Corridor and lift them out of that negative approach to life. "But everybody has gone so materialistic."
What they say
The presence of Daaga on the UNC platform will strengthen the coalition's show of unity, political scientist, Dr Bishnu Ragoonath says. "They are trying to suggest that they are bringing all the critical anti-PNM groups in T&T together. "The coalition is supposed to unite the country in the flavour of the one love of 1986, all races in one." Ragoonath said NJAC was being brought back, not as a party as such. "It could best be described as a pressure group. The NJAC of today is not the NJAC of the 1970s, which promoted African/Indian unity."
"Post-1970, NJAC turned out to be an Afro-centric party rather than a mass-based organisation. "And when the party comes together with the majority Indo-based UNC, it presents a show of unity with the races," Ragoonath said. Political scientist, Indira Rampersad, thinks Daaga has "considerable symbolic value" on an Opposition platform. "Part of the reason for the coalition is to draw various segments of the society together, to break down the ethnic divide. "Daaga is a bid (by the Opposition) to court the Afro-Trini vote while breaking down the divide between Indians and Africans, particularly in the marginal seats of Tunapuna and San Fernando West.
Rampersad believes that, given the historical role Daaga played in attempting to unify the races in the 1970s, he will touch a lot of people on the election platform.