Norris McDonald | Maroon ‘diss-torians’ and US hedge funds Cockpit mining search

Britain’s King George II was so humiliated by the Maroons, in revolutionary guerilla warfare, that in 1739, he was forced to authorise Governor Edward Trelawney Cornwall to sign a treaty with the Maroons, recognising black people’s rights and freedoms.

Richard Hart’s book, Blacks In Rebellion: Slaves Who Abolished Slavery, (2002) provides great clarity, detailed facts, and context in the Maroon revolutionary struggles for freedom.

It was the Coromantee and other Maroons’ military defeat of the Spanish and the British in several guerilla warfare battles that set the stage for the abolition of slavery, Jamaica’s distinguished historian Richard Hart said.

MAROONS ABOLISHED SLAVERY

“The focal point around which the political history of the West Indies revolved for upwards of two centuries were the refusal of large numbers of involuntary migrants from Africa to passively accept their enslavements,” Richard Hart concludes.

Akan, Ghana, Black Africans, were the “involuntary migrants from Africa”, now called Maroons, were invincible, indomitable warriors in the fight to preserve their, our freedom. Blacks In Rebellion: Slaves Who Abolished Slavery, by Richard Hart provides a clear, balanced view of the brave, heroic Maroon struggles.

During the anti-slavery struggle by the Maroons, the British formed black regiments and sent them into battle against the Maroons. Dr Eric Williams’ book From Columbus To Castro: The History of the Caribbean, (1970) explains more about dehumanisation in which black people were pitted against each other.

Dr Williams says that from the very start of the Maroon rebellions, rebellious Maroon leaders such as Juan de Bolas, who surrendered to the British in 1657, was “made a colonel and was put in charge of a military regiment to serve the colonial masters”.

‘These loyal, armed black slaves used by the British to fight the Maroons were called ‘The Black Shots.’ They were paid with Osnaburg (calico garments), food, money, and other inducements.

MODERN-DAY ‘DISS-TORIANS’

Professor Moyston, however, in his Gleaner article “Maroons are No Heroes,” January 13, 2022, brands Maroons as “traitors”. Clearly, if we accept Dr Moyston’s erroneous arguments that ‘Maroons are traitors” – in the domain of common sense – a simple logical implication is that since Coromantee Queen Akan Nanny is a Maroon, then she too must be regarded as a traitor!

But even more unforgivable, Prof Moyston says he strongly supports Prime Minister Andrew Holness taking “the sternest one-sovereignty position” to resolve this apparent duality of political power. Is Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who recently visited Accompong, so much smarter than all former Jamaican political leaders?

Prime Ministers Michael Manley and P.J. Patterson both paid homage to the Maroons’ struggles for freedom. Neither they – Sir Alexander Bustamante, Norman Manley, Hugh Shearer, Edward Seaga – nor Portia Simpson ever attempted to use neo-colonialist ‘brute force’ to the Maroon issues that were excluded from Jamaica’s 1962 political independence constitution?

By advocation the “sternest position” to be taken by PM Andrew Holness, to resolve “sovereignty” matter with Maroons, is Dr Moyston advocating, and defending, autocratic, neo-colonialist solutions

This would truly make Prime Minister Andrew Holness a ‘Great Leader,’ wouldn’t it, Professor Moyston? Let’s hope common sense prevails and PM Holness doesn’t listen to Dr Moyston’s unsolicited advice!

I hope too, that the modern-day ‘diss-torians’ – including ‘priestly types,’ whose churches sanctioned and profited from slavery – go take a ‘chill pill’ and stop jumping on this nationalistic, anti-Maroon bandwagon!

My friends, let’s just forget about Professor Moyston’s ‘his-trionics’ ‘diss-tortions’ and refocus now on the unresolved issues of crime and violence, ‘trust deficiency’, and ‘public corruption’.

AMERICAN HEDGE FUNDS

Why this new, seemingly, well-orchestrated, Machiavellian attacks against Maroons in a situation where rampant crime and violence plaguing Jamaica is not being solved?

Why this sudden interest in Jamaican Maroon culture and way of life?’ Is this some form of Machiavellian samfie, ‘hollow-gow,’ three-card trick to distract the country from the bigger issues of crime and violence, ‘trust deficiency’, and potential ‘political corruption’?

Suss! Suss! Breaking news!

Bloomberg news revealed that American hedge funds have been lining up “to invest money in the extraction of lithium from Jamaican bauxite Red Mud Lakes”. with special interest in the Maroon areas in the Cockpit Country! Wow!

Was Prime Minister Andrew Holness aware of the desire for American hedge funds to invest money in the Cockpit Country?

Well, do you remember the Hon Robert Montague telling the country in May 2021 that “6,000 acres have been signed for Cockpit Country mining”?

The Japan Times of January 9, 2020, reported Minister Montague saying that Jamaica has “signed 27 exploratory mining licenses to look for gold, zinc, copper, and expanding our limestone industry”.

Limestone is now regarded as a strategic mineral for the extraction of silica, aluminium silicate, and lithium by way of ‘limestone-gypsum roasting.’

This number of signed exploratory mining contracts has since reached about 79.

• What role is ‘Scandal-hit Commodity Trading Company Noble Group’ playing in Government’s Cockpit Country mining plans?

• What companies and groups of individuals have signed exploratory mining contracts?

• Are government plans to increase Jamaica’s Cockpit Country mining and seize historical Maroon lands connected to the ‘American Hedge Funds’ desire to invest in Jamaica as Bloomberg News reports?

The global lithium market is now dominated by China, which supplies 92 per cent of American and Europe needs. It is estimated that the lithium market will reach US$1 trillion by 2026.

If the reprocessing of lithium from existing bauxite red muds lakes, – there from 1952 – can be safely done, this would considerably expand Jamaica’s political economic potentials.

However, more transparency is needed!

RACE, CULTURE, NATIONAL IDENTITY

To summarise. Jamaican Maroons helped to create the freedoms we enjoy today. My paternal grandfather and grandmother were Coromantee Maroons and small farmers from the hills of Portland and St Mary. Our Maroon ancestors were brave warriors who fought to abolish slavery! I am proud of my black Coromantee national heritage, culture, and racial identity!

The Government must, therefore, enter meaningful, legal and political bargaining with the Maroons to arrive at a just solution that recognises Maroons settled- land rights, autonomy, political legitimacy, and cultural authenticity.

Brute force would be more acts of grave injustice against our brave ancestors who fought to preserve their freedoms and give us our own!

That is just ‘the bitta truth!’

- Norris McDonald is a respiratory therapist, social researcher, and political analyst. Email feedback columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.