Auferre trucidare, rapere falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. (They ravage , pillage & plunder, this in the name of empire; they make a desolation & call it peace.) The Roman historian Tacitus, his scathing commentary on what the Romans called the Pax Romana. For many people, not least Trinis, it may come as a surprise that there is a Carib community still existing in Trinidad at all. For what we were taught at school from our history books is that the Amerindians sickened & died, as if it occurred without European agency, as if they suddenly & unaccountably succumbed to something like the Black Death. Walking through Cantaro village where I grew up as a boy, streets & settlements resounded the footfall of the first People, with names like Cutucupano & Hololo.The foods, arepe & pastel reflected the same, as did the vocalization in how parang was sung, the carat, timite & adobe with which some dwellings left standing were built; no mention of things which have come down to us unacknowledged: the hammock & the barbecue to name just two. It puts me in mind of the sad, soul-stirring speech of Chief Seattle & his reflections upon irretrievable loss , inevitable capitulation to a new world order. But all is not lost as you will see below, & I encourage the support of any RedPower project, to restore to the original owners of the Caribbean a measure of their dignity.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 08:45:09 +0000
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