Thursday, 27 December 2012

Dr. Eric Williams Memorial Lecture #14


Disappointments of Manley and Williams Surface
By William Doyle-Marshall
Rachel Manley, award winning author daughter and granddaughter of two former Jamaican Prime Ministers considered her participation in the 14th annual memorial lecture a great honour and a moment of huge personal sentimental pleasure to share a stage with former Trinidad & Tobago Ambassador Reginald Dumas in the glow of celebrations for Trinidad and Tobago’s and Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of independence.
   The annual lecture held in October at Florida International University’s Modesto Maidique campus evoked thought about the vital importance of Dr. Williams’ work. Dr. Heather Russell, Graduate Director of the African and African Diaspora Studies Programme at FIU described Manley and Dumas as two persons whose lives and contributions to Caribbean thought although in different yet intricately related paths, invoke the best imaginings of what not only the Caribbean has been but most importantly what it could be.
                                                              Dr. Eric E. Williams
   In preparing for the lecture Dumas tried to discern threads in Williams’ pattern especially in the twenty years plus between 1960 and his death in 1981 He looked at some of the late Prime Minister’s less-known offerings such as his address to the University of the West Indies Economic Society in Jamaica, February 1963; a lecture at Queen’s College, Guyana the following month and his Noel Buxton lecture at Essex University in 1969.
   Dumas noted that two principal themes emerged clearly consistent as the night follows the day. Independence was the first. It was clear that Williams wanted the political kingdom which his Ghanaian colleague proposed and he brooked no compromise. However in 1960 Dumas reported, he was thinking not of an independent Trinidad and Tobago but of an independent West Indies Federation. Williams also had in mind, the American base in Chaguaramas. The centerpiece of his nationalistic struggle, Dumas observed, was the return of the lands to the people of the twin island republic.
   In Williams’ vision for freedom of his country Dumas noted independence was infinitely more than a national flag and a motto. While these were important symbols, they were by no means enough, Dumas stressed. “Political independence had to be accompanied by economic independence. Independence for Williams went beyond the political and the economic into what is being called the psychological. That is the ability and above all, the willingness to think for oneself and to the extent possible to seek and achieve self-reliance,” Dumas continued.
He recorded as Williams’ greatest disappointment his failure to have Trinidad & Tobago and the Caribbean region attain or even come close to either economic or psychological independence.
   Williams’ dedication to the Caribbean region was his second principal themes around which he functioned and it was intimately linked to his number one interest – independence. “The Caribbean for him meant not only the English-speaking Caribbean but also the region as a whole. This emphasis on the region as distinct from the various colonial and cultural segments there from, continued as a core element thereof, continued as a core element of his world view after the collapse of the West Indies Federation in 1962 and the separate independence of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago,” Dumas reported.
   In speech after speech, lecture after lecture Dumas observed, Eric Williams’ pre-occupation with the twin themes of independence and regional action, in that he repeatedly merged the two with his insistence of the need for a more autonomous Caribbean economy. At the same time he placed independence and regional action within the framework of hemispheric international developments. It was vital to work together, collaborate, to find a common voice to stand on our own two feet, Williams argued.
  Manley referred to her grandfather’s burning of his personal papers as a symbol of his profound heartbreak and announced that she shall return home with renewed determination to get the Manley Memorial Center finally underway in Jamaica. Planning for its establishment has been in the works for decades.
   The history of Jamaica, the history of the other islands of the Caribbean and indeed the United States of America will be forever characterized by the barbaric, evil of slavery, Manley reminded the gathering of scholars. “The Middle Passage symbolizing a nightmare crossing whose waters like Leith, would wipe away all memory, family, country, history, language, religion and tradition,” she continued.
  Manley asked the gathering to bear in mind that she lived close to history but she is not a historian and though she lived embroiled in her family’s politics, she is not a politician. “I am here speaking to a group of academics but I am not an academic. I am a writer so all I can offer as Jamaica turns 50 are musings of an artist: a granddaughter and daughter’s biased view of the years.”
Erica Williams-Connell, daughter of the late Prime Minister, was praised for her energy and dedication as keeper of the flame for promoting the Eric Williams Memorial Collection and the annual lecture.
   Dr. Heather Russell, Graduate Director of the African and African Diaspora Studies Programme at FIU noted that Erica’s commitment continues to be important not just because of Eric Williams’ status as one of the most important world figures of the twentieth century but because when Caribbean nationals measure themselves against his values, ideals and achievements, they are reminded every day that the work of achieving Caribbean sovereignty, dignity and decency for all Caribbean citizens is unfinished work. She thanked publicly Erica for her tireless stewardship and continued commitment to ensuring that the legacy of Eric Eustace Williams continues to thrive.
  Ambassador Dumas said having the annual lecture proves unquestionably that she is in fact a Williams. Her stick-to-itiveness was one of her father’s major characteristics, he acknowledged.
Manley dubbed Erica a “Sister of Circumstance” as she emphasized her remarkable job of preserving her father’s legacy. “Over the years it has been an inspiration and a call to conscience when it comes to my own grand father’s legacy,” Manley affirmed.
December 27, 2012

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