Maroons unite in defence of Cockpit Country
Garfield Myers , Editor-at-Large South/Central Bureau
Monday, January 08, 2007

Accompong Maroon elder Melville Currie addressing the large crowd of Maroons and visitors at Accompong Town's annual January 6 celebration on Saturday. Currie insisted that the Cockpit Country belonged to the Maroons and said they were prepared to fight to prevent it being mined by bauxite companies. (Photo: Lionel Rookwood) [align=justify]Accompong Town, St Elizabeth - Maroons from across Jamaica came together in Accompong Town for the annual January 6 celebration on Saturday, insisting they would not allow bauxite mining or any other form of "environmental destruction" in the Cockpit Country.[/align] [align=justify]They also assertively called for reparations to Africans who have suffered from the effects of slavery for close to 500 years.[/align] [align=justify]Accompong Maroon elder Melville Currie led the charge in defence of the Cockpit Country, insisting that the "the Cockpit Country is our country" and "we are prepared to live and fight for the Cockpit Country" so that "as our forefathers's children passed it unto us we want to pass it on to our children's children."[/align] [align=justify]Similar sentiments came from Accompong chief Colonel Sidney Peddie, and the chiefs of the Windward Maroons, Colonel Wallace Sterling of the Moore Town Maroons in Portland, Colonel Frank Lumsden of Charles Town in Portland and Colonel Noel Prehay of Scotts Hall in St Mary.[/align] [align=justify]While there was much emphasis on preservation of the Cockpits in the face of moves to prospect for bauxite there, Maroon chiefs also took note of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade this year and called for "reparations" from the former slave holders.[/align] [align=justify]Watched by a large audience including British High Commissioner Jeremy Cresswell, who had earlier brought greetings on behalf of his country, Prehay likened the enslavement of Africans to the massive genocidal actions against Jews in the last century, noting that the Jews have been compensated.[/align] [align=justify]"We were abducted, and abduction is a crime by law, .I want to ask you people now if the black people are neuter gender, and the Jews are common genders, why they (Europeans) compensate them and don't compensate us.," said Prehay.[/align] [align=justify]The Maroon gathering, or 'Quanza', was part of the 269th celebration at Accompong Town located in the southern region of the Cockpit Country in northern St Elizabeth to mark the signing of a peace treaty between the British and the Leeward Maroons in the late 1730s.[/align] [align=justify]The Windward Maroons made peace with the British some time later. The Maroons are the descendants of slaves from West Africa freed by the Spaniards when they were ousted by the British in 1655, as well as those who escaped from British slave owners. Using Jamaica's ruggedly mountainous interior as cover, the Maroons fought the British colonisers for decades.[/align] [align=justify]As usual with the January 6th celebrations, thousands of people, Maroons as well as outsiders, converged on Accompong Town on Saturday to witness ancient Maroon rituals and to experience what has become, over the years, a massive party complete with popular music and vending of goods of every description.[/align] [align=justify]Arguing that "The Maroons are not leaving the Cockpits because our forefathers fought for it", Currie suggested that the British had a responsibility to inform the Jamaican Government that the treaty signed back in the 1730s was between "sovereign" peoples and should be respected.
He insisted that contrary to the long-held public view that Accompong Town was a part of St Elizabeth, the Maroon village and the surrounding Cockpits were a "sovereign" and separate area surrounded by the parishes of St Elizabeth, Trelawny and St James and should be treated as such.
Currie and other Maroon leaders spoke to the economic benefits from sustainable development of the Cockpits, including its potential for eco-tourism, organic farming and the pharmaceutical industry.[/align] [align=justify]"The Cockpit produces any medical herb that you can think of. it is in these woods," said Currie. "I never go to doctor, my mother used to send and bruk some bush and boil some medicine and we drink it and we better. Ancient medicine rest in this land."[/align] [align=justify]Lumsden said the Cockpit Country was central to the drive to build Maroon unity for economic development. He noted that in the past, the Maroons had always acted together in pursuit of "one common goal", as was the case when they fought the British.
"The Cockpit Country is of vital interest, because of all the medicinal and pharmaceutical possibilities," said Lumsden. "We saw where two herbs from Jamaica can cure cancers, so just think about what is possible in the Cockpit Country."
To this end, he said, a conference of Maroons in the Americas, including representatives from Suriname and Brazil, was being planned for June 20-23 to mark the last battle at the Spanish River in Portland before the end of the first Maroon War. "The conference we are planning will zero in on the possibilities for development of this (pharmaceutical) industry," Lumsden said.[/align] [align=justify]As was the case last year, director of culture in the Jamaican Government, Sydney Bartley, closed the show with an enthralling main address that more resembled a rock/folk/gospel concert than a speech.[/align] [align=justify]Backed by the hypnotically rhythmic renditions of the Mighty Beeston Mento Band, a dancing Bartley spoke and sang of the achievements of Jamaicans at home and abroad.[/align] [align=justify]With the large crowd abuzz, Bartley insisted that Jamaicans were "a great people" who were the envy of the world and who could achieve much more with hard work and dedication.[/align] [align=justify]He urged overseas Jamaicans in the audience to use the power of the vote in their respective countries to influence policy, ultimately for the greater good of their native country.[/align]
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If the Jamaican government does not take back the cockpits it will be due to politics not anything to do with legality or morality. The British government did not make the autonomy of Maroon territory as part of its independence agreement, neither did the Maroons insist on it ,nor the Jamaican government bound by such previous agreements. The JA government in seeking independence sought independence from any existing agreements of this type.

So while I have every sympathy for the Jamaican maroons, in the same way if they sought to take my people's lands, there is a massive difference our land is autonomous because we own it and were not granted it or given to us by succession.

The maroon are also forgetting that to keep their land they collorbarated with the British to keep other Africans enslaved. Survival tactics and extenuating circumstances is by the by. As Bob say with every action there is a reaction. So it isa bitfeisty for them to come with:

Arguing that "The Maroons are not leaving the Cockpits because our forefathers fought for it", Currie suggested that the British had a responsibility to inform the Jamaican Government that the treaty signed back in the 1730s was between "sovereign" peoples and should be respected.

Joke him a mek? nah sorry for one who is upholding his people's right for independence and autonomy:

1) Is he suggesting that the UK government/ should act byproxy via the current JA government to honour an agreement which was to the detriment of the majority of the new and enslaved "Jamaicans".

2) For this very reason..at the time of Jamaican independence the Maroons were the least supportive of the island political independence no matter how superficial it turned out to be. Their treaties were with the British not the decendants of those they chose to hold in bondage and help the British crush revolts.

Still it cuts both ways/ and pre treaty Maroons were often hunted down by slave corps. Typical divide and rule - as well as cowardly on the part of the British.

Should they mine Bauxite there..hell no..ecologicallyand for all the other good reasons mentioned by the Colonel it should remain.Whatever is decided mining bauxite and its poisonous by products to further the Chinese in making steel should not be an option. It wouldnt be so bad if it would propel JA economically but bauxitesells for too little in its raw stateand cost too much in terms of environment which is a natural resource.

They would be placing a dagger into the common history and spiritual heartof Jamaicans and the Maroons. They might as well take thegreat and most honourable Nannyoff the $500 bill.

I'm confused

Currie and other Maroon leaders spoke to the economic benefits from sustainable development of the Cockpits, including its potential for eco-tourism, organic farming and the pharmaceutical industry.

How come there is a plan or hint for this in the wake of bauxite mining. Was this ever consider before and what might be some of the hold-ups to implementing this.

These sound like export industries like the use of the land for bauxite mining.

defyfear wrote: Bro nothing wrong with export industries-- the UK and Europe got rich via export industries.. South Korea has become an Asian Tiger due to export industries. But its all about do you export a finished product or a raw product.

Now eco-tourism/organic farming and pharmaceuticals will have have an impact on the area. But the impact would be complimentry to the eco-system rather than the bull in a china shop method of bauxite mining which will rip the lands to shreds literally.

If you are going to choose the lesser of two eveils then the latter wins hands down by far.