It Could Happen Here - Caribbean Resistance Strategies feat. Andrew

Episode Date: June 24, 2024

Andrew takes a look at the historical tactics and methods of resistance used in the struggle against colonial powers in the Caribbean.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into tech's elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, five-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Florida. And the question was,

should the boy go back to his father in Cuba? Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or stay with his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jacqueline Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. Black Lit is for the page turners,

for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. AT&T, connecting changes everything.

Hey, I'm Gianna Pertenti. And I'm Jamee Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. If you're early in your career, you probably have a lot of money questions. So we're talking to finance expert Vivian Tu, aka Your Rich BFF, to break it down. Looking at the numbers is one of the most honest reflections of what your financial picture actually is. The numbers won't lie to you. Listen to this week's episode of Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating.

I don't feel emotions correctly. I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take phone calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist and try to learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's very interesting. Check it out for yourself by searching for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Call Zone Media. Welcome to Could Happen Here. I'm Andrew Sage of the YouTube channel Andrewism.

So today, I wanted to really draw attention to the strategies of resistance that have marked the stories of the African diaspora. Of course, the diaspora is widespread and diverse. You could find or scattered hundreds of millions in communities across the globe, largely due to the impact of the Trans-Saharan, Transatlantic, and Indian Ocean slave trades, as well as voluntary migration. Many millions of stories could be told but very few of those stories have been told so far. My focus is really on the African diaspora in the Caribbean today and what strategies they used in their struggle and how those strategies could potentially be utilized today in our contemporary struggle. So for some context, in case you just arrived on earth, a couple years ago,

enslaved Africans suffered truly deplorable conditions from the moment of capture through the passage and the seasoning process until the last of their days on the field of the plantation. Yet in spite of their deplorable conditions, enslaved people endured, resistance endured. It was both inevitable and constant, as even their enslavers recognized. Resistance, of course, began in Africa itself. Enslaved people often fled to escape local captors who were seeking to profit from the demand for slaves. Entire villages would sometimes relocate or fortify their settlements to avoid capture. Rebellion was common among captives as they waited to board ships during the initial loading and even on the

high seas. Tragically, or perhaps bravely, some chose to resist by taking their own lives, either during the journey or during the brutal seasoning process upon their arrival in the Caribbean. On the plantation itself, resistance took many forms tailored to specific circumstances and opportunities, but acts of defiance were a constant throughout the history of slavery in the Caribbean. While not all forms of resistance were as overt as the famous revolutions and rebellions, each act played a role in shaping plantation society, undermining the institution of chattel slavery, and ultimately hastening its demise. We can classify these acts of resistance into three key categories, non-cooperation, confrontation, and prefiguration.

Non-cooperation involves the deliberate refusal to comply with those in power, using both overt and covert methods to protest against oppressive conditions. Confrontation is about direct and assertive engagement with oppressive forces, aiming to disrupt or undermine them. And prefiguration refers to the deliberate organization of future social relations, institutions, and practices in the present, envisioning and enacting a better future. It's important to note that these categories, of course, often overlap. In the dynamic struggle against slavery, non-cooperation, confrontation, and prefiguration intertwined, embodying the seeds of revolution. Throughout history, in fact, wherever people have faced oppression,

these forms of resistance have emerged. The era of slavery in the Caribbean was no exception. Acts of non-cooperation were perhaps the most common form of resistance on the plantation. Non-cooperation took many forms, often subtle yet impactful. Enslaved individuals would act carelessly, feign illness or pretend ignorance. Enslaved individuals would act carelessly, feign illness, or pretend ignorance. These tactics slowed productivity and provided plausible explanations for accidents. By sabotaging tools and machinery, they further disrupted the operations of the plantation.

Arson was another method used to strike back against the oppressors, causing significant damage to property and resources. Securing extra meat through covert animal slaughter was a way for the enslaved to supplement their meager rations and exert a small measure of control over their own survival. And of course, running away was another powerful form of non-cooperation. Individuals in small groups would escape for various reasons. To find psychological relief from the relentless oppression, to reunite with loved ones, to protest their harsh material conditions, or to carve out an alternative way of life within the oppressive system. These escapes were not just about physical freedom, they were acts of defiance that challenged the foundations of the plantation system.

Modern-day activists and workers often engage in similar forms of non-cooperation to challenge capitalist structures and state authority. Just as enslaved people would intentionally slow down or damage tools to reduce productivity, modern workers might engage in slowdowns, work to rule actions, or even deliberate sabotage, which also falls into the next category of action. These actions aim to disrupt the efficiency and profitability of capitalist enterprises, often as a form of protest against unfair labour practices or to demand better working conditions. Pretending ignorance was, as I mentioned, a common tactic among enslaved people to avoid the harsh demands of plantation

labour. We might look at the quiet quitting folks who do the bare minimum required for their job, refusing to go above and beyond in order to avoid burnout and to resist the expectations that seek to exploit them. Running away from plantations despite the severe consequences was a powerful form of non-cooperation that sought to reclaim autonomy. In modern times, though not equivalent, strikes and walkouts serve a similar purpose. Workers leave their positions to protest unfair conditions, risking financial stability to demand systemic change. In the plantation era,

acts of confrontation involved direct assault on the system itself. Like I said before, the plant has lived in constant fear of revolt, and this fear was especially heightened during the Christmas season. What seemed like benign dances and festivities often disguised rebel oaths of secrecy. Poisoning was another feared form of confrontation, a subtle yet deadly alternative to open rebellion. The mere threat of conspiracies and plots, whether real or imagined, kept the colonial regime perpetually on edge. Colonial legal systems were primarily designed to manage colonial property,

which included enslaved people. These laws were harsh and allowed for severe punishments for any perceived transgressions. Enslaved individuals could face brutal consequences for unauthorized movement, large gatherings, possessions of weapons, or practicing secret rituals. Mastering the art of subterfuge was thus crucial for survival. What does that tell us about navigating our current legal context? While planters tried to sow discord among the enslaved by facilitating ethnic division, by separating African-born from Korean-born, from dividing domestic and field laborers, and splitting skilled and unskilled workers, the enslaved people too back-manipulated plantation politics. They carefully studied the personalities of their white overlords,

subtly provoking divisions between bookkeepers, overseers, and owners. Anansi, the spider trickster, a popular West African folktale character, became a hero, inspiring strategies of disguised satire, trickery, and deceit. Yet despite their cunning, many rebellions were quashed before they could even begin, and those that did spark were often brutally suppressed. The divisions fostered by the planter class between Creole and African enslaved people hindered revolutionary efforts. While all revolts sought greater power and freedom, Africans typically desired all-out war and the establishment of an African lifestyle apart from their colonies. In contrast, many Creoles, the Caribbean-born Africans, aimed to modify the system to gain the rights of free wage labourers. Such conflicts helped foil revolts in Barbados in

1683, Antigua in 1736, St. Croix in 1759, and Jamaica in 1776. What does that tell us about the risk of unresolved divisions when undertaking revolutionary action today? In the past, enslaved people used secret meetings and covert planning to organize revolts, often disguised as social gatherings. Today, activists can use encrypted communication or parties as staging grounds for political activism. grounds for political activism. Today, poisoning may be off the table, but it's evident that property destruction, including arson, has persisted as a means of protest. The efficacy of that method of protest is perhaps situationally dependent, but it certainly sends a message. Activists of today must confront legal systems just as enslaved people in the past needed to when dissent is shaped against the status quo. There's a time and place for court battles and bail funds,

but they're not lasting means of resistance. We do need to brainstorm more permanent means of liberation from this legal system. Finally, just as Anansi the spider trickster served as a symbol of clever resistance among the enslaved, we need stories and symbols that can just as Anansi the spider trickster served as a symbol of clever resistance among the enslaved, we need stories and symbols that can just as potently empower. There was a time when Guy Fawkes' mask served as a powerful symbol of resistance. As a creative species, our symbolic species will always need those signals to guide and encourage us, to give us safety in numbers and a sense of solidarity, even if such symbols alone are not inherently liberatory. Finally, acts of prefiguration may seem less viable under their grim conditions, but even if they could not build the socio-economic autonomy that characterizes robust, modern prefigurative practices,

enslaved people still managed to create networks of support and resilient cultures that offered respite in a world that sought to strip them of their humanity. Mutual aid was truly the name of the game. In the face of social death, they cultivated ties of real and fictive kinship. Since biological families were often torn apart by callous slaveholders, with mother-child units being the most common familial arrangement, many enslaved Africans extended their concept of family beyond biological kin. These networks of fictive kinship provided emotional support, protection, and a sense of belonging,

helping to preserve their humanity in the midst of suffering. An example of this resilience can be seen in the rotating savings and credit associations that developed among enslaved women. Despite their marginal earnings from market activities, they pooled their resources and rotated lump sums of money to each other in acts of mutual aid, all without their master's permission. This practice not only provided financial support, but also reinforced the bonds of community and cooperation. Similarly, today's marginalized communities create networks of solidarity, mutual aid groups, and community centers to support each other in the

face of systemic injustices such as poverty, discrimination, and violence. Such communities also often redefine family to include chosen families, providing emotional support and care outside traditional family structures, particularly within LGBTQ plus communities and other marginalized groups. Today, grassroots organizations and cooperatives continue the tradition of economic cooperation, empowering marginalized groups through economic solidarity, microfinance initiatives, and community-based lending. But it's important that we don't look at these actions in isolation. Confrontation alone is not enough. Non-cooperation alone is not enough. And of

course, prefiguration alone is not enough. It's Honey German, and I'm bringing you Gracias, Come Again, the podcast where we dive deep into the world of Latin culture, musica, peliculas, and entertainment with some of the biggest names in the game. If you love hearing real conversations with your favorite Latin celebrities, artists, and culture shifters, this is the podcast for you. We're talking real conversations with our Latin stars, from actors and artists to musicians and creators, sharing their stories, struggles, and successes.

You know it's going to be filled with chisme laughs and all the vibes that you love. Each week we'll explore everything from music and pop culture to deeper topics like identity, community, and breaking down barriers in all sorts of industries. Don't miss out on the fun, el té caliente, and life stories. Join me for Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get into todo lo actual y viral. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search,

better offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel winning economists to leading journalists in the field and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

Check out betteroffline.com. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian Gonzalez.

Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom.

At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Gianna Parenti. And I'm Jimei Jackson-Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline, the early career podcast from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. One of the most exciting things about having your first real job is that first real paycheck.

You're probably thinking, yay, I can finally buy a new phone. But you also have a lot of questions like, how should I be investing this money? I mean, how much do I save? And what about my 401k? Well, we're talking with finance expert Vivian Tu, aka Your Rich BFF, to break it all down. I always get roasted on the internet when I say this out loud, but I'm like, every single year,

you need to be asking for a raise of somewhere between 10 to 15%. I'm not saying you're gonna get 15% every single year, but if you ask for 10 to 15 and you end up getting eight, that is actually a true raise. Listen to this week's episode of Let's Talk Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly.

I am talking to a felon right now and I cannot decide if I like him or not. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take real phone calls from anonymous strangers all over the world as a fake gecko therapist and try to dig into their brains and learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's pretty interesting if you give it a shot. Matter of fact, here's a few more examples of the kinds of calls we get on this show. I live with my boyfriend, and I found his piss jar in our apartment. I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails.

I have very overbearing parents. Even at the age of 29, they won't let me move out of their house. So if you want an excuse to get out of your own head and see what's going on in someone else's head, search for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's the one with the green guy on it. So let's look back at diasporic history to those who did bring those actions together, sometimes successfully. Maroonage, the act of enslaved people escaping plantations to establish independent communities, defined the maroon experience. Deep within forests and nestled in the mountains across the Caribbean, thousands of Maroons forged their own path,

shaping history through resilience and defiance. As runaways, they were inherently non-cooperative. As warriors, they directly confronted plantation society. And as community builders, they aimed to prefigure a better future for themselves and their descendants. Maroon societies varied widely, shaped by local geography, available resources, and their relationship with colonial powers. They thrived in rainforests and mountainous terrains, which offered natural defenses and facilitated guerrilla warfare tactics.

Led by captains charged with defense, Maroon settlements prioritized vigilance, fortification, and constant readiness. They communicated with neighboring communities, practiced evasive maneuvers, and engaged in both defensive and offensive strategies. Prior to the Haitian Revolution, François Macandale and his network of enslaved and maroon allies struck fair into the heart of Saint-Domingue. They targeted plantation owners with acts of sabotage and arson, challenging colonial authority with daring raids and strategic strikes. Beyond warfare, Maroon communities were self-sufficient, producing or acquiring what

they needed through raids, trade, or cultivation. They traded with pirates, merchants, and other Maroon settlements across islands, while hunting, fishing, and farming for sustenance. Yet, their precarious existence often necessitated careful population management. Some communities struggled with maintaining numbers, while others cautiously accepted new recruits, balancing growth with the risk of attracting colonial attention. It's unfortunately not all good in the history though. Despite fierce resistance, some Maroon communities opted for peace treaties with colonial powers, ensuring their survival over generations. However, these treaties often came at a high cost, ceding autonomy in exchange for relative peace and limited rights under colonial rule. The 1739 Treaty in Jamaica, for instance, imposed British control over the Maroons,

restricting their land rights and obligating them to capture and return their fellow escaped slaves. While many Maroon communities ultimately succumbed to colonial pressure or were unable to remain hidden, some, notably in Jamaica and Suriname, endure to this day. Regardless of their fate, all Maroon communities defied the colonial order, asserting the independence and capability of enslaved Africans to conceive and pursue freedom. What lessons can we take from their struggle? How can we apply their strategy in our resistance today? The struggle of the Maroons offers us some useful lessons, in my opinion. When they succeeded, it was through strong community ties and solidarity.

They built networks of support and cooperation that were crucial for survival. Today, we need to be fostering unity among diverse groups facing systemic oppression. Building alliances across different communities strengthens our collective power and our resilience against common adversaries. Another lesson we can glean is that the Maroons adapted their strategies to the local terrain and resources available. Similarly, modern resistance movements can benefit from strategic adaptation to current socio-political landscapes.

This includes utilizing technology for communication and organization, understanding the media and digital as well as the physical landscape, as well as adapting tactics to fit specific contexts because not every tactic is going to make sense in every situation and we can't be going through the motions. Also notice the maroon communities sought to establish self-sufficiency as much as possible in their struggle. They cannot adequately resist if they were still fully or mostly dependent on the beast they were fighting. They needed to be producing their own food, goods, and resources. Otherwise, any all-out confrontation would be suicidally premature. We, as movements, need to prioritize building sustainable practices and self-reliant economies

that reduce our reliance on oppressive systems. We cannot confront these systems if we are still dependent on them. We will not succeed if so. The maroons were also flexible. They shifted between defensive and offensive strategies as their circumstances demanded. Modern movements could benefit from maintaining that kind of flexibility in tactics. We cannot be all offensive and we cannot be all defensive. We must strike a balance. Finally, though this is projection on my part, I believe some of the maroons would have had long-term vision. Despite their immediate challenges, I believe they maintained a long-term vision of freedom and autonomy that sustained their resistance over generations. Contemporary movements can benefit from a similar long-term perspective, recognizing

that meaningful change often requires sustained effort and commitment across time. That's all I have for today. All power to all the people. You can follow me on YouTube at Andrewismam and on Patreon.com slash same true. Peace. Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could Happen Here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com slash sources. Thanks for listening. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into Tex Elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires.

From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, five-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Florida. And the question was, should the boy go back to his father in Cuba? Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him.

Or stay with his relatives in Miami? Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Jacqueline Thomas, the host of a brand new Black Effect original series, Black Lit, the podcast for diving deep into the rich world of Black literature. Black Lit is for the page turners, for those who listen to audiobooks while running errands or at the end of a busy day. From thought-provoking novels to powerful poetry, we'll explore the stories that shape our culture. powerful poetry will explore the stories that shape our culture. Listen to Black Lit on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

AT&T, connecting changes everything. Hey, I'm Gianna Pertenti. And I'm Jemay Jackson Gadsden. We're the hosts of Let's Talk Offline from LinkedIn News and iHeart Podcasts. If you're early in your career, you probably have a lot of money questions. So we're talking to finance expert Vivian Tu, aka Your Rich BFF, to break it down. Looking at the numbers is one of the most honest reflections of what your financial picture actually is. The numbers won't lie to you. Listen to this week's episode of Let's Talk Offline on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I found out I was related to the guy that I was dating. I don't feel emotions correctly.

I collect my roommate's toenails and fingernails. Those were some callers from my call-in podcast, Therapy Gecko. It's a show where I take phone calls from anonymous strangers as a fake gecko therapist and try to learn a little bit about their lives. I know that's a weird concept, but I promise it's very interesting. Check it out for yourself by searching for Therapy Gecko on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.