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An Island of Fire

Dominica lies almost in the centre of the arc of islands known as the Lesser Antilles. This arc extends from the Trinidad-Grenada Passage in the south up to the Anegada Passage between the Virgin islands and Anguilla. These islands of the Lesser Antilles are of volcanic origin. They have rugged mountains in the central areas and narrow coastal shelves and valleys. On the more mountainous islands, south of Montserrat, numerous streams flow from the rain drenched central highlands. the formation of these islands began million of years ago along a section of the sea bed where two of the several tectonic plates which make up the crust of the planet collided. There were no islands as we know them today and the land mass of South America extended much further north than at present and included all of the island of Trinidad.

During the Miocene period, 26 million years ago, Dominica and her sister islands were beginning to take shape. The sea bed in this area was already covered in thick layers of sediment which had been washed down by the rivers of South America from the lands which now make up the Guianas, Venezuela and Colombia. Beneath this sediment, pressure was building up in the earth's crust as the thick tectonic plates pushed and ground against each other, moving like heavy rafts upon the hot soft mantle heated by the fiery core at the centre of the earth.

Our planet's solid surface is a restless jigsaw of these abutting, diverging and colliding slabs called tectonic plates. Two of these plates meet along the curved line where our islands now stand. To the eastern side is the Atlantic or South America plate beneath the Atlantic Ocean which is being pushed westward. Our islands sit on the edge of the Caribbean Plate which is being pushed eastward. as these two plates collide into each other from opposite directions, the Atlantic Plate has been forced under the edge of the Caribbean plate. We are therefore sitting on top of what geologists and geophysicists call a subduction zone.

As the subducted ocean crust of the Atlantic Plate descends beneath the Caribbean Plate, its load of low density sediment spread on the sea bed is largely scraped off and deformed. The subducted plate is pushing its relatively cool crust material into the hot mantle rock beneath. the friction of its passage generates earthquakes.

The deeper it sinks, the hotter the melting plate becomes until it is completely broken up. Being less dense than the surrounding mantle, the molten matter from the subducted remnants of the Atlantic Plate shoots upwards. It has now become hot molten volcanic rock, melting holes through the weak edge of the Caribbean Plate which lies above, erupting with volcanic force out onto the surface. Together with the scraped off sediments this process builds islands arcs: rows of volcanic islands occurring in a curve.

The Lesser Antilles is really made up of two arcs lying almost paralled to one another. The outer arc is older. The inner arc, of which Dominica is a part, is younger, ie of more recent formation. Being older, the arc of the islands has had more time to be eroded and worn down. They are also flatter and drier. Erosion has made the surrounding water more shallow. Corel reefs developed and created white sand beaches. The older islands of the outer arc are: Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barts, Barbuda, Antigua, the eastern wing of Guadeloupe and the island of Mariegalante.

Many do not know much about the island of Dominica. And therefore, confuse the island with the Dominican Republic. CaKaFete, by using extracts from the Dominica Story, will give you the reader, information on Dominica which was researched by the historian that knows the facts.

Dominica is an English-speaking island in the Windward Island group of the Eastern Caribbean. But there is one Spanish sentence that every Dominican knows, and that is Mal encaminado a Santo Domingo: Missent to the Dominican Republic. It appears stamped in purple ink across many of the letters we receive from abroad. It is an inconvenience we have to live with. It always has to be emphasised that these are two completely different Caribbean states. The Dominican Republic is in the Greater Antilles, the Commonwealth of Dominica is in the Lesser Antilles.

The Columbus family has a lot to answer for where the people of Dominica are concerned. Christopher Columbus sighted the island on Sunday, 3 November, 1493 and christened it in Latin Dominica in honour of the Lord's Day. Five years later his brother Bartholomew established a city on the island of Hispaniola much further north and called it Santo Domingo. Over three centuries later the descendants of these settlers established The Dominican Republic, and since then the two islands have been tied in a knot of confused identity.

When the British Colony of Dominica prepared for Independence in 1978, it considered the problem of nomenclature. Some suggested that the island should revert to its original Carib Indian name. But that was Wai'tukubuli and the majority considered it was too much of a mouthful. To make matters more confusing, Dominica was to become a Republic, but the word 'republic' had to be avoided at all costs. So the government settled on the wording Commonwealth of Dominica which, as someone soon pointed out, has more letters in it than Wai'tukubuli!

Nevertheless, the confusion remains and every citizen of Dominica is resigned to the fact that whenever he goes abroad, or writes in the international press, he has to give a lesson in Caribbean geography. The simplest version goes: 'The Dominican Republic is the biggest one next to Haiti, we are the smaller ones south.'

After about a quarter of a century of agitation the English humanitarian movement had secured the passing of the Act for the Oblation of the Slave Trade. In the West Indies this caused considerable discontent among the planters, and in the Assemblies they at once voiced their dissatisfactions. Parliament they claimed , had no powers to make laws concerning local affairs.

A special provision of the law allowed an owner going from one British colony to another to take with him four slaves as personal attendants. The Dominica and Grenada planters, especially, abused this section in order to supply slaves to Trinidad and other colonies which were prepared to pay high prices for them. In 1815, the Imperial Government urged the Assemblies to promote the physical , religious and moral improvement of the labour force. A few minor changes in the slave codes were made but generally they were most unsatisfactory. In Dominica, emotions were running high. When the Governor, Charles Maxwell made efforts to protect the slaves from oppression and ensure that the wishes of the British Government were carried out, the local Grand Jury censured the Governor for his action. This was followed in 1823 by a circular from the assembly protesting against the move towards full emancipation.

The House of Assembly of this Island appalled at the Enormity of the proposition lately introduced into the House of Commons relative to the Emancipation of the Slave Population of these colonies, have seized the earliest opportunity to bring their same under their most serious consideration, fully aware from sad experience that even the slightest discussion on that fatal project places in Jeopardy the Lives and fortunes of all the White Population of these Colonies, and that should such a Measure be carried into Effect it will sweep the whole of us into a Vortex of indiscriminate Ruin such as has overwhelmed the unfortunate island of St. Domingo some Years ago, from precisely the same cause...'

The letter also called on the other assemblies to join efforts to condom the action being taken by the anti slavery society, the Methodist and other bodies striving for abolition. During this period the planters were even talking recklessly of declaring the island independent.

In 1830 the assembly was again petitioned to change their slave codes. In 1831 all legal discrimination on the grounds of colour was abolished in Dominica. The brown privileged bill allowed equal political and social rights to free non whites and it was obvious that Britain was determined to liberate the slaves in spite of West Indian opposition. On the 29 August 1833 the Abolition of Slavery Act received the Royal assent and became law. It would take effect on the 1 August the following year.

When the sun set on the 31 July 1834, there were some 668,000 slaves in the British West Indies. - in Dominica there were 14,175 and at midnight they were free from slavery. The drunkenness and disorder which the planter had expected did not take place, many going to mass in thanksgiving. Under the act the owners were to compensated for the loss of their slaves while the labourers had to save a period of apprenticeship . Compensation was given according to the age and status of each slave and the planters of Dominica received 275,547 pounds. Slavery had ended, but the problem of labour and the creation of a new society had just begun.

The masters were to provide their apprentices, as they did before, with shelter, clothing, medical attention and food or instead of food with land and time for the apprentices to make their own gardens. Apprentices had to work no more than forty hours a week, and for eleven hours they had to be paid cash. Apprentices could buy their freedom, whether their masters were in favour or not. Many did so by banding together in groups to work their plots of land and used their profits of their sale to buy their certificates of manumission.

Stipendiary magistrates paid by the British Government, were appointed to supervise the working of the new system. They saw to it that ex-slaves were not taken advantage of by their former masters. the magistrates were one of the successes of the system for they did their jobs well and used their wide powers to enforce the act. Obviously, they received strong opposition from many planters. One stipendiary magistrate in Dominica, a coloured man named William Lynch, noted that little was being done to prepare the labourers for the change to total freedom expected in 1840.

My official intercourse with the labouring classes enables me to discover their ignorance of letters and too generally disregard for the Sabbath, as well as the other moral obligations of civil and religious society. I fear their are not eight of them to be found in my district who can read any book. The pastoral visit of ministers of religion are exceedingly infrequent , and instruction of any kind, rarely within their reach.

The Methodists and Quakers were two religious groups who had been striving for the Abolition of slavery and the right of Negro people in the West Indies for some time. In December 1836, Joseph Struggled, himself a Quaker, visited Dominica along with three colleagues to examine the working of the apprenticeship system on the spot. They visited estates, talked to planters, magistrates and members of the assembly, both coloured and white. They noted that nearly the entire population was Roman Catholic and were told by the Anglican rector that the desire for education was so great, that he would be able to fill eight to ten schools if the means were supplied to build them and to pay teachers.

On their visits to estates, they noted the difference between French and English methods. As the owners of most English estates were absentees landlords, their attorney made little effort to care for the labourers. On these estates the decrease of number by deaths during slavery had been astounding. On Castle Bruce estate for instance, death between 1817 and 1834 had amounted to 244. On French estates, where owners were residents, the relationship between planters and labourers were far better. On some of them planters were actually teaching the labourers themselves.

Joseph Sturge and his group left Dominica feeling that the ex-slaves had gained nothing by the exchange of slavery for apprenticeship. This also seemed to be the opinion of the British government who felt that serious difficulties would arise when domestic and skilled slaves were freed first. therefore they cut short the period of apprenticeship and scraped the entire system so that from 1 August 1838, the labourers were completely free of obligations to anyone.

Here there was land in abundance, and the free citizens preferred to set up their own small holdings; the beginning of Dominica's independent peasant society. In other island where all land was occupied by large plantations, this was not possible, and most labourers could do nothing but work on their former plantations for a living.

As was to be expected, the situation in Dominica caused a drop in production and ruined many planters. Already coffee had suffered badly because of blight and planters realised they would have to encourage labourers to work for them. Land was offered on easy terms and many purchased small properties. Others were allowed to occupy their former houses and grounds, giving the estate part of their produce as rent. Many ex-slaves, especially on the Leeward side had set up houses along the coast. Carrying post and boards from their estate dwellings, they erected new homes on the strip of coastline known as the Queen's Three Chains, as was explained earlier, the land had been set aside in the eighteenth century as crown property. Owners of estate which bordered this crown land, complained to the magistrate and wanted the squatters ejected. But because of the conditions under which the three chains had been set aside, it was a difficult problem to solve and the question of titles to this lands occupied the attention of the British and Local Government for some time. This was to result in serious disturbances among the population in future years.

those who lived on the coast would also squat on crown lands in the interior and walk daily from their homes to their gardens. They practised shifting cultivation. They cleared land in the forest, used it for one growing period and then moved on to a fresh sport. Not until 1946, did the government take strong action to stop this practice.

During those early years new villages grew up and old ones were expanded. In this new society the feeling of independence was strong; their land provided them with what they needed and they were responsible to no one; perhaps this in part the reason for our fiery independence and all that is stolid and unyielding in the Dominican character.

several hundred of the slaves, since the British mark of emancipation, have made their escape to Dominica - chiefly, I believe, from Guadeloupe. the poor creatures run prodigious risk in their attempts to cross the water, in small open boats; and we are informed that at least one third of them perished before they reach the land. One hardy fellow arrived on the shore of Dominica, after extreme peril, on the remains of a small raft which he had constructed of the pithy stems of the great aloe, or century plant. When at Dominica, we heard excellent accounts of the behaviours and industry of these runaway slaves.

On 7TH March 1981, while the Honychurch kidnap was still unsolved Miss Charles announced that the security forces had discovered a plot to over throw her government on 14th March during the carnival celebrations, in connection with the arrests had taken place, under emergency powers, of Patrick John , Defence Force senior officers Newton and Reid and a DLP executive member and a former director of Broadcasting as well Cpl Howell Piper of the DDF. These arrest had been precipitated by an intriguing series of events, beginning with the detention of Reid and an other DDF member after French officials reported an attempt by them to buy drums of acid in the French islands. While in the cell at Police Headquarters in Roseau on 6 March, Reid had tried to send a letter to an alleged accomplice which was intercepted by police. the contents gave clues to the even broader involvement of mercenaries from United States.

Because of the state of the Defence Force since the 1980 elections and in light of the key role allotted to the DDF in executing the planned coup, the government also announced the disbanding of the force. Legislation to formalise this was passed in the Assembly in mid April after a debate in which government cited severe criticisms of DDF personnel in the reports of two enquires carried out in 1978 and 1980.

The bizarre story which emerged out of the events between March and June 1981 pointed to the launching of a coup attempt involving the Defence Force and other local recruits including a group of dreads, notable those led by Leroy Ettienne, and American and Caribbean mercenaries. Among the mercenaries were members of the racist Klu Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups aided by US$10,000 in donations from an unidentified underworld leader who wanted to use the island as a base for drug trafficking and international fraud.

That invasion threat ended on 27 April when United States Federal agents, operating on tips from a charter boat owner and the Ontario provincial police, arrested two Canadians and eight Americans near New Orleans as they prepared to set sail for Dominica with ammunition, arms landing craft and supplies.

Code named operation Red Dog, the invasion was designed, according to US leader of the group Michael Perdue, to oust Prime Minister Charles and to install Patrick John. He would have acted as ruler and in turn have named mercenaries and their backers to important posts. But unknown to the plotters, the matter had been leaked to the Ontario police who passed the words to superiors and American investigators. The boat owners Michael Howell, meanwhile, had alerted agents of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tax and Firearms that he had been detained by men who said they worked for the CIA.

The authorities installed an agent on Mr. Howell's ship and recorded meetings by the plotters. Dominica was alerted through the US State department and already the Roseau Police were tracking the local turn of events. on the night of 27 April the mercenaries met at Louisiana marina with undercover federal agents, who convinced them to put their Semi automatic assault rifles, shotguns and explosives in one truck while they rode in another. Instead of being driven to the boat however, the mercenaries were driven to an open area where they emerged from the vehicle in the glare of floodlights and 100 Federal and State lawmen.

The ten men arrested appeared in Louisiana court and nine were sentenced to imprisonment for different terms on various charges related to the invasion attempt. Perdue gave evidence of meeting with DDF personnel and others in Dominica at which agreements were reached on plans to stage the coup.

In a mopping-up operation in Dominica, a Canadian, Mary Ann Mcguire, were arrested and found guilty of being involved in the local preparation for the invasion arrival. Two other who arrived hoping to rescue her from prison were deported. She had been found out when a clerk became suspicious of the dramatic words of a cable she sent: 'Alexander is dead' meaning that the plot had been uncovered.

Meanwhile other Dominicans had been arrested for their alleged role in the coup attempt. Government called a tribunal within two weeks of their detention to consider the validity of their arrest. In October 1981, the nine men were committed for trial before a magistrate in Roseau. Four accused, John, Reid, Joseph and David were kept in custody, but the magistrate ordered five other detainees to be released for want of sufficient evidence against them.

On 19 December that year, there was another coup attempt. It commenced at about 3 am when armed and masked men tried to seize the prison and control the police headquarters and armoury in a simultaneous operation. Led by Major Newton, it was aimed at releasing Patrick john and his co-defendants from imprisonment before their trial which was scheduled to open in the following month. It was to have involved raiding the armoury and eradicating the government.

One Policeman was killed and several others injured during the engagement while ex-DDF corporal Howell Piper was shot dead at the prison. The Commissioner of Police, Oliver Phillip, was among those seriously injured during the action at Police Headquarters. Later that day police shot WTO Benjamin, identified as one of the attackers. Involvement of the French authorities, in the smuggling of weapons was uncovered and the French authorities, reportedly acting on direct instructions from Paris, rendered immediate material assistance to the security forces.

Of the seen ex-Defence Forces who were arrested and tried in June 1983 for the murder of the police Constable Alexander, six were found guilty and sentenced to hang, while one was found not guilty and released. Ironically at John's trial a year earlier, Judge Mitchell found no case for the defendants to answer and so the ex-Prime Minister and the other accused were released. The state however appealed against the decision, and court of appeal found in favour of the state in regard of John, Reid and David and ordered a new trial to take place.