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Introduction:
The articles on this page focus on the social order of the Caribbean region and the power relations that govern the peoples of the region.
“A Deconstruction of Giorgio Agamben's “State of Exception””
I discovered Giorgio Agamben's oeuvre in my reading of the issues on human and constitutional rights vs the security of the North Atlantic state in the post attack on New York city military engagement with Islamic extremism. The first of Agamben's works experienced was “State of Exception” and this reading proved to be simply a continuation of my quest to understand the European enlightenment worldview and its paradigm through the worldview of an European who was engaged with deconstructing the European enlightenment project. These studies then enable those of us of the colonial realm to understand the worldview of our colonial masters and by extension the colonial social order they continue to impact across time. This journey commenced with Franz Fanon continued with Michel Foucault and then Giorgio Agamben. Read more...
Preface:
This series that commences with articles on the oeuvre of Michel Foucault and Frantz Fanon is devoted to the search for understanding of the nature and structure of the oligarchies of the Caricom region that dominate the indigenous private sector of the economy of specific states of the Caricom region. A task utterly vital to understanding Caribbean social orders that is yet to be undertaken and accomplished by Caribbean academics.
“A Deconstruction of Michel Foucault's Discourse of Race Struggle and War”
My journey through Michel's Foucault's oeuvre commenced in 1979 and it continues to this day. By far the most relevant of Foucault's ideas to our reality in the Caribbean was presented during the period 1975-1976 during a course of public lectures he gave at the College de France in Paris published as “Society must be defended” in English in 2003. In these public lectures Foucault states: “And the historico-political discourse that appeared at this moment was also a discourse on war, which was understood to be a permanent social relationship, the ineradicable basis of all relations and institutions of power.” (Foucault 2003 Pg 49). A discourse appeared in European civilisation that insisted war was “a permanent social relationship”. War was then the basis of power relations and constituted “power institutions” within the European social order. Foucault names this discourse the historico-political discourse and its described as follows: Read more...
“The Oeuvre of Frantz Fanon and the task at hand: Deconstructing the Caribbean Oligarchy”
With Frantz Fanon's oeuvre I have now located myself in the knowledge of a Caribbean person born in the island of Martinique who devoted his attention to dearticulating colonial domination and the condition of post-colonial/neo-colonial states. This pioneer body of work of Fanon is the foundation vitally necessary and must be deconstructed in the project to dearticulate the social order of the Caribbean. In 1961 “Les Damnes de la Terre” was published in French with the English translation “The Wretched of the Earth” in 1963. In this work Fanon wrote a body of analysis of neo-colonial/post-colonial states titled “The Pitfalls of National Consciousness” which marks the commencement of this journey through Fanon's oeuvre. Read more...
“Black politicians and the Arab Syrian minority of the Caribbean: the case of Antigua and Trinidad and Tobago”
The Antigua Daily observer online dated December 30, 2015 in an article titled: “Government to clampdown on Syrian dominance” reported on the statement made in the Senate of the Parliament of Antigua & Barbuda (A&B) by Senator Lennox Weston Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance in the Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) government. Senator Weston stated: “If you have the old style of tendering the Syrians will win every time. They have the bank financing, they have professional engineers and then what they do during work order changes, is they pump the price up. I have no apologies to say it is Black man redemption. I am not going to sit down there and 95% of government financing is being paid to Syrians who turn contractors and they can't even cut cloth.” Minister Weston in speaking of the government's tendering process is insisting that the Arab Syrians of A&B enjoy and exploit an unfair advantage over Africans of A&B. This small visible minority has according to Weston literally captured the state's purchases of goods and services in A&B. Minister Weston in his statement frames his presentation in terms of race power and powerlessness with a non-African minority enjoying wealth generating activities rooted in state contracts that exclude African competitors because of the rules of tendering established by the government past and present. The state dominated by black politicians elected by a black majority is then rewarding a minority to the detriment of the majority. Weston insists that it is now time for change for black man redemption a message clearly sent to the Arab Syrian minority. Read more...
References:
Newspaper Articles
Correspondence between the University of the West Indies/ UWI (Author's former employer) and the Author, pertaining to Legal Correspondence between lawyers representing members of the Arab Community in Trinidad and Tobago and the University concerning statements made by the Author in: 'Cocaine and Heroin Trafficking in the Caribbean, Volume 1 - The case of Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana.
“The Jamaican Oligarchy in the 21st century”
The work of Stanley Reid titled: “An Introductory approach to the concentration of power in the Jamaican corporate economy and notes on its origin” published in 1978 remains the standard for analysing this Jamaican reality but it is dated as it studied the period 1969-1973. The task of this work is to review Reid's work and present an analysis of the Jamaican reality today guided by Reid's work. Read more...
“Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela and the end of the Chavez experiment”
The death of Hugo Chavez in March 2013 resulted in Nicolas Maduro being the presidential candidate for the PSUV and the Great Patriotic Pole in the presidential election of 2013. In this election in April 2013 Maduro received 50.6% of the vote whilst the MUD candidate received 49.1% a stinging rejection by the Venezuelan electorate as to Maduro’s ability to continue with Chavez’s legacy from 1999-2013 to their benefit. The razor thin victory immediately led to an intensification of the campaign of regime change launched and evolved through various stages since 1999. Read more...
“Race and the Social Order of Barbados”
This article deals with the nature and structure of the social order of Barbados with specific emphasis on the impact of race on the nature and structure of the social order. In my article on Jamaica (1) the existence of a race based division of labour and its impact on the Jamaican social order was presented. The question now posed is if a similar structure exists in Barbados which if it does it confirms the ability of a social order rooted in colonial domination to survive and thrive with independence and the hegemony of the neocolonial order. Read more...
“Race and the Social Order of Trinidad and Tobago in the 21st century: An Introduction”
Studies of the structure of the social order of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) is a glaring omission in the post-independence academic literature on T&T. Much has been devoted to studying the nexus between race and politics in T&T but there is no academic work in the public domain that analyses the structure of the social order to reveal the nature of power and power relations in the social order. Read more...
“Race and Serious Crime in Trinidad and Tobago
Reality and the Manufactured Reality of Racist Discourse”
The Trinidad and Tobago 2011 Population and Housing Census, Demographic Report (1) states that in 2011 the population of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) was 1,328,019 persons with East Indian being 35.4% of the population, African 34.2% of the population, Mixed 22.8% of the population and other ethnic groups being 1.4% of the population. This 1.4% of population was enumerated as follows: Caucasian 0.59%, Chinese 0.30%, Indigenous 0.11%, Syrian-Lebanese 0.08% and Other 0.17%. Amongst respondents 6.22% did not state their ethnic group.
An analysis of the statistics generated by the T&T Police Service on the race of victims and offenders for the following serious crimes: Murder, Sexual Offences, Robbery, Kidnapping, Wounding/Shooting and for offenders only for the serious crime of Possession of Narcotics for Trafficking will reveal the dynamics of race and crime amongst victims and the perpetrators. The nature of this dynamic will throw light on the social order of T&T especially on the power relations of the social order, how they impact the races and the process by which the perceptions and worldview of individuals are constituted. Read more...
“The Most Powerful Ethnic Minority in Trinidad and Tobago”
Read, Connect the Dots and Behold the Power to make me unemployable. For the Wages of My Sin is Vagrancy in T&T. Where EVERY creed and race does NOT find an equal place. There is a Message in this action one that speaks to power wielded and the expectation that the majority will be subservient. The book was published in 2004 and within the time frame allowed for legal action in T&T there was No lawsuit by a member of the aggrieved Arab population of T&T against me in fact there were none at all from anyone. The action against me in 2011 was then specifically aimed at destroying my job at the university through action by the university illustrating the power wielded in a supposedly regional institution. Those of the majority who choose to be recalcitrant will be made an example of. A new massa in town so much for democracy and the end of the plantation. Is massa day done? Read more...
“The British Colonial Agenda for the Neo Colonial State of Trinidad and Tobago (1953-1962)”
From August 1962 to the present we have failed miserably to interrogate the British colonial agenda from 1953-to independence in 1962 to expose how this agenda has impacted post-independence Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). We have then given the British colonial master a blameless, exemplary record as massa as we tear apart each other via the politics of racist hegemony. One side insists that the PNM released a tsunami of racial oppression upon them as the largest race minority of the period whilst the other insists that it was a case of nation building premised on massa day done. Both sides in their discourse must refuse up to today to delve into the British colonial agenda for independence and how this agenda impacted the very political leaders of both sides especially how it influenced their actions which amounted to compliance with the British colonial agenda. Read more...
“Race, Income and the Ownership of Elite Business Enterprises in Trinidad and Tobago 2017”
A question devotedly evaded by sociological research on T&T is the impact of race on the structure and power relations of the hierarchy, that is common to all social orders, of the social order of T&T. Existing literature has focused solely on race relations between African and Indian Trinbagonians driven by the premise that the two major race groups are engaged in the constant battle to dominate the state via political power hence these two races therefore wield power in the social order. This position deliberately evades studying the power wielded by minority race groups and specifically the distribution of income between race groups. Salient realities of the social order of T&T are evaded by this position specifically the nexus between race and power in the social order and the power relations that flow from the nexus between race and power. Read more...