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Guarding Our World Heritage Listing

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Oldest building in Bridgetown…c.1650 – Dr. Karl Watson

The following was posted by Dr. Karl Watson on his Facebook Page. BU crafted the title of the post.

This is the oldest building in Bridgetown…c.1650. As you can see, it is Dutch inspired and would look quite in place in Amsterdam or Willemstad. It was one of the linchpins of our World Heritage application/dossier. Because it is a metaphor for Dutch/English commercial conflict and the subsequent emergence of the English/British dominated North Atlantic system, it deserves iconic status. It stands as a tangible/monumental beacon, explaining why it was that the first of a series of Navigation Acts was passed by the English Parliament…directed largely against the relative free trade which Barbados was enjoying with Holland. Within the context of British economic history/the trading arrangements of the British Empire, it is possibly the most important building in the English speaking Caribbean…a lonely survivor from the seventeenth century, having survived the many fires which devastated Bridgetown.

It has just changed hands and this picture and one to follow show some “renovation” work being done. My brother took this on Sunday gone. If you zoom in, you will see that the Dutch curvilinear gable is being filled in with wet cement. One of the quoins (those white bricks on the side of the building) has been irreparably damaged. You can see a mason on the scaffolding cutting away a parapet…this fell block by block as we watched and pleaded with the workers and owner that what was being done was contrary to the ideals of authenticity and integrity which inform/govern the World Heritage listing. Such work actually puts our recent World Heritage listing in jeopardy. Mine is a lonely voice crying in the wilderness. If you respect and understand these monumental relics of our past…if you can see through the neglect and garbage to what Bridgetown has the capacity to attain, because all is not lost…then talk about it…repost this…call in the radio programmes, write to the press….individuals pleading for sanity by themselves have their voices drowned out or are seen as mere evidence of some strange eccentricity. Many people shouting with the same voice are heard and are listened too…action will follow when the public demands it.

Related Link: Barbados Enters World Heritage List With Bridgetown And Its Garrison Inscribed

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104 responses to “Guarding Our World Heritage Listing”

  1. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    It is a shame to get to this stage of our development where preservation of our past can be easily destroyed in a blink of an eye. Where are the same people who have hustled to have Bridgetown named as a World Heritage Site ? Do they really understand what Heritage is all about? Do we really understand what Heritage is all about?

  2. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    “Guardians of our Heritage ,firm Craftsmen of our fate.”
    Does this include Politicians and 90% Bajans?

  3. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    I say burn the f#cker …!

  4. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    BAFBFP | January 11, 2012 at 10:19 PM |

    I say burn the f#cker …!

    BAFBFP…..With you in it I hope!

  5. Random Thoughts Avatar
    Random Thoughts

    Karl I see what you mean. What the mason is doing is both unneccessary and stuipd, and very likely illegal since this is a listed building. I know a thing or two about masonary.

    Town and Country planning should stop the owner/builder right away.

    And since Barbados is now a World Heritage site, the Polytechnic should right away add a heritage preservation course to all of its construction courses.

    I know that Karl is retired but perhaps he could be persuaded to write the curriculum and initially to teach the course. It could initially be compulsory but not for credit.

  6. Angela Ifill Avatar
    Angela Ifill

    This heritage thing to me is a load of crap.Whose heritage ? The colonizers? These buildings were built by those that kidnap my grandparents from Africa and brought them over here to be slaves for over 300 years.I don’t give a fuck if their damn buildings burn down.I am sure my grandparents didn’t get pay for building them.

  7. Split-Reset Avatar
    Split-Reset

    @ Angela Ifill

    You very acid.

    ” I don’t give a fuck if their damn buildings burn down.” You should be very proud of yourself. Skull hard and empty.

  8. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Rate This
    Angela Ifill | January 11, 2012 at 11:05 PM |
    This heritage thing to me is a load of crap.Whose heritage ? The colonizers? These buildings were built by those that kidnap my grandparents from Africa and brought them over here to be slaves for over 300 years.I don’t give a fuck if their damn buildings burn down.I am sure my grandparents didn’t get pay for building them
    **********************************************************************************
    And by the same token while we are at it ,lets get rid of Cricket, The Police Band, the Knighthoods ,BEM’s ,Government House, House of Parliament. The Civil Service,the Anglican Church.

  9. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    I say burn Islandgal and Carl Hudson, all the Guardians of White Heritage and their lackeys …

  10. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    Angela you go girl …!

  11. Random Thoughts Avatar
    Random Thoughts

    But Angela those buildings were built my the hands of those same enslaved labourers and craftsmen. Even while they were enslaved they were still bright and capable people.

    You really believe that all the historic buildings were built by the hands of the white slave masters?

    Why would you believe that your enslaved foreparents stupid or incompetent?

    The pyramids wer built by enslaved people too, but I don’t see the Egyptians rushing to burn down those.

  12. Random Thoughts Avatar
    Random Thoughts

    BAFBFP you would burn the Panama Canal too.

    That too was built by poor black man and poor black women form every village in Barbados these builders were the grandsons and granddaughters of enlaved Bajans.

    Damn good builders too. The Panama Canal still holding up nicely. My grandmother’s brother, he who was born in a poor Bajan village in 1870 worked on building it. Hut he was no fool. He was a highly skilled builder. And yes I have the documents to prove it.

  13. Ru4real Avatar
    Ru4real

    Only can only hope that BAF and Ang dont get togther and breed.

  14. David Avatar
    David

    Barbadians were promised when the World heritage status was received that a massive communications campaign would have been rolled out to sensitize everyone. There was even the promise of a website and access to the voluminous document which was prepared by Barbados to acquire the designation. Where are we with this promise? It is not enough to get the designation which seems to be contrived more than out of a culture of valuing and being sensitive to the environment.

  15. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    Wunna people just brain wash doh … Conditioned to a fault …! The Panama Canal is a useful construction. I choose not to be constantly reminded of a past of complete exploitation and depravity over a useless edifice simply because an extremely small minority of traditional elite residents and their lackeys think these relics worthy of something

  16. David (not BU) Avatar
    David (not BU)

    do you know there is nothing and i mean nothing that one can buy that would give you the history of this World Heritage site?

    that along tells you how much we care about this World Heritage site.

  17. David Avatar
    David

    @BAFBFP

    Aren’t you the one always crying about the need to focus on assets which generate forex? Don’t you think the oldest building in Barbados adds to the brand and or product we have and therefore lends appeal to the potential visitor? Who by the way spends forex when they visit? Also is it not a positive to create a culture of preserving our history? History is history it does not matter how it was created.

  18. David (not BU) Avatar
    David (not BU)

    then BAFBFP, if that is what you choose, why comment on the topic? who are you to choose what i or anyone should be interested in?

    some of you really like attention.

  19. peltdownman Avatar
    peltdownman

    BAFBFP is just too lazy to care, so he covers it with this worn out vitriolic crap. The world over, and in other parts of the Caribbean, all of which has been colonised at one time or another, governments are preserving their built heritage BECAUSE it is attarctive to potential visitors. One way or another BAFBFP, your income (I presume that you have a job) is derived from what vistors spend here in Barbados.

  20. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Random Thoughts and Colonel Buggy …you seem to have read my mind and posted some of the same points I was going to post.

    Angela you have disappointed me with your hate filled response. BAFBFP…you only pretending to hate …you already know how you love white meat and only white meat.

    Yes if we were to go by both Angela and BAFBFP suggestions, why don’t we all burn the churches, the Schools, the parliament buildings, and every thing that was built by black slave labour. The we will go to Egypt as Random mentioned and burn the pyramids, the sphinx, the camels and then let us go to Africa and burn the ports from which our African brothers and sisters were sold from to the white man by our own African brothers and sisters and shipped to the Indies.

    And why don’t we burn the oval, the Bridgetown port where white man’s money and technology was used to construct it?

    Why not burn the whole world with our hatred and bitterness because we were born Black and don’t love ourselves enough to admit that because of the same slavery we hate, it was responsible for us being in this part of the world. We can burn the books that say so but we cannot burn the fact that we are children of slaves and because of them we are here today.

    I raise my hand and glass to my ancestors who came as slaves , built some of the most beautiful buildings in this part of the world and are still here as proof that this is their work!

  21. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    You know what Adolph Hitler is the most famous German leader of all time. Maybe they should erect a statue of him for the sake of the tourist dollar. Fa’get history. Maybe the Russians were plain stupid for removing all statues of Stalin when they changed their political structure.

    I do not need to be reminded of our shite plantation colonial past at every turn, even if it means forfeiting a few US dollars. If that is really what the tourists are looking for they could shove what they are prepared to spend up their pretty little fannies (UK and US versions)…! George Washington house six million dollar spend was a complete and shameful waste of money … incidentally…

  22. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    islandgal246

    You see how wunna women getting cuss this year by the men bloggers, I ain’ doing that. So you go long and project …!

  23. lemuel Avatar
    lemuel

    Angel Ifill and BAFBFP:
    Don’t you know that Europe makes a lot of foreign currency each year with their peculiar houses and historic places. I agree that past which engendered these old buildings was not what the oppressed black people of Barbados had in mind but we can make a buck and the Colonel along with his friends can regale in their throes of memory about the good old bad days of human exploitation and inhumanity.

  24. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    No Lemuel

    I am not comfortable with the “Prostituting” of a past that is as dehumanizing as the shite we call our history … sorry. Let the blasted relics along with Nelson fall to the dirt …!

  25. CHAPEL Avatar
    CHAPEL

    @ BAFBFP

    You are a blasted relic yourself, we should put your ass in a big glass case and put it in one of the more obscure rooms at the museum.

    That chip got to be heavy, a fella would have to struggle under that pointless burden.

  26. lemuel Avatar
    lemuel

    To BAFBFP:
    Would you agree that some good can be derived from any past however morbid it was or is? We in Bim shout up and down with regard to our education system, but the oppressors started it. We jump up and down about a number of other cultural things but they were also modeled off of the oppressor. These are the thing we can not let fall to the ground, and we must be smart enough to recognize an opportunity to make some foreign exchange.

  27. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    You know I luv ad homonym. It shows that You sick bitches actually believe scare tactics to be a sufficient defense to a policy of constant insult to the sensitivities of Blacks who simply care little for the monuments of a debasing past. It exposes the level of contempt that is held to opposition to any White initiative ’bout hey..You shites really have NO defense now do you. This is all about traditional arrogance and a mass of people who are just to stupid to challenge it…

    I say let the blasted things burn ..!

  28. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    BAFBFP…said ” I say let the blasted things burn ..!’

    And I say wid you in it as the kindle!

  29. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    islandgal246

    Because you is a woman and I refuse to join Bush Tea and the rest, I gun le’ you ga long … hear ..

  30. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    lemuel | January 12, 2012 at 9:58 AM |

    “Would you agree that some good can be derived from any past however morbid it was or is”

    Nothing wrong with being selective. But the type of response that is thrown up when their is opposition to a collection of White people in Ba’bados wanting to preserve something that they think is important, demonstrates to me why their is need for opposition in the first place.

    There are conflicting interests here and I unlike so many others, am not genetically engineered to accept campaigns simply because the act of not doing so may prove offensive to our local White elite.

  31. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    there

  32. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Baffy I know yuh ent nuh woman hater like BT and Scout an ah still gine oppose you pon dis one.

    I wunder eff Scout and BT ent closet Queens? Dem have come out and have shown dem open dislike for wimmenfolk like me and AC and any woman dat speaks she mind. Dem got a reel grudge gainst wee wimmen. Clostet Queens ah say Closet Queens dem is!

  33. TECHNICIAN Avatar
    TECHNICIAN

    ……”I raise my hand and glass to my ancestors who came as slaves , built some of the most beautiful buildings in this part of the world and are still here as proof that this is their work!

    I have never read so much ignorance by supposedly educated people.
    While I have no issues with preservation of these buildings to teach our people of the past, I find it truly amazing that anyone that is a descendant of Slaves, can make the above quote with pride.

    When the Slave built the Pyramids, these buildings in Bridgetown and allover the world etc, where they building from their own plans, ideas or cultural desire?
    These people were starved, beaten, humiliated and treated worst than animals because of their status as Slaves. The monuments and buildings had NOTHING to do with their culture or pride…there were built to the Slavemasters specifications to represent their (slavemasters) culture and it was done in the most brutal way.
    So, please spare me the ignorance of the emotional mouthings about Slaves building with pride or even knowing how to build….the labourer is NOT a mason!!

  34. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Tecchie….we can despair how cruel slavery was that doesn’t change the fact they their hard labour was responsible for the erection of these buildings. And why can’t we be proud of it? You said…. .the labourer is NOT a mason!! How do you know that? Were you there? The labourer in those days was probably a master craftsman unlike today.

  35. Wily Coyote Avatar
    Wily Coyote

    Da BLACK blame da WHITE for everything. Barbados has free education “Does not seem to be working” or else the quality is extremely LOW, Example: Alexander School, the Indians running the show.

    Heritage is Heritage and should not be considered Black, White, Gray, Chocolate etc. but HERITAGE. The Black people of Barbados who blame everything on White Slavery should consider it was your Black Ass cousins in Africa that SOLD your ASS to the White Slavers.

    Barbados is Third(TURD) World and is slowly digressing to FOURTH WORLD status and this is just the latest example, disregard History & destroy Heritage.

    I’m sorry Karl but your waging a losing battle here in Barbados.

  36. TECHNICIAN Avatar
    TECHNICIAN

    islandgal246 | January 12, 2012 at 11:06 AM |
    Tecchie….we can despair how cruel slavery was that doesn’t change the fact they their hard labour was responsible for the erection of these buildings. And why can’t we be proud of it? You said…. .the labourer is NOT a mason!! How do you know that? Were you there? The labourer in those days was probably a master craftsman unlike today.

    LOL….true to form IG….

    Were ‘you’ there?

    As usual, you have missed the point completely.
    I have not said that their hard labour wasn’t responsible (how else were the buildings built) but the is a vast difference between building on your own and being forced to build….eg…who designed your house?…you or the architect? who went to who with the ideas?
    The labourer is not a mason was is as applicable then as it is today.
    Again you show true emotion..’The labourer in those days was probably a master craftsman unlike today.’
    While not taking away from the ‘craftsmen’ of that era……please….travel the world and see some of the wonders of ‘todays’ craftsmen.

    You can have the last word.

  37. TECHNICIAN Avatar
    TECHNICIAN

    Wily Coyote says….’ The Black people of Barbados who blame everything on White Slavery should consider it was your Black Ass cousins in Africa that SOLD your ASS to the White Slavers.’

    You were going along fine until your slip started to show…lol.
    Almost had me thinking you were truly concerned and not just upset because BAFBFP mashed your corns….couldn’t hold it in long enough eh?

  38. Nia Avatar
    Nia

    All races have owned, betrayed and sold their own into slavery at some point in history. I don’t know why people always love to bring that up about Africans as though it is some great big shocking revelation that is supposed to silence black people about how they choose to celebrate their history.

    There were groups in Ghana who were defeated and captured by the British. One of the conditions which the British set for these groups to remain free and live peacefully was that they had to provide slaves and gold in order to live peacefully.
    They had no option than to also raid less-powerful towns to come up with the slaves and gold. So yes, in this way they were a part of it. The noble European, of course, is above this type of behaviour. If the Europeans were in this position where they had to participate in the slave trade in order to survive they would never, EVER do such a thing against their own, would they? Only black people would, right? Only African people would just sit around, all too eager to sell off “their own” for a couple of brass trinkets and glass beads, right?

    In any situation where people are seeking to survive or to liberate themselves you will always have those who side with the oppressor. This was not just a historical reality during the slave trade, but is a well-known fact which is evident in every single society (not just black ones) to this day.

    Jews betrayed other Jews to the Gestapo and in the concentration camps during World War II too as a means of survival. But their concentration camps today tend to be maintained as symbols of remembrance, as opposed to being tourist celebrations or means to make money.

  39. islandgal246 Avatar
    islandgal246

    Excellent points Nia!

    We still practice our oppressors form of government, education and religion. Should we discard those as well? I am for discarding the religion because it has not helped the Black man one bit only promises of better things to come if they believe in the oppressors’ God. The education a system has enabled us to be where we are today but we need to make some changes. The form of government I believe has worked for us but I ask is it really working for us today?

    Should we look at our old monuments as reminders of our cruel past and as a deterrent that such would never be allowed to happen? I can live with that concept, however it takes money to up keep and why not use it as an attraction?

  40. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    Nia

    You’ve got me with some serious wood going on right now. I could not agree with you more … Symbols of remembrance is the only real and relevant argument that I have heard presented in discussions such as this. Tourism is NOT.

    I accept what you say but I do not even want this. Sorry.

  41. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    Wily Coyote

    Yah useless piece ah pup … Yours may be a base opinion, as usual, but there is absolutely NO doubt in my mind that it is a popular one among White people in this part of the world. My friend contempt works both ways …! F*ck off

  42. David Avatar
    David

    It is true minority Whites is the group which seems to be more sensitive to preserving old buildings and not to forget animals. The reality is the building is part of our heritage because it is old. The point is we should be caring for animals. This issue should not be about race.

  43. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    Of course we should care for animals, including the Wild Coyotes, Duppy Lizards, Johns, Fat Arss’s and Hoods.

  44. Moneybrain Avatar
    Moneybrain

    @Ms I and BAFBFP
    Wunnu thinks you going to change the reality of the past by bunning down and destroying the presumed symbols????????

    All of the Cbean societies that were lead by political idiots ie Manley and Burnham, decided to destroy anything “colonial” especially business. They totally destroyed the road to progress and chased away the successful peeps that were in most cases potentially instrumental for the betterment of BLACK peeps in JA and GUY! Please note that the lighter and darker people who left are FAR BETTER off in nearly every critical respect than those who inherited the Nation left behind! The best educated, richest etc Jammies and Guyanese live in North America!

    It is interesting that the cleverer politicians of Bim ie Grantley, Tom and Sir Dipper, produced a far more successful society with less natural resources, less crime, better education, higher standard of living etc than the JOKERS referred to above.

    BAFBFP, it is shocking that someone with your capability had to boung down this road and hit your head so hard! NOT surprising doh!

    Black folks should never lose sight of the terrible past BUT focus on developing themselves and family! In Toronto there is a group of Black people always complaining about everything while the Indians and Orientals face the same albeit heinous discrimination by applying formulaes of success…. mainly hard and clever work. What is interesting is that the Black peeps that apply the same formulae end up with very positive results!

  45. Nia Avatar
    Nia

    If it wasn’t about REALLY race then some of the same people who want the buildings to remain wouldn’t automatically resort to the tired stereotypical arguments about African slavery (they sold their own, etc.) history and colonization.

    We should be caring for our animals because it is simply the inherently decent, humane thing to do regardless.

    But I don’t hear the people who are advocating for the buildings to remain doing so on any particularly humane grounds, so why compare the two?

    The main arguments I hear for preseving certain buildings are: It makes money; it’s European history; Black people have no real history apart from slavery so we should learn to love these buildings; Black people sold their own into slavery so we should learn to love these buildings.

    I’m not saying the building should be discarded, but I think you are arguing in bad-faith by throwing in the animal welfare argument and by extension trying to suggest that White people are more humane and sensitive when it comes to certain issues.

  46. Nia Avatar
    Nia

    @MoneyBrain,
    When you have a chance please research the ways in which European people, Indian people, Asian people (the term ‘Orientals’ is considered offensive by the way) and all those other groups you love so much are taught about their history.

    When you are through with that, research the ways in which Africans and African-descended people are taught about their history.

    Then come back and lecture to Black people about what they should and should not be complaining about.

  47. David Avatar
    David

    The example of fusing the two example (old buildings/animals) was to refute the point that it is a minority group (white) who always seem to be pushing the cause of preserving old buildings. A nonsense argument.

  48. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    Okay David let me modify my nonsense argument. It is the White people and their lackeys (I believe that you may have missed the detail) that push for the preservation of old buildings. Does this ring a little more true for you? And of course this is NOT so in the case of animals rights…!

  49. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    @ Moneybrain

    My experience with you is that you never seem to be on point. You throw stones all over the place and behave as though you are actually saying something that has weight. I cannot talk to you man, so I won’t even try …

  50. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    @ Nia

    I am so hot for you right now …!

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