IN THE MID-1960s, Stokely Carmichael, a young, black Trinidadian-American attempted to raise the consciousness of his race, with a call for “Black Power”. Unlike Martin Luther King, he advocated using force to achieve social justice in the United States. The resulting Black Power Movement sent shockwaves and fear through the American society.
It was not long before Carmichael’s movement found adherents in the Caribbean, particularly in the land of his birth. Black people in that country embraced his message with zeal, to the extent that there was civil unrest and a mutiny of soldiers.
The Eric Williams government declared a state of emergency and arrested black power leaders. Additionally, a Public Order bill was introduced in parliament which was designed to radically place limits on the people’s right to march and hold public meetings. Government was forced to withdraw the bill.
As expected, the Black Power Movement arrived on Barbadian shores and was quickly embraced by black Bajans. Out of fear that the local movement would resort to similar tactics as their Trinidadian counterparts, the Barrow administration took steps to defang the fledgling movement. Most significantly, Carmichael was declared persona non grata and a Public Order bill, with the same intent as the Trinidad bill, was introduced in Parliament.
Unfortunately, the local bill did not suffer the same fate as Trinidad’s. But before passage, Government made significant concessions to the trade union movement, which all intent and purposes back then was really Frank Walcott and the Barbados Workers’ Union.
That severely abridged history outlines the state of affairs that led to the passage of the Public Order Act, which imposed conditions for staging public marches and holding public meetings. That act requires persons who want to organise such meetings and marches to apply to the Commissioner of Police for permission.
As mentioned earlier, Walcott ensured that the trade union movement did not suffer any curtailment of the rights and privileges that it was enjoying. Among other things, section 2.(1) of the Public Order Act states:
For the purposes of this Act, the expression “public march” means any march or procession in a public place comprising (whether wholly or partly) pedestrian, vehicles (however propelled or drawn) or bicycles (however propelled), except a march or procession
(a) by members of the Police Force or Fire Service; or
(b) by members of the Barbados Regiment; or
(c) which takes place as part of any religious ceremony, including a wedding or funeral, not being in any way connected with any political demonstration or celebration; or
(d) which is confined to the pupils and teachers of any school; or
(e) organised by or on behalf of, and in the furtherance of lawful industrial objects of, a trade union.
Further, section 8.(1) permits trade unions to hold public meetings, in furtherance of their lawful industrial objects, without restrictions and without seeking permission from the Commissioner of Police.
Last year, the National Union of Public Workers organised a march in support of workers who were dismissed from the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation. My understanding is that the union applied for permission, in which they specified a route; the police approved the march but varied the route. More recently, media reports suggested that the police did not allow the Barbados Union of Teachers to use placards.
My concern is that trade unions, despite what the law allows, have knuckled under to the police, because of their ignorance, and subject themselves to restrictions in order to obtain police permission when such permission is unnecessary, if they are acting in pursuit of their objects as trade unions. It would appear that the police have arrogated to themselves power to regulate the actions of trade unions. Walcott must be rolling in his grave to see his achievements being obliterated.
Are we now seeing attempts to make Barbados a police state?
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