Cheddi Jagan and the Politics of Power

Cheddi Jagan and the Politics of Power PDF Author: Colin A. Palmer
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 9780807899618
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Colin Palmer, one of the foremost chroniclers of twentieth-century British and U.S. imperialism in the Caribbean, here tells the story of British Guiana's struggle for independence. At the center of the story is Cheddi Jagan, who was the colony's first premier following the institution of universal adult suffrage in 1953. Informed by the first use of many British, U.S., and Guyanese archival sources, Palmer's work details Jagan's rise and fall, from his initial electoral victory in the spring of 1953 to the aftermath of the British-orchestrated coup d'etat that led to the suspension of the constitution and the removal of Jagan's independence-minded administration. Jagan's political odyssey continued--he was reelected to the premiership in 1957--but in 1964 he fell out of power again under pressure from Guianese, British, and U.S. officials suspicious of Marxist influences on the People's Progressive Party, founded in 1950 by Jagan and his activist wife, Janet Rosenberg. But Jagan's political life was not over--after decades in the opposition, he became Guyana's president in 1992. Subtly analyzing the actual role of Marxism in Caribbean anticolonial struggles and bringing the larger story of Caribbean colonialism into view, Palmer examines the often malevolent roles played by leaders at home and abroad and shows how violence, police corruption, political chicanery, racial politics, and poor leadership delayed Guyana's independence until 1966, scarring the body politic in the process.

Cheddi Jagan and the Politics of Power

Cheddi Jagan and the Politics of Power PDF Author: Colin A. Palmer
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 9780807899618
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Colin Palmer, one of the foremost chroniclers of twentieth-century British and U.S. imperialism in the Caribbean, here tells the story of British Guiana's struggle for independence. At the center of the story is Cheddi Jagan, who was the colony's first premier following the institution of universal adult suffrage in 1953. Informed by the first use of many British, U.S., and Guyanese archival sources, Palmer's work details Jagan's rise and fall, from his initial electoral victory in the spring of 1953 to the aftermath of the British-orchestrated coup d'etat that led to the suspension of the constitution and the removal of Jagan's independence-minded administration. Jagan's political odyssey continued--he was reelected to the premiership in 1957--but in 1964 he fell out of power again under pressure from Guianese, British, and U.S. officials suspicious of Marxist influences on the People's Progressive Party, founded in 1950 by Jagan and his activist wife, Janet Rosenberg. But Jagan's political life was not over--after decades in the opposition, he became Guyana's president in 1992. Subtly analyzing the actual role of Marxism in Caribbean anticolonial struggles and bringing the larger story of Caribbean colonialism into view, Palmer examines the often malevolent roles played by leaders at home and abroad and shows how violence, police corruption, political chicanery, racial politics, and poor leadership delayed Guyana's independence until 1966, scarring the body politic in the process.

U.S. Intervention in British Guiana

U.S. Intervention in British Guiana PDF Author: Stephen G. Rabe
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 9780807876961
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
In the first published account of the massive U.S. covert intervention in British Guiana between 1953 and 1969, Stephen G. Rabe uncovers a Cold War story of imperialism, gender bias, and racism. When the South American colony now known as Guyana was due to gain independence from Britain in the 1960s, U.S. officials in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations feared it would become a communist nation under the leadership of Cheddi Jagan, a Marxist who was very popular among the South Asian (mostly Indian) majority. Although to this day the CIA refuses to confirm or deny involvement, Rabe presents evidence that CIA funding, through a program run by the AFL-CIO, helped foment the labor unrest, race riots, and general chaos that led to Jagan's replacement in 1964. The political leader preferred by the United States, Forbes Burnham, went on to lead a twenty-year dictatorship in which he persecuted the majority Indian population. Considering race, gender, religion, and ethnicity along with traditional approaches to diplomatic history, Rabe's analysis of this Cold War tragedy serves as a needed corrective to interpretations that depict the Cold War as an unsullied U.S. triumph.

Freedom's Children

Freedom's Children PDF Author: Colin A. Palmer
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469611694
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
Freedom's Children: The 1938 Labor Rebellion and the Birth of Modern Jamaica

Caribbean Labor and Politics

Caribbean Labor and Politics PDF Author: Perry Mars
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 9780814332115
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
Having more in common than their deaths on the same day in 1997, the late Cheddi Jagan of Guyana and Michael Manley of Jamaica both represented a radical perspective in modern Caribbean politics. Jagan and Manley each had a bold and creative ability to connect labor and politics and made it their priority to minimize poverty and inequality and to enhance the welfare of the Caribbean's disadvantaged and dispossessed. Caribbean Labor and Politics looks closely at the legacies of Jagan and Manley and their ramifications for the political and economic struggles of the Caribbean region and the world. This edited volume brings together a variety of studies on the lives, works, and intellectual and practical contributions of these two stalwart political leaders. The chapters focus primarily on Jagan's and Manley's years as heads of state of their respective countries and also encapsulate their pre-political years-mainly their growing-up experiences and their organizational work in the labor movement. The core contributions of these men are characterized in terms of their pivotal struggles towards the realization of what we term the "working class project."

The West on Trial

The West on Trial PDF Author: Cheddi Jagan
Publisher: Hansib Publishing (Caribbean), Limited
ISBN: 9789768163080
Category : Guyana
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
The deeply moving personal account of the struggle against imperialism by one of the Caribbean's leading political personalities.

A Political And Social History Of Guyana, 1945-1983

A Political And Social History Of Guyana, 1945-1983 PDF Author: Thomas Spinner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429716591
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Originally published in 1984, this is a documented account of the political history of the former British colony of Guyana. Providing a reflection of the increasing involvement of the United States in the Caribbean and Central America on the long-term political, social and economic effect that intervention can have on the small states of less developed countries during the period of 1945 to 1983. The text includes a detailed historical account of post-World War II politics and moves onto the emergence of the nationalist movement in Guyana in the late 1940s and the cold war period of the 1950s; concluding with the consequences both politically and economically in the 1980s.

Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean

Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean PDF Author: Colin A. Palmer
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807888508
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
Born in Trinidad, Eric Williams (1911-81) founded the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago's first modern political party in 1956, led the country to independence from the British culminating in 1962, and became the nation's first prime minister. Before entering politics, he was a professor at Howard University and wrote several books, including the classic Capitalism and Slavery. In the first scholarly biography of Williams, Colin Palmer provides insights into Williams's personality that illuminate his life as a scholar and politician and his tremendous influence on the historiography and politics of the Caribbean. Palmer focuses primarily on the fourteen-year period of struggles for independence in the Anglophone Caribbean. From 1956, when Williams became the chief minister of Trinidad and Tobago, to 1970, when the Black Power-inspired February Revolution brought his administration face to face with a younger generation intellectually indebted to his revolutionary thought, Williams was at the center of most of the conflicts and challenges that defined the region. He was most aggressive in advocating the creation of a West Indies federation to help the region assert itself in international political and economic arenas. Looking at the ideas of Williams as well as those of his Caribbean and African peers, Palmer demonstrates how the development of the modern Caribbean was inextricably intertwined with the evolution of a regional anticolonial consciousness.

Ethno-politics and Power Sharing in Guyana

Ethno-politics and Power Sharing in Guyana PDF Author: David Hinds
Publisher: New Academia Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 0982806108
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Hinds presents a useful guide at large for understanding the problem of governance, democracy, and society in ethnically divided countries and how to create a framework aimed at solving the problem.

Faking it

Faking it PDF Author: Cynthia Weber
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 9780816632701
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Weber provides an invigorating analysis of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America through the lens of queer theory, one that is certain to spark controversy and debate. She probes popular ideas of how the United States is personified, arguing that a degree of queerness is both absent and present in these perceptions. Weber critically engages the popular image of American culture. Reviewing U.S. military interventions in Latin America from 1959 to 1994, Weber posits that American foreign policy is a set of strategic displacements of castration anxiety. She brilliantly illuminates the cultural anxieties and imperatives that shape foreign policy. Utilizing humor and critical logic, she provides a fascinating perspective on American foreign relations in the Caribbean.

The Modern Caribbean

The Modern Caribbean PDF Author: Franklin W. Knight
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469617323
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
This collection of thirteen original essays by experts in the field of Caribbean studies clarifies the diverse elements that have shaped the modern Caribbean. Through an interdisciplinary examination of the complexities of race, politics, language, and environment that mark the region, the authors offer readers a thorough understanding of the Caribbean's history and culture. The essays also comment thoughtfully on the problems that confront the Caribbean in today's world. The essays focus on the Caribbean island and the mainland enclaves of Belize and the Guianas. Topics examined include the Haitian Revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; labor and society in the nineteenth-century Caribbean; society and culture in the British and French West Indies since 1870; identity, race, and black power in Jamaica; the "February Revolution" of 1970 in Trinidad; contemporary Puerto Rico; politics, economy, and society in twentieth-century Cuba; Spanish Caribbean politics and nationalism in the nineteenth century; Caribbean migrations; economic history of the British Caribbean; international relations; and nationalism, nation, and ideology in the evolution of Caribbean literature. The authors trace the historical roots of current Caribbean difficulties and analyze these problems in the light of economic, political, and social developments. Additionally, they explore these conditions in relation to United States interests and project what may lie ahead for the region. The challenges currently facing the Caribbean, note the editors, impose a heavy burden upon political leaders who must struggle "to eliminate the tensions when the people are so poor and their expectations so great." The contributors are Herman L. Bennett, Bridget Brereton, David Geggus, Franklin W. Knight, Anthony P. Maingot, Jay R. Mandle, Roberto Marquez, Teresita Martinez Vergne, Colin A. Palmer, Bonham C. Richardson, Franciso A. Scarano, and Blanca G. Silvestrini.