Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of homophobia, homophobic language, murder and police brutality. There are also brief mentions of slavery and rape. By no stretch, is the Jamaica Constabulary Force the most loved civil servant organisation. However, the organisation colonial roots, anti-blackness and the nation’s homophobia have le…

On this episode, we discussed how the colonisation of Barbados by Europeans led to the rise of mosquitoes in the region as well as look at other ecological transformation that have led to other present day problems across the region For additional reading information on this episode and to view our transcript for this episode, visit our website at:…

In 1979, a swine virus outbreak occurred in the Dominican Republic. Still, the situation would have far reaching changes in Haiti as a US-Canada-Mexico partnership saw 1.3 million of their Kreyol pigs been slaughtered. For additional reading information on this episode and to view our transcript for this episode, visit our website at: ⁠⁠https://www…

In 1975, Cuba sent troops to Angola to help them fight against an invasion by apartheid South Africa. Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State was angry at this, so he set out to get countries to denounce Cuba’s actions. Jamaica was one of these countries. So, in December 1975, Kissinger met with prime minister Michael Manley on the issue. On thi…

On this episode, The Yaad follows up on our previous episode looking at the Essequibo border dispute between Venezuela and Guyana. This time around, we spoke with Dr. Tamanisha J. John, on how the discovery of oil and other natural resources in Guyana and Venezuela has played a role in the dispute. Furthermore, she also spoke on how Western imperia…

On this episode, The Yaad spoke to Dr Jacqueline Braveboy-Wagner on the origins of the Essequibo border dispute which sees Venezuela challenging the borders of Guyana which incorporates the region. The Essequibo region, rich in minerals and oil, is two thirds of Guyana. As such, given recent events in the past year of increase investments in Guyana…

In recent years, the effects of Climate Change has been felt by every country within the Caribbean region. The situation has gotten so bad, that some cities are on the brink of Climate Departure. On this episode, we speak to the founders of Island City Lab, Dorraine Duncan and Jhordan Channer, on this phenomenon. Along with giving a picture of how …

Our guest for the episode is Dr. Dalano DaSouza , assistant lecturer in Economics at UWI, Cave Hill and co-host of the podcast, A Lawyer & A Policy Analyst Walk Into A Bar. On this episode, the economics academic spoke on the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust (RSF) where Barbados and Jamaica are the first Caribbean countries to access this …

In Jamaica, there is the famous Devon House. A historical landmark, it is popular for its patties, the Devon House ice-cream and on any given weekend when the weather is suitable, it also serves as a public park for families. However, there’s a popular story that involves Devon House that most Jamaicans grow up hearing. Basically, the story goes th…

On this episode, we speak to public health expert, Dr. Sherine Andreine Powerful on their recently concluded doctoral research. On the opening episode of the new season, Dr. Powerful explained the contribution of carnival to public health throughout the Caribbean. They outlined Carnival benefits to positive health and wellbeing for its participants…

Upon the arrival of large numbers of Indians to the Caribbean, through the Indentureship system, they also brought their religion and other aspect of their culture. Their aversion to not assimilating to whiteness, was seen as a problem by the colonial governments. And no other event in the 1800’s would portray this than the 1884 Hosay Massacre in T…

On August 1st, 1838, Jamaica, alongside the rest of the countries in British West Indies, achieved emancipation and thus all enslaves black people on the island, gained their freedom. Immediately after, the topic of land became a major issue. For even though freedom day come for all black persons, land throughout the British colonies were not acces…

Content Warning: this episode contains mentions of violence, slavery and wider harm. Most scholarship on Caribbean chattel slavery of enslaved Africans largely covers the the sugar and tobacco plantation systems throughout the region. However, there was another massive industry that was built upon the enslavement of Africans - that was the cultivat…

On this episode, we spoke with David Salmon, member of the Political Awareness and Respect Initiative (the youth arm of Jamaica Office of the Political Ombudsman), 2020 Prime Minister of the National Youth Parliament and journalist at The Gleaner Company, on is January 2022 op-ed, "The Failure of Youth Programmes". Narrowing on Jamaica, he spoke on…

On March 10, 1979, according to all persons who were personally involved in the documentation of the revolution, the New Jewel Movement leadership got word through their informats at senior levels of the police force, that orders were left for the arrest and assassination of the leading members of the political party i.e - Maurice Bishop, Bernard C…

On this episode, marine biology graduate, Aprille, guest host, where she spoke with Dr. Kimani Kitson-Walters. Dr. Kitson -Walters is the marine studies project leader and data monitoring officer at the Caribbean Netherlands Science Institute. Marine scientist across the region, beginning in February, started to raise the alarm of the sudden death …

Content Warning: This episode contains mentions of police brutality As Sir Eric Gairy’s tenure as head of government continued throughout the 1970’s, the country was on the brink of economic and social collapse. After Bloody Sunday and Bloody Monday occurred, two of the most brutal cases of police brutality in Caribbean history, Eric Gairy was begi…

At the beginning of the 1970’s decade, Grenada's representative Jennifer Hosten, won the Miss World pageant and almost four years later, the country achieved one of its greatest fete: independence from the United Kingdom. Still, in the midst of this independence, the country was experiencing islandwide strikes and protests due to its economic deter…

In mid February of 2022, thousands of Haitian textile workers took to the streets of this Port-au-Prince to demand a higher wage and better working conditions at firms that export to global clothing retailers. Currently workers earn 500 gourdes (approximately USD$5) for eight hours of work amid an inflation of 25 percent. On this episode, we speak …

The Disabilities Act was passed in the Jamaican parliament on October 10th, 2014 and on February 14, 2022, it finally came into effect. The Act seeks to makes provisions to safeguard and enhance the welfare of persons with disabilities in Jamaica and prevent discrimination against them. With the legislation intended to protect and promote equal rig…

After years of societal tension in Grenada, everything would come to a head in 1951 at an event now known as the 1951 Revolution. The person who propelled this event was a former primary school teacher name Eric Matthew Gairy. Due to the success of this 1951 event, Gairy would become Grenada’s leading trade unionist through his organisation, Grenad…

Content Warning: This episode contains mention of rape and sexual assault. In February of 2022, The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has ruled that a man can rape another man in Barbados. The finding from the Caribbean appellate court, which was the view of six members of the seven-judge panel, arose out of an appeal by the Barbados commissioner of…

1950 would be one of the most significant years to understand the Grenadian Revolution, however, the events of this year were years in the making. It was years of build up tension arising from the neglect of the country’s majority black and poor population, coupled with the organising influence of Uriah Butler in nearby Trinidad and Tobago and the …

The Reform of Education in Jamaica 2021 Report was launched on Thursday January 14, 2022. Developed by the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC), which is headed by renowned sociologist Dr. Orlando Patterson, the Report is a blueprint for the establishment of a comprehensive strategy to improve student performance and educational produ…

A introduction of what to come for the season 4 of the Lest We Forget Historical Podcast. This season will be a five part series entirely dedicated to Grenadian Revolution as we examine the events, people, causes & consequences that led to the March 1979 overthrow of the Sir Eric Gairy government by the New Jewel Movement. The audio compilation fea…

The Reform of Education in Jamaica 2021 Report was launched on Thursday January 14, 2022. Developed by the Jamaica Education Transformation Commission (JETC), which is headed by renowned sociologist Dr. Orlando Patterson, the Report is a blueprint for the establishment of a comprehensive strategy to improve student performance and educational produ…

In March of 1795, a French free coloured, Julien Fédon, would lead a revolt against the white British elites on the island of Grenada. Inspired by the Haitian Revolution, the French Revolution and activities happening in Guadeloupe; for the next 16 months Fédon would range a battle against the English colonisers. At the end of the uprising, at leas…

Content Warning: this episode contains mentioned of physical and emotional abuse. If this is something that you know is a trigger for you, please skip forward to 8 minutes in this episode or if you rather just not, please checkout other episodes of the Lest We Forget Podcast. Alexander Bedward, emerged during 1889 as a minister in the Jamaica Nativ…

Since scholarship on the Ten Type Beauty Contest is limited, details on the pageant was taken from research conducted by Dr. Rochelle Rowe in her book, “Imagining Caribbean Womanhood: Race, Nation & Beauty Competitions, 1929-1970” and her more specified academic paper, “Glorifying the Jamaican Girl”: The “Ten Types – One People” Beauty Contest, Rac…

Come the 30th of November 2021, Barbados is poised to become the fourth anglo-republic in the Caribbean region following behind Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Dominica. The world will see the island move from a democratic constitutional monarchy to a republic where Sandra Mason, the current Governor General, becoming the first president of the cou…

On this episode, The Yaad speak to Trinidad and Tobago's economist Marla Dukharan. Ms. Dukharan is a point of reference for monitoring regional developments and country-level economic performance, and is known for leading discussions and publishing reports on the Caribbean implications of global geopolitical developments. On this episode, she spoke…

On this episode, The Yaad spoke to Eleanor Terrelonge, executive director and founder of the Jamaica Climate Change Youth Council (JCCYC) about the ongoing issue of mining in the Cockpit Country. Throughout the episode, she expound on the repercussions that mining in the vulnerable area will have on the entire Jamaica. The Yaad also spoke to her ab…

“Among the tiny minority of politically motivated criminals in the 1970s none won as much notoriety and anxious concern from the authorities as did Dennis “Copper” Barth. Born in Kingston in 1951, Barth’s turn to crime came at an early age after he dropped out of the Rennock Lodge Elementary School at age twelve. By the time he was eighteen years o…

On this episode, we speak to Ulises Calvo Borges, an official at the Cuban Embassy in Jamaica. In this episode, Mr. Borges, spoke on how the US sanctioned embargo on Cuba has hindered the country's development and has affected the island's response to Covid - 19; that is, reagents necessary for their development and the raw materials used for their…

On this episode, The Yaad speak to Dr. Ishtar Govia, the lead researcher on the Caribbean Policy Research Institute’s (CAPRI) recent publication,” Sun, Sand, and Sustainability: A Way Forward for Caribbean Tourism”. This report compares and contrasts the perspectives of different stakeholders in the Caribbean tourism ecosystem with respect to COVID…

On this episode, we speak to a young Haitian living in Haiti about the events happening in the country thus far. A conversation spanning over an hour, this young woman, an international relations professional, gave context on what it is like living in Haiti in 2021. A pandemic in a country that has not started national vaccination protocol as yet; …

On this episode, we speak to Ashlee Burnett, director of Feminitt. Ashlee speaks with The Yaad on period poverty in the Caribbean and the barriers in addressing period poverty in the Caribbean. As she goes into how the lack of focus on menstrual education contributes to period poverty, she also spoke on what Feminitt is doing to address period pove…

In 1979, 1985 and 1999, Jamaica experienced three protests which would become known as the "Gas Riots" which were triggered by a hike in fuel prices by the respective governments of the time. In 1979, the Micheal Manley led PNP government announced that as of January 10, the price of premium gas will be increased by 20 cents a gallon; from $3.00 to…

"In most scholarship, the Rastafari movement is thought to have formed from a rethinking of biblical prophecies enabled by Black consciousness. Rastafari scholars have not sufficiently probed the tentative connections between the movement and Hinduism. Most map the movement in a dialectic between White oppressive Christianity and oppressed Afro-Jam…

On this episode, we spoke to Shenae, a criminology researcher, on the issue of crime and policy in Jamaica. Shenae spoke on the effectiveness of policies in Jamaica to combat crime and thus provided context on recent policies by GOJ to combat crime and their effectiveness. She also spoke on the relationship between crime and poverty in Jamaica and …

Over the years, the African vervet monkeys have raked havoc in the country of St. Kitts and Nevis. Having been in the country since the 16th century due to slavery and colonisation in the West Indies, there have been numerous policies over the years to try and control the primate population; from shooting the monkeys, to sterilisation them to consu…

The National Housing Trust (NHT) was established in the belief that homeownership could be facilitated by a public mortgage body that built homes and subsidised the loans to purchase them. The NHT is funded by a “tax” on formal employment equal to five percent of wages, which is to benefit the most vulnerable in society. However, based on the 2016 …

Lava began oozing out of La Soufrière volcano in St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Dec. 29. Scientists with UWI Seismic Research Center,(SRC) located in Trinidad and Tobago, said there was no explosive eruption. Instead, the magma reaching the surface is forming a growing dome in La Soufrière's crater. The volcano is also releasing gas and steam th…

On January 5 1978, the Green Bay Massacre took place. The event came about as a result of secret operation by a special unit of the Jamaica Defense Force, called the Military Intelligence Unit, under a People’s National Party governments. The secret operation resulted in five men of the Jamaica Labour Party were shot dead by the JDF, after they had…

In 1976, the government of Jamaica did not allow for a Miss World Jamaica pageant to be held. As such, on paper, technically there is no Miss Jamaica 1976 winner. However, wearing the sash of Miss Jamaica World, Cindy Breakspeare became the second Jamaican to win the global beauty pageant when she won in 1976. On this episode, we explain how these …

The Jamaat al Muslimeen coup attempt was an attempt to overthrow the government of Trinidad and Tobago, instigated on Friday, 27 July 1990. Over the course of six days, Jamaat al Muslimeen, held hostages at the Red House (Parliament building) and at the headquarters of the state-owned national television broadcaster, Trinidad and Tobago Television …

In 1918, the first of 3 Anti-Chinese riots took place in Jamaica. It began in Ewarton, St. Catherine between a Chinese grocer who found his black employee in bed with a police officer. The Chinese grocer brutally beat the black man but a rumour spread that the Chinese and his friends had killed the black man and pickled his corpse which then instig…

In 1976, on the 3rd of December, at his residence of 56 Hope Road, Bob Marley survived an assassination attempt mostly by his manager, Don Taylor, been a barrier between him and assassins. Almost 3 years later in a Gabonese hotel room, Bob Marley apparently beat up Don Taylor. The incident is said to serve as the inspiration for one of Marley's mos…

Most discussion around discourse among Jamaica’s national heroes whose life and work was throughout the 20th century usually entails Alexander Bustamante and Norman Washington Manley as their roles as president of Jamaica's two main political parties in the 1940’s and beyond. However, in this episode we looked at discourse that took place between N…

Every year, around May to August, usually, there’s a repetitive argument that exist in Jamaica society. Whether on traditional or social media, this debate takes place where person inquire why do Jamaica’s authorities continue to mandate the wearing of jacket and tie for men in formal spaces - especially in a tropical climate. The thing is however,…