The historic section of the capital of Barbados today became the Caribbean country’s first entry on the United Nations-managed World Heritage List after a committee of experts approved its inscription and that of two other sites.
The World Heritage Committee, meeting in Paris, said Bridgetown and its garrison deserved a place on the List, which is comprised of more than 900 cultural or natural sites around the world regarded as having outstanding universal value.
The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported that the committee found the Bridgetown site — comprised of a well-preserved old town and a nearby military garrison — to be an outstanding example of British colonial architecture.
“With its serpentine urban layout, the property testifies to a different approach to colonial town planning compared to the Spanish and Dutch colonial cities o f the region, which were built along a grid plan,” UNESCO said in a press statement. Read more.
Who doesn’t? When that soca gets thru ur veins there aint no turning back
beach by nate compton
Bathsheba
Over her dead body: Nationalist rhetoric as (erasure of) violence against women
Natoya Ewers, a Jamaican woman, was hacked to death by her intimate partner, leaving behind three children. I came across this Jamaican facebook page where the occasion of this woman’s death was used to denounce the fact that Bajans did not like Jamaicans. Many users asserted that the woman should not have left Jamaica to travel to that third world full-stop of an island Barbados. Absolutely no mention of violence against women. No mention of the Jamaican women who lost their lives at home in Jamaica at the hands of intimate partners during that same week. No mention of how increasingly violent Caribbean societies had become. I told myself it’s just one facebook page. Surely that is not most people’s reaction. Then I saw the Jamaica Observer cartoon above and it confirmed my initial fears.
Caribbean feminist scholar, Alissa Trotz, has outlined how “women’s bodies [become] the site on which group loyalties are enacted.” Not to be outdone, on the Nation News (Barbados) facebook page comments were also nationalistic as readers alleged that the man who committed the murder and subsequently killed himself was Vincentian. They quickly moved from the nationalistic to the sexist:
But lets face the truth. Bajan women take and take and take and just take too much from men. Its not like the men can afford to give so much. Men feel compelled to give because its the only way they can keep these selfish bajan women. Bajan women have become a society of beggers.
Just say ” hello” to a bajan women and she wants a top up.
Of course, the other facebook users moved to correct the commenter quoted above, not to chide him for his sexism but to remark that the woman in question was not Bajan but Jamaica. The stereotype of Caribbean women as mercenary, materialistic and financially dependent on men and these “facts” in and of themselves being presented as a justification of murder went unchallenged.
While the recent tensions surrounding the treatment of Jamaican nationals at the Barbados airport and the rape of a Jamaican woman in police custody explains in part this recourse to an unthinking nationalism, it does not explain why all the “talk” following this woman’s brutal death made absolutely no mention of the similarity with so many other murders of Caribbean women and displayed very little feeling for the woman herself. Reports are that she had confronted her partner about sexually abusing her daughter. On local television one of her neighbours reported watching the woman’s murder from the safety of his bedroom window.
Women’s bodies are used as boundary-markers in what has become an asinine Barbados versus Jamaica beef played out at the highest and lowest levels. Wasted time, talk and energy that could be put towards fighting against what is really at issue here: men’s violence against women, society’s sanctioning of it, incest and child sexual abuse.
image source: Jamaica Observer
CODE RED is a feminist collective of Caribbean women and men. Join us on facebook.
Project I did in my last year of school
Code Red beat me in commenting on the curious reaction among some in Jamaica and Barbados to this recent murder-suicide, which could’ve either been a result of domestic violence and rape, or plain old ‘Barbados hates Jamaica’ bullshit. It’s been said so perfectly, I have nothing else to add.
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Over her dead body: Nationalist rhetoric as (erasure of) violence against women
Natoya Ewers, a Jamaican woman, was hacked to death by her intimate partner, leaving behind three children. I came across this Jamaican Facebook page where the occasion of this woman’s death was used to denounce the ‘fact’ that Bajans did not like Jamaicans.
Many readers asserted that the woman should not have left Jamaica to travel to that “Third World full-stop of an island, Barbados.” Absolutely no mention of violence against women. No mention of the Jamaican women who lost their lives at home in Jamaica at the hands of intimate partners during that same week. No mention of how increasingly violent Caribbean societies had become. I told myself it’s just one Facebook page. Surely that is not most people’s reaction. Then I saw the Jamaica Observer cartoon above and it confirmed my initial fears.
Caribbean feminist scholar, Alissa Trotz, has outlined how “women’s bodies [become] the site on which group loyalties are enacted.” Not to be outdone, on the Nation News Facebook page comments (which have since been removed) were also nationalistic as readers alleged that the man who committed the murder and subsequently killed himself was Vincentian. They quickly moved from the nationalistic to the sexist:
But lets face the truth. Bajan women take and take and take and just take too much from men. Its not like the men can afford to give so much. Men feel compelled to give because its the only way they can keep these selfish Bajan women. Bajan women have become a society of beggers.
Just say ” hello” to a Bajan women and she wants a top up.
Of course, the other Facebook users moved to correct the commenter quoted above, not to chide him for his sexism but to remark that the woman in question was not Bajan but Jamaican. The stereotype of Caribbean women as mercenary, materialistic and financially dependent on men and these “facts” in and of themselves being presented as a justification of murder went unchallenged.
While the recent tensions surrounding the treatment of Jamaican nationals at the Barbados airport and the rape of a Jamaican woman in police custody explains in part this recourse to an unthinking nationalism, it does not explain why all the “talk” following this woman’s brutal death made absolutely no mention of the similarity with so many other murders of Caribbean women and displayed very little feeling for the woman herself. Reports are that she had confronted her partner about sexually abusing her daughter. On local television one of her neighbours reported watching the woman’s murder from the safety of his bedroom window.
Women’s bodies are used as boundary-markers in what has become an asinine Barbados versus Jamaica beef played out at the highest and lowest levels. Wasted time, talk and energy that could be put towards fighting against what is really at issue here: men’s violence against women, society’s sanctioning of it, incest and child sexual abuse.
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CODE RED is a feminist collective of Caribbean women and men.
Both my mom and my cousin think I’m an idiot for wanting to experience the flavors of the Bajan Fridays.
”You gon lef America fuh go all de way to Barbados fuh try Friday’s, sucks teeth*.” -my dear sweet mother verbatum(sp?)
“Sooooo Kenni wants to go to Fridays whenever we go to Barbados..The thing I dont understand is why do you wanna wait till you reach Barbados to go to Fridays when there’s a Friday all over the place in her current city..smh I guess she expects it to serve pea and rices with flying fish……..” -my lovely cousin via facebook
Bridgetown, Barbados
It seems like just yesterday that I wrote on the alleged failure of multiculturalism in the UK and the British government’s new immigration controls, conveniently ignoring my personal views on the fatally-flawed notion of freedom of movement within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
Barbados has taken the lead, and the bulk of criticism, for its critical stance on the freedom of movement regime, but it now appears that there is some political will within the Community - at least from incoming CARICOM chair, Dr. Denzil Douglas - to revisit the framework.
The Barbados Nationreports:
“Barbados’ tough immigration policy that triggered a crescendo of criticism across the region seems to be becoming better understood and increasingly accepted.
Essentially, Barbados’ message that it simply can’t afford the cost of opening doors to all CARICOM nationals who wish to live in the country under the original freedom of movement regional plan, has apparently got through to some prime ministers and presidents.
Dr Denzil Douglas, St Kitts-Nevis’ prime minister, who is to become CARICOM’s next chairman on June 30, gives Barbados high marks for the way it approached the thorny issue by pointing to the financial costs of absorbing so many people at a time of economic difficulties.
He suggested that when Heads of Government meet in his country in less than three weeks, they should review the list of categories of people who could move without restriction.”
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, especially considering the countervailing views of St. Vincent & the Grenadines’ Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, and Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Still, Prime Minister Douglas has proven himself to be an independent leader within the Caribbean Community, having also taken a key role in advocating for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in CARICOM member states, another equally-uncomfortable political stance.
