fbpx
  • Latest
  • All
  • Opinions
  • Features
  • Letters
  • Videos
  • Editorials
  • Columns
Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

Prof. Selwyn Cudjoe Demonstrates the Fallacy of African Animosity Towards East Indians in T&T

June 10, 2022
Dool Hanomansingh

Indo Caribbean community and its vulnerability

July 5, 2022
Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

Commentary on Sea Results in Trinidad

July 4, 2022
Dool Hanomansingh

Are Hindu organizations relevant to the community?

July 5, 2022
Jai Lall

A TEAR FOR ONE SO DEAR SOMEWHERE

July 3, 2022
Jai Lall

HUM FOR MUM

July 3, 2022
Indo Caribbean wins Worldwide Pageant

Indo Caribbean wins Worldwide Pageant

July 4, 2022
Capil Bissoon

THE TRUTH ABOUT PIARCO (Part 2)

July 3, 2022
Harry Hergash, Writer of Books on Indian Guyanese

PPP not effectively Protecting Indian Guyanese

July 2, 2022
Indo-Caribbean Diaspora News

Indo Caribbean community and its vulnerability

July 2, 2022
Photo: Mr. Devon Liburd, Chief Executive Officer, Nevis Tourism Authority

New CEO for Nevis Tourism

July 1, 2022
A Judgment fled to British beasts relating to Trinidad ?

A Judgment fled to British beasts relating to Trinidad ?

July 2, 2022
Indian Company wins Contract to oversee Road Construction

Indian Company wins Contract to oversee Road Construction

July 1, 2022
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Donate
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
  • Login
Indo Caribbean Diaspora News
  • Home
  • Columns
    Indo Caribbean wins Worldwide Pageant

    Indo Caribbean wins Worldwide Pageant

    Indian Company wins Contract to oversee Road Construction

    Indian Company wins Contract to oversee Road Construction

    Queens Indo Caribbeans Honor Courageous Police Officers

    Queens Indo Caribbeans Honor Courageous Police Officers

    Indians beaten & Robbed by Blacks in Guyana

    Indians beaten & Robbed by Blacks in Guyana

    Vishnu Bisram

    PNC Should emulate PPP & other Parties in accepting Outcomes of democratic Elections

    Steve Alvarez

    Embrace our good people

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    Guyana Court Should raise bar on libel and slander

    Mrs. Chantelle Richardson

    Anguilla has new Dep. Tourism Director

    Kamla-Persad-Bissessar

    Kamla calls for Resignation of AG in Trinidad

    NY Indo Caribbean Mandir provides Accommodations to a fire victim’s family

    NY Indo Caribbean Mandir provides Accommodations to a fire victim’s family

  • Letters
    Harry Hergash, Writer of Books on Indian Guyanese

    PPP not effectively Protecting Indian Guyanese

    Phillip Edward Alexander

    Letter to Kamla of Trinidad by PEP Leader Phillip Alexander

    Vassan Ramracha

    Unite Against Conversions

    Lester Siddhartha Orie

    No (Rain) Water No (Wheat) Flour

    Harry Hergash, Writer of Books on Indian Guyanese

    Response to Malcolm Harripaul on Guyana Sun Chapman 

    Steve Alvarez

    WHY THE PNM AND UNC MUST NOT BE THE OPTION

    Lester Siddhartha Orie

    Immortalising Mama Mia

    Lester Siddhartha Orie

    The PhD Obsession & its Relevance

    Ramdath-Jagessar

    African-Indian Relations in Guyana & Trinidad

    Leyland-Chitlall-Roopnaraine

    MUCH TIME AND MONEY ARE WASTED IN Guyana COURT; widespread land fraud

  • Community News
    NY Indo-Carib Tulsi Mandir Commemorates Anniversary

    NY Indo-Carib Tulsi Mandir Commemorates Anniversary

    Indo Caribbean Celebrates Birthday at Gurukula

    Indo Caribbean Celebrates Birthday at Gurukula

    Jessica of Richmond Hill Weds

    Jessica of Richmond Hill Weds

    Fantastic Wedding Reception for Kevin & Aruna

    Fantastic Wedding Reception for Kevin & Aruna

    Father’s Day at Indo Caribbean Trimurthi Mandir

    Father’s Day at Indo Caribbean Trimurthi Mandir

    Kevin Bisram Weds Aruna

    Kevin Bisram Weds Aruna

    Indian Arrival Day Celebrated in New York on Sunday

    Indian Arrival Day Celebrated in New York on Sunday

    Berbician Hosts Jag (Yag) at N.Y Gopal Sundar Mandir

    Berbician Hosts Jag (Yag) at N.Y Gopal Sundar Mandir

    Guyanese Diasporan, Ebony Narpatty Brijbassi, Gives Back

    Guyanese Diasporan, Ebony Narpatty Brijbassi, Gives Back

    Indian Embassy in Guyana Observes International Day of Yoga with Police Force

    Indian Embassy in Guyana Observes International Day of Yoga with Police Force

  • Editorials
    A Judgment fled to British beasts relating to Trinidad ?

    A Judgment fled to British beasts relating to Trinidad ?

    Left to right: Nicole Catherine Linton, Julie Fletcher, Alice Bigland, Lesley Gosling, Grace Fryer, Tiagan Dealey, Hannah Young, Cara Meikle, Leanne Schembri, Jenna Hurst, Suzanne Wright, Ewa Katarzyna Zachmac, Shenika Ramsay - JTB

    Jamaica Tourist Board Release

    Steve Alvarez

    THE UNPLEASANT TRUTH (of opposition coalition)

    GAWU and President public spat in Guyana

    GAWU and President public spat in Guyana

    Vice-President-Hon-Bharrat-Jagdeo

    Allegations against Guyana VP: It’s Vice and not Virtue!

    Dr. Gopaul

    Gopaul— Jagdeo served with Integrity

    Lester Siddhartha Orie

    Deja vu is in this Camille/Kamla Crossfire

    Leyland-Chitlall-Roopnaraine

    MUCH TIME AND MONEY ARE WASTED IN Guyana COURT; widespread land fraud

    Vassan Ramracha

    It is an issue of Black Bureaucracy not one on Economy

    Dr Paloma Mohamed

    Positive Remarks on UG Indian Arrival Seminar

  • Opinions
    Dool Hanomansingh

    Indo Caribbean community and its vulnerability

    Dool Hanomansingh

    Are Hindu organizations relevant to the community?

    Indo-Caribbean Diaspora News

    Indo Caribbean community and its vulnerability

    Steve Alvarez

    Hard Luck Trinidad & Tobago

    Leyland-Chitlall-Roopnaraine

    MY TWO CENTS WORTH OF INDIANNESS

    kamla-persad-bissessar

    Why do politicians reach out to supporters only for votes?

    Hariji and devotees of the Shiv Jyothi Mnadir of Las Lomas

    Weekly Satsangh honors Hariji

    Leyland-Chitlall-Roopnaraine

    THE  FAILURE  OF  INDEPENDENCE

    Ramdath-Jagessar

    Home and family Indian Arrival Day off to a great start

    Paras Ramoutar

    Outgoing Indian diplomat hails relations between both countries

  • Videos
    Dool-Hanomansingh-003

    US Congress woman Tulsi Gabbard condemns the ongoing genocide of Hindus and other minorities

    Geeta-Vaahini

    Geeta Vaahini, President of the  Hindu Prachaar Kendra speaks on the social significance of Ganga Dhara Festival.

    Geeta-Vaahini

    Geeta Vaahini, President of the Hindu Prachaar Kendra speaks on the Hindu view of the environment.

    swami-brahmadeo

    Swami Brahmadeo – Hindus are top CEOs and Medics in North America and Europe

    Gowtam-Maharaj

    Gowtam Maharaj, a farmer of Barrackpore, South Trinidad, shares his challenges being a farmer.

    BAMBOO #1 Flooding – Frustrated Residents

    BAMBOO #1 Flooding – Frustrated Residents

    NATIONAL-LOTUS-THEATRE

    NATIONAL LOTUS THEATRE – Performance of Niyantran

    radica-jairam

    Story of RADICA JAIRAM from Orange Valley

    fisherman-trinidad

    Families of Orange Valley felt neglected by PNM Government

    Dr Subramanian Swamy

    Dr Subramanian Swamy – Dharma Rising London April 2015

  • Features
    Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

    Commentary on Sea Results in Trinidad

    Jai Lall

    A TEAR FOR ONE SO DEAR SOMEWHERE

    Jai Lall

    HUM FOR MUM

    Capil Bissoon

    THE TRUTH ABOUT PIARCO (Part 2)

    Photo: Mr. Devon Liburd, Chief Executive Officer, Nevis Tourism Authority

    New CEO for Nevis Tourism

    Dr. Vishnu Bisram

    Guyana Opposition Figures Upbraided for Silence on Racial Violence

    Lester Siddhartha Orie

    Ousting a Leader in Absentia

    Capil Bissoon

    THE TRUTH ABOUT PIARCO (Part 1)…

    Nalanda: India’s ancient university rising from the ashes

    Nalanda: India’s ancient university rising from the ashes

    Capil Bissoon

    Now that the time has come to review the workings of this Anti-Gang legislation…

No Result
View All Result
Indo Caribbean Diaspora News
No Result
View All Result

Prof. Selwyn Cudjoe Demonstrates the Fallacy of African Animosity Towards East Indians in T&T

by Ravi Balgobin Maharaj
June 10, 2022
in Columns
0
Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

1.2k
SHARES
1.9k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

In the latest column by Prof. Selwyn Cudjoe regarding the “Origin of Indian indentureship in Trinidad”, the good doctor makes a series of claims that seriously conflict with known historical accounts in an attempt to present his own explanation and theory of East Indian arrival in this country, and it is clear that his intentions are best summed up in the final paragraph of his thesis statement, where he explains “Indians were brought to these lands to decrease the cost of sugar production after apprenticeship, and this is the point from which we ought to see their entrance into Trinidad and Tobago.” And putting aside the fact that this is categorically untrue, I have to ask, what is the motive for revealing this information at this time?

Let’s just assume that everything leading up to that statement in his column was factually accurate, it isn’t but let’s just assume that it was, what message is Prof. Cudjoe trying to convey? What is the point of reevaluating the entrance of East Indians into the Trinidadian population one hundred and five years after indentureship has concluded? Is the point that he is attempting to make to East Indian descendants at the time that they are celebrating their arrival to make them feel inferior in some way to the Africans? Because there has never been a more brazen statement embodying the notion of “know your place” than what Prof. Cudjoe is implying here. Thankfully, as was stated earlier, absolutely nothing that was stated in his column bore even a passing resemblance to the truth of East Indian indentureship, which I am more than happy to clarify.

First of all, conspicuously absent from Prof. Cudjoe’s assessment is the fact that East Indians were not the first indentured servants brought to Trinidad to work on the plantations. The first indentured workers approved by the British government and conscripted by the local plantation owners were in fact Africans, made up of both former slaves who were fully emancipated following the end of the apprenticeship period, and new immigrants who were brought in from the African continent. In fact, between 1841 and 1861, over 8,000 African indentured workers were brought to Trinidad from Sierra Leone and St. Helena, whereas 517 indentured Africans migrated to Tobago from St. Helena between 1851 to 1861, all of them consigned to work on the plantations. So the obvious first question posed to Prof. Cudjoe’s column would be to figure out whether these African indentured workers were also used to stifle wage negotiations for other African workers.

Speaking of wages, and probably the most perplexing thing to me in regards to how this article was approved for publication by the editors of the Express, is the notion that East Indians would have been earning less than the rates being negotiated by the African workers. Because another absence from his column is an actual sum of money, or even an estimate, to back up his ridiculous claims. Because at the time East Indian labor was brought to Trinidad, they were being paid one of the highest salaries of any non-caucasian workers in the British Empire, earning two shillings per day, a rate even high than those East Indians who were sent to British Guiana, who was being paid one shilling and nine pence for the same amount of work as their Trini counterparts. This isn’t even to mention the fact that in England during the same time period, the average monthly salary for an ordinary unskilled worker was 40 shillings, which worked out less than the East Indian indentured worker in Trinidad, for comparable work. So without placing a price tag on these supposed negotiations, which would have had to have been among the highest rate for any plantation worker in any British colony, his entire thesis is speculative conjecture at best, and at worst becomes nothing more than delusional rambling.

But where it really gets egregious, and where I believe Prof. Cudjoe makes his most fatal mistake, is in his penultimate paragraph where he states “Slavery and indentureship were economic systems which responded to the laws of supply and demand and running their operations at the lowest cost. As far as these sugar owners were concerned, the emancipation of enslaved Africans meant an increase in their expenses and they acted accordingly.” Because anyone with even a passing knowledge of colonial history during that era would be aware that the entire indentureship exercise was the costliest method of hiring workers for plantations that the British have ever engaged in. In 1845, the import of East Indian labor to Trinidad meant that the colonies would have to bear the burden and fees associated with the transport, for which a tax was set up on the sale of rum to offset the cost, whereas each plantation owner was charged a fee of £25 per hogshead of sugar cultivated by the indentured workers. By 1857 however, the increase in demand for the East Indian workers had doubled the cost to the plantation owner, which they were more than happy to meet given that production had also risen to heights not even achieved during slavery.

For the sake of brevity, I am not going into the details surrounding the fact that post-apprenticeship African workers did not even seek to capitalize on their monopoly as they opted to merely work for subsistence rather than profit, as explained to the plantation owners, they only required thirty pence per week to cover their expenses. That said, the notion that the British and plantation owners would have ever capitulated to any demand of the African workers had East Indian indentured workers not been introduced can be easily assuaged by the following statement of Earl Henry George Grey from 1832:

“The great problem to be solved in drawing up any plan for the emancipation of the Slaves in our Colonies is to devise some mode of inducing them when relieved from the fear of the Driver and his whip, to undergo the regular and continuous labour which is indispensable in carrying on the production of Sugar… Their (the planters) inability…. to pay liberal wages seems beyond all question: but even if this were otherwise, the experience of other countries warrants the belief, that while the land is so easily obtainable as it is at this moment, even liberal wages would fail to purchase the sort of labour which is required for the cultivation and manufacture of Sugar…. The examples of the western States of America, Canada, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Australian Colonies, may all be cited in order to show that even amongst a population a much higher state of civilization than that which the slaves in the West Indies have attained, the facility of obtaining land effectually prevents the prosecution by voluntary labour of any enterprise requiring the co-operation of many hands. It is impossible therefore to suppose that the slaves (who, though as I believe not more given to idleness than other men are certainly not less so) would if freed from control be induced even by high wages to continue to submit to a drudgery which they detest, while without doing so they could obtain land sufficient for their support…. I think that it would be great for the real happiness of the Negroes themselves, if the facility of acquiring land could be so far restrained as to prevent them, on the abolition of slavery, from abandoning their habits of regular industry… Accordingly, it is to the imposition of a considerable tax upon land that I chiefly look for the means of enabling the planter to continue his business when emancipation shall have taken place.”

Facebook Comments Box
Tags: GuyanaGuyaneseindo-caribbeanIndo-GuyaneseRavi Balgobin MaharajTrinidadTrinidad and Tobago
Share67Tweet42Share17
Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

Ravi Balgobin Maharaj

Ravi Balgobin Maharaj is a political analyst working in Trinidad and Tobago and North America. Mr. Maharaj utilizes over two decades of experience in the field of politics to work with organizations in strategizing and developing key approaches in legislative and regulatory reform. Mr. Maharaj has also actively engaged with legislative reform in Trinidad and Tobago through the Judiciary, and has been victorious in several landmark rulings in the court leading to greater development of the nation.

Indo Caribbean Diaspora News

© 2020 Indo-Caribbean Diaspora News. All rights Reserved

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Donate

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Columns
  • Letters
  • Community News
  • Opinions
  • Videos
  • Features
  • Editorials

© 2020 Indo-Caribbean Diaspora News. All rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In