When the Kalinago Tribal Nation of Dominica Stood up to the Powers That be and Won by Damon Corrie

In 1930 the now deceased Great Kalinago Chief Jolly John led his people to armed rebellion against unjust British Colonial Police abuse after the murder of 2 Kalinago men and wounding of 2 others for conducting sovereign trade – as a Tribal Nation – with nearby French islands (as they had been legally doing as an indigenous tribal nation doing for centuries) – which ended up with the Royal Navy warship HMS Delhi firing starburst explosive shells into Kalinago airspace and sending Marines British ashore – BECAUSE THE KALINAGOS HAD BEATEN THE COLONIAL POLICE FORCE AND CHASED THEM OFF THEIR TERRITORY) – that caused hundreds of women, children & elderly Kalinagos to flee into the jungle covered mountains for safety.

However, again from 16th February to 16th March 1987, when Chief Irvince Auguiste was leader of the 8 villages of Kalinago in Dominica, he was making the strongest calls for International Law recognized KALINAGO SOVEREIGN RIGHTS since the 1930 Kalinago rebellion, the then Prime Minister of Dominica, Dame Eugenia Charles (who vowed ‘never to allow a state within her state’…which is a common and utterly IDIOTIC utterance by many a Caribbean politician who are all very ignorant about the full scope of Indigenous Rights under International Law) and who was VERY HOSTILE to Kalinago ‘Carib’ calls for the Internationally legal & valid restoration of their Sovereign Rights…went into the Kalinago Territory in full force with ‘Swat style armed Dominican non-indigenous police hidden in the flat beds of vehicles, to try to oust Chief Irvince Auguiste from power at a Government rally she hastily organised – thinking that the Kalinagos would bow to the power of the Dominica government and abandon their loyalty to their own democratically elected Tribal Chief .

However, then Kalinago Tribe member Council Charles Williams (who later was elected Chief also) HEROICALLY drove his own vehicle the length & breath of the Kalinago Territory shouting to his fellow Kalinagos to “COME OUT AND STAND WITH YOUR CHIEF!” (meaning Chief Auguiste at the time)….the people heeded this call and turned out in their numbers standing in solidarity with Chief Auguiste…and Dominica’s Prime Minister Eugenia Charles who had tried to gather all the Kalinagos at her chosen venue at another location on the Kalinago Territory in order to publicly decry and depose Chief Auguiste…had to leave the Kalinago Territory in humiliation and DEFEAT…as NO Kalinagos attended her kangaroo Court, but instead showed her and world – that blood is thicker than water, and any true indigenous person – will side WITH their own people – AGAINST everyone else. .

Let us never forget our HEROES, those no longer with us – like Chief Jolly John, and those still with us like ex-Chief Irvince Auguiste and Chief Charles Williams. I am proud to say I know both of these latter leaders, and consider them both to be my personal friends.

The Direct descendant heir of Great Chief Jolly John, will receive the indigenous David Arnold DeWever Medal for Valor, in a post-humus honoring of this hero of yesteryear. So too will still living Chiefs Irvince Auguiste and Charles Williams, it takes a brave man to defy the power and authority of a Colonial or Neo-Colonial Government.

THIS IS THE KIND OF ATTITUDE AND DISPLAY OF SOLIDARITY IN DEFIANCE OF ANY AND EVERY GOVERNMENT THAT OPPOSES THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL RIGHTS OF ALL INDIGENOUS TRIBAL NATIONS TO SELF DETERMINATION – WE NEED TO EMULATE AND REPLICATE – BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AS THE PANDEMIC WILL BE USED AS A CONVENIENT EXCUSE TO CONTINUE TO DENY US OUR FULL RIGHTS ONCE AGAIN. LIKE ANY ADDICT, OUR GOVERNMENTS ARE ADDICTED TO POWER AND CONTROL, AND THEY WILL LOOK FOR OR INVENT ANY EXCUSE TO HOLD ON TO THE STILL ILLEGAL COLONIAL ERA ORIGIN PATERNALISTIC POWER AND CONTROL THEY STILL EXERCISE BY ARMED FORCE OVER US. DOUBT ME? REMOVE ALL THEIR MILITARY POWER – AND SEE HOW FAST WE WILL RECLAIM WHAT IS OURS WHEN WE ARE ON AN EQUAL FOOTING WITH YOU, FIST FOR FIST, OR BULLET FOR BULLET. ONLY YOUR CURRENT MILITARY ADVANTAGE ALLOWS YOU TO HOLD POWER IN OUR LANDS, AND SO IT IS EVERYWHERE, WHERE NON-INDIGENOUS PEOPLE RULE OVER INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN INDIGENOUS LANDS.

By

Damon Corrie

Damon Gerard Corrie Hereditary Chief Eagle Clan Lokono-Arawaks Chief of the Barbados chapter of the United Confederation of Taino People (UCTP). Co-founder and co-President Caribbean Amerindian Development Organization (CADO). Co-founder and Chairman Indigenous Democracy Development Organization (IDDO) CARICOM Commissioner on the Indigenous Commission for Communications Technologies in the Americas (ICCTA). Former Member of the Indigenous Working Group on the Draft Declaration with the Organization of American States (OAS) 2000 - 2016. Registered participant of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) since 2008. Environmental entrepreneur and founder of First Nations Investments - a division of which offers combined Adventure, Culture & Nature-based Indigenous-owned & operated sustainable tourism. An autodidact journalist contributor to LastRealIndians (LRI) International Indigenous Media News Site, and a past contributing writer to Intercontinental Cry news site. Also a published author of 6 books, and the most radical Indigenous Rights activist in the modern history of the Caribbean region. Email eagleclanarawaks@gmail.com Instagram @eagleclanarawaks