BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN observance of the 78th anniversary of the Buckley’s Riot, a ceremony was held yesterday afternoon (Jan. 28) at the Buckley’s Estate Yard.
This annual event, organised by the Rastafari Nyabingi Theocracy Order (RNTO), was conducted under the theme ‘The Struggle is Part of our Story’.
Among those in attendance were residents from the community, educators, Rastafarians and other black-conscious and patriotic individuals.
Event Coordinator Ras Dabo Penny, who is the Public Relations Officer for the RNTO, saw the occasion as one to “highlight a significant event" which took place some 78 years ago when “our ancestors decided that they could no longer take oppression”.
He pointed out that our ancestors involved in the Buckley’s Riot took up a “genuine cause for their rights” as a people.
“What took place here in Buckley’s did not only benefit the Rastas. What took place benefitted all the people of St. Kitts and Nevis,” Ras Dabo stated whilst highlighting the positive influence that the event also had on the Caribbean region.
The right to vote was given as one of the significant outcomes of the Riot, and its effect on the political landscape in the region was also mentioned.
“Every aspiring politician owes a form of gratitude to the people who stood here in Buckley’s in 1935,” he remarked.
Deputy Prime Minister and Parliamentary Representative for Constituency Three, Sam Condor said the Riot is “an important event in our national history”.
Making reference to this year’s theme, he commented: “But I say the struggle is our story; that is what it is about! And I hope that this would act as an incentive to sensitise our general population, the people of this country, about the importance of Buckley’s and what it means.”
Former Governor, notable historian and legal luminary Sir Probyn Inniss pointed out that quite often people think of struggle as being only physical or even violent.
“ But the struggle of which we speak, which is an integral part of our history, is not a violent or particularly physical struggle, because, you see, struggle was an essential and integral part of the struggle of our people because they never, never accepted their lot as enslaved people. And so, by whatever means, they were able to utilise. They were forever in a struggle to overcome the oppression and to overcome the hatred, and overcome the brutality which part and parcel was part of the system of slavery and the system of colonialism.”
Information found on historicbasseterre.com reveals that on January 28, 1935, “cane cutters at Buckley’s Estate asked the manager, E.D.B. Dobridge, for wages of 1/- per ton”.
Dobridge however refused and the workers went on strike.
“The strikers marched to Shadwell Estate and persuaded the workers there to join them. By noon, the marchers numbered between three and four hundred and had arrived at Brighton. Mules and cattle which were harnessed were taken out and the gear damaged to prevent any use being made of the carts.
“In the early afternoon the march had reached Lodge. The owner, Phillip Todd informed the approaching workers that they were trespassing and told them to leave. Todd was struck down but he called for a shotgun. The marchers attacked him, broke his gun, beat him and forced him and his servants into the house,” historicbasseterre.com states.