Caribbean: What Happened in 2012 (Part 2) · Global Voices
The first part of this post observed that in the Caribbean blogosphere, the year was punctuated by hunger strikes – the first in Cuba, which ended with the death of prisoner of conscience <PERSON> – and the second in Trinidad and Tobago, where Trinidadian environmental activist Dr. <PERSON> finally ended his own 21-day hunger strike on December 5, based on assurances that the government, the Highway Re-route Movement and various civil society groups would undertake an independent study about the section of proposed highway his lobby group was against. Part 2 of the regional blogosphere's 2012 summary recalls other issues that got Caribbean netizens talking – from the Olympics to the need for greater political transparency…
Guyana
It was a challenging year in Guyana, following the killing of three people (many more were injured) in the mining town of Linden, after police fired upon a crowd who reportedly blocked the Wismar Bridge while protesting an increase in the electricity tariff. The incident prompted an online discussion about the abuse of power by police; more protests – this time about the killings – ensued, with social media playing a pivotal role in getting the message out. Even the #OccupyGuyana Movement came out in support of the Linden protesters.
Just about a month later, there was another shooting of civilians by police; the fact that the victim was a 17-year old boy, by all reports unarmed, only added to the outrage.
<PERSON>; CC image by <PERSON> Celebrity and Live Music Photographer
The very next month, insult was added to injury when talk of an upcoming <PERSON> concert in the country's capital, which was allegedly being financially supported (at least via tax breaks) by the Guyanese government, raised the issue of domestic violence in the country. (<PERSON> had been charged with assault in 2009, when the news broke he had allegedly assaulted his then-girlfriend, Barbadian-born singer, <PERSON>.) It wasn't long before those protests seemingly put an end to any possibility of <PERSON> performing in Guyana.
Jamaica
On August 6, 2012, Jamaica marked 50 years of Independence from Great Britain, a milestone that was made even more special by the outstanding performance of the Jamaican athletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the former “mother country”.
<PERSON>; CC image by <PERSON> | Photography
As one of Jamaica's most influential poets, <PERSON>, wrote:
She hope dem caution worl-map
Fi stop draw Jamaica small
For de lickle speck cyaan show
We independantness at all!
(Of course, other Caribbean territories had their Olympic dreams come true as well, most notably Grenada, which won its first ever Olympic medal thanks to <PERSON> gold in the Men's 400 Metres event.)
The euphoria gave way to despair, though, when in early November, there were reports of a vicious beating of a gay student at the UTech campus in Kingston: the issue of homophobia in Jamaica was once again under the harsh glare of the spotlight. One blogger even wondered whether gay bashing had now become a national policy, given the island's history of anti-gay dancehall lyrics, media blocks on pro-tolerance public service announcements and former prime ministerial positions on gays in government. Online discussion of the topic was ongoing and intelligent.
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Lucia
The citizens of St. Vincent and St. Lucia grappled with a new visa entry requirement imposed by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) this year. St. Lucians also had to face the economic reality of the country's new Value Added Tax and looked at the possibility of bananas becoming a renewable energy source.
Trinidad & Tobago
The political shenanigans in the twin island nation helped to make its blogosphere one of the most active this year. As early as March, netizens began questioning the relevance of the Congress of the People, one of the political parties that form the People's Partnership government.
The gaffes and political missteps were seemingly endless: a police raid of the home of a journalist which raised concerns about press freedom (a concern that was shared by other regional territories); the commitment of an employee of the Ministry of Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development to the St. Ann's Psychiatric Hospital after she reportedly got into an argument with a senior official; the controversial appointment of <PERSON> as Minister of National Security and his first “accomplishment” – the removal by army troops of members of The Highway Re-Route Movement a protest group demanding that the leg of the $7.5 billion Point Fortin highway which passes through their community be abandoned or, at the very least, redirected. That action would come back to plague the government later in the year. 271