Hilary Robertson-Hickling
Eric Williams in his epochal treatise traced the history of our part of the world from Columbus the Genoese conqueror, to Fidel Castro whose ancestry traced in part to the same Spain that Columbus represented.
In both cases, there is controversy about the impact and role of both men. Williams, one of our most brilliant minds, was a historian and politician as well as the intellectual author of much of the infrastructure which explains Trinidad and Tobago's prosperity.
As we witness the departure of many of the Caribbean icons who were born during the first two decades of the 20th century, we need to member the world into which they were born and the efforts that they made to change that world.
Many of the critics of that generation will have little to show in comparison with those who tried to wrest the world from colonial domination, disenfranchisement and despair. It is so important that Jamaican families try to trace their passage through the 20th century to be able to understand how much their fortunes have changed.
Expand institutions
Louise Bennett is one of those icons who developed and used her talent to expand such institutions as the pantomime, to record the Jamaican experience in song, dance and verse. She worked together with Eric Coverley and Ranny Williams among a large group of Jamaicans who were developing the institutions which we now take for granted.
Williams and Bennett recorded these histories for succeeding generations to know and understand.
I had the pleasure of watching a local television station on Emancipation Day where I saw Louise Bennett and others on excellent documentaries produced by Wycliffe Bennett and Cynthia Wilmot. The life of Norman Manley was dramatised with all of his complexities.
It was a relief to see locally produced programmes instead of the steady diet of sex, violence, and raunchy films aired by the cable channels. The need for excellent quality local film cannot be underestimated as at the recent opening of a new entertainment provider, the overwhelming product was blockbuster American movies.
Good neighbours
Cuba has posed a paradox for most Americans. Some still love the idea of the mafia-controlled playground for the wealthy. Some fail to see the human rights abuses alongside America's well-known history of abuse of its own citizens of colour (see New Orleans) as well as citizens of colour outside its country. Fidel Castro, Cuba's long standing leader, provokes rage in America's heartland as he symbolises someone who was not conquered.
I had the opportunity to shake Fidel Castro's hands in the 1970s in Jamaica and must admit I nearly swooned; of course I am partial to bearded men. The fact is that the man is a giant and even his detractors cannot take that away from his popularity. Remember he got a standing ovation at the funeral of former Prime Minister Michael Manley.
Castro suggests that history will absolve him when the advances in science and technology, health and education as well as the audacity to stand up to the mighty and powerful are counted.
Like all men and nations, he has made mistakes but the doctors and nurses from Cuba, and trained in Cuba are just one example of the good things that have been accomplished.
We need to be good neighbours and have good neighbours; our lives depend on this in the global age.
Hilary Robertson-Hickling is a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies, Mona, UWI.
