Page XXV
Page XVII
Page X
Page XI
Produced and Edited by C. Naipaul | Graphic and Layout Design by D. Prince
II
U
nder the shade of a silk cotton tree he sat, his pencil moving with a slow, smooth motion over the sketch pad, bringing to life, a thousand times, on a thousand pages, the face of one who had gone somewhere far. He sat alone each day, as seasons changed, hoping one day she would come back into his life. The two old men nearby playing a game of checkers and taking swigs of white rum from tin cups looked at the young man with concern. The wrinkles on their faces told stories that spanned decades and even without seeing the portrait, they knew he had troubles of the heart. In a world abound with life, he could not feel the warm sunshine or the coldness of the rain for his mind was lost somewhere in the darkness. One old man, said quietly to his friend: “It’s a woman his heart aches for.” “True,” his friend agreed, “There’s no light in his eyes.” “A woman’s love is like the light.” said the other. “Sarah,” the young man said, holding up the sketch, as though he knew what they were saying, “That’s her name.” The old men nodded, knowing how a lost love can bring a man’s world crashing down. “Rajiv,” his sister, Padmini called to him as she crossed the street. She had brought his lunch and she sat patiently waiting while he ate his favourite food. There was no hiding the sadness in her eyes for her big brother. The scholarship he had received to advance his studies in engineering had been an answer to his prayers. For a boy from the lower middle class, college had seemed out of his reach. “London, here I come!” he had celebrated. After two years of devoted studies, he had obtained his diploma, working towards his degree when something new walked into his young life. Her name was Sarah, a first year medical student. She was like a dream.He wanted to hold unto and never let go and a friendship blossomed between two young ambitious people. But her elite English family disapproved of the South American middle class boy and despite the stumbling blocks strewn in their path, they stayed together. A beautiful friendship that blossomed like spring, courted such danger, the blossoms dried and withered away. It had been her birthday and as he had waited for his ride, a special gift in his pocket, a black sedan from nowhere struck him down, dragging
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
his helpless body a good distance before driving away. She had waited for hours, unaware of the tragedy as he laid in a hospital fighting for his life. The hit on his head left him in a comatose state and there was nothing she could have done for him during the days she sat at his bedside. Life interrupted, dreams shattered, he had returned home. Four years of therapy and the love and care of his family had helped him regain a little of his life but his mind still wandered in the dark wilderness. Sarah had called continuously for a whole year and had visited him a few times waiting for the good news that would say he had completely recovered his senses but the call never came. The withered blossoms scattered by the changing winds, laid lifeless for the lovers separated, lived each day with sadness. As twilight approached his little sister held his hand and they walked home. That night, like so many nights, as he closed his eyes to sleep he whispered, “Where are you Sarah?” The doctors had told her his chances of full recovery were slim but she didn’t want to believe that, holding onto hopes after one year, hopes fading, unable to study at home and unhappy, knowing somehow her family was responsible for Rajiv’s accident, she had left, working for the United Nations in far remote areas of Africa and Asia. Five years passed slowly and on her birthday, the same night of the tragedy, as she slept in the doctor’s camp she heard someone call her name. She sat up, but there was no one there. She knew that voice and as she laid down to sleep she wondered if he was calling her. Her eyes closed and again she heard the call. “Sarah.”
maureen.rampertab@gmail.com She sat up, knowing for sure he was calling her. The call she had been waiting for, for five long years. Summer was coming to an end and under the silk cotton tree he sat, putting the finishing touches to another sketch when he heard her voice, “Rajiv.” His pencil froze and for a long moment, he sat motionless, then he turned slowly. From nowhere as though a plan was coming into play, a storm in his mind blew away the darkness. She stood there, more beautiful than he remembered her, the soft look in her hazel eyes, her smile, “Sarah.” “I was waiting for your call,” she said, “Why did you take so long?” “I was lost.” He said, tears rolling down his face, “thinking of you each day was helping me to find my way.” She was crying too and not a dry eye was there as the villagers watched the reunion of two young lovers seeing for the first time, the portrait on the sketchpad in real life. There will now be new blossoms for they were together again to love, to live each day with happiness.
“There will now be new blossoms for they were together again to love, to live each day with happiness”
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
III
By Petamber Persaud
The Groundings With My Brothers by Walter Rodney I n order to connect to the book: ‘The Groundings With My Brothers, it is useful to understand what Rodney meant by ‘black’ and ‘white’ and the connotations thereof: Asked to sketch the figure of a man or woman, the black schoolboy instinctively produces a white man or a white woman. This is not surprising, since until recently the illustrations in our textbooks were all figures of Europeans. The few changes which have taken place have barely scratched the surface of the problem. West Indians of every colour still aspire to Europeans standards of dress and beauty. The language which is used by black people in describing ourselves shows how we despise our African appearance. ‘Good hair’ means
Walter Rodney European hair, ‘good nose’ means a straight nose, ‘good complexion’ means a light complexion. Everybody recognises how incongruous and ridiculous such terms are, but we continue to use them and to express our support of the assumption that white Europeans have the monopoly of beauty, and that black is the incarnation of ugliness. That is why Black Power advocates find it necessary to assert that BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL. In order to connect to the book: ‘The Groundings With My Brothers, it is useful to understand what Rodney meant by ‘grounding.’ Rodney was making good use of his ancestors’ tradition in oral literature – gathering together, connecting to each other, teaching and entertaining each other through a storytelling setting. It was through such a setting Rodney was grounding and bonding with his brothers.
I was prepared to go anywhere that any group of Black people were prepared to sit down to talk and listen. Because, that is Black Power, that is one of the elements, a sitting down together to reason, to 'ground' as the Brothers say. We have to 'ground together.' There was all this furore about whites being present in the Black Writers Congress which most whites did not understand. They did not understand that our historical experience has been speaking to white people, whether it be begging white people, justifying ourselves against white people or even vilifying white people. Our whole context has been, 'that is the man to talk to.' Now the new understanding is that Black Brothers must talk to each other. That is a very simple understanding which any reasonable person outside of a particular 'in-group' would understand. That is why we talk about our 'family discussions.' ‘The Groundings with my brothers’ is a slim book, some 83 pages but it is yet another slim book pregnant with insights and answers on the issue of oppression and redress. ‘The Groundings With My Brothers,’ compiled since 1969, is still relevant because it has not aged like other political literature due largely to three reasons. One, the conditions of the oppressed and the oppressor still exist. Two, there are efforts to bring redress to the situation. And three, dealing with the consequences of the above clashes. This book was reprinted many times since it was first published by Bogle L’Ouverture Publications. This book was the press’s first publication, making a profound statement - ‘the founding of Bogle L’Ouverture Publications was based on a corporate decision to make a total break with the usual tradition of publishing: that of Black people passively providing the human material to be written up and published by other people.’ This fifth edition is divided into six chapters and comes with a Publisher’s Note by Jessica Huntley, an Editor’s Preface by Ewart Thomas, an Introduction by Richard Small, a Publisher’s Note by Jessica and Eric Huntley, and a New Introduction by Omawale. The six chapters are namely ‘Statement of the Jamaican situation,’ ‘Black Power, a basic understanding’, ‘Black Power – it’s relevance to the West Indies,’ ‘African history and culture,’ ‘African history in the service of black revolution’ and ‘The groundings with my brothers.’ Although the book was about a Jamaican situation Rodney was speaking to all oppressed peoples everywhere. “I would speak wherever there was a possibility of our getting together. It might be in a sports club, it might be in a schoolroom, it might be in a
church, it might be in a gully. (Those of you who come from Jamaica know those gully corners.) They are dark, dismal places with a black population who have had to seek refuge there. You will have to go there if you want to talk to them. I have spoken in what people call ‘dungle’, rubbish dumps, for that is where people live in Jamaica. People live in rubbish dumps.” Rodney gave reasons how the fight could be lost because the black intellectuals and academics have detached themselves from the black masses having sold their black souls and are now unable to challenge the social myths. Through all of this, Rodney reminded us to be cognisant of the humanity of black people. Theoretician, revolutionary, historian, writer, Walter Rodney (1942 – 1980) was born in Georgetown to working class parents – his father was a tailor and his mother a seamstress. After primary school, he won an open exhibition scholarship to Queen’s College, where, in 1960, he won another open scholarship to enter University of the West Indies, Jamaica. Graduating in the year 1963 with first class honours in history, and winning yet another scholarship to the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. In 1966, at the age 24, he secured his Ph. D with honours in African History. He taught for a while in Tanzania before returning to his alma mater, University of the West Indies, in 1968, and becoming caught up in the post-colonial political agitations and the Black Power Movement of the region. So much was his influence that he was banned from the country by the Hugh Shearer-led Jamaican Labour Party. This experience was recorded in ‘The Groundings With My Brothers.’ Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com
IV
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
HEARING SLAVES SPEAK
INTRODUCTION By TREVOR BURNARD University of Warwick
by TREVOR BURNARD
It is very difficult to hear West Indian slaves speak in the historical archive. Most were illiterate and thus unable to leave written records, not just in the harshest phases of African slavery in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but also in the years of amelioration covered by the material in this book. This period, following the end of the Atlantic slave trade, was marked by a supposed softening of the slave system and an increased concern among metropolitan Britons about how slave life and conditions were affecting slaves in the West Indies. Even if slaves had been literate, as so few were, they were always constrained by being in close contact with masters and mistresses, all of whom were supported by the coercive powers of the state. As James C. Scott states in his explorations of how the oppressed enter into discourse with oppressors, it is very rare that we catch a glimpse of what Scott calls the “private transcript” of the oppressed, what peasants or enslaved persons said to each other when their masters were not around or when representatives of power did not monitor and judge their words. It is close to impossible, therefore, to hear slaves speak freely, in voices unmediated by the context in which they found themselves. The records outlined below do not provide such unmediated reflections by slaves upon their condition. They are records created by official authorities as part of a governmental judicial process. But they do provide a rich, close to unparalleled, source of evTrevor idence about Burnard the contours of slave experience. They give us a good guide to the moral economy of enslaved people: what they considered their rights, what they thought they owed their owners and what their owners owed them, and what actions they thought so egregious that they would walk long distances to put forward their complaints to the Fiscal. This set of records helps us gain a rare entree into the world of enslaved people in Berbice in th1820s and 1830s, to their hopes and fears, and to the particular constraints and opportunities that they faced. I have taken ninety-two cases presented before the Fiscal between 1819 and 1832, drawing them nearly at random from the voluminous records of the Fiscal of Berbice held in Colonial Office Series 116 at The National Archives, Kew, London, in order for readers to gain some perspective on the strange world of Berbice slavery in the dying years of slavery in the British Empire. I hope these records will contribute to a more complete understanding of the multifaceted realities of slavery in early nineteenth century Berbice, one of three colonies that became British Guiana in 1831. These records illustrate, through the complaints of slaves – complaints about overwork and excessive punishment, righteous indignation about ill-treatment of family members, accusations of petty criminality and sometimes charges of severe criminality, such as rape and, in a particularly interesting case, of obeah – how slavery operated in the British West Indies and how enslaved people negotiated their way through the uncomfortable situations that they found themselves in. What is most important about the documents that form the basis of this book is that they reveal enslaved people as real people, as individuals who often quarrelled with each other but whom, it seems, shared similar aspirations and dreams about the lives they might be able to fashion for themselves. Responses from the white minority, usually as defendants, not only confirm slaves’ humanity and individuality, but also reveal the irony of a society where African Americans often responded to their environment in a variety of idiosyncratic ways, while their white owners and managers were constrained by the duty of solidarity, forever conscious of their numerical inferiority
and the need to present consistent and homogenous opposition to demands from slaves. It is the voices of enslaved people, speaking through these records, that inspired the title of “Hearing Slaves Speak.” Before reading these cases, however, we should examine more closely the kind of documents that make up the Fiscal’s Records, and the social character of Berbice in the 1820s when these records were created. THE FISCAL’S RECORDS The Fiscal’s Records for Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo are contained with 24 large volumes kept at The National Archive in Kew, London. Overall, they contain perhaps 10,000 pages of information. In this volume, I have sampled records from only a few of the 24 volumes still extant – volumes 138, 139, 142, 143, 144, 147, and 148. Readers should be aware that masses of equally interesting or representative stories from the Fiscal’s reports from these and other volumes are not included here, demonstrating the richness of the sources available. Indeed, the Fiscal’s reports are that rare commodity, a virtually unused body of raw evidence about life under slavery for West Indian slaves. This book is intended as an introduction to the riches that are contained in these records. I have confined my attention to records from Berbice, in part because the range of records in respect of Berbice is especially large. Nevertheless, there are abundant records about Demerara in the 1820s that will also be of use to the researcher and student. The Fiscal’s Records come in several forms. Perhaps the most valuable records are the manuscript and printed copies of complaints made, mostly by enslaved people, to the Fiscal about matters that outraged them. That many things outraged them can be seen in the wide variety in types of complaints that are listed in the ninety-two cases outlined below. Slaves welcomed an opportunity to put their case before a leading Crown official, even if their day in court more often than not left them without the redress that they sought. In addition to hearing slave complaints about their treatment, the Fiscal was in charge from the mid 1820s onwards of monitoring discipline on Berbice estates. He required the managers of estates to send to him each year a list of the number of punishments meted out to slaves on each estate. Managers had to provide the Fiscal with a list of all punishments, divided by how many were given to men and how many given to women, the kind of offences committed, and how many slaves were given floggings or placed in the stocks for a period of time. The first part of this book offers a sample of some of these types of information: the prices of slaves when sold at public vendue; a summary of punishments in 1827-28 and in 1832; and an estate by estate listing of how many punishments were given, if any were given at all. What is noticeable about the latter records is how greatly estates varied in how extensively slaves were punished. Thus, John Ross, the manager of 440 slaves handed out 137 punishments in one four month period and 13 in the next four month period. Meanwhile H.E. Hockin, the owner of 309 enslaved people, gave only 16 and 14 punishments in the same time period. Slaves’ experiences could thus depend materially on the quality and effectiveness of the manager of the estate they lived upon. Just as interesting is the summary of the offences that enslaved people committed. The great majority related to disputes over work: 4,530 slaves were punished for bad work; 300 for refusing to work; 1,346 for disobedience or insolence. Slaves were also punished for criminality, ranging from attempted murder, to trying to commit suicide and to theft. The latter was quite common, accounting for 310 offences in 1827-28. Also significant were offences connected to moral delinquency, such as mistreating children, fornication and adultery, drunkenness, lying or ill-treating wives. Some of the most serious moral delinquencies related to practising obeah, or what whites considered witchcraft. In 1827-28 there were 11 such accusations made against slaves. Obeah was taken very seriously by the authorities: notably in a case found in the British Parliamentary Papers (this case will be published in a forthcoming volume of the Guyana Classics), entitled Trial of a Slave in Berbice, slaves found guilty of obeah faced execution. Case Eighteen below is a lengthy account of another obeah (or obiah) incident. The Fiscal was a curious office for a British colony. In essence, the Fiscal was the chief legal officer of the colony, exercising an equitable function, similar to the Lord Chancellor in Britain, whereby slaves, who were legally not allowed to go to court, were able to come to him to complain that they were not being treated properly. The office of the Fiscal was a legacy from the Dutch history of the colony of Berbice; he was responsible for ensuring that planters adhered to The Rule on
the Treatment of Servants and Slaves, a treatise on how slaves should be treated that the Dutch instituted in 1772 in order to curb slave unrest. Under the terms of the British acquisition of Berbice in 1803, the British were obliged to retain the Dutch bureaucracy of the colony, including the Fiscal. The Fiscal allowed slaves access to justice in ways that were denied them elsewhere in the British West Indies. As the results of most of the cases treated below indicate, the Fiscal was not particularly inclined towards taking the enslaved person’s side. He was, after all, a prominent member of white society and he socialised with leading planter Case after case finished with the Fiscal admonishing the slave who brought forward a complaint and occasionally ended with him ordering the slave to face punishment. Nevertheless, the Fiscal was a check on planters’ worst behaviour. Indeed, he had a vested interest in having slaves bring complaints before him. Initially, before 1814, he took one third of all fines levied against slave owners and managers. Subsequently, his salary was increased to ca. £8,000 per annum, partly in salary, partly in fees, making him the highest paid government official in the colony. He also imposed a fine on all slave owners who had a case brought against them, no matter what the outcome. Thus, the Fiscal encouraged rather than discouraged slaves in bringing forward criticisms to his court. Slaves, usually denied access to courts, had someone in the person of the Fiscal who would at least listen to their complaints, even if he did not act upon them. Consequently, slaves brought their concerns before the Fiscal at regular intervals and the Fiscal listened to them while his clerks wrote down what the slaves said, preserving their words seemingly as close to verbatim as was ever likely to occur in the annals of Atlantic slavery. From 1819, complaints from slaves to the Fiscal were recorded in government documents for the first time. Despite the patois that slaves used being routinely smoothed over by the recording clerk, evidence suggests that the direct testimony of slaves complaining about their treatment was noted down faithfully and accurately. As such, the records of complaints brought before the Fiscal are a rare example of slaves speaking for themselves. Of course, legal records have their own difficulties. Natalie Zemon Davis memorably described the type of social history evidence gained through the testimony of poor people in courts as “fiction in the Archives.” There is a measure of fiction in the ninety-two cases outlined below, given that both slaves and their managers called to give evidence chose to shape their complaints and their testimony both to represent themselves to their best advantage and also to pander to the prejudices of the Fiscal. Thus, managers tried to show themselves as fair and humane masters, tested beyond endurance by recalcitrant slaves so that they were “under the necessity” (to cite a common phrase used by the Fiscal) of implementing punishments. Slaves, on the other hand, tried to present themselves as reasonable people, pushed beyond endurance. They often started their complaints in the manner of Quamy, in a case in C.O. 116/140 (not included here) representing 22 men who resented having to change from work on a coffee plantation to cutting down trees in the bush. Quamy began by saying “That we know we are purchased to work.” Similarly, Louis, complaining about a host of ill treatments from his female owner, began his complaint “I am not lazy nor a runaway. I am willing to work.” Consequently, this type of evidence needs to be seen as narrative accounts that have to be deconstructed and interpreted from a variety of angles, rather than being taken as simple elaborations of fact. Moreover, a slave giving a complaint against a master or mistress knew that his or her testimony was likely to have consequences, even if the Fiscal was very strict about the maintenance of his authority. He took a decidedly dim view of any owner or manager who chose to punish a slave for making a complaint. In some ways, the system was designed to benefit the weaker party – the slave who could speak in ways that he or she seldom could do openly before white people. This is not to say that slaves got a free ride when coming to complain to the Fiscal. In the majority of cases, as noted above, the slave complaint was dismissed and the slave faced at the very least a stern ticking off from the Fiscal – a man who generally viewed matters from the viewpoint of the slaves’ proprietors and who believed that discipline would be ruined if masters’ authority was not supported. Some idea of the Fiscal’s attitude to slaves can be gleaned from a letter by H.M. Bennett to Governor Sir B. D’Urban that “nine times out of ten the complaints proceed from the most indolent and worthless slaves on the estate.” It was quite common for slaves to be scolded for his or her behaviour, even if the grievance was upheld. Laurence, for example, complained that his manager flogged him for not making good fires. The Fiscal listened to his complaint – very
Please see page V
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014 From page IV
briefly – and dismissed the case, reprimanding Laurence and telling him to “attend to his duty.” But at least slaves were able to have their grievances heard and, in some cases, listened to. In Laurence’s case, for example, the manager was forbidden “from flogging or striking a negro with a horsewhip.” Even if they did not succeed, slaves did draw the attention of important whites to the conduct of managers, occasionally initiating the removal of managers who had lost the trust of slaves. How individual plantations were managed was vitally important. Most disputes centred on particular issues on particular estates under the control of particular managers. The great majority of managers never had any slave come before the Fiscal. Most complaints were directed at managers that slaves thought were either incompetent or very harsh: 73 percent of several thousand complaints in the Fiscal’s Records were directed at 20 managers with 55 percent being focused on just 10 managers. One of the virtues of the Fiscal’s reports is that through these reports we can determine how slave management was meant to work, and when and for what reasons it broke down. It would break down because a manager or owner lacked the personal authority to force enslaved people to do what he wanted them to do. BERBICE IN THE 1820S These cases were heard in a very peculiar society, one of the more complete slave societies ever known, but a slave system that was growing just at the time that slavery in the British Empire was coming under unprecedented attack from abolitionists, appalled at slavery’s violence and immorality. Berbice in the 1820s was close in its social structure to eighteenth century Jamaica or to low-country South Carolina. It was a frontier settlement where lands were being developed and where a plantation economy was becoming established. It was similar to both of these societies in being a close to complete slave society in which over 90 percent of the population of nearly 23,000 were slaves. Most of these slaves – three quarters of those aged over 15 in 1819 – were born in Africa, with the majority being men of prime working age. The majority of slaves worked on the 140 plantations that hugged the coast and which had been
created through painstaking labour in the dense Guiana forests and rugged coastline. Most lay below sea level and thus needed constant maintenance. Coffee was the major crop, although sugar was fast supplanting its supremacy in the 1820s. Ownership was largely concentrated outside of the colony and the white managerial population was small, mostly male, and well aware of the threat that slaves posed to their safety. Mortality was high and the slave population was not self- sustaining. Berbice was thus what Barry Higman calls one of the third phase sugar colonies, colonies that shared social and economic characteristics more like those of slave societies in the period of the slave trade than of colonies in the period of widespread amelioration. These colonies were also colonies where slavery was noticeably harsh. Punishment records in the Fiscal’s Records indicate that in a six month period, one fifth of all slaves were given a punishment. The total number of punishments amounted to nearly 7,000 for a population of 20,000 slaves. Of those punishments, 25 percent involved a whipping, suggesting that approximately 7 percent of male slaves were flogged in a typical six month period. Slaves in Berbice had a better time than slaves in Demerara, where sugar production was more extensive, if such comparisons between relative levels of hardship are worth making. Nevertheless, the information in the Fiscal’s Records indicate that slaves in Berbice also faced very difficult conditions, just like their compatriots in Demerara. Their situation was aggravated by the personal nature of slave management and by the anxiety that white managers and owners felt towards their charges. That anxiety often led them to lose control over their actions when exasperated about slave actions and attitudes. Managers felt isolated on distant plantations and when pushed beyond endurance, lashed out wildly at the people they felt responsible for destroying good order on their estates. One such occasion, noted in C.O. 116/140 but not included in the list of cases below, occurred when a manager discovered that a favourite and expensive mare had been fatally wounded by malicious use of a carpenter’s adze. A slave related how when he was told of the injury the manager “pulled out a wattle and began beating Jackson [the messenger] and he licked the man till he could not see.” By his estimate he gave Jackson 150 lashes (when the legal limit was 39), put him in the
V
stocks and then flogged him again. Jackson said “Massa you are going to kill me” and the manager allegedly replied that “if I kill you there is no law there for you.” He then forced Jackson to watch the horse die in his arms. The manager suspected that one of four slaves wounded the mare but none of the four slaves would own up (the culprit was probably an ex-carpenter called Quamina, who was angry about being demoted from carpentry to working in the field). Enraged, he put all four slaves in the stocks, binding their hands hard and keeping them in the stock every night for two weeks. He refused to let the sick nurse see them and forced them to use chamber pots rather than being released from the stocks when necessary. The slaves were in great pain as they were “tied by their wrists to a beam and hawled up to an extent that their toes barely touched the ground.” The manager, as the Fiscal recognised, had lost all sense of perspective when losing a favoured horse. What is significant, however, is that he could act on his high passions tothe detriment of slave welfare. Slaves complained about excessive punishment; about being moved against their will; about being demoted from trades to fieldwork; about masters not taking into account their sickness and especially the sickness of children, several of whom died; about masters’ cultural insensitivity; and about food and clothing allowances being inadequate. From the complaints a reasonably clear picture emerges of what slaves thought was the minimum due to them as slaves. They felt entitled not to be asked to work more than their strength allowed; to receive food and clothing sufficient to survive; to have time off, especially on Sundays and on public holidays, and not to be expected to work when they had time off; to be cared for when sick, and to have their legitimate claims to be sick listened to, and that they should not be punished when they accomplished their tasks, behaved according to the rules and were not insubordinate. A close look at three cases gives us more information about the sort of things that slaves thought were beyond the pale. Mistreatment of wives and especially children brought
Continued on page VI
VI
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
HEARING SLAVES SPEAK
From page V
especially fierce complaints. One of the most compelling cases, Case Sixty Nine in this book, arose out of the death of a young girl, Elizabeth, and the determined efforts of her parents to try and find justice for her after her very early death. The Fiscal noted that Telemachus and Caroline, the parents of the recently deceased Elizabeth, came to see him to complain that their daughter had died because the manager had forced himself upon her, even though “she having not yet arrived at the state of womanhood.” A long investigation followed in which it appeared that Elizabeth may have been deflowered by a young negro boy (although most of the suggestions were that his attempt upon her failed) and that the cause of her death was “nervous debility,” not shock from being penetrated by a male before she had reached puberty. But Telemachus and Carolin were not convinced. They knew just how extensive was the sexual abuse of young women by white men and did not trust white doctors to tell them the truth about what their white masters did. Telemachus insisted that the manager was lying about being connected with Elizabeth. He provided the Fiscal with lots of circumstantial evidence, much of which is very valuable for rounding out how enslaved people lived and occasionally thought, that seemingly supported his claim. What is interesting is less whether Telemachus was right in his suspicions that a rape had been committed than is the innate assumptions that slaves had about both white lack of faith and also that white people would conspire to deny justice to black people. Just as interesting is how determined a slave father was to see his dead child be treated right after her death. It denies a common claim made during slavery that enslaved people, especially slave men, did not care for their children. Telemachus cared deeply; deeply enough to make the very dangerous accusation that a manager had raped his child. One imagines that he had to live with very serious consequences once his case was dismissed and he had to return to his plantation home. Insensitivity on the part of managers to slave family life was also at the centre of another complaint. In a case not included here, Billy complained that his master, Richard Bell, had shown a lack of respect to his slaves by measuring up a very sick slave for a coffin before that slave had died and burying the slave “the very moment he died and before he was cold.” He added the poignant image of the slave looking up at the carpenter Demerara measuring him for size, seeing what he was doing and hanging down his head. For Billy, Bell’s callousness was part of a general pattern of lack of care towards the sick. He detailed another case of a slave dying after being forced to work when clearly ill and concluded with his own situation. He claimed he had a pain in his stomach “if the sun is hot upon me” but that his master thought him just lazy and forced him and other slaves to work beyond endurance. Billy’s inability to work as required led Bell to have him flogged by the driver. Adding insult to injury, Bell stood upon his shoulders while he spread eagled on the ground during his flogging, causing him to vomit blood. In testimony intended to curry favour with the Fiscal, he claimed that Bell had replied to a slave comment that his management methods were killing his slaves that “when he purchases Negroes [neither] the governor nor the Fiscal gives him money to pay for them, therefore when he does buy” them he can do with them as he likes.” Claiming that Bell had refused to accept that he was sick rather than lazy, Billy “came here to complain, finding I could get no redress.” The complaint therefore was in two parts – the callous early dispatch of a dead slave and punishment for what Billy though was a legitimate complaint of illness, neither obviously connected. Billy’s ambition was to connect the two together. No- one disputed the facts of the first complaint and Bell was admonished by the Fiscal for “want of proper feeling” which was “bound to operate prejudicially on the minds of his negroes and would create discontent among them.” But the Fiscal would not accept the second complaint and ordered that Billy be punished at his discretion. He accepted the testimony of Demerara that Billy was “a strong man but lazy inclined and always complaining of sickness.” For that reason, Demerara did not like to work in the same Pen with him. Another slave, Charles, agreed with Demerara’s assessment that Billy’s character was “not good” although he thought that his backwardness with his work was due to sickness. For Bell, the case was cut and dried. Billy was a “very lazy idle negro and a liar.” What is interesting about these cases, as with another case involving insubordination from a female house servant when extraneous material on sexual exploitation was included as part of the slaves’ deposition, is how slaves presented information to the Fiscal that had strictly little to do with a specific complaint but which was intended to show a pattern of misbehaviour on the part of their owners and managers. What makes these complaints especially valuable from an historian’s perspective is that the Fiscal allowed slaves to ramble off the point in order that he might get a full picture of slave life in the colony. Here, Billy wanted redress for what he considered excessive and unfair punishment by implying a general pattern of unconcern for slave welfare. He was well aware, it seems, that the British government was committed to a policy of amelioration and that it was concerned about the extent of slave mortality
in its new colonies. His testimony was expressly constructed so as to find a sympathetic ear. Family concerns were sometimes so paramount to slaves that they were willing to entertain what seem to us paradoxical solutions, such as seeking to be sold to another master, in order to preserve their familial ambitions. In Case Forty Nine, for example, Klaas and Hendrick both complained that they had been sold “under circumstances of peculiar hardship and oppression.” For both men, what especially angered them was their owner’s indifference to their family situation. Klaas had an aged mother whom he cared for in New Amsterdam. He lamented his owner’s decision to sell him to a sugar estate twenty five miles from town. Hendrick, a slave who had foregone the opportunity to become free when taken by his owner in the United States and had returned to Berbice so that he could be close to his family, similarly wanted to protest about being sold a long way from family members. In support of Klaas’s case, the Fiscal heard heart-rending testimony from his old and sick mother, with a complicated story about arrangements for how whoever purchased Klaas was bound to purchase also his mother. His owner, Colonel Nixon, a very highly placed planter-politician, protested that he had treated Klaas well, that his intentions were honourable and that he had sold Hendrick because Hendrick was violent and unstable. Nixon tried to fashion his evidence so as to suggest that he was receptive to familial arguments although the subtext of his evidence makes clear how much the sales of the slaves had been motivated primarily by his own financial gain. Eventually, the Fiscal ruled that Klaas had the right to choose his owner by himself, thus countermanding an important slaveholding principle: that the right to dispose of slaves as one pleased was sacrosanct. The demands of family in this case trumped the privileges of property. Not all complaints were by individuals wanting a solution to individual problems. One example, not included in the cases below but typical of them, was a complaint from 22 men belonging to L.F. Gallez (an owner who was frequently a subject of complaints but who was also the sole proprietor who urged his slaves to formalise marriages). Quamy, representing these men, started off his complaint with a ritual acknowledgement that he knew that slaves “are purchased to work.” He then launched into a litany of complaints about being worked too hard, and that slaves on Gallez’s property were flogged unreasonably because they did not produce the work that was needed “until we run away into the bush.” However, because of obligations to family and friends and from personal distaste for the challange of life in the thick South American jungle, running away into the bush, according to Quamy, “is something that we cannot do.” It was not only excessive work that bothered these slaves but interference in slave family life. “He will never leave us quiet about our wives,” Quamy complained. He continued: “If they are pregnant he is vexed and finds fault upbraiding us that we are good for nothing but to get women with child – if the women have children, they are not allowed to stop at home.” What he wanted was a return “to former times.” The slaves were agitated by what they considered to be unreasonable work loads, brought on by the owner buying two estates in the bush that needed clearing – hard, physical labour that taxed slaves beyond endurance. They suspected he was in financial strife – “whether he has lost money by the Estates we do not know” – and was skimping on food and clothing for slaves while forcing slaves to work. Echoing the previous complaint, complainants noted that Gallez was disrespectful to slaves who died and dismissive of slave illness. If a slave died, “he only allows 3 or 4 to bury and no coffin is given unless we find the boards.” If a slave was sick, “he gives us physic and in 2 or 3 days drives out to work.” Gallez, predictably, denied all these accusations and supported his case with evidence from April, an elderly driver, “father and grandfather of seven slaves.” April denied that the slaves were ill-treated and thought they were poor workers. “The negroes,” he averred, “did not work and I repeated it to my master as I was duty bound.” Presumably, the complaining slaves may have thought April’s duty was not to his master but to them. The result, also predictably, was that the case was dismissed as “frivolous” and the slaves had to beg pardon from their master. They may, however, have proved their point. The large number of slaves complaining suggests widespread dissatisfaction with management practices on the estate. Being asked to beg pardon was at the very low end of possible punishments. Whites in Berbice, one year after the Demerara revolt of 1823, would have been very aware that a major cause of that revolt was a sudden intensification of work patterns in the colony. This complaint fell into that category, one which possibly presaged larger political action THE MEANING OF THE FISCAL’S REPORTS What are we to make of these reports? One way of viewing the various cases that are presented below is that they allow us to see relationships between black and white within the context of negotiations between people with varying and shifting amounts of power, both of whom are trying to gain an advantage over each other and who are often, as in the cases coming before the Fiscal, attempting to place their position in the negotiating process before the bar of public opinion. Of course, all this harks
back to an older but still powerful scholarship, that of Edward Thompson and his notion of moral economy. It suggests that the language of class needs to be added to that of race more often than it is in slavery studies – this is one of the most important points that Ira Berlin reminds us of in his gentle admonitions concerning how slavery should be studied, in his work on differences over time in the history of African-Americans in bondage. Emilia Viotta Da Costa in her work on these reports makes excellent points on what is implied about slave expectations in the complaints that they brought before the Fiscal. She conceives of these expectations in terms of “rights,” an assumption on the part of slaves that there was an unspoken contract, “an invisible text that defined rules and obligations.” Slaves expected to follow rules but believed slave owners had obligations. These duties and obligations could be summed up, she feels, as being that “all slaves should perform according to their abilities, and all should be provided according to their needs.” What these “abilities” and “needs” were had to be negotiated both individually and collectively between slave and master. Again and again in the complaints, slaves protested about treatment they thought unfair and for which they had not received proper redress. What is clear is that they wanted a say in their treatment and wanted to be able to remonstrate when they felt they had a grievance. This attitude could be seen as comprising resistance but this underplays the extent to which the acceptance that slaves had duties they should perform suggests that slaves accepted the right of masters to control them and to keep them in slavery. The problem with resistance as an historical concept is that when it is used, except in the most sensitive hands, it implies that slaves would not put up with enslavement in any of its forms and that they strove constantly to try and gain freedom or at least an advantage over their master in what amounted to a racial and class war. If this is the case, then resistance can only be seen as wildly unsuccessful, as so little everyday “resistance” led to outright rebellion. Moreover, the evidence of the Fiscal’s reports suggests that enslaved people may not have liked slavery but that generally they put up with most aspects of enslavement and only protested about matters they thought especially unjust. It might be, as Da Costa argues, that “without the daily and tenacious acts of defiance and sabotage, rebellions would have been difficult, if not impossible,” but the limited number and small impact of slave rebellions make daily conflicts between slave and master devoid of political significance. As David Brion Davis has commented: How could workers who were relatively free from market forces produce so much or drive such economic growth, especially when historians claim they were engaged in subtle forms of day-to-day resistance? I have seen no satisfactory answers to such questions, but suspect that the negotiating and bargaining between slaves and masters often led to compromises that actually aided productivity. Thinking about slave resistance requires as much consideration of masters as of slaves. A major problem with the resistance paradigm is that it is overwhelmingly focused on what slaves were up against and what they did to overcome their problems. Masters become shadowy figures, obstacles to be overcome on the march to autonomy, self-respect and freedom. But what comes out clearly in the complaints of Berbice slaves is that the power of masters was always constrained by their fears, by their capabilities and especially by their knowledge of what their slaves might do if they did not at all times maintain a pose of mastery. Masks kept on slipping. The relationship between slaves and masters was a delicate balancing act. Slaves probably did see the relationships in terms of duties and obligations, as Da Costa suggests, but the person who had to adjudicate over what were these rights was the slave proprietor. In this respect, white owners and managers were the active partners in a negotiated relationship; slaves were the passive recipients but recipients whose response to what they were given could determine the outcome of negotiations. It goes without saying that these negotiations were unfriendly and that the balance of power was always on the side of the master. The Fiscal made the distribution of power between master and slave clear in a couple of cases where slaves questioned slave owners’ motives and attempted to claim a stake in the management of properties. When Scipio complained, in Case Five, that his manager had forced him to work despite Scipio’s claim to be sick, the Fiscal chided him after hearing and dismissing his case. Summarising the judgment, the Fiscal stated that although “slaves were in all cases of grievances permitted to prefer their complaints, and that every attention should be paid thereunto, and the same redressed when so entitled, yet that the duty of the President, as well as the Fiscal, was to punish false accusations of slaves against their owners and managers.” Scipio was ordered to be flogged “in the presence of the Fiscal on plantation Friends, as an example to the gang of that estate.” It would be wrong, therefore, to assume that slaves thought they were in a shared enterprise with masters, even though on occasions and for their own purposes they asserted a sense of collective identity as residents of a single plantation in ways that coincided with the interests of man-
Continued on page XIII
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
Court of Appeal acquits convicted rapist
IN a rape case in 1966, the trial judge refused to rule on an objection that the evidence of the complaint was inadmissible because it was elicited by questions of an inducing character. This resulted in the jury finding the accused Keith Mayers guilty of rape. Dissatisfied with the decision, Mayers appealed to the Guyana Court of Appeal. That court, constituted by the Chancellor, Sir Kenneth Stoby and Justices of Appeal, J.A. Luckhoo and Guya Persaud allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction and sentence. The Court of Appeal held that: Where, as in relation to complaints made in sexual cases, the admissibility of evidence depends on the discretion of the trial judge and the principles to be applied in exercising that discretion, the trial judge cannot flinch from exercising his authority. APPEAL ALLOWED J. O. F. Haynes, Q. C with C. A. Massiah, appeared for the appellant and G.A. G. Pompey represented the Crown. Chancellor Stoby delivered the judgment of the Court as follows: “The appellant in this case was convicted of rape. He appealed to this Court on three grounds but we propose to deal with one ground only.” “During the trial the mother of the girl alleged to be raped was called as a witness for the Crown. The purpose of her evidence was to show that the virtual complainant had made a complaint to her. After she had given evidence and was cross-examined, counsel who appeared for the appellant at the trial submitted in the absence of the jury that having regard to the answers given by the mother in cross-examination, the complaint was inadmissible as it was elicited by questions of an inducing character.” “Counsel for the Crown submitted that although the mother asked her daughter certain questions, yet having regard to the relationship of mother and daughter, the complaint was admissible.” “While counsel for the Crown was replying to the defence submission, the judge intervened. The record before us is as follows:
At this stage, court indicates to counsel for defence that having regard to the defence as put to the complainant it would seem the making of the complaint was consistent with the defence, although its weight may be attacked having regard to the manner in which it was made.” “As a result of this statement by the judge, counsel for the Crown did not proceed with his reply, the jury was recalled and the trial proceeded without demur from defence counsel. “On appeal it has been argued that the complaint was inadmissible because it was obtained by leading questions and suggestions, and that in any event it was the function of the judge to rule on the submission, and his failure to rule deprived the prisoner of the possibility of the complaint being held inadmissible.” “Ever since the R.v. Lilleyman, [1896] 2 Q.B.D. 167, in cases of rape and kindred appeals, evidence that
complaint was made give their evidence in such a convincing way that no question can arise about the admissibility of a complaint.” “If such be the case, no ruling from the judge is required. On the other hand it may occur, and often does, that the person to whom the complaint is made makes admissions in cross-examination which might or might not cause the evidence to be inadmissible. As soon as the possibility arises of the complaint being held by the judge to be inadmissible it is for him (the judge) to rule.” “Looking at the matter without the aid of any persuasive authorities, we are in no doubt about the judge’s function in a criminal case where objection is taken to the admissibility of evidence.” “The judge must make up his mind and rule one way or the other.” “Quite understandably a situation arises where counsel withdraws his objection and the evidence,
a complaint was made by the prosecutor shortly after the alleged occurrence, and the particulars of such complaint, have been given in evidence on the part of the prosecution not as being evidence of the facts complained of, but as evidence of the consistency of the conduct of the prosecutor with the story told by her in the witness box and as negativing consent on her part.” “Whenever evidence of a complaint is given, two factors have to be borne in mind: (a)Was the complaint made as speedily as could reasonably be expected? And (b) was it voluntary and spontaneous and not elicited by leading, inducing or intimidating questions? It can happen, and often does, that the virtual prosecutor as well as the witness to whom the
if already accepted, remains and is dealt with in the summing-up as admissible evidence.” “A Court of Appeal can, if opportunity offers, decide whether the evidence was correctly admitted. But where the admissibility of evidence depends on the discretion of the trial judge and the principles to be applied in exercising that discretion, the trial judge cannot flinch from exercising his authority.” “The reason is patent. Normally, admissibility depends on fixed principles, relevancy and so on; the judge’s discretion is not required ; his view of the relationship between the parties ,the surrounding circumstances and the impression created in his mind are unimportant.” “In sexual cases the un-
important assumes a different character which the written word can never convey.” “When this Court looks at the evidence objected to, it cannot with a feeling of uncertainty say that the judge, had he exercised his discretion, would have admitted the evidence. He might have done so and had he applied the correct principles this court would not have interfered. But he refused to decide. He compromised and we are not constrained to substitute our discretion for
the judge’s hesitancy. “A circumstance of some importance is that there was practically no corroboration whatsoever .The judge warned the jury against convicting on uncorroborated testimony: he told them that there was no corroboration. In this setting it was vital for the jury to know whether she had told a consistent story; had the complaint been ruled inadmissible this element of the prosecution’s case would have been lacking and without it we cannot say the jury
VII
By George Barclay
must have convicted. “We consider the failure of the judge to give a decision on an important bit of evidence was a fatal omission, and consequently the conviction must be quashed and the sentence set aside.” The appeal was upheld.
VIII
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
HARD EARS PICKNEY K By Neil Primus
en was hardears, troublesome and always in some sort of trouble. If it was not fighting it was gambling, pelting or cussing someone. Ms. Niles scolded, beat and deprived the boy of food but these actions did not bring the desired results. Ken was an orphan. His mother and father had both died of AIDS when he was just four years old. The only person who offered to raise him was his maternal grandmother, old Ms. Niles. By
the time he was eight he began to behave in ways that caused him to be regularly and severely punished. One day his Common Entrance teacher beat him for not producing his homework. That afternoon both the teacher’s bicycle tyres were slashed. At home it was the same thing. He fought with his cousins and would not back down even with the threat of a licking. That Saturday the children were playing indoors. They were instructed not to make noise because their grandmother was making her delicious black pudding. If they were noisy the
runners would burst and the specially seasoned rice they held would pour out into the pot. This would mean plenty of ‘buss’ rice for sale. Ken tried to abide with the rule and when he could contain himself no longer, he began to horse around in his usual boisterous way. KEN!! Trouble hung in the air for the boy. “Come here boy! Yu buss me black pudding!” Ken knew the tone well. He was also quite aware of what lay at the other end of the tone. It would be either a broad leather belt or an old
sewing machine cord. He intended to avoid them both. “KEN!!” The frightened boy fled in the opposite direction. For the next hour, he hung around the front yard. He kept a sharp eye out for his big cousin in case she tried to capture him. In the meantime, cars, motor cycles, bicycles, people on foot and even donkey carts came to get the famous black pudding. This was a normal Saturday afternoon activity at his home. By the time the last customer departed it was dark. “ken!!” He got ready to run. “Boy like yu trying me faith!” Silence. Ken walked over to the coconut tree at the side of the yard and braced against it. He knew from experience that running had caused his punishment to multiply. He sighed and rested against the trunk of the tall tree. Swish! His eyes swept the dark yard. There under the large calabash tree at the back was a dark form. Grrrrrrrr! A low menacing growl was coming from the crouched figure. It was a dog. Fun for him! He stooped and scooped up a brick. Quick as a flash he hurled it at the stray. To his dismay the animal did not flinch. It stopped crouching and raised itself up to its full height on four feet. The dog was a monster. The biggest dog he had ever pelted. It was big enough for Ken to take a ride on. Grrrrrrr! The dark form moved slowly towards him. All fear of licks instantly evaporated and was replaced by blind panic. “Granny! O Gad! Granny!” Ken made it to the door and into the house in record time. Even though it was a very short distance the boy was out of breath. His eyes were wide with fear and tears streamed down his cheeks. Granny came hustling into
the living room. ‘Wat happen to yu?” When she saw the state he was in and heard his story through plenty of stammering and confusing words, she nodded in understanding. All thoughts of handing him a good cut tail was shelved “Is not a dog Ken is a spirit.” That made matters worse. He refused to sleep in his room that night. The next morning arrived with an overabundance of sunshine. Ken’s old self returned. He felt invincible and fearless. What shameful behaviour the night before. He went round to all his friends and the entire gang assembled at his home that evening. He proceeded to tell them why he had called them. The looks they threw each other should have served as an early warning of things to come. Ken missed this vital detail. Ken produced an arsenal of weapons for his troop comprising one old rusty cutlass without handle, two bricks, two pieces of sticks, one half-rotten and the other very heavy. An old beat-up pointer broom, and a large milk can. Armed to the teeth they waited in hiding for the beast to return. War was about to break loose. Like the previous night, the dark form appeared out of nowhere and crouched beneath the calabash tree. The boys looked at it and many hearts shuddered. Nobody wanted to be the first to chicken out so they stayed. At a signal from ken they made an orderly advance. They were going to beat it to death. GRRRRRRR!! GRRRRRRR!! The menace in the deep growls sent cold shivers around the entire group. They stopped their steady advance. They waited in silent fear for someone to take the lead. There was no willing volunteer. Then things shifted into high gear. The animal suddenly took the initiative. With flashing teeth it began a
slow, deadly advance. As the spirit moved towards them, the gang retreated slowly. Ken made sure that there were always a few bodies between him and the Jumbie. At least they would keep it entertained while he made a dash for it. If there were no bodies between them he would make sure there were by helping the process. Survival was the key. Shuffle! Retreat! Sweat and fear, trembling hands and round eyes moved as if controlled by a Puppet Master. “Ken! Get yo backside in hey!” Ms. Niles voice was so loud that it made the army in retreat jump and look around in confusion. This was a cue for the dark advancer. With a vicious snarl it charged them biting and scratching. Well I am sure you never see boys so eager to go inside; all at the same time. With screams, howls and bawls they threw themselves at Ken’s front door. It was a sorry bunch that spilled onto the living room floor. Ms. Niles sat in her old rocker knitting. As usual, Ken was fooling around outside. Enough! “Ken get yo backside in hey!” There was some sort of commotion in the yard and then the front door burst open and nine terrified boys tumbled and sprawled their way onto the living room floor. Ms. Niles sat looking at them her mouth ajar. “J..J…Jumbie bite me!” “Jumbie dag run we!” “Granny de dag come back!” Ms. Niles sighed. She would have to seek some advice from Pandit. Maybe some work was imminent. That night parents had to come to collect their sons. Questions were many but poor granny could not explain the many tore up pants seats, or the scratches and small bite marks many of the avengers took home with them.
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
Clever Uses for Olive Oil (http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/)
This kitchen staple is great for so much more than cooking. It might seem weird to stick a bottle of olive oil near your makeup mirror, in your hall closet, or next to your workbench, but after you try these household and beauty hacks, you may be tempted to permanently relocate your
IX
7. Make a great skin scrub: Plan a DIY spa day by mixing inexpensive olive oil, sugar, and lemon zest to create a sweet-smelling exfoliator (save the pricier, tastier oil for drizzling over steak or crostini). 8. Remove paint from hair: If your home-improvement weekend leaves your head matching your freshly painted wall, use olive oil to ease the color out of your strands.
Deviled Eggs, 4 Ways (http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/)
These are not your grandma's deviled eggs. We made an irresistible basic even better — times four! * Crunchy Curry Deviled Eggs: Go for a spicy update. Transfer the yolks from 6 hardcooked eggs into a bowl and add in 1/4 cup mayo. Mix with 1 teaspoon each curry powder and lemon juice and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Spoon into whites; top with sliced almonds and snipped chives.
supply from the pantry. 1. Silence a squeaky door: Lubricate a sticky hinge or creaky knob with a few drops of oil to quiet an irritating noise without harsh chemicals or a toolbox.
* Pesto-Bacon Deviled Eggs: Who loves green eggs? We do! Mix yolks with 1/4 cup mayo, 2 tablespoons pesto and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Spoon into whites; top with crumbled cooked bacon.
2. Free a stuck zipper: If your jacket’s zipper pull just won’t budge, try rubbing the teeth with a cotton swab dipped in olive oil. It should help ease it back on track. 3. Moisturize your body: Packed with good fats and nutrients, a little bit of olive oil soothes crusty cuticles, relieves dry skin, fights frizzy hair, and can even fill in for shaving cream in a pinch. 4. Return rain boots’ luster: If your rubber wellies get chalky after a few wears, rub them with olive oil to erase the white marks. Avoid getting oil on the soles, though; it may cause you to slip next time you put them on. 5. Remove eye makeup: Swipe your lids with a cotton pad dipped in a bit of oil to free your face of mascara and eyeliner. 6. Shine a stainless steel sink: A light coating will make your sink gleam again, and prevent future water spots from showing up.
* Smoky Chipotle Deviled Eggs: Make things smoky with chipotles peppers! Add yolks and mayo to 1 Tbsp. chopped chipotles in adobo, 1/2 teaspoon vinegar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Spoon into whites; top with chili powder and cilantro. * Caesar Deviled Eggs: Want your eggs with the tangy zip of a Caesar Salad? Mix the 6 yolks with 1/4 cup mayo, 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon each minced garlic and pepper. Spoon into whites; top with shaved Parmesan.
X
No party for SRK! Shah Rukh Khan is known to celebrate Eid in an elaborate manner. Last year, he threw a grand party to celebrate the festival as well as the success of his film, Chennai Express. But this time, he will not be hosting a party at his Bandra home, the reason being that he is busy with his upcoming film, director Farah Khan's next. "He has a hectic schedule these days. The promo of the film is supposed to release soon and there is a lot of work to be done before that," says the source. Recently, it was reported that the actor is spending most of his time supervising the editing of the film and discussing other various aspects, such as marketing. "SRK is teaming up with Farah after seven years (their last film together was Om Shanti Om in 2007). They are burning the midnight oil to ensure the film's success," says the source. When contacted, Shah Rukh remained unavailable for comment, but his spokesperson confirmed the development.
Hate Story 2 Hate Story has strong performances but fails to impress Plot synopsis: Sonika (Surveen Chawla) is Mandar Mhatre's (Sushant Singh) keep who is a corrupt politician and exploits Sonika in every way possible. Trapped in the bad world of Mhatre, Sonika finds solace in photography where she meets her love - Akshay (Jay Bhanushali). Mandar kills Akshay and Sonika sets out on her revenge trip. Hate Story 2 marks the Bollywood debut of Jay and Surveen. With a totally predictable story line and extremely illogical twists and turns, Hate Story 2 fails to entertain. SPOILERS AHEAD Once the cops find Sonika inside a coffin and rescue her, she's sent to hospital and she runs away. But the cops won't flash her missing report in media because "jinse bhaag rahi hai wo alert ho jaayenge"! Seriously? Do you have such dumb villains that they won't know their captive is absconding? When Mandar kills Akshay, Sonika suddenly gathers all the courage and skills to avenge her lover - the way you saw Kajol in Dushman, only Sonika gains the skills and courage overnight, without any rhyme or reason. How does a girl, who
was so helpless she never tried running away from the evil politician, gather the courage to face and challenge him? That's for the audience to figure out. Why should the filmmakers make any efforts to explain everything to the audience? The only saving grace, perhaps are the performances: Sushant Singh per-
fectly essays the role of the maniac that Mandar is, adding fun to his character. Sushant has the expertise to perform evil character with ease. No wonder he's been awarded the best actor in negative
role (IIFA & Zee Cine Awards for Jungle, 2001). He wonderfully portrays the male chauvinist who slams his wife in front of his henchmen and doesn't mind beating his keep too. Sushant also brings some of the best moments in the film. Sample some of the dialogues he mouths: When challenged to a duel by Akshay in the cliched Bollywood style 'Mard ka baccha hai to in chamchon ko peeche hata aur akele aa', Mandar replies, "Koi shauq nahi mujhe mard ka baccha banane ka, jaisa hun thik hun." Another interesting line Sushant says when Sonika has thrown an open challenge to him: "Chuhe ko maarne ke liye uske peeche nahi daudte, wo khud apni badle ki bhookh mitaane ke liye chuhedani me aayegi." Surveen, too, fits into her character perfectly throughout the movie. Other actors, however, are more irritating rather than being convincing. The inspector, for example, who sets out to help, tries too hard to act like a brooding cop but fails. Jay, doesn't have much of a role but is not believable enough even in the bits he's supposed to act. Unlike the Paoli Dam-starrer prequel Hate Story, this one is not high on sex. All you have is Sunny Leone's item song Pink Lips so weirdly forced into the plot that it looks like an advertisement. You can watch the film only if you are a die-hard fan of Sushant or Surveen, because nothing else is really worth the time and money.
Hrithik, Katrina overwhelmed by response to ‘Bang Bang’ teaser
Bang Bang team, including actors Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif, are overwhelmed with the response to the movie’s teaser, which attracted over 2.3 million YouTube views in 24 hours. The teaser for the action-packed movie was unveiled on the video-sharing platform Wednesday at 8 a.m., and the number of views has been on a rise ever since. The film’s production banner Fox Star Studios, director Siddharth Anand and actors Hrithik and Katrina are in a celebratory mood. Hrithik, who has made the wait for the film’s release tough for movie buffs with his death-defying stunts in the teaser, is proud of the “entire ‘Bang Bang’ team and especially Sid Anand for achieving this milestone”.
“I’m happy that we were able to give 58 seconds of joy to all the viewers. It’s all about them eventually. Gratitude,” he said in a statement. Katrina said: “It is truly an overwhelming response for our teaser and I’m very happy that everyone is waiting for ‘Bang Bang’ as eagerly as all of us.” “Bang Bang” is due to release Oct 2, and promises edge-of-the-seat excitement and adrenaline-pumping action. Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios, is “absolutely thrilled” with the response to the trailer, while the director said: “Apart from the numbers, which are astounding so say the least, it’s the reactions which are numbing.” “Every crew member has worked in extreme conditions to present the visuals which are, to put it politely, blowing
everyone’s minds. So well done team – the journey has just begun and what a beginning! Thank you audience,” said Anand, who had earlier directed “Salaam Namaste”, “Ta Ra Rum Pum” and “Anjaana Anjaani”. – IANS
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
Soha Ali Khan gets engaged to Actor Kunal Khemu Actor Kunal Kemmu, who recently and suddenly proposed to his lady love Soha Ali Khan in Paris, says the engagement was pre-planned, but also something he did on impulse. He’s glad he managed to pull off a surprise. “It had to be! I had to take friends into confidence in Paris to get me the ring. But I managed to keep my proposal plans completely hidden from Soha,” Kunal said. The couple was on a month-long European holiday when the thought of proposing to the love of his life occurred to him. “We were on a 26-27 day holiday in Europe. We went to several cities including London and Rome. Paris was not part of our travel plan. I added Paris to our holiday destinations, so I could propose to her in the most romantic city in the world,” he added. Soha would often find Kunal smiling to himself as they travelled to Paris. “I had to use all my acting skills to hide my Parisian plans from Soha. But all the effort was finally worth it when I saw her face after I proposed to her,” he said. After Soha said ‘yes’ to Kunal, she took to Twitter Wednesday to announce the news to the world. Talking about Soha’s idea of sharing the news via an
online social networking platform, Kunal said: “We both are basically very private people. We don’t like put our lives on any social media platform. However, Soha took to Twitter to announce our engagement only so that she would be able to say exactly how she wanted to. “This is a very special occasion for both of us. And Soha wanted to choose all the right words personally.” The announcement has, however, opened up questions from family and friends as to why they weren’t taken into confidence. In the couple’s defence, Kunal said: “We didn’t plan my proposal. I decided on Paris for the proposal on an impulse. And I am glad I did.” Kunal denies any family pressure to make the relationship official. “Neither Soha’s mother nor my parents have ever shown any anxiety about the profile of our relationship. They’re happy to see us happy,” he said. Kunal didn’t feel any pressure about marriage until now. “When I proposed to her, I only did what seemed natural. Only now do we feel that we’ve taken our relationship to another level through the proposal,” he said, adding that there is no immediate marriage plan. “Soha and I are like a married couple. We already feel married. We live together and share everything like a normal couple. We see no reason to make our relationship any more official than it already is. “However, this may change any time. I didn’t know I was going to propose to Soha until I actually started planning it all of a sudden, as a surprise to her. Likewise, we may surprise ourselves by getting married, who knows? But like I said, there’s no parental pressure to get married,” said the actor, whose next film is titled “Guddu Ka Gun”. – IANS
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
Rita Dominic Strikes Sexy Pose In New Photo
When the roll call of beautiful divas in Nollywood is made, one name that will not struggle to be at the top is Rita Dominic. In fact, many adjudge her as the hottest actress in the movie industry in Nigeria. When it also comes to dress sense, no other actress competes that with this Imo State actress, who was born into royalty in all ramifications. The name Rita Dominic is now synonymous with style and class. She recently posed in a photograph, and was not ‘falling the hands’ of her fans, as it is always locally said in Warri area in Delta State of Nigeria. Her dress sense, as expected, was not shortcoming as she was looking fabulous.
I Have Serious Crush On Chidinma —Ruggedman Confesses
Michael Stephens Ugochukwu better known as Ruggedman, has disclosed that he loves Chidinma, winner of MTN Project Fames season three. The rapper made this announcement while on a Metro FM radio programme with the sexy singer. Chidinma, who reportedly smile over this, promised to feature the rapper in her next music video. Ruggedman, also known as Ruggedy Baba, came into limelight through his controversial hit track, ‘Ehen’, which featured Nomoreloss. He also later dropped ‘Baraje’ single, which ruled the airwaves back then. Recall that recently, Ruggedy Baba, was made the United Nation’s ambassador for peace. He is also CEO Rugged Records, CEO 20th September Wear, TV show host and motivational speaker.
XI
Omotola JaladeEkeinde
Is the Most Beautiful Actress in the History of Nigeria 2014 is the year of the Nigeria Centenary and since Amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates by the colonial British Empire to form a unified country in 1914, no other Nigerian actress as beautiful as the current reigning Queen of Nollywood Mrs. Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has graced the silver screen. Omotola is the most beautiful Nigerian actress since the making of the first feature film "Palaver" in Nigeria in 1926 to date. She is also one of the most wonderful actresses in the world and my judgment has nothing to do with her being named among the most influential icons in the world in the TIME 100 of 2013. She is the epitome of beauty from the crown of her perfect head to the delicate toes of her perfect feet and that is why she is always making the list of the prettiest and sexiest actresses in Nollywood and also featured in the 34 Beauty Queens of Nollywood and Kannywood as never seen before in a single publication in the second edition of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® SERIES.
Media Is Killing Gospel Music in Nigeria—Ann Inyang Gospel singer, Princess Ann Inyang, has accused media owners in Nigeria of killing the industry. She said owners of broadcast stations in the country don’t give adequate airtime
for gospel music, instead, they allot more time for secular music. She noted that the issue is not about poor quality of their music videos, as some may suggest. Princess Inyang,
known for her hit track song, ‘Akanam Nkwe,’ among others, explained that media houses prefer to play secular songs from Monday to Sunday. She urged various broadcast stations to give adequate airplay to gospel music because a lot of people prefer gospel music to secular songs. “Our greatest problem is airtime. In fact it is killing our career. Media owners do not accord us airplay but they play secular music from Monday to Sunday and then tell you that gospel music is religious,” she decried. “I have lived in South Africa where gospel music is played much more than secular music. In fact, they play it every day. “Music is music. It is a calling, talent and gift irrespective of the direction you want to shift to. There are people who love gospel music. Let them have their choice instead of pushing it away from people. If you don’t play those songs how will people hear them? It is a pain in this country, because I travel overseas and my songs receive generous airplay,” Ann said. (Taken from http://www. nigeriafilms.com/)
XII
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
Are You a Smartphone Addict?
You probably hear the term “smartphone” tossed around a lot. But if you’ve ever wondered exactly what a smartphone is, well, you’re not alone. How is a smartphone different from a cell phone, and what makes it so smart? In a nutshell, a smartphone is a device that lets you make telephone calls, but also adds in features that, in the past, you would have found only on a personal digital assistant or a computer--such as the ability to send and receive e-mail and edit office documents, for example. If you take a look around any public space, a good percentage of those assembled there will likely have their heads down, buried in a smartphone. People love their smartphones. A lot! The number of smartphone “super users” is climbing rapidly, so much so that last year worldwide mobile data traffic was nearly 18 times the size of the entire Internet in 2000. The crankier Luddites might call this a sign of the downfall of society. And maybe they’re right, but it’s a fact of today’s world that we are just plain addicted to our tech. Young and old, male and female, we need to be connected in order to get through the day. Below are some signs. •
You get slightly panicky when your phone is out of your line of sight.
• You ridiculously panicked when you accidentally leave it at home. It’s like you’re missing a limb. • You sleep with your phone on your nightstand, or worse, IN your bed next to you. • You justify being on your phone all the time because you “might miss a work email.” • A cracked screen would never stand in YOUR way. • You prune and manage your apps like it’s the Parliament building lawn. •
You maintain three to five text threads/Snapchat chains going throughout most days.
• At least once a week you freak out that you can’t find your phone, and then realize it’s in your hand. • Turning your phone off during a flight gives you horrendous FOMO…but also makes you excited, because you know when you turn it on, you’ll have tons of notifications to go through.
• You insist that you can do two things at once — text AND walk text AND listen! — but we all know that you cannot. • You feel kind of dejected when you sneak a peek at your phone after a long dinner or meeting and you have no new notifications.
Girl’s Galaxy S4 Smartphone Burns under Her Pillow as She Sleeps Charging our devices as we sleep feels like a harmless routine. For one young Samsung smartphone owner, however, that habit almost turned heated. Last week, a 13-year-old girl plugged her Samsung Galaxy S4 in for its nightly juice-up before hitting the sack, only to be awoken by the smell of something burning hours later. When she got up and searched around for the source of the stench, she realised that she had wedged her charging phone under her pillow. And not only was the backside of the pillow scorched, but the phone was fried into an unrecognizable slab of plastic and melted components.We have a reasonable expectation that the products we buy are going to be safe, the phone overheated, causing the battery to swell and start a fire. She was not harmed.
LG’s flexible and transparent OLED displays LG has produced a massive, 18-inch OLED display that can be rolled up into a tight cylinder with a radius of just 1.2 inches. In addition, LG has also announced an 18-inch OLED display that is highly transparent. By 2017, LG thinks it can combine both of these prototypes to create a 60-inch, UHD (4K) display that is both flexible and transparent. Is the dream of a flexible, fold-up “e-paper” display finally upon us? Is that the death knell of the printed page that I can hear tolling in the distance?
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
XIII
HEARING SLAVES SPEAK
From page VI
agers and overseers. In this way, the small world of the plantation could be distinguished from the larger world of imperial politics, where the interests and values of ruled and ruler was meant to coincide more often than not. The ideal of the monarchical society was a wise ruler and happy subjects. That ideal was achieved surprisingly often in early modern Britain and British America. When James II succeeded to the throne in 1685, the corporation of Monmouth acknowledged that it was the King’s “Right to Rule and Govern” and his “Subjects’ Duty to Obey.” Even though planters sometimes had the conceit that their plantations were little kingdoms, these kingdoms were always unhappy ones, with little sense of shared values. In such cases, the job of the man who made decisions could be very difficult, which is clear from many of the complaints from slaves in Berbice. As everyone knew from their memory of seventeenth century strife between absolutist Stuart monarchs and resentful and rebellious subjects, retaining the support of underlings was extraordinarily difficult, even in social systems predicated upon deference and upon the God-ordained legitimacy of monarchs, masters and fathers. By the early nineteenth century, the force of revolutions and changing familial relations that weakened the power of patriarchs had put great strain on the values of the old regime but within slavery such values still held strong, even in strongly capitalist societies such as Berbice, where ownership and daily control over dependents was often separate. Slave owners and their representatives still expected to be obeyed unquestionably and framed their rule in patriarchal ways. Gaining respect and loyalty from people who had neither consented to being ruled (even if they accepted that being ruled was an inevitable part of the human existence) was much more difficult and many slave owners failed to convince their charges, either through force or persuasion that they should be loyal and respectful of duly constituted authority. A good portion of the master’s authority resided in his personal abilities, especially his ability to muster the considerable coercive forces at his disposal. These included, crucially, the support of the state as ultimate guarantor of slaveholder power and privilege. In the end, it was the authority of the state that allowed owners and managers the power to force slaves to do what he wanted them to do. What is extraordinary, in retrospect, is how many masters were able to get slaves to accept their authority. The very full records of Berbice indicate that 768 slaves took legal action against their masters in 1824/25 but that there were no complaints from slaves from nearly three quarters of plantations in which two-thirds of slaves were held. In other words, less than one in four managers had to come in front of the Fiscal to answer a complaint. Three in four managers were able themselves to resolve conflicts within the plantation system. The complaints brought before the Fiscal were therefore the relatively rare examples where compromises between slaves and masters had not been found possible. Compromise between slaves and managers made the system work; force alone could not do so. Violence was at the heart of the system and masters achieved their aims largely through the application of violence and through employing spiritual terror to cow slaves into submission. But slavery was a contestation that required negotiation because the power of masters, as complaints from Berbice makes clear, was not absolute. Skilled managers (about whom we do not hear from in the records) got their way; less skilled masters faced problems. As Ira Berlin argues, “the we of interconnections” between slave and master “necessitated a coexistence that fostered grudging cooperation as well as open contestation.”34 The moral lessons of the Fiscal’s Records I mention how slavery was complicated by human relations because the job of the historian is not to point out moral lessons but to provide evidence about the past so that we can recognize the ways in which people in the past lived, worked and thought in all their messy complexity. Inevitably, however, especially when dealing with a subject as morally fraught as slavery, issues of morality intrude. There is little point, lamenting the
cruelties of enslavement and being outraged that so many people led stunted lives as a result of racially divided exploitation for financial gain. We don’t get very far by thinking of history as a series of moral judgements upon our ancestors and our ancestor’s oppressors. One of the virtues of the Fiscal’s records is that in their depth of coverage of both slave owners and enslaved people we come to understand that slavery was a complicated process of negotiation. The enslaved people in these records are far from perfect. They fight each other, as in the last case in this book, where two women fought in an undignified fashion over the affections of a white man; they drink too much, as in Cases Eighty Two and Eighty Six when the aptly named Champagne was hauled up before the Fiscal for excessive drunkenness; and they behave towards each other sometimes with a conscious lack of humanity. At the same time, they demonstrate, as can be seen in Telemachus’s admirable insistence on his dead daughter gaining justice, that slaves did not lose their humanity when trapped in a coercive system. Nevertheless, one cannot look at the past in an entirely dispassionate way. One needs empathy for one’s ancestors and for the situation that they found themselves in. A principal aim of this series is to introduce, especially for the people of Guyana, who live the legacy of enslavement and of the brutality of plantation life into the present day, reminders of the past that has so shaped the present. Slavery was a monstrous system, even when there was an office like the Fiscal in which some of the worst excesses of enslavement were mitigated. It is hard not to conclude that many of the complainants in these cases led constricted lives, full of pain, both psychological and physical, due to the injustices of enslavement. This volume of sources, in which we get as much direct testimony from the mouths of slaves as the imperfect source material of the past allows, is a modest contribution to trying to understand how enslaved people navigated these lives full of pain and sometimes enjoyment. My belief is that if we hear slaves speak and listen to what they say, then those people, long dead but not forgotten, can tell us things of value both in order to understand the past and also to appreciate the present and prepare for the future.
XIV
Flossing delivers several important health-maintenance benefits Hardly a day passes that during the process of examining a patient’s mouth, when I ask the question: “Do you floss?” the response is invariably, “Doc, what is that?” Now flossing delivers several important health-maintenance benefits. Since microorganisms
(germs), both living and dead, build up between contacts where the teeth touch each other, flossing is important for reducing the possibility and incidence of cavities between the teeth (“interproximal decay” in dentistry terms). Microorganisms at the
contacts can process the foods we eat, such as carbohydrates and starches, and in this processing can produce acids that dissolve enamel. So for those who are susceptible to these types of cavities, flossing is exceedingly important in helping to keep decay between the
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
teeth under control. Additionally, for those who have had their fillings, or other types of dental restorations on tooth structure, lost to decay between the teeth, it is imperative to effectively and frequently cleanse the surfaces between the teeth to reduce the incidence of new decay in these areas.
sloughed-off epithelial cells from the gum tissue wall of the sulcus, it is important to do what we can to keep this toxic-mixture to a minimum, which will consequently reduce the chances of early stage gum infections (gingivitis) or the more advanced stages of infection and destruction associated with
tive at dislodging accumulated plaque and cellular debris from the sulcular spaces between the teeth, allowing this plaque to be ultimately removed from the mouth, usually by expectoration ( spitting it out). How do we floss properly? The first step is to choose a brand and type of
Because germs are so abundant under the gums and are so intermingled with
periodontal disease (gum disease). Properly done, flossing can be very effec-
floss that works for you, one you can, and will use. There is a confusing array of flossContinued on page XV
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014 From page XIV es available waxed and unwaxed, dental tape (wider than floss and easier on the fingers for those with tight contacts), flavoured flosses, and even floss in a handheld device that allows flossing to be done with one hand. Although dentists and hygienists have been known to draw swords over the relative merits of waxed versus unwaxed floss, the best floss is ultimately the one that you will use every day. Start trying out various flosses until you find one you like. Whatever self-motivation it takes to include flossing as an everyday component of your oral-cleansing activities, do it. I am sure I would approve of your choice. Besides all the health benefits of flossing, one further motivator could be that flossing makes your breath fresher. Fresh breath is difficult to achieve when loads of necrotic, stinking plaque is left under the gums and between the teeth for long periods of time. Since patients with bad breath seldom smell their own halitosis, they may not even be aware their breath is offensive. A simple test to see if you have
a problem is simply to floss, then smell the floss. The odour, if present, will become worse as the plaque dries. One thing is certain, flossing and fresh breath go hand in hand. If you floss and the material smells all right, you are on the right track. One has never had bad breath worsen by having a cleaner mouth. If you still need encouragement to floss daily, consider this: the words floss and heart both have five letters. While this observation may seem silly, flossing can keep the inflammation caused by gum disease at lower, safer levels. So if you aren’t flossing for fresh breath and healthier gum tissue, or working to keep your cavities and decay between your teeth under control, then floss for better heart health. Poor oral hygiene is associated with heart attacks. How do you go about flossing safely, easily, and effectively? You have chosen your floss already, so the following is the same information I pass on to my patients. Hopefully it will work for you. I instruct my patients to take a nine-inch section of floss and wind it around the
middle fingers of each hand until the index fingers or the thumbs on each hand are close enough to touch. This allows the floss to be directed and controlled, by using both thumbs to direct the floss if flossing the upper teeth, or by using both thumb to direct the floss if flossing the upper teeth, or by using the index fingers when flossing the lower teeth (making sure to use only gentle motions throughout the flossing). With one to two inches of floss in between, start by flossing the front of the last tooth on the upper right. By using a system, you won’t miss anything, and by starting in the same place every time you floss, you flossing will become a habit. Keep the floss taut with your fingers and with your thumbs, direct it between your upper teeth, then guide it through the contact and scrub the front of the last tooth, up and down, with just a slight amount of rocking motion, until you feel the surface of the tooth is clean. You have just flossed the front of the tooth and cleansed the part of the sulcus at that tooth.
The next step is to lift the floss over the gum tissue between the two teeth and floss the back of the next tooth, the one directly in front of the first one you flossed. Remove the floss from between the teeth and insert it into the next contact forward. Floss the front of one tooth and the back of the next tooth and move on to the next contact. Please remember you are not just cleaning the front of one tooth, but you are cleaning the back of a next
one, as well as cleaning a bit of the sulcular debris from both sides of the gum tissue in between the teeth (the interdental papillae). Then, move on to the lower teeth, again systematically flossing to ensure that no surfaces will be missed. You can floss effectively between the lower teeth by keeping the floss taut and directing it between the teeth using your index fingers. If the floss tears or frays from the effects of really tight contacts, rough fillings, or
XV sharp edges between the teeth, just release one wind of floss from one middle finger and take up the slack by winding it onto the other middle finger. Assuming you have a full complement of teeth, you can do a very effective job in about a minute and a half, so the potential reward in improved health will b a good enough reason to include flossing as an important part of your daily health maintenance regimen.
XVI * The male mosquitoes are vegetarians and live on eating the lives of the plants and the trees. * The tongue of the blue whale’s weight is equal to the total body weight of the elephant. * Rats and horses can’t have the power of vomiting, which is why the rats can’t survive, even after taking the small quantity
of zinc sulphate (rat-poison).
physics for discovering X-rays in 1895.
* Taking 1 chips pocket per day is equal to taking 5 litres of oil in a year.
* Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant in 1967 – the patient lived for 18 days.
* The thermometer was invented in 1607 by Galileo. * Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in 1866. * Wilhelm Rontgen won the first Nobel Prize for
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
* Humans have 46 chromosomes, peas have 14 and crayfish have 200. * An individual blood cell takes about 60 seconds to make a complete circuit of
the body. * One million, million, million, million, millionth of a second after the Big Bang the Universe was the size of a pea. * The ideal dimension for ship stability is a length six times that of the width. * Female mosquitoes are non- vegetarian in nature and continue their existence by taking the blood of human-beings and other animals. * Only in the last century have we discovered that
there are towering mountains and deep trenches in the depths of the sea. * Female mosquitoes are responsible for the spreading of the infectious diseases like Malaria, Dengue fever and Chikungunia etc. * Washing soda: chemically it is Hydrated Sodium Carbonate. * Chemically Cooking soda is Sodium Bicarbonate. * If ornaments prepared with pure gold (24 car-
rots) does not give much brightness and also not so attractive, that is why, copper is added to the gold to prepare the ornaments (making it to 22 carrots), which are very shinning. These are more popular in India. * There are 29 bones present in our head. * Those who are pregnant after 35 years will have the 1 in 27 chance of giving delivery of twins. * Carbon Dioxide is used in fire-extinguish devices.
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
XVII
Palmyra A village where happy residents bask in serenity, simplicity
By Alex Wayne THE lush green countryside foliage was just a happy blur as it rushed past the windows of the speeding mini-bus. Normally, I would have enjoyed such breathtaking scenery, but today my mind was preoccupied with wondering what would be the reception I would receive at the hands of residents of Palmyra, in Canje, East Berbice. Well, I was told that this location is inhabited by smiling faces and very pleasant people, but I had actually never visited the village, so my mind was working frantically to decide on one of my many mesmerising methods of approach that I would normally fuse with liquid charm to bring out the best in those with whom I am interacting for the very first time. With that aside, the drive was fairly okay, except for the moments when the bus driver almost flew around very sharp turns in the road as if it would fly off into the midday skies. Sooner than I expected, I arrived at Palmyra, and was instantly taken by its alluring simplicity and vivid countryside beauty. Palmyra is nestled nicely between the equally enthralling villages of Canefield to the east and No. 7 to the west. Palmyra is located some 73 kilometres from the city of Georgetown and can be reached by a minibus ride of one hour and forty-five minutes, provided the spanking new Berbice Bridge is open
to traffic upon your arrival. This village is divided in sections, warded off by named streets, and is a mind boggling haven of fresh Atlantic winds, swaying coconut palms, and vast green pastures. The village, to date, according to residents, has a population of over 2,000, with the larger segment being East Indians, followed by residents of African descent; while here and there sprinklings of mixed race and Chinese can be found. INTERACTING WITH RESIDENTS I stopped off on the very edge of the village where the cluster of houses began, and I did so out of curiosity because I noticed what appeared to be very jolly families sheltering from the sweltering sun under a makeshift tent as they traded very large ‘buck crabs’ by the roadside. Now that I am remembering the whole ordeal, I can actually laugh my head off at their reaction to my approach. Well I was ‘dressed to kill’ folks, and my whirring camera, pen and writing pad must have been a bit unnerving to this gathering. But after a hearty Creole greeting and a double dose of my never ending charm, they were soon relaxing and seeming melting under my endearing smiles. A bit shy about public speaking the females retreated further beneath their tent with bashful giggles, and prodded the
Come let’s enjoy the mysteries of Palmyra
men to take centre stage as I flung questions their way. Announcing my intentions made them even more receptive, and I instantly knew that I had successfully broken the ice. First to take centre stage was Oslen Williams, who plies the trade of selling crabs. He explained that residents in the village exist through honest and simple means. “People in this village does live honestly and exist by simple means. Everybabdy heah does wuk hard fuh dem money, and yuh see me and me family heah does sell crab by dis roadside everyday to put food pon de table and clothes pon a’we skin. When crab season done, we does duh a lil farming or get wuk ah de Rose Hall Suga Estate. “Is hard wuk fuh catch dem crabs, and many time we does get bite up real bad… But de best time is when dem ah march pon dem moonlight nights… All yuh got tuh dun then is just walk with a big lamp and just pick dem up from de mud. De lamp light does blind dem like and we jush ah pack dem into we bags.” Williams explained that they would set up their sales tent outside of the village, closer to the Berbice Bridge, and would often get whopping sales from drivers and other commuters plying that route to and from the city. Even as he was speaking, a large Sterling Products truck pulled up and the driver purchased over $2,000 in crabs, much to the delight of the small group gathered there. On the roadside, the crabs are priced according to size, and buyers can get up to eight large ones for $1,000. However, when they sell on a wholesale basis to the three ‘crab shops’ in the village, they are paid less for their catch. This is so because these outlets would in turn sell to other businesses in the city with the intention of making a profit. Young Mahendra Rajballi has been a plantain chip vendor for the past five years, and while he seems contented with his profession, he noted that he hopes someday to find a much better job and maybe open a small grocery store of his own. “Me know dis ah nah really any kind ah big wuk me ah do heah, but I is a contented bai… Instead me get invalve in wrang things, I prefer fuh sell me plantain chips pon dis road and mek a lil money. Me ain’t gon duh like dem bai in otha village who deh bout de place smoking dope and thiefing people things. I prefer fuh wuk honestly and earn by de sweat ah meh brows,” Rajballi explained he would normally purchase the already fried and packaged plantain chips from wholesalers in Rosignol and other areas for $50 per pack and would sell back to commuters and villagers for $100, thus making a 50% profit on each pack sold. Indranie Harris has battled with hard times in the home, and has decided to help out with bringing in an extra dollar by selling bottled water and aerated beverages by the roadside. “Bai, all ovah Guyana things hard as hell, but we gat fuh cope wid de cast ah living, suh me does try fuh help out by selling dis lil battle wata and sweet drinks. Me nah really ah get nutting much pon it, but me gat fuh try.” Continued on page XVIII
Palmyra
XVIII
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
we turn on our taps we have to wait for ages for the rusty and heading to different villages. Since the olden days, Palmyra has always been a village water to run out, and this is not conducive to proper health EMPLOYMENT for residents. When the water finally clears up and we fill our where harmony flows naturally amongst dwellers. As we containers, we are shocked to find a thick shiny, somewhat traversed sandy streets and passed animals grazing lazily in Commenting on the issue of employment in the village, rusty ‘cream like substance’ on top of the water in the morn- the hot sun, housewives could be seen chatting from their shopkeeper Cecil Thomas explained that there was certainly ings. From what I have been told, this occurs because there is bedroom windows, peals of feminine laughter renting the air not an existing unemployment issue in the village, since most too much iron content in the water. It looks like GWI wants as they exploded mirthfully at their very suggestive jokes and girlish gossips. of the villagers were employed at the nearby Rose Hall Sugar to kill us all before our appointed time…” Estate, or are involved in some small business ventures of A few residents are calling for the Guyana Power and THE PALMYRA AWAKENING… some sort or the other. Light Inc. to open a branch office in their village or close by, Intent on finding the real awakening of the village, I “This is a very simple village where hard working people to avoid the hassle and expense of having to travel do not waste time sitting around. I am not saying that every to Georgetown to make applications for electricity single resident is into meaningful occupation, but those that installations and other related business. are not educated are either fishermen, rice farmers, work at the Youths in the village were quite earnest in their estate, or have opened small shops like myself. call for a special playfield to be built in the village for “Some persons are employed at the Guyoil Gas Station recreational purposes. At present, youths are forced here. Of course quite a few are taxi and mini-bus drivers, to engage in sporting activities in their backyards, while others are employed in high positions at the primary or at a small patch of land cleared out near to the schools. We exist quite humbly here, and try our best to live sugar cane fields to facilitate cricket and football, in peace and harmony… Everyone looks out for their brother but under uncomfortable conditions. This area floods in Palmyra, and that is how it has always been…” quite quickly with very little rainfall, according to There are no major nightclubs or discos in this village, villagers. and as such, villagers depend on occasional weddings and However, they are thankful that they have rebirthdays from the many households to twitch their hips and ceived street lights which help in making the village a roll their bellies in dancing abandon. safe and stable environment in which to dwell. Some Some are content to enjoy a few drinks at the few rum villagers are grateful that the authorities have started shops that can be found there. works in the areas of drainage and irrigation, since heavy downpours in the area result in heavy flooding. CHALLENGES Commenting on the issue of discipline in the village, Phulmattie Seecharran noted that some youths Life seems to be quite simple and satisfying in this village, have become quite disrespectful to their elders, and save for a few issues raised by concerned residents. would often give them a blistering ‘cuss out’ if they Addressing what he termed as the issue of police harass- attempt to correct them. ment on taxi drivers, Bryan Richardson explained that taxi Her sentiments were affirmed the minute I endrivers attempting to ply their trade in the village are being tered a variety shop to get myself a pack of chewing constantly harassed by police who prevent them from operat- gums. I had to wait quite a long time at the counter, ing, thus hampering with their daily earnings. while the teenager who was supposed to be inside the “The police here are really behaving like hooligans, and facility had his ‘bellyful of gaff’ about some girl he they are making our lives miserable. While they are stopping ‘throw down’ at a birthnight celebration in the village us from operating in the village, they are not making headway a few days earlier. Indranie Harris (right) tries to help out in the home by for us to have our own taxi park here. Instead, they are forcing He did not budge until I became furious with selling bottled water and carbonated beverages by the us to go till to New Amsterdam to ply our trade from there. anger and bellowed to have some service. This is downright stupid and insensitive, but they are policeWhile his companions muttered obviously roadside men and everyone knows that Guyana is full of only ‘dunce crude remarks, the lad rudely entered the shop, police’, so what can you expect? grabbed the cash from my hands, and flung the packet of stayed overnight at a past dance colleague of mine, whom “Now, imagine wasting all that gas to operate miles away chums on the counter. When I enquired how I found now living in the village; and I awoke quite early in New Amsterdam at a taxi he would have felt if I had treated him in that the following morning. While the villagers were just about park that is already filled manner, he rudely retorted, “Well, yuh could stirring, I rose and perched myself in a precarious position on my friend’s verandah to bask in the glory of the ‘Palwith drivers from that area. either tek it or lef it!” We will have to get our own That was when I really exploded. I grabbed myra Rising.’ At dawn, as the last crows of the cocks passengers, and that will be the packet and flung it at him, hitting him squarehard to do since these drivly in the centre of his forehead. He yelped in pain faded in the distance, husbands and other male breadwinners trickled onto ers would have already had and retreated fearfully further into the shop. His the public road to await transportation their own customers. Why companions became suddenly silent and bowed to their various worksites. While some can’t we operate from withtheir heads as I swung around in anger, glaring at engaged in idle chatter, others seemed in our own village? They them, daring them to utter a word. I stormed out more concerned with accessing the keep harassing us…this is of the premises and did not give them a second first minibus or short drop car to our livelihood… How do glance, forgetting that I had left my cash behind. worksites situated at various locations they expect us to survive?” outside the village. Grantley Montooth was ETHNIC HARMONY Soon the streets became filled with very angry as he spoke on vehicles, and villagers now converged the issue of “rusty water” This village exudes a ‘racial harmony’ so rich in numbers as they hastily went about that residents receive from in its intensity that it caused me to marvel at being their various chores. their taps even as they are so privileged to be visiting for the first time. By now the golden sun was rising Taxi drivers of all races were seen chatting steadily above the horizon, casting a required to pay sizeable pleasantly under large fruit trees, while teenaged jewelled dazzle on rooftops and the water bills. girls were catching up nicely on the days’ gaff. metal frames of steel fences. Soon “I really don’t know At the various road junctions, both Indo and Afro after, the few small groceries that have what is going on here. Evbuddies jostled with each other jovially as they sprung up there opened for business as ery month, the GWI never competed to see who would net the more sales vendors attempted to attract the eyes forget to send us hefty waas they peddled plantain chips, salted nuts and of early buyers. ter bills, and in some cases mangoes. With streets now filled with pedesthe bills are wrong and we It was a pleasing ethnic fusion as they spilled trians, riders and drivers, conversaare over charged. It’s only into the streets, laughing their heads off as they tion with a few grown men revealed when we get really mad and joked with one another. They were indeed a that while the village can sometimes query the bills that in some picture of what we would want our beautiful be described as ‘a hub of bustling cases the necessary alterGuyana to be. activity,’ there is still room for the ations are carried out. But It was the same pleasant picture with men lim- introduction of some more ‘glitz and Crab vendor Osle Mahendra Rajballi prefers to sell that’s not all; the quality of ing in the streets and with housewives catching much light on the water we receive is horrible plantain chips for a living than to be- up on the latest news before jumping into buses glamour’ in many sectors. village most of the time…. When come involved in criminal activities From page XVII
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
XIX
the happy home in which she grew up. Her formal education commenced at the All Saints’ Anglican School in New Amsterdam when she was eight years old, but owing to the informal learning at home, she was not at a disadvantage. At the age of 12, she was sent to the Cumberland Methodist School under the tutelage of Sydney King, now Eusi Kwayana. During the 1930s, that particular rural school enjoyed an enviable reputation for good results, and she would be one of its star students. Olga Irene Bone, former Executive Director of the Guyana Book Foundation, Co-ordinator of Education Renewal and Assistant Registrar of the University of Guyana, died on July 27, aged 88. Olga Bone had two passions in life – to provide educational opportunities, and to promote human rights for everyone. Her entire adult life was devoted to children’s education and to protecting women’s rights. Indeed, after the unexpected termination of her employment at the University of Guyana in the midst of controversy in 1980, her interest in both intensified. It was in her retirement that she became co-founder of
Talented songstress Melanie Poonai intends to take a Grammy to Canjie, Berbice PROMINENT FIGURES (VIJAY RAMKUMAR) Vijay Ramkumar was born in Eccles East Bank, Demerara and grew up in Palmyra Village, East Canje, Berbice, Guyana. At the tender age of six, he developed a keen interest in musical instruments and became an excellent harmonium player by the age of eight. Over the next fifteen years, Vijay continued his amazing artistry, becoming proficient on accordion, guitar and keyboard, and also gaining invaluable musical experience with such bands as Indian All Stars, NTB and Melody Makers of Guyana. There were with him such notables as Ishri Singh, Celia Samaroo, Bash Nandalal, Rocky Persaud, Peter Dass, and Devindra Pooran among others. He then migrated to Canada in 1983, and continued his musical journey with such bands as Traction, Sargam, Variations and Innovations. Vijay is certainly among the most gifted of artistes to hail from Guyana, and has developed remarkable musical arrangement skills with the influence of Karamchand Maharaj and Rohan Changur. This has been demonstrated in his 21 CD productions to date. His musical future is certainly a bright one, and Vijay Ramkumar’s musical achievements certainly carry the Guyanese Torch forward to the rest of the musical community. THE LATE OLGA BONE Olga Irene Bone, nee Lowe, was born on Sept 16, 1920 and grew up in the pleasant, breezy little village of Palmyra, in East Canje, Berbice, about 5 km from New Amsterdam. She attributed her imperturbable disposition to
en Williams shed e makings of the
led a fund-raising campaign with help from the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development and the Scarborough Fathers in Canada. The infusion of funds allowed the volunteers to extend the programme to become a three-year August vacation project located at centres in Enmore, Leonora, Linden and New Amsterdam. At each centre, small libraries with books donated by the Canadian Organisation for Development through Education began to sprout. Together with other educators – Agnes Jones and Mavis Pollard – Olga Bone transformed Education Renewal from a casual group of volunteers into a formal non-governmental organisation. Not only did it continue remedial classes into the early 1990s, but it was given the additional responsibility of distributing huge shipments of books from the Canadian Organisation for Development through Education. It was largely through the clarity of her vision and tenacity of her purpose that Education Renewal not only survived the deficiencies and difficulties of the depression of the 1980s, but became the basis for establishment of the Guyana Book Foundation in the 1990s. Olga Bone served as general manager of the foundation until a permanent officer was appointed, and she remained an active member of the Board of Directors until last year. She never really retired. When given the opportunity, she continued to teach voluntarily at three community high schools – Dolphin, Houston and St George’s. She also took the time to write three small books – Our Children, Our Schools; Essays on School Management and Revision Manual: Basic Calculation – which were distributed to several primary schools. Commonsensical and functional, some of the ideas contained in these little books dealt not with grand strategic models for restructuring the education system, but with simple – teacher recruitment; Olga Bone and Vijay Ramkumar were indeed prominent and very re- topics teacher leadership; school adspected residents of Palmyra ministration; classroom order and disorder in schools. Those Education Renewal, a small non-governmental organisation issues were problematic twenty years ago, and still are today. that worked for the improvement of children’s education. Conscious of the collapse in education standards, she was CONCLUSION able to mobilise a number of like-minded volunteer teachers, among whom were Andaiye, Fr Tim Curtis, Karen De Come taste the fresh fruits of Palmyra, as you inhale the Souza, Maylene Duncan, Kathy Ford, Bonita Harris and fresh, crisp country breeze. Vanda Radzik, to conduct free remedial classes in English and Prance and dance along the sandy dunes, pausing just for Mathematics for ‘at-risk’ secondary school children. Two-hour a bit to splash in the numerous cool waterways. Get entwined sessions were held twice weekly on Christian Church premises in the rich camaraderie and jovial banter of the happy people. – Christ Church vicarage, Holy Rosary Parish Hall, St Pius Drown yourself in their rich, mirthful peals of laughter, Church, Sacred Heart Presbytery and elsewhere – because and be smothered with incessant, pleasant hospitality. public buildings were not available owing to the political Whatever you do, fail not to visit and enjoy the serene situation at the time. ambience of Palmyra, one of the jewels of the Ancient The initiative caught on, and by 1989 Sr Hazel Campayne County.
The sale of crabs brings in a quick dollar for residents of Palmyra
Continued on page XX
Constant police presence has attributed to an almost crime free environment at Palmyra
XX
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
Thriving canfields soon offer seasonal employment for many villagers
Hire car and minibus drivers are engaged in the daily ‘hustle’ as they try to make an honest dollar in the village Places of worship in the village
Vehicles are swarmed by chattering youths as they each try to outdo the other while selling snack foods
The Guyoil Gas Station offers job opportunities for some villagers
The picturesque and serene ambience of Palmyra
This estate truck takes villagers to their various jobs at the Rose Hall Sugar Estate
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
Johannes Kepler By Nola Taylor Redd, SPACE.com Contributor
When Johannes Kepler was born in the late sixteenth century, scientists believed that planets in the solar system traveled in circular orbits around the Earth. The occasional problem was solved by the addition of miniature circles test — epicycles — to planetary paths. But Kepler not only adamantly defended the idea that planets orbit the sun, he also revealed that their paths were not perfect circles. His descriptions of planetary motions became known as Kepler’s laws. [See also our overview of Famous Astronomers and great scientists from many
fields who have contributed to the rich history of discoveries in astronomy.] Born in December of 1571, young Kepler was a sickly child of poor parents. He was awarded a scholarship to the University of Tübingen, where he studied to become a Lutheran minister. While there, he studied the work of Nicolaus Copernicus, who taught that the planets orbited the sun rather than the Earth, though he had no observational evidence to offer as proof. In 1596, Kepler
wrote the first public defense of the Copernican system.
This was a dangerous stance, given that in 1539, Martin Luther, founder of the Lutheran church, derided the theory when he first heard it, while the Catholic church deemed such a position heretical in 1615 (they later
subjected astronomer Galileo Galilei to house arrest for his publication on the subject). In search of the most detailed notes about the paths of the planets, Kepler contacted astronomer Tycho Brahe. A wealthy
XXI
Danish nobleman, Brahe built an observatory in Prague where he tracked the motions of the planets
Continued on page XXIV
XXII
Dream Lover
The Imaginary World
I
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
n college I met this guy. He wasn't the smoothest of fellows. He started out as a bit of a jerk, but it was kind of cute. We began to spend more and more time together. Truthfully, it started out as a physical relationship and ultimately turned into something powerful. We fell hard for one another. We shared our inner thoughts and deepest desires. The chemistry we had was one to be envied. For the next two years we were inseparable. It was magic. Unfortunately I had to leave school and so did he. We were not from the same town, so there was that dreaded distance. We communicated by phone or by letter. We tried to see one another whenever we were able. Sadly, the distance was too much for him to bear so he broke it off with me. Needless to say I was devastated. I felt I had lost someone to death. At the time we broke up I was only 20. I am now a 41-year-old woman who still thinks Continued on page XXIII
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014 From page XXII about what we shared. The other night I woke up from a very vivid dream of him telling me we were always meant to find our way back to each other and our love will never die. He has been heavy on my mind ever since. He is married with children, and I have no desire to impede on him and his family. When we first reconnected, we talked every day. That was several years ago, but his wife wasn't too thrilled, especially since she's the one he got with after we broke up. I recently saw him at my work. He gave me a big hug, we chitchatted a bit and parted ways. He still gives me butterflies and I still love him dearly. After all, he was my first love and no one has measured up since. I need some resolution. Jamie Jamie, you have to examine this with a more grown-up eye and understand why it has such a hold on you, because this memory is not making your life better. It's trapping you in a failed first romance. You want to hold this man to words he said when he was 20, 20 years ago. You act like those words mean more than "he is married with children." You were the end-all and be-all for each other in a closed environment, but once you left that environment it was over. You both left school and went home like minor children. Where were your plans to be together? Where were the plans to stay together, like grownups would? This was like a cruise ship romance, a vacation flame, except it lasted two years. Why are you dwelling in the past? Because you are not happy. Dwelling in the past does two things. It fails to make the present better, and it stops you from making the present better. You are spending time thinking about a married man with children instead of focusing on where you are right now and where your life is going. Attribute the power of this relationship to something. First love, first sex, first escape from
XXIII
parental control, going off to college. College can be the most intoxicating period in life. You get to have adult experience while holding to the safety net of a child. Young people can soar confidently, knowing below them is the security of their home and family. But if it wasn't right then, because it didn't hold you together, it isn't right now. It was two years in your life two decades ago. Much of what happened has changed in your recollection, and the negatives forgotten. It might work today only if both of you were forlorn. If you want a better life now, free yourself from the past by examining it with your grownup eyes. Wayne & Tamara
XXIV
Johannes Kepler From page XXI
and maintained the most accurate observations of the solar system at the time. In 1600, Brahe invited Kepler to come work with him. Brahe, however, proved to be suspicious and unwilling to share his detailed notes with his assistant. Instead, he assigned Kepler to solve the
mystery of Mars, one of the most puzzling problems in astronomy at the time. Ironically, the detailed records of the challenging planet were the tools Kepler needed to understand how the solar system functioned. When Brahe died in 1601, Kepler managed to acquire Brahe's observations before his
family could use them to their financial benefit. KEPLER'S LAWS The Martian problem, which Kepler said he would solve in eight days, took nearly eight years. Astronomers had long struggled to figure out why Mars appeared to walk backwards
across the night sky. No model of the solar system — not even Copernicus' — could account for the retrograde motion. Using Brahe's detailed observations, Kepler realized that the planets traveled in "stretched out" circles known as ellipses. The sun didn't sit exactly at the center of their orbit, but instead lay off to the side, at one of the two points known as the focus. Some planets, such as Earth, had an orbit that was very close to a circle, but the orbit of Mars was one of the most eccentric, or widely stretched. The fact that planets travel on elliptical paths is known as Kepler's First Law. Mars appeared to move backward when Earth, on an inner orbit, came from behind the red planet, then caught up and passed it. Copernicus had suggested that observations made from a moving Earth (rather than a centrally located one) could be a cause of the retrograde motion, but the perfect circular orbits he posited still required epicycles to account for the paths of the planets. Kepler realized that two planets,
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014 traveling on ellipses, would create the appearance of the red planet's backward motion in the night sky. Kepler also struggled with changes in the velocities of the planets. He realized that a planet moved slower when it was farther away from the sun than it did when nearby. Once he understood that planets traveled in ellipses, he determined that an invisible line connecting the sun to a planet covered an equal amount of area over the same amount of time. He posited this, his Second Law, along with his first, which he published in 1609. Kepler's Third Law was published a decade later, and recognized that the relationship between the period of two planets — the time they take to orbit the sun — is connected to their distance from the sun. Specifically, the square of the ratio of the period of two plants is equal to the cube of the ratio of their radius. While his first two laws focus on the specifics of a single planet's movement, his third is a comparison between the orbit of
two planets. Other notable discoveries Though Kepler is best known for his defining laws regarding planetary motion, he made several other notable contributions to science. He was the first to determine that refraction drives vision in the eye, and that using two eyes enables depth perception. He created eyeglasses for both near and farsightedness, and explained how a telescope worked. He described images and magnification, and understood the properties of reflection. Kepler claimed that gravity was caused by two bodies, rather than one, and as such, the moon was the cause of the motion of tides on the Earth. He suggested that the sun rotates, and created the word 'satellite'. He tried to use his knowledge of the distance Earth travels to measure the distance to the stars. Kepler also calculated the birth year of Christ. In recognition of his contribution to his our understanding of the motion of the planets, NASA named their planet-finding telescope after the German astronomer.
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
AUBREY STANISLAUS HARRICHARRAN (“SON SON”)
-A model of hard work and dedication
A
By Telesha Ramnarine T the age of 55, he is still very much active and hard-working, and though in five years’ time he will retire from his present job, he already knows for sure that he will find something else to do to keep himself busy. Meet Mr. Aubrey Stanislaus Harricharran, popularly known as “Son Son,” who has been serving the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (Chronicle) for the past 37 years. We asked him a bit about his experiences a few days ago during an interview at he Chronicle’s Library, Lama Avenue, Bel Air Park, Georgetown. Son Son hates the idea of idling but believes in using his time wisely. As such, he is known as a very diligent and efficient worker. In fact, from day one when he came to the Chronicle as a ‘casual,’ his superiors recognised these qualities in him. In those days, a ‘casual’ simply turned up at the Chronicle in the nights to see if any work was available. If not, they simply returned home. But when the Chronicle managers saw the quality of Son Son’s work, they just had to take him on. And so he was eventually confirmed as a circulation assistant and then as a dispatch clerk. Over the years, though, his duties have changed tremendously to include many more responsibilities. Son Son explained that his attitude towards work sprang from his upbringing as a youth and the activities he engaged in as a boy. He was born and raised at Bagotstown, on the East Bank Demerara, an area he described as the ‘country side’ in those
“Those were good days. It was a bit hard but we programmed ourselves to it. I used to get time to study in the nights and so,” he said. WORK ON THE ESTATE At age 16, Son Son started to work on an estate as a cane-cutter. He believes that his experiences doing this type of work made his work at the Chronicle seem way too easy for him. His job included cutting canes and fetching and loading them to the punt. “It was very hard work and we had to walk for one mile to reach the area where the punt collected workers to take them to the back-dam and then walk one mile out at the end of the day. So you had to leave home at about 4:30 am.” Son Son said if they were late for the punt, even for one minute, they would have to walk for 20 miles in order to reach the cane-cutting destination in the backdam. This would mean that they would have gotten to the work site around midday. “And we had to walk for the 20 miles because if we didn’t work we couldn’t get paid.” He explained that the payment depended on how many beds of cane an individual chopped and then at the end of the day, how much money they worked for would have been calculated. “I chopped cane from 7 am to 7 pm. I grew up doing hard work. My parents brought me up like that. Those days weren’t idle time. So now I believe in getting up and get. Even on my day off, I find something to do. I never went to a doctor in all my years. The most I get is fever and so. I didn’t grow up soft,” he related. “I also treat my body good, and I believe in eating fresh food every day. I go to market and cook every day. I don’t believe in fridge food and those things,” he continued. Son Son is father to Navindra, Davindra and Natasha. “Son Son” as usual working hard at the Guyana Chronicle’s Library.
Cane cutting is by no means easy work days. While obtaining his education at the St. Theresa’s Primary and Secondary Schools (both in one compound), he often helped his father with the family business. Explaining what this was like, he recalled how he and a few other siblings woke up at 4 am each day to assist in making the channa, pholourie, icicles, etc. that his father sold to small shops in Georgetown. His parents, Theresa and the late George had ten children to care for and so those days were a bit rough, but nevertheless enjoyable. After helping his dad whom he described as a “cook man,” he then had to prepare for school.
Aubrey Stanislaus Harricharran (“Son Son’)
XXV
XXVI
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
XXVII
ART GALLERY REVIEW By ShivanieSugrim The National Gallery of Art, Castellani House earned it this year with its unique “Exhibition of Sculpture” gallery-based event that commemorated Guyana’s 44th Republic anniversary. Though the event lasted throughout late February and March it was definitely not an occasion to turn down since significant sculptors have contributed immensely by publicising their invaluable pieces. Upon visiting this notable event, I was insanely intrigued by the 44 fine pieces that hovered around
the white walls as they hung there, open for interpretations. The use of luxurious and durable wood, carved specifically to reflect on Guyana’s cultural diversity displays the intensity of the artists’ mind. Mahogany wood was prominent and I thought was the ideal wood to use for sculptures because of its highly praised characteristics of durability and exclusiveness. Desmond Ali and Winslow Craig, among other sculptors that displayed their pieces, paved the way for aspiring artists that broaden their imagination by highlighting culture as the dominating theme. Each corner I halt there was a sculpture that instantly made me wear a smile because of its unique way of telling its story. Craig’s pieces were centered on Guyana’s fight for independence as well as ethnicity. Amidst the dark corner, surrounded by priceless, finest pieces, Winslow Craig’s “Discovery 1989” held insane significance since its stance was literal as it highlighted the indigenous people surfacing Guyana.
With one glance at this fine piece of art one can initially dictate its meaning as an Amerindian man, dressed in his native clothing, holding an arrow and bow as he captures the Guyana Flag. I found this piece to be flawless given that each component was neatly carved-the depiction of the man was surreal since it embodied the idealsensation of determination. The arrow and bow were near-perfection as it signifies the tool and hard work that the Amerindians used in order to develop Guyana. As I stood close to this masterpiece, I could see how every curve was consistent and bordered perfection. The muscular, stretched decorated with native ornaments as the eyes squint to deliberation as he stood there fearlessly with his arrow pierced through the Hilly Sand and Clay region of Guyana. Craig is highly intrigued with the Amerindian culture; hence it was his adoration for such ethnicity that led him to carve such a master-piece. Although I received such a positive effect from this particular piece, I still think there were many more amazing pieces that did not shout at me initially. I would recommend you to pay a visit to the Castellani house to experience such finery!
XXVIII
Guyanese Women in History:
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
She Rocks! Paulla De Souza
– Renowed International Makeup Artist/Cosmetologist
M
ake-up Artist, Choreographer, Cosmetologist, World Traveler, Mother – these are titles that Paulla De Souza has earned on her journey thus far. Born in Georgetown, Guyana, Paulla grew up on the East Bank Of Demerara, and attended Central Primary School and North Ruimveldt Multilateral before finishing at St John’s College. Years later she travelled to Trinidad to obtain formal training and was schooled at Suzan’s Unisex Salon & Beauty School and New Beginnings Salon & Beauty School. Paulla believes she was born with a passion for fashion and beauty. In her early years, she was pursuing a career as a Cosmetologist and out of curiosity took a few personal makeup classes. These passions lead her to the House of Jackie Modelling School where she became part of the School’s Agency. It was there that she was encouraged to pursue a course in learning the art of makeup application. She met her mentor, Jean Inniss who noticed that she had a natural talent for makeup artistry and voiced that in the first class. Paulla was guided by this angel whom she thought gave wings to her dream of being one of the best and most sought after Artist in the Caribbean and South America. Though she is more or less self thought, along the way she was inspired by the work of others, including the late Kevin Aucoin, and the great Sam Fine. Almost immediately Paulla was embraced by the local industry in Trinidad where to date she is based as a Freelance Makeup Artist for several of the top advertising agencies. She has worked with Trinidadian comediennes Rachel Price, Nicky Crosby, Trinidadian artistes 2Ntrigue and Alison Hinds of Square One, actress, radio and television personality Natacha Jones who has been her number one supporter. Paulla’s 17 years of experience as a freelance makeup artist spans across almost every aspect of the makeup industry which includes; Film, Television, Fashion, Editorial, Music Videos, Press & Television Ads, Theatre, Product Promotions, Corporate, Bridal Parties. Some of her prominent and notable achievements as a makeup artists includes: The Barbados Fashion Week working alongside Tyra Bank’s MUA Valente Fraizer. In addition, she has made appearances at the Afro Hair & Beauty Show at the Alexander Palace London, Ghana International Trade show held in Accra, St Kitts Fashion Weekend, Barbados Fashion Week, St Kitts Fashion Weekend just to name a few. She has worked as the Key Makeup Artist on Abstract/Bmobile Future Face reality television filmed in Grenada, Bmobile Dance Off Trinidad & Tobago, one of National Geographic hit series Locked Up Abroad, The Cool Boys a short feature film shown at the Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival, and the soon to be released Pan! Our Music Odyssey a docu-drama highlighting the history and journey of Pan Music in Trinidad & Tobago, and one of the longest running television series ‘Westwood Park’ for 3 seasons, and Matthews in The Middle.’ Paulla’s work is unique and can be immediately identified due to her penchant for not using the masked approach to makeup. Her her work is clean, natural, sexy and modern. She believes that makeup, when applied properly, should enhance a woman’s natural beauty. Paulla’s impeccable skills caught the eye of The Caribbean Fashion Award Committee who twice recognized her as a nominee in the category of Best Caribbean Makeup Artist in 2008 & 2009. Paulla’s work has also been featured several times in and on the cover of Caribbean Beat, Maco Magazine, Abstract Magazine and Gem Magazine out of Guyana. Black Entertainment Television (BET) in collaboration with Skywriting Magazine (the then Air Jamaica’s in-flight magazine); aired the Making of “Skywriting Magazine” and Paulla was the make-up artist on the production. She also worked on the cover for Ibis Magazine, a Trinidadian publication, featuring Wendy Fitzwilliam, Miss Universe 1998. Some of her television productions includes, Reality TV Show: Abstract Future Face Grenada and BMobile Dance Off, National Geographic Series: Locked Up Abroad, Matthews In The Middle, 3 seasons of “Westwood Park” – a Caribbean Soap Opera. Movie: The Cool Boys, short film featured in the 2012 Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival Paulla currently is the principal Beauty Advisor and Makeup Artist to Black|Up Paris cosmetics sold exclusively at Stechers Fine Gift Stores to the Caribbean since 1945. Paulla attributes her success to her Creator who blessed her with the talent and a keen eye for detail and mostly her ears experience came from working in all areas – film, television, weddings, music videos, and fashion. She believes her many years of experience working in front of the camera as a model also played a significant part. Her personal motto is that “Life without Christ is suicide”. She believes that whatever you want for yourself – you should be willing to give. (guyanesegirls@rock) .com
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
XXIX
(A look at some of the stories that made the news ‘back-in-the-day’ with CLIFFORD STANLEY)
NIGHT CLUBS SHOULD NOT BE OPEN AT 2 A.M. (The Daily Chronicle September 26. 1977)
Appellate Court Judge Mr. Victor Crane has said that night clubs should not be open at two o’clock in the mornings. This is the time that people should be asleep. The remarks from the Justice of Appeal were being directed at a 22-year-old man who claimed that he had just come from a night club one night when he became involved in a fight that led the police to put him on a robbery charge. Michael Anderson was before the Court of Appeal arguing that he was wrongfully convicted for the offence of robbery with aggravation on February 2 last and urged the Judges to quash the conviction and set aside the eight-year prison sentence. But Justice Crane who presided said that there was no merit in the grounds of appeal and told Anderson that he was fortunate at not receiving a whipping. The Judge added: “If I had the power, I would certainly impose a whipping on you in addition to the eight-year prison sentence. Justice Crane told Anderson that at that time of the morning when he was, as he said, wrongly charged with a crime , he should have been in bed rather than being on the streets molesting passersby. The Appeal was dismissed; conviction and sentence were affirmed. Other Judges were Mr. Keith Massiah and Mr. Justice
Jhappan.
RATS A SERIOUS PROBLEM (Daily Chronicle February 2, 1977)
A community effort is needed to rid the City of a high rate of infestation by rats. Education Officer of the City Public Health Department Dhanpaul Persaud has called on citizens to get involved at the community level since a single infested house could lead to reinfestation of homes that are free of these pests. The Public Health Officer was speaking on the “Rat Problem” at a public lecture that was organized by the Bel Air’s Lion Club at the Campbelville Government school. Persaud pointed out that it was impossible to keep out rats and mice by sealing off one’s home because they can enter through a hole that is half an inch in diameter and some of them were so clever and so skilful that they could climb lamp posts, travel along power lines and enter homes. So that a cooperative effort involving an entire neighborhood was needed. Persaud explained that destroying the breeding places of these household rats and cutting off their food supply was a more effective way of routing them than poisoning. He said that rats and mice are so clever that they can detect when poison or a rat trap is set for them. It is important that homes and their environs be cleared of
junk, rubbish heaps piles of old paper or cloth and old shoes in order to destroy breeding places and discourage the establishment of these. These provide the necessary warmth and protection by the rats and mice for their nests. Food scraps no matter how little should be disposed at in a way that these pests cannot get to them. Persaud said that a single female and her offspring can breed as much as 2000 of their kind and that there are about five to six hundred species. Unlike humans the teeth of rats keep growing and they have to gnaw on wood and other hard materials to wear them down. If the teeth becomes too long the creature is unable to feed properly and die.
FOUR MAN SQUAD KILLS THOUSANDS OF STRANGE AND DREADED BEES (Daily Chronicle March 8, 1977)
Swarms of bees which have been attacking persons in several parts of the country, especially Berbice in recent weeks. A four man squad from the Central Agricultural Station at Mon Repos yesterday rushed to Tuschen on the West Coast of Demerara Continued on page XXX
XXX
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014 From on page XXIX and killed thousands of strange bees believed to be of the Africanised variety. A number of beekeepers who are members of the Guyana Beekeepers Association met and discussed the marauding bees which are said to be dangerous since they attack in large numbers. This development is likely to be discussed once again in two weeks time when the Association holds its annual meeting. Africanised bees were brought from Africa to Brazil to increase honey production but are believed to have been disturbed but since then they have been moving in a northerly direction also making visits to French Guiana and Suriname. It is believed that the bees will soon be moving across to the Caribbean.
BOY WITH DEMON CURED (Daily Chronicle February 23, 1977)
Tony was seventeen but he was also possessed. He would suddenly become erratic screaming and throwing things around. But when it was all over he couldn’t remember having done any of the things his family related. They took him to the spiritualist Gwendoline De Freitas and her verdict: he was indeed possessed. She agreed to organise a service for him to cast the spirit out. That evening the altar was prepared with lighted candles and the customary glass of water. Before the altar was the canvas which protected the floor from the Olive oil and Saint oil which were usually used.. Tony was placed in the circle of lighted candles with Gwendolin standing before him. In the room there were three other men to help restrain him. It was always necessary to restrain the possessed as Gwendolin knew so well or they would attack and beat her-tearing her clothing. With Tony it was not different. The service had just begun when he lashed out at her. It took seven hours to bring that demon under control. Then it happened. A candle from the altar fell onto the canvas on the floor. The demon fled Tony’s body but he left his image behind. There on the canvas on the floor the melted wax from the candle had taken on the form of a shadowy figure. At the sight of this shadowy figure Tony screamed and fled the house before anyone could restrain him. A successful Gwendolin De Freitas came to the Guyana Chronicle bearing the canvas with the strange figure on it. In all her years of “curing the sick” as she termed it, she had never seen anything like it. “The demon called himself Thompson,” she said, “He said that he had been sent by a man who believed that Tony had used his daughter. When I threatened to capture him, he begged me not to. He said all he wanted to do was return to his peaceful rest.” I believe my ability is a gift from God.” Gwendolin who belongs to the A.M.E Zion Church said she realised her ability since she was quite young . She would have visions of figures rising from beneath the water telling her what food she shouldn’t eat. She eats neither shrimp nor pork.
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
XXXI
XXXII
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
XXXIII
ARIES - You show up ready to play. Whether that means your company softball team jersey is pressed and ready to go or that you’re sporting your most serious ready-for-business suit, anybody who doesn’t see you’re a force to be reckoned with is making a big, big mistake. It’ll cost them in the long run, and the scoreboard will show it. Yes it will. So get out there and swing, batter! TAURUS - You’re like a shark in the deep waters of the working world. You are slick. You are sleek. You are good looking, but those good looks belie razor-sharp, highly effective tools for getting what you want. The little fishes had better watch out, because you are on the hunt. Go ahead and chase those fishes. But don’t go tracking any new projects down -- they’ll come to you. If they don’t, spend the day studying the weather conditions. GEMINI - If you’re painting your bedroom, don’t go back to the drawing board. You’ve spent weeks picking out the right colours, and now the furniture is standing around in the hallway and the base coat is dry. Do the second coat and get to work on the detailing -- it may take more time than you expect. And yes, you picked the right shade of orange to match that royal blue! It looks good! So finish the project already. CANCER - You can get a lot done if you feel like it. The real question is, do you feel like it? Chances are you do. But if you don’t, maybe you should spend these super-productive hours on your self. Sometimes doing less is really doing more. So if that’s the space you’re in, take a long hard look at how you really feel. Sit quietly. Try not to push away frustration, anger or any other less-than-harmonious feelings. LEO - Draw on every ounce of your analytical powers. You’ve got gallons and gallons in reserve, so you shouldn’t experience any shortages. No matter how tricky the problem, you’ll be able to pour it and drain it and reconstitute it into a problem-solving situation. But you may be mighty tired at the end of the day, so be sure to take some time to refuel. VIRGO - Sometimes one of the hardest things of all is seeing things as they really are. Working through the various illusions is the first step toward accepting things as they are. It could also be the most difficult. And why is it important to accept things as they are? Only then can you engage with the real world, which is the only way to really make any necessary changes. LIBRA - Nobody ever said it was going to be easy. Okay, maybe somebody did say that. But they were wrong, and if you believed them, you could be in for a little wake-up call. But don’t worry -- if things were easy, life would be so boring! It’s much better this way. You’ll be much more energised and engaged, and that will make the whole prospect more interesting. SCORPIO - What is it you want? Today’s a very good day to ask yourself this question, because it is very, very, very, very likely you’re going to get whatever you want. On the other hand, if you don’t feel like posing that question, you can just sit back and see what you get. Chances are good that it is what you wanted, whether you knew it or not. So be open to what comes your way ... and enjoy! SAGITTARIUS - You’re a curious one, all right. You want to know how this works and how that works. This curiosity for the world around you is one of your most valuable assets. It guarantees that you’ll stay interested and engaged (and thereby fulfilled) your whole life long. So get out there and find answers to some of your questions today! CAPRICORN - If your whole life was like a camping trip, you’d be in charge of the grill. Why? For one thing, everybody trusts you when it comes to handling fire. You can light it, you can keep it burning, you can make sure it doesn’t get so big that is sets the paper plates and tablecloths on fire. Further, people trust you to distribute the hot dogs fairly, equitably and fully cooked. Yep, it’s no wonder you’re the grill chef of life -- who else is as trustworthy as you? AQUARIUS - You’re not one for sloppiness. Sure, you’re a relaxed, easygoing person, but that doesn’t mean you suffer fools gladly or suffer foolishness gladly, especially when it comes to your personal passions. You want things a certain way, and as soon as you make this clear to the people you care about, the better it will be for everybody. Communicate well and lead by example, and sloppiness will be a thing of the past. PISCES - Your response when something is hard for you is to go right to the centre of things. You know that hanging out on the edges and hoping whatever it is will go away doesn’t work. So no matter how complicated or difficult or emotional the situation is, you’re ready to dive in. Not everybody is like this, and you could find yourself alone in those waters. Dive in anyway. But bring your oxygen tank.
XXXIV
CXC
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
English
Chronicle Pepperpot August 3, 2014
XXXV
Using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) By Clifford Stanley
IPM refers to the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest population. IPM keeps chemical pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and reduce or minimise risks to human health and the environment. IPM is basically about the farmer managing pests in a manner in which using the harsher chemicals is the last thing he or she does. It is about using chemicals as a last resort. WHAT DOES IPM INVOLVE? IPM involves Pest Identification, Monitoring and Management. Identification means knowing the insect and the damage it causes; monitoring involves finding the problem early and management involves using preventative measures or a mix of biological, cultural, physical/mechanical and (as a last resort) chemical tools. Identification: Know who you are fighting. A large part of this is to be able to identify what pests you have on crops in the shade house or the garden. The four main insect pests of gardens are whiteflies, aphids, leaf miners and caterpillars. You need to make sure that you know what they look like.
Monitoring: Some of these pests are usually so small that you may have difficulty in seeing them with the naked eye so the best approach is to know what the damage they cause look like. White flies attack tomatoes, eggplants, pepper, hibiscus and other flowers. Aphids attack lettuce, parsley, celery, egg plants, pepper, cole crops such as broccoli and cauliflower. Leaf miners attack lettuce, tomatoes and onions Caterpillars defoliate mostly everything that has leaves. Management: Biological control is the use of natural enemies—predators, parasites, pathogens, and competitors—to control pests and their damage. Cultural controls are practices that reduce pest establishment, reproduction, dispersal, and survival. Crop rotation, cleanliness, etc Physical/Mechanical controls kill a pest directly or make the environment unsuitable for it.
Traps for insects are examples of mechanical control. Use of natural pesticides: Some natural pesticides are pepper, garlic oil and neem extracts. Soapy water can also help because soapy water will wash a waxy coating off the insect pests and their skins become dry and they become more vulnerable and often die. These treatments must be done late afternoon not in the heat of the day nor in the morning.(To be continued)
Jamie Foxx Will Finally Play Mike Tyson After Five-Year Wait
By: WENN.com Jul 29, 2014 | 4:45am EDT Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on stumbleupon Share on email More Sharing Services0 Splash News Actor Jamie Foxx is set to portray boxing legend Mike Tyson in a movie biopic after five years of preparation for the role. The Django Unchained star spoke of his desire to step into the ring as the
former world heavyweight champ as far back as 2009, and now Tyson has revealed the project is up and running and he hopes cameras will begin rolling by the end of 2015. He is also hoping producers will use the latest computer technology to help Foxx appear the correct age as he portrays the fighter at various stages of his 58-bout career, and he will even serve as the actor's personal trainer to help him achieve the correct level of fitness.
Tyson says, "Me and Jamie Foxx are in discussion, and we gonna do it (sic). Within a year to 18 months, we're going to do the Mike Tyson story and he's going to portray me, and now they have this new animation; because you know Jamie's pretty much my age so he can't portray me but they have this new system." In 2005, Foxx won a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of blues musician Ray Charles in movie biopic Ray.
Pussy Riot Suing Russian Government Over 2012 Imprisonment By: WENN.com Jul 28, 2014 | 4:42pm EDT Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on google_plusone_share Share on stumbleupon Share on email More Sharing Services3 Splash News Two members of feminist punk group Pussy Riot are taking Russian government officials to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to demand compensation over their imprisonment. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina spent a total of 21 months behind bars on
Kiefer Sutherland Confused By Prinze, Jr. Blast Kiefer Sutherland has been left baffled by former 24 co-star Freddie Prinze, Jr.'s public attack on the star's professionalism, insisting he had no idea the actor disliked him. In a Comic-Con-related interview with ABC News over the weekend (26-27Jul14), Prinze, Jr. revealed he had such an unpleasant experience working with Sutherland in 2010 he came close to quitting Hollywood. He said, "It was terrible. I hated every moment of it. I just wanted to quit the business after that." "Kiefer was the most unprofessional dude in the world. That's not me talking trash; I'd say it to his face. I think everyone that's worked with him has said that." A representative for Sutherland has since responded to Prinze, Jr.'s comments, stating, "Kiefer worked with Freddie Prinze Jr. more than five years ago. This is the first time he has heard of Freddie's grievances. Kiefer enjoyed working with Freddie and wishes him all the best." And actress Sara Gilbert, who has also worked with Sutherland on 24, insists she too is confused by Prinze, Jr's remarks, insisting, "He was so polite and was always there for our scenes."
hooliganism charges following a protest at a church in Moscow in 2012. They were freed in December (13) as part of a political amnesty, but now the singers are fighting to hold Russian authorities accountable at the ECHR in France over allegations the investigation and prosecution violated their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. They are demanding 120,000 Euros ($161,282/£94,872) each in compensation, plus an additional 10,000 Euros
($13,435/£7,903) for court costs. Pavel Chikov from the human rights legal group Agora, which is representing the two stars, says, “They didn’t get fair trial here in Russia so they want to get it finally in the European court of human rights.” “Plus they want this case to set a precedent that Russians can speak publicly on sensitive political issues, even if this speech is not supported by majority. This is a case about freedom of expression and fair trial first of all.”
Penelope Cruz & Javier Bardem Denounce Israel In Open Letter Penelope Cruz and her husband Javier Bardem are among a host of Spanish stars
who have penned an open letter denouncing Israel over the Middle East conflict. The acting couple and director Pedro Almodovar were joined by other Spanish industry executives who are urging European Union (EU) officials to condemn Israel over the growing unrest in the region. In the letter, published in local Spanish newspapers on Tuesday (29Jul14), they accuse Israeli leaders of presiding over a "genocide" and demand a ceasefire. They are asking EU representatives to "condemn the bombing by land, sea and air against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip".