From the outset, let me declare that I support all those who, in times past and present, have championed causes to alleviate the people’s plight. I also understand those who have given up the struggle for whatever reason or reasons, as I seek to awaken new energies in an effort to keep the spirits of those who have perished in the struggle alive. It seems as if a tranquilizing cloak has been placed on the ascendant spirits, but it is my hope that the following article will help to inspire the next generations of revolutionaries. I rest this claim in the will of the good spirits of the ancestors.
Many social observers have commented on that era. Cleve “De Hurricane” Jean Jacques asked: “Where have all the union leaders gone” and suggested that they had become “Mamo’s boom boom fly.” Dame Eugenia, the then Prime Minister, was affectionately called ‘Mamo’ and she also earned several unflattering ones – no need for name-calling here. Cecil ‘Checker” Burnette, an eloquent social commentator, declared that “Who should run they eh running;” lamenting that the champions of the peoples’ struggle had abandon their posts when they were needed to stand up against the Dominican government in the late 1980 and early 90s. There was an obvious exodus from Dominican during the DFP’s rule, with many of those who departed being former agitators, DFP supporters and the brighter minds. I never understood what was going on, but I can vividly recall several of those individuals who migrated from my home village, Calibishie, during that time as being strong DFP supporters.
The DFP lost the majority in the Dominican government in 1995, but it quickly reasserted itself into power through a coalition arrangement or understanding or cooperation with the DLP in 2000. The mission was to unseat the then ruling majority of the United Workers Party (UWP), and this was achieved, almost without a public protest. Remember well that it was the same DLP which was so severely prosecuted by the DFP, but unity was somehow forged in the interest of governing authority. Mamo warned that the UWP should be removed from office by any means and at any cost, and the mamoites who had migrated in the 80s and 90s would return to ensure that the Dame’s warning was heeded (I will address this in some detail at a different forum).
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