Previous Winston Suite
Biography of Interviewew:
Malcolm Kernahan is a community activist and one of the executive members of the National Union of Freedom Fighters (NUFF) a guerilla group that operated in Trinidad and Tobago between 1971-1974. He was a supporter of the labour movements in southern Trinidad before becoming involved in the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) and their demonstrations leading up to the State of Emergency in April 1970.
Please enable JavaScript
.fp-color-play{opacity:0.65;}.controlbutton{fill:#fff;}play-sharp-fill
My mom was born in St James, Port of Spain. She
came from a family of 13 siblings. Her 3 youngest
brothers were involved with an early steelband known as Red Army. They were involved in the
early evolution of the steelbands. And the early riots between steelbands. This rivalry resulted
in her youngest brother being killed and his body dumped at sea near to the Mucurapo Road
near to their home at the southern end of Matura Street. I wasn't born as yet. My mom was badly
traumatised by this incident. She didn't want to continue living in the St James
Community. She went to a Siparia fete one year with a friend where she met my father.
My father was employed as a well-servicing foreman and he was living in the TLL
housing project in Palo Seco. TLL, Trinidad Leasehold Limited Company, was the major oil
exploration company between 1940 to 1963. The predecessor to Texaco Trinidad Incorporated.
The oil companies build houses at Forest Reserve and Palo Seco for some of their senior employees.
They got married and she birthed 4 children in south. My father told me a lot about the
Butler struggle. He was a Butlerite in the 1937 to 1945 period. As a young teenager in the mid 1960s,
I became interested in the OWTU's fight for proper representation for the working class.
I kept my links with my relatives in St James. My elder brothers and
I had a deep appreciation for steelband music. Against the wishes of my mom,
my two elder brothers moved to St. James and started playing pan. I think this
stress sent my mom to an early grave. She died in 1965 when I was in my early teens.
I also began playing pan somewhere around 1967 when I moved to St James. I
was always in between Palo Seco, Fyzabad and St James. Because my grandmother lived in St James,
I considered St James as my real home, my fall back home. The family went through
a lot of dislocation so we were here, there and everywhere. But
I spent most of my youthful life in St. James. I was going into 21 during 1970.
On Panka Street, in St James, there was a very militant block known as
Block 4. I met Brian Jeffers there as a teenager growing up. We played
pan together for a brief period. The younger members of the Esso Tripoli,
Westside Symphony, North Stars (all St James steelbands) were part of the [1970] Marches.
During that early period of the marches, NJAC [National Joint Action Committee] core leaders
were the main actors. I did attend the [February 26th] march but I didn't go into the Cathedral.
I was also in the march on Charlotte Street that was tear gassed by the police. Since I
was not part of the NJAC, most times I was just an ordinary rank and file follower.
The tear gassing of the march on Charlotte Street was during the early part of March.
I can't recall the exact date. But NJAC leadership abandoned that march.
There were two trade unions which were active in the 1970 marches. Namely, the Transport and
Industrial Workers Union (TIWU) and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU). This was mainly due
to Clive Nunez from TIWU and George Weekes from OWTU. George would have had some supporters from
the Point-a-Pierre branch behind him. The bulk of the oil workers didn't support the 1970 mass
movement. The movement got most of its support from the unemployed section of the working class.
At the Charlotte Street march, it was George Weekes who placed a handkerchief over
his nose and led the protesters back to Woodford Square. He had some choice words for the police
before he dismissed the marchers. There were persons (provocateurs) who started
looting stores which give the police the excuse to dismantle the demonstration.
That march was about 5,000 in numbers. Most of my comrades from St James,
Block 4 position was that of critical support for NJAC. The State began to panic at the
increase participation of young people in these protests. Coming from the oilfield,
my position wasn't one of cultural nationalism. Yes I wore my hair in afro
and I did sport a bracelet on my left hand. But that was all. I never wore a dashiki.
Even before 1970, there was a group in St James called the Western United Liberation
Front (WULF). This group was comprised of about 6 soldiers from the T&T Regiment.
These soldiers, most of them, were influenced by the politics of CLR James.
Coming from the oil belt, I myself was influenced by certain leftist figures in the OWTU. There was
a guy, Clive Phil, he was the education officer of the OWTU. He was a Marxist. He visited Cuba
in 1967 and on his return he made a statement that "the only solution is armed revolution".
Oh yes, we were against the discrimination of black people in T&T. But we believed in
class struggle. The PNM [People's National Movement] was a black
government. NJAC was not a monolithic Black nationalist organization. It
was a front organization comprising of different ideological currents.
Brian Jeffers himself was a member of WULF. He was most influential in
forming NUFF [National Union of Freedom Fighters]. He was from mixed parentage; East-Indian mother
and an African father. He couldn't relate to African cultural nationalism. He said in 1970
that he was fighting for a "humanitarian cause". He was never part of NJAC as well.
I think my upbringing would have unconsciously prepared me to accept class struggle rather than
being a Black Power cultural nationalist. Firstly, I came from a poor working class background and
I felt more comfortable with the ordinary guys on the blocks. At the age of about 7 or 8, my
family left Palo Seco and moved to an agricultural community in Manzanilla. It was a rural community
called Sadhoo Village, 5 miles away from the Manzanilla main road. It was a neglected community
where my father's elder brother owned 7 parcels of lands (cocoa, coffee, citrus, and bananas). Mixed
cultivation. But most importantly this community was comprised of East-Indians, Caribs, Cocoa
Payols and Africans. We had no electricity. No water. no access roads. We didn't even had shops.
My father had moved on to being an ardent supporter of the PNM. My uncle was a Democratic
Labour Party Activist. My uncle's lands, several pieces, off the Sadhoo Road were
off the road on mud tracks. Sometimes 1 and 2 miles. He, like most others, wanted access
roads to bring out their farm produce. They wanted better prices for their cocoa, coffee,
and bananas. They thought that the PNM government weren't performing. Agriculture
was not prioritised. He had heated discussions with my father about how oppressive the PNM
was. My uncle felt that the PNM leaders were representing the urban middle class and the rich.
Secondly, one of the first demonstrations I attended was in the Palo Seco area. In
1967 British Petroleum, one of the three oil companies operating in South wanted
to retrench 3,500 workers. There was an OWTU protest march from Palo Seco to Santa Flora. I
attended that demonstration even though I was not employed. This was militant stuff and I liked it.
And thirdly, I was refused employment at Texaco (the company which took over from
TLL). My father got blind on the job, yet they never gave me a job.
Maybe it was a sort of instinctive vengeance against capitalism. Maybe.
Yes. Maybe it was because of my Butlerite socialisation. I was very angry with the
rejection I got from the big bosses at Texaco. It started as a love for trade unionism, I suppose.
My mom came from a hard core PNM family. My elder brothers never supported my activism.
Even my blind father thought that I was going too far. I had some younger
cousins who were interested. But they migrated soon after the 1970s.
My only support came from some of my close comrades in St James and Fyzabad. Several of
my friends in Fyzabad parents were Butlerites. And they were blocked from jobs in the oil belt too.
During the 1937 strike, the Company brought in scab labour to break the picket line. Most of
these guys were brought in to replace striking workers. Some were beaten by
the strikers for going to work. A lot of them came in from the smaller islands,
and their children got preferential treatment and were employed.
We were deliberately blacklisted. There was a guy at the labour office at Forest Reserve,
who it would seem did a lot of background checks on who the oil company employed.
If I was employed maybe my name would not have been mentioned in T&T history. Maybe
I went to TELCO which was a State company. They were employing people from rioting steelbands.
And I went there seeking employment. The bosses were a guy called Brewster and Ivan
Williams. Ivan Williams was handpicked by Dr Eric Williams. They only employed persons who
were loyal to the PNM. I didn't fit that bill so I was asked to come back and come back.
The same thing happened on the Port. T&T has always been who know you and not who you know.
There was supposed to be an attempt by a group known as Coordinating Council to seize political
power before the SOE [State of Emergency]. Some rebel soldiers were in the forefront
of this movement. The block militants like myself were all geared up for it.
But it fell through. Then the police start raiding the blocks and arresting people who
they felt were involved in this abortive strike. We the militants fought back.
Then the army mutinied. Rebel soldiers took over Tetron and crossed over the
hills and were stationed at St Barbs Hills. Brian Jeffers,
the then leader of NUFF joined them. They were planning to initiate armed struggle.
Then [Rex] Lasalle and [Raffique] Shah gave the orders to these rebel soldiers
to surrender. They surrendered to Commander Jeff Serette and were promised an amnesty.
The Police knew Jeffers and Block 4 had contacts with the rebel soldiers. Arms and ammunition went
missing from Tetron after the army mutiny. Some of those arms were in the hands of NUFF
militants. There was a lot of armed confrontation on the blocks. Then Guy Harewood, Brian Jeffers,
John Beddoe, Adolph De Messiah and several others became wanted men.
NJAC had a defense shadow Minister call "Ambrose" who had contacts in several
Villages. Soon after the SOE, Ambrose and Guy Harewood defected from NJAC.
They felt that it was time to start the armed revolution. So the St. James, Diego Martin,
Boissierre, Laventille, San Juan, Fyzabad, Point Fortin, Rio Claro, Tunapuna, Sangre Grande,
and Arima etc chapters of NUFF were established. We had several safe houses in all the above named
places. After St. James, Fyzabad would have been another NUFF base area. There
were several persons in these communities In whose homes NUFF members camped out.
We rose up against the detention of NJAC leaders and the charging and detention
of Rex Lasalle, Raffique and other rebel soldiers.
And there were other block militants who were charged for being in possession of
Molotov cocktails and subversive literature. You would also remember the commanding officer of the
Coast Guard and the lead prosecutor of the rebel soldiers was shot and injured. NUFF militants were
accused of these incidents. There were also attacks on the St James and Belmont Police
Stations during this heightened period of militant activities after the declaration of the SOE.
Isn't that a bit difficult to answer? Maybe NUFF was the outcome of the state
repression of the movement of the 1970s. I can't think about it in no other way.
Let us assume that I was given a decent job at Texaco, would I have been so angry with the
status quo? And what about if the government had called in the protesters and opened the
door to negotiations? Maybe things would have been different. Honestly we really can't say.
Jennifer and Beverly were still at school during the 1970 mass movement. Jennifer was attending St
George's College in Barataria and Beverly was at Providence High School in Port of Spain.
Jennifer said they would skip classes and attend NJAC marches at times. In
1972 while doing the A' Level Subjects at Polytechnic Institute in St James,
she came across a NUFF member of the Boissiere Unit.
Jennifer was very intellectually inclined. Their elder brother studied at Harvard University and he
was an avowed Marxist. He would have influenced Beverly and Jennifer's political orientation.
I don't think it was his intention that they get involved in armed revolution.
Jennifer, John Beddoe, Guy Harewood and another sister known as Ruth were responsible for
conducting ideological classes with the different chapters within NUFF.
I think the police would have gotten information about Jennifer when John Beddoe was killed in
February 1973. She ended up joining the brothers who were operating from the Northern Range.
NUFF rented houses which were called "Safe Houses". People who were wanted by the State
would be able to meet here to discuss the organization's plans and projections. They
were places not known to much people. Beverly was held in such a safe house where she was staying
with a NUFF member who was injured in a firefight with the police. She eventually got married at a
church to Guy Harewood’s younger brother, Alan Harewood, another member of the Boissiere Unit.
John Beddoe was really a brilliant guy within the organization. He felt
that NUFF's urban units should build block cooperative to serve as the basic unit of
the organization. So we had several of these block cooperatives. The block cooperative was
an attempt to build a sustainable economic base while waging war against the State.
This was done by FRELIMO in Mozambique successfully. But here in T&T we didn't
had the space for such an undertaking. And it was a difficult task to achieve considering that some
of the political "commissars" were wanted by the police. Some of these blocks were involved
in handicraft, while others were involved in agriculture. This was done to get members involved
in some kind of sustainable project. At the same time the ideological work would have involved
studying the works of [Karl] Marx, Walter Rodney, Fidel Castro, Stokely Carmichael and others.
In 1971 we had a split in the ranks. I left St James and went back to the south. I was
based in Fyzabad. I honestly found that the northern units were taking too much of
a confrontational role towards the security forces. I did established a unit in Fyzabad
and we (the Fyzabad Unit) wanted to take a different road. But maybe it was too late.
We did team back up with the northern units. The Port of Spain-centric units,
because the police were always up in their faces, saw the police as the main enemy.
Being from the more tranquil countryside,
we the southerners saw the corporations as the enemy. So the attacks against the police
did ease up a bit. I also wanted closer links with an emerging revolutionary organization,
the National Liberation Movement. But they only materialised when most of the NUFF fighters died.
I was there from the inception and I always tried to broker a truce
between the ultra radical hot heads and those who were a bit moderate. Honestly,
I think we in the military arm of NUFF were isolating too many good brothers and sisters.
On the military side we had to be safe. You weren't allowed to speak hard. We had a 24-hour
watch. And we kept the weapons well serviced. On the political side we published our newsletter. It
was known as the Freedom Fighter. We had to always keep meetings to trash out policies;
what activities would isolate the organization and what activities would build the organization.
In the early period of the organization some renegade elements attacked a dwelling house
and stole from the occupants. They were thrown out of the organization.
In the forest we never stole from people's gardens. And we had to be
careful how we treated farmers whom we came in contact with.
We always had weekly meetings with the flats unit to work out strategy. The urban arm felt
that since they were on the ground they should dictate the day to day running
of the organization. We usually had very stormy meetings. We operated for a 3 year period after
15 of our members were killed. But constant police harassment forced us to disband the organization.
Well I never saw myself as a leader. The internet blogs described me as a leader.
But I don't think that is something that I would feel proud saying. I never believed in blowing
my own trumpet. What I would admit is that I tried my best to be committed and responsible.
The leaders of NUFF including myself never used the term Black Power. Of course we were waging
a guerilla war. Gang? We were never a gang. Most of the people who were involved in NUFF,
the survivors, went on to live responsible and fulfilling lives. Clyde Haynes went
to UWI and had a Masters degree. Andrea Jacob did a degree in Sociology and got
a prestigious government job. Jennifer did ah agricultural program and then graduated as a
Doctor in Cuba. She went on to be a Minister and an Ambassador. Terrence Thornhill is an
ordained Minister in a Christian church and I had a management job at a State enterprise
and was a Director at a State special purposes company for 6 years. I can go
on and on. Gangsters don't even try to make a contribution to society. I rest my case.
I had it very rough. I was shot in Montevideo in the North Coast in early April 1974. The police
placed me on ID parades on the 10th and 11th of April. They placed me on about 24 parades
but no one pointed me out. Allec Heller, the Commissioner in charge of crime in those days,
told me that most of the people made me out and just didn't wanted to point me out.
He told me that I should join a church because Christ was with me. But they did
frame me with several charges. Shooting 3 policemen in the St James in 1972.
Possession of arms and ammunition, shooting to murder and a $95,0000
robbery with aggravation. I spent about 4 month in which I was remanded in custody.
Then they arrested me again in 1976 and again threw me in prison. They would revoke my bail
over and over. I won my last case in 1993 about 20 years later. I conduct my own
defense in court and they hated me for that. I don't have any conviction. I won all my cases.
What I think no one ever take note of is the fact that the armed forces didn't want Guy Harewood
and John Beddoe to be captured alive. They learnt from the Cuban playbook where Castro was captured
alive. He went on to lead a successful revolution. Burroughs said that he didn't want those guys
alive. Guy was cornered in a house with Terrence Thornhill. Guy was killed and Thornhill was held
alive. Guy was a national symbol of revolution. They tear gassed the house with John Beddoe and
others. They were disoriented and the police could have captured them alive. Both Guy and Beddoe were
revolutionary intellectuals. They didn't take any chance to leave them alive. Just my take eh.
Most of what was said about the 1970 mass movement was distorted. I think
even though the NJAC banner was "Indians & African Unite" people felt that the
movement was an afro movement. So I think although the urban & semi-urban
Afro-Trinis could have related to it, the other ethnic groups could not relate to it.
People still feel that the movement was about Africanizing the T&T population. Even
when NJAC wanted to take part in the electoral process the African boogey was thrown at them.
In 1965, sugar workers didn't want Bhadase Maharaj leadership and they went to George
Weeks and the OWTU for help to settle Industrial matters. The PNM govt declared a SOE in the sugar
belt. Dr Williams is on record as having said that his "greatest contribution was to keep oil
and sugar apart because if they mixed it would become “sweet oil”. Please read his book, Inward
Hunger. We just can't deal with the fact that T&T is a hybrid country. This is the sad dichotomy.
brothers were involved with an early steelband known as Red Army. They were involved in the
early evolution of the steelbands. And the early riots between steelbands. This rivalry resulted
in her youngest brother being killed and his body dumped at sea near to the Mucurapo Road
near to their home at the southern end of Matura Street. I wasn't born as yet. My mom was badly
traumatised by this incident. She didn't want to continue living in the St James
Community. She went to a Siparia fete one year with a friend where she met my father.
My father was employed as a well-servicing foreman and he was living in the TLL
housing project in Palo Seco. TLL, Trinidad Leasehold Limited Company, was the major oil
exploration company between 1940 to 1963. The predecessor to Texaco Trinidad Incorporated.
The oil companies build houses at Forest Reserve and Palo Seco for some of their senior employees.
They got married and she birthed 4 children in south. My father told me a lot about the
Butler struggle. He was a Butlerite in the 1937 to 1945 period. As a young teenager in the mid 1960s,
I became interested in the OWTU's fight for proper representation for the working class.
I kept my links with my relatives in St James. My elder brothers and
I had a deep appreciation for steelband music. Against the wishes of my mom,
my two elder brothers moved to St. James and started playing pan. I think this
stress sent my mom to an early grave. She died in 1965 when I was in my early teens.
I also began playing pan somewhere around 1967 when I moved to St James. I
was always in between Palo Seco, Fyzabad and St James. Because my grandmother lived in St James,
I considered St James as my real home, my fall back home. The family went through
a lot of dislocation so we were here, there and everywhere. But
I spent most of my youthful life in St. James. I was going into 21 during 1970.
On Panka Street, in St James, there was a very militant block known as
Block 4. I met Brian Jeffers there as a teenager growing up. We played
pan together for a brief period. The younger members of the Esso Tripoli,
Westside Symphony, North Stars (all St James steelbands) were part of the [1970] Marches.
During that early period of the marches, NJAC [National Joint Action Committee] core leaders
were the main actors. I did attend the [February 26th] march but I didn't go into the Cathedral.
I was also in the march on Charlotte Street that was tear gassed by the police. Since I
was not part of the NJAC, most times I was just an ordinary rank and file follower.
The tear gassing of the march on Charlotte Street was during the early part of March.
I can't recall the exact date. But NJAC leadership abandoned that march.
There were two trade unions which were active in the 1970 marches. Namely, the Transport and
Industrial Workers Union (TIWU) and the Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU). This was mainly due
to Clive Nunez from TIWU and George Weekes from OWTU. George would have had some supporters from
the Point-a-Pierre branch behind him. The bulk of the oil workers didn't support the 1970 mass
movement. The movement got most of its support from the unemployed section of the working class.
At the Charlotte Street march, it was George Weekes who placed a handkerchief over
his nose and led the protesters back to Woodford Square. He had some choice words for the police
before he dismissed the marchers. There were persons (provocateurs) who started
looting stores which give the police the excuse to dismantle the demonstration.
That march was about 5,000 in numbers. Most of my comrades from St James,
Block 4 position was that of critical support for NJAC. The State began to panic at the
increase participation of young people in these protests. Coming from the oilfield,
my position wasn't one of cultural nationalism. Yes I wore my hair in afro
and I did sport a bracelet on my left hand. But that was all. I never wore a dashiki.
Even before 1970, there was a group in St James called the Western United Liberation
Front (WULF). This group was comprised of about 6 soldiers from the T&T Regiment.
These soldiers, most of them, were influenced by the politics of CLR James.
Coming from the oil belt, I myself was influenced by certain leftist figures in the OWTU. There was
a guy, Clive Phil, he was the education officer of the OWTU. He was a Marxist. He visited Cuba
in 1967 and on his return he made a statement that "the only solution is armed revolution".
Oh yes, we were against the discrimination of black people in T&T. But we believed in
class struggle. The PNM [People's National Movement] was a black
government. NJAC was not a monolithic Black nationalist organization. It
was a front organization comprising of different ideological currents.
Brian Jeffers himself was a member of WULF. He was most influential in
forming NUFF [National Union of Freedom Fighters]. He was from mixed parentage; East-Indian mother
and an African father. He couldn't relate to African cultural nationalism. He said in 1970
that he was fighting for a "humanitarian cause". He was never part of NJAC as well.
I think my upbringing would have unconsciously prepared me to accept class struggle rather than
being a Black Power cultural nationalist. Firstly, I came from a poor working class background and
I felt more comfortable with the ordinary guys on the blocks. At the age of about 7 or 8, my
family left Palo Seco and moved to an agricultural community in Manzanilla. It was a rural community
called Sadhoo Village, 5 miles away from the Manzanilla main road. It was a neglected community
where my father's elder brother owned 7 parcels of lands (cocoa, coffee, citrus, and bananas). Mixed
cultivation. But most importantly this community was comprised of East-Indians, Caribs, Cocoa
Payols and Africans. We had no electricity. No water. no access roads. We didn't even had shops.
My father had moved on to being an ardent supporter of the PNM. My uncle was a Democratic
Labour Party Activist. My uncle's lands, several pieces, off the Sadhoo Road were
off the road on mud tracks. Sometimes 1 and 2 miles. He, like most others, wanted access
roads to bring out their farm produce. They wanted better prices for their cocoa, coffee,
and bananas. They thought that the PNM government weren't performing. Agriculture
was not prioritised. He had heated discussions with my father about how oppressive the PNM
was. My uncle felt that the PNM leaders were representing the urban middle class and the rich.
Secondly, one of the first demonstrations I attended was in the Palo Seco area. In
1967 British Petroleum, one of the three oil companies operating in South wanted
to retrench 3,500 workers. There was an OWTU protest march from Palo Seco to Santa Flora. I
attended that demonstration even though I was not employed. This was militant stuff and I liked it.
And thirdly, I was refused employment at Texaco (the company which took over from
TLL). My father got blind on the job, yet they never gave me a job.
Maybe it was a sort of instinctive vengeance against capitalism. Maybe.
Yes. Maybe it was because of my Butlerite socialisation. I was very angry with the
rejection I got from the big bosses at Texaco. It started as a love for trade unionism, I suppose.
My mom came from a hard core PNM family. My elder brothers never supported my activism.
Even my blind father thought that I was going too far. I had some younger
cousins who were interested. But they migrated soon after the 1970s.
My only support came from some of my close comrades in St James and Fyzabad. Several of
my friends in Fyzabad parents were Butlerites. And they were blocked from jobs in the oil belt too.
During the 1937 strike, the Company brought in scab labour to break the picket line. Most of
these guys were brought in to replace striking workers. Some were beaten by
the strikers for going to work. A lot of them came in from the smaller islands,
and their children got preferential treatment and were employed.
We were deliberately blacklisted. There was a guy at the labour office at Forest Reserve,
who it would seem did a lot of background checks on who the oil company employed.
If I was employed maybe my name would not have been mentioned in T&T history. Maybe
I went to TELCO which was a State company. They were employing people from rioting steelbands.
And I went there seeking employment. The bosses were a guy called Brewster and Ivan
Williams. Ivan Williams was handpicked by Dr Eric Williams. They only employed persons who
were loyal to the PNM. I didn't fit that bill so I was asked to come back and come back.
The same thing happened on the Port. T&T has always been who know you and not who you know.
There was supposed to be an attempt by a group known as Coordinating Council to seize political
power before the SOE [State of Emergency]. Some rebel soldiers were in the forefront
of this movement. The block militants like myself were all geared up for it.
But it fell through. Then the police start raiding the blocks and arresting people who
they felt were involved in this abortive strike. We the militants fought back.
Then the army mutinied. Rebel soldiers took over Tetron and crossed over the
hills and were stationed at St Barbs Hills. Brian Jeffers,
the then leader of NUFF joined them. They were planning to initiate armed struggle.
Then [Rex] Lasalle and [Raffique] Shah gave the orders to these rebel soldiers
to surrender. They surrendered to Commander Jeff Serette and were promised an amnesty.
The Police knew Jeffers and Block 4 had contacts with the rebel soldiers. Arms and ammunition went
missing from Tetron after the army mutiny. Some of those arms were in the hands of NUFF
militants. There was a lot of armed confrontation on the blocks. Then Guy Harewood, Brian Jeffers,
John Beddoe, Adolph De Messiah and several others became wanted men.
NJAC had a defense shadow Minister call "Ambrose" who had contacts in several
Villages. Soon after the SOE, Ambrose and Guy Harewood defected from NJAC.
They felt that it was time to start the armed revolution. So the St. James, Diego Martin,
Boissierre, Laventille, San Juan, Fyzabad, Point Fortin, Rio Claro, Tunapuna, Sangre Grande,
and Arima etc chapters of NUFF were established. We had several safe houses in all the above named
places. After St. James, Fyzabad would have been another NUFF base area. There
were several persons in these communities In whose homes NUFF members camped out.
We rose up against the detention of NJAC leaders and the charging and detention
of Rex Lasalle, Raffique and other rebel soldiers.
And there were other block militants who were charged for being in possession of
Molotov cocktails and subversive literature. You would also remember the commanding officer of the
Coast Guard and the lead prosecutor of the rebel soldiers was shot and injured. NUFF militants were
accused of these incidents. There were also attacks on the St James and Belmont Police
Stations during this heightened period of militant activities after the declaration of the SOE.
Isn't that a bit difficult to answer? Maybe NUFF was the outcome of the state
repression of the movement of the 1970s. I can't think about it in no other way.
Let us assume that I was given a decent job at Texaco, would I have been so angry with the
status quo? And what about if the government had called in the protesters and opened the
door to negotiations? Maybe things would have been different. Honestly we really can't say.
Jennifer and Beverly were still at school during the 1970 mass movement. Jennifer was attending St
George's College in Barataria and Beverly was at Providence High School in Port of Spain.
Jennifer said they would skip classes and attend NJAC marches at times. In
1972 while doing the A' Level Subjects at Polytechnic Institute in St James,
she came across a NUFF member of the Boissiere Unit.
Jennifer was very intellectually inclined. Their elder brother studied at Harvard University and he
was an avowed Marxist. He would have influenced Beverly and Jennifer's political orientation.
I don't think it was his intention that they get involved in armed revolution.
Jennifer, John Beddoe, Guy Harewood and another sister known as Ruth were responsible for
conducting ideological classes with the different chapters within NUFF.
I think the police would have gotten information about Jennifer when John Beddoe was killed in
February 1973. She ended up joining the brothers who were operating from the Northern Range.
NUFF rented houses which were called "Safe Houses". People who were wanted by the State
would be able to meet here to discuss the organization's plans and projections. They
were places not known to much people. Beverly was held in such a safe house where she was staying
with a NUFF member who was injured in a firefight with the police. She eventually got married at a
church to Guy Harewood’s younger brother, Alan Harewood, another member of the Boissiere Unit.
John Beddoe was really a brilliant guy within the organization. He felt
that NUFF's urban units should build block cooperative to serve as the basic unit of
the organization. So we had several of these block cooperatives. The block cooperative was
an attempt to build a sustainable economic base while waging war against the State.
This was done by FRELIMO in Mozambique successfully. But here in T&T we didn't
had the space for such an undertaking. And it was a difficult task to achieve considering that some
of the political "commissars" were wanted by the police. Some of these blocks were involved
in handicraft, while others were involved in agriculture. This was done to get members involved
in some kind of sustainable project. At the same time the ideological work would have involved
studying the works of [Karl] Marx, Walter Rodney, Fidel Castro, Stokely Carmichael and others.
In 1971 we had a split in the ranks. I left St James and went back to the south. I was
based in Fyzabad. I honestly found that the northern units were taking too much of
a confrontational role towards the security forces. I did established a unit in Fyzabad
and we (the Fyzabad Unit) wanted to take a different road. But maybe it was too late.
We did team back up with the northern units. The Port of Spain-centric units,
because the police were always up in their faces, saw the police as the main enemy.
Being from the more tranquil countryside,
we the southerners saw the corporations as the enemy. So the attacks against the police
did ease up a bit. I also wanted closer links with an emerging revolutionary organization,
the National Liberation Movement. But they only materialised when most of the NUFF fighters died.
I was there from the inception and I always tried to broker a truce
between the ultra radical hot heads and those who were a bit moderate. Honestly,
I think we in the military arm of NUFF were isolating too many good brothers and sisters.
On the military side we had to be safe. You weren't allowed to speak hard. We had a 24-hour
watch. And we kept the weapons well serviced. On the political side we published our newsletter. It
was known as the Freedom Fighter. We had to always keep meetings to trash out policies;
what activities would isolate the organization and what activities would build the organization.
In the early period of the organization some renegade elements attacked a dwelling house
and stole from the occupants. They were thrown out of the organization.
In the forest we never stole from people's gardens. And we had to be
careful how we treated farmers whom we came in contact with.
We always had weekly meetings with the flats unit to work out strategy. The urban arm felt
that since they were on the ground they should dictate the day to day running
of the organization. We usually had very stormy meetings. We operated for a 3 year period after
15 of our members were killed. But constant police harassment forced us to disband the organization.
Well I never saw myself as a leader. The internet blogs described me as a leader.
But I don't think that is something that I would feel proud saying. I never believed in blowing
my own trumpet. What I would admit is that I tried my best to be committed and responsible.
The leaders of NUFF including myself never used the term Black Power. Of course we were waging
a guerilla war. Gang? We were never a gang. Most of the people who were involved in NUFF,
the survivors, went on to live responsible and fulfilling lives. Clyde Haynes went
to UWI and had a Masters degree. Andrea Jacob did a degree in Sociology and got
a prestigious government job. Jennifer did ah agricultural program and then graduated as a
Doctor in Cuba. She went on to be a Minister and an Ambassador. Terrence Thornhill is an
ordained Minister in a Christian church and I had a management job at a State enterprise
and was a Director at a State special purposes company for 6 years. I can go
on and on. Gangsters don't even try to make a contribution to society. I rest my case.
I had it very rough. I was shot in Montevideo in the North Coast in early April 1974. The police
placed me on ID parades on the 10th and 11th of April. They placed me on about 24 parades
but no one pointed me out. Allec Heller, the Commissioner in charge of crime in those days,
told me that most of the people made me out and just didn't wanted to point me out.
He told me that I should join a church because Christ was with me. But they did
frame me with several charges. Shooting 3 policemen in the St James in 1972.
Possession of arms and ammunition, shooting to murder and a $95,0000
robbery with aggravation. I spent about 4 month in which I was remanded in custody.
Then they arrested me again in 1976 and again threw me in prison. They would revoke my bail
over and over. I won my last case in 1993 about 20 years later. I conduct my own
defense in court and they hated me for that. I don't have any conviction. I won all my cases.
What I think no one ever take note of is the fact that the armed forces didn't want Guy Harewood
and John Beddoe to be captured alive. They learnt from the Cuban playbook where Castro was captured
alive. He went on to lead a successful revolution. Burroughs said that he didn't want those guys
alive. Guy was cornered in a house with Terrence Thornhill. Guy was killed and Thornhill was held
alive. Guy was a national symbol of revolution. They tear gassed the house with John Beddoe and
others. They were disoriented and the police could have captured them alive. Both Guy and Beddoe were
revolutionary intellectuals. They didn't take any chance to leave them alive. Just my take eh.
Most of what was said about the 1970 mass movement was distorted. I think
even though the NJAC banner was "Indians & African Unite" people felt that the
movement was an afro movement. So I think although the urban & semi-urban
Afro-Trinis could have related to it, the other ethnic groups could not relate to it.
People still feel that the movement was about Africanizing the T&T population. Even
when NJAC wanted to take part in the electoral process the African boogey was thrown at them.
In 1965, sugar workers didn't want Bhadase Maharaj leadership and they went to George
Weeks and the OWTU for help to settle Industrial matters. The PNM govt declared a SOE in the sugar
belt. Dr Williams is on record as having said that his "greatest contribution was to keep oil
and sugar apart because if they mixed it would become “sweet oil”. Please read his book, Inward
Hunger. We just can't deal with the fact that T&T is a hybrid country. This is the sad dichotomy.
Short summary of interview:
Malcolm Kernahan reflects on his participation in the protests of 1970, focusing on the struggles against unemployment and discrimination, and the socio-political movements of the time. His narrative includes the challenges of building a sustainable movement, NUFF’s ideological divisions, and the eventual crackdown that led to the disbandment of the organisation.
Additional Material
Info Sheet
Citation:
Atherton, A. (2024, September 18). Malcolm Kernahan – Trinbago Griot. Trinbago Griot. https://trinbagogriot.com/item/malcolm-kernahan/
Project Information
Memories of Trinidad and Tobago’s 1970 Revolution is an oral history project aimed at capturing the stories, experiences, and legacies of individuals who played key roles in the 1970 Revolution in Trinidad and Tobago. The project seeks to provide a platform for those voices that helped shape the movement, which in turn, transformed the nation.
List of People Mentioned:
- Andrea Jacob
- Beverly Jones
- Brian Jeffers
- Clive Nunez
- Clyde Hayes
- Eric Williams
- George Weekes
- Guy Harewood
- Jeff Serette
- Jennifer Jones
- John Beddoe
- Raffique Shah
- Rex Lasalle
- Ruth (surname unknown)
- Terrence Thornhill
- Uriah Butler
List of Places Mentioned:
- Arima
- Belmont
- Boissiere
- Caroni
- Diego Martin
- Fyzabad
- Laventille
- Montevideo
- Mucurapo Road
- Palo Seco
- Petit Valley
- Rio Claro
- Sadhoo Village, Manzanilla
- Sangre Grande
- Siparia
- St. James, Port of Spain
- Tetron
- Trou Macaque
- Tunapuna
- Woodford Square
Interview Keywords:
- 1970 Black Power Revolution
- 1970 Revolution
- Black Power Movement
- Black Power Revolution
- Caribbean
- Caribbean Civil Rights
- February Revolution
- Guerilla Warfare
- National Union of Freedom Fighters
- Revolution
- Social Justice
- Social Justice Movement
- Tobago
- Trinidad
- Trinidad and Tobago
Acronyms:
- NJAC
- NLM
- NUFF
- OWTU
- PNM
- SOE
- TELCO
- TLL
Trinidadian Creole English:
- Block
- Boogey
- Fete
- Hot heads
- Scab Labour
