Stalin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2008
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nothing new in the killing of people on the high seas by imperial criminals
"...The Caribbean Sea holds the memories of countless African and Indigenous lives brutally killed by imperial power. From the terrible Transatlantic Slave Trade to today’s US bombings of civilian vessels, executing dozens of Caribbean people. Though separated by centuries, the underlying motives remain the same: profit-driven colonial domination.
This year, Latin America and the Caribbean honor the memory of the victims of the “Zong Massacre” on its 244th anniversary and its lasting impact on the fight against colonialism.
In 1781, the British slave ship Zong left Accra in Ghana with 442 Africans on board, which was more than twice its capacity. The captives were destined for Jamaica, where they would be sold for an average price of £36 each to work on sugar plantations. However, the British enslavers ran low on supplies after navigating off course miles from the island and decided to mass murder captives to collect insurance money of £30 per person.
On November 29, 54 women and children were thrown into the Caribbean Sea. A further 78 men were tossed overboard in the following days, while 10 enslaved people jumped into the water in an act of revolutionary resistance. Another 62 Africans had already died on board from malnutrition and disease. The story is only known because of court documents, which were filed after the insurance company sued the ship’s crew to avoid paying.
The “Zong Massacre” reminds us of the horrors of colonialism and serves as a warning against today’s Western imperialist efforts to repeat history through different methods, exploiting the labour and resources of indigenous and black nations.
Centuries ago, the bodies of thousands of Africans were either left to drown or to be eaten by sharks. The same is happening now, with more than 80 people having been killed since September, mostly in Caribbean waters just a few miles from the Venezuelan coast, but also in the Eastern Pacific, by US military forces. Their mangled bodies have been left to sink to the bottom of the sea or wash up on the shores of nearby countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, as happened soon after the US attacked the first vessel, killing 11.
Trinidadian villagers said that the two corpses that washed ashore had burned marks on their faces, making them unrecognizable, and that they were missing limbs, as if they had been blown up. Rather than acknowledging these deaths as likely victims of US terrorism, the New York Times, which first reported the story, described the bodies’ mutilated appearance as a “mystery.”
The victims of recent US bombings hail from Venezuela, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago, all territories with a centuries-long legacy of Indigenous and African anti-colonial resistance. Fishing communities have reported friends and relatives missing in the past three months, believing US forces likely bombed them. The Trump administration claims the boats were trafficking narcotics, but it has never presented any supporting evidence.
United Nations officials and experts have classified the strikes as “extrajudicial killings,” a term that essentially means murder. Even if the allegations were true, the US government does not have the authority to kill people in the Caribbean on the colonial basis that their lives are worth less than American lives, as the British slavers on the Zong did to Africans.
venezuelanalysis.com
comrade stalin
caracas
"...The Caribbean Sea holds the memories of countless African and Indigenous lives brutally killed by imperial power. From the terrible Transatlantic Slave Trade to today’s US bombings of civilian vessels, executing dozens of Caribbean people. Though separated by centuries, the underlying motives remain the same: profit-driven colonial domination.
This year, Latin America and the Caribbean honor the memory of the victims of the “Zong Massacre” on its 244th anniversary and its lasting impact on the fight against colonialism.
In 1781, the British slave ship Zong left Accra in Ghana with 442 Africans on board, which was more than twice its capacity. The captives were destined for Jamaica, where they would be sold for an average price of £36 each to work on sugar plantations. However, the British enslavers ran low on supplies after navigating off course miles from the island and decided to mass murder captives to collect insurance money of £30 per person.
On November 29, 54 women and children were thrown into the Caribbean Sea. A further 78 men were tossed overboard in the following days, while 10 enslaved people jumped into the water in an act of revolutionary resistance. Another 62 Africans had already died on board from malnutrition and disease. The story is only known because of court documents, which were filed after the insurance company sued the ship’s crew to avoid paying.
The “Zong Massacre” reminds us of the horrors of colonialism and serves as a warning against today’s Western imperialist efforts to repeat history through different methods, exploiting the labour and resources of indigenous and black nations.
Centuries ago, the bodies of thousands of Africans were either left to drown or to be eaten by sharks. The same is happening now, with more than 80 people having been killed since September, mostly in Caribbean waters just a few miles from the Venezuelan coast, but also in the Eastern Pacific, by US military forces. Their mangled bodies have been left to sink to the bottom of the sea or wash up on the shores of nearby countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, as happened soon after the US attacked the first vessel, killing 11.
Trinidadian villagers said that the two corpses that washed ashore had burned marks on their faces, making them unrecognizable, and that they were missing limbs, as if they had been blown up. Rather than acknowledging these deaths as likely victims of US terrorism, the New York Times, which first reported the story, described the bodies’ mutilated appearance as a “mystery.”
The victims of recent US bombings hail from Venezuela, Colombia and Trinidad and Tobago, all territories with a centuries-long legacy of Indigenous and African anti-colonial resistance. Fishing communities have reported friends and relatives missing in the past three months, believing US forces likely bombed them. The Trump administration claims the boats were trafficking narcotics, but it has never presented any supporting evidence.
United Nations officials and experts have classified the strikes as “extrajudicial killings,” a term that essentially means murder. Even if the allegations were true, the US government does not have the authority to kill people in the Caribbean on the colonial basis that their lives are worth less than American lives, as the British slavers on the Zong did to Africans.
The Revolution Will Not Be Terrorized - Venezuelanalysis
Andreína Chávez traces a chilling line from the Zong Massacre to the US military terror now unfolding in Caribbean waters.
venezuelanalysis.com
comrade stalin
caracas
