JAMAICA: MAROONS STRUGGLE TO PRESERVE UNIQUE CULTURE

UNCLAS KINGSTON 000056



SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

WHA FOR DAS REYNOSO

WHA/CAR FOR (V.DEPIRRO, W.SMITH, J.MACK-WILSON)



E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: ECON, PGOV, SCUL, SOCI, JM, XL

SUBJECT: JAMAICA: MAROONS STRUGGLE TO PRESERVE UNIQUE CULTURE



Summary



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1. (U) The descendents of slaves who resisted British rule and

escaped to the island's mountainous interior in the 17th and 18th

centuries, Jamaica's Maroons continue to struggle to safeguard

their heritage from the threat of cultural assimilation and the

economic and social influences of the modern world. Isolated in

mountainous communities with inadequate infrastructure and poor

transportation networks, modern Maroon communities such as

Accompong are attempting to entice tourists and researchers, as

well as dollars, by showcasing their history and traditions through

cultural festivals and heritage tourism. Only time will tell if

such efforts will succeed in bringing economic development to these

isolated communities and preserving Maroon culture. End summary.



A People Apart



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2. (U) For decades, the Maroons waged a guerilla war against

British colonial authorities in the late 17th and early 18th

centuries, attacking sugar plantations, stealing livestock, and

serving as a haven for newly-escaped slaves. Unable to subdue the

Maroons, the British finally agreed to peace treaties in 1739 and

1740 following the First Maroon War, guaranteeing freedom, cultural

autonomy, territory, and self-rule in Jamaica's interior almost a

century before slavery was formally abolished in 1834 The peace

treaties remained in force until Jamaica's independence in 1962,

and to this day Jamaica's Maroons consider themselves a people

apart, maintaining African traditions distinct from those of the

larger Jamaican society and jealously defending their rights and

legal status. Today, Accompong, one of only a few remaining Maroon

communities on the island, is among the most isolated and

inaccessible in Jamaica; yet Maroon culture is threatened by

modernization, cultural assimilation, and the lure of urban areas

for Maroon youth in search of better opportunities.



3. (U) In recent years, Accompong Maroons have attempted to

showcase and capitalize on their distinctiveness through cultural

tourism. The annual Accompong Maroon Festival, held each January

6, commemorates the birthday of Cudjoe, the 18th century Maroon

leader who defeated the British in a 1738 battle that ended the

First Maroon War. The Accompong community is inhabited by

descendants of the Leeward Maroons, who trace their ancestry back

to three distinct West African tribes. The festival brings hundreds

of tourists to the community each year, where they can enjoy jerked

chicken, white rum, roasted sweet potatoes, and the cool country

air of rural St. Elizabeth parish. In the most recent festival,

Emboffs were treated to the sights and sounds of traditional

drumming and dancing, as well as the blowing of the 300 year old

Maroon War Horn, as the Accompong Maroons celebrated 271 years of

independence and paid tribute to their ancestors. Vendors sold

their wares, older residents shared the community's folk tales and

history, and war dances and treaty songs were performed.



3. (U) The Accompong village is located at the end of a steep,

windy, one-lane road that leads visitors through "Cockpit Country,"

a vast and sparsely inhabited area famous for its rounded peaks and

bowl-shaped depressions. The Accompong Maroons use profits from

their annual festival, as well as from a foundation formed in 2005,

to benefit the community and to improve its infrastructure. An

estimated 5,000 Jamaicans identify as Maroons, with around 500

living in Accompong and the surrounding area, most subsisting on

farming and the selling of harvested goods. Director Sydney

Bartley of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, feels the

Maroon villages could be significant foreign exchange earners

through tourism, but have yet to maximize their full earning

potential. "[T]here are universities in America that would do

anything to take students down to something like the Maroon

Festival to hear real Maroon music, so it has economic value or

what we call 'education tourism'," Bartley explained.



"Governing A Nation Within A Nation"



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5. (SBU) As a result of the 1739 Peace Treaty, the Accompong

Maroons have enjoyed the privileges of self-governance and

ownership over hundreds of acres of tax-exempt land. According to

the Maroons, the community has had only one murder in the 272 years

since the peace treaty was signed, and the Jamaican Constabulary



Force (JCF) does not police the community. The Accompong community

is governed by a Colonel, a position currently held by Ferron

Williams, elected by the community to a five year term and assisted

by an appointed 32 member council. Maroons also vote in Jamaica's

general elections, and leaders from the ruling Jamaica Labor Party

(JLP) and the opposing People's National Party (PNP) have been

known to make the voyage deep into the heart of St. Elizabeth's

hills to visit and campaign in the village. Maroon leaders have

also organized themselves to ensure that their communities' needs

and socio-economic well-being are considered by Parliament when

making important decisions.



6. (SBU) Under the 1739 treaty, the Maroons are exempt from

Jamaican taxes and land ownership is held in common. Although the

Government of Jamaica (GOJ) does allocate funds to be used for

infrastructural improvements in Accompong, Maroon leaders feel that

these funds are inadequate. Toward the end of 2009, the Maroons and

the GOJ were at odds because the GOJ would not comply with the

Maroons' request for JD $2 million (USD $ 22,470) to improve the

steep and dangerous roadways connecting Accompong to other towns.

Water and electrical service are available in only a few homes, and

there are no land telephone lines. Accompong Maroons also accuse

the GOJ of gradually infringing on the community's land rights

guaranteed under the 1739 treaty.



7. (SBU) The Maroons are concerned about how the passage of

Jamaica's Charter of Rights and Freedoms Act may restrict their

right of self-governance and other entitlements they have enjoyed

for centuries. The Charter of Rights Act is a proposed

constitutional amendment, currently under consideration in

Parliament, that would enumerate the fundamental rights of all

Jamaican citizens, including the Maroons and other minority

communities. "[The] Maroons themselves will have to be proactive in

guarding their own constitutional rights," said Public Defender

Earl Witter. According to an October 2009 article in the Jamaica

Gleaner, Witter encouraged Maroon leaders to "let their voices be

heard" in the Parliamentary debate "before the Charter of Rights is

enshrined in the Constitution."



"Flight of the Young People"



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8. (U) Accompong's rich culture and heritage is threatened by the

migration of its youth and the infusion of popular Jamaican

culture. Unemployment and lack of educational resources compel more

and more young people to leave the village in pursuit of larger

cities. Formal educational opportunities are not available beyond

the junior high school level, and Accompong has an unemployment

rate of over 16 percent. More than 90 percent of men in Accompong

become farmers, while approximately 80 percent of women work in the

home. As a result, many young Maroons have fled the village to seek

additional employment opportunities elsewhere.



9. (U) Village leaders are also concerned about the negative

influences of popular Jamaican music on young Maroons. Some Maroon

youth have become increasingly influenced by the "Gaza-Gully"

dispute, a rivalry between two popular dancehall recording artists

based in Kingston that has fueled violence in other parts of the

island. In order to counter such influences and to ensure the

preservation of Maroon culture and customs, the Maroons have

created Junior Culture groups to create formal media by which older

Maroons may teach the younger generations about their culture and

traditions. At the most recent Accompong festival, Colonel Ferron

noted that one priority of the current Maroon Council was to

eliminate or reduce the sale of "bling-bling" clothing and to ease

road congestion.



Conclusion



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10. (U) Jamaica's Maroons remain a symbol of the nation's proud

history and fiercely independent traditions. Torn from their homes

in West Africa and forcibly relocated to a strange land, the

ancestors of today's Maroons held onto their traditions, forged new

communities, waged a decades-long guerrilla campaign against

colonial authorities, and ultimately forced the British into

signing a peace treaty recognizing their rights decades almost a

century before slavery was formally abolished in the Empire.

Although the threats faced by 21st century Maroons - unemployment,

cultural assimilation, and the siren call of urbanization and the

modern world outside of Cockpit Country - are more insidious than

E



those of their progenitors, cultural tourism and marketing may

succeed in preserving this unique Jamaican way of life.

Parnell