-Caveat Lector- Past Glories Still Drive Independence-Minded Maroons AP 28-APR-99 ACCOMPONG, Jamaica (AP) -- They were the terror of Jamaica once _ fierce bands of escaped slaves who plundered estates, murdered white planters and repelled invasions of their mountain retreats with a terrifying mastery of camouflage. "We used to fight, once upon a time," says Sydney Peddie, the latest Maroon "Colonel" to lead this autonomous community. "We used to do marvelous things that baffled the white man! We were the first guerrillas ... But now we are law-abiding, and quite peaceful." Peddie, elected the community's leader late last year, is leading an effort to reverse migration to the cities and restore some of the old African ways -- herbal medicine, tribal dances, talking to ancestral spirits. "We want to remain as the Maroons forever. We don't want to be integrated (into Jamaica) at all, and we want to bring back some of the old traditions," said Peddie, 65. "In Jamaica, the inventions have destroyed certain values and brought on crime." So far the effort has amounted to lobbying fellow Maroons, working on a one-room museum, asking the Jamaican government for a little more money and publicizing a Jan. 6 celebration in which they play out mock ambushes and "talk to our ancestors" by blowing the traditional cow's horn, the "abeng." Peddie said he had heard of the Smithsonian Institution's new traveling show celebrating the legacy of Maroons in Jamaica, Suriname and other countries in the region. It opened in March at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., and will travel around the United States for three years. Maroons probably get their names from the Spanish "cimarrones," which means runaway slave or savage. In Hispaniola, "the court of the island complained in 1546 that (because of) the Maroons, the planters dared not give orders to their slaves except in the gentlest terms," former Trinidadian leader Eric Williams wrote in his history of the region. But the Maroons' biggest success came in Jamaica, where they helped the British expel the Spanish and then turned on the new rulers, wreaking havoc across an island that was then one of the world's largest sugar producers and a considerable source of imperial wealth. The Maroons avoided open warfare, relying on their knowledge of the terrain, camouflaging themselves with leaves and communicating via the abeng, whose call could carry for miles. The British finally granted them formal freedom in a 1739 treaty, signed in a cave a few miles outside Accompong, between legendary Maroon leader Cudjoe and British Col. John Guthrie. That moment -- the first successful opposition to slavery and British colonialism -- is recalled here with deeply personal pride. "Cudjoe, he was black man. Guthrie, he was a white. Both of them was brave man, and both knew how to fight," Raymond Marshall, a 32-year-old banana farmer, stoically recited. In return for their freedom, the Maroons agreed to help the British hunt down future runaway slaves. That arrangement may be at the root of the sense of isolation many Maroons feel from other Jamaicans, even with the island independent and democratic with a huge black majority. One rocky road, clinging perilously to the edge of the Cockpit Country hills, leads into Accompong. The five-mile drive to the market where the Maroons sell their bananas and yams can take an hour. The roughly 2,000 Maroons of Accompong -- and several thousand others in a few isolated communities -- still pay no taxes, dispense with land titles and "are self-governing in a way," Peddie said. The treaty says the Maroons can try their own cases, except murders, but this has not actually been done since the 1980s. "We want to bring it back, too," Peddie said. That's not likely, said K.D. Knight, Jamaica's justice minister. "In Accompong, people deal with certain disputes themselves _ land disputes and certain claims such as debt," he said. "But all persons are subject to the laws of the land." Lately, a rumor that Jamaica might impose an income tax on the Maroons has caused some agitation. "That we will not tolerate!" declared Joshua Anderson, 52. "I myself would go back to the bush to fight the Jamaicans, like we fought the white man!" Arnold Bertram, Jamaica's minister of local government, said he couldn't confirm whether there were plans to make Maroons pay taxes. Peddie contends ordinary Jamaicans are on their side. "The Jamaicans think we are a great people, especially those who read our history," he said. "When we meet them, we tell them we're Maroons. Then they see they're not talking to such an ordinary person. "They're talking to someone very important." Copyright 1999& The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ================================= Robert F. Tatman [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Remove "nospam" from the address to reply. NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml POSTING THIS MESSAGE TO THE INTERNET DOES NOT IMPLY PERMISSION TO SEND UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL E-MAIL (SPAM) TO THIS OR ANY OTHER INTERNET ADDRESS. RECEIPT OF SPAM WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION OF THE SENDER'S ISP. ____________________________________________________________________ Get your own FREE, personal Netscape WebMail account today at http://webmail.netscape.com. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
