Co-operatives and wealth of our nation

Culture Matters

Dara E Healy

Mama we is people too

Mama we is people too

Bonjay (god) we want largen (money) too

Messier (boss) we want largen too

– Kalenda song, 1880s

IN MANY  ways, the story of money in TT is as complicated as our shared struggles of colour, class, ethnicity and political power.

On this International Day of Co-operatives, we recognise the positive impact of age-old community approaches to saving and finance.

For people of African heritage, the sou sou method of saving (from the Yoruba esusu), afforded many an opportunity to attain a better quality of life by avoiding a banking system that did not appear to serve the people.

In the East Indian community, as Raviji points out, land and gold represented economic success; they were motivated by the desire to build a strong financial foundation for their children.

Where did our attitudes to money and wealth come from and how can we ensure a more cohesive approach to building a collective future?

Under enslavement, the wealth of colonised nations was extracted for the benefit of England and nations of the metropole. As Dr Eric Williams details, the trade in enslaved Africans “…made the Caribbean territories among the most valuable colonies the world has ever known.”

In this system, only elites were entitled to wealth. Africans were understood to be at the bottom of the social scale. Since they were not considered by the enslavers to be human, this narrative became the accepted, expected social norm.

East Indian indentureship was also economically driven. It was designed to ensure continued profits for plantation owners and a flow of revenue to the UK. Indentured Indians were ill-treated and scorned for their religious and cultural traditions, but they were tolerated for economic reasons.

In Hindu homes, Raviji explains that the attainment of success and generational wealth were connected to the deity Lakshmi. Evening prayers were supported by kathas (stories from sacred texts) and other rituals to her. Although artha or wealth was one of several life goals, the primary one was dharma, one’s universal truth.

For people of African heritage, the reality was different. As the kalenda chant demonstrates, Africans were forced to constantly lobby for fair economic treatment and endured constant attacks on their culture. Selwyn Ryan notes that “many black and coloured businessmen were unable to source capital to start or sustain their businesses.”

After emancipation, wealthy planters set up banks in the Caribbean, after receiving substantial financial compensation. The Bank of England documents that “these banks often made it difficult for low-paid African workers to access their services, excluding former enslaved Africans from economic life…” Ryan also wrote that there was little tradition of apprenticeship, compared to other communities such as the Syrians or Chinese.

A lack of trust in financial institutions was typical, across communities. In one of Ken Jaikaransingh’s stories, Jasodra’s niece persuades her to deposit money in the bank. “She was a reluctant client but trusted me to ensure that the bank was not creaming off her money.”

People also tended to believe that the system was intentionally biased against the working classes. As Growling Tiger sang, later echoed by Singing Francine, “If a man has money/He can commit murder and get off free/But if you are poor, people will tell you 'Shoo!'/And a dog is better than you.”

The Trinidad Co-operative Bank or Penny Bank was set up as early as 1914, in response to these and other blockages to people of African heritage. Depositors were allowed to deposit a penny rather than the standard shilling (24 cents). Over the decades, other banks were established to support a growing African middle class.

In recent times, the growth of co-operatives has been important in affording low-income families and owners of small businesses to access a more sustainable quality of life. And the Black Power movement was instrumental in opening doors for people of colour to be hired by the very banks that often deprived them of a fair chance.

However, financial establishments, even co-operatives, still do not offer solutions for creatives, despite the proven economic power of our sector. While community-based approaches to money will continue to provide lifelines for ordinary citizens, unless we deal with the stereotypes about money and wealth that linger from the days of enslavement and indentureship, we will not achieve the much needed equity in our system. And quite frankly, all of us deserve largen too.

Dara E Healy is a performance artist and founder of the Indigenous Creative Arts Network – ICAN