The Time Pearnel Charles Almost Shot Michael Manley

Pearnel Charles, retired politician, former vice president of the Bustamante Industrial and Trade Union cohosted this episode to speak on his days advocating for bauxite workers in the 1960s. The Jamaican bauxite strikes of 1960’s were a staple of the development of the bauxite -alumina industry in the country as local workers spoke up about low wages and poor working conditions by the transnational corporation controlling the industry. As far back as 1869, the red dirt in Jamaica has always fascinated persons living on the island. It was not until the early 1940’s however, that commercial value was put on this red dirt and thus started the beginning of the Jamaica - Bauxite industry. From the 1950’s onward, the bauxite-alumina industry has shape Jamaica’s economics, development and society. On this episode, we chronicle the early days of the bauxite-alumina industry, the rise of bauxite-alumina transnational corporations on the island and the famous bauxite strikes which took place in the 1960’s.

Additional Knowledge

BOOKS

  • Caribbean Labor and Politics: Legacies of Cheddi Jagan and Michael Manley by Alma H. Young Perry Mars

  • Conflicts Between Multinational Corporations and Less Developed CountriesThe Case of Bauxite Mining in the Caribbean with Special Reference to Guyana by Thakoor Persaud

  • Foreign Investment in the Bauxite Industry in the Caribbean by I. A. Litvak, C. J. Maule Ottawa

  • Mayer Matalon: Business, Politics and the Jewish-Jamaican Elite by Diana Thorburn

  • Mirror, Mirror: Identity, Race and Protest in Jamaica by Rex Nettleford

  • Nationalisation in the Caribbean Bauxite Industry by Isaiah A. Litvak, Christopher J. Maule

  • Radicalism and Social Change in Jamaica, 1960-1972 by Obika Gray

  • The Confounding Island: Jamaica and the Postcolonial Predicament by Orlando Patterson

  • Transforming Mineral Enclaves Caribbean Bauxite in the Nineteen Seventies by Richard M. Auty

  • Violence and Politics in Jamaica, 1960-70: Internal Security in a Developing Country by Terry Lacey

ACADEMIC PAPERS

  • Bauxite: The Need to Nationalize, Part I by Norman Girvan

  • Jamaica’s Bauxite And Alumina Industries by B. S. Young

  • Jamaica In The World Aluminium Industry, 1938-1973 by Carlton E. Davis

  • Jamaica vs. the Transnationals: Battle Over Bauxite

  • Multinationals In Third World Development: The Case Of Jamaica's Bauxite

    Industry by Madeleine Lorch Tramm

  • Racial Hierarchy and the Elevation of Brownness in Creole Nationalism by Maziki Thame

  • The Social Economy of Bauxite in the Jamaican Man-Space by George L. Beckford

REPORTS

  • JET: Red Dirt: A Multidisciplinary Review of the Bauxite-Alumina Industry in Jamaica (Full Document)

  • JET: Red Dirt: A Multidisciplinary Review of the Bauxite-Alumina Industry in Jamaica (Executive Summary)

DOCUMENTARIES

  • Life and Debt (2001) directed by Stephanie Black

  • Jamaica for Sale (2006) directed by Esther Figueroa

  • Fly Me To The Moon (2019) by Esther Figueroa

PODCAST

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Jamaica's Ten Type Beauty Contest

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The Banning of Dr. Clive Y. Thomas By The Jamaican Government