Jamaica

The Republic of Jamaica is a democratic nation located in the Caribbean Sea. A young state that has only existed for over 16 years, Jamaica has been one of the most isolated yet calm and stabilized countries in the entire world, avoiding any large scale political fracturing or ideological squabbles.

## **Jamaica before independence**

Jamaica had been a colony of the British Empire for centuries, with a majority Black population that came to the island during the years of the Atlantic Slave Trade that went on for 300 years with a rich white elite as a minority. The economic importance of Jamaica was also on the decline in the latter-half of the 19th century, but the Great War brought more troubles for the nation that would eventually lead the people to revolt during the Cairo War.

## **The Cairo War**

Emerging trade unionist and radical activist, Marcus Garvey would be the lifeblood of the independence movement for Jamaica, first coming to prominence in 1914, he used the Cairo War to rally support for an independent Jamaica, but kept his true intentions hidden. Instead, Garvey after the fall of the Suez used the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, founded in 1914 to voice his and his supporters' growing concerns. In a similar fashion to what Argentine workers went through in the late 1910s, the British army and companies began exploiting their workers for more resources to divert to the war effort from the early start of the war, leading to widespread class anger beginning to simmer for the Black working class population of the island.

In December of 1919, Garvey sent an ultimatum to London asking for better working reforms, and to limit the presence of the army, navy and elitist influence on the island as the people were growing ever tired of the British as their overlords. In response, London issued a warrant for his arrest, and he was taken to jail on the 28th. But this arrest would only further provoke a fury within the people, as they viewed the whole event as evident that the British only wanted to exploit and use the island for the British Empire's own personal gain. The people in Belize had the same sentiments, and violence began growing throughout the month of January.

In the same month, Garvey's supporters launched an attack at the prison he was being held in, killing the guards and successfully freeing Garvey from jail. When the news broke of his escape the following day, and with no leads on where he could be, the British began using reprisals against various individuals, leading to a massacre of over 10 people, sparking outrage on the island. Strikes and protests paralyzed the island's economy, while the British felt helpless to contain the situation, which also helped ignite revolutionary passions in the colony of Belize as well.

On the 5th of February, Garvey finally came back into the public eye, where in fiery speeches he bashed against the British overlords, and said only a total revolution, "akin to the Haitian Revolution can fully decolonize our country". Trade unions and workers aligned themselves with what they called Garveyism, an ideology consisting of Black nationalism, anti-imperialism and social democracy. After his speeches in Kingston, the city fell into disarray, as he actively encouraged violence against the British which much of the people were willing to do. Regular civilians took up arms and assaulted British elites and garrisons starting on the 9th. Violence ramped up, and soon after Black mobs began lynching and killing the white population of the island en masse, especially those directly affiliated with the crown. Due to this major amount of violence that disturbed event those in the British Parliament in London, the navy, army and any British civilian retreated quickly and disorderly across the island as the Caribbean navy retreated to the Bahamas. Kingston fell on the 16th, and that same day the Republic of Jamaica was founded, with the entire island falling within another 4 days.

For the months following the fall of British Jamaica and before the Treaty of Valletta, the new Jamaican government began reconsolidating its power.