Month: January 2024

Categories
Uncategorized

Jamaica 1967, 100 years of the Jamaica Constabulary

Jamaica is a poor high crime area. This was true in colonial as well as modern times. In the old days disorder was cracked down on harshly  by the British Army. After the Morant Bay rebellion a Constabulary of locals was established in the hope of a middle ground. Yet still Britain interferes. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The uniforms shown on this stamp will be recognizable to any British Commonwealth stamp collector. It does though also show the one huge change that came with independence, there were no longer any white faces in charge. Whether that is refreshing or terrifying depends on your point of view.

Todays stamp is issue A82, a one Shilling stamp issued by independent Jamaica on November 28th, 1967. It was a three stamp issue in different denominations celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Constabulary as it was then thought. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents unused. Curiosity had me check if there would be a 300th aniversary issue in 2016 based on the date the force uses now or a 150th in 2017 based on this stamps dates. There was neither but Jamaica does not bother with many stamp issues any more.

The Constabulary now considers their founding date 1716 when freemen were first hired to serve as night watchmen at the port of Kingston. In 1865 things were pretty desperate for the freed slaves of Jamaica. They were no longer working the fields and that year there was horrible flooding to go with no income. Paul Bogle was an untrained but literate Deacon of a black Baptist church in Morant Bay. Bogle maintained correspondence with literary and religious figures of the British political left from which he raised funds. He had also tried to sollicit a handout from Queen Victoria but she instead wrote back suggesting that her Jamaican subjects work harder. When two freeman blacks were convicted of squatting on an abandoned plantation trouble broke out. Deacon Bogle had a few people in the courtroom and many more armed outside. When the first disrupter was arrested by a baliff, the crowd outside went wild burning the courthouse and nearby buildings and killing 27.

Deacon Paul Bogle. Too bad he didn’t sit for a portrait with his thugs behind him

With no national police force, British Governor John Eyre declared marshal law and the British Army marched on Morant Bay. Insert here many stories of random inocent blacks getting executed and or whipped that don’t include any evidence. Bogle himself was arrested, tried in court and executed for his part in troubles.

The British left at home made a big stink over what happened. Governor Eyre was summoned home and faced charges. Back in Jamaica a local constabulary was established, British run, but mainly staffed by local blacks. Governor Eyre was found innocent and the court decided that the charges were filed in error so Eyre was entitled to have his legal expenses covered. Deacon Bogle has of course been rehabilitated by modern Jamaica which is probably why the Constabulary reexamined their founding date to lessen the association with the uprising they were on the wrong side of.

Governor Eyre

The Constabulary is still involved with the British political left. In 2003, a crime management unit of the Constabulary was accused of extra judicial killings during a brutal gang war with the “Stone Crushers” gang. The head of the unit, black police Captain  Reneto Adams was decried in Britain as Jamaica’s version of Dirty Harry. A veteran white Scotland Yard detective was airlifted in to show the Constabulary a better way. Is anybody surprised that the detective turned out a grifter who used the assignment to set up his own security consultancy. I bet the many crime victims of Jamaica  would prefer to consult Reneto Adams.

Well my drink is empty and I may pour two more to toast Governor Eyre and Reneto Adams for being there to make the tough decision when trouble came. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

Categories
Uncategorized

Soviet Union 1966, When showing off a minority People’s Poet goes wrong

The Soviet Union had within it many middle eastern types as a leftover from Czar time conquests, When life hands you lemons make lemonaide. So dutifully  the Soviets are talking up the literary geniuses from the hinterland. Here we get to meet Akop Akopian, a maybe Armenian poet. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Several of the literary figures on this Soviet stamp issue have later stamp issues after their region became independant. That helps confirm that the people thought the man worth remembering. That is not the case with Akop here, though Armenia has had nearly 30 years to get to this official Soviet “People’s Poet”.

Todays stamp is issue A1518, a 4 Kopek stamp issued by the Soviet Union in 1966. It was an eight stamp issue all in the same denomination. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 30 cents used.

There seems to be many name variations attached to this man. For the purposes of this offering I will use his Soviet name Akop Akopian, this has the advantage of being spellable and demonstrates the fungibility of tribe in Soviet times. Akop was born in Elisabethpol, Russia in 1867. The area had been conquered from the Persians 40 years before. The city is now called Ganja and is the second largest city in independent Azerbaijan and no longer contains the volatile soup of Armenians, Russians, or Jews. The Azeris have it to themselves now after a pogrom in the last days of the Soviet Union.

Akop published his first book of poetry in 1899 five years  before he switched to the Communist Party. He mainly worked out of Tiblisi in modern day Georgia. Into the area, Akop concentrating on bringing the Socialist Realism literary method as put forth by the Soviet Maksim Gorky. The Soviets themselves seem to be a little confused about who this guy was as at different times they bestowed the title People’s Poet of Armenia SSR, People’s Poet of Georgia SSR, and People’s Poet of the Transcaucasian Federation, SSR. Notice nothing from where he was really from.

Akop’s titles include Revolution, Red Waves, Died but didn’t Disappear, and One More Cut. That last one about blood sucking, probably really got to the heart of the matter.

Even in the Soviet Union, where the arts were so lavishly supported, Akop was forced to have a day job. He was the Chief Commissar of the Soviet Georgia State Bank. Wonder if he ever won the People’s Banker title?

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

Categories
Uncategorized

Egypt 1939, King Farouk wants you to think of him when you marvel at the Aswan Dam

The Nile River regularly floods it’s banks with fresh water. If this could be caught and retained, it would greatly enhance irrigation possibilities and by extension food production. Sounds like a project for a far sighted King, or at least a short sighted King looking for something to talk about. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Here’s an early stamp that really calls out for more color. A desert is being turned green with beautiful blue water. Also the stock portrait of Farouk could instead have him holding blueprints to better imply he was the guiding force. The stamps of period Egypte were trying hard to show the King freeing the people of colonialism. Better designs might have been more convincing.

Todays stamp is issue A73, a 100 Millimenes stamp issued by the Kingdom of Egypt in 1939. It was an eight stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.40 unused.

The below story refers to the still existing Aswan Low Dam, the Aswan High Dam was built later.

In the 10th century AD, Egypt was ruled by the Fatimid Caliphate. The Fatimids are believed descended from Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed. The Caliph had the idea for a dam on the Nile that could retain floodwater and thus expand agriculture. The great Arab mathematician, engineer, and physicist Alhazen was summoned from Basra in Iraq to work on the project. After checking out the obvious site near Aswan were the Nile was shallow, Alhazen thought the project impossible. What scared him though was disappointing the Caliph back in Cairo when he told that it wasn’t going to happen. Instead Alhazen pretended to have a mental breakdown and confined himself to house arrest until the death of the Caliph. The time at home was not wasted. His masterpiece work, the Book of Optics was completed in this time.

Alhazen

In 1882, Egypt was occupied by the British Army and commercial interests were free to pursue economic projects beyond the Suez Canal. A dam at Aswan was now thought more feasible and the Dam was designed by famed British Empire civil engineer Sir William Wilcocks and constructed from 1898-1902 by the London based firm of John Aird. The dam was the largest ever constructed of bricks but was smaller than desired to protect nearby historic sites. See https://the-philatelist.com/2020/09/25/pakistan-1964-egypt-sudan-and-pakistan-well-actually-unesco-save-the-nubian-abu-simbel-temples/   .

It must have been damaging to Egyptian pride to have such a worthwhile project accomplished by interlopers. It was even worse than that. Such a massive, private project requires creative financing. The financier making the project possible was German Jew Ernst Cassel. Cassel had stints in Paris and London financing heavy industry around the world. He managed his empire from a Swiss mountain castle named Riederfurka that was only accesable by mule. When the nearby village offered to improve the path to the castle, Cassel told them he would move away if they did. It will be a long wait before Egypt does a stamp honoring Cassel’s role in the project.

Sir Ernst err Ernest Cassel
Cassel’s Swiss castle, Riederalp

In the first years of the dam, there was no provision for electricity generation, though this was added later. There were also two additions making the dam taller. These later jobs had to be done without the firm of John Aird. It had been closed in 1911 after mucking up an extension of Singapore’s port facilities.

Well my drink is empty and there are so many people here worthy of a toast, all the way back to Alhazen, I worry of a hangover. To bad the group doesn’t include King Farouk. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

Categories
Uncategorized

Kenya 1971, Should I stay or should I go?

When a country becomes independent, it becomes natural for the colonials to fade. In Kenya, British settlers were bought out of their property by Britain and the vast bulk took the offer. This was a generous gift to the new government. What of though the several hundred thousand Indians, who also came in colonial times and were the bulk of the merchant and professional classes. They faced a question. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your fist sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

At the time of this stamp issue Kenya was still involved in a postal union with Uganda and Tanzania as they had been in colonial times. They still occasionally came out with a single country issue and this one showed off sea shells. This abalone shell is common from East African beaches through Sri Lanka and Australia even to Tonga.

Todays stamp is issue A4, a 30 cent stamp issued by Kenya on December 13th, 1971. It was a 15 stamp issue in various sizes and denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used. In todays exchange rates, 30 Kenyan cents is worth about one fourth of an American penny.

Kenya was granted independence in 1963 and became a de facto one party state under President Kenyatta, though his African tribe was only a third of Kenyan blacks. Prospects were somewhat better than in other countries. There had been an effort to train black Kenyans by providing them free educations in America. This was called the Kennedy Airlift and had been opposed by Britain as those given the opportunity were not those Britain would have chosen. Among those taking advantage were Nobel Peace Prize winner and environmentalist Wangari Mathai and former American President Barack Obama’s father.

Britain had chosen Kenyatta who unlike Uganda, invited Indians to stay. He also had doubts about the loyalty of the Kennedy Airlift people and understood the economy would be better with their expertise. Kenyatta was perhaps not ready when most of the local Indians turned down Kenyan passports and formed a political group to protect their interests.

The leader of that group was Pio Gama Pinto, whose family was from Goa in Portuguese India. He had been educated in India and even served in it’s Air Force but became involved in agitation against Portuguese rule in Goa. He feared arrest in independent India and returned to Kenya to start a newspaper that agitated for independence. After being involved in the Kenya Emergency uprising in the 1950s, he was jailed for four years. Though he was made an official of Kenyatta’s government he continued his agitation. He then found that agitation was more harshly dealt with by Kenya than India, Portugal, or Britain. He was assassinated by gunmen while waiting for his gait to rise in his driveway sitting in his car with his family.

Pinto close to Kenyatta, but perhaps not close enough

This was taken as another sign that Indians did not have much of a future in Kenya. Each year in this period 10 percent of Indians moved away. Interestingly most chose to move to Britain instead of independent India. Indeed Pinto, who had been so involved in the agitation against the Portuguese in Goa, made no effort to move back after Goa was taken by force into India in 1961. Interestingly Pinto’s widow and children moved to Canada after his death, After the Kenyatta Political Party was finally replaced in 2002, power shifted to the now old Kennedy Airlift People. Part of this was the rehabilitation of no longer a threat Pio Gama Pinto. In 2008, his memory was honored with a postage stamp that labeled him a hero of Kenya. In 2017, Indians were recognized as the 44th official tribe of Kenya. Most still maintain their foreign passports.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon when there will be another story to be learned from stamp collecting and have a happy 2024. First published in 2021.