PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – Makandal Daaga (formerly Geddes Granger),
founder of the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) which led the Black
Power Movement in Trinidad and Tobago in 1970, and former Cultural Ambassador
to CARICOM, died here on Monday. He was 80.
Colm Imbert, acting Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, in offering
condolences on the passing of Daaga said that “ whether adopting the role of
revolutionary, rebel, leader, visionary or Chief Servant, Makandal Daaga always
had at the heart of his beliefs the empowerment of the people of Trinidad
and Tobago, particularly those he felt to be unjustly denied avenues to prosperity
and opportunity.
“ His leadership of the Black Power Movement in the 1970s brought about
far-reaching changes which have helped to shape the social and political reality
of Trinidad and Tobago.”
(NJAC was formed in response to the arrests of Caribbean students who
were protesting against discrimination at Sir George Williams (now Concordia)
University in
Montreal.