Demerara Rebellion (1823) - New General Megathread for the 18th of August 2023
The Demerara Rebellion of 1823 was an uprising involving more than ten thousand enslaved people in the Crown colony of Demerara-Essequibo (now part of Guyana) on the coast of South America. The rebellion took place on August 18, 1823, and lasted two days. No particular incident sparked the rebellion; the enslaved simply grew tired of their servitude and sought to resist in the most direct way they could.
Planning for the rebellion began on August 17, 1823, at Plantation Success, one of the largest estates in the area. Two leaders emerged during the planning period: Jack Gladstone, a cooper on Plantation Success, and his father, Quamina, a senior deacon at a church led by English Protestant missionary, John Smith. Gladstone and others planned the uprising, but Quamina objected to any bloodshed and suggested instead that the enslaved should go on strike. Quamina and other leaders visited John Smith, informing him of his son’s plans. Smith urged the enslaved to remain peaceful, exercise patience, and wait for new laws that would reduce their suffering. Quamina carried Smith’s message back to the plantations.
Quamina’s call to remain peaceful fell on deaf ears. The enslaved on Plantation Success rebelled the next evening, August 18, 1823, and attempted to seize all firearms on the plantation. They locked up the whites during the night, planning to release them when their demands were met. They did not see their rebellion as a challenge to slavery itself but demanded better treatment for enslaved people in Demerara-Essequibo.
Most of the enslaved remained loyal to their masters. An enslaved house servant, Joseph Packwood, told his owner, John Simpson, about the planned revolt before it began. Simpson, in turn, informed Governor John Murray, who rode out to confront the rebels with the militia. The enslaved demanded their rights, but Governor Murray ordered them to return to their plantations. When they refused, he declared martial law. Some returned to the plantations while others participated in the rebellion.
Only a handful of whites were killed during the Demerara Rebellion. The rebels locked up owners, managers, and overseers on thirty-seven plantations, who did not flee to Georgetown, the colonial capital, when the rebellion began. Large numbers of Christian slaves refused to rebel and helped suppress those who rose up.
Other enslaved people confronted their owners and the military forces sent against them. On Bachelor’s Adventure Plantation, approximately two thousand enslaved people confronted Lieutenant Colonel John Leahy and his militia. When the enslaved refused Leahy’s order to disperse, he commanded his troops to fire into the crowd. Approximately two hundred people were killed.
Although the rebellion ended on Tuesday, August 19, the punishment that came afterward was severe. Hundreds of rebels were hunted down and killed, including two hundred who were beheaded as a warning to other enslaved people. Fourteen rebels were hastily tried and sentenced to be hanged. Governor Murray commuted their sentences and had them deported elsewhere in Caribbean. Jack Gladstone was deported to St. Lucia. His father, Quamina, who had argued against the revolt, was tracked down by dogs and Indians and killed in September 1823.
Doing some soul searching and I'm having a lot of complicated feelings lately about hookup culture and casual sex, honestly I think it could make for a good full on post in menby but I like my comfy low commit megathread shitposts.
Spoiler tag for readability
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But like...I'm starting to think maybe I'm just not built for casual sex/casual intimacy? Which as a man feels like it's taboo to admit, like you're made by patriarchy to feel weak or feminine for it (I'm personally totally cool with my femme/androgynous side but you know what I mean). Idk, my recent experience maybe isn't representative - I hooked up with my friend and went in with strong feelings, and the boundaries were kind of confused inherently (claimed she wanted something strictly light/transactional after the fact knowing I had deeper feels, but then acted in a way that felt very intimate and romantic). It's possible I could enjoy it in a situation where the terms are more clear. I also don't want to extrapolate too too much from one exp or demonize my (now former ) friend because also like people are fucked up and are allowed to have mixed feelings and cognitive dissonance about what they want and idt there's a bad guy or anything.
But I also feel a deeper critique brewing that goes beyond my personal preferences. There's a version of casual hookups that I think can be done ethically (where people are very explicitly clear about their terms) but under capitalism where we're so heavily encouraged to treat people transactionally, I feel like maybe there's a lot of inherent latitude to navigate people's feelings carelessly in order to get what you want while not doing anything "wrong" on paper. And ofc under patriarchy men are conditioned to boundary push/cross consent lines and that's a much bigger and more fucked up and destructive problem. Idk, I feel like there's been an overcorrection in the (correct) rejection of puritan bullshit toward a belief that we're all supposed to feel like this stuff is light and risk/consequence free in more progressive circles when in truth it really isn't always that way. Or like...under capitalism sexual liberation is always going to be warped in unhealthy directions (sorta like liberal/capitalist co-option of any kind of liberation movement).
Maybe I'm just sad and making a bigger point out of it than I need to though, idk. Idk comrades. I just d k.....
i'm with you. i've been in a relationship since the explosion of dating apps, so i've been on the periphery of the culture. but i don't think i could have a casual hookup with a person. the reason i want to be that close to them is because i like them, so the idea that we'd do this thing once and go off on separate lives just feels pointless. i might as well just masturbate. i know of a person (who is a bad person) who has had sex with 30+ women, and that's just weird to me, cuz like, what didn't he like about the first 29 that made him keep looking?
I'd also been in a relationship for almost 9 years (ended a few months ago) so this is all brand new to me. The apps are a whole other kettle of fish, if you've seen me in previous megathreads you've probably seen me complaining about them lol. Though they are ofc related and I think feed into the transactional and dehumanizing aspects of hook up culture. But yeah I wish there was more space for men to feel this way about it. But hey it's just one small facet of how patriarchy & gender norms hurt us all.
The apps have gotten so much worse over the years. Ten years ago OKCupid was actually a pretty good place to meet someone with similar interests. Now all of them try to ape tinder and are a mess.
If you're interested, i can share my perspective as someone with an unusually large number of former and current lovers, who tries not to be a bad person -
I have a body count of about fifty and i'll be forty years old in a couple of years. i'm on good terms with many former lovers. I honestly just really like people, i enjoy sex, i like the intimacy and the goofy fun of it. I'm poly/don't really feel jealousy about my lovers having other lovers, which certainly creates more opportunities for sleeping with more people. And, like, i still like almost everyone i've been with. Even some of the people where things ended badly I regret and wish we could still be friends. I know that's really not very common. I often feel like sex is a nice way to spend time with someone I like, without that relationship needing to be romantic. I guess platonic sex? Idk if that makes sense. I have some difficulty sometimes because most people don't think this way, so i have to occaisionally remind myself not to accidentally fuckzone a friend. It's certainly not without hurts and regrets. It hurts a bit when people end up in monogamous relationships and aren't interested in me sexually anymore. It's something i understand intellectually but don't personally experience, so it always feels strange. And i've had a few friendships that have fizzled out once we became sexually involved.
thanks for sharing. in retrospect, i haven't had very healthy experiences with sex in relationships*, so i'm not in a great position to pass judgment, but i appreciate your perspective.
sex stuff*
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first gf cheated on me with my family member, second cheated on me with her ex, third was emotionally/physically abusive and demanded sex regularly, fourth is asexual. guess i know how to pick 'em
I 100% believe you can and should seek a committed relationship if casual sex doesn't feel right for you. The bogus "men want to have casual sex all the time but women shouldn't want or initiate sex" stereotype is very harmful to both sides and you're right to question and refuse it.
Re: men pushing boundaries - i try to studiosly practice consent culture - no means no, maybe means no, yes means regular check ins to make sure my partner still feels good and safe and is having fun, and if they'd like to change or adjust anything - and i find it works great. Not everyone is mature enough or has a good enough grasp of consent to be ready for it, but when you're working with someone who can put aside all the bs about women having to be passive and coy or men having to be aggressive and spontaenious it can be wonderful. I've had a number of partners tell me that it feels good and safe when i ask them before touching or doing something new and check in regularly. And when my partners ask for something or need to adjust or slow down or stop it feels great because all the fear of misinterpretting an ambiguous or unclear situation evaporates.
I don't have to link, but i vaguely recall teen vogue has some good articles about how zoomers are encountering and navigating hookup culture these days. Might be worth a look.