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Peter Josie is an inactive Saint Lucian politician and trade unionist. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 to 1982 and again from 1987 to 1997. He served as President of the Seaman and Waterfront Workers Union, the National Farmers Union, the Technical and Allied Workers Union. He was leader of the St Lucia Labour Party and the Organisation for National Enlightenment.


Career

Peter Josie was born in Vieux-Fort, the southernmost town of Saint Lucia. He attended St. Mary's College, the all boys' elite secondary school in Castries. He earned a bachelor's degree in Agronomy from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. Josie is the only surviving member of the St Lucia group of delegates which discussed and negotiated independence for St Lucia from the British Government. The firebrand leftist Peter Josie was an attendee at the famous but secret meeting of leftist minds on the minuscule Rat Island in 1970, which included members of Grenada's future revolutionary leadership. At the time governments weresuspicious of the motives of these new entrants into the political fray. So fearful were they that they banned the revolutionaries from entering several territories. In one such case, on 16 April 1970, S.R. Slater, the Minister of Home Affairs in St Vincent deemed Josie, together with other activists as Dave Darbeau, Geddes Granger (now Makandal Daaga) and Robert "Bobby" Clarke, to be a prohibited immigrant. He served from 1974 to 1982 as a Member of Parliament for Castries East on the ticket of the
Saint Lucia Labour Party The Saint Lucia Labour Party (SLP) is a social democratic political party in Saint Lucia. It currently holds 15 of the 17 seats in the House of Assembly. History The party was established in 1949, backed by the Saint Lucia Workers Cooperative Un ...
. He began his career as Minister of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries and then
Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...
. Josie was the
Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...
in the cabinet of
Winston Cenac Winston Francis Cenac Q.C. (14 September 1925 – 22 September 2004) was a civil servant and politician from Saint Lucia. He was the third elected Prime Minister of independent Saint Lucia. Life In 1952 he obtained the bachelor of laws of L ...
. After the ill-fated Labour Government fell, he led it unsuccessfully in the general elections of 1982. He continued with the party and won his seat as an MP for Vieux Fort South in 1987. He had originally entered the political sphere as a black power proponent and member of the St Lucia Forum, together with other well known political figures such as Hilford Deterville, Julian Hunte and
George Odlum George William Odlum (24 June 1934 – 28 September 2003) was a Saint Lucian left-wing politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Born in Castries, Odlum studied at Bristol University and Oxford University in the United ...
, which addressed mainly urban St Lucia on a new radical platform for St Lucia's development. It was with the latter he was always associated as they led an agricultural workers trade union and galvanised the then marginalised rural farm labourers. Josie was the perfect foil for the suave Oxford educated Odlum. Whilst Odlum deployed his oratorical skills laced with a command of sometimes stuffy but entertaining English, Josie was more direct making effective use of the widely spoken French Creole to sometimes telling incendiary effect. He was a major controversial player in the ill-fated Labour Party government which was riven by internal wrangling when it formed the government during the abbreviated term between 1979-1982. Odlum and Josie were to fall out in spectacular fashion as they acrimoniously parted ways before the fall of the government. He was thrown out of the Labour Party after campaigning against then leader Julian Hunte for the post of political leader. He switched allegiance to the ruling United Workers Party and became one of its two Ministers with responsibility for Agriculture. He failed to retain his seat in the 1997 General Elections. After the elections he formed a group, the Organisation for National Enlightenment, ONE which he would abandon in the attempt to form a National Alliance with his former arch enemies, John Compton and George Odlum. When this coalition floundered and the Alliance splintered he took to the hustings in 2001 and to make an impression in his old stomping grounds, Castries East on the platform of the National Front. He last appeared at the hustings when he campaigned for
Richard Frederick Richard Frederick (born 6 August, 1965) is a Saint Lucian lawyer and politician. He is the Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with Responsibility for Housing and Local Government. Fredrick made his debut in the 2021 Saint Lucian General ...
in the by-election of 2005 and the General Elections of 2006. On 11 February 2012 Josie launched his autobiography, Shattered Dreams at the Bay Gardens Hotel. Josie is now closely associated with the campaign of Allen Chastanet, both in attaining the leadership of the opposition United Workers Party and in becoming Prime Minister of St Lucia.


References

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Josie, Peter Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Members of the House of Assembly of Saint Lucia Deputy prime ministers of Saint Lucia Ministers of foreign affairs of Saint Lucia Government ministers of Saint Lucia Saint Lucia Labour Party politicians United Workers Party (Saint Lucia) politicians People from Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia