THE DRUM (‘The Heartbeat and Tempo of the Dominican People’) was a newspaper which was published in the Commonwealth of Dominica from December 1982 through March 1984. Here, we intend to re-create as much of it as possible in a responsive and searchable format so that THE DRUM may be properly archived for future generations.
So far, the only complete pages that we have been able to locate are the front pages of the first and ninth issues, thanks to the Dominica Library & Information Service.
Anyone who has any additional information about this newspaper or is able to provide copies, photographs, or scans of any pages should kindly contact us at research@thedrum.news
THE DRUM was published by Y.M. Hamid, who was previously the emir (امیر: commander, leader, prince) of the Islamic Party of North America.2 Unlike the previous decade’s Al-Islam: the Islamic Movement Journal,3,4 THE DRUM was not a tool of da‘wah (دعوة: proselytism in Islam); instead, it was primarly political in nature. The newspaper promoted itself as non-partisan and unaffiliated,5,6 but it was also a much-needed counterpoint to the political right. At the time, the Freedom Party had a strong hold on Dominica’s politics,7 and the nation’s leading newspaper The New Chronicle was widely viewed as nothing more than a media mouthpiece for the government.8,9 But in response to the accusation that THE DRUM was an agent for the opposition parties, the publisher re-iterated that they reported from all sides, and that ‘in doing so we accept being characterised as opposition and controversial, because neither conflicts with being independent’.6
1. ‘The Drum in Suspension’. The New Chronicle, June 22, 1984, p.2.
2. ‘The IPNA’, from The Expansion of African-American Muslim Movements beyond the United States, by Philipp Bruckmayr.
3. ‘Publisher's comments’. Al-Islam, volume one, winter [issue] one, number one, p.4.
4. The Decisive Solution, by Muhammad Shareef bin Farid, p.123.
5. ‘Publishing policy’.The Drum, volume one, number one, p.1.
6. ‘The Drum Denies Allegations’. Barbados Advocate, August 27, 1983, p.3.
7. The Dominica Story: A History of the Island, by Lennox Honychurch, p.274–275.
8. Islands of the Commonweath Caribbean: a regional study, edited by Sandra W. Meditz and Dennis M. Hanratty, p.285.
9. A Rain of Stones, by Gabriel J. Christian, p.16.
Universal declaration of human rights Article 19. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression: this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Remember - Democracy only has value to the degree that people are free and feel free to practice democracy without fear.
