National Joint Action Committee

The National Joint Action Committee is an active Nationalist political party in Trinidad and Tobago. It stemmed out of Geddes Granger (now Makandal Daaga) actions in the Guild of Undergraduates at the St. Augustine Campus of the University of the West Indies.

Granger was an undergraduate student (in his thirties) at the University of the West Indies. He took umbrage with the fact that most businesses in Trinidad at the time were owned by the white minority and employment practices were slanted similarly

NJAC contested General Elections between 1981 and 1991. It also gave rise to the National Women's Action Committee, the National Youth Action Committee and the National Action Cultural Committee. These bodies have been influential in cultural activities, most significantly in establishing the Young Kings calypso competition.



After several arrests of West Indian students by authorities in Canada following the occupation and destruction of the computer center at Sir George Williams University, on Thursday February 26, 1970 Granger organized a protest through Port of Spain - the capital of Trinidad & Tobago.The next morning, five members of the movement were arrested for disorderly conduct in a place of worship. Unfortunately for the authorities, the arrests publicized the group and their cause, and soon the group numbered around ten thousand, marching through the streets and chanting "Power, power!

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