Ah went to de animal farm

Ah got ah confession to mek and is dat up until last weekend ah couldn’t figure out which way de country going. Yuh see years ago ah read ah book on So-shall-is-him called “Ujamaa” or “Familyhood” by President Julius Nyere of Tanzania. Nyere believed dat So-shall-is-him was de answer to Tanzania’s problems. He firmly believed dat de traditional values and ways of life of de rural African people were itself ah brand of So-shall-is-him, and what was needed was to get his people to return to dey traditional way of life, under ah policy of collectivization in de country’s Agricultural System, ah kind ah share-cropping, fish foh corn, swap-labour etc. It turned out dat even though de Ujamaa Movement was made up of more dan three-quarter ah de rural population, dey produced less dan ten percent ah de national Agriculture output.{{more}} Ah six year drought hit de country dat moved from de largest exporter of Agricultural products to de largest importer. De E-con-army dropped, de country got involved ah war wid Idi Ahmin. Tanzania soon fell into de IMF claws and we all know what dat mean. In spite ah all ah dat ah liked Nyere and his Rural and Agricultural Transformation and ah felt den, dat maybe we should go So-shall-list one day.

Dey’s lots ah talk, intimidation and otherwise dat Gonsalves is Common-is, Social-is and even ah Dictator in de making, so ah keep asking me-self, way on de globe is dis man Guns-all-his going? Last weekend ah finally decided to tek de wife add-vice to get ah copy ah de book “Animal Farm” and she insisted dat dis book bound to help me. Believe me it did! And ah inviting anybody who want to get ah peep into way going on, to buy ah copy ah George Orwell’s book. De book was written in 1945 and Orwell’s sole purpose foh publishing his work, was to let people know de truth about Common-is-him and Dictate-ah-ship; how truth is twisted and distorted to suit ones’ own purpose. Animal Farm is not ah Non-see Story, but ah fable, full ah sat-higher about events during and after de Russian Rev-all-yuh-shun of 1917, only in dis case de writer used animals as his characters.

Ah simple story way de Animals on ah Farm rebelled, chase away Mr. Jones de owner and set up dey own De-muck-we-see wid Comrad Napoleon, de boar Pig in charge of ah Piggy Guv-ah-mint. Another Pig, Squealer was appointed de Comrad’s spokesperson, his spin doctor, whose job it was to explain and justify all changes, good or bad, made on de Farm, in Guv-ah-mint circles, Squealer was Napoleon’s press secret-three. But in order foh de Comrad to have his own way, he had to get rid ah Snowball, de only man sorry, de only Pig most likely to challenge him. So Snowball got exiled like Star-key John and Ken Boy-yeh! Lie-Za say, poor Ken he is inundated daily wid phone calls, begging him to come back to de Farm to run in Central Kingstown.

Den dey’s de Comrad’s body-guards, de Pit Bulls who had to be fed wid special food from de Gravy Train, and thru-out de book, dey always surrounded Comrad Napoleon, forming ah human shield, ready to “Die foh de Comrad”! Sounds familiar? Talking bout changing laws overnight like imposing ah dollar tax on Grenadines people, and every member on de Guv-ah-mint side supported it with justification, yet ah lickle over ah year after, de PM comes back and say he removing it because ah ole lady tell him to. But no one commented, things like all ah dat dey in de Book, Animal Farm. Our PM presented ah deficit budget and every member ah Par-liar-mint got dey singing praises and lauded de I-dare of running de country into further Death! “Death is ah good thing, Mr Speaker” says Jerrol Thompson. Read de Book written fifty years ago.

Not fully satisfied wid his Dictatorial powers, Napoleon declared de Rebellion ah Republic, dey was an election foh leader, of course he was de only nomination and automatically became El President!

More pressure was brought to bear on de other animals, Wuk hours almost doubled, de fowls were instructed to lay more eggs and de cows more milk to feed de pigs and de dogs, and any dissenting voice was charged foh Lie-bill or Treason like Matthew and Ordan, jailed or killed! Whenever things went wrong on de Farm, de blame was placed on de other side, de exiled Snowball.

Space won’t allow me to go thru de book in one article, but suffice it to say dat ah was able to draw some parallels between de Dictatorship on de Farm and some ah de going on in our Caribbean Civil-lie-say-shun, SVG didn’t get exempt-shun.

Man Ah Went To De Animal Farm, all de Beast and de birds were there, Ah saw way master Willie (de Pig) develop into ah Dictator and ah swear ah was in Vincy. Ley me sound ah note ah caution though, Arm-in is not Prime Minister, well not yet, but already, when ah listen to de praises in support of his scholarship and E-can-ah-mek brilliance, ah seeing ah lot ah Squealers and Pit Bulls developing, all yuh please chill, we nah want foh go from one Nah-pull-e-on to another Nah-pull-e-on! And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.