Die-hard loyalty kills:” /”The Emperor’s New Clothes”

I have long been speaking about our people having a serious conversation on our politics and development. I have on occasions identified articles which I believe should become a talking point especially as we get into the heart of what I continue to call the ‘Silly Season’.

I was particularly impressed with an article ‘Die -hard loyalty’ that appeared on IWN on 29 April, written by Daniel Burgin. I am not sure who Burgin is but based on the photograph that accompanied the article he appears to be a young person. I am not sure if he is currently residing in SVG, but he appears to have captured the pulse of VINCY. In fact, I was also quite impressed with earlier articles by him, but this one I consider quite timely and quite appropriate to the occasion. The second article with a subtitle “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is about the recent Trinidad and Tobago elections, written by a T+T based writer “with an interest in governance and political accountability.”

Burgin took his point of departure from a conversation he had with members of a Christian denomination and the mistreatment that an individual received but whose response was “I am never leaving.” This was the foundation of his article. He writes “… for 25 years many Vincentians have voted along family lines, out of habit rather than conviction. This neglects thoughtful analysis of the options being offered to make a decision truly based on who will best serve the needs of the country.” That approach he said, “has led to both stagnation and decline in many areas of governance and leadership across our island state. Independent institutions to him have vanished and infrastructural development appears to be tied to political convenience rather than long term benefit.

He bemoans the fact that “we refuse to hold our leaders accountable.” A result of this is that “the disease of blind die-hard loyalty has created a culture where unpatriotic activity is not only allowed but rewarded.” He argues that decisions, especially by senior public servants, are “motivated by political pressure rather than by devotion to their country and the prosperity of their people.”

The impact of all of this is “most tragically felt by our youth, arguably the least patriotic generation in recent history”. Worst of all these young people do not want to vote, work or even live in SVG. But he goes beyond the young people and is sharply critical of the silence of the “educated, travelled and experienced professionals who left our shores with promise, achieved great things, experienced much and returned home only to fall silent.”

Those voices “seasoned, insightful and powerful could steer the national conversation, challenge bad policy and disrupt complacency. But many have chosen comfort over confrontation.”

Burgin is prepared to speak truth to power; “The monolith of a figure that has been crafted over the past 50 years, first as a student, then a professor, parliamentarian and now prime minister, does not and never has transcended the ideal of what the blue, yellow and green represent. They speak to our collective identity. “But we have options, the option to change the status quo, to do things differently.” He asks, “Would we rather see ourselves in the same place in five years?”

Too easily, he suggests, we doubt the Vincentian spirit of innovation and perseverance that will push, despite the odds, to create different realities, bringing into the picture the “spirit of resistance and reinvention (that) saw Chatoyer, an indigenous Garifuna chief, defeat a colonial empire that possessed the world’s most advanced weaponry with strategy and unbreakable will. We are his descendants, and that power is within us.”

Of course, Chatoyer did not defeat the colonial empire but considerably delayed their thrust to create a slave society.

The author of the piece on the Trinidad elections uses the classic fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson to speak about the Emperor’s New Clothes.
“For years, T+T was told that all was well: the economy was stable, crime was being managed and under control, the institutions were democratic, transparent and strong. But like the emperor in the old tale, those in leadership wore invisible garments stitched from empty promises while the citizens were asked to applaud.”

“The 2025 election was that moment. It was the day the crowd which had grown weary, tired of being battered, and feeling disillusioned said: “You ‘re wearing nothing….The robes were no longer tattered. They were gone. The Crowd Could Not Pretend Anymore. And when general election day came, the nation and loyal PNM members, joined them in refusing to pretend any longer.”

For SVG, the silence of the experienced and educated professionals has allowed weakness to find strength as Vincentians “too easily doubt our spirit of innovation and perseverance” that will allow us to create ‘desired realities’ falling back on the spirit of resistance and reinvention with which Chatoyer held at bay for a long time a power with the most advanced weaponry. His is a call for action! Does the Emperor have new clothes?

•  Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian