Independence and the Tribes

by Oscar Allen 12.SEPT.08

In April 1979, our mountain roared and spat and we shivered and huddled together in a kind of momentary unity. That year was a very memorable year. The sad thing is that we don’t remember it much. The August of that year, a new political party-alliance hit the road, ram jam with such persons as Parnel Campbell, Kenneth John, Ralph Gonsalves, Renrick Rose, Earlene Horne, Glenroy “Sulle” Caesar, Simeon Greene, Casper London, Oscar Allen and others who are now household names.{{more}} It was another eruption but this time it emitted mass hope – and elite fear.

And in December of that year there was a general election. There the shivering elite shared its fears and “bodow” with the vulnerable majority. Labour won. The new party gained one out of every seven votes but no seat. In South Central Windward, Messrs Offord Morris and Simeon Green triumphed over James ‘Son’ Mitchell and Ebenezer Joshua, respectively, two former leaders of the country. The old order was passing. Two days after the elections, Union Island erupted in gunshot and flames – the outcome of shattered hope. Later, Barbados troops landed in SVG almost like on CNN in Georgia!

It was in October of that “memorable” year, 1979, that we in SVG gained a Constitutional Independence from Britain. In a month, we will commemorate that constitutional birthday. At the time, in 1979, there was political bacchanal over independence. Milton Cato’s Labour Party behaved like a roughneck “elite” gang, seizing and occupying Government House and throwing titbits on the lawn for the groveling masses and aspiring middle classes.

Mr. Mitchell’s NDP said ‘No’ to Independence because, among other things, a Labour PPP Scheme had turned the Constitution into a comic strip when it placed Mrs. Joshua (of the PPP) as Leader of the Opposition in his stead. The PPP Leader was then a minister of government. For their part, Mr. Joshua’s PPP, by now, divorced from the Labour-PPP marriage, said ‘No’ to Independence because the Labour Government was hugging the process so tightly that he considered there was no public consent for the move.

The new August born party said an unqualified ‘Yes’ to Independence. They said ‘No’ to the ‘kidnap posture’ of the Labour party and – even before August – helped set up a National Independence Committee (NIC) to submit some really innovative proposals for the Constitution. ‘Nincompoops’ was what a Labour party spokesman christened the late Henry Williams and the NIC which he led.

At our constitutional independence, we were born, torn in tribal political pieces. It was a mess, and 29 years later it – political society – is still a mess.

As we approach October 2008, we have an opportunity to look ahead to reach forward to a more wholesome design for our nation-community. When we look at the facts in front of us, we know that a wholesome community is not the desire of the political tribal leaders. Especially when they are in office, the party/tribe leaders try to tell us that the tribe they personify is the best group in the nation, their tribe is best for the nation; their tribe really is the nation, so join them…or else. Tribal leaders will not break the tradition or cycle of piecing up the nation. It is other leaders, other people who must mend the pieces. That is the raw fact of the matter. The national turnaround that we need is the turnaround that we must want and we must make ourselves. That slogan: ‘One People, One Nation’ captures the spirit and the goal for our 29th Anniversary of Independence. Let us say an unqualified Yes to this theme and consider how we may make it real. Will you share your views with us – in the People’s Movement for change – as we move towards this goal: One People One Nation.