New Year’s greetings to all readers to this column and the Vincentian public as a whole. We are now into 2024 with all that it entails, old challenges and new situations requiring fresh approaches. It is important that besides the usual New Year’s resolutions we start the new year on a positive note.

In this regard, last week I urged the media, particularly state-owned ones, to be more positive in their serving of daily reports. In this regard, I must express my disappointment at the start that NBC Radio, “the station of the nation” took to the first news broadcasts for the year. It is true that we continue to experience problems with crime, particularly murders in the country, but what good does it serve to begin our first reports for 2024 with a report of a new murder or murders? Was there nothing positive that happened over the Old Year/ New Year that can inspire us that all is not lost so that we can start the new year on a positive note? We must neither hide nor ignore the negative, but how does it help us as a people when our focus remains on the negative?

Similarly, we as the general public must share in the blame.

Every bit of crime, murder, even rape, generates far more public interest than matters of national interest. There are people who seem to start each day with discussions and reports, not always accurate, about some negative development in our society. Indeed, in general, one can safely say that there seems to be more public discourse on the negative among us, and in the world, than on positive developments to make the world and its people a better place. We need to change our focus and UP OUR GAME!

NINE MORNINGS SUCCESSES

From all reports the 2023 Nine Mornings season was again a success with the rural Nine Mornings attracting more and more interest and participation. The relaying of rural activities on television and radio was particularly helpful in generating interest in rural activities and to underline the rich cultural heritage we still have residing in those areas.
The challenge is how to build on what has been achieved so far, to provide the necessary support and encouragement so as to ensure that not only is there development in those areas but that activities are spread to other communities as well. Nine Mornings is a potential goldmine not only on a cultural level but potentially on an economic level as well. It must be carefully nurtured and developed. Particular attention should be paid to extending the Nine Mornings tentacles to the Grenadines and to the potential tourist market there.

CUBA’S 65 TH ANNIVERSARY OF ITS REVOLUTION

As we celebrated, along with the rest of the world, the start of the new year, the people of Cuba marked the 65th anniversary of their historic revolution which triumphed on January 1,1959 ushering a new world not just for the people of Cuba, but for the world as a whole. There have been many revolutions, come and gone in most instances, but it would be fair to say that in a modern context no other has had quite the global impact as the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

There are many explanations but the appeal of a young leadership willing to challenge the old powerhouses in what was then still a colonial world was an important part of this appeal. The bearded non-conformist appearance of its leadership, the open challenge to the might of the United States, and the willingness to take on the overlords who ran the country and to insist on the right of the Cuban people to independent decisions, to fight injustice and inequality, appealed to hundreds of millions of people in the then colonial world, even in our tiny country.

Much water has flowed under that revolutionary bridge since then, and many experiments in revolutionary government, including the painful one in our neighbouring Grenada, have come and gone but Cuba has somehow managed to keep its head high. It has not been easy, however. The implacable hostility of the USA has manifested in constant pressure on Cuba- militarily and economically. Since 1959 the USA has fought wars in South-east Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos),
Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and the Balkans. In spite of that, it today engages in political, diplomatic, trade and financial relations with these former “enemies.” Some even enjoy “most favoured nations” status. Not so Cuba, however. In spite of the opposition of the vast majority of nations in the U.N. family, the USA continues to employ an economically- crippling embargo against Cuba.

So, the 65th anniversary meets the Cuban government and people with serious challenges. Worse, the world today is a far changed world to that of the heyday of the Fidel Castro generation. The vast majority of Cubans today never experienced pre-revolution life. Additionally, today people as a whole are less willing to endure sacrifices, less receptive to the sacrifices endured by past generations.

New approaches to social and economic challenges are constantly needed. So is the need for greater solidarity with the Cuban people. As we offer our congratulations and best wishes, so too must we renew our solidarity and support.

Renwick Roseis a community activist and social commentator.