A new name for SVG? Provocative thoughts

A friend of mine, who wishes to remain under the radar, has offered me the privilege of sharing some thoughts he has developed on the name of our country, thoughts which he apparently has privately put to at least two prime ministers of these lovely isles of ours.{{more}}

I have tried to persuade him to publish those thoughts, but he has been reluctant to do so under his own name, so, as a willing subscriber to the ideas he has advanced, I am willing to take the rap, making his thoughts the subject of this column.

I do so with the full acceptance that to many of those in the forefront of national debate, only the emphasis on current-day issues seem to matter, a sort of “now for now” approach, and anything which requires deeper or more substantive thought is dismissed, considered as irrelevant. Yet, many of our challenges and problems are often rooted in our present constitutional framework, our political system and practices. This is why the constitutional reform process of 2003 – 2009 was so vital to our modernization and remains not only a great opportunity missed, but regrettably not even rued half a decade later.

It is in this context that my friend’s musings, in particular on the name of our country and its relevance to socio-economic development is so important. He says that he first started to think in this direction when our country began its transition to political independence. Readers would recall that, pre-1979, our country was simply called St Vincent, that name encompassing all the islands under our constitutional jurisdiction. Given the multi-island nature of our country and its single-island name, he began thinking of a “more encompassing and integrative name”.

At the time, leftist nationalists like me, influenced by the late Eddie Griffith, subscribed to the idea of adopting the name “Youlou and the Begos”, in keeping with our Callinago and Garifuna heritage. But, says my friend, he was ridiculed out of it by the political authorities of the day, though he claims that on hindsight that would not have been one of his preferred options, just as he did not support the current formulation of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Why? Let me quote him directly:

“So, what’s wrong with these names? Too long, to begin with…. I really see no merit in one of the smallest countries in the world having one of the longest names. And there are other drawbacks. Like Youlou and the Begos, the name St Vincent and the Grenadines maintains the “them-and-us” separation between the nationals inhabiting the island of St Vincent and those inhabiting the Grenadine islands. And to add insult to injury, the name by which all of the nationals are known, derives from the name of the main island, thereby imbuing those inhabiting the main island with a superiority complex.

“…Compensation for the divisiveness in the national name then has to be forced in the performance of the national anthem, with the result that three verses followed by a chorus need to be performed…our national anthem is among the longest for all national anthems. So, we are one of the smallest countries in the world, with one of the longest names and one of the longest national anthems.”

My friend also situated his renaming exercise in an economic context. He said that while reflecting on the SVG Tourism Master Plan 2010/20, he came across observations and prescriptions “…in relation to the seminal role played by destination branding in tourism marketing and the crippling extent to which tourism development in St Vincent and the Grenadines might have been, and apparently continues to be stymied by…an indistinct destination image and a weak brand of the country as a whole”.

He goes on to quote the draft Master Plan in saying that the Grenadines has “a more distinct image in the marketplace.” In other words, the tourism market recognizes the Grenadines, a part of the whole, more than St Vincent and the Grenadines as a whole.

Incidentally, he backs this up by reference to prominent Barbados businessman and investor Sir Charles “Cow” Williams, who in a recent magazine interview said, among other things: “For example, St Vincent and the Grenadines is in the process of building its own international airport and that will make the Grenadines hotter than ever. Global tourism trends are moving in pursuit of sporting passions like boating, golf and polo”. Clearly, my friend contends, Sir Charles sees the action as based in the Grenadines.

So, in conclusion, what would be a fitting name for our country and what are its advantages? My friend plumps for the name The Grenadines to cover our entire multi-island state. He points to other multi-island states with singular names such as The Bahamas, Phillipines, Seychelles and Mauritius, (I would add Indonesia), and as for the advantages, let’s end with this direct quote from him:

“A shorter name, an encompassing and integrative one. A name with a strong tourism destination branding. St Vincent would be just one island, like Bequia, albeit larger. A normal national anthem in performance length. One problem with all that, what would you call the people? The Grenadines is, however, but one more manageable alternative.”

What say you, dear reader?

Renwick Rose is a community activist and social com- mentator.