Let us not bury our heads in the sand

Are we, who inhabit this space that someone once called “Home of the Blessed,” aware of the extent to which this ‘rock’ that is our home, is sinking, metaphorically speaking, that is. But perhaps even literally, given the talk about climate change and its impact on small states! Our young people have no point of reference and maybe feel that this is how it has always been and will always remain. This is not to talk about the good old days that might have been good for some, but certainly not for many.{{more}} This obviously has not changed, for some are living in ‘glory’, while the majority suffers. I am not even going to talk about the economic situation, except to make two points. First, we cannot look at things in isolation, but must see them holistically, for all things interact at some point. Second, with regard to the economy more specifically, I am convinced that many of the ills that confront us today arise from the terrible economic mess in which most of us live. There is tension in the air and people react and take offense to every little thing and survival by any means becomes the order of the day.

Sadly, to start a conversation along these lines is to be pigeon-holed and accused of preaching gloom and doom. There is little debate, for anything that comes out of your mouth or from your pen consigns you to a place of dishonour in one of the political camps. We do not tolerate views that do not fit in with ours, since the expectation seems to be that we should sing from the same song sheet, regardless of the song. But the issues are serious ones and not to address them and to call them what they are is to bury our heads in the sand. As I write this column, I have before me last week’s Midweek edition of the Searchlight. The captions on the front page speak volumes: “Robbery trial witness shot dead at Campden Park;” “Police telling blatant lies – Keith Howard;” “US Marshals arrive with four shackled Vincentian deportees.” What I found strange about the story that accompanied the last caption was that the Commissioner of Police had no previous notice of this. What is going on here? Has everything broken down, even simple diplomatic courtesies?

The fact that there is little public conversation about the ills in our society conveys the impression that we have a ‘don’t care’ attitude and couldn’t care less. I refuse to believe this. I am of the opinion that there is great concern, even fright, about these developments, but we do not speak up. A couple years ago, one of our leading regional public servants indicated to me that we could not in SVG have the same freedom of speech as persons in Jamaica and he was referring particularly to the University of the West Indies. That was so crazy that I lost all my respect for that individual and stood in my boots and wondered. Was he speaking about size and suggesting, if you carried his argument to its logical conclusion, that persons in Jamaica did not have the same ‘freedom of speech’ as persons in the United States of America? In a sense, however, size matters. In countries like ours, with relatively small populations and limited land space, the state looms large. It is, as Hobbes might see it, a Leviathan. It is, the major employer and most of us find it necessary to bow to its wishes, regardless of what they are and how they are expressed.

The liberalisation of the media and the growth of the social media have opened up some space and more persons are speaking out and talking about issues in the society. This must augur well for the future for our ability to express our views and to comment on the issues of the day give us a kind of power that has meaning. The state, however, like an octopus, sends out its arm, attempting to grab anything that is within its way, which it considers the only way. What we have not fully understood or appreciated is that we empower the persons who run the state. In some cases, we even create them. Therein rests our power. The institutions that instill the values and prepare us to function in the society have always kept this a secret for they are part of the control apparatus and fear the hidden power that we possess.

A government is put in place to serve our interests. It is not there to do us any special favours, only to exercise the mandate that we have bestowed on them. Everything is done to stifle our power, even the way our education system is structured and operates. Today, once a child enters primary school, hanging over his head is the Common Entrance or whatever they would eventually call it. Similarly, there is CXC and CAPE. Teachers stick rigidly to their syllabuses, with the fear of not completing it, a major handicap. Students might develop skills in certain areas, but lack the tools for living and the mindset that should accompany that is missing. We have so much more to do with our education system before we can dream of calling it a “revolution;” but then, how many of us see it that way? Our society is becoming more complex. We are interacting in a world that we do not fully understand, because we are not provided with the tools to do so. So, our task is to become major players in our society, while understanding that global village of which we are a part. Let us pull our heads out of the sand!

Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian.