One SVG, one Cary-Beyond

Ah was telling Lie-Za dat 40 years ago, ah young kaisonian name Fidel Taylor, wid de sobriquet “ Mighty Producer”, now ah born-again Christian and Gospel singer, appeared on stage at Lyric Cinema wid ah kaiso entitled : St Vincent could move!” De late, great Tanny Peters wrote dat song, Laden wid powerful lyrics foh de youthman, he got an encore and was picked to go straight to de “Big Yard”! He sang about planting and processing we own food, building factories etc.{{more}} On reflect-shun we had factories galore back den: two cooking oil factories, de Empire Cigarette factory, two Our-root factories, three soft drink factories, Campden Park industrial Estate wid de Flour Mill and SVG Containers were employing hundreds ah young people. Bulah’s was mekin fibre glass boats, CSY had ah fleet ah yachts, and of course, banana was king.

Ah told her we had two “ is-him,” Capital-is-him as in de UK and de USA; and Common-is-him as in Rush-her and Shine-her. Dey was no “one Shine-her” or “ Tie-One” to suck-up to wid our Red and Yellow begging bowl. Ah trying to avoid beating-up on Tie-One, de lesser of de two evils of Shine-her. But dey been spending money in SVG way dey’s nuttin to show. Lie-Za asking how much dey gave to de Min of Agriculture to combat de Black Sigatoka, dat dreaded Banana disease. What is de status of dat disease and our banana production? What ah waste! What about de fresh water fish and shrimps project? Dey did successful experiments wid fresh water fish and shrinps but never financed ah local fresh water fish or shrimp farm. Green Party Man, I-fan Own-eel constantly accusing Tie-One of pirating in fish on de high seas using Vincy Flags. Why can’t Tie-One teach us to fish in de high seas too?

Sadly though, even our all-lies de UK and de USA got de better of us. De UK drained us of our limited brain power and man-power too. Dat one-way trading wid we bananas. Remember shipping magnate van geest, he was van goose on arrival, but creamed off billions ah pounds sterling from our windward island bananas dat fattened him from van goose to van geest. De USA was and is all about de USA as well. Just imagine dey want to destroy de marie warners of SVG and not those of de USA. But appreciate de remittances coming from our loved ones in de USA.

What is eye-run-ache is while we roaming all over looking fo new friends, unfamiliar people, blanking our traditional friends, even our faithful Carry-Beyond near-bars in T’n’T and Bo-bathe-us. Were it not foh these two lickle Carry-Beyond countries, our bread-basket would dry and our humble farmers and traffickers would starve. Dat is why ah will beat me own drum in ah calm-pain foh ah One Carry-Beyond. Keep yuh One Shine-her and keep yuh Tie-One too. Ole people say “nutten foh nutten” dey all looking foh de same thing, self interest. But first, we need ah “One SVG!”

Yuh think is soft, after thirty-two years of NDP and ULP what do we have to show? Way de jobs foh young people, way all de factories gone? Way de promised improved Air Transportation dey? Doctor Draco has saddled us wid LIAT an Airline dat living up to its acronym “Leave Island Any Time.” Lie-za say dey fly when dey feel like and she heard talk bout fumigating de plane to get rid of cock-roach. Even cock-roach sorry foh how dey treating us, dey high-jack de plane. All joke aside, way is de Dial-Assist/Die-ah-nah-stick Centre dat began construct-shun de same time as de Argyle Airport. Way de sports stay-dum dey? Lie-za asking me if all those gimmickry Fan-Tom projects were not intended to trick us, mek Ralph Gone-Soft look good. Dat is why ah want no One-man Go-venom-mint, no One Shine-nah, no Tie-One, no One nutten. All ah want is ah One SVG and den ah One Caribbean!

LIVING WID DE STARS

Vincy Heat footballers did us proud. Yuh think it easy de mighty USA team players are permanently employed while Vincy Heat players are permanently un-employed. Secondly, Vincy Heat players stayed at Murray Heights, ah give it ah Two Star Ratings; de owner Murray is ah star and manager Clare is de other. On de other hand Team USA stayed at Buccama Resorts – Rated Five Star, wid de CEO Ames in hiding, its probably one star less! Jack Ass say dis world ain’t level.

WOLF TREATMENT

De senior citizens who went to pay dey bills at FLOW beg me to lodge ah protest. Ley me use Ralph phrase, ah lickle Pokey Place dealing wid hundreds ah customers on Monday. Some going to Lime , some to FLOW, to Columbus Communications, de place hot and stuffy, no seat foh de older folks to rest while dey wait on de long lines. It is totally disrespectful of FLOW. One hot, old lady say to spell de name backwards and say dey were given wolf treatment. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.