Our island, based on how it is being administered, has a very bleak outlook for the future. Something must be done now to stop the continuing slide! Anguillians will have to shift gears collectively. If that is not done some of us could, unfortunately, find ourselves” back under the Blolly Tree” looking for a spot. That is something that cannot be allowed to happen again! The people of this country have to find a way to move forward. We have been stuck in this mode for a very long time. Perhaps we should consider the need for the application of some form of social engineering that could help steer us out of the present downward spiral. Finding the personnel here to carry out that process could be a real challenge – perhaps even a dilemma. We have been doing things the same way; singing the same tune; cherishing the same old thoughts; getting the same old result; and, in fact, going nowhere — yet we persist on going on in the same old failed manner! Can we make an effort to try something different?
It must be understood that the changes to be undergone will not happen miraculously. They will instead have to be initiated by “the powers that be”. Undeniably, to arrive into the twenty-first century, our thinking and social attitudes on various issues require that they be overhauled root and branch. The fact that political scientists and sociologists have been successful in changing attitudes and behaviour in countries like Germany, Russia and other European countries, is persuasive evidence that changes can come by using education and culture to reshape ways of thinking and acting. We likewise can try out new ideas deliberately and make efforts to do things differently in order to lead to the creation of a more dynamic and “forward looking” community.
First we must examine our thinking so that the negatives and positives can be identified and then use the power of the Legislature, and the influence of the people, to replace them with new laws and ideas and set norms that would force change to occur. The news media, particularly Radio Anguilla, can be used to deliver programs designed to counteract the acceptance of poorly held views while at the same time promote and advance modern and progressive ones. Tailor school programs that would focus on the importance and the role of the individual in our society for taking responsibility for making those steps that are progressive and promotional.
We must embrace and encourage better appreciation of our professionals and be willing to use their expertise as much as we are prepared to do with people of other nationalities. Also introduce programs to correct all doubts about the value of education. Apply all available means necessary to support and promote the importance of educated people and politicians particularly in a developing country such as ours. Tell of the extent of its benefits. Make it clear that the other narrower view adopts a stance that is quite foolish, backward and unhelpful. Therefore we should drive home hard – and vigorously enforce – the idea that learning is the most useful tool available to all searching for upward mobility and personal growth in any society.
The nineteen century English writer Mathew Arnold, in addressing the significance of education and culture said “all learning is culture” and stated further that culture can refine a man and reform a society. This island needs reform now. The AUF, along those who want societal change, must lead the fight for it. They should not back down when wrong ideas are being spread but should try to right them. Anguillians must become more engaged in political issues whenever they arise. Neither should they sit back believing that the only time their views can be publicly put forward is at election time – and that gossip is the best source of information. These basic attitudes must be altered because they are a deterrent to the advancement of good political thought and action. Simply because we know that it will not happen just like that, gives us the urgency to begin to engineer it now. This necessity cannot be denied or postponed much longer. If we continue to deny the reality of our situation we are effectively confirming our failures and, in the process, allowing ourselves to remain fixed in the past. This provides good reason why it is necessary to change our attitude and behavior.
Without going too far back some recent behavior tells why we are at this level of political awareness. We are experts in everything! The public response to most new projects bears that out: The loud and uninformed criticism showered on the recent re-construction of the airport; the construction at Flag; and the building of roads is evidence of behavior that holds us up from moving forward. People were critical of things they knew very little about.
When the Transshipment Program was in place there was no peace here. Everyone seemed to be on a feeding frenzy about it. Many offering their own reason why they disliked it and would be glad to see it stopped. They agitated over it until it was stopped. Once it was stopped the opponents were among the first to wish that it would be reinstated because they then began to realize that we had lost a valuable source of revenue. We lost it because some people thought that one of their countrymen, associated with it, was making too much from it. So to stop him from a good business opportunity everything else had to be stopped. The gains made by our countryman did not come from the pockets of Anguillians, but fromBRAZIL. Yet the attitude was to stop the project on the basis poisonous information and a bad attitude. Had the people of Anguilla not acted in such manner, chances are that even today we could still be drawing money from that source which would help to ease our tax burden. We would be generating easy revenue but we killed it.
Even the average man on the street positively impacted by the revenue from transshipment, made hostile arguments without knowing the basics of the issue. This behavior is standard and comes up everytime some new project happens here. When an Anguillian contractor got the job to build theWest Endmain road there was endless criticism and concerns, by everyone who could talk, with regard to his capability of building it. For most of them, it was the first time they had seen an asphalt road under construction from scratch. Again, when the airport was being reconstructed the expression “PCN” was bandied about by people who had difficulty distinguishing “PCN” from a car’s rear end, but they considered themselves experts on compaction and soil density. This type of attitude prevents real learning from taking place and allows ignorance to prevail. We must rid ourselves of such low level thought and quit the repetition of the behaviour it creates.
The hardships now endured should cause us to think of and accept the fact that we need to start to make changes and make them before anything else is done. Most important, do we have the personnel to start with? Where do we find them inAnguilla? When the political directory is checked only a few who ran last time meet the criteria. The list is short. This is a critical area because it is from the leadership that the average man expects certain attitudes and behavior. We therefore return to the hardcore question facingAnguilla. Should we be asking the leadership to work on a better future by making societal changes, or should we hang on to the same old unfiltered nonsensical ideas and non-productive ways? Ideas which they continue to promote without inspiring change. Under existing conditions, what is so compelling and desirable for a new piece of paper called a Constitution that only maintains the status quo?
The record shows that Mr. Victor F. Banks challenged the status quo when he introduced a task force on property and accommodation tax and initiated public consultation on highest and best use of land. He also, in a budget speech, told the House that further advancement and development required more monetary input from the people. Paying your own way! These efforts were set back largely by the Opposition’s attack on them thereby confusing the public on the merits of these worthwhile progressive ideas. Like in all organized communities, one day these ideas will be implemented here as we become more aware of their significance. It will not happen now! We will have to find more people as forward looking as Mr. Banks — because among the people who now run the country there are those with defective thinking on these issues.
The wannabe great young minds in the governing party have declared that, “all Anguilla needs now is one and a half more hotels”. Meanwhile, another leading light is the advocate of the idea that even in these modern times “you do not need to be educated to be a politician in Anguilla”. There may be some truth in the statement. However, most evidence reveals that education is a useful tool for anyone to possess particularly when operating at certain levels where common sense alone is not enough. Anguillians must remind themselves of the fact that the challenges we now face have always been with us.
We have to understand that to distinguish between the “House -slaves from the “Wood -slaves is divisive and is really unnecessary. Nothing good can come from that approach. It is old fashion talk being used in a period that demands tremendous changes in attitude and behaviour. That is sad because “there is so much good in the worst of us”.
