Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first. Nationalism is when hate for people other than your own comes first. Those words spoken by Charles De Gaulle are as true today as they were when he first uttered them in 1967. Author George Or well defines patriotism as loyalty to one’s country and guiding principles. Conversely, nationalism, he felt was an idea for individuals obsessed with the acquisition of power. And while the two are often confused and thought to mean the same thing, there is a vast difference. Several weeks ago, the city of Detroit cut the water supply to over 300,000 mostly low income residents for non-payment of their water bills, an act that impacted mostly blacks and other minorities.
Comparatively speaking, it would appear that we are that much worse off than the citizens of Detroit. At the very least, they have the option of getting caught up and having their service restored, while we are left with an archaic system that is incapable of producing enough water to meet the island’s needs. I use Detroit to show what happens when government or, as in Detroit’s case, lack of government, for whatever reason, becomes dysfunctional. The situation in Detroit bears a striking resemblance to the one facing us though, in their case, there are right wing machinations, scheming action, intended to accomplish some usually evil end at work. While we each have options, theirs look a lot more promising. We not only didn’t pay our water bills, we sat back and let General Electric dismantle their equipment and leave. How is this at all possible? That our government could allow something this draconian to occur on its watch is totally unforgiveable.
I was struck by a letter to the editor, in last week’s edition of The Anguillian, entitled “Say one Say Two” in which the author was very clear in illuminating what is going on in our lovely island. The letter further highlighted the need for checks and balances as was so eloquently articulated by retired justice Don Mitchell a few weeks ago. The author seemed to have a finger on the pulse of Anguilla. In the letter, several topics were touched upon – topics that I think we ought to pay attention to.
It is obvious that we are being exploited on every front. We have a government that’s embroiled in petty politics, while the place is falling apart. The CM instead of doing the job, for which he was elected, has to make apologies to those persons whom he wronged. We act as though we have no skin in the game, where instant gratification becomes the norm. We have become our own worst enemies. We act as though we’re babes in the woods, as though we don’t know any better. That ship has sailed. “He, who knows better, does better.” Can we honestly say that we don’t know any better? Are we really that inept that we have allowed the mismanagement of our resources to the extent that we have? Who’s minding the store? Bob Marley, sang “each one teach one.” What has happened to us? Are we just satisfied to sit back and let everyone come to our shores and relegate us to second-class citizenship? Is that what 67 was all about? How did this all happen? After all, it takes two to tango. Everyone is entitled to make a buck, but the laws under which you make that buck have to be adhered to. So, who’s responsible for this mess? The local entrepreneurs who fronted for these folks, or the unscrupulous politicians who willingly approved work permits and business licenses?
The fact that we went from castoffs of an empire to being one of its crown jewels, make us very attractive indeed to visitors and investors alike, and we need both to compete in a 21st century global economy. And if we’re to do so, we must change our ways. First and foremost we must look out for our own. Anguillians first, for the bible says, in Mark chapter 7:5, to “remove the beam from your own eye, before you can remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Do we not get it? When do we retire our crab in the barrel mentality and start uplifting each other?
Before this wave of foreign businesses, we patronized our homegrown merchants. Albert Lake and John Proctor are two that come to mind. Many of the beautiful homes and villas that dot the shoreline of our country were built with materials purchased from Lake and Proctor. We no longer patronize these stores the way we once did because we can now get the materials for less at the mega stores, much to the detriment to our local merchants. Just what did we accomplish by granting all those work permits and business licenses? I can recall what they used to call us when we went to distant shores in search of a better way of life. We were called ‘garrots.’ The dictionary defines ‘garrot’ as a greedy bird that takes all it can and leaves. Are we seeing our foreign compadres as garrots? Are they giving back to the country? You decide then if they meet the definition of ‘garrot.’
At the risk of being redundant, let me repeat that old Turkish proverb of: “It’s not the fault of the axe alone, but the tree as well.” All of us, I suppose, ought to shoulder part of, if not all of, the blame. It’s not just the AUM, but the AUF as well. We stood idly by and let the Carillon Construction Company and the Flag project recruit foreign workers from as far away as China and India, pay them slave wages, and then had the temerity to house them concentration camp style in our beloved Anguilla, not long separated from an uncaring central government. And that we could even contemplate allowing such an environment to exist, in our midst, boggles the mind. Didn’t anyone find anything wrong with this? Were we that anxious to give away the shop that we would turn a blind eye? Somewhere I read that “where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise.” That presupposes that we just didn’t want to know what was happening, and so we looked the other way. If that’s indeed what happened, then shame on all of us and a pox on all our houses.
We now find ourselves at a juncture, one in which we have to give much thought about which way to go. We have so many problems for which we need to find solutions, that anything short of an all out blitz will be nothing but child’s play. We have to be divergent thinkers who will find a way to generate many possible solutions, solutions not previously considered, instead of two or three limited choices. We have to be thinkers who have open minds and who dare to see how far they can go. We need a government with that mindset that will roll up its sleeves and begin to get things done. All we’ve seen thus far are the things that are wrong with this slice of paradise, and it’s time that we hear some of the things that are right with us.
It boils down to simply this. Until we are willing to speak the truth without fear of reprisal, we will continue to be a third world country, just one cut above a banana republic. We have untapped resources with no way of utilizing them. We have fishing boundaries, the likes of which are the envy of our neighbors. We have leaders who are satisfied to throw up their hands and do nothing. We may not have the wherewithal to make the investments, but we need sensible and knowledgeable leadership surrounded by a cadre of cabinet ministers who are divergent thinkers, able to make suggestions and recommendations on how to partner up with NGOs and other organizations and make things better for our people. Just over the weekend we saw what is possible when you invest in your people: when Germany won the World Cup of Soccer. They had the foresight, the will, to invest in their young people and what the world saw was the culmination of all of those efforts. It is incumbent upon us, as a country, to do the same for our young people – not pay them lip service as the CM did with: “things are hard right now and we don’t have any jobs to give you, but we want you to train so that in the event these jobs materialize, you’ll be ready to acquire them.” Who is he kidding?
We have to bite the bullet and make the necessary sacrifices. The money that we waste duplicating services that we don’t need, the funds that we can’t or won’t collect from those establishments that owe us, the globe trekking and free spending forays by our non-elected cabinet members, the fees for highly questionable work, need I go on? We can find the money. It will simply require us to tighten our belts and get our priorities right.
Right now we seem to be heading in a circular motion, like a dog trying to catch up with its tail. We, time after time, return the same political hacks to office, so what do we expect. Until we take action, nothing will change. My brothers and sisters, change doesn’t just happen. It comes about when we the people demand it. When we thought that the foreign workers to which I earlier referred, were given a raw deal by their employers, we marched in their support. When was the last time that we marched on our own behalf? If we are satisfied to sit on our rear ends for another seven months with a government that does nothing, then I suppose things aren’t as bad as originally thought. But if you are tired of not knowing what will become of your money, of not knowing whether or not you will be able to hold on to your property, of not knowing whether or not you will be able to send your child away to college, of not knowing whether or not the electricity and water bills will be paid, then: damn it, do something.
One more day of this government is one day too many. Chief Minister Hughes, it would be quite a stretch for anyone to conclude that you have always had Anguilla’s best interests at heart. You sir, more than any other politician, have had more opportunities to leave a lasting imprint. Last year, on the Methodist Church grounds, it was alleged that you said that Anguilla was lost and there wasn’t anything you could do about it. Based on your actions, or lack of, one is inclined to believe you: our lowered credit rating, the banks takeover, the constant fights with the British, and the constant bickering with just about everyone, period. Isn’t it ironic that you, of all people, opposed our break with St. Kitts, and you sir, in the presence of Mr. Ronald Webster, the Father of the Nation, referred to our Revolution as a skirmish, and to Mr. Bradshaw as a great man? Isn’t it funny then that our little skirmish has allowed you to live in a manner that, without which, would have kept you in England where you could truly fight with the British? You have, at every turn, denigrated us as a people, the very same ones for whom you took an oath to serve.
So here it is: more than 400 years ago, the British parliament attempted to govern after its term had expired. It was kicked out by the actions and words of Oliver Cromwell. He told them: “You have sat for too long for any good you have been doing lately.” He told them as we are telling you and your cabinet now: “Depart, I say and let us have done with you. In the name of God…Go!” Or, in the words of a fellow West Indian, the Mighty Sparrow: “Take your Georgie bundle and leave and go, don’t come back no more.”
Whether or not you’ll heed the words of Oliver Cromwell or Sparrow remains to be seen. Our people are hurting, crying for leadership. Let’s give it to them. Collect your severance pay and call early elections. You owe us that much. Think of what the history books will have to say when your chapter is written. Have a heart and do the right thing. In the meantime, may God bless and keep us, and may God continue to bless Anguilla.
