The tolerance which is the life element, the token of a free society, will never be the gift of the Powers That Be; it can, under the prevailing conditions of tyranny by the majority, only be won in the sustained effort of radical minorities, willing to break this tyranny and to work for the emergence of a free and sovereign majority – minorities intolerant, militantly intolerant and disobedient to the rules of behavior which tolerate destruction and suppression (Herbert Marcuse, “Repressive Tolerance”).
It is often said that he who owns the gold makes the rules. Given the situation, that may mean different things to different people but, in Anguilla, it simply refers to our own newly elected government. That being said, one would think that those rules would contribute to our own well being. That would appear to not be the case for, despite the fact that we were promised just about everything under the sun, we are still waiting. What we have seen is a total reversal of the promises that were made.
We seem to keep finding ourselves at a crossroad of sorts. Our government which the majority of us overwhelmingly elected is yet to live up to its promises. We consistently hear what they can’t do – never once, what they can and will do. That is not the way a government is supposed to function. A government’s job, first and foremost, is to look out for its people – do the things for them that they can’t do for themselves.
This government seems to be operating under the auspices of one man rule. And if we go back and study our history, we’ll find that the annals of history are littered with dictator types who had the audacity to adapt that same type of governance.
Prior to the election of 2015, the Mayor Show on KOOL FM ran a series of programs in an attempt to educate the general public as to what would and should be expected of all the candidates contesting the election. And while it was a noble effort on the show’s part, those efforts seem to have fallen on deaf ears. We are no better off now than when we started.
We have aligned ourselves with an organization which consists of member countries who contributed nothing to our well being. We are slowly being dragged back to a place that we fought to extricate ourselves from. We have in place a government that refuses to talk to the people a government that passes laws to satisfy other entities. A glaring example of this is the Banking Bill. This Bill while it may have one or two good aspects to it, in terms of conforming to international banking standards, compromises Anguilla’s sovereignty. It takes away the power from the Minister of Finance and gives it to the Central Bank with immunity. Are we that stupid to not see what this does? The Central Bank is now in charge of Anguilla’s finances. And, not only that – should they engage in any wrongdoing, they are immune from prosecution.
One would have to think that the recent lawsuit filed by the shareholders of the indigenous banks against the ECCB, and the Anguilla Government, has given the British Government cause for pause. We find ourselves in an untenable situation – one in which with the corporation of the British Government could easily be solved. So the question that begs to be asked is why haven’t the British Government stepped up to the plate? It is understandable that Britain has its own problems with Brexit, the proposed exit of the UK from the European Union and its implications, but they still have to deal with our situation.
Great Britain has to bear the brunt of the criticisms for Anguilla’s plight. They ignored us for so long, that when we finally threw a tantrum they had no choice but to come and see for themselves. Aghast at what they saw, they hastily threw a program together for us and then left us to our own devices to try and figure things out. We the people in turn found ourselves at the mercy of governments who may have thought they were doing the right thing, but nevertheless wound up looking out for themselves. Look around and the evidence speaks for itself. The British keeps talking about good governance, but they’ve done nothing to insure that it happened.
So here it is once more. He who owns the gold makes the rules. When we elected the AUF government it was thought that finally we had a government in place that would live up to our expectations: would fight for us, would dictate how things would be. Instead, they were the ones being dictated to. They gave up the gold, which turned out to be Anguilla’s sovereignty. We expected to hit the bricks running. What we seem to be doing is running in sand, quick sand.
It seems that we’ve lost the will to fight. The Anguilla of ‘67 would in no way accept the status quo today. But it’s our fault, for we say nothing and do nothing about our plight. Mr. Banks, who has just abdicated his Ministry of Finance to the Central Bank, is about to tax our people into submission. Why are we allowing our government to abdicate its job, in the Ministry of Finance, to control Anguilla’s monies and who, by all, accounts seem nonplussed. Marcus Garvey said: “A people without the knowledge of their history and culture is like a tree without roots.”
Our people seem to have forgotten our history and that is a reflection on us. We are being taxed and we have no say in it. We seem to forget the results of another law in which the people were being taxed without any representation. We remember the battle cry of “No taxation without representation.” Need I say more? Winston Churchill said: “He who does not learn from history is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.” Does this government truly expect to tax people who haven’t worked in years? Good luck with that. Does anyone in this administration have a clue? What Bradshaw couldn’t do in his lifetime, our very own government did with one stroke of the pen. I find it a bit ironic in that the ones who signed off on the amalgamation in secret, and the one who invited the Central Bank to come in, had nothing to do with our revolution.
So after all is said and done, after the exorbitant gratuities and pensions have been paid – here we are, the poor people of Anguilla, left holding the bag for the transgressions of a bunch of greedy miscreants who, even though their greed got us in this mess, now want to drive the final nails into our coffin.
In Mark 3:23, it says: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” So here it is folks, the 40% of us who can afford to pay our taxes will allow Victor’s folly to go forth. The remaining 60 % will probably lose everything they’ve ever had. None of this sets in until this resolution trust company comes in and tells you that have 90 days to make good on your loan, or they will start foreclosure procedures on you. This company will not give a damn about you or how long this property has been in your family. Understand, theirs is a business whose primary job is to make money, end of story. The Minister of Finance was being disingenuous when he said they will work with you.
The implications of what is about to happen will change the demographics of Anguilla.
Folks a ‘67 like effort is needed to combat the selling off of Anguilla. If we allow this to happen then it will have served us right. Tell you what. The way that elections happen in the future in Anguilla will be different. How much more tolerant can we be? He who owns the gold makes the rules. Well, we’ll just have to make sure who owns the gold. Selling off our properties is one thing. Taking ownership – now that’s an entirely different scenario! Enough is enough. Anguilla is not for sale, and especially not by foreigners. Until next time may God help us, for we are sorely in need of it.
