On the eve of the celebration of the forty ninth anniversary of Anguilla Day, our country is divided. So divided, that there has been a call to boycott the Anguilla Day celebrations. The Honourable Chief Minister has referred to this request as blasphemous. In my opinion it is downright shameful. Is it beyond us to put differences aside to honour and remember the heroes and heroines who made sacrifices for the betterment of our country? Is it too much to ask that we lay aside our bitterness and anger to celebrate one of the most important milestones in our development? Are we so divided that we cannot find it within ourselves not to denigrate the legacy of “unity, strength and endurance” that has been bequeathed to us? How ironic that at the time when we should be honouring those who have put country above self, we have decided to put self above country and allow our own personal opinions, hatred and resentment to dishonor our national celebration.
It is a basic truism that a country divided cannot stand. I believe our forebears recognised this when they coined Anguilla’s motto “unity, strength, endurance” because, if you think about it carefully, all these qualities are interdependent. In the context of a country, one cannot exist without the other. Unfortunately, it seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy when, somewhere along the line, the word “unity” was removed – leaving only “strength and endurance” as our country’s official motto. Anguilla is now a country where we seem to thrive on discord. No situation has made this clearer than the current banking resolution.
Let me make it abundantly clear that if the people of Anguilla are concerned about the banking resolution, they have every right to make their concerns known to our Government. They have a right to present those concerns in a constructive manner and to demand a response to their issues. If there are considerations our people believe have been overlooked by Government, those should also be shared and efforts made to assist Government to devise alternative solutions. That is what democracy is all about: putting country above self. I support the people’s exercise of their democratic right to march to the Chief Minister’s Office to register their dissatisfaction with the Government’s chosen resolution to the banking crisis.
What concerns me is when democracy becomes destructive. This can happen more easily than one may think. Democracy becomes destructive when the exercise of democratic rights is based on being reliably ‘misinformed’; when those exercising the right have been struck by the “Pied Piper” syndrome rather than coming to their own independent conclusion; when those in positions of standing in the community abuse the trust placed in them by using their influence and intellect to misguide others with innuendo and propaganda, and stir up their emotions by feeding their fears; when persons are so overcome by negative emotions that they become irrational and incapable of understanding or accepting another perspective; and simply when the motive for the exercise of the right is itself destructive. From my observations of the events that have been unfolding in Anguilla, I believe Anguilla is at the stage where democracy has become destructive so much so that there have been suggestions of violence.
However, Anguilla Day presents an opportunity for us to reverse this. This day is a tangible reminder of what we can achieve when we stand together as a nation. It is a reminder of how far we have come and a call for us to continue to press on and build on our legacy. To do this, we must become a country of builders. We must seek to build ourselves as a society of educated people, not just in the formal sense but in that we search for the truth for ourselves rather than accepting what the rumour mill says. We must also seek to build our country by supporting our duly elected Government and, if we cannot do that, by offering constructive criticism and alternatives. We must recognize that our political posturing and bruised egos are not the building blocks for a better Anguilla and must be cast aside so that Anguilla can progress. Each of us must be a builder if this country is to stand. Otherwise all of us will perish. My appeal to all of us is that we press onward to fulfil the dream that our revolutionary heroes and heroines had for Anguilla: a nation proud, strong and free. Onward and upward.
