“Where was’t thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare if thou has’t understanding” (Job 38:4).
Not even Shakespeare could have conjured up what is happening in our beloved Anguilla. I am once again truly amazed by what has and continues to happen in my country. From the recent mortgaging of the futures of generations to come, to the most recent brouhaha over the recent appointment by the institute which calls itself the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
In that we are supposed to be a Christian Nation, the FCO should have expected some form of objection to their latest appointment, given the controversial nature of it. Anguilla is presently mired in a death spiral that no one seems to know how to get out of. The fact that we are unfocussed on the things that matter, while we focus on issues over which we have little or no control, is absolute lunacy.On Tuesday the 6th of September, after an extended holiday, our esteemed Chief Minister proposed to borrow $22 million US dollars, $59 million EC dollars, from the Caribbean Development Bank, with really no prospects in sight and a way to repay the loan and, not only that, he proposed additional taxes down the road.
It is true that we are one of the most diverse countries in the world – all one has to do is take a look at our Diaspora. We remember when everyone opened doors to us. What have we turned into of late are a people who have turned out to be both homophobic and xenophobic zealots.
It is both unimaginable and hypocritical to see the way we behave toward those who are unlike us. It appears that our priorities are out of whack. We are being taxed to the nines and what do we do? We are up in arms because of the latest addition to Her Majesty’s Government.
It is difficult to believe that we are the same people who stood by and turned a blind eye on the illegal gambling and prostitution that exist on this island today. We are the very same people who stood by and did nothing when Victor stole our two indigenous banks, the same ones who objected most strenuously to the new zoning laws that were being proposed, so much so that the same AUF government shelved the laws because it wasn’t politically prudent. Laws that would have curtailed the restaurants, who set up shop, complete with liquor license across from an elementary school. We shut our eyes to the Dominicanas and the Venezuelans being smuggled by the boatload into Anguilla’s whorehouses. Where was’t thou when all of this was going on?
It is understandable that because we profess to be a Christian Nation, certain actions will have to be taken, but when we turn a blind eye to all the unsavory stuff that’s going on, and then you come out against one thing that you perceive to be blatant, then that’s the height of hypocrisy.
All of you who would ban those with an alternative lifestyle from the island ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You can’t cherry pick the causes that you want to defend. There are errors of omission and there are errors of commission. What we have just done with our opposition to the new AG was to show our true colors. What we’ve also done is to lose focus on what’s truly important to us.
Our island moves from one train wreck to another. On a day when Victor borrows $22 million US from the Caribbean Development Bank, we are up in arms over something over which we have no control. When we attack an opinion in the local paper, and then go on the radio and make the most inflammatory statements with regard to the gay community, then we are treading on dangerous ground. Today it’s the gay community, who will it be tomorrow? People with unlike pigment?
Ayn Rand said: “The smallest community on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.” Martin Niemoller, a German priest during the Third Reich, penned a poem entitled “First They Came.” The poem mentions several groups, among them gypsies, homosexuals, communists and Jews. The last verse is memorable in that it says: “Then they came for the Jews and I said nothing for I wasn’t a Jew; “Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak up for me.”
This was an unforced error. It puts Anguilla on the international stage as if we don’t already have enough problems. Instead of us paying attention to what Victor is doing, we are worried about the lifestyles of others.
We are fighting for our lives here and it’s not just this government who has to shoulder part of the blame. They will get the brunt of it for they are the ones in power and, like the previous one, promised to make things right. That they haven’t done so should not be lost to anyone. The question that’s stumping everyone right now is, what do we do? We are the ones who hired this government, and when it ceases to function then it’s time for it to go.
What we have seen from this government is sheer arrogance, but then we knew that a tiger doesn’t change its stripes. Our efforts are now misguided. We are expending our energies on the wrong things. I understand that the clergy is upset over the appointment of the AG and they have every right to be, but take it up with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The appointment was probably not a spur of the moment commission.
Gentlemen, I could go on and on, but you get my drift. You have sat around for far too long doing nothing. You turned a blind eye to a lot of wrong doing, by both the government and the people, and now all of a sudden you are up in arms over something that you can’t control.
Right now, we are a seriously wounded people and from the look and sounds of things it will not get better anytime soon. Our anger is misdirected and it benefits the government in power – for as long as the onus is off of them, they get a coast for a few more weeks. Our CM talks about sacrifice and compliance, something that he knows very little about.
We continue to struggle to make ends meet while he and his cronies go traipsing off, to wherever, at our expense.
Folks, we are in one hell of a mess. We just arranged to borrow money that we won’t be able to repay. We are threatening to ban gay people from Anguilla. And our government has warned us that we can look forward to more taxes in addition to the 150% property tax increase that is already on the books. They are asking us to make sacrifices and to be compliant, while they continue to live high off the hog. We are all hypocrites who stand by and watch the house burn down while trying to decide what color to paint it.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Let us put our heads together – not AUM heads or AUF heads or DOVE heads, but Anguillian heads – for until we do that we aren’t going anywhere. It is the only way for us to get there. Let us stop crawling on our economic bellies. Let us get up off the floor and use President Barak Obama’s 2008 war cry: Si se pueda. Yes we can. With all of us pulling in the same direction, with the wind of ’67 behind our backs, no one can stop us. So till next time, may God bless us all and may He continue to bless Anguilla.
