As official plans continue for the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution later this month, Chief Minister, Mr. Victor Banks, has expressed surprise over the disinterest and criticism being shown by a number of detractors.
Speaking on the Governm
ent’s radio programme on Tuesday, May 9, the Anguillian leader had this to say: “I am a bit surprised about the kind of reaction I heard on the various radio stations not directly, but reported to me, about concerns that people would have raised. I heard they raised concerns about the amount of money being spent on the celebrations. I don’t think the Government is spending enough money, to be quite honest. Fiftieth Anniversaries only happen every fifty years and, in a small nation like Anguilla, we have to use this opportunity to punctuate and accentuate where we have come from, where we should be going and where we are. These are issues that we have to let people know.
“Fifty years is a long time. During that fifty years, children – have been born who now have children and actually have grandchildren who were not a part of the Anguilla Revolution; were not around to experience certain aspects of the Anguilla Revolution, and it is important for our young people to be able to rally around the cause of that struggle and be able to celebrate what has been achieved. We need our young people to understand what those fifty years were all about; the vision of the early stalwarts of the Revolution.
“We have just commemorated the life of the Honourable James Ronald Webster, and his efforts in that regard, and I think that a number of persons were very proud about the way that his life was celebrated – and the efforts we made to make that an important symbol in his history. It did not emerge by any official declaration that he is the “Father of the Nation”, but the people have demonstrated that this is the kind of stature that they want to accord to him. There is nobody else in the Revolution who was a part of that effort, and who can demand that kind of label that the Honourable James Ronald Webster [has been given].
Mr. Banks went on: “Revolutions happen around the world; some are violent; some non-violent; there are some where a lot of blood was shed, but we had a Revolution where it was not necessarily completely bloodless given incidents that occurred, but there was no loss of life as a consequence. We were able to achieve something that, if we were more versed in the issues related to issues of treason and rebellion and so forth, a lot of persons would not have participated in June 10th 1967 when a group of guys went to St. Kitts to overthrow the Government. That was an act, when looking back at, you wonder what were they thinking? But it was an indication of how strongly people felt about the action they were taking…
“I heard people saying we have nothing to celebrate; we have not achieved anything in the fifty years. It is either that they don’t want to know, or they don’t know where we came from and where we are today.”
The Chief Minister took the opportunity to mention a series of achievements over the years, pointing to the fact they would not have been possible without the Anguilla Revolution. He encouraged all persons on the island to join in celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution and participating in the various celebrations.
