AS IT IS with all islands like ours, political talk is never far from the surface. But the murmurs always turn somewhat louder any time a general election appears closer. Anguilla is no different from the many islands around us.
In recent weeks, I have been listening a lot to the comments of our young people about their own dreams and aspirations, and their expectations – and in many cases lack of expectations – about the ability of the political process to speak to them. Their verdict has been unflattering.
We have both inherited and perpetuated a system that has turned off a lot of our young people. And crucially, at this juncture of our development, it is important that we find ways to get them interested again – and to get them engaged. This is crucially important especially because every generation of young people potentially brings their own bright ideas to the table of national discourse.
If we were honest with ourselves, the turn-off with the politics as we know it, and as we practice it, is that it has not been transformative enough. We consistently fail to trade in big bold ideas; and we do not adopt attitudes and policies that will empower the next generation. Instead of reaching for new frontiers, our default position is to hark back to the past.
We easily throw out insults, instead of ideas. And all of us, at the frontlines, have all been guilty to some degree. And this state of affairs has led me to the question: what are we doing to this generation – and what are we doing for the next?
Therein lie the fundamental questions which, if we do not address them, in an open and creative way, will result in our losing the attention of a whole generation – and, in doing so, losing the ability to reinvent our society and to use and enable its people to build sustainable communities.
I have been in parliament long enough to recognise the disdain for the questions that I bring to the House. Questions that should force transparency from the system – invoke grandstanding instead! Most times those questions are met with non-answers and with ridicule. But I shall not be daunted.
We must not accept that to attain power we must play to our most base instincts. When we look at the next tier of leadership in the ruling regime, there is little hope that it could get better. If anything, everything is pointing to the worsening of the environment of pettiness, insults and sometimes threat. There is an emerging coarseness and confrontation in our political debate that we must seek to halt. For the level of debate – or non-debate – that we promote will never lead us to the possibility of solving the problems that affect the ordinary man.
If ever we have to capture the attention and the imagination of the next generation, to get them more involved, then the change must start with this generation. Boastful leadership must be replaced by servant leadership. The politics of engagement must replace the politics of spite. Bold ideas must replace bitter insults. For this, which has brought us down, must now be used to lift us up. Our politics must find its noble cause again because only thus can it influence and inspire transformation.
It might mean going against the run of play. But it is a worthwhile strategy if we are to survive these times – and if we are to build a stronger nation to leave for our children and our children’s children.
