Ah, open The Guardian newspaper, and lo and behold, our colonial masters’ progressive permission is being extolled! They have respected our locs and our docks – but not our ballots! Of course. Why would they care about our hair or shunning cruise ships, once in the yoke of GST? And… All just in time for Carnival, you know – our summer festival, to commemorate emancipation and celebrate being free?
Belated Accolades for Liberated Locs!
Just last week, Nyima Jobe reported for The Guardian that sadly some Trinidadian boys were forbidden to partake in graduation ceremonies, not for their grades but for the hair on their pates. Calling out the “colonial mentality” online, intense policy criticism led the “minister of education to recommend that cornrows be allowed in the classroom” in the upcoming semester.1 Hair, hair!
The article went on to explain how such workplace and school requirements reflect entrenched attitudes throughout the world and lead to discrimination, whereby “afro-hair is often deemed unacceptable” and how the history of such policies was truly dehumanising.1 That is, deeply entrenched, especially in Trinidad and Tobago, which has been independent from Britain since 1962.
That said, Anguilla was belatedly hailed, taking center stage as the “first Caribbean island to introduce a national policy against hair discrimination” in April 2022! Our very own minister of education was quoted at length, saying, “It was important for me to put forward this hair code because your rules and your laws really tell who you are as a people. We have removed the remnants of very Eurocentric thinking and are rewriting how we do life here in Anguilla. Consider it our pre-independence.”1
Rules and laws? Hmm. Like the GST law? ’Seems they missed that remnant, or else they need to do a lot more “rewriting” about how we do life.
Coastal Access and the Colonial Mindset
Anguilla also made it into the global media a few weeks earlier, as Kenneth Mohammed, another Guardian reporter, examined the issue of island development and “whether remnants of the colonial mindset” drive real estate and natural resources decisions, including a “worrying trend of governments readily selling off assets to foreign corporations and political financiers.”2 Like a marina, perhaps?
Mr. Mohammed also noted that “local communities’ concerns and aspirations must be heard and factored into decision making.” Well said! Otherwise, the impact from such trends can range from lost birthrights for access to beaches and landmarks, such as the Saint Lucian Pitons where adjacent lands have been sold to Canadian developers, with a similar threat looming over the spiritual retreat at Jamaica’s Bull Bay – to corruption scandals, damage to fragile ecosystems, fishers losing their livelihoods, and “invitational” development. The benefits of such “progress” are too often limited to “low-skilled positions that offer minimal wages, while the highest paid management jobs are filled by foreign workers.”2 Sound familiar?
Here again, Anguilla’s government was applauded for regional trendsetting! How? With their decision to “end cruise tourism, as the negative environmental impact outweighed the revenue generated.” Despite obviously not having a suitable dock or infrastructure to accommodate such tourism, the journalist kindly ascribed such wisdom to a “forward-thinking approach to sustainable development.”2 Regardless of why, who wouldn’t support the decision to spurn cruise ships, especially as throngs of such tourists too often bring their own picnics, litter the beaches, ravage the restrooms – and then decamp to their next port of call?
Indeed, good call! No taxis. No restaurant dining. No accommodations. One wonders why more Caribbean islands haven’t followed our lead. From Venice to Barcelona, Amsterdam to Santorini – and from California to Maine, more restrictions are being placed on where some 4.8 million cruise tourists can disembark, crowd out local citizens, and risk environmental catastrophe, every year.3
…And a Pox on Our Ballot Box
Apparently, our magnanimous masters (and at least one of our ministers?) assumed we would be appeased by such “rights” as liberated locs and tranquility on our docks. One might say it was the economic equivalent of “let them eat cake” since how we wear our hair or which tourists help pay our taxes would matter little to our masters.
No. Their goal was control. The British brazenly put a pox on our ballot box. They nullified a decisive election decidedly against GST and then nullified the votes of duly elected ministers to force into law a law voted down twice: By the People and a majority of elected ministers.
While only cited in regional media, that same minister’s concerns seem to have had a haircut since remarks made immediately following nullification of that parliamentary vote, saying, “Truth be told this GST Bill is the weight and yoke for generations to come, inflicted by the decisions of past governments. Herein lies the paradox of how we move ahead.”4
Our Leaders Need to Go Big or Go Home!
Of course, it is paradoxically progressive and tragic to yet revel in bodily and border autonomy in 2023 – and to imagine that such advances might lead others in our realm. But. If Anguilla is to lead the region in improving people’s lives, our leaders should go big or go home. Repealing the yoke of GST – and reinstating socially accepted alternatives – could lead those vanquished by VAT to free their trade, enliven their entrepreneurs, and restore wealth wherever such regressive remnants of Eurocentric taxation keep far too many down. Has anyone warned TCI about a certain governor?
It is time to find out just who we are as a people. We now have proof5 we could remove our colonial yoke of GST, whereby “how we do life in Anguilla” and how we fund our government can enable us to move ahead based on decisions by this, or a future, government. Yes. Our leaders should go big or go home. Reinstate our civil rights by repealing GST – and end this intrusive atrocity.
All we needed was to reopen our borders and for the British to respect our culture, including our election and elected ministers’ votes. Yes, as well as our young scholars’ hair, serenity on every shore – and freedom from GST for all, to give renewed meaning to Carnival, fore’er more!
Repeal GST – and pass a balanced budget bill. Now!
This article reflects cultural and economic issues raised on July 5, 2021, at the House Select Committee on GST Public Hearing. 1 https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jul/26/colonial-mentality-from-the-caribbean-to-kenya-black-people-are-challenging-hair-discrimination;
2https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jun/06/caribbean-beaches-public-access-development-transparency-engagement; 3https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/04/20/cruise-ships-erosion-air-pollution-and-overtourism-are-driving-cities-towards-bans;
4https://www.caymaniantimes.ky/news/anguilla-passes-controversial-tax;
5https://www.facebook.com/anguillagovernment/posts/July 11, 2023 GST Performance
