The rulers and the oppressed
Posted: 27/07/2010 - 09:56 AM
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It is in the nature of youth to be impetuous and demanding. With age comes patience and understanding. That said, we have stated recently in these editorial pages that this Barrow United Democratic Party (UDP) government did not take power in 2008 with the burden of high expectations from the electorate. It is our opinion, however, that the Musa People’s United Party (PUP) government of 1998 came to office in a climate which was notable for great expectations from the people of Belize.
In the first half of the twentieth century, Great Britain was considered the leading world power, whereas in the second half of the century, that honor went to the United States of America. It was the fate of British Honduras/Belize to have its destiny intertwined, first, with that of Great Britain, and then with that of the United States. The U.K. and the U.S. were the rulers of the world, and we Belizeans were and are among those who have been oppressed.
In the youth of the Belizean generation born here after World War II (1939-1945), we witnessed a heroic revolution in 1959 in Cuba, just a few hundred miles northeast of us, which saw the formerly colonized people of Cuba, under the charismatic leadership of Fidel Castro, determine to pursue a course of real sovereignty and national dignity. But Cuba was just 90 miles away from the new ruler of the world, the United States, and many of the assets which the Cuban Revolution nationalized, had been owned by American citizens. The United States government could not countenance the Cuban Revolution, especially after Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist, and Cuba was forced into the protective embrace of the Soviet Union (Russia), the world’s most powerful communist state.
There are power realities in a world which features the rulers and the oppressed. To the immediate north of Belize, Mexico has spent more than a century and a half fighting desperately against dominance by the massive United States. To Belize’s immediate west, Guatemala has accommodated herself to the American superpower, and remains essentially a surrogate of the Americans.
In 1823, just two years after Mexico and Guatemala became independent of Spain, American president James Monroe declared a Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the United States would, then and henceforth, consider it an act of aggression against itself for any European power to seek to colonize any more lands in the Western Hemisphere, which America considered its sphere of influence, so to speak. Technically, the formal entry of British Honduras into colonial status in 1862 violated the Monroe Doctrine, but the settlement of Belize was a special case, the “Baymen” settlers having been considered British all the way back to the seventeenth century. In 1862, the British and the Americans were friends and cousins.
British Honduras became a self-governing colony in 1964. After that, even though the Queen of England is still independent Belize’s head of state, responsibility for Belize in the world of rulers and oppressed has been gradually being passed to the United States.
Said Musa came to public attention here as a demonstrator in January of 1969 against an American Vietnam War propaganda film. For different reasons, he began to be considered a man of the people. When he finally came to Maximum Power in Belize in August of 1998, nevertheless, no one expected him to be Fidel Castro. On the other hand, no one expected him to be the Shah of Iran.
Caribbean-trained and the grandson of a pro-British senior public officer, Dean Barrow began to practice law in 1974 at his uncle’s law firm. That uncle, Dean Lindo, was the Leader of the UDP and, during the middle 1970’s, considered the next Prime Minister. Until he personally entered politics in 1983 as a UDP Belize City Council candidate, Dean Barrow was always a man who played the percentages. He did not rock the boat: he never went against the socio-political grain of his class.
Next month Mr. Barrow will reach the middle of his five-year term of office. The situation within the Opposition PUP has been favorable for Mr. Barrow. Mr. Musa resigned as PUP Leader immediately following the party’s disgraceful defeat of February 2008, but he then sought to slip in a surrogate as Leader. The party, instead, chose Orange Walk’s John Briceño as Leader in March of 2008. A few months after that, Mr. Musa and his people began a savage campaign against Briceño in a newspaper established specifically for that purpose. So that, Briceño’s PUP leadership is contested, while Musa and Ralph Fonseca continue to campaign for a return to PUP hegemony.
The situation inside the PUP is so uncertain that the party has not been able to mobilize for a giant celebration marking the PUP’s 60th anniversary in late September. Of more concern than the anniversary to party principals, unfortunately for party traditionalists and foot soldiers, is the fact that the PUP is scheduled to hold a national party convention in November. At this convention, the combatants will face each other.
It would be good for Belize if the PUP can do the necessary re-structuring and focus on the job for which their House representatives and Senators are being paid – opposition to the policies and practices of the Dean Barrow administration. Until the PUP can do this, Mr. Barrow will enjoy a relatively free ride. It is impossible for his Ministers to steal as much as the Musa Cabinet Ministers “disappeared” during their two terms of office, because not that much remains. The games that are now being played at Natural Resources, Works and other portfolios are not as crazy as the games that used to be played at Finance, Housing, and yes, Natural Resources and Works during the era of the Shah and his sidekick. And please, we do stand to be corrected, gentle friends.
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