Ten years ago
Posted: 08/03/2007 - 08:45 PM
Author: Charles X
Tuesday, 6th March, 2007
The Editor AMANDALA
Dear Sir,
The article below is taken from my “scribblings” of ten years ago, that I found interesting reading now, seeing the predicament that our electorate now faces. Obviously it is not a highly scholarly assessment, just an individual citizen’s impression of a worrying situation that, incidentally, has not gotten any better since. But any historical reflection we can do to try and understand our present problems will help us to determine how best to deal with them.
Our whole country is in trouble, although young Afro-Belizeans make up the vast majority in the prison. But all of us - so-called Creoles, Afro-Belizeans, Mayans, Garinagu, Mestizos, East Indians, Asians, Middle-Easterns, Caucasians, etc., etc., that now make Belize our homeland, we all have to come together and figure out what is the best way forward to save our nation from falling down the slope of despair into violent social upheaval that seems quite possible if our present government continues to disregard the cries of an increasingly frustrated and impatient people.
When a hurricane threatens, some desperate and destitute people actually pray for it to come, because they have nothing to lose. It is the duty of those who have, to make sure that none of our citizens are reduced to that level of human despair. As our national hero, Philip Goldson, has said, “The time to save our country, is before we lose it”.
Our leaders need to understand, that only JUSTICE, unfettered and unbridled, can save us now. Our Executive has failed us; our Legislature has failed us; our JUDICIARY is the only hope left to bring back order and peace to our society. Our Prime Minister seems hell bent to weather the storm with impunity, but when it reaches his doorstep, it may not be a “little breeze,” and by then it might be too late. There can be no peace without JUSTICE. It is a bitter pill right now, but the alternative could be much worse. This is not intended to be a threat, just a humble citizen’s assessment of a troubling situation.
Peace and love, UBAD lives
Charles X
FULL COUNT
Circa 1997
From the time I was a child growing up in my beloved country, Belize, there was always one issue of such grave national importance that it became clear that the only way a solution was to be considered acceptable was if the people accepted it in a national referendum. That was the Anglo-Guatemalan dispute over the territory of Belize. Each time some proposals were brought forth which the people felt were against Belize’s interest, they rallied behind the Opposition and demonstrated in the streets of Belize. The 17 Proposals, the 13 Proposals, and the 11 Heads of Agreement are all important milestones in our country’s short but colorful history.
During all those years the clear majority ethnic group in Belize was the so-called Creoles, people of various ethnic mixes with some African ancestry; but more specifically, people with slave ancestry who instinctively held dear the freedom of this land, and would not hesitate to “drive back the tyrants, let despots flee”.
But it seems the architects of “progress” have ways to achieve their objectives. First “amnesty” was declared in the U.S. and the gates of immigration were flung open for the already on-going Belizean Creole exodus to America to become a real flood. Indeed, the movement suddenly became much faster than the extended family adjustments could be smoothly made to deal with the large numbers of children left behind. And then the Western border of Belize with Guatemala was apparently also flung open for refugees from the Central American wars to come pouring in. These people were not put in refugee camps as in other countries. The U.N. refugee program was obviously designed as a very long-term program. The refugees were given land, something that historically has been denied access to by the Creole population and Belizeans in general. The refugees were given work permits, seed to plant, money to start their farms and businesses with.
In hindsight, the plan seems to have been: if these “niggers” are so difficult to deal with in settling this dispute, let them go somewhere else. Let them be replaced by a docile, hard working, uneducated and politically fearful people who will be happy just to be here and go along with any plan or program the powers dictate.
So today, the remaining Creoles are a minority in Belize, and the refugee-citizen ratio here is undoubtedly the biggest in the whole of the world. And this human drama happened before our eyes in just about fifteen years.
The waters were then tested with the Maritime Areas Act (M.A.A.), and, although the leaders of both political parties tried to convince the people, the general population appeared adamantly against it. Polls taken by individuals and radio talk shows, though not done scientifically, showed a ten to one opposition to the M.A.A.
So, by a stroke of political genius, the government called a peace rally and declared that the M.A.A. was the best way for a lasting peace with Guatemala; and if you believed in peace, then you had to “give peace a chance” and go along with the M.A.A. Enough party faithfuls and others joined the free party at the Civic Center to give a public expression of support for the M.A.A. And that was all the PUP government felt it needed to ram home the M.A.A. in the House of Representatives, although the Opposition dutifully voted against it.
The point is - the deed was done. The people grumbled; and that was the end of that.
Well, not quite. The people did change the government at the next general election held on June 30, 1993. But where the outside forces, who have always tried to dictate the course of our history, are concerned, that is immaterial. Any government will buckle to the pressure they can bring to bear.
One of the major platform promises of the new UDP government during its election campaign was “to stop the sale of passports – economic citizenship program”. The other was to repeal the M.A.A. The M.A.A. has not been repealed; in fact it has not even been discussed. And, yes, the UDP government continued to sell passports; publicly, they declared, not in the “hush-hush” manner that the PUP used.
Of course, the people grumbled. We wrote letters to the newspapers; we lamented and remonstrated with each other, in our homes and on the radio talk shows. And that was the end of that.
Yes, we have changed. That is strike two against the Belizean people since Independence. Before Independence we did not sit back and say, “You try it and see if we won’t vote you out in the next election!” Before Independence the great Belizean people stopped the 17 and 13 proposals in their tracks, and put a massive “brakes” on the Heads of Agreement, although we all knew that the mighty U.S.A. and Great Britain were behind these deals.
After Independence, what have we done?
We have changed governments. So what?
They passed the M.A.A.. We changed the government.
They started to sell our passports again: we’ll change the government again.
Did we rise up like our forefathers and stop the M.A.A? No. Did we “raise up” and stop the sale of our passports? No.
And that’s all that matters to the powers-that-be. The job is done. The Belizean people have been defeated. It is now time to share up their assets.
(And perhaps it did take “an army of ten thousand”, T.V. that is, to do it.)
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