These Are the times that try Men’s Souls

I borrow this caption from an article I had written in 1996. It was taken from Thomas Paine’s “The American Crisis” (1776). It was part of his attempt to encourage and propel American colonists to continue their struggle for victory against those who had been colonising them.

At this time there is need to encourage and give support, even though morally, to those teachers and public service workers who at this time must be feeling very disappointed with the Court of Appeal’s judgement that went against them in the “Vaccine Mandate Case.” Justice Esco Henry had, in March 2023, ruled that the vaccine mandate was unconstitutional, but the government appealed and after almost a year the Court of Appeal with a 2-1 split decision upheld the appeal by the government. I am no lawyer, but was quite impressed and more so convinced by the ruling of Justice Esco Henry. I write now without the benefit of having seen details of the judgement that was handed down this morning. The dissenting voice was that of Justice Wallbank who, according to Jomo Thomas as quoted by One News St. Vincent, “maintained that the Government’s decision to impose a vaccine mandate on certain public officers was unlawful and unconstitutional.” Hundreds of workers have been suffering since then, many having refused the invitation to return to work because they were not satisfied with the conditions for their return. They were then left to eke out a living as best they could. Their struggle, would, I am sure continue for they need to get “their Groove back”.

All of this is happening at a time when the “Silly Season” is moving to a climax. No one, apart from the Prime Minister, knows when elections will be called. Perhaps, he himself does not know, waiting on the opportune date that he thinks will serve him best. Things have already begun to get crazy and illogical. Every nod now becomes political, and more so than ever politics will rule the day. I listened to different conversations (that is before the president of the CWI stated the position of the CWI) about why St. Vincent was not selected to host any of the matches against the Australians who are visiting this year. The impression some were giving was that Dr Shallow, who is now a declared candidate for North Leeward for the NDP, was in some strange way spiting SVG because the incumbent government was going to benefit from it. Before even hearing Shallow’s explanation I was even struck by the fact that SVG was being considered for one of the matches. Of course, for the shorter versions of the game the crowds here really give full support to the West Indian team. But I asked, is the organisation of the fixtures the sole responsibility of the president? Even more so, there are ten Caribbean countries that host international games, and we were among those hosting World Cup games and even after that, hosted Bangladesh. Reds Perreira now based in St. Lucia was annoyed that St. Lucia was not allowed to host any of the Australian games. We know that traditionally Guyana and Trinidad host games against India. The English usually go to Barbados and Antigua because many English people capitalise on English tours to take their tourism vacations, and Antigua and Barbados are two of their favourite vacation places.

I raised the above to reflect on the idle talk that is taking place now and will continue until elections are called. Every other thing suffers, and the country becomes even more divided. There is a rush now to complete in a few months, projects which were not done over the past decades. Some of these might not have even been well thought out and moreso, will not be finished before the elections. At this stage we resort to even more borrowing, not because the projects will be able to pay for themselves in the foreseeable future, but they might look good to people on the ground. In this context the issue of priorities become very important because the top priority involves having a show- case for election purposes, not for the benefits the projects might bring to the people of the country.

But to go back to the judgement by the Court of Appeal, the unions and their lawyers will have to decide on the next step. To go to the Privy Council will be costly. That of course is a prohibiting factor. The fact that the decision was not unanimous and that one of the three judges dissented should remind us that in the final analysis it has to do with interpretation. In the case of the US Supreme Court, you could almost say before hand how the judgement will go since, in many cases, it has to do with their ‘ideology’ and who appointed them to their position, Republican or Democrat. A friend reminded me that “ …the law is an ass” as stated by Mr Bumble in Charles Dickens’ OLIVER TWIST. Mr Bumble was told in Court that “…the law supposes that your wife acts under your direction.” He responded, “If the law supposes that (then) the law is a ass – a idiot.”

We certainly live in times that try men’s souls!

• Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian