Demagoguery sinks to a new low
Fri Mar 08, 2013
This from the same political operative who, for the past three years or so, has been spouting off about “meritocracyâ. It seems to me that this is a diametric inconsistency in philosophy. If one believes in the recognition on merit of the individual, regardless of a personâs origin, ethnicity, etc, and believes that employment, promotion and other recognitions ought to be based strictly on merit should it not follow logically that “sovereign meritocracyâ ought also to be accorded without regard to geographical location, geological dimension, ethnicity of populace, population and other demographics?
Isnât St Vincent and the Grenadines a chartered member of the United Nations, whose vote in the General Assembly is equal to all other member countries, including the so-called permanent members? St Vincent and the Grenadines will celebrate thirty-four years of independence this year. Arguably, the recognition of this island nation on the world stage had been low-keyed for the first twenty-one years of independence. With the ushering into office of the Unity Labour Party, led by the charismatic nationalistic, regionalist and cosmopolitan Prime Minister, the brand of St Vincent and the Grenadines has soared. The activist foreign policy forays, the capitalization and leveraging of sovereignty, the forging of new bi-lateral relationships with what is termed our “untraditional friendsâ, flung far and wide and touching every continent. Surely St Vincent and the Grenadines stands tall in the world community.
The Garifuna of Honduras, Belize and other Central American countries and their diaspora, consider St Vincent and the Grenadines their homeland and make pilgrimages here to celebrate their ancestry and to identify with their roots. The unfortunate pronouncement of the parliamentarian, I would suspect, represents a major affront to the dignity and cultural identity of the Garifuna people. Hugh Mulzac, Elsworth âShakeâ Keane, Adonal Foyle, Sancho Little, Kevin Little, Alston “Beckettâ Cyrus, Sophia Young have all played their parts in the significant recognition of St Vincent and the Grenadines around the world.
It is unfortunate that a person who is an appointed member of our parliament and who has on three occasions gone to the people asking for their vote to be an elected member, has sunken to this new low for the sake of politics. If elected to office, will his party seek to rescind the chartered membership of St Vincent and the Grenadines at the United Nations? Does a Vincentian have to land on the moon for such persons to consider our country one of significance? Certainly, this island nation, though small in size, is by no means “insignificant.â I, therefore, call on the appointed parliamentarian who disparaged and denigrated the name of our blessed St Vincent and the Grenadines, to publicly apologize. No parsing of words. No legalese. No semantic choreography â just be magnanimous and say you are sorry!
Benson Feddows