By Denys Springer
I begin this article by putting forward two quotes by Mia Motley who recently quoted Bob Marley which I thought was fundamental and appropriate for this article if we in the West Indies are to have some form of identity. I support her because having heard Bob Marley and his thinking – was tied up with our West Indian way of life.
He made it quite clear that we have “to release ourselves from mental slavery” thereby clearly showing how he abhor and reject the stupid notion that “colonialism had a conscience”. Only a mad man or one who thinks he is indifferent and entitled would have the audacity to make such an insulting remark in a West Indian country, more so as a prime minister. The other which is also profound for Bob Marley is “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul”.
I align those quotes with that of Martin Luther King’s Jr because they are significant. He was prepared to do and say what is necessary to save the soul of America, more so the plight of blacks and poor whites. Therefore, to the Saint Lucian prime minister, this is a caveat to you because you seem to be heading on the rocks as your ship is sinking or has already been sunk if you have not noticed.
The people of Saint Lucia are crying out in the wilderness “enough is enough” because “you can fool some of the people some of the time but not all of the time.”
I, therefore, want to ask a simple question to the prime minister of Saint Lucia: Are you playing for time because of your inefficiency, due to your bombastic and callous attitude; or are you playing to your audience and supporters, those people you think that are your lackeys and lickers? Either way, they are dwindling as fast as the day approaches when the nation will take stock. The call is loud and clear that “Chastanet must go”.
Therefore, in my view, Martin Luther King Jr was emphatic and thus, hit the nail on its head when he said, “the difference between a dreamer and a visionary is that a dreamer has his eyes closed and a visionary has his eyes open”.
The prime minister of Saint Lucia has never opened his eyes. This is crucial to the analysis of doing things in a narrow scope – simply blind to the way others deliberate. One media icon describes as dangerous, “jealous, petty, capricious, bully, who is unforgiving.” However, I would like to add “imbalance, imbecile, flippant, and above all factitious in your attitude to those different to your configuration.”
Conversely, I would like to remind my readers of one of the shortest quotes of Martin Luther King Jr; because it is also pertinent and apt when we are dealing with this prime minister. It is where he says that “a lie cannot live”. The modus operandi of the prime minister seems consistent to distance from the truth at every given opportunity. We have seen and witness other leaders like him who has spurned an insurrection, but simply deny it regardless of recordings of him seemingly “inciting” his followers.
The ambition of Saint Lucia’s prime minister is of himself and that is why he thinks he can violate our social norms and values. His tendency is not about equity, fairness and delivering the services the country needs but that of his family, friends and foreigners (FFF).
What he fails to understand is that many people are susceptible to lies because it promotes division. That is why politically we are so polarized in such a small country of Saint Lucia. It is unprecedented and has never been so until this present government took power.
Martin Luther King was adamant when he said quite categorically that “we ain’t goin” to let nobody turn us around”. This also applies to what we are being fed by the prime minister and his lackeys. King was so right that ‘the battle is in our hands’ as to whether we continue with an inept, inefficient, dishonest, a pathological liar or to change to a trustworthy leader, who is honest, trustworthy, a no-nonsense person in the leader of the opposition Philip J Pierre.
I believe that no leader should try and humiliate the citizen of the country because they did not vote for them. No prime minister should aim to cut to size and humiliate those who did not vote for him or his party. But Saint Lucia’s prime minister seemingly does so relentlessly even those who may disagree with him for one reason or another. Logic is not part and parcel of his makeup.
I agree with Martin Luther King Jr when he espoused that “we must come to see that the end we seek is a society at peace with itself and a society that can live with its conscience’. In Saint Lucia at present, this is further from the truth. We should be seeking a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.
To be continued …. Part 2
