SVG Does The Splits

We have two political parties in SVG, the ULP (Unity Labour Party – they’re currently in power) and the NDP (New Democratic Party – they aren’t). Actually, we have three parties. There’s also the Green Party, but they’re sort of like the one-legged six-year-old who you pat on the head patronisingly and say, “it’s okay buddy, you’ll be just like Usain Bolt one day”, while hoping that he forgets about that promise when he becomes an adult, and realizes that life is harsh, cold and unforgiving of optimists.

Now, given that we have two (major) political parties, you’d think that they’d be fundamentally different based on ideological grounds. Not so. Not that you can see at any rate. You’d expect one party to be liberal, and the other conservative. You’d expect one party to be somewhat right wing, and the other somewhat left. You’d expect one party to be full of hippies and beatniks, and the other to comprise men in dark suits and women with tightly controlled hair. Instead, what we have are two parties that oppose each other only for the sake of opposition. They’re both pretty much conservative, but they also both lean slightly to the left (generally). I have lost faith in the hope that my political leaders have any sort of genuine ideology that goes beyond self-aggrandisement and/or pocket-lining.

This country is neatly split in two. We don’t really have racial tensions in SVG (not to the extent that these tensions exist elsewhere in the region); our classism is not as overt and all encompassing as it is elsewhere. I’m not saying that these things don’t exist in SVG, that would be blind of me, it’s just that they aren’t as pronounced as I’ve experienced them elsewhere. What we do have, however, is a finely delineated system of prejudices based on which political party you support. If you don’t openly support any party, then people make assumptions based on how often and how vociferously you criticize whichever party happens to be the one in power. Don’t even get me started on the political victimization that exists despite the denials of the powers-that-be.

I am fed up. I am fed up of every issue in this country becoming, or being treated as, a political issue. I am tired of having to watch what I say or risk being associated with a specific political party. I am tired of decisions being made that are motivated solely on the red versus yellow power struggle.

My Prime Minister once implied that people who disagree with the building of an international airport at Argyle are unpatriotic. My opposition leader is calling for a “no” vote on our proposed constitution for reasons that I have yet to fathom in any coherent manner. What gives anyone the right to challenge my love of country based on whether or not I agree with the placement of an airport? What gives anyone the authority to tell me how to vote, while not explaining to me, in language that I can understand, why it would be in my best interest to do so?

Now the two parties are launching campaigns… political campaigns… to try to convince Vincentians to vote either for or against the proposed new constitution. There should be nothing as exciting as the process involved in forming a new constitution for a young country like ours. We should all be gung-ho about being a part of this process. We should all be involved in and informed about everything that goes on. Instead, the proposed constitution has been thrust into the public relatively close to the time when it is to be voted on, and we’ve pretty much been told to either agree or disagree with it, wholesale.

It’s been published in the newspapers in its entirety (very good), but it has not been explained to the people of this country in an unbiased manner (not so good). Every explanation of the articles of this constitution has been tinged with bias based on either party affiliation or (in one case) religious belief. The ULP is pushing a “yes” vote, and everything they say about the constitution implies that it is the most stunning document of its kind ever to be produced. The NDP, on the other hand, is advocating a “no” vote, and is claiming that the existence of this new constitution will spell the beginning of the end of for freedoms and liberties in this country. The Constitution Review Committee, whether we want to acknowledge this or not, will push a “yes” vote because this is their baby. The Thusian Institute are pushing a “no” vote based on what is ultimately their ire over the denial of human rights as being God-given.

Anyone who supports the proposed new constitution is immediately classed as a dogmatic, deluded supporter of the ULP government; its opponents are treated as political dissidents who have nothing better to do. In fact, one of the members of the Constitutional Review Committee (I think the leader) implied in a public television appearance that we, the average, unwashed masses, should not even try to understand the workings of this nation-altering document, because we are not trained in constitutional law. We should simply accept his word, and the word of the government, that it is in our best interests. In other words: “fuck you, citizens of SVG, you are too ignorant to understand any of this, and you’ll probably use the paper it is printed on to wrap up salt fish anyway.” (The salt fish thing was actually said by a high-ranking government official; he was addressing a bunch of Trinis at the time).

So we’re pretty much left high and dry. The Thusians have done a creditable job in convincing many people that the proposed constitution, as it stands, is not in our best interests. They’re the only group that has explained things to us in as simple a manner as possible. Their main contention is that the proposed constitution does not make any of the rights granted to us “inalienable”. In other words (and in short), they contend that there’s a lack of security in the new constitution, and that our rights could be snatched away from us willy-nilly.

Here’s my problem with these guys. They’re coming from a place that is all religion. The Thusian Institute for Religious Liberty is a Seventh Day Adventist offshoot. They claim to be a human rights organization, but these human rights are clearly the ones that they feel are due to any clean-living believer in God. In other words, they’re not actually concerned with all the minority groups who are affected by human rights violations. The very first issue coming out of the constitution that made people raise eyebrows is the marriage issue; that is, the fact that marriage must be between a biological male and a biological female (essentially). This was the first issue to be debated. The Thusians were nowhere to be found in that debate. Clearly, their interest in human rights is only for a select few humans.

So we’re left with a decision to make. We, the populace of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, will very soon have to decide whether or not we want the proposed constitution. We’re not going to be allowed to vote on bits and pieces of the thing. Oh no, it’s either accept the entire document, or reject the entire document. If we accept it, we accept the wonderful along with the deplorable. If we reject it, we reject the horrendous along with the magnificent. The ULP implies that a “no” vote is a rejection of what it means to be Vincentian, the NDP implies that a “yes” vote is a vote for despotism and dictatorship. Neither of these things is actually true.

One thing is certain. The country is split on this issue, as it is on any other issue that the politicians have taken, twisted and made their own. I have only been a member of the Vincentian electorate for fifteen years, yet I am ready to throw in the towel. The politicians in this country have succeeded in making me entirely distrustful of their ilk. I have a few friends who’ve gone into politics. Some of them (a very select few) actually have some sort of ideology and concern for the future of this country. Others are doing it for what is clearly their own advancement. The ones who have actual beliefs and principles worry me. I’m afraid that they’re going to get caught up in the political games that are played every day in this country. My fear is that, eventually, these people will lose sight of their ideologies in favour of the paycheck, the power and/or the desire to be remembered. Isn’t that what happened to the two men who held (have held) the highest position in our land, for the longest time?