Euphoria, a short-lived burst of extreme pleasure, happiness, and excitement, often gives way to despair. In contrast, reality-driven conversation is a fact-based, reasoned analysis of a situation, offering a more balanced perspective for decision-making and emotional understanding.
In much the same way that opposition politicians love calypso and despise hard-hitting social commentary, governing elites despise reality. Those in power would love to feed the people a constant diet of feel-good, pie-in-the-sky alternate universes where everything is nice and jolly.
As we move towards the next general elections, this is the template from which we are to gauge the narrative and counter-narrative of the major contending parties. Gonsalves and his clansmen want us to remain or become giddy over his ‘accomplishments.’ Look for him lauding SVG’s ascension to the United Nations Security Council (2020 -2022), Pro-tempore presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and hosting of its 8th Summit last March, the opening of Sandals Resort and ICC Cricket T20 World Cup next month and the $600 million modern port in Kingstown.
Don’t worry, be happy is their mantra. Any questions about cost, feasibility, desirability and sustainability are brushed aside as lamentations of an envious and jealous Gonsalves-hating band intent on bad-talking St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Everything and anything is reduced to the tired repetition of high-sounding cliches: noise in the blood, chords of Africa, Asia, and Europe, SVG is a multifaceted economy that’s at once national, regional and international, knowing the cost of everything, and the value of nothing… Glitz and glamour are celebrated and hard-nosed reality-based conversation is frowned on.
The furor raised by the ULP over the NDP billboard at Gibson Corner must be viewed in this context. Citizens must not allow themselves to be misled. There is increasing fear and alarm among citizens about crime, gun violence and homicides. This wild claim by the governing party and its hanger-on is nothing but a tempest in a teapot. The notion that tourists would view the billboard, be scared sick and rush for the first plane out is nonsensical. Modern tourists are some of the most informed, savvy and alert persons on earth. They are not going to come here seeking a crime advisory.
As the election fever heats up, why bury our heads in the sand? We need to maintain an assassin-like gaze on the conditions in our country. What in heaven’s name does it mean to make the country look bad? Truth stands naked before the world. If anything, the opposition’s billboard incorrectly states our reality. We had 55 homicides last year. 2022 with 42 homicides, was also a record. To date, our nation has recorded 15 homicides, with some questionable discovery of dead bodies not yet added to the list.
The billboard discussion has exposed an ugly side of our political landscape. Within days of the billboard’s erection, Gonsalves commanded a state entity, the discredited Physical Planning and Development Board, to demand that the NDP remove it. One day’s notice! It is crystal clear that the Planning Authority has neither legal nor moral standing to speak on the placement or removal of billboards.
Evidently, the governing elite is power-tripping. The roads are littered with billboards featuring Gonsalves’ face. Does the ULP party and government have special permission to keep their billboards on public display? Are there different rules for those in power and those aspiring to govern our country?
Dr. Friday must not comply with the planning order. If Gonsalves wants the billboard removed, let him send his simps to dismantle and remove it.
We need more billboards, not less. Citizens must not allow themselves to be drugged into nothingness. They must become aroused and incensed when the government engages in undemocratic and autocratic activities, all the while refusing or failing to address the urgent and depressing conditions the majority are compelled to endure.
There should be a billboard reminding us of the ULP 2007 boast that SVG was on the cusp of an economic takeoff. Why, close to two decades later, are we still at the bottom among Caricom by any and every metric of measurement?
We need billboards that expose government corruption and the use of insider information to enrich the governing clique.
We need billboards that lament and highlight the damning statistics related to poverty (40 percent), youth unemployment and underemployment (60+ percent), begging among young and old, growing homelessness of the elderly, and drug addiction plaguing young people.
We need an opposition pledge that, upon the immediate assumption of power, it will reemploy, with full benefits and compensation, all those teachers, police officers, and other public employees dismissed following the vaccine mandate. Yes, place that on a billboard too.
We need a billboard that pledges a good governance package of increased democracy, transparency, accountability and integrity legislation.
Euphoria is important to governing politicians because they want the people to remain drugged by the cotton candy trivia. They want people to forget their hell-like living conditions and gravitate towards the instant gratification of a free concert and freeness, which, for a fleeting moment, causes them to forget their misery.
Whenever Gonsalves and his clansmen embark on another anti-people adventure or bark insults at the majority of voters whose support it has lost, the people must resolve that this must be the last insult.
The governing elite wants us to wind and grin as elections draw close. The people should be forewarned against gimmickry, mimicry and bribery. There should be a billboard that calls on citizens to eat them out, drink them out and vote them out.
