By Dr. Richard A. Byron-Cox
Due to the exigencies of my office and other commitments, I have written little by way of articles for
the press for more than a year. But I remain a keen observer of all that takes place in the public life of
SVG. In this, our 45 th year of political independence; there is certainly much to celebrate and be
extremely proud of. However, I am more than persuaded that our central task from the first day of
self-governance was and remains the humanisation of our people. Our economic/material progress,
should primarily be a facilitator of this mission. You ask what I mean by “humanisation.” In answer, I
refer you to the history books, “The Making of the West Indies,” and “Pre-emancipation” where we,
the black people brought from Africa and dehumanised by slavery, are deemed “estate stock.”
This question of our humanisation has many facets, making it a very complex issue such that our
sociologists and social anthropologists have given it no serious attention. Our failure to adequately
address this “problematique,”- some may say there is no such need-, might be one reason why
wanton murder so pervades our Caribbean. The region occupies the first 4 places for murder per 100
thousand in the world, with SVG in the unenviable spot of number one!! Why are we so violent?! Is it
that we are still mental slaves to the catastrophes of violence, unspeakable brutality, engineered self-
hate, and ignorance visited upon us during slavery? Why is it that once we differ, we must do so to
the bitter end, ultimately slaughtering each other? This is but one expression of our unfinished
humanisation, denying room for conversation/discourse; rejecting the application of rationale and
reason; demanding that we merciless crushed our perceived opponents, for those who are not with
us are against us!!
Denial of the right of the other to hold a different view, and attempting to destroy him for such, are
practiced daily on the radio stations; find continuous expression in the blogs and on-line newspapers,
and in sections of the traditional press; and rain in torrents on social media. This behaviour spells
only negative for what ought to be a national community. Those who reject this ugly partisan war,
preferring to encourage meaningful dialogue, using Socratic parrhesia (frank speech), based on
examination of facts, have no space/place to hold court. To be heard, we must of necessity sing the
marching-to-war hymns of that medium that grants us leave to engage John Public on subjects of
national importance. To be a radio star, you must refrain from uttering one word that is not in praise
of the ULP and its leadership. Conversely, you are nice for radio only if your heart, head, soul, every
sinew of your being is marinated with Ralph hate.
The Minister of Finance dubbed the 2024 budget “transformative.” In place of that budget being
interrogated from an economic, political economic, social and futuristic standpoint, what citizens
suffered were the usual outpouring of meaningless platitudes, self-serving rhetoric and sophistry that
added nothing to the ordinary man’s understanding of this all-important instrument that should help
further our humanisation. In place of conversing and discussing, debating and proposing, the
Minister’s detractors saw this as a theatre of war, to encourage and engender more hate, bitterness
and bile, pouring fuel on our eternal flame of political tribalism. In such a scenario, how many are
interested in what Professor Justin Robinson, a foremost economist had to say about the budget?
How many trained in the fields of economics and political economy felt that there was any meaning
in trying to help John and Jenny Public make any sense of this document that will affect the life of
each and every one of us?
Having studied economics and political economy at university (I don’t have degrees in these
subjects), and being a national who interacts with people from all walks of life, I offered to two major
media channels to do a “layman’s” analysis of the budget. My offers went the way of all words,
through one ear and out the other, me not having their tribal identification scar. Despite the
multiplicity of political trumpets and Town Criers, there is little room for non-tribal intelligible
exchange. These trumpets and criers are but platforms for political curse out, commess, and
character assassination. A democracy that cannot entertain difference in considered perspectives, is
at best terribly anaemic and can therefore only survive, but never thrive, never properly function, for
in place of its life blood – an informed populace – it has a largely stupefied crowd, misinformed,
conditioned by chicanery and blatant lies. Consequently, there is need for a space if not for Socratic
dialogue; then reasoning, employing plain common sense.
