The Caribbean struggle Continues ( First published five years ago)
The Caribbean Is One Nation.
Note to our readers: Occasionally we will re-publish articles from the past.
Note to our readers: Occasionally we will re-publish articles from the past.
The Caribbean Struggle Continues
Ever since we started in 2008, we have chosen to be frank and forthright. Four years later, we can claim to be the first Caribbean organ to identify the recession which finally arrived at the Caribbean ports of call in 2011. We were not taken seriously. After all Mahogany Coconut is not the dwelling place of opportunistic intellectuals, retired college professors, diplomats and bankers, who use their vast contacts to end up writing columns for hefty sums. They write and then disappear into their gated communities protected by guard dogs, private security guards and expensive electronic security systems. It is not that they are bad people. Quite the contrary, they are good decent brothers and sisters, who are as trapped as the poor at the bottom of the socio- economic ladder. They also believe that we can change everything without interfering with the status quo but that is a mere pipe dream.
They bought into the dream of the sixties and seventies: get an education, move up the professional ladders, live a solid upper middle class life and look down on those who were not pursuing the same path. Their children were cleverly hidden from their roots, falsely believing that their lifestyles were earned through “education”. What a blatant diabolical and unnecessary lie.
They are the grand children of grandmothers and grandfathers, who in spite of their trials and tribulations, fought hard to give their offspring a chance at the Caribbean dream. Unfortunately, that dream has now been destroyed by ungrateful self-serving politicians and their gravy train friends. They, having ridden on the backs of the masses, are now contributing very little if anything to the regional good. Let us face it: a new elite black political managerial class has replaced the “massa” and they are politically vicious in how they manage our island states. Mahogany Coconut will be in the vanguard to resist any effort to remove free education, school meals and bus fares, from the poor children of the Caribbean. We will move heaven and earth to ensure that free education remains the centre piece of all Caribbean democracies.
We have seen party loyalists go straight from being politicians to the highest judiciary posts (Barbados); we are appalled that corporate thieves and scammers have been able to hijack peoples investments and life savings and then hang out on yachts ,while poor policy holders are reduced to screaming at town hall meetings, to get back their monies (CLICO) Trinidad; in some instances drug peddlers took over entire constituencies and became so powerful that Prime Ministers tampered with the constitution in order to protect them (Jamaica)and the spectacle of ponzi scheme con–men being given high national honors (Antigua) and we can go on and on.
However, we will not allow these renegades and corrupt citizens/politicians to go about their business without recording for posterity their nefarious activities. We salute the strength of the masses of the Caribbean, who in the face of widespread political betrayal , continue to keep our collective island states afloat ,by going to work every day and often being underpaid and unrecognized for their contributions to the regional good. We salute our artists and creative thinkers, who continue to forge regional alliances and are in the forefront of pushing a Caribbean identity and civilization. We salute small business persons, who push their wares and services daily without any assistance from the unprogressive banking sector. We pay special tribute to our credit unions, trade unions and other indigenous organizations that continue to protect and defend those who need their services.
We see a glorious Caribbean future with the help of visionary members of the Diaspora and those citizens/politicians who are truly committed to CARICOM and the independence of our region. Four years ago, we promised to be a new vibrant mouth peace. We will not fall asleep at the wheel!
The struggle continues. Long live the Caribbean nation. A prosperous 2012 to all.We see a glorious Caribbean future with the help of visionary members of the Diaspora and those citizens/politicians who are truly committed to CARICOM and the independence of our region. Four years ago, we promised to be a new vibrant mouth peace. We will not fall asleep at the wheel!
