Reproduced from Nation Newspaper 10/24/2008
A FEW WEEKS AGO I jumped into a one-sided discourse on immigration. Gorilliphants Rickey Singh and Trevor Marshall seemed to be firmly on the “y’all come” bandwagon. NATION reporter Michelle Springer was pushing articles on Guyanese links.
I dabble in ethology – the study of animal behaviour. Mankind under pressure invariably follows the same patterns of behaviour, hence books like The Naked Ape and The Human Animal which warn us:
“However much we may think we have evolved from our animal ancestors, our instincts and behaviour are still rooted in our animal past. By denying this inheritance we are in danger of destroying everything we have strived so hard to create.”
We are talking here of powerful primeval forces and I tried to point out that the contributions made by immigrants or remote family ties count for little when loss of identity or competition for jobs and housing create friction between locals and immigrants.
Recurring instances of “man’s inhumanity to man” with horrendous massacres between people who seemingly got on well before, are simply man being himself. My contention was that such problems can be predicted and avoided by timely action.
Many readers agreed, including a concerned immigration official. A friend born in another island felt I was stirring up antipathy to immigrants. There let the matter rest, I thought.
Two columns by newly-arrived immigrant, B. C. Pires, however, have opened a new vista of this issue. We have always enjoyed Trinis poking fun at Bajans in calypso. But now we have an outsider spelling out exactly what Trinis think of us.
In his first column, B.C. questions if you can “call a piece of real estate you could walk across in a day . . . a nation”. Says his friend: “Barbados is not a country, nor even an island, you’re moving to a sand-trap in the middle of the Atlantic.”
After taking a pot-shot at our apparently over-sized national anthem, B.C. returned this week to taunt (praise?) our colonial queueing and passion for order. He added: “Apart from a smattering of smut, there is virtually no humour.” So much for Mac Fingall, Market Vendor, Lickmout Lou, Madd, Laff-it-Off, Trevor Eastmond and Eric Lewis!
B.C. concludes that “Little England” isn’t stuffy enough to describe us: “Barbados is Little Germany”. We must respect the man’s candour.
But my question today is: Why? Why, if we have all these shortcomings,would Trinis in droves be coming to live here? Why would Pat Castagne who wrote the Trinidad national anthem (presumably of the right length) move here? Why would the great B. C. Lara buy a mansion not too far from me? Why would this other B.C.?
We understand why so many Trini women marry Bajan men: as Sparrow put it, “when she feel to feel alright, who she goin’ cry for”? And we accept that Chefette’s rotis taste better than any in T& T. By far. But that can’t be all.
Could it be that living in Barbados lets outsiders experience the ultimate Christian, civilised society at work? For we treat them as prodig-aliens, no less.
Two instances: my good friend, Maxine McClean, has never brought me a fish-cake. But she carried Kentucky Fried Chicken (that I love but can’t afford) for a pack of illegal Africans that gave us hell over here.
Secondly, any Bajan doing a little addition on his own land with his own money, but without planning permission, gets it unceremoniously ripped down. God help him if it is in Zone One. But foreign squatters can build on Bajan land worth $15 to $200 a square foot over sensitive water-restricted areas, which could cause major disease problems. And we don’t touch them.
Even the Bible doesn’t go that far. “If any animal is dead of itself,” it says, “eat not thereof. Give it to the stranger that is within thy gates to eat, or sell it to him.” In other words, if one of my goats drops dead, it is my Christian duty to give it, or sell it, to B.C.
But we in Bimshire go the extra mile. We let immigrants take land free while order-bound Bajans can’t get. Truly we are the holy people of the Lord thy God.
* Richard Hoad is a farmer and social commentator.
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