I think a big debt of gratitude is owed to those “seasoned” Barbadians who, in the depths of the current economic crisis, have taken the time to remind us who we are, what we have, where we have been as a nation and where we can go. That these wise men and women realize that times are tough goes without saying. They are not “partisan political yardfowls” looking for my approbation or anyone else’s. They speak from experience and from the heart.
We all know that nothing beats sheer experience. One is able to distill it so easily when one reads and digests the simplicity and clarity of message of some of our writers who do our country a great public service by not just calling us to arms in tough times – but calling us to arms with a specific purpose.
The quiet and enduring advice of a grand-mother who worked the fields, came home at night and scaled and cleaned fish, prepared lunch, pressed school clothes, found a tithe for Church on Sunday and raised a family of 8 or 10. Many of them are in their seventh decade and they have seen this island of ours go through the biggest modern upheavals – political, economic and social. Yet their abounding dedication as Barbadians does not cease. They quietly go about their business balancing their books and maintaining their faith.
The fisherman who risked his life every day going to sea in a Moses, never daunted and never deterred, and who often fished, sold, kept records and collected debts without being able to read or write. He then raised a family, built a house and achieved his dreams. He watches CNN too but he also knows that Barbados has beaten the odds before.
No one calls these Barbadians “intellectuals,” because their status would not afford them such lofty accolades. But they used their minds and hands, created their own strategies and methodologies for survival and triumphed! They can tell stories of their ingenuity and how they scaled hurdles. Yet these are not our intellectuals – so no one turns to hear their life experiences in tough times.
There is a reason for that. It is not quite a conspiracy. But it accords with some very frank, truthful assertions that our revered Central Bank Governor has recently made. The traditional intellectuals have come to realise that there are some things they don’t and will never understand. But they don’t really want us to know this. There are some things they can never measure.
The desire and ability of Barbadians to come together under a Social Partnership was never within the contemplation of the traditional intellectuals at the IMF. Our ability to secure foreign financing in the international market competitively on the strength of our reputation can’t be measured.
For the guys with the degrees to admit this – assuming they allow Dr. Delisle Worrell to escape – is an indication to me that sanity has returned to the economic debate. And that someone recognizes that we do not live by bread alone. More importantly, it reinforces David Thompson’s assertion that Barbados is more than an economy. We are a society of people with our own experience, outlook and aspirations. And we already have a Barbados brand.
There are thousands among us in Barbados today who travelled endless miles by boat to strange cultures and landscapes, tough weather conditions, alien environments in every sense of the word. They battled through the tough Wilson/Callaghan winter of discontent, racism, the early, difficult Thatcher years and other indignities. It was not an easy road. But they survived and many of them live comfortable lives both here and in the United Kingdom – or both. So much is being written today about how they survived that it should be required reading for this generation.
This is not a call to complacency. Or to constant ruminating about the past. It is a call for us to remember that there is no adversity or stumbling block put in the way of those Barbadians – my definition of intellectual – that could not be torn down or surmounted. They had faith, commitment, ideals, aspirations and found solutions to their daily challenges.
I was reading some threads on the internet provided by a friend of mine on the current economic discourse leading up to the debate on Starcom on Sunday and, unfit as I am to unlatch their shoes, I was frankly disappointed about the emptiness of the thoughts of some of our young leading lights. They have lost their compasses just when they need one.
Their analysis was startlingly unrealistic, cold, dry and unworthy of the products – and celebrated ones at that – of our academic system! But at least they were talking. And that is better than silence.
These young men were negative in every paragraph of their thoughts. They indicted this present crop of Caribbean politicians and the previous ones for not taking tough long-term decisions. They hauled them over the coals for their empty posturing. They forget so easily that today’s politicians are just what they will become: yesterday’s “intellectuals” and academics.
Do they really know what they are talking about? Ralph Gonsalves was one of our most controversial university academics. Owen Arthur was in the midst of substantive public economic debate from the University since the 1980’s (and, to his credit, not the mamby-pamby diatribe of this era: whether you said “gross” or “net” reserves!). Today’s political leaders were Trade Union leaders. Many were student leaders of their era. Some were imprisoned for their politics.
They were not born politicians.
One contributor, who I know well and otherwise respect, was posturing about the level of anti-intellectualism and lambasting those who believe that dancing around in front of tourists was a solution to our development needs. He said that the discussions we are now having on our economy are essentially fledgling discussions which are going nowhere! Oh, for a return of Wendell McClean, Frank Alleyne, Michael Howard and Ralph Gonsalves to public debate to correct him! The issues we are debating today about the sustainability of our economic model are decades old! He is lost – but unchallenged!
What can you distill from all of this? That, in tough times, go to the tough, the survivors for advice. They have walked the walk. They are the intellectuals and the entrepreneurs of Barbados. Yes, we need new paradigms and new methodologies to move on and to deal with technological change and so on. But an
indomitable human spirit and a national commitment to succeed will triumph and that is the paradigm we need right now.
In most cases, the “seasoned” acknowledge that Prime Minister David Thompson has been doing his best trying to juggle tough decisions, give priority to his government’s objectives and, at the same time, restoring discipline, thrift, morality, fairness, justice and patriotism.
I urge him, when he returns, to focus again on some of the simple things that made for Barbadian success and rally Barbadians around them. “Go to the ant … discover her ways and be wise.”
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