Submitted by the Mahogany Coconut Think Tank and Watchdog Group
The Mahogany Coconut Group has steered clear of the shameless political posturing regarding the economic slaughtering of over 3000 workers, in the name of a failed economic policy and a blundering administration led by Prime Minister Freundel Stuart of Barbados. We have already called for fresh elections but we remain certain that even with fresh elections, and a possible victory by the Opposition Barbados Labour Party, nothing will change. Why an elections? We believe that the government has betrayed the country and the only legitimate stamp of approval will be that of the same people it has betrayed. In other words, if elections were called and the Democratic Labour Party is victorious, it would mean that the people have endorsed its current insane approach to economic management of Barbados’ affairs.
We urge right thinking Barbadians to take a look at the colour of those who are weeping and angry in the newspapers because they can no longer look after their families. They are Black. Not one white; not one Indo Barbadian. It is a reminder that the society is still in denial about wealth distribution and avoiding serious and objective debate about the ills of the country. We also ask right thinking Barbadians to take a look at those thirty political miscreants who are in parliament: Not one white! This harrowing experience of 3000 workers is therefore a black on black social and economic crime and the penalty should be the political gallows.
We are not saying that white and Indo Barbadians will be any better. What we are saying is that the white and Indo Barbadian business elites are raping the country and not facing the penalties. They can execute economic crimes and then leave the black political managerial class to fight amongst themselves. In the meantime the poor defenseless black working class, whose forefathers built the nation from scratch, are to be paraded on front pages of newspapers. The same newspapers that cannot find any writers, outside of mercenary party hacks, to pollute their pages on a daily basis.
The MCG will no doubt be accused of inflammatory rhetoric but we are not going to be muzzled in order to make the decadent BLP/DLP feel comfortable. We have reached the stage where there must be some voice to speak the truth to power. Having followed the political career of Freundel Stuart, we are shocked that he is nothing more than a shadow of the young idealist who was once identified as a progressive voice within the now infertile Democratic Labour Party. Unfortunately, on the Barbados Labour Party side, we note a progressive voice such as Trevor Prescod, being reduced to spouting “big words”, while the poor masses/workers he should be defending are being slaughtered in the collective abattoir of the BLP/DLP.
We are therefore calling for the immediate reinstatement of all workers whose labour of blood is running over the beautiful island of Barbados. We say to the government and the opposition to swallow their pride and form a government of National Reconciliation and Reconstruction without delay. The thirty elected political miscreants are collectively responsible for the chaos now prevalent. Anybody who feels that the Barbados economy crushed because of Stuart and the Democratic Labour Party or Arthur and the Barbados Labour Party is sadly mistaken. The white corporate and Indo Barbadian corporate elite must also share blame because they essentially control the economy of Barbados and like Dr. Don Blackman said a few decades ago these “shadows” stay in the background and create economic chaos because the political managerial class is mortally afraid to confront their exceptional brand of corporate deviancy. In order to rescue Barbados, it is necessary to expose not only the elected officials but the corporate leaders who have used the threat of widespread job losses as a tool of economic blackmail. It is time for the real debate about the distribution of wealth and land reform to begin. It is time for the thirty elected politicians to look in the mirror and ask themselves how they feel about three thousand black people, who look like them, being condemned to persistent poverty because they are only interested in joining with the white and Indo Barbadians ,in the collective and brutal rape of the country which their forefathers built.
Barbadians must use this time for serious reflection, otherwise they will wake up one morning and find that the country no longer belongs to them. These were the prophetic words of Errol Barrow. We now call on corporate Barbados to put the country before profit and we call on all citizens to express themselves about the future of their country. Do not be intimidated by the threat of the nefarious public Order Act! This may very well be the last opportunity because already the vultures are circling and preparing to blame poor Black working class citizens as the real demons when in fact those who are now paying the price have benefitted the least in the times of bounty.
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