The news that Solar Dynamics has been placed in receivership is more than another corporate headline – see Solar Dynamics placed in receivership. It is another example of a recurring trend: the fading of locally owned Barbadian companies from our national landscape. Each time one of these firms disappear, we lose more than economic activity. We lose a piece of ourselves. A country is not built only on laws; it is built on the enterprise of its people, the risks being taken, and the confidence we have in our capacity to overcome. When local companies like Solar Dynamics, disappears, we lose a piece of ourselves. Do not forget our motto, Pride and Industry. These should be more than mere words but invoke the meaning of who WE are, and WE are willing to protect what is OURS.
For decades, Barbadians built many companies that reflected our ingenuity, our resilience, and our sense of community – Solar Dynamics, ACME, Barbados National Bank, Nation newspaper, WIBISCO to name a handful. These firms were not perfect, but they were ours. From an economic standpoint, profits circulated in the domestic economy, trained our people, and anchored our sovereignty as a proud people. We earned the plaudit of fighting above our weight category. Whether through mismanagement, structural weaknesses, or competitive changes in the environment- our local captains of industry have been unable to stem the flow of foreign capital being used to acquire our best local companies. While foreign investment is welcome, local ownership must matter given its link to what defines a national identity. Ownership of anything infuses a confidence that creates a type of decision making and self confidence.
The disappearance of several local companies is not just an economic concern, although it seems this is the preferred measure of success in these times. It is a cultural one. What we build, what we sustain, and what we choose to protect says something about who we are as a people. It is like the saying goes, we are what we eat. Our actions shape our national identity. If we allow our own institutions to collapse while embracing imported ‘replacements’, we send a loud message to Barbadians, young and old, about what we value.
As Crop Over approaches, the concern about our national identity intensifies for a lowly blogmaster. The festival that once expressed the soul of Barbadian culture is now being influenced and reshaped by imported behaviours. The music, the revelry, the imagery- much of it is now dictated by cost and what is popular elsewhere, not by who we are or the legacy state in the 70s, 80s. We are importing a mindset that is deflating our local psyche. People jumping on Kadooment Day now mirror what we see in Trinidad, Antigua, Brazil. There is no differentiation. Calvacades and other community activities have long been replaced by exclusive fetes and private jumpups. Is this who we want to be?
The counter that we must accept change is valid- culture must evolve. festivals and related activities must adapt, we get it. But adapting without anchoring to what is Barbadianna is simply IMITATION. And this imitation will continue to dilute our national identity to what end? The real paradox is that our national identity comes directly from our present behaviours.
The same principle applies to our economy. When locally owned companies disappear and are replaced by external entities, we lose the ability to define our own development path. When our cultural expressions are shaped by outside forces, we lose the ability to define our own narrative. If a ship is tossed about by the currents without the guidance of a firm rudder, a crash is inevitable. Are we there yet?
If we prefer a Barbados that stands confidently in the world, we must protect and rebuild our decaying institutions that are our mirror image. We must support local enterprise with the same passion we bring to imported fetes like Tipsy. We must treat our culture not as a commodity but a legacy. When the dust settles, what we do is who we become.
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.