The bane of Barbadian society has always been the existence of social elites or privileged in-groups and the deleterious effects that such entities have generated!
During the colonial period, for example, the Barbadian social elites/in-groups consisted of the white planter/merchant oligarchy and the expatriate British colonial officials.?And we are only too well aware of the devastating effect that these elites had on the broad masses of the Barbadian people, as a result of their efforts to maintain their positions of social privilege.
Well, over the past 50 years or so, Barbadian society has secreted yet another social elite or in-group. We refer to the university educated black middle class social group that has taken control of the top leadership positions in the civil service, the two traditional political parties, the education system, the major trade unions, the establishment churches and the legal system, and that has been co-opted by the traditional white business class to assist in the running of the established corporate sector.
Generally speaking, such elite groups or classes do not produce the material substance (and oftentimes not even the cultural and spiritual “substances”) on which the society is based. That critical function is performed by the members of the broad working class who tend the fields, man the factories, service the hotels, and shoulder the construction industry. The elite social classes perch on the backs of the working class and the physical industrial and agricultural economy that the labour of the working class sustains.
The problem that has gradually arisen in Barbados over the past 50 years is that the “new” black middle class has convinced itself that it is “wiser” than the working class and that, as a result, it is entitled to rule and lead and make decisions for the working class. And this social attitude has manifested itself in the manner in which members of the black middle class have taken control of, and thoroughly monopolized, the leadership of even such quintessential working class based organizations as the political parties and trade unions.
Tragically, these middle class elements seem to believe that ordinary workers are simple-minded creatures incapable of contributing to any intellect-based decision making process, and have little or no appreciation of the insights and “education” that workers receive from carrying out their critical function within the system of production.
But, thank God for the Alexandra School saga! What this sorry story has brought to the fore and made unmistakeably clear is the utter fraudulence of the claim of the black middle class that they are wiser than, and are therefore the natural leaders of, the Barbadian working class!
When we examine the collective behaviour of the top Ministry of Education officials, the principal, the leadership of the various trade unions and the principals’ association, the various Ministers of Government, and several of the teachers who were involved in the Alexandra debacle, we can find little or no evidence of wisdom, maturity, judgment, leadership ability or commitment to anything larger than themselves!
Working class people should therefore look upon this spectacle and ask themselves whether they would not have done better and made wiser and more mature decisions in the prevailing circumstances.
(This column will be continued next week).
• The PEP column represents the views of the People’s Empowerment Party.
