THE NEWS THAT threatening letters laced with a powdery substance which required medical interventions had been sent to the headquarters of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) in Barbados signals a potential qualitative deterioration in Caribbean democratic life.
Following closely upon newspaper headlines declaring Victory For Labour in describing the softening of the position of the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) in the face of a likely union national shutdown, and with the letter containing unspecified threats to the leader of the Opposition, the incident cannot be extricated from the existing political moment in Barbados.
If it is true that the “acolyte is sometimes more fanatical than the priest”, then it is the responsibility of the priest to cool the temperature.
When such situations occur, good governance demands that true statesmen and women rouse themselves. Specifically, the highest elected officials responsible for national security, peace, order and stability should, without prompting, swiftly and decisively condemn the shift towards an alien political culture of violence and terrorism that goes against the democratic traditions of the Caribbean people.
A prime example of such statesmanship was seen in Prime Minister Freundel Stuart’s early condemnation of vote-buying on the morning of his election victory itself, while some of his lesser ministers continue to scoff at public attempts to discuss the problem. A similar demonstration of statesmanship is required in the face of the NUPW letter. The leadership of the church, the private sector and other civil society groups should also seize the moment.
Our leaders should not wait until the boundary is crossed into physical violence and even death to undertake the required stately denunciation of the slide towards anti-social political behaviour. Only recently, in the middle of protest action by waste haulers against a tipping fee, there were news reports of arson and damage to property against one of the key protesters. Whatever the outcome of the police investigation into these incidents, the vaguest likelihood of a political motivation behind these incidents should have prompted an official public condemnation. Politics is a one-way street, and once headed down the wrong direction, it is nearly impossible to reverse course.
It is ironic that our leaders, who are quick off the draw to condemn acts of terrorism in foreign countries in an effort to assert their democratic credentials and to maintain their friends in the “international community”, cannot muster similar democratic intent in the face of domestic actions which are equally counter-democratic and even criminal. Too often our need to claim or deny small victories blinds us to the larger and more fundamental issues which are at stake.
Real statesmen always place big things above small things. As noted by a former Caribbean prime minister, while ordinary politicians plan for the next election, genuine statesmen plan for the next generation.
Forward ever!
• Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, specialising in regional affairs. Email [email protected].
