AS THE LIFE OF THE CURRENT PARLIAMENT of Barbados enters its final weeks, there has been a noticeable shift towards greater hints of authoritarianism and intolerance in the language of the leading spokespersons of the ruling Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
Whilst it is expected that a government will defend its record and stewardship in the days leading to an election, the DLP’s recent language has hinted at possibilities of violence, intolerance and authoritarianism hitherto unknown in the Barbadian landscape.
Whilst several examples abound, this claim can be substantiated by examining the language of the DLP in two illustrative moments: the response to the Barbados Labour Party’s (BLP) March Of Disgust, and the stance towards the existing leadership of the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW).
The DLP’s unwarrantedly robust language in response to the BLP march has been welldocumented. First, its general secretary George Pilgrim labelled the organisers of the protest march as unpatriotic and associated their actions with disruptions to peace and national stability.
Then came a hysterical response by the Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett, who, oblivious to the implications for the external perceptions of Barbados, predicted that “blood would flow in the gutters” in the lead-up to the next election.
As if this was not enough, Mr Blackett launched into his now infamous attack on a 13-year-old schoolboy, likening the youngster’s decision to appear on a BLP platform as a form of child abuse.
Not to be outdone, he was joined in his condemnation of the teenager by the MP for St John Mara Thompson, who further offended large sections of the women’s movement when she attributed the decision by the BLP to include the student on their platform to the “childless” condition of some BLP female parliamentarians. Apparently, their lack of parental experience militated against their ability to determine which activities are appropriate for children.
Even more vitriolic has been the response by the DLP to the key players in the NUPW. At a DLP branch meeting in St Andrew, the Minister of Education continued with his party’s false narrative of identifying the current leadership of the NUPW as irresponsible and “politicised”, whilst extricating past unionists who had political affiliations, including himself, from the taint of irresponsibility.
Most worrying, however, was a comment attributed to Minister of Commerce Donville Inniss in the last SUNDAY SUN, who is calling for “people who wilfully block progress” to be penalised. What does this mean? How is this measured?
So, in the lead-up to an election, not only have 13-year-olds, childless women and trade unionists been attacked, but the net is being widened to include those who “block progress”. Heaven help us.
•Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, specialising in regional affairs. Email: [email protected]
