If your eyes are blinded with your worries, you cannot see the beauty of the sunset. – Jiddu Krishnamurti, philosopher.
BY SUNSET TODAY, the gross behaviour of members of the two contesting camps of the Opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) will have morphed into nothing – hopefully, to a decisive, if not amicable, end. And maybe the warring factions will have got some glimpse yet of that parting golden moment that seals sundown.
Whatever the outcome of today’s BLP leadership vote – romanticism aside – it will be dusk for one, a new dawn for the other.
We take no side – neither that of Miss Mia Mottley nor Mr Owen Arthur; and can say without compunction that the conduct of the two BLP factions will on the one hand contribute greatly to the growing disenchantment with politics; on the other, to the cementing of division.
Final decision there must be, division there may always be, for faithful supporters will stayed committed to what they see as their cause and their man –or woman. Commitment will almost certainly override democratic mandate.
But that ought not be. And, passion for position – literally or figuratively – need not be coupled with obstinancy or intellectual abuse.
Elsewhere, the machinations that make for politics are likened unto the strategies of war, the extrapolation of which is that, like in battle, all is fair in politics. This might be the belief of the Group Of Five. Who knows? Then, it might not be – and we could be shooting blindly and wildly in the dark.
Democratic political parties are supposed to be run by ordinary people, the theory goes; or, at least, the people ought to be the ultimate decision makers. It is for this reason, ostensibly, that democratic entities depend on such legitimacy to function.
For it is only when a grouping is thought of as people-approved can it rule by consent – give or take a little coercion.
Important as this consent is, it might explain Mr Arthur’s resurgence since public acceptance is what he rates highest in among BLP personages of note, as suggested by the latest CADRES poll.
The criterion for democratic fairness is said to be political equality, a point Ms Mottley seems to argue; but it may not be the only criterion of democratic fairness; just an important one.
And therein lies the rub: what is actually fair in war and politics.
We began looking toward the sunset. But there comes after the dusk a new day. And we are ever reminded by Alonzo Newton Benn that “each golden sunrise ushers in new opportunities for those who retain faith in themselves, and keep their chins up . . . . Do this and there will be joy for you in each golden sunset”.
