CATEGORY:COMMENTARY ------------------------ By Lloyd Noel (Attorney-at-Law) Inside Grenada contributor Thursday January 25,2007 In this topsy-turvey, or seemingly up-side-down World we have to live in now- a-days, we cannot, and must not, simply take the position, that we leaving it up to those in charge to do as they please - because politics is not our business. Just as the powers-that-be are constantly reminding us, that “Tourism is everybody’s business” - so too, and even more so, “Politics is all of us business.” We have to obey the laws of the Nation State we live in, we also have to live up to the creditable values and standards of the Society we share with others. We have to live by the slogan which says ... “don’t die until you are dead” - because many people seem to have been dead for several years, but they just prefer not to make it known. We have to live out the ideals of our faith in that Almighty Creator, so that it will help us to make the right choices based on our individual consciences; in the hope that it will also help us to assess the worth of our earthly Pilgrimage. Because it has been very truthfully said, that when we die, we leave behind us all that we have - and only take with us all that we are. We cannot, and must not, be seen to be sitting around passively doing nothing - yet witnessing the destruction of the Society in which we live, and the World and its people around us. We must be concerned, and be seen to be doing something, anything in our power, to eliminate the causes of poverty among our less fortunate brothers and sisters; injustice, corruption, and immorality in any form, must be openly opposed; and the promotion of the rights and dignity of every human being, must be supported and championed at all times - by all of us. After over Two Thousand (2000) years of practicing Christianity, as followers of Christ - very few have accepted in principle or in practice - that “to Rule is to Serve.” It has also been very truthfully said, and historically proven, that Power has turned men into beasts, patriots into fanatics, and saints into devils. Also, that most men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. Whether in politics, business or even religion, authority can be very dangerous indeed. Nothing that I have said above is new or breaking news. Unless you are deaf, blind, and hopelessly stupid and immature from birth - you must have seen, or heard or experienced in one form or another, something from the foregoing that touched, or concerned you or someone you knew or heard of in the past. Of even greater concern to us all in these times - is that the situation has become so bad, and almost unbelievably getting even worse, as more and more grave and alarming incidents hit the headlines - that it seems the powers-that-be have clearly come to the conclusion, that a few rabble-rousers and opposition elements are just making the usual noises, but the majority of the people are not taking them seriously. Instead, that is how the conclusion rationalizes and further determines,the propaganda about RMC and missing bodies, and communist destabilizes who simply want to gain power to oppress the people and so on and so forth - those emotional and worn out statements are having far greater effect on the people as a whole, and therefore those in authority can go on doing their rotten business with impunity. And what is more bewildering to many of us, and should be tolling Bells like in a hurricane to people generally - is that the same Prime Minister and his Colleagues in Government, who are preaching all that nonsense about RMC Extremists and Communists, they see and uphold Cuba’s Castro and Venezuela’s Chavez, as their Knights in shining armour and their Socialist Saviours - to patch up their Economic blunders and social services deficiencies, in the name and on behalf of the people. We can only judge them, therefore, by their words and their actions; and as one surveys the whole scene, that passes from Government’s policies, decisions and administration, and reflect on the wanton waste of the people’s assets in one form or another, and more especially the very questionable repetitive instances in which monies are paid to Government Ministers, and no accounting is ever forthcoming, and the clouds surrounding those payments are so black, that transparency is impossible, whether they wanted to oblige or not. And the most heart-rending aspect of the above scenario, is that so many of our people and families are ‘ketching’ real hell, to make financial and bread and butter ends meet; while the wasted or pocketed Millions could so easily have provided the relief for those in dire need. Now it looks as though we are getting all the way back to the Eric Gairy days - of allowing investors to lay claim to land, sea and air space, once the Millions have been deposited in the proper accounts wherever. Although the Conveyance from the Government to Port Louis Land Limited, for the grand sum of One Eastern Caribbean Dollar ($1.00 E.C.C.), does not include the Lagoon Basis of Twenty-six plus Acres - two fishermen whose boats were tied up on the Waters edge, and who were prepared to move them at the request of the developers, had their said boats demolished the night before they were going to remove them the next day. It must be assumed that the Ballast Ground Project Developers had paid whoever for the right to use the Lagoon area - but however much they would have paid, that does not give them the exclusive right over the sea and the coast line, so as to empower them to remove people or prevent them from using th sea shores. Lord Brownlow tried it, with the approval of Gairy in 1973 at La Sagesse; and that, in effect, started the struggle by NJM against the Gairy Regime and its oppressive polices in those historic days. The suffering and the wrongdoing in these times, are far greater, and deeper, and much more extensive than anything Gairy did in those days. And that is not just my opinion, nor that of those the powers-that-be like to classify as Rabble-rousers and opposition elements - but the very widespread views of Grenadians generally. Unfortunately, those majority views are being stifled for one reason or another; and sadly for our people, and this beautiful Isles of Spice that is being destroyed on the bandwagon of greed and corruption - there is no NJM on the scene, nor in the making on the horizon. And that is a great pity, for Grenadians now-a-days, and those yet to come. Because at the rate things are moving down the hill, and in many cases down a precipice, if, and when, change does come, the damage inflicted on our people and the structures that make up the Society in their various forms - not to mention the financial strangulation on our meager and almost non-existent and still dwindling resources - will be of such magnitude, that it will need a mini-Marshall Plan from the U.S.A. and Canada and England to keep us afloat and to survive. And without any such plan immediately forthcoming, whoever those maybe - that will step into the breach, to replace the ones now doing the damage and creating the financial millstones around our necks - they will be faced with an impossible task that is doomed to fail before it even gets going. Then the hue and cry will be resounding from the vanquished - while they are still waiting to be taken in to account for all those alleged misdeeds - i.e. “You see, they wanted power, now they have the power and they cannot make it work.” And the sadness of that vicious circle, is that because of the shallow memories of our people - many will fall for that line of criticism and condemnation. In fact, that group exist now-a-days by closing their eyes and blocking up their ear drums; and although a whole lot of them are also suffering in the process, they prefer to remain blind and deaf - once they get a meager handout two or three times per year. Those in that group are persistently failing to realise, that they are entitled to regular work, to be able to take care and provide for their families, and share in some of the modern-day niceties that are taken for granted in every stable and organised Society. And when I recall the input of businessmen, Church Leaders, Trade Unions,Farmers and Fisherman, Students from Schools Island wide, and the dedication of conscientious Grenadians young and old - who rose up in those historic days from November 18th 1973 to January, 1974, to protest against wrong-doing by those in authority at the time - I am truly saddened that such patriotism, and consciousness, and care for and concern about what is taking place in their names, and the will and guts to say it as they see it and call a spade a spade - that these and much more are simply lacking or non-existent in our Spice Isles now-a-days. And talking about 1973/74, last Sunday 21st January, was the anniversary of “Bloody Monday” (21st January, 1974) when the late Rupert Bishop (Maurice Bishop’s Father) was killed in Otway House on the Carenage in St. George’s. We had just ended a Mammoth demonstration around St. George’s, and the crowd was gathered outside Otway House to listen to the various Speakers from the “Committee of Twenty-two.” A group of Gairy’s so-called “Mongoose gang” was coming down to the Carenage, from the Premier’s house at Mt. Royal, and the assembled crowd opened out to allow the group to pass through. As the group got outside Otway House, all hell broke loose and people scattered in all directions after gun shots rang out in the crowd. Rupert Bishop and a few adults and students were upstairs Otway House,including your humble servant. Some of the gang members were coming up the stairs as I jumped through a window at the back - and that was the last time I saw Rupert alive. Later that day the news came that he was shot by one of the gang. We found out the killer’s name but he was moved out of Grenada post haste, and that was the end of that. The Demonstrations were stopped after that catastrophe, and the looting of business places in St. George’s the same day - but the strike and general shut down of all business activities continued up to Independence night on the 7th February, 1974. The rest is history. Thirty-three years next February 7th, since that Independence, and a lot of water has passed under the political bridge up to-date.Can we say with confidence that we are better off now, then we were then? We have to judge others by their words and actions, before coming to a conclusion, or an answer to the above question.