On The Wrong Side of History: Voices for Change on Montserrat Must be About More Than Spectacle

 On The Wrong Side of History: Voices for Change on Montserrat Must be About More Than Spectacle
Author

Jeevan A. Robinson (MNI Alive Media)

Release Date

Thursday, June 15, 2017

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Over the past months, I had started to write articles on various issues to do with my country of birth, but I have ended up parking them; for as I looked back at pieces written in the past, over several years - both as a one-time contributor to The Montserrat Reporter, and also as a contributing writer to MNI Alive Media - I realised I had at some point written about the issue already - albeit under a different leader.

So, as I observe the current juncture, and some the tones of the conversations to do with Montserrat, I admittedly have got to laugh. Laughing not because there is humour in the observations, but laughing more so because the issues that have been written about for years under former Administrations - I see them being rehashed in this present day incarnation of Government on Montserrat, under this PDM/Romeo led Administration - as if they are new conversations.

They are not. They are only formatted differently under a different leader I have come to realise.

When for instance, Reuben T Meade (RTM) was in Office, many including myself opined that we lacked proper leadership and proper adherence to the rules of governance. Romeo is now in Office, and making a right mess of himself, and the same argument is being presented again that we lack leadership.

I have no interest in wasting too many more column inches, much less my breath speaking about Premier Romeo. I suspect that Romeo is being propped up by a caucus, in allowing indecisive leadership to foster with him at the helm.

We keep saying Montserrat is at a crossroad. Frankly, I used to say it too, but have dropped that rhetoric. Why?

We have been saying that the island is at a crossroad for at least the last 15 years at least? Thus, I now must wonder openly as to how long will we be stationed at this crossroad without choosing a direction in which we wish to go?

To repeatedly say, “I told you so” in terms of Romeo's deficiency in leadership is not going to help Montserrat. We know the man is weak in Leadership after three years in Office, and no delivery on his first call promise. We got that! Now, how do we as a people and a country move beyond Romeo and the crass politicking we seem to so much enjoy?

We chime repeatedly about the need for unity to get Montserrat moving. However, when calls for unity of minds and ideas to come to the table are presented, many of the voices once calling for this very same unity run silent; instead preferring to go back to the playbook of politics as usual.

We need a new type of engagement on these issues to solve our long-standing problems. For it is my contention that we have issues that we never took the time to properly solve over the years.

So are we going to meander for another ten years talking about these same issues; arguing amongst ourselves, and hoping for a saviour in politics to fix us? Or will we once and for all find a way to bring all contenders for progress to the table and seek to fix the country; or at least a significant portion of it once and for all!

There is such a thing as being on the wrong side of history.

Young people now have a golden opportunity to shift the conversation towards something more progressive, and away from the political grandstanding of old. But instead some of them who’ve been given the platform choose to follow old doctrines, and are themselves deniers of progress, masquerading as true lovers of the people.

Our country is in pain from economic stagnation! It is calling for leadership! Yet the ones who can, and should bring a difference, are sounding off with the same old rhetoric that has failed the island. More of the same! It’s a disgrace to the island’s future.

The 2017/18 Budget was not a perfect document most certainly. But why not shift away from the usual rhetoric, and suggest how to improve it! Show that you are serious about unity and bringing ideas to aid progress. But no! That would be seen as helping the government of the day and as the ultimate aim is to gain power, we can’t have that, can we?

Don't tell me it's the Opposition's job to oppose. What is their job exactly? To be constantly standing in the way, and not lending their support towards suggestions to move their country forward? To sound like the “retired one”, and be praised for displaying "grand charge”? Boo! Foolishness!

In their current display of engagement, I call them deniers of progress, and should be framed as such. It is political power they are mainly interested in. They cannot be trusted.

I hold a view that small Island developing States cannot afford to be embroiled in political disharmony continually. Have they not looked and learned anything from the U.S election of Donald Trump? Have they not looked and learned anything from the BREXIT vote?

A country divided amongst itself will look to politicians to give it the answers, but instead will end up dabbling in folly, because politics will not fix the country! Spreading division, further mendicancy, and the same old tried and tested rhetoric will not fix the economy; it will not bring jobs; it will not improve social structures.

The people are the ones who end up suffering ultimately. Thus, it is imperative that small Island developing States change the way their people engage with their development. It is up to young people to change the trajectory of their country by changing firstly their mindset, away from the engagement of old.

We can continue the perpetual dramatization, thinking that this is in the best interest of the country; but there will be no sustainable development without Unity of Purpose.

There will be no sustainable development unless heads can come together and agree on a path forward. That is the only way that we can ensure our sustainability.

On our current path, are we seriously going to allow another five or even ten years of arguing amongst ourselves?

We are still at the crossroad I suppose!

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