Dear Editor,
Once again Anguilla has a new government. The people have spoken. Whether you voted for or against the new government, it’s time to put aside all petty differences, and, as the last leader from Island Harbor once implored us people to, “let us come together as one.”
Congratulations to Dr. Lorenzo Webster and his team. Although, I’m afraid, I still disagree with the concept of party politics. The APM will have the chance to prove me wrong. Until that happens, I still maintain it’s a bad idea for an island as small as Anguilla.
Let us thank the previous government headed by Mr. Banks. And while we are giving thanks to all, let us not forget the many contributions of Ms. Palmavon Webster, the Leader of the Opposition, who was unsuccessful in her attempt to retain her seat. And while we want to look to the future, let us not forget how or why we’re at this point.
Premier Webster has his work cut out for him. He must have the freedom to prioritize those issues that are of the utmost importance to Anguilla. Among them, the hundred-million-dollar grant from the U.K. Though Premier Webster had no choice but to accept the MOU signed by the previous government, he was presented with a Hobson’s Choice, which is basically to say that there is no alternative. Take it or leave it.
While that money is a godsend to Anguilla, the conditions under which it is given are like the Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. We are damned if we do, damned if we don’t. Mr. Webster’s negotiating skills will have to come front and center if we are to survive this crisis not of our own making.
It is no secret that Anguilla has been a place about which no one cared, least of all the Brits. We were left alone to fend for ourselves and by the grace of God, we survived. Forced to live without the amenities that others took for granted, we made do with what we had. When no one came to us, we built boats (schooners) and plied the waters from Trinidad to Macoris with our wares in search of a better life. In a sense, necessity became the mother of invention, and we invented. We sailed the seas with nothing more than a sexton and the stars. We survived drought, famine, pestilence, death and even an offer by the British Government to remove and transport us to Demerara, British Guyana. Against all the odds, we stayed on the rock.
Once again, we face challenges on several fronts, economic as well social. Because of COVID-19, our economy such as it was, crashed and burned. Our social fabric is threadbare. COVID-19 has ripped off the bandage of a festering sore, one that has been festering for some time, and in so doing has exposed an underbelly that a lot of us didn’t know existed.
Our people don’t seem to remember where we came from, it’s as though the Anguilla of today always existed since time immemorial. Civil Rights leader, the late Reverend Joseph Lowry, said, “If you don’t know where you came from, you won’t know when someone is taking you back.” Isabel Wilkerson writing in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book Caste, opined that “People who don’t know that they are captive will not resist their bondage.” For far too long we’ve been held captive by a system, that is not conducive to our wellbeing.
We forget from whence we came, and consequently our young people don’t know from whence they came, simply because we have not taught them. The land for which our forefathers fought, is in danger of being lost. Frederick Douglas said, “If you don’t have Land, you don’t have freedom.” My fellow Anguillians, what is the price of freedom? Large swaths of prime Anguillian real estate are being gobbled up by certain speculative foreigners who contribute zero to our infrastructure.
Going forward as a new nation, our hopes and dreams are with Premier Webster and his government. He must be allowed to lay out his vision for Anguilla, one which will require all hands on deck and hopefully, with an infusion of young people in government, we will see a marked change for the first time in decades.
In his 1960 inaugural address John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, implored his people to, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” My fellow Anguillians, what are you willing to do for your country?
The British begrudgingly have given us a conditional lifeline, and that’s all it is. There is an old Chinese Proverb that says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you give him an occupation that will feed him for a lifetime.” The British has fed us for a day, when will we learn to fish?
The world has changed. If we want to survive in that large pond that is the global community, then we had better learn how to swim with the big boys, for at this junction, they see blood in the water and that’s all they need. Because of COVID-19, we are very vulnerable right now and the sharks are circling. This is not the time to attack this government. Whether or not the previous government dealt the present one a bad hand is irrelevant, water under the bridge.
The time has come for all of us to work together for the good of the motherland. Let us each ask ourselves; how badly do we want to hold on to that which is ours and to what extent are we willing to fight for it?
“We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately,” to use the words of Ben Franklin during those dog days of 1776. May God bless you all and may He continue to bless Anguilla.
Tyrone Hodge
