Dear Editor,
It was brought to my attention a couple of days ago that an article was published entitled “Negative for the image of St. Maarten”. The author being Mr. Robby Ferron. I believe he was commenting on article I wrote on debt cancellation. Had I seen it earlier I would have remarked sooner.
Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion and that is a given. I do maintain that the best thing for the Netherlands to do is to cancel the entire debt, not only that of the liquidity support but also prior loans. Although I would have liked to be the author of said statement, it was the International Monetary Fund that said, and I paraphrase, St. Maarten should not be given any more loans but these should be turned into donations or grants.
Mr Ferron also stated that every other developing country globally would like to have their debt forgiven. It would be interesting to know who coined the phrase developing country. I guess he meant colonized countries.
I will at present not go into any specific detail as to what he meant by his statement, and I quote, “When an MP of St. Maarten makes such a suggestion it might make sense to those whose economic thinking is simplistic. It is, however, highly negative for the image of the country” end of quote.
I will suffice by saying the following: I am happy to be placed in the category of one of the greatest leaders that graced this planet, the late President of Cuba Mr. Fidel Castro. He was very simplistic in his request when in 1985 he said, and I quote, “We realize that in the final analysis the watchword of debt cancellation was valid for all the countries of the third World” end of quote.
Another statement attributed to Mr. Ferron is that of developing countries being financed by rich countries. I think he meant the colonizers. One should not ignore the fact on how these countries became rich in the first place, the facts are glaring, or might I add, the evidence?
And if you look at the organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, these are controlled by Europe and the United States of America. I will not even go into organizations such as the “Paris Club”.
It is unfortunate that one chooses to justify the injustices of these countries and the manner in which they enriched themselves. The Slave Trade for one, (The French Colonial Tax) (The Berlin Conference) just to name a few.
The issue of the development goals just to name a few; 1. Eradication of poverty, 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture, 3. Good health and well-being. (Source google.) Apparently It was first started in the year 2000 as the Millennium Development Goals now the Development Goals. The target date was first 2015 and now 2030 to eradicate the 3 points I mentioned earlier. But as long as the attitude towards the so called Developing Countries does not change I don’t think any progress in achieving the stipulated goals will be made, they will keep moving the goal post and soon we will hear that the year 2060 is set as a target date.
If these G7 or G20 are serious about helping to clean up the mess that they made in these countries they should start with debt cancellation. I am a firm believer that if we can work together, if we can get the support of the masses it can be achieved. To support this statement, let me finally close with a quote from the late President of Cuba Mr. Fidel Castro, “If this struggle continues, if the masses become aware, if each citizen of our countries understands the problem and the possibility of attaining a favorable solution – because a single government cannot wage a struggle – then they could be influenced in their decision to meet and adopt a policy and preliminary consensus.
In other words, we have to come together to get the job done.
George Pantophlet
Member of Parliament
