Uncomfortably Comfortable

By Marcus M. Mottley, Ph.D.

January 5th 2009: Last evening I attended the commissioning of the new UPP election headquarters - or 'command center' as they called it. Reportedly there was a massive crowd! Why reportedly when I was right there? Well it is hard to tell the size of crowds when the people are tightly packed on a narrow road. The claim was that the road was packed solid for over two blocks! I was standing in one place for the duration of the activity… and that made me uncomfortable.

In any case there were many other issues with which I was uncomfortable… some decidedly made me warm under the collar.

The first issue was the fact that UPP imported a band – all the way from Jamaica, the Fab 5, to play for the event. Why was the UPP so willing to spend the kind of money that they obviously did in order to have this band from Jamaica? Is it that we don’t have any quality bands in Antigua that could have done as well or better? Or, is it that all of the quality bands or already committed to the other party?

Another issue was the fact that although there were a number of religious ‘acts’ and two Bishops– none of them really said or did anything that I think remotely suggested that this was a dedication or ceremonial opening of a new headquarters. In truth, throughout the evening no one, not the ‘hidden’ mysterious voice that seemed at times to be playing the role of the 'Honourable' Mistress of Ceremonies, not even the Prime Minister, paid much attention, if any, to why we were invited to this event! As far as I can recall, the Bishops did not bless the place. The mysterious ‘Honourable’ Mistress of Ceremonies who I can’t remember being introduced, or introducing herself by name, did not reference the building, or the new office, or ‘election command center’.

And then there is the matter of the building itself. I was very uncomfortable with whom it is rented from. I groaned when I was told the name of the owner. Here we go again: Same family. Different part of the family tree maybe? Whatever - same name! Here we go again with these unseemly relationships! I wonder who engineered that pathetic stroke of un-genius.

Then of course, there was the missing parliamentary representative. The Prime Minister claims that he was absent because his wife had taken ill. There is much that can be said – but of course all of that would be speculation. The least that I can say is that his absence was profoundly curious! He was missed only to the effect that the numbers did not add up... I kept saying one is missing… one is missing… Then it dawned on me who the one was… And for that reason the excuse did not add up either. As a matter of fact two were missing… the representative from Barbuda for whatever reason was not there… At least… he was not introduced to us and no excuse was given for his absence.

The core of my discomfort, however, was centered on all the accolades and dramatic tributes that were heaped on the Prime Minister before his presentation. Most of Fab 5’s songs featured the Honorable Prime Minister and the introduction read by the well known voice of the ‘hidden’ Mistress of Ceremonies heaped praises and compliments on him. And then there was the love song that one of the featured singers sung for him as he stood there listening and blushing… “Everything I do, I do it for you”! I certainly like the lyrics “Take me as I am - take my life - I would give it all - I would sacrifice” as a testimony for this giant from Rural West. But I am distinctly uncomfortable when a party elevates an individual above the party.

Last night was not about the building or the command center. Last night was not about the members of the UPP election team. Last night was not even about the UPP. As a matter of fact – even the Chairman of the party was missing from the program. Last night was not about the supporters of the UPP. Last night was not about the opposition. Last night was not about the pending election.

Last night appeared to be about Baldwin Spencer. And for that reason I was uncomfortably comfortable.

I was and continue to be distinctly uncomfortable that UPP finds itself in a position where it has to highlight the party leader rather than put the major emphasis on the party and its other candidates. The Baldwin Spencer that I know would be uncomfortable with this. As a matter of fact Baldwin Spencer was uncomfortable. In his own words, at the microphone, he said “Wow, this feels like a coronation.” And a coronation it appeared to be!

Last night I was squirming in my shoes. Not that he does not deserve the accolades. Not that he does not deserve the tributes. But this is not about Baldwin Spencer. The situation we find ourselves in as a nation is millions of times bigger than any one personality.

But… I also saw the necessity. I saw several psychological and practical reasons for the attempt at ‘coronation’. I more than saw the necessity… I was comfortable with the fact that it was attempted. I was more than comfortable… I leaned towards supporting it… even in my discomfort.

First of all, in politics as in most anything else that involves human beings, the cult of the individual deity or leader is paramount. Whether it be Krishna, Yahwe, Allah or the Christian God. Whether it be Jesus, Mohammed or Buddha. Whether it be Napoleon, George Washington, Kennedy, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Hitler, Fidel Castro, or Mandela. Or whether it be George Walter, V.C. Bird, Barack Obama or Baldwin Spencer. The cult of the individual leader works. And sometimes works well. And it seems to work particularly well when the party is faced with opposition on various fronts.

In the current situation, UPP is faced with opposition on several fronts. On one front is the obvious opposition from the ALP. I say obvious but by no means do I imply trivial. The ALP led by Lester Bird is a force to be reckoned with. On another front there are of course the want-to-be parties that are nibbling at the heels of the two major parties. They are this moment are inconsequential.

Less obvious but definitely significant are the not so hidden forces of the moneyed who are attempting to hijack the democratic process by reportedly sliding millions of dollars into the coffers of individual candidates of both major parties.
So what does all this have to do with my being uncomfortably comfortable? And specifically why I am comfortable with last night’s focus on Baldwin Spencer? Well… it is rumored that key individuals of the moneyed class are trying to fund and buy Mr. Spencer’s demise… either to have him lose his seat or more demonically… to have him lose the support of the candidates that he currently will lead into the elections. What does this mean? It means that if UPP wins, the moneyed pirates of Antigua, would like to see a UPP parliamentarian – one who used to be in inner circle of the ALP – uplifted to the leadership of the government and replace Mr. Spencer.

So… in my mind, last night was an attempt by those in the party who continue to support the Prime Minister to send a strong message not only to the electorate, but to his not-so-hidden detractors within his own Cabinet. The message says that Baldwin Spencer is the leader of the party. Baldwin Spencer is the people’s champion. Baldwin Spencer is the conscience of the UPP. Baldwin Spencer represents the roots of the party. Baldwin Spencer represents the common folk of the party. Baldwin Spencer is the people’s choice to continue to lead the party into the future.

Last night was a warning to those who would usurp the leadership that no just-come turn-‘coat’ politician who was part of the problem in the past can come into this – from that – and take over. It is a warning to those who ‘court’ the favors of millionaires and who themselves have benefitted millions for court-ing millionaires, and who have not paid their dues by court-ing the people of Antigua and Barbuda cannot and will not be allowed to connive against the natural leader of the country.
Those within the UPP courtyard, who court the American millionaire pirate, who court the middle-eastern pirate family, who court the worst inclinations of their parliamentary colleagues, who have continuously clandestinely undermined and stymied the financial decisions of the Honourable Prime Minister, and who have done so at home and abroad, should take warning. Take heed.

Last night was also a warning to those others who have become rich in five years – not from the ministerial or parliamentary representative salaries – that they should tread cautiously. None of them on that stage last night received any particularly noticeable response from the people. As a matter of fact, with the exception of the candidate from City South , most of the responses were tepid… at best. The crowd reserved their accolades for the man of the night. Their livelihood and their lifestyles, continue to be at the whim and fancy of the common folk… enabled, maintained and perpetuated through the people’s champion.

So last night the crowd gave tribute to the Honourable Prime Minister through their vociferous cheering. They indicated that they approve of him and that they support him.

I did too.

Although I was – and still am – both comfortable and un-comfortable!

The World Watches… Antigua Watches… Silently!

By Marcus M. Mottley, Ph.D.

I have had it. I have been silent too long. I have watched too long… silently. Enough is enough.

The world watches… silently as Israel destroys Palestine. The world watches silently as Israel kills children, mothers, grandmothers and great grandfathers. The world watches silently. Antigua watches… silently!

World leaders – all of them – are afraid to raise a voice against Israel. World leaders – cowardly – all of them – afraid to confront the genocidal Israeli aggression against the people of Palestine. Antiguan leaders… cowardly… silent…

And why? Hamas, they say, started the current situation by firing a few missiles against Israel… killing a handful of Israelis. And for that, Israel, in return kills almost a thousand Palestinian men, women and children and wounds thousands more. Israel destroys schools, hospitals, apartment buildings and Palestinian infrastructure.

And why? Because Israel senses a change in the air. A new administration is entering Washington, and Israel is uncertain of how the new president will really respond to the one-sided power play in the mid-east. And so, using Hamas stupid and folly attack they respond with all their might.

Israel, the only nuclear power in the region, receiving billions of U.S. dollars of military aid every year, receiving the best of America’s military weaponry – uses it against poor people who can scarcely afford food.

Over the years, I have noticed that the world seems to put more value on a few Israeli lives than hundreds of Palestinian lives. A Palestinian suicide bomber creates havoc in an Israeli town and kills ten Israelis. Israel responds by unleashing its military might and kills five hundred Palestinian. One Israeli child dies… world leaders respond with outrage. Fifteen Palestinian children die… those same leaders are silent.

They say… like Bush and Rice said recently… that Israel has a right to defend itself. OK. So what about the Palestinians? I guess they have no rights at all. No rights to defend their lands stolen first by the British and given to Israel. And then perpetually being stolen and carved up by Israel for the Jewish immigrants they import from around the world. I don’t care how old this issue is… these are modern times. You cannot steal my land and say it belonged to your ancestors ten thousand years ago. All people everywhere have a right to defend their land.

And the world watches and is silent as Israel steals the land and kills the owners… and the children of the owners. As a matter of fact the world does not only watch… they help Israel to perpetrate these heinous acts… not only with their silence… but with the moneys and weapons that they give Israel every year.

I cannot perceive anything more terrifying than hearing the monstrous road of 20 of the world’s most sophisticated and technologically capable warplanes rolling through the skies dropping bombs at will without my people having any chance to defend ourselves.

I cannot perceive anything more terrible than having tanks roll across the soccer fields of my schools and down the alleys of my communities belching exploding rockets into our schools, mosques and hospitals.

I cannot perceive anything more terrorist-like than seeing our babies being blown up in their cribs, seeing our young children with their legs blown off, and seeing our elderly dying at the sides of our streets.

I cannot perceive a feeling of being so very helpless knowing that I cannot respond… that I have no war planes to fight back with… that I have no tanks to roll around in and confront the enemy…

I cannot perceive how it feels to know… that no one cares… that all the other nations… even my Muslim brother and sister nations… silent…

Israel… a country… a people who ought to know better because of what they endured fifty years ago. Israel… now… they are the perpetrators of murder and worse... trying to wipe out the Palestinian leadership… and the world is as silent now as it was when something similar was perpetrated against them.

Israel… and why is the world afraid of Israel? That answer is for another day. Today… Israel, here is one person who is not afraid of you. But the rest of the world is.

And, our leaders in Antigua are like those others. Cowardly. Afraid to raise their voices publicly.

I have had it. I have been silent too long. I have watched too long… silently. Enough is enough. I will no longer be silent.

Mount Barack Obama: Why Not

By Marcus M. Mottley, Ph.D.

When the Honourable Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda indicated that he would start the process of renaming Boggy Peak to Mount Barack Obama many Antiguans vociferously objected.

I found none of their arguments against the renaming persuasive. Some said that Barack Obama had done nothing for Antigua and Barbuda and we should wait and see if he does anything during his forthcoming tenure as President of the United States. Others said that the fact that President Elect Obama was going to be the first African American U.S. President was no reason for Antiguans to be celebrative to the degree that we would elevate his name to such ‘heights’. Others contended that though this might be a signal moment for African Americans, it was not an important moment for Antiguans.

Many of those opposed to the renaming of Boggy Peak pointed to our own heroes who we should first give that level of prominence to. Others proposed that we first consider elevating regional historic greats like Bob Marley… rather than raise up a virtually unknown and new to the world stage American politician.

Others argued that to elevate Barack Obama on the basis that he is to be the first U.S. President of African origin, is tantamount to racism and does a disservice to our nation’s diverse population. (I have heard this argument before from those who are objecting to the development of heritage tourism in Antigua. They argue that we already have ‘heritage tourism’ in the form of the Dockyard and the old Betty’s Hope sugar mill. These naysayers to heritage tourism contend that to focus on Antigua’s slave history and to develop monuments and shrines to ‘our’ great great grandparents – the former slaves who suffered so greatly at the hands of the monsterous slave owners and their almost sociopathic, lackey overseers – would open wounds that we should leave closed.)

Well… many of those who make those arguments are the grandsons and granddaughters of those slave owners and/or their overseers. This is an argument not worth responding to… at least not in this article… although I am very tempted to!

Of course the foregoing are only some of the arguments presented against the idea of a ‘Mount Obama’.

In this article, I only want to draw attention to some of the current names of places in Antigua and ask if the origin of those names mean anything to any Antiguan. Most of them certainly don’t mean anything to me. And many of the others are names of individuals I would prefer to not have known or have to reference each time I think of, or speak of a specific location in my country.

I don’t know and don’t care who Bolans, Urlings, Bendals, Briggins, Jennings, Swetes, or Ottos were named for. As a matter of discourse, I can guess though. Just as I can guess that Gunthoppes, Burkes Estate, Herberts Estate, Montepelier and Sandersons were probably named after plantation owners – all of whom in some way or the other - used, abused, raped, violated, murdered and/or committed genocide on their slave populations. Not once… but as a matter of course… and over a long period of time. And they committed the same vile offences on the offspring of the slaves... Not all of those persons committing these heinous crimes on slaves would have been slave owners or overseers. A significant number would have been the government administrators, merchants and officials (even of the church) who provided the glue that held the whole system of slavery together.

All of them – slave owners, overseers, merchants, and government and other officials profited and benefitted socially, physically, sexually, financially… and emotionally… from their exploitation of the slaves they claimed to own and the system they represented… A system that was the lifeblood of the British Empire… from St. John’s to Bombay and from Perth to Kingston.

As I write this article I realize how annoyed a small few of you – the readers are. Well… it is interesting for you to be annoyed if you see nothing wrong in perpetuating the names of those murderous plantation owners, their vile overseers and the colonial administrators and officials. John Hughes, Gilbert, Willock, Belmont and Glanville who all guilty… and we must decry them – the only way we can – posthumously.

Let’s not forget some other names that we know not whence they are from: Clarks (Hill), Gray’s (Hill), Willikies, Pares, Seatons, Parham, Yepton, Cades, Barnes (Hill), Fitch(es) (Creek), Cobbs (Cross), Carlisle (Bay), Patterson, Claremont, Wapping (Lane), and Redcliffe (Street). We know what they stood for… what they perpetuated and what they benefitted from.

Now I know that Pappy Sammy has helped us tremendously in digging in and examining the history of Africans in Antigua and Barbuda. So, with some research, we can probably pin down who most of these “men” were. But, those historical names do not give me any sense of ownership or pride. Quite the opposite, they highlight a sordid chapter in world history as having taken part in or contributed in no small measure to the genocide of Africans in the Caribbean.

Every time that you call one of these names you are giving credence to, showing appreciation for, testifying to, or highlighting the odious significance of these slave owners and their overseers. Each time we call their names we memorialize them. Each time they are mentioned as our addresses, we are unknowingly… and uncaringly… are commemorating their dastardly and sordid crimes against the spirits of our ancestors.

Should we say their names in the same breath as Pappy Sammy, Ernest Williams, Nellie Robinson, V.C. Bird, George Walter, or Tim Hector? I suggest that it is sacrilege to do so. But we have not given that any thought.

Every chance we get we honor the one-armed, one eyed British naval rogue after whom we name the dockyard. There are many in Antigua who speak that name with deep pride (mostly the great great grandchildren of overseers and British, Scottish and Irish indentured servants). But I do not… As I understand it, many of those celebrated buildings in Dockyard and certainly the walls around it were built with the sweat and blood forced and beaten out of slaves.

Dockyard… does not and never has been – for me – a place to for tribute. In defending the island form that site… the British celebrated naval rogue was defending a colony of Britain, the plantations of the slave holders and a fountain of income for the royalty in England. He was not defending the slave population – the only consequence to whom would have been to have new slave masters who spoke French.

Then of course there was Drake and Hawkins Streets named after two British privateers. These men were nothing less than state sponsored pirates… terrorists in today’s terminology… wreaking havoc on both French and Spanish ships and on the populations of coastal towns in the French Caribbean Islands and coastal Spanish cities in Central and South America. These are not men who we, or anyone, (except for the afore-mentioned descendants of slave owners, overseers and merchants) should celebrate or elevate. We rightly replaced their names with the names of our local heroes.

There is a case to be made that we should have started the process of renaming many of our villages and other sites with names of people who have inspired so many of us: Nelson Mandela, Marcus Garvey, Mahatma Gandhi, Hannibal, Shaka, Pele, Sojourner Truth, Fidel Castro – names that raise a different level of consciousness and give us a unique national flavor.

We already have St. Johns, St. Mary’s, St. Paul’s, St. Phillip’s, St. Luke’s, and St. Peter’s parishes. Therefore, I am not opposed to recognizing a few other names related to spiritual or religious identities like Buddha and Mohammed whose life and words are and have been an inspiration to so many… here, in this region and around the world. I know that this idea will probably trigger apoplectic type seizures in many of you. But, let’s take at least a balanced stance at who we memorialize. We did not have any input in naming our parishes… so why not make some changes there also?

And so here we are at the point of the renaming of the highest point on the island: Mount Barack Obama. And based on the foregoing discussion… it is a good thing.

The Rising Violence

By Marcus Mottley

The Rising Violence: Let's Take Action - Now!

There is a growing sense of helplessness among Antiguans as we hear and read about the increasing acts of violence - particularly gun violence - that seems to be spinning out of control.

There might have been a time when some people felt that they were safe from the robberies and hold ups that were once the primary acts of violence. Now, everyone realizes that he or she is at risk. We realize that our children are at risk. And we realize that our elderly are at risk.

This is serious.

What is even more serious... and frightening, is the apparent inability of our law enforcement to catch the perpetrators of these violent acts. I am not even talking about preventing the violence... I am referencing 'catching the criminals'. The fact that our law enforcement... who has been agitating for higher salaries... can't catch these criminals means that we are all at risk for the criminals to continue their rampage of violence, thefts, break-ins and other acts of lawlessness.

As an aside... or maybe this is central to the whole issue... is the fact that our law enforcement officers don't seem to understand that there is a correlation between performance, productivity, results... ---- and pay raise!

The Government needs to take immediate and strong action. Now. There is no bigger crisis existing in our nation today than the threat that the violence poses to all of us. It threatens our economy. It threatens our daily lives. It threatens us while we sleep. It threatens our feelings of being safe. It threatens us as we go to work. It threatens us as we go home from work. It threatens us on the bus and in our cars. It threatens us in our homes... our supposedly safe havens. It threatens our children at school and at play.

The Government needs to demand action from the police... and if we don't get results - we need to replace the police leadership with highly trained, highly skilled, results oriented, proven law enforcement leaders from where-ever we can get them. Now for me that is a stretch - since I am adamantly opposed to bringing foreign nationals to our shores and putting them in leadership positions. But we are in a crisis... and so we need to contract the kind of police leadership that presents a modern, sophisticated, technological approach to getting the results that we need. And then we need to give our own young and upcoming police world class training. When we get that new leadership we then need to make available to them the sophisticated forensic and investigative instruments and technology that they need to get the job done.

The Government also needs to begin a comprehensive multi-dimensional violence prevention campaign. This campaign should have several facets:

1. Violence prevention targeted to adults and involve public education in conflict resolution & negotiation and anger management.
   
2. Mechanisms available to the public that include mediation services and conflict resolution services. Some of these should be availed through the courts whereby individuals might be 'sentenced' to attend anger management or conflict resolutions classes.
3. Violence prevention targeted to young adults and teenagers who are out of school. This would involve education in some of the above subjects. However, two key areas of focus would be job skills training and drug prevention education.
4. Violence prevention and drug education activities at all schools and at all grade levels. The focal points of these school-based trainings would be: Life skills (effective communication, conflict resolution, self-esteem building, study skills for academic success, how to deal with negative peer pressure and bullying, etc.), values education and character building educational programming.
   
5. An integrated and comprehensive island-wide network of after-school activities involving academics (home-work help, remedial work, etc), guided sports activities (with a values education component), performing arts (plays, dance, etc), computer & technology, and art.
6. Treatment programs for drug addiction and alcoholism. The Government needs to contract with qualified counseling professionals to provide confidential and ongoing treatment services to addicts and alcoholics. Such services should be provided at every clinic.
   
7. Rehabilitation Services for Juvenile Offenders. This is seen by well placed officials as a critical need. Such services would include some of those mentioned above.
   
8. A Probation and Parole Office should be developed to monitor and track the activities of criminal offenders. This office should also oversee the provision of re-entry programs for offenders who are re-entering society. These services would entail job training, mental health services and substance abuse services.
   

I could go on. But I think that you get the picture. The Government has to develop and implement NOW a comprehensive and integrated program to deal with this menace to society. Failure to adequately address the crisis of violence in our society will lead to such deterioration that it will negatively impact the bright future of our twin island state.

They Chased Us Away

By Marcus M. Mottley, Ph.D.

What has happened in Antigua and the rest of the Caribbean during the current Cricket World Cup showcase has a huge significance for us.

The most critical issue of course is the draconian, colonialistic restrictions that CWC organizers placed on the islands hosting the matches.

The very nature of the restrictions placed on us by CWC organizers reminds me of what I have read of our colonial history. CWC came to our shores… used our facilities… had us spend millions of dollars of infrastructural development and then restricted us from putting our stamp on the games. They restricted us from marketing our local products. They restricted our local companies from marketing their services. They restricted our people from behaving and acting like Antiguans, Barbudans, Guyanese, Trinidadians, Barbadians, Jamaicans, Kittians, Grenadians, St. Lucians… They restricted us from being who we are.

And we allowed them. We kowtowed to them. We said, “Yes Masah!” “Anything you say, Masah!” “You get anything you want, Masah.” "You want anything else, Sah?"

Veteran cricket writer Tony Becca says it is the International Cricket Council (ICC) that is responsible for the poor involvement of the local people in the showpiece event. “They (the ICC and organizers) want tourists from other parts of the World to come but ignored the local populations” Becca said. He also said, “I have covered many World Cups and what I saw (in the past) was that the majority of the crowd has been local.” He continued, “The ICC thought the World Cup as a golden goose and chased the local people out assuming that large numbers would come from abroad and they would not need local support.”

And so, they chased us away.

One hundred US dollars for a ticket! That is $270 Eastern Caribbean Dollars. In a region where many people don’t even earn that in a week… the CWC organizers were really catering to the rich, the elite business class and to the so-called tourists.

So, they chased us away.

And the seats which were available to the local populations were limited. Very limited. At least… they were limited until the last moment when CWC realized that their thousands and thousands of tourists just weren’t coming.

And they lied about the numbers.

At first we heard that 50,000 ‘tourists’ were coming to Antigua. We were going to have to get cruise ships to accommodate all those tourists since we did not have enough rooms and beds here. Entrepreneurs were encouraged to invest in bed and breakfast accommodations and build motels. Ordinary citizens were encouraged to spruce up empty rooms in their houses to accommodate the thousands of CWC ‘tourists’ who would need a room for a few nights! Then the figures were downgraded… to 30,000… to 20,000… to 15,000… to... well... who knows what the final figures will be?

Now we weren't talking about Barbadians, Jamaicans, Guyanese and Trinidadians coming here. And they certainly weren't talking about Antiguans and Barbudans returning home for the matches… nope. ICC/CWC didn’t care about them… and didn’t factor them in.

And of course, they didn’t care about us either.

So they didn't factor us in. Instead, they chased us away.

Why did they do that? They certainly didn’t expect the Caribbean masses to buy those US$100 tickets! They expected the seats to be filled with Australians, New Zealanders, British… and with a scattering of Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan supporters.

Racism?

Or were they making sure that the West Indies Team would not have the massive numbers of supporters who would form a powerful 12^th man?

Now there are other ways they made sure that even those of us who were foolish enough to want to buy those costly tickets could not get them. I stood in a line of 60 persons at their one purchasing site in St. Johns for one hour. In that one hour, they processed five persons!!! I left my son in the line, went home, got online, purchased the tickets, went back to the purchasing office, waved my receipt in the face of the security guard, walked inside and picked up my tickets. My son was still in line – facing a four to five hour wait!

They chased us away and I should have stayed away. But… I wanted the exposure for my sons… That’s a limp argument… because…

They chased us away.

Of course, I guess ICC/CWC had a colonial view of us. They probably didn’t expect locals to be 'sophisticated' enough to purchase their tickets online. Almost all the people who were in the expedited line with online receipts were Aussies or Brits!

Yep, they intended to chase us away. It worked… because we have stayed away.

Why? Because we clearly understand… this is not our ‘ting’. This is their thing. So they can have it…

There are other issues of course. Like the wimpish, spineless negotiators who represented us. Like the spinning that is being done by our local officials about how we will benefit in the future as a result of spending over $300 million. Like the financial impact on tourism during this period that stems from those stupid visa requirements… Like the fact that it took the advent of CWC to push our government to fix sidewalks and some roads...

But those issues are for another day.

Today, they chased us away.

So, tomorrow and the next day… and the next day... we will stay away.