Coming into the September 1989 general elections, the young attorney Glenn Godfrey was, arguably, a more prominent Opposition PUP personality than the more experienced Said Musa. The relevance of this was that people like myself did not see the changes taking place in Said’s thinking before 1989 and between 1989 and 1993, because he was not on the front line the way he had been between 1979 and 1984, for example.
And, the importance of our not seeing, and believing, that Said Musa had changed from socialism to neoliberalism, contributed to the PUP’s success in the 1998 and 2003 general elections. We kept thinking, against the evidence of our eyes, that Musa was the counter, the balancing force in PUP leadership to the crazy laissez-faire we had seen with Ralph Fonseca in the latter part of 89 to 93.
Even as the PUP Leader Emeritus, Rt. Hon. George C. Price, was a manifest factor in the PUP during the Musa leadership years from 1996 to 2008, so Mr. Musa, who resigned from PUP leadership in February of 2008, remains of notable consequence in the deliberations and direction of the Briceño-led PUP. In fact, I would say that Mr. Musa is the one who decides where the PUP goes. He has the gravitas and the “numbers” so to do.
It has been puzzling to me how the erstwhile roots PUP is so now dominated by its right wing faction. Yes, I know that Michael Ashcroft’s money has become the single most important factor in the PUP’s decision making. But, for me who was there during the sensational years between 1975 and 1980, when the rising stars of Assad Shoman and the younger Said Musa meant that the people had champions to fight the oligarchical interests in the PUP, it is difficult to accept what the PUP has become. What about all the progressive intellectual elements in Cayo, all the militant trade unionists in Stann Creek and Orange Walk, all the young Belizeans nationwide who believed in a Belize where togetherism would be exalted over rapacious capitalism?
In life, people change. That is for sure. Ralph Waldo Emerson spoke of a “foolish consistency” being the “hobgoblin of little minds.” Evan X Hyde is not the same at 64 that he was at 21. But, I pride myself on the fact that what I essentially believe d in 1969, I essentially believe in 2011, Ralph Waldo notwithstanding. The same is not true of Said Musa. He does not believe in 2011 what he believed in 1969.
Yet, there are many intelligent PUP people still loyal to Said for what appears to be old time’s sake. These are people who were opposed to the military dictatorships in Central America, people who believed that the American embargo against Cuba was unfair, people who believed that colonialism, racism, imperialism, and militarism were rank evils to be condemned anywhere, everywhere, anytime, and every time.
I’m saying to these people today that Said Musa’s two terms as Prime Minister did not have these issues as priorities, or even considerations. Yes, Said was respectful of old friends from the struggle. He supported my candidacy for the chairmanship of the University of Belize, but where the recurrent financing of the university was concerned, it was Ralph who called the shots. As a result, Ralph loyalists like Angel Cal, Dorian Barrow, and Louis Zabaneh were negative force fields in the early life of the university.
I suppose that Assad Shoman’s personal loyalty to Said is a big reason why Mr. Musa is not denounced by Belize’s progressive elements. Following the PUP’s massive defeat in the 1984 general elections, Dr. Shoman, and I say this, with respect, because he has become a full-fledged Ph. D., went off into a career of activism and academics which allowed him, one may say, to rise above party politics in Belize. But at key points in the decades following, especially in February of 2005 when the Musa government was in danger of falling, Dr. Shoman has played the role of good cop to Musa’s bad one in the fraternity of progressives. Assad lives in Havana, but when Said’s PUP is in power, Assad is much more visible in Belize and Belize’s foreign affairs.
Dr. Shoman’s recent writings have attacked the growth economics of the two Musa governments, that Belizean growth economics which pleased Lord Michael so immensely, but Assad does not blame Said for this as starkly as he should. I was around until late 2003/early 2004, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Where were we going with this? The answer, it turned out to be, was 2029. Belize is being crushed by debt payments from the Musa years of growth economics. The party’s over, but some educated PUPs don’t want to believe it.
Said Musa and I were friends from the time we first met in 1968. Since G-7 in August of 2004, we have only talked on three occasions or so. The last time I spoke to Said, after a break of about two years, was last year August. It was a private, formal meeting, which discussed matters having to do with Hon. Mark Espat and Hon. Cordel Hyde. The atmosphere was strained in the beginning, and only became a bit relaxed towards the end.
In the beginning in 1968, there was a world which was bigger than Belize’s petty party politics. There were matters which were more important than blue and red. We were UBAD and we were PAC, then together we became RAM. Along the way, and through the years, evidently PUP became a way of life for Said Musa. I would like to know, categorically, if neoliberalism also did. All the evidence so far has come up positive. Neoliberalism caused hurt to the people of Belize. Dr. Assad Shoman knows this. Evan X Hyde knows this. The verdict of history will be a majority one.
Power to the people. Power in the struggle.