There is a reality we Belizeans must begin to stare starkly in the face, and it is that our political independence has not worked that well for us. This is a sobering thought, even a humiliating one. We had survived slavery, endured colonialism, and it seemed back then that this self-government and independence were processes which should follow said slavery and said colonialism as naturally as day follows night.
Where I personally see the failure of our independence is amongst the younger generations of native Belizeans in Belize City. It seems to me that there is not that atmosphere of hope that we always associated with being young and dreaming of conquering the world.
The ladies of the UBAD Educational Foundation (UEF) organized a ceremony on Saturday evening to honor the late, great Dr. Leroy Taegar, and they invited three of us founding officers of the United Black Association for Development (UBAD) – myself, Ismail Shabazz, and Galento X Neal. Our invitation also had to do with the fact that UBAD would be marking the 45th anniversary of its founding on the following day, Sunday, February 9.
This was a time of conversation and reflection for us three, and my personal reflections will continue for days. What have we experienced and what have we learned since 1969? How have things changed?
The 1960s were a time of excitement and hope in Belize. Looking back, I can see that in that decade we were still benefiting from the legacy of discipline and law-and-order which remained from British colonialism. And looking back, I realize that we took that discipline and law-and-order for granted, and these turned out to be the most important things we began to lose with the coming of political independence in September of 1981.
In 1959, after almost nine years of nationalist agitation led by the People’s United Party (PUP), a period which may be viewed as culminating with the sedition trial of PUP Leader George Price in 1958, there was a kind of truce apparently negotiated between Mr. Price and the British. It was in 1959 that Mr. Price first began to speak of independence within the British Commonwealth, whereas before that he had said it really didn’t matter to him whether Belize’s independence was achieved within or without the Commonwealth.
The British proceeded to build the MCC Grounds for Belize in 1960, and provided us with the new Ministerial constitution of 1961. This was a time of decolonization all over the world, and Belize was headed to self-government.
The most devastating natural disaster of our generation’s lifetime was Hurricane Hattie in October of 1961, but, amazingly enough, it soon appeared that Hattie had been a blessing in disguise. Many Belizean families quickly migrated to the United States in a special deal provided after the hurricane by the American government.
Jamaica has always had a major impact on Belize. The island was our nearest British and Afro Caribbean contact, and the population of Jamaica has always been several times, maybe eight or more times, larger than Belize’s. Around the time that Jamaica achieved independence in August of 1962, a big time film was shot on location in Jamaica and reached the Eden Theater in Belize. This was Dr. No, a James Bond film based on the Ian Fleming novel. I think the Jamaican ska dance was already in vogue, and overall, Jamaica appeared to be a substantially more exciting, more modern place than Belize. Jamaica seemed to be “moving on up,” and we in Belize expected to be following in Jamaica’s footsteps. Jamaica’s footsteps appeared worthy of emulation in the early 1960s. I think it was in 1963 that football and cricket selections from Belize toured Jamaica. Our footballers, led by Mugger Garbutt, did well. In 1964, we achieved self-government.
In the 1960s, then, we Belizeans benefited economically from our access to America and we also became more sophisticated culturally because of our ties with Jamaica. Despite the fact that UBAD was persecuted and became a disruptive force between 1970 and 1972, the 1970s are still considered a golden age in Belizean sports and music. In retrospect, we now see that it was when martial law was declared here on April 2, 1981, that the sociology of Belize City began to unravel.
Those of you who have read my material over the decades know that I am not one of those who indulge in nostalgia. I do not romanticize the years of my youth, one reason being that I totally appreciate the lessons I have learned in the process of growing older. In the 1960s and for much of the 1970s, Belize City did not have a sewerage system and reliable running water. This was, then, very much a city which was a victim of colonialism. Still, we had hope back then, and strong families.
When the British left us on our own, we lost their discipline and law-and-order. Our families began to grow weaker because of the migration of our adult population to America. Our youth began to lose hope and to fight amongst themselves. Or was it that they began to fight amongst themselves and lose hope? Whatever.
Today, I would say that we Belizeans, and I suppose the natives in many former colonial societies, assumed back then that self-government and independence would simply involve going from strength to strength, so to speak. There was no way we would ever go backwards again. Decolonization was such a powerful international concept in those days that we did not allow for the return of oppression in designs which did not include military occupation as we had experienced it under colonialism. One form in which oppression returned was in the surge of drug trafficking and the proliferation of imported, high-powered guns and ammunition, even grenades. There was no longer a colonial ruler for us to identify and to blame. The only people we could blame after independence were ourselves: inevitably, we began to hang our heads.
We should always remember that there were Belizeans who defended British colonialism and were hostile to constitutional change and self-rule. Today, there are Belizeans who are big winners in the game which has been political independence. Belize has many more multimillionaires than British Honduras ever did. But the winners are not real, loyal Belizeans. They live on jet planes and have their riches banked abroad. When our national football selection needs a couple hundred thousand to represent, the winners turn their heads and pretend they don’t see or hear.
Some things never change. There are always people who think of the “I” and not of the “we.” Such personalities have their success glorified in the system of neoliberalism. They conceive of themselves as global stars who only happen to come from Belize. In the world of the winners, the UDP and the PUP are pretty much the same thing. The job of the red and the blue is to keep the losers under manners while the winners have fun. Inequality is cherished and injustice is institutionalized. A secret ballot every five years is branded “freedom.” Such is independent Belize, February 9, 2014.