UBAD was dissolved in early November of 1974, but UBAD never died. UBAD stayed alive in the pages of this newspaper, which became Belize?s leading newspaper, and on the wings of the broadcasts by Belize City?s most popular radio station ? KREM.

Through the years there have been people, especially white supremacists and UDP fanatics, who have tried to disparage any of our attempts to place UBAD in its proper historical perspective. They say that UBAD was insignificant. But if UBAD was insignificant, why was the present Prime Minister, Hon. Said Musa, a member of UBAD in 1969? If UBAD was insignificant, why were its leaders, Evan X Hyde and Ismail Shabazz, the defendants in one of only three sedition trials in Belize?s history? (The other two sedition trials were those of Leigh Richardson and Philip Goldson in 1951 and that of George Price in 1958). If UBAD was insignificant, why did Musa and Assad Shoman defend its leaders pro bono in the sedition case? If UBAD was insignificant, why did Dean Lindo, who became the UDP?s first Leader, defend various UBAD leaders pro bono in 1972?

Perhaps the main problem in any analysis of UBAD, is that UBAD went through five distinct phases during the five plus years of its existence ? February 1969 to December 1974. There are prominent public figures in Belize today who were affiliated with UBAD for only one or two of these phases, and so their knowledge of the UBAD process is incomplete.

For historic purposes, let us define the five phases of UBAD. The first phase lasted from February of 1969 until September of 1969, when the young UBAD was really so many different things where the beliefs and philosophies of its officers were concerned, that its incredible popularity masked the fact that UBAD was massive but amorphous.

In its second phase UBAD made an alliance with the People?s Action Committee (PAC), led by Assad Shoman and Said Musa, an alliance which lasted from October 1969 to January of 1970. In this phase, the uncertain UBAD drifted into the embrace of left wing allies, an experiment which turned out to be a waste of time.

UBAD?s third phase was from February of 1970 to January of 1971. In this phase UBAD reacted to the sedition arrest by becoming reckless in what it believed to be a revolutionary commitment. During this phase UBAD, again in reaction to the sedition arrest, became a political party. This third phase ended with the incarceration of UBAD Minister of Lands and War, the late Charles X ?Justice? Eagan (later Ibrahim Abdullah.)

The fourth phase of UBAD, from January of 1971 to October of 1972, was marked by the rise to power of new UBAD secretary general, Norman ?Imamu? Fairweather, who returned to Belize from Brooklyn early in 1971. During this phase, UBAD ran in Belize City Council elections (December 1971) in coalition with the Opposition National Independence Party, led by the late Philip Goldson. This was very much an anti-PUP phase. During this fourth phase, the late Kimani Kenyatta (Glenn Trapp) was also active around UBAD, but his activities were mostly independent of the UBAD executive and his affiliation to the organization was loose.

The fifth and final phase of UBAD lasted from November of 1972 to November of 1974, during which phase UBAD factions led by the president, Evan X Hyde, and the secretary general, Norman Fairweather, began to quarrel and ended up separating.

With the formal establishment of the new United Democratic Party (UDP) in September of 1973, Fairweather?s faction essentially became a part of the UDP and assisted substantially in the success of the UDP in the general elections of October 1974, and the Belize City Council elections of December 1974. The UDP won six seats in October 1974, came close to winning three more, and this was the best performance ever by an Opposition party. Then three months later, the UDP won the Belize City Council elections, 6-3 over the PUP.

The UDP have never given any public credit for their 1974 successes to the UBAD leaders who supported them, who included Norman Fairweather, Rufus X, Bert Franklin, Lloyd Smith and the late Michael Stephen.

We can say, in closing, that UBAD collapsed as a political organization because of the dominance of the two major parties, the PUP and the UDP. That dominance has continued until the present day. Whatever catastrophes we see taking place within our black community, can not be blamed on the UBAD. Only two organizations have ruled in the 37 years since UBAD was established. These are the PUP and the UDP, and when any of these two are in power, they do not listen to anybody. They run things.