Not because we don’t believe their cause is just; and not because we think that every ethnic group in the nation of Belize has its gripes and its concerns that should be addressed with fairness and consideration for all; and surely not because some highly respected legal minds have gone to great lengths in twisting and turning things around to make them seem complicated and impossible — no, not for any of those reasons do we not say, “Give the land to the Maya.”
It seems that politicians, especially lawyer-politicians, have a very, very hard time relinquishing land into the hands of poor Belizean people. A little house lot here and there, that returns a vote, is alright. Anything else is a headache, if the person is poor. Giving big acreages to the poorest is unthinkable, frightful, wasteful of opportunities for “progress” for big people.
The former Prime Minister screamed “balkanization”, when our Maya citizens of southern Belize tried to assert their rights over large tracts of land that they thought was their own. And our present Prime Minister has claimed that a certain Maya leader “wants to see the entirety of the Toledo District be placed under communal Maya ownership without reference to other ethnic groups in the area.” (Is that sowing seeds of division?) To this the said Maya leader, Greg Ch’oc, has replied that “the lawsuit does not cover the entire Toledo District. It only includes lands that are currently used and occupied by the Maya people. As such, the lawsuit does not seek ownership of lands occupied by other ethnic groups.”
We haven’t encountered many Belizeans of other ethnic groups criticizing the Maya for their stance. It would be interesting to put this matter to a referendum. There are a few prominent individual voices against the Maya position, but are the vast majority of Belizeans in disagreement with them? As hard as it might be, what if the situation could be looked at from another perspective, from the side of the Maya? We have battled long and hard to get the teaching of African and Maya history, that is, history from our people’s perspective— “I and I story”, not “his” story— into our schools. Perhaps it is time for us all as Belizeans to stand with our Maya brethren in their struggle, as they have always stood with us in the struggle for Belize.
No, we shouldn’t say, “Give the land to the Maya,” because that is in itself a misleading statement. What we should say is, “Don’t take the land away from the Maya!” It’s a different mindset, a different perspective; and where there is a will, there is a way. Our Ministers of Government have been taking the “Core Sampler” approach to the “Maya land problem.” They should have learned something from that episode about the power of the people’s will.
The Maya people in those southern villages, they have the land. Despite all the colonial intrusions and invasions of the past, they held on to the land in those faraway parts of our country, in the “forgotten” district. They have been there; they have held on; they have a right to life under our Constitution, and the land has been their life. Through all the years of war between the superpowers in the region, they have somehow held on. Praise the Lord, they have held on, and have pledged allegiance to the Jewel, to help us keep it intact from the “unfounded claims” of our western adversaries. Now we must also help them to hold on against the greedy fingers of other foreign adversaries and their local agents, some in high positions.
We live in a world of capitalism – “money talks, and bull___ walks.” In terms of money, cash, the poorest people in Belize are the southern Maya in those villages now mired in this silly but deadly serious controversy. Silly, because any fair-minded person should see what is right. Serious, because without their land, the Maya are nothing in this new age. Men with cash will purchase it from under their feet, and they will be forced to work for the new masters. That is “development” for the country, according to the thinking of the wealthy capitalists. That is slavery and death for them, in the eyes of our Maya brothers and sisters, and we can understand their fear. Their fathers and forefathers did not fight and run, and run and fight, until they were far, far away from everyone else, holding on to the last remnants of their culture and sustaining themselves on the land of their ancestors, to now be told to “give it up”.
The land belongs to the Maya who are living in those villages. Their logic is simple, and we understand it perfectly: “You can’t give me what is already mine.” “This land is my land,” independent and free; that is not for negotiation with anybody, much less a matter for any court to “finally decide”, without appeal, if indeed “this is my land”. The Maya understand that, and they are saying the same thing. This land of my village is my land, has been my land forever. To live in modern times, a paper is now needed to show others what is already a fact, to “drive back the invaders”. Then give the Maya the necessary papers; that’s all they are asking for. Or is there a fear that decades-old Creole/Kriol villages like Gracie Rock would also want to fight against being driven off the land of their fathers and forefathers?
Mr. Minister, stand down, or you will make yourself an enemy of the Maya. Sit down with them, and work out the details so the papers can be properly drawn up. Compromises may be in order. Respect the people’s right; and remember, you are not working for the Queen of England against the salt of the Belizean earth. Your job is to strengthen those “Limestone Pillars of Belikin,” so the original inhabitants of this land can take their rightful place in the future of the Jewel.
The Maya were content to act as protectors of the forest reserve, for the benefit of their culture and their economic survival, and for the benefit of all Belize. And their village was their land, had always been their land; but they were not bothered about papers to “own it” in the present customary sense.
But when the invaders stepped in to destroy their way of life and their livelihood in search of “black gold”, they had no alternative but to demand their rights. If our government is in doubt, then it should call a referendum on the matter. We are Belizean “roots” back here, and we stand with our Belizean Maya.