by Colin Hyde
Some long years ago, like 60 or so, the PUP decided to crush the 10th, and the parade has been reeling since, losing support almost yearly. There were issues with the 10th, and something had to be done, but maybe not to the extent of what the PUP did. Respect to Rolando Cocom’s comments in his letter to the Amandala in 2012, particularly his query about Belize celebrating slave loyalty. That letter, titled, “The Battle of St. George’s Caye, 1969 in 1898″ can be found online or in hard copy at the national libraries. There were things we had to face, myths to dispose of and truths to recognize, and having gone through that confusion we have a much better understanding of 1798 today than we did 60 years ago.
Through it all, one truth has stood unassailable, which is that without it there would be no Belize, Hondo to the Sarstoon, Benque Viejo to Halfmoon. Half of Belize would be Mexico, and half would have been 23rd department, and that’s because a country named Spain, with the blessing of the Pope, had established dominion over our part of the world. Agh, our ancestors who owned slaves, white and non-white, led the defense. But no defense could have been made without the help of our other ancestors, slave and free; and the British, the same British whom the UN told to help us defend today, helped us to defend then.
In his 5-or-10-minute speech on the 10th, not once did Minister Fonseca say, “Battle of St. George’s Caye.” He mentioned the date, and he seemed to struggle to say it. After listening to him, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if he wished that that date would disappear from the September calendar.
Francis is an intelligent guy, and he is usually a nice guy, and sober, except when he is defending privatization, and avoiding “that” part of our history. It is for real that if we are going to make it as a nation, we must be nice to each other. Francis wasn’t nice; he went “low road” on the 10th, especially to Philip Goldson.
Braa, there was nothing colonial about Goldson. When he merged his Honduran Independence Party with the National Party to form the NIP, he did not give up on the independence of Belize. Did you skip the part of the history when he published that there are (close to verbatim) two roads to self-government, evolution and revolution, and we are now trying evolution? We understand the politics, but how can you PUPs persevere in the vilification of a man who went to jail as a freedom fighter?
My, how can anyone, 60 years later, still be clutching that myth nonsense. When the British wrote our history, they made little mention of our Mayan ancestors. At the moment I can’t recall the name of the historian who said that early on our pirate/slave ancestors and Mayan ancestors didn’t have many encounters because the Maya were making their existence on fertile land, while the pirates and their enslaved labor were in the swamp harvesting logwood. The Spanish priest burned history. It is 225 years after the Battle. You to-the-bone PUPs can’t keep on disrespecting history like that.
We shouldn’t be so slow to get over our follies, and we shouldn’t get too arrogant. How can it be that not once you could bring your mouth to say, Happy Battle of St. George’s Caye Day. Maybe as long as your party is in government you should just leave the day blank, if you can’t find one Cabinet blue shirt that is expansive enough to embrace our full history. The St. George’s Caye Society should be applauded for constraining themselves, for not booing you.
Shocked by Shyne and UDP
I don’t think anyone can explain the madness of Shyne Barrow placards, the man’s giant picture held aloft like he was some kind of hero Fidel in the 10th parade. If I could sink into cynicism, did he abuse the parade to make a show for a documentary reportedly being made about him by Disney? Just a couple weeks ago, the UDP staged a show to endorse him as their leader. Wasn’t that the place for his placard? What a violation of the 10th parade, this fraudulent activity of the UDP leader.
The 10th is not a UDP parade! The PUP boycotted it, but they and the UDP don’t make up all Belizeans, no matter what the election results say. Fully a third of Belizeans are swing votes or no votes ataal. For them it was disturbing to see pictures of this petty politician held aloft in the people’s parade.
Why I usually call name
When this column started, I didn’t want my name in print, and that’s because it is very strange to me to see my name out there. Ouch, Ms. Deshan at the desktop at Amandala insisted that I present a picture for my column in the online issue, and it’s some unpleasant jolt for me when I am Googling and a C. Hyde article comes up, AND with my picture. I like my thoughts; when I am set on a position I’ll defend them anywhere, though it’s no great defeat for me if I have to wheel and come again. In fact, it is a victory. I do not bring my ego into the world of ideas. I am boastful on a FEW things about myself, and one of them is that I am always ready and eager to grow. I will advise you, though, that if you will challenge, yu shud lef yu bias and agendas at home.
I existed with a pen name for quite a while, but very early I identified my Christian name, because I realized that if the column continued I would jab some of these big people under their ribs, and one should never be a sneak. Okay, enough for why I called my name, and now for why I call name.
Channel Seven, usually a name caller, said in its piece on Portico in its Friday newscast that WWF rep Nadia Bood “confirmed that almost 1,000 acres of mangroves would be destroyed if Portico’s project proceeds.” Well, congratulations to Ms. Nadia for being so bold. I think that if she is correct, everyone who is anti-Port Magical can rest easy, because it ain’t going to happen. There are crazy people in that PUP government, I wouldn’t be surprised if all of them are crazy, but they aren’t crazy enough to push down a towzn aykaz a mangro.
Minister Habet said his recollection from the ECP is that 45 acres would be cut down, and that he thought another 65 acres would be affected through use as a dewatering site. Okay, exhale for Portico; I expect Belizeans will work with that. Wa, the dissatisfied Channel Seven couldn’t rest with the Minister’s reply; they ended with the comment that “an independent expert has confirmed the estimate of one thousand acres to be destroyed — he estimated it at 948 acres”, and “another group has reached the same estimate.”
Well préheh, who is this independent expert and “group” that sees Gegg and his crowd razing a thousand acres of mangroves? Please, the Belizean people need unbiased information with the source attached so we can make a sound yay or nay on the project. An expert environmentalist who is afraid to be identified? Why? An NGO that is living in fear? What’s going on in Belize? Who is he/she, and who are they?
If I were an environmental expert, I’d be screaming about those scattershot if I had nothing to do with that declaration that Gegg is a lowdown, dirty mangrove goon. Is the group, Oceana? Is it, SATIIM? Well, there’s no name attached, and until we know da who, everybody shares in the declaration that the brazen philistine Gegg would dare to obliterate almost 2 square miles of mangrove.