by Colin Hyde

I listen very keenly to, and read the thoughts of Belizeans who open up to the public, and I learn from both those with slants and those who are sincere. I worry about the slants, because they are only for nibbling, and some innocents want to bite in wholesale. There are times, a few, when the sincere ones let me down too. It happens with the sincere ones in situations like the present, where the air is troubled. Bah, like the friend who went and spoiled it all by telling the girl, I love you, they come with the giddiness that our country is an easy fix.   

Belize is not an easy fix; and if they don’t know that, I am guilty of giving respect where little is due. But, of course they know. I think the time and the ego and all that kind of thing make us giddy. There’s a difference between giddy and fool. With the latter, people usually know what they are doing; they are out for laughs. Giddy is head tek, like a man too much under his rum.

There is no easy fix in a democracy. We see how easily El Salvador fixed its gang problem. They are no longer a democracy. They are a totalitarian state that has elections.

Our favorite poster country, Singapore, has elections, but that country was/is no democracy. Speaking about the famed leader, Lee Kuan Yew, a Wikipedia page stated, “He was known for practicing political pragmatism in his governance of Singapore, but has been criticized for using authoritarian and heavy-handed policies. However, others argue his actions as having been necessary for the country’s early development, and that he was a benevolent dictator. Lee was elected Prime Minister of Singapore for 31 years, making him the longest-serving prime minister in the world at the time.” I wholesale agree with the Wikipedia about Singapore and that brother. Aha, Lee didn’t hesitate to wap, wap, wap!

If you want to create wealth, or you want to fix things, it’s no piece of cake in a democracy. All those rich European countries that we call First World, before they were democracies they were monarchies, and it was during their time as monarchies that they became mighty rich. Those were the days they plundered with no diplomacy, and we and our territories were the plunder. They are democracies now, because a democracy is best for distributing the wealth.

It is flat out giddy to say it’s a piece of cake for political parties in power here. For sure, political leaders can get us on the road to greater prosperity; for sure they can do better, but it is no piece of cake. Democracy noh easy.

Dual citizens want in, in the House

First thing, we will have a much better discussion if the Bel Ams speak to us with more respect. Yes, they live in the wealthiest, most powerful country on the planet; and yes, many of them have taken advantage of the opportunities over there to improve their talents. But the discourse in the US is nothing to brag about. From me to you, the US is a very shallow place. Everybody in that country is on a mission to see if they can be “funnier”, or slekka. This is a country whose mainstream media tells the truth through eyes that see only what is good for their bank book. 

Okay, that was cruel. But these Bel Ams really need to humble down. You can play to Belizeans who are gaga about American television and Tik Tok, whatever those things on the cell phone are called; but roots Belizeans who prize our history and culture, who like America but aren’t blind to its many faults, don’t adore you. There, that was cruel again.

So, a Bel Am lobby wants, has been pushing for the right to vote without the present prerequisite that they reside in Belize for two months prior to the big election. Haha, I’m not unfamiliar with their pain. I’ve lived in Camalote since 1984; but get it, there I da still kohn ya. My two children, they have full rights; but I, whenever a native from ‘lote pushed for a space that I was angling toward, I backed down.

One time I stepped out and got clobbered. I was pushing for a certain candidate to be the chairman, because the individual was capable and deserving, and because I believed the individual would make a space for me so I could do what I do best, serve. On election day, looking for votes, I leaned on a couple villagers who had gone to live elsewhere, but were in the village to reconnect, to forward themselves. They were hesitant, though they were originals, roots to the core, but at my prompting they joined the line. They got bashed. I got bashed too. I’ve been in my corner since. Yes, I know how the Bel Am feels to be rejected.

The big plum for the Bel Ams is the right to contest in general elections. The Constitution does not allow dual citizens to run, and to this point, that is a fence made of bricks. These Bel Ams prize the American citizenship. In the Shyne affair, the American citizenship wasn’t a thing, because he had been chased out of that country.

I’ll have to do some research to find out what is our reasoning to lock out dual citizens from running for political office. Off the top, my two cents wouldn’t be against Bel Ams. I say, it would help the discussion if they weren’t so daam disrespectful. I have a problem with their insistence, almost to a man, that we turned Shyne away because we have bad mind and we jealous and we are stuck in the old ways and we love corruption and handouts. You have to stop it. I am waiting for some of you to show some objectivity, and respect.

The Belizean voter is not a fool. Most of us who are so desperate because of the economic pressure that we take the $50, rightly forget that contract when we dip our finger in the ink. Yes, it is a truth that some of us need a little nudge to get us to the polls. But you can’t blame some of us for being frustrated. When the dust settles on the ballots, not all of us will be getting land, scholarships, or the prized jobs.

This corner dislikes sophistry, and it seems everyone who went to big school, that’s all they do. Leave the lawyers to play the game of winning arguments; what we should be after is what is good for our country. What are the pros, what are the cons of dual citizens running for office in Belize; let’s lay out the bare facts. If we decide it is a good thing, we then have to see how it would work on the ground.

P.S. Voting rights didn’t jump out when I looked at the table of contents of the report tabled by the Constitution Reform Commission. Next time I’ll increase the magnification of my lenses.

Word, “that kind of talk”, we need to get the hell out of here

I’ve told you my feelings about the word p-i-s-s already, how I think it is pretty crass. Notable curse words in their proper place or time are poetry, but almost never out of the mouth of a young woman. A young woman should never make it a habit to spit curse words, because it isn’t sexy, because it isn’t sweet. If you’re a young woman and you don’t care to be sexy, sweet … wait, let’s put a pause right there: if a girl loves a boy, and he takes her to meet his parents, she’ll want to be sweet, she’ll want to be sexy. Don’t get used to dem curse words; dehn to rude for young mouths.

That p word is pretty crude. Tell somebody they got on your nerves, really get under your skin, dehn mek yu feel sick, dehn lef yu with a sour taste in your mouth, dehn da bad news, that when yu si dehn dehn, ehm, noh gat notn fu get. If you go to the junior thesaurus, equivalents are disgust, revolt, and repulse.

That same p-word crowd, I think it is they who imported this aaarg “bunch up panties”. Where they got that from I can’t say, but I don’t like to hear it; I don’t like to read it. I suspect it comes from elite halls, but there is nothing classy about bunching panties. That word, that kind of talk, dehn mek I feel like kos.