We (as a society) cannot be complacent and complicit in the inherent and calculated threats towards our sovereign democracy and towards injustice that threatens our security and erodes the rudimentary tenets upon which our society was founded. I watch in utter dismay as the employees of Port of Belize Ltd. (PBL), along with their union, are being ostracized by the armed forces and the pipers who call the tune.

I mean, for Christ’s sake! These people are not being recalcitrant, as they want us to believe. It’s their bread-and-butter —their whole supper, that is at stake here! So I believe with much tenacity and veracity that they have a right to sit in, because by sitting in, they are really standing up, standing up to injustice (there) that is admittedly a threat to justice everywhere!

They are standing up to the intransigent masters who subject their people to sit on white marl and are tormented when they stand up for their rights!

For far too long, we have been seeing the signs and the writings on the wall. I reckon that it’s time we batten down the hatches! It’s time we say enough is enough and put the leaders on notice.

For far too long we have overlooked the little white notices that were given to us. Then eventually, white turned to yellow, and oh, those yellow notices have turned red.

We cannot and will not stand for it anymore. More than the uncertainty of the times, are the utter and confounding injustices being perpetrated towards the common man. As a society and a unified people, we are being trampled upon and tugged at the leash. They rein in our harnesses, adjust our blinders and crack the whips on us.

But little do we realize or remember that we are in control. We determine how long or how far the ride goes, and have the power to halt the cart, altogether.

Let us stand in solidarity with one another. Let us realize that our only and best security is when we are a unified body standing together. Not our individual titles, positions, jobs and the like. It is a singular unified body that is the catalyst for change and being champions of equality and justice for all.

For when cows graze and stand together, the lion is kept at bay. But when the cows separate from each other, the lion pounces!

For how much longer will we continue to watch the years go by as we continue to struggle in bitter strife? How much longer will we continue to be subjected to injustices and calculated threats leveled against us for sticking out and standing up?

How long will it take before we realize that our democracy is not very democratic! The time has come for us to batten down the hatches. We will no longer have it. The tide will rise up and shift, and a new day will dawn for a more free, secure and sound Belize.

Let us stand in solidarity with our brothers in the struggle, for we are all in this together.

God Bless Belize!