Reports from Orange Walk on Monday morning were that dissatisfied cane farmers had put up blockades on the highways leading to the Tower Hill sugar factory. What this amounts to is a temporary end of the conversations being held between Belize Sugar Industries (BSI), the owners of the factory, and the cane farmers of the Corozal and Orange Walk Districts.
For most of the last 45 years, the sugar industry was Belize’s leading industry. The tourism business has probably superseded sugar where the earning of foreign exchange for Belize is concerned, but the “illegitimate baby” is still the boss – drugs.
Sugar remains an extremely important industry in Belize, nevertheless, and especially so in the two Northern Districts. At this newspaper, we are not experts on the sugar industry, but we know whom we have to support, in principle – the cane farmers. No ifs, ands, maybes, or buts. We have nothing to gain by supporting the cane farmers. It is a matter of principle.
In our editorial last weekend, coincidentally, we wrote as follows: “The conversation between Clinton and Colin is a very important conversation, notwithstanding. It strikes at the heart of a dichotomy which is fundamental to Belize.” That dichotomy is basically the one between the North and Belize City.
In Belize City, we were in daily, direct contact with the colonial masters, and we were drenched in the education, culture and way of life of the British. In Belize City, we grew up under the rule of law, and we gave up each other to the Crown whenever there was a crisis. Under the hammer of the British, our middle class grew up compliant. As a people, we were easily divided.
In the North of British Honduras, on the other hand, the masses of the people were quietly committed to resistance above conversation. To begin with, they were at a disadvantage in conversation for a long time, because the British spoke English, and the Mestizos and the Mayas spoke Spanish and Maya. The conversation was in English, the official language, so too much talking redounded to the advantage of the colonial masters.
In the North, the people are comfortable with resistance, because they are confident in their fighting unity. They have a record of successes when they are fighting for fundamental issues, so they do not have a problem with raising the stakes and watching the socio-political temperature climb.
In Belize City, educated sections of our population will react instinctively in opposition to the cane farmers’ resort to confrontation, because this raises the possibility of violence, apart from creating great inconveniences for those using the relevant sections of the Northern Highway.
Belize City people are afraid of violence. The North is not. The people in the North use confrontation and the threat of violence as tools in their fight for justice. Respect that.
The corporate structure is a faceless and formidable one which enjoys the protection and cooperation of the national security forces. The police and the army of Belize will be deployed to support BSI. This is the way our society is run. The corporations are the boss. The corporations must never lose profits. When there are losses, it is the people who must pay. We are sure that BSI has a logical and coherent position. That position has the support of the authorities – political, legal and military.
The cane farmers are not crazy people. But they are becoming desperate. They have mouths to feed and bills to pay. We are not asking you to go to Tower Hill to march with the cane farmers. We are only saying to you that in this matter, we, the masses of the people of Belize, must understand that our hearts should be with the cane farmers. They are looking at dark days ahead if BSI does not share the pain with them.
All power to the people.