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From The Publisher

PublisherFrom The Publisher
Following an exchange between myself and Cedric Flowers last Tuesday night on the Kremandala Show, and my subsequent column in last Friday’s issue of Amandala, I decided to tell you of some of my experiences in, and my approaches to, the tactic of demonstrations.
 
The last time I marched in a political and militant manner was on May 29, 1972. We marched as the UBAD Party, and we chose that date as a date quite near to May 25, which was international Pan African Liberation Day, and as the actual date when the 1773 slave rebellion, the largest in Belize’s history, first became known to the settlement.
 
At the leadership level, the most important thing in preparing for a demonstration is to know exactly what it is you wish to achieve. If it works out that you achieve what you want to achieve, then you should make sure your people are dispersed, because you don’t want things to happen which are not within your control and which may reflect negatively on your demonstration.
 
Our May 29, 1972 demonstration was a show of strength and it was a show of anger. Those were confrontational days. Our enemies were the ruling PUP, who had just defeated us (NIP-UBAD) in Belize City Council elections five months before. But we were stronger than those election results showed. The PUP, as was their habit, had become aggressive and intimidating in the months following their December 1971 City Council victory, and on May 29, 1972, UBAD exploded on Albert and Regent Streets, smashing all the available store windows. 
 
The smashing of windows began spontaneously following a stoning of the Guatemalan Consulate on Albert Street between Church and Bishop Streets. Night had fallen when the violence began. There was no looting. The UBAD Party was a young organization, but politically educated. The stoning of the Guat Consulate was initiated by a UBAD member who soon became an open follower of Dean Lindo, the PDM Leader who became the first UDP Leader the following year. The smashing of the windows followed the stoning of the Consulate. The police jeep led the march all the way down Albert Street and up Regent Street. The police did not intervene.  
 
The march was supposed to culminate with a rally at Courthouse Wharf, but this was not possible under the circumstances. So we dispersed. A high ranking officer of UBAD, along with two supporters, then reportedly went on a mission which included attacks on Premier George Price’s Treasury Building office, the Belize Times Press, and Radio Belize transmitters on Princess Margaret Drive. The three were later arrested and tried for their actions in both Magistrate’s Court and Supreme Court. They were defended by Dean Lindo. They were acquitted of all charges.
 
The actions of these individuals following the supposed dispersal at Courthouse Wharf, exposed a split in the UBAD Party which had developed while I was teaching at Wesley College, beginning in September of 1971. UBAD had become at least two (and possibly three) organizations. That split became public early in1973. On May 29, 1972, UBAD showed its greatest strength ever, but it exposed a division which led to its demise.
 
Presently in Belize, we have a problem in that a wealthy Englishman by the name of Michael Ashcroft is taking us for “pappyshow.” What he is now amusing himself with doing, is putting himself in a position where a change of government from blue to red makes no difference to him where his business transactions and schemes are concerned.
 
Essentially, what Mr. Ashcroft has done in Belize, beginning with the PUP administration of 1989 to 1993, is educate the ruling politicians as to how they can make money for themselves and their party, while he, Ashcroft, makes a whole heap for himself. Between 1989 and 1993, he got the PUP to pass the International Business Company (IBC) legislation, and then he got them to sell him huge chunks of BTL shares at depressed prices. 
 
The Manuel Esquivel administration which came into power in mid-1993, was not to Mr. Ashcroft’s liking, especially Mr. Esquivel himself, so the Lord spent a lot of money to finance the PUP’s return to power in 1998. The rest of us fools thought a change of government would do us good, for various reasons. But Mr. Ashcroft was the biggest winner of all.
 
Today, we Belizeans have become dissatisfied with the PUP. Ashcroft sees this, so he is preparing himself for a soft landing when the Dean Barrow UDP comes to power.
 
In the meanwhile, however, Ashcroft is unable to stop himself from grabbing all that he can grab. It has reached a point where Ashcroft’s businesses seem to break the law, with impunity, whenever they think it is necessary to do so. There is a pattern here which has convinced us nationalists that we need to make a point to Mr. Ashcroft. That point is that all Belizeans are not for sale.
 
In order to make this point, nationalist Belizeans would have to educate and organize thousands of Belizeans. This is an enormous task. But with the evidence staring us in the face that we have been insulted and disrespected, we should be able to find reasons to become unified and mobilized.
 
The February 17 demonstration earlier this year was a commendable effort, but it was an example of how not to demonstrate. In demonstrations which have as their intention the sending of a political message, then you must organize as great a strength as you can. Everyone who has a stake in the fight, must participate, and, on the other hand, you cannot alienate people whom you don’t have to alienate.
 
If we march against Ashcroft, one of the things we cannot do is make it an anti-government demonstration. The Englishman has invaded. We are resisting his occupation of our territory. It’s bigger than PUP and UDP. It’s about Belize.
 
Power to the people.
 

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