Consider life in Belize City from the standpoint of the working adult. There’s something wrong here. In fact, there are several things wrong. And the problems all become evident after dark. This is essentially the point of Frankie Rhys’ column this week. I get a real sense of how frustrated and angry Frankie was feeling.
What happened was that recently he made a trip to a Mexican town, Playa del Carmen, and compared the quality of life there with what we have in our old capital. The key thing was that the streets in Carmen belong to the people after dark. I experienced the same thing Frankie experienced when I spent a few days in Merida in late 1993. When the cool of the night sets in, lovers are in evidence. The sidewalk cafes and restaurants begin to do brisk business. In the parks, musicians play. Mexican towns and cities take on a languid, romantic aura after dark.
You can find some of that aura in Chetumal, but Chetumal is more focused on business than Merida. I suppose that is because Chetumal’s wealth is derived to a great extent from Belizeans traveling across the border, who have to do their business relatively quickly and return home.
As a musician, Frankie loses a lot of opportunities in Belize City because of the damaged nightlife. If music is the food of love, then the nighttime is the right time for romance. In a city where so many people have so much money to spend, a world class musician like Frankie Rhys should be making a lot of money playing gigs at night. But the very center of downtown Belize City is the most uninspiring place after dark. Zombie-like homeless begin to make their cardboard beds for the night, on the sidewalks, and desperate crack addicts start roaming, bringing their unique tension and stress to the rest of the citizenry.
Working citizens in the city hurry to their homes after work, and then they huddle inside until the morning light, captives of American television and the Lord of Chichester’s telephones. Why is this so? And who is to blame? Then, what can be done about it? Finally, and perhaps most importantly, who cares? Who really cares?
I suppose if I said to you that it appears to me this state of affairs was designed by the enemies of the Belizean people, you would consider me paranoid. You would consider me paranoid because none of your political leaders would agree with the design hypothesis. In fact, they would rush to disagree, because the issue of lifestyle quality is not an election issue: none of the politicians want it to be.
In fact, the issue of crime is not a big time election issue, one of the reasons being that crime is larger than party politics. This is to say that the causes of crime in Belize do not really have anything to do with whether the PUP or the UDP are in power. As Janus pointed out a couple weeks ago, there was a National Crime Commission which did serious work on the crime issue in 1992, and gave the then Prime Minister a comprehensive report. So our leaders know what are the causes of crime in the population center.
On the ground in the city however, crime is a real daily issue only for the business people and those citizens who have to live in specific areas, mostly on the Southside. The majority of our citizens turn their heads and pretend they don’t see. The conclusion has to be that our citizens, by and large, have given up. They do not believe there is anything they can do to address the situation.
And if you listen carefully to our politicians, as I have to, you will not hear them remark on the fact that working citizens have become hostages in their own homes who cannot walk the streets after dark. One theory I have is that Belize has become a victim of the dirty money which degrades you while it enriches you. When the money becomes too fact, life becomes cheap and morals are cast aside. This is Belize City as we enter 2008.
I think the more perplexing catatonia, other than that which is affecting us ordinary citizens, is the one which affects those who are more specific targets – business people. When armed robberies began to become a regular occurrence in the old capital, the targets were mostly small Chinese groceries and restaurants. The Chinese were stoic. They barricaded their businesses, accepted their casualties, and sometimes they fired back. Their spokesmen and representatives got the Chinese organized and mobilized to the best of their ability, and they increased their political donations. But their level of casualties remained unacceptable, or so it seemed. Yet, the Chinese did not retreat.
When the armed robberies spread to non-Chinese businesses, like gas stations, perhaps those non-Chinese businessmen took their cue from the Chinese. There was no serious outrage or outcry. Privately, the business people are scared. And they are desperate.
What this means is that opportunity exists for a political group which will promise law and order. In democracies which are not as strong as Belize’s, this is how military governments come into power. The citizenry reach the point where they prefer tyranny to anarchy. And then they embrace a strongman, who brings his own garbage with him.
What is for sure is that Belize’s two major political parties are not really interested in tackling the sociological problems the rest of us can see every day. Within the last 25 years, both of the parties have had terms where their House majorities were so great, they could have done anything they wished, to solve any problem they wished to solve. In 1984, the UDP won 21 out of 28 seats. In 1998, the PUP won 26 out of 29 seats.
As the circumstances presently stand, one would have to conclude that the people of Belize are more interested in the fast money than in a disciplined society. It may be that our people believe they absolutely must have those consumer goods we see on the television and in the stores, no matter the social cost.
I understand how Frankie Rhys feels about the present state of affairs. There are times when we older folk would like to go out after dark – to eat something, drink something, or perhaps even stroll. As things stand, as they have stood for a couple decades now, one has to perish such thoughts. It’s not safe out there any more. Some people say it’s progress. To me, it feels like a kind of imprisonment. Serious.