I have not been the editor of Amandala since 1992. Yes, I have a lot of say at Amandala, but I am not the editor. This means that some material is published in the newspaper which I don’t know about until I read it on Friday morning (or Tuesday morning, for that matter), just like yourselves.
In last weekend’s issue, a story discussed the United Kingdom’s refusal to allow Moses “Shyne” Leviy to enter Britain to record music for a comeback album. The story was clinical in nature, and in no way sympathetic to the rap artist. This story went into the paper Thursday night, after I had gone home.
This story has caused some dissatisfaction in my home, because my wife and our daughters are great friends of Shyne, whom we first knew as Jamal Barrow when we met him, through his uncle, Michael Finnegan, when Jamal was about 7 years old. I would not describe myself as a great friend of Shyne, but as long as I have known him, I have always found him to be unfailingly and exceedingly polite, and a nice guy.
For most of the last three and a half decades, Prime Minister Dean Barrow, who is Shyne’s father, and Housing Minister Michael Finnegan, on the one hand, and myself, on the other, have been serious, sometimes savage political opponents. From 1982 to 1984, however, we were political allies.
Michael Finnegan’s wife, Diane, is a younger sister of Pamela Gongora Haylock, who is a comadre of mine, and her husband, Matthew is, of course, my cherished compadre. My relationship with Matthew and Pam dates from the late 1970s, when my wife and I and our children moved to First Street in King’s Park.
It was I who introduced Diane to Michael Finnegan. After they married they went to live in King’s Park within a stone’s throw of Medical Associates. Jamal Barrow’s mother, Imeon, had gone to live and work in Brooklyn, whereupon Michael and Diane became his guardians. So, our family met him as a child at the Finnegans’ home.
Since his deportation from the United States, Moses Leviy is a frequent and honored guest at our home. He is treated like a family member.
As I understand it from one of my daughters, the trip to England was a major career move for Shyne, and the disappointment is great. The story in this newspaper did not respect my family’s relationship with Moses Leviy, our support for him as a person, and the solidarity we feel with him as a Belizean. This is not the fault of the professionals at Amandala. All they did was run a story. Myself, I had to give you this background to the story.
Last week we received some visitors from Cayo at our home. The mother and daughter are family friends of my wife’s from her childhood. The daughter, who essentially cares for her ailing mother, is a retired United States Army officer. She pointed out to me that it will be a difficult thing for recent West Point graduate, Belizean Justine Swift, to adjust to professional conditions in Belize after having been trained, academically and militarily, to a world-class level.
Boy, I had to go back and read, carefully, the relevant story in Amandala, written by Adele Ramos on Friday, January 22, 2010. This graduation from West Point is a sensational accomplishment by the young lady, originally from Maskall and now resident in Dangriga. The United States Military Academy, popularly known as “West Point,” is, as we Belizeans would say, “nothing to play with.”
Returning to Belize will mean Justine Swift runs the substantial risk of experiencing disappointment and frustration from time to time. Just as it was a sensational accomplishment for the Belize village girl to qualify in computer science and military training at one of the world’s very finest military colleges, so it will be a remarkable achievement if she can adjust back to conditions in Belize. We congratulate Justine Swift. We are proud of her, and wish her all the best.
The arrogance in a certain section of the Opposition People’s United Party is appalling. They want to abuse this newspaper’s professionals in their PUP newspapers and on the PUP radio station, and, I suppose, the intention is to pressure our people to write what they, the PUP, wish to be written. The politicians who pay the PUP propagandists should suggest to those guys that respect sometimes opens more doors than abuse.
At Amandala, it is not multimillionaire politicians and billionaire “investors” who pay our bills. We operate under budgetary constraints where personnel and equipment are concerned. Sometimes, this newspaper misses something. This is not political bias on the newspaper’s part: it’s usually pressure.
Last week we missed the biggest story of the week. Belize’s most powerful trade union, the Belize National Teachers Union, gave a nationally broadcast ultimatum to the Government of Belize, threatening “drastic measures” if GOB did not respond by this week to specific BNTU correspondence and financial proposals. The BNTU felt that it was being disrespected.
The BNTU had chosen to inform the people of Belize through a press conference held on Wednesday afternoon. Whatever the confusion at Amandala, it will have to be straightened out. The published opinion of one PUP faction is that “X can’t criticize Barrow & the UDP,” but that same PUP section should know, from personal experience, that the BNTU can bring down governments in Belize. The teachers are that powerful. So, if this newspaper slipped down on the job, it was not because we were afraid of Mr. Barrow. The recent history of Belize indicates that our teachers are more powerful than any elected leader. Trust me.
Power to the people. Power in the struggle.