We must say this, at the risk of repetition, that when we write these editorials, we do not take ourselves too seriously. After all, in the real scheme of things, these are mere academic exercises. In the historical context, however, we do write from a data base accumulated over more than four decades, and we write on the basis of relevant experiences.
What has been happening on the Southside of Belize over the last two decades would have been unthinkable during the heyday of the United Black Association for Development (UBAD) – from February of 1969 until early 1973. Black youth were unified behind a purpose in the days of UBAD. It was all about an expression of “self and kind.” The question is, why did black youth here begin to kill each other in these mad and bloody ways a little more than two decades ago?
We know that the Jamaican anthropologist, Dr. Herbert Gayle, recently completed research on the Southside which examined relevant phenomena and recent conditions. As we understand it, Dr. Gayle essentially showed why and how it was that some children within the Southside environment grow up, almost inevitably, to become violent gangsters. We don’t know how much of Dr. Gayle’s analysis was placed within the purely Marxist-Leninist context, which is to say, the daily, core realities of human need/demand for food, clothes, housing, sex, and so on.
When the Nigerian historian, Dr. Joseph Iyo, did some preliminary research on UBAD in late 2004/early 2005, one of the questions he kept asking those former UBAD officials/leaders whom he interviewed, was about the finances of the group. Dr. Iyo appeared puzzled by their answers – which had to do with the fact that there was no real money inside of the UBAD process. So, how did UBAD survive without engaging in criminal violence, as opposed to the political violence most graphically expressed on the night of May 29, 1972?
The reason our young Southside gangsters engage in criminal violence today is because they have decided they have to do these things in order to satisfy their human needs/demands. By “criminal violence,” we refer to muggings, armed robbery, extortion, contract killings, and so on. They do not consider that options such as day jobs exist for them in a concrete sense. Some of our readers will say, from the right, that they are lazy. Others will say, from the left, that our modern gangsters have been driven to this lifestyle, or “deathstyle,” if you wish.
If you want to understand the differences between UBAD and our modern gangs, you have to begin with the important sociological changes from the time of UBAD to now. Firstly, black people have gone from a clear majority in 1969 to a dwindling minority in 2011. And secondly, in the UBAD process there was cultural/political education, outside of the PUP/NIP duopoly, which unified black youth. Thirdly, there was an amount of material support for UBAD from Belize City residents, many of whom were traditionally NIP and would later go on to become UDP. UBAD received enough support from the community that the organization was not driven to criminal violence. But, UBAD did not receive enough support to survive indefinitely.
Incidentally, there are questions about May 29, 1972, which have not been answered. A Pan-African Liberation Day march organized by the UBAD Party crossed over from the Northside to the Southside when dark had set in on the old capital. When the march reached the Guatemalan Consulate building on Albert Street, on the second floor of the old Romac’s opposite Brodies, the demonstrators began to stone the Consulate building. One of those prominent in the stoning was a UBAD member who is now a UDP Southside area representative and Cabinet Minister.
The march had received a police permit. It was being led, in the night, by one Inspector Allen in an open jeep. Inspector Allen led the march all the way down Albert Street around St. John’s Church, and all the way up Regent Street to where the march ended at Courthouse Wharf. The marchers broke every business show window on Albert Street and Regent Street while being dutifully “led” by a senior police officer.
After the march, some desperate, unplanned activities began which reportedly featured a UBAD official – Norman Fairweather, and two UBAD members – Michael Hyde (deceased) and Edwardo Burns. We would say that it was at least an hour and a half after the first stone was thrown at the Guat Consulate before half-clothed paramilitary personnel began pouring into the city from their Ladyville garrison.
On May 29, 1972, British Honduras was still a self-governing colony. There was never any inquiry into the behavior of the police or into the fact that the paramilitary were not on alert. Fairweather, Hyde and Burns were first acquitted of various charges, including attempted arson, in Magistrate’s Court trials. They were then acquitted of damage to the Radio Belize transmitters on Princess Margaret Drive in an October 1972 session of the Supreme Court.
As a result of the night of May 29, 1972, Norman Fairweather’s warrior reputation grew. It became such that, for the first time since its formation, UBAD slowly began to divide into factions. UBAD held substantially intact, then, for about four years. In 2011, by contrast, the very existence of the gangs has assumed the extremely bitter splintering of black youth, their hatred for each other, in the old capital. It is by definition that the gangs are divided.
Over the years since UBAD was dissolved in 1974, there has been a massive reluctance on the part of PUP and UDP electoral politicians to discuss the UBAD process. As far as the white supremacist educational system here, for their part, is concerned, UBAD never happened. We’re not going to argue with anybody today, but, unless the UBAD leaders were stupid or insane, there was something wrong in Belize City in 1969.
In 2011, the media commentators here often refer to the Southside gang violence as “senseless.” Dr. Gayle has disagreed with that description. So do we. What was wrong in 1969, has grown much worse in 2011. In 1969, at least we had love and we had hope. Today on the Southside, fear and despair are the rulers. If you say UBAD never happened, then you may also refuse to appreciate today’s gang reality. In clinical psychology, they call this denial. So, who are the ones without the sense?
Power to the people. Power in the struggle.