During the last Maya land rights case, experts testified that it is extremely difficult to make a living in Toledo District if you are limited to 50 acres, and how Maya practices are well adapted to the environment.
I found the preceding quote, taken from the Sunday, February 22 edition of the Reporter, quite interesting. It was prepared by the Maya Leaders Alliance. I gather its intent is to use the “slash and burn” agricultural system to help justify the MLA initiative.
In the Wednesday, February 18 (2009) edition of the Amandala, a lady named Christina Salisbury expressed some important observations about land and its usage in Belize in an article titled, Help the earth breathe better. Ms. Salisbury called for the Belize nation to, instead of cutting down trees to grow beef for foreigners, plant more trees to help the earth. While I am not as “Green” as Ms. Salisbury (organic is a romantic idea (it’s a niche thing)), a lot has to be said for her argument that Belize is not utilizing its land properly, and that we should grow more trees. But Belize does have enough good soil, which, if managed properly, can make us the breadbasket (rice, corn, beans) for the Caribbean. And maybe help feed El Salvador too.
I do not believe that our brothers and sisters in Toledo are well advised by “experts” to forward the “slash and burn” system as an argument why they need to control their traditional lands. The “slash and burn” system impoverishes the soil. The yields diminish with every cutting. It is not sustainable. People who practice “slash and burn” must practice serious population control measures, because increasing people and diminishing yields are a collision course to famine. “Slash and burn” also leaves people more vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather, and other forces of nature.
The ancient Mayas of Belize were not only “slash and burn” farmers. Point 88 of Dr. Jaime Awe’s book, 101 Questions and Answers About The Ancient Maya of Belize, explains that the Mayas also made canals to irrigate and improve drainage, and on “hilly terrain, such as the Maya Mountains, they constructed miles and miles of agricultural terraces that addressed problems with erosion and increased the area of arable land.”
On the matter of culture, there are things we ought to preserve, and things we ought to let go. I love the spirit of community expressed by our Mayan brothers and sisters in the South. Where else in the world do we find a people who don’t produce individuals with the massive, voracious greed for more? Where else in Belize do we find people with such excellent discipline? Where else do we find such loving, respectful children? Boy, brattishness and other forms of rudeness seem to have overrun the rest of us.
“Slash and burn” agriculture is an intensely spiritual experience. But, as mentioned, it cannot sustain a growing population. “Slash and burn” cannot provide for economic growth. I have seen this cultural dilemma not only among the Mayas, but among the rural Kriol and Garinagu too. The oldsters want to practice “slash and burn” agriculture…but the children want family car, refridge, television, computer, cell phone, Jordan tennis, etc., products of a modern system.
One of the strongest arguments for individual land ownership, apart from the fact that it is the pillar of the capitalist system, is that farmers who own their land are less abusive of that vital resource. Indeed, when farmers own the land they farm, they include the management systems to improve their soils. Farmers who invest to improve their soils increase their yields over virgin soils.
Still, our Mayan brothers and sisters have a right to communal land. We should be thankful that they did not introduce cattle and sheep after they harvested their milpas…or Toledo would be a denuded land today. Occupation as “rights” to the land cannot be sneezed at. They have also proved themselves to be sincere about the land. They must be encouraged to improve their farming techniques with the ends of making the land more productive, and reducing the need to fall virgin forest.
Belize, if it will be fair, must accommodate the culturally different Mayas. But the Mayas must be fair to Belize too. I am asking about this solid block of 500,000 acres of land, almost one-tenth of Belize, that we keep reading and hearing about. For a single ethnic group (even one as special as the Maya, who carry the pure gene that runs through 80% of our veins), that has serious implications for Belize nation. You have to wonder: hope that it is just a negotiation point.
The MLA has told the GoB what they want. It is time that the MLA explain to the Belizean people what exactly they are asking for. It is time the GoB tells us what they are willing to give. Yes, let us decide if Prime Ministers Esquivel, Musa, and Barrow are crazy in the stance they have taken. I say, the process must be speeded up. We have seen where Mr. Ashcroft “attritions” our nation, piling up cases on us in the courts. It is not acceptable that the GoB practices attrition on our people.
Fos laaf da noh laaf
I see where Mr. Barry Bowen and Mr. Ivan Roberts, two local capitalists, are laafing to the noh moh noh moh bank over the CJ’s ruling in the courts. Maybe the GoB has to make a little change to the wording of the amendment they set up to protect our resources. Oil and minerals under the ground belong to the people of Belize, ALL OF US. Some people want more of our little bite.
Step up again, PM Barrow, Mr. Sedi, and Ms. Lois, you are in the employ of the people now. The people must get their rights. 7% of the government’s first share (Royalty) is plenty sufficient, very generous compensation to landowners. 7% is about one-fourteenth of what all 300,000 of us get. If you have stomach for more of the painful math, for every dollar ($1.00) the landowner gets, the individual Belizean gets ($.000044). And they want more? Shocking!
Selective Perspective
The Perspective newspaper devoted an entire page to explaining why the name of Marion Jones should be “white out” from the face of our national stadium. Mediums that have never spoken to the travesty of the FFB in our midst have no right to be in the discussion about sports.
In 2008, the PUP (Perspective is a big PUP newspaper) and the UDP colluded at the very top to help Dr. Chimilio and his band cheat the football elections. They sent armed men to protect a crooked regime. The present Minister of Sports is the new Pontius Pilate. He says that the FFB is affiliated to FIFA, so it is not his business. No! The bogus FFB uses FIFA money to control Belize football, Braa! (Hey, my vote for the Mayor of Belmopan, Mr. Simeon Lopez, to be the new Minister of Sports)
This story about performance enhancing drugs (PED) is not written yet. You might have heard a story about drugs, weapons, and a war in Nicaragua. Well, on the matter of PED, the East Germans and the Soviets started to out-perform the Americans at the Olympics. That is where this PED story begins.