“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
– John Fitzgerald Kennedy
“The marathon runner Doroteo Guamuch, a Quiche Indian, was the greatest athlete in Guatemalan history. Since he was the pride and glory of his country, he had to change his Mayan name and call himself Mateo Flores.
“In homage to his feats, the country’s largest soccer stadium was named Mateo Flores while the man himself earned his living as a caddy, carrying clubs and collecting balls and tips at the Mayan Golf Club.”
– pg. 55, UPSIDE DOWN, by Eduardo Galeano, Picador , New York, 1998
Monday evening’s murder at a high school football game at the MCC Grounds was a very sad occurrence. What makes it more sad is that a similar murder happened three or four years ago – same sport, same venue. Strictly speaking, one can blame the police, who are responsible for law and order in our community and our society. We can blame the high school principals and those who organize high school sports for them. We can blame the youth of Belize, and the unfair education system, and crushing poverty, and so on. But, ultimately, it takes a community to police itself. And it is evident that our community has become violent, cynical, disinterested, and, yes, scared. Our community, we should not have to explain, is we, all of us.
This newspaper began in 1969 as the voice of a radical, roots organization. The organization was dissolved in 1974, and the newspaper spent years struggling to make a go of it. A surprising thing happened around the time of the Heads of Agreement in 1981. The business community of Belize, which is not radical or roots (no business community anywhere is), began to support Amandala with advertisements. We are not the first choice of the business community, but we are supported.
Our organization and this newspaper were radical and roots, but we were never ideological. To explain what we mean by “ideological,” let us contrast two of our “ideological” neighbours – Guatemala and Cuba. In Guatemala, the rich private sector is extremely powerful. This is a version of free market, capitalist democracy. In Cuba, there is no business sector to speak of. The state, or the government, is in charge of everything, and the state apparatus is supposed to represent the masses of Cuban the people in a direct, revolutionary manner. UBAD and Amandala did not say what kind of system we wished or preferred. All we called for were freedom, justice and equality. These are, of course, vague concepts. We emphasized our desire to be Belizean. Forty- one years later, there are certain things we can conclude.
One important conclusion we have reached in the year 2010 is that there are many business people who would like to contribute to social upliftment in Belize, so to speak. Such business people include very few of the immigrant business people, so let us specify “Belizean” – Belizean business people. The motivation of such business people is not necessarily altruistic. There is self-interest involved. On the ground, crime is bad for business. And, in the larger sense, it is as John F. Kennedy said in the quote on top of this editorial. So.
Over the years we have seen that there is a problem with the transfer of resources from interested business people to needy young Belizeans. The middlemen, or managers, who are supposed to facilitate the transfers, often take too much for themselves. This is a major problem in sports. We need to mention that. Not all the business people in Belize are cold-blooded.
Perhaps the greatest problem is sociological, and, by extension, political. More than half of the Belizean young people who should be in high school, are on the streets. And the majority of them are male. Any event which features high school students and is open to the general public, naturally attracts those of the high schoolers’ contemporaries who are not fortunate enough to be in school.
In life, it is usually the tendency of those who are less fortunate to “show themselves” when they are around those who are more fortunate. We are not psychologists, but this is a form of psychic compensation. “You are in school in uniform and society considers you better than I, but I am ‘badder’ than you in every manner, shape and form, and if the opportunity presents itself, I will prove it to you, and to these fine little sisters who are looking for a real he man.” It is, then, somewhat of a fire and gasoline kind of situation when the high schoolers mingle with the non-high schoolers. But, they are all young Belizeans. They should not begin to become so seriously alienated from each other at such a young age. Where, ladies and gentlemen, where is the nationalism? Where are the ties which should be binding our young people together in solidarity? What is the plot? Who are the plotters?
No, no, we’re not going to start preaching. All we are going to do is ask you to pressure the establishment to discuss and debate this situation. All over the world, sports provide an opportunity for upward social mobility. If there is one area of life where your elevated status in society is not supposed to give you an advantage, it is in the arena of sports – the “field of dreams.” What we believe we have seen in Belize for the past two decades is that those of elevated status have moved away from certain sports, like football and basketball, and into other sports, like volleyball and, to a certain extent, softball. They have that right so to do, because the behaviour at the base of the social pyramid can be uncouth. But, all of us are Belizeans. Anything that tends to separate us, is not good. Anything that brings us together, is good for Belize.
Power to the people. Power in the struggle.