Treachery or Loyalty- Which should we pay to our country?
By Earle Clarke
In the early hours of Sunday 16th August, a friend of mine called me from the Bronx in New York and related a story to me. My friend said that he was in St. Kitts for the Cricket World Cup and he met this female calypsonian, who asked him, as a calypsonian himself, to assist her by composing two calypsos for her as she wanted to enter the contest this Carnival Season.
He succeeded in composing two songs for her. One was witty, a Road March song and the other was more serious, as it related to the developments taking place, the number one spot that St. Kitts has been taking among its Caribbean and Latin American sister states and the promising future of tourism in the country.
My friend told me that when he read out the lines of the second song to the lady, she blurted out “I can’t sing that, you want me to sound like Labour? He said that he was shocked at the outburst of the lady who went on to argue with him, telling him that she lives here and life is real hard. She doesn’t know what progress he is talking about because she doesn’t see any. She lives here and there is nothing but hardship here. She ain’t singing no song like that, because that is a Labour song and she ain’t going sound like Labour.
My friend said that he tried to convince the lady that St. Kitts is her country and she should not be so negative about it. She should be proud to sing about its achievements and she should not put politics in everything. If things are happening, she should be woman enough to come out and say so.
The lady kept telling him that she ain’t going sound like no Labour person by going on the stage and saying those things about St. Kitts. He said that he got so fed up with her that he told her, she would get none of his songs and she must never, ever, speak to him again.
One is left to conclude from this conversation with the lady, that, once you are a PAM supporter, you should never say anything positive about the country while the Labour Party is in government. To say positive things about the country, to speak the truth about the many developments taking place in the country, is to sound like a Labour supporter.
Destroy the country, bad-talk the country, black-ball the country, even if it means destroying your livelihood in the process, and you are a genuine PAM supporter. There is no country above Political Party. There is no country above self.
The calypsonian is supposed to be a social commentator. She is supposed to comment on the environment of the country. If it is good, he or she is supposed to be honest and say that this is so. If it is bad, then he or she has a right to say so. But there is also something call a conscience. Each and every one of us possesses one.
There comes a time when you have to ask the question; “Should I destroy my country?” this is the only country that I have. There is crime, but do you sing only about crime? Trinidad, the land of calypso, suffers a high crime rate. Barbados, a tourist destination, suffers a high crime rate, but do you hear all the calypsonians or many calypsonians go on stage and try to decry their country? Every minute in the United Sates of America a crime is committed. America has more people in prison than the whole population of the CARICOM Countries, but, do you hear the visitor from America say that America is bad?
A certain Taxi Driver who is widely regarded as a “Big Fool” took some tourists from the Dock and was taking them on a tour of the island. As soon as they got in his vehicle, all he could tell them is about the high crime rate in St. Kitts. They have to be very careful; less people hold them up and rob them. While he was telling them all these negative things, they asked him the whereabouts of the Taxi Stand.
The poor fellow at that time didn’t even wonder why they were asking him these questions. He was so hell-bent on destroying the good reputation of the country, that there was no time to ponder anything else. When he described where the Taxis are assembled, and they saw the Circus Clock, they told him that they would pay him the fare from the Doc to the Circus.
They disembarked from his taxi, approached a Taxi Driver who was washing down his vehicle and told him to take them on a tour of the island. They were so pleased with this Taxi Driver, that they gave him fifty dollars US Currency tip. They also told the driver what a beautiful country he has and the Taxi Driver who drove them to town is just scaring visitors from the island.
They also told him that when the Taxi man told them about all these crimes taking place on the country, they thought that he was either going to rob them himself or set them up to be robbed.
Everyday on WINN FM Radio Station, you can hear noting but negative things about the country. Come on man, all the radio announcers at the radio station live here. Why do they not ask the callers if nothing positive is happening in the country? Doesn’t it gall their conscience to hear callers speaking negative things about the country?
There is so much construction going on in the country. Just take a drive to Frigate Bay, turn left at the first round about and go to Half Moon Bay Developments. Follow the road straight and go to the back of Frigate Bay. There are quite a number of developments taking place there.
Continue on the road which is well paved until you leave Frigate Bay and now to the back of Conaree, facing the Atlantic Ocean. A lot of buildings are going on over there, yet the lady calypsonian and those who call in on the programme “Voices” on WINN FM every day, proclaim that nothing is happening. There is none so blind as he who fails to see what is happening. Look at the amount of construction work which is taking place at Port Zante?
Ever since the Labour Government has taken over the reins of government from the People’s Action Movement, the landscape of the country has been greatly improved.
Decent looking houses have been constructed. Hotels have been built. The name of St. Kitts has become an International world. There has never been so many International Conferences in St. Kitts before. There has never been so much construction under PAM when they were in power.
The name of St. Kitts has never been so positively internationalized under PAM. If it happened under PAM, I mean all that is new happening under Labour, I would have been shouting for joy. The more visitors come t my country, the more massage jobs I would get. I stand to benefit, because I am a Labour supporter, should I tell the tourists whom I massage negative things about my government and my country?
If the PAM Government is in power, even though I would have preferred my party to be in power, the PAM Government would automatically become my government and I would have to defend it when I am abroad. They are the government of my country. I cannot disassociate myself from them. If they are corrupt, I would be seen as a corrupt Kittitian. If they are progressive and positive, I would be seen in that light as well.
The reason why I would adopt the People’s Action Movement as my government if they were in power is because I would put my country above party politics. I love my country too much, to be saying negative things about it.
PAM and Labour are between us in St. Kitts. The country stands way above the political infighting between the supporters. We argue and we curse each other because of our political preferences, but we should however, respect, love and show loyalty to the country. If PAM is in government, I cannot, as a sensible person, go in the outside world and proclaim that the government in power is not my government!
I would be made to look foolish and sound stupid. The party in power automatically becomes my government. At home, on the international scene, I would defend it. If PAM were the government and they call upon me to perform any duty or to use any talent that I have in the interest of the country, I would gladly perform such duties.
This is my ‘borning land’. I love it. How can I say that I love a woman dearly and, every chance I get, I say such terrible things about her? That would not be love. That would not be faithfulness or honesty or an unshakable foundation of love?
This is the way we should love our country. The same way we love our woman or the same way we love our man. We should show respect and loyalty. The only difference is, that, while we can change partners, and, while we can change citizenship, we cannot change where we were born. Even if we change citizenship and we have a different Passport to St. Kitts passport, Place of Birth in the other passport, would be St. Kitts.
It is time for us to grow up. It is time for us to come to our senses. It is time for us to put country above self and party politics. We must become more mature citizens. There are a lot of non nationals living in our land. Let us take a page from their book. Let us learn a lesson from them. They are here because life in St. Kitts is much and far better than where they come from. But you never, ever hear them saying anything bad about the country of their birth, never, ever, ever.
They come here and they make it here. They never utter a word of condemnation about their country. Why are Kittitians like that? Why do we allow politicians to force us to say bad things about our country; Loyalty or treachery, which one KITTITIANS?
