DISCOURSE: We’re Quickly Becoming a Tribal Nation

by Earl Bousquet

May 31, 2002 - I believe we are quickly becoming a tribal nation, adopting the type of political tribalism that has so divided Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. More and more, I can see us resorting to and reflecting the sort of partisan political division that can tie us down and turn us back, instead of us taking us -- and our country – up and forward.

Once upon a time, we were only so divided when general elections were approaching and politics was in the air. But today, day after day, we see the widening of the cracks, the deepening of the division between those who support the government and those who oppose it.

We see a political culture developing that results in the breeding of intolerance and disrespect. If I don’t like you, then nothing you say can make sense to me. If someone does not like Kenny Anthony, then nothing he or any member of his government says or does can make sense to them.

This sense of mistrust and disrespect is also being sewn by well-placed persons in our society and the newsmakers responsible for informing the society so that it can make informed decisions. But we are stuck with a small but influential bunch who are hostile to the idea of research, who don’t inform themselves and who perpetuate a level of ignorance that our country can very well do without.

Largely because of the experience with politicians of the ancient past, the press has traditionally been generally mistrustful of politicians. Today, young journalists have adopted the same old attitude of mistrust and paint all politicians with the same brush, to the extent that hardly anyone in the press will trust anything a politician says.

What have too many people in our society today who feel the best way to show independence and neutrality is by showing a distance from government. So that, some media houses feel the best manifestation of their independence is to keep on attacking everything the government says and does and by minimizing its achievements. There are also those who are afraid to be described as “one of them” – meaning, a government supporter. That was the treatment handed out to those the government appointed as Goodwill Ambassadors. The same treatment was reserved for new car dealers who supported the government’s introduction of the environmental levy on imported used cars; and the same treatment is being meted out to those who have the courage to say they understand the government and Cable & Wireless’ position on the new phone rates.

Here’s how intolerant we have become. Last Tuesday, I was on radio discussing the Cable & Wireless issue. I pointed out to an irate caller that we ought not to behave as if the company is nothing or nobody; that we must accept that it has been making its contribution by sponsoring things that are important to us like West Indies cricket and the St. Lucia Jazz festival. I argued that the parent company controlled more money than St. Lucia or any of the islands can ever dream of having; and that when its contract ended and it went to the negotiating table with the five governments, there had to be some give and take. That’s because Cable & Wireless has something we want – telephone and other telecom services; and we have something it wants – that is, the customers. I posited that with the new “pay as you talk” situation, whether or not we accept the company’s claim that it stands to lose by lowering the rates, we the consumers are in a position to decide how much we pay Cable & Wireless each by controlling our calling patterns. I said both sides were tolerant and we needed to be realistic about the presence of Cable & Wireless here, even in a competitive environment. Lo and Behold, on Tuesday afternoon, a colleague newsmaker put his own “spin” on what I said, and, because he does not believe what I said, accused me of “doing Public Relations for Cable & Wireless.”

As I’ve said before, you can’t win them all. And as I’ve also said before -- and I’ll keep saying -- this culture of constant mistrust, blind intolerance and encouragement of disrespect that has taken root in our society is driving us into tribal camps that will be no different from what obtains presently in Jamaica, Guyana or Trinidad & Tobago.

We have to halt this slide into partisan political tribalism and we have to start learning to live with each other. We have to learn again to respect one another’s views and give Jack his jacket.

We have to remember that no matter what happens, we are all St. Lucians -- each and every one of us -- and we all have to live right here with each other, come what may and no matter what.

And most of all, let us be guided by the principle that even if we don’t like the Prime Minister or the government of the day, we have to respect the position he holds and the choice of the electorate.

That’s the essence of democracy and the surest way to avoid going further down the path of political tribalism, which, as we all know, is a river of no return. We have to change our political ways before it’s too late.

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