I think it was Lenin who once said ‘there can be no politics without education.’ Whether the quote is Lenin’s or not, experiences teaches that few statements on politics are more profound. Did Lenin mean that education leads one to a better practice of the art of politics, or, was he saying that education allows for a wiser use of politics for national development? Whatever the answer the fact that a country needs an educated citizenry to promote and sustain social and economic advancement is undeniable. In fact, human development and happiness is the ultimate aim of politics.
Too often mediocrity and crass ignorance passes for politics in our Caribbean. It was to distinguish such ignorance and backwardness from politics that the St. Lucia Forum in the early nineteen seventies first popularized the phrase ‘pappy show politics.’ It was meant to call attention to the abuse of politics by certain sycophants and assorted comedians who had immersed themselves in the noble art, whilst groping for answers to the myriad social and economic problems of their time. Today, the modern politician arrives with university degrees in his resume and greed at the forefront of his/her mind. Thankfully, these new aspirants are being quickly unmasked as people discover that the rough stone, refined by education, can be put to improper and selfish use.
Last week, my interest was piqued by two events which made the rounds in the media. The first concerned the appearance of two young persons, male and female, on Timothy Poleon’s “Hot Button Issue”, on television. My first reaction was that Timothy had scored a coup. The man lives for the journalist’s breaking news! It never entered my mind that rules of the civil service still constrain a young Saint Lucian from participating in politics. I was elected Secretary of the CSA in the early nineteen seventies and we were determined to amend the staff to allow young Saint Lucians returning home from University, an opportunity to assist in lifting the veil of ignorance and backwardness from the minds of the people through public forums, seminars, debates and politics.
I am aware that certain amendments to the CSA rules of employment were introduced. The idea was to allow less senior members of the CSA to participate in politics, once they did not challenge government policy and were doing the job for which they were being paid.
It therefore came as some surprise to hear persons who know better and who themselves are known supporters of a political party; question Ms. Corneille’s appearance (and announcement) on the electronic media of an interest in politics. Two days prior to the television show I was approached by the young couple seeking an opinion.
My advice was three-fold. First, there was nothing in the constitution of the UWP (or, of Saint Lucia) to stop her or Dr. Matthew joining and expressing an interest to contest elections for a political party. Second, that “Spider” Montoute has been both an MP and a candidate of the UWP and was unchallenged by any other UWP candidate, for Gros Islet. Third, the government seemed determined to cut the Gros-Islet seat in three so the more candidates, the merrier. I also suggested to both Ms. Corneille and Dr. Matthew that they should first ensure that they have the full backing of family and friends as they would need such sure support in their new journey.
On watching “Hot Button Issue” that night I recall a sense of deep pride in the two young Saint Lucians. Ms. Corneille seemed particularly passionate. In this island women are more reluctant to enter politics than men. Had I been asked I would have advised her to wear the national head gear on the show and on the campaign trail, using it as her marker, as George Odlum had done with his dark green cloth cap. From her TV appearance Ms. Corneille seems to have the fire in her guts. Dr. Matthew seemed more sedated, calm and deliberate. Ms. Corneille’s decision should encourage more young women into politics. Her announcement must have given her parents a great sense of pride and joy.
The show was hardly over when certain SLP hacks began to cast aspersions and innuendoes at Ms. Corneille’s job in the civil service. Were we back in the bad old colonial days? I wondered what might have been the reaction had the dynamic duo plus Mary Isaac (former CSA President and now Senator), announced an interest in joining the SLP, instead of the UWP.
To hear some SLP hacks speak, one would have thought that Ms. Corneille had signed a secret document giving a foreign company sole right to search for petroleum and other minerals in and around Saint Lucia sea bed. Frankly, Saint Lucia needs more active young people like Ms. Corneille in politics, in business and in research and development. It’s time for those tired legs in the political arena to pass the baton to new and younger blood. Let the tired legs take a back seat and share their experiences with the younger generation, if they wish.
The other matter of interest was the announcement that the UWP had carried out a poll and that the results show a convincing win for the SLP – fourteen seats to three – in the next election. From the above, two obvious questions demand answers: Based on the poll, why doesn’t the government call a snap general election since their only desire is to stay in power… better days be damned! Question two: Why does the government wish to carve out 21 constituencies from the existing 17? Why not simply abandon the 21 seat project, declare them too expensive at this time, and proceed to elections with the boundaries as presently defined?
Whilst in the ‘pappy show’ politics mode can someone explain why the constant attacks on the political leader of the UWP? Is this a sort of diversion from the economic woes and mounting poverty and frustration in fair Helen? Is the SLP hiding behind Allen Chastanet and his family while refusing to speak on IMPACS, on Lambirds, on Greynberg and on the cup of bitter economic woes it has visited upon Saint Lucia? Does this economic hardship amount to abuse? If yes, what should the people do or say to the abuser(s) now and in the next election?
His opponents first said Allen Chastanet is ‘white.’ They then questioned his academic qualifications but kept quiet about his high ranking managerial jobs experience. They laugh at his Creole (Kwéyòl) but they do not want Creole to spoil their children’s chances of passing Common Entrance English. They criticize his U.S. citizenship but they line-up to have their babies in the U.S., in England and even in Martinique – a department of France. What kind of hypocrites are these?
This assault on our sense of right and wrong can only be resolved by ‘real’ politics, not by ‘pappy show politics. Only real politics – and education – can help the people define and mould the state into something of beauty and value.
PEETAR/
This time, its your opening line. Come on , your intro , epilogue, topic sentence!
It’s a clear indictment of your nefarious mindset.
How can you “guess” a quote attributed to LENIN?
Lenin {good or bad) stands among the pantheon of leaders like Alexander the Great Caesar, Saladin, Hannibal, Kublai and Genghis Khan, Dr. MLKing, et al.
We the people know for a fact that you read, studied Lenin in your SMC and Forum years.
You may have attended seminars/workshops/pograms hosted by or in Moscow.
You have, as an angst ridden young adult, EMBRACED dogmatically, Lenin’s Socialist principles, and Soviet ideology.
Now that you have flipped literally & figuratively {LIKE JUDAS) to the aristocratic class that Lenin opposed most vehemently; your opening line disguises as timid, innocent, however, the subliminal motive of your forked tail /tongue is to appease your generation of voters that you still have a forum cum socialist backbone.
PEETAR this ploy to garnish voters of your generation is vile and deceitful. Your sociopathic traits are gurgling through the cracks and fissures of your progressive Dementia.
Do you get on your knees when collecting your ‘pieces of eights”?
PEETAR JUDAS just to show where you derive your bombastic exaggerated deceit:
“Judas then having received a band of men,…. From the captain of this band, who in John 18:12; is called a “Chiliarch”, that is, a commander of a thousand men, one might conclude there were so many in this band; but it seems, that such an officer might have two bands under his command; and if this was, the case, there were at least five hundred men in this company; a large number indeed, to take an unarmed person; and yet, as if this was not sufficient, it is added,
and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees; servants that belong to each of these, and who seem to be a considerable number also; for these are said to be “a great multitude”; Matthew 26:47; nay, not only so, but the chief priests, captains of the temple, and elders of the people, were themselves among them, Luke 22:52; to see that the men did their work, and did not return without him; as these officers, when sent by them once before, did:
cometh thither with lanterns, and torches, and weapons, as if they had a thief or a murderer to apprehend, or a little army of men to encounter with; whereas there were only Christ, and his eleven disciples; and these in no condition, nor had any design, to defend themselves in an hostile manner.”
Yes PEETAR this is your source of over the top deceit and permanent BETRAYAL
You’ve forfeited the Pearly Gates for the Silver lined basements of Dante’s Inferno
PEETAR JUDAS So you like TV {Boob Tube) talk shows, hope you enjoy this bible clip starring ….you .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbhkgpQsGbY
Peetar,
Although many men of your generation believe that you are a scoundrel betrayer par excellence, on par with biblical Judas –
Nevertheless, I do believe you should take advantage of my medivac departure to the exclusive cottage like amenities prepared for you at Rockland County, NY Psych Center.
Ole Boy, your amenities there are like a deluxe penthouse suite compared to the 3rd world offerings of a LaToc type facility.
I have even arranged for participation of any /all St Lucia House events located in Brooklyn.
I hear your query on how is this expense to be footed. Oh, certainly not by your aristocratic handlers who shall kick you to the proverbial curbside, eventually. A cohort of researchers have won a large federal grant to do a study that encompasses a profile of all your experiences. Our top choices stayed too long in their respective political arenas and their calamities curtailed their evacuation. Mubarek was our latest loss. Others were condemned by the Hague and are untouchable.
You Peetar are on an a tier from which we can glean salient vignettes to accomplish our study. Have no fear, our final manuscript to the pertinent scientific journals shall keep your particulars highly confidential.
A full body scan, some non invasive brain scans and monthly or bimonthly urine /blood tests for the length of the study are necessary. Most of the study shall comprise in depth interviews -some done in skyped group conference format. Your custom designed therapeutic services will run concurrently with the study. If you decide to include certain declassified aspects of our study into a novel for commercial publication then the facility shall assume book agents fees on the gross sale of your manuscript and 25% of future royalties.
Peetar/
I know you were chuckling madly because you know that your use of I think is well protected in a court of law from any alleged use of the meaning -to guess. Whereas you should have used the definitive citation ” Lenin stated” you used the native colloquial “I think” meaning “I guess it was Lenin who stated”- Looshan ambivalent double speak especially when stated in patois, n’est pas?
Yes sir, that is how criminals beat the rap or court system.
But Peetar I am also a linguist who reads through your deceptive thinking – not just what you pen.
Nonetheless, this veiling of word play only unmasks your affinity with deceptive tactics.
You finally mentioned your girlfriend {Bloody Mary) ‘subliminally, fondly’, now that her bat wings are clipped!
I bet, your favorite bowler on a cricket team was one who delivered a spin breaker like Lance Gibbs as compared to a fast pitcher of the Wes Hall archetype.
And now you are pope PEETAR
drawing the GERIATRIC LINE OF POLITICAL DEMARCATION.
How little we have learned of inter-generational dynamics from our Chinese benefactors.
Peetar Judas with Fu Manchu scowl do not contaminate the minds of the young before they master the character trait of LOYALTY.
Beware ole boy: Kiddie porn is a very serious criminal offense subject to extradition for judicial proceedings.
Watch your drinking and “charming” bar flies at the sports bars or yacht clubs- Demand conclusive identification and verification of age.
Today’s precocious physique, let it all hang out mind set, expertly applied make up, push up bras and butt pads can seriously blur the line between age of consent and way too young sardine; when old geezers past their big fisherman romantic era are erroneously reef fishing for succulent Yellow Fin Tuna at fair market prices.
Did I add intoxicated with a touch of Dementia?
Perchance, your favorite books of the Bible are Titus 1 & Titus 11, oui !
PEETAR/
Now I know you have acquired crude aristocratic sensibilities and you now embark on a divisive demarcation of the young vs the elderly for political farthings
but I must return you to the true crossing of the real papal bull line of demarcation “small caps of disrespect” the one your ancestors and their current generations are forever united:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMliaXlKxow
May I suggest a 14 year old single malt from Scotland -cooled in the ice box – neat no chaser or garnish. Maybe a roasted over charcoal boneless smoked herring minced with onions chop\p\ed hard boiled eggs rolled in raw spinach leaves and slivers of cucumber on dry water biscuits to munch.
Enjoy…..sil vous plait.
Peetar Judas/
I am well aware that a unique figurehead as thou, capable of sending his rabbi and confidante to the excruciating torture and anguish of slow death on Calvary would not allow his sociopathic armor to be touched by the similar excruciating torture and anguish of millions of kidnapped victims forced at the pain of homicide or suicide to cross the MIDDLE PASSAGE which straddled the inhuman Papal Bull LINE OF DEMARCATION.
You loathe any connection to that watershed event, n’est pas?
Apparently, there are too many sons and daughters of the Middle Passage who feel like you do. What a pitiful disconnect!
I once considered a research dissertation that would connect our SELF HATRED { a topic whose clarion call has been well sounded by the bravest man with spiritual faith on this forum) with events before-during-after the middle passage.
Antecedent-behavior consequence chart sampling of behavior for assessment purposes is a simple but popular instrument for collecting raw data for preliminary analysis. It has decades worth of construct validity.
This self hate social emotional hybrid strain is unique for the post Middle Passage epoch. We know most of the sociological, psychological transmitters but is there a mutated genetic component? Will Bio-Chemistry hold the key to solving the riddle?
I know you do not give a rodent’s posterior as long as your pieces of silver or eights are flowing from the grande maison, n’est pas?
Just an insight into what your faux pas decepticon writing is vainly trying to bypass.
Have no fear, the burly Silver Back gorillas who litigate REPARATIONS will claw down your vain picket fences- as friendly reminder.
Peetar/
One more about your opening line. It smirks of arrogance in its allusion to Voltaire’s “I think therefore I am”.
Not so fast? According to the DSM-V, the dominant quality of ones irrational thoughts is connected to certain psy disorders.
Your delusions of grandeur (every article you write is embedded with your majestic me myself and I vignettes of grandiosity) are just one of the salient features of your readiness to go plowing on the Brazil NUT farm.
I recall an ecological field trip to the Blue Mountains.
On our break day we attended a Dance Hall soiree in a rural village.
Quite frankly, we came to sip and soak some roots music a la Marley et al. Instead we got an overzealous MC dubbing some repetitious Dance Hall sounds. Even the rural girls were disinterested. Yet he persisted as if auditioning for a big break in Kingston.
The following morning at breakfast I asked one of my international peers what he thought of the musical experience? He replied in deliberate East End London cockney accent ” the bloody bombastic boaster could not even get his local girls to gyrate, he’s better off as an auction announcer.”
Somehow, that MC reminds me of the antics of Wiley E Coyote & the Road Runner, Daffy Duck and Peter Josie.
Peetar/
One more, once (to quote a rousing jazz song):
Recently, you dropped the line about your experiences contesting in various constituencies in past decades (obviously riding the coattails of GREEN GOLD and your AGRICULTURAL CZAR connections via the conduits of WINBAN and the Ministry or dept. of Agriculture.
Wow….such vote getting ease from poor peasants who depended on their produce getting to the docks at Castries & VFort via GEEST.
Given the penchant for bribery in the 3rd world as a typical extension for conducting routine trade /exchange of services/ bartering etc- I wonder if there were opportunities where you were offered or tempted to offer a PAYOLA-during your tenure of political powers?
My premise is based on your extreme FLIPPING of political ideological poles.
We’re not comparing a move from Democrat to moderate Republican.
Peetar your extreme ideological flip is like going from the North to the south pole nonstop (like a TERN); comparing Karl Marx to the House of TUDOR; Che campaigning in the mountains of Bolivia versus Mitch Romney sharing crumpets with Tea Party stalwarts.
Some of your lay contemporaries, I have shared casual conversation with at the former Hellenites Club house now St. Lucia Huse- are of the opinion that your ideological flip is a manifestation of the “Judas Syndrome”.
Let’s examine that biblical psychiatric classification in layman’s terms:
Judas is one of a handful of trusted “spiritual brothers” of a rabbi-messiah who is conducting God like miracles including curing the most repugnant of incurable diseases and death- to boot!
What an insurance premium! If Judas is hungry he has access to the potential for cloning one Big Mac or Wopper into a zillion meal platters. If Judas is ill , poof its back to great health and the potential for limitless reincarnations.
Only a mad cow would trade this priceless life assurances for 30 pieces of silver!!!!
And of course, the manner of Judas’ eventual demise (synonymous with Hitler, Goebbels-who shared extreme irrational political ideologies -much like Judas was sold on the extreme political ideologies of the the extreme PHARASEES)
is consistent with the DSM-V definition of Borderline Syndrome.
We shall explore Judas’ irrational personality trais in the near future, oui!
Meanwhile, ole boy, here is my probono to fullfill forun netiquette:
Cut back on distilled spirits, processed salt /sugar intake, hight fat/cholestorol foods and all processed foods. EXERCISE consistently. Exchange your life of deceptive political drama for a holistic fuling life private organic farm husbandry, oui.
This one is for your better half hemispheric “noodles” Sweet Pea?
A tune from your earlier days that makes a connection between the ancestors and the book of Psalms:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-5E6_qtXAw
Don’t you miss the age when brothers could harmonize in amazing melody. Note how tis talent preceded the commercial successes of OJays, Commodores, Blue Notes, Bar Kays, Jackson 5 et al.
If only the youth today would revisit and learn about this quality of togetherness.
What happened to you Peetar you grew up with this stuff, you practically know these singer groups, intimately.
Why your profound immersion and utilization of Discordant phrasings, consistently?
Peetar/
When it comes to your party’s “controversial” female MP an senator it is so easy for you to play the role of stoic eunuch of Thebes, in their presence. Not even your quick luncheon Martinis nor your happy hour highball cocktails can put you out of character!!!
BUT, whenever, you see the images of the professional yet stunningly vivacious SLP Lady senator and MP presenting St Lucia developmental prospectus to international investors, you, PEETAR, have been heard humming back at the TV screen, this tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JUnwrbU6Wg
Is it true Peetar?
That your Female MP and Sinator rode the ferry to Guadalupe to attend a French Banking /brokerage consortium annual seminar? That this department level forum was an opportunity for them to interface with and lobby for potential upstarts in StLucia.
One finance intern in the audience tweeted, remarking on Gail and Mary’s performance, proposed this song as summing up the reaction of the French Bankers & Brokers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6PNc9KN50M
Is it true, PEETAR!