Stand Up For Your Rights

PITY my island home! Her back must be in one heck of a state from all the bending over that she has been doing to take all the kicks from greedy, selfish and inconsiderate people in power.

Now note well, I said people in power and NOT the government because the gross unfairness and prostitution of our nation is being done by way more than just Prime Ministers and their minions.

Well, Sunday’s “Leeboration” movement was just the jolt that I needed to push this issue right back to the top of my list.

I am talking about the way the natives of this island keep getting pushed aside and into the background, whilst red carpets and grand gestures are made for foreigners…all in the name of economic/monetary growth. St. Lucia is being reduced to nothing but a high class prostitute who wants nothing to do with her locals but is willing to kiss the feet (and then some) of any foreigner with a fat wallet or with the potential to attract other foreigners with fat wallets.

Yesterday, I was really happy with what I saw at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in Beausejour when over 50 local artistes teamed up and gave their services for free to help a comrade in need. Fifty of our very own took to the stage and they held their own and helped make the fundraising initiative a success.

Now tell me why, with all this raw talent right here in our midst, do we continue to spend thousands of dollars just so that we could bring in spoilt and already established foreign artistes to perform at local events, all whilst leaving our guys begging for scraps at the gates?

Let’s take this year’s Mercury Beach for example. You mean to say that a premium three day event is being held on our shores, literally, and with the long list of entertainment, not one St. Lucian was placed in the original line up?

And then after making loads of noise, they only saw it fitting to add one local artiste to the roster?

Now the whole idea of Mercury Beach menm, menm, menm…there is a lot to be said but I will come back to it all, I’m looking at the shunning of the local artistes for now.

Now I know for a fact that this hasn’t sat well with the rest of the musical fraternity in St. Lucia…so much so, that I can confidently tell you readers to watch this space and wait to hear about the bombshell that is soon to be dropped by our artistes.

Word is that the beach event was a private affair… So what?

Why was that kind of power and privilege afforded to these people in the first place to allow them to come to OUR island, use OUR beach and facilities but we were refused any kind of opportunity for OUR artistes to shine and show the Martinique nationals what we St. Lucians are made of?

This event was not even marketed for St. Lucians, (although that might never actually be admitted) and even though quite a few attended, the amount of money they had to spend at this beach event was exorbitant.

How could this be allowed? I understand the hosting of private conventions in closed quarters etc. but for an event of this magnitude that pulls in thousands on a beach? How could the St. Lucian authority behind this initiative even allow this nonsense?

Oh yeah, that’s right, it is a massive money cow. So forget the locals who will lose the freedom to enjoy the beach for the duration of time that the event is being hosted. Forget the fact that local artistes are being shunned. Forget the fact that the Martinique nationals come to our island and raise hell in local shops, restaurants, clubs and hotels. Worst yet, forget the fact that they leave our beautiful beach looking like the aftermath of the disgusting and drunken orgy that it TRULY is with pollution of all sorts left for our local council to clean up whilst the French yachts sail away to whence they came (and I literally mean all sorts of pollution from condoms and drug paraphernalia to human excrement and biohazards).

Meanwhile, the authorities who allowed this are grinning away like Cheshire cats as they deem the initiative to be a massive success as St. Lucia hits the jackpot once again and our local maritime outlook is on the up and up.

In their eyes, this opportunity is one of the best things to land on our doorstep, but it’s just funny how this highlights the truth that the little people at the bottom, i.e. the entire nation will forever suffer whilst the ones at the top remain blind to it all because their bellies are way too big from all the money they are making and their massive triple chins and huge guts are preventing them from seeing what’s going on down below.

Not once will our authorities stop and question or even wonder why the Martinique authorities banned this event from taking place on their very own shores. I mean, why would they?

L’ Euro est trop doux! (The Euro is too sweet)

Now whilst I might be highlighting this travesty, this is by no means the only one of its sort…no, St. Lucia has been bent over and kicked in the backside on so many occasions that I’ve lost count, and sadly, it is not only on an international level either…Nope, the privilege is being abused by local head honchos just as much as it is being done by regional and international big wigs.

Cases like the mystery surrounding the Juffali affair that we will never get answers to, no matter how hard we try, or cases like the privilege of locking down an entire luxury resort and the surrounding beach to allow a celebrity with more money than brain cells to carry out his nuptials.

Whilst we’re at it, let’s throw in the fact that tax payers had to foot the bill of $153, 950.99 so that the new government could enjoy a first of its kind swearing in ceremony whereas they could have done it the normal way and only incur a fraction of these costs, if any at all ……and last but not least…Citizenship by Investment, where a rich and privileged foreigner can swoop in with his entire family and their maid, throw some cash at our government like drooling lust filled men to a stripper on a pole and VOILA, they all get to have a St. Lucian passport.

See, now this is exactly why I never had and never will be interested in politics because if I had any say in the way my island is run, I would not stand for any of this nonsense.

This is also why I will never support any political party because they are all one and the same where money comes before country. And although like I said at the beginning, this is not just about our government, at the end of the day, they should have the backs of the people and at times where possible, like in the case of Mercury Beach, put their feet down and say no way to this kind of one-sidedness.