WORLD politics has a way of at times playing-out like a Caribbean carnival. Those planning the imaginary themes and costumes for bands have always had to find ways and means to creatively mix colour and imagery that yielded the full tropical flare of designing skill through masterful portrayals of plumed characters from selected events in world history.
Back in time, designers’ imaginations were transformed into artistic reality at near-secret Mas Camps each year, where they plucked feathers from European, African or Asian tradition to feature legendary figures and feats.
Back in days of yore, the series of events leading to the current state of British politics would have been a likely theme for a band called The Brexiters.
Take the plot for the imagined band. Britain today is led by a band of reluctant Brexiters. But how did it all get to here?
When Nigel Farage’s UK Independent Party (UKIP) started whipping-up the call for Britain to exit the European Union (EU), the rest of the British political aristocracy responded just like many here did when Sir John Compton returned to the political landscape in 2006 and when Allen Chastnet announced he wanted to become Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister. But both apparent impossibilities eventually became unimagined realities.
Ditto England. David Cameron lost his place at the helm of the British ship of state after he placed all his eggs in a referendum basket in 2016 and lost every cent on his last Brexit bet. Theresa May, who like Cameron opposed Brexit, became the new Tory Leader and Prime Minister, but could not ignore the verdict of those who voted, so she proceeded to agree to sail Britain out of the EU’s harbour, albeit according to the winds.
The rocky Brexit road has not only been long and winding, but also painful for Mrs May. She started off by unexpectedly plucking Boris Johnson out of his mayoral shadow and appointing him to sell Brexit to the world. Then came the torturous slow slide through the massive and numerous layers and elements of EU bureaucracy in Brussels, where Madame May has been guaranteed hers will definitely not be a free ride on a high-speed Brexit train.
Mrs May’s rollercoaster ride in the hot seat has led to the revolving door of a Boris Brexit from her Cabinet, alongside the similar departure of the man charged with charting the Brexit course (David Davis), both before Britain gets even near to exiting the EU.
At just about the same time that President Trump announced his intention to appoint a US Supreme Court judge many think will alter the traditional course of constitutional jurisprudence for a generation, Mrs May found herself fighting to avoid being sacrificed on any altar of expedience. She’s tightening her grip on the helm at Number 10 and maintaining a safe mid-ship course to keep the Brexit lifeboat afloat as it chugs along, dead slow ahead, below the London Bridge.
‘The Brexiters’ carnival band would likely feature both ‘pro’ and ‘anti’ sections, each led by a rival King and Queen, with fitting sections in the Kiddies Carnival featuring related versions of ‘Doom’ and ‘Glory’ of their future under Brexit.
Yes, Saint Lucian imagination being so fertile and knowing no borders or boundaries, our carnival sages of yore and nigh would and could easily have earned a galaxy of prizes for their kaleidoscopic presentations of colourful images in innumerable shapes and sizes, in categories ranging from King and Queen of the Bands to Band of the Year.
But then, none of this should be strange in a nation where dreams and imagination are not only bountiful, but also highly blessed in Nobel plumage?
Now, go out and safely Play Your Mas!