Saint Lucia’s 44th Independence Anniversary, in today’s regional and global contexts, should encourage continuing and endless assessment and analysis of the roads traveled to and since Independence.
This is absolutely critical as the generation born in and after February 22, 1979 is still largely unaware of what happened along that road and how it affected how Saint Lucians see and treat Independence and Nationhood, Citizenship and Civic Responsibility, etc.
Those who witnessed Statehood in 1967 when some responsibilities were devolved to Castries by London and 12 years later saw the road Saint Lucia took in the year leading to independence, have totally different memories of that period.
The decade leading to Independence saw a positive level of radicalization of local politics and culture, influenced by the Black Power movement in the USA, leading to introduction of a level of progressive political consciousness that saw emergence of political groupings like Forum, St. Lucia Action Movement (SLAM) and the more silent Workers Revolutionary Movement (WRM).
The growing popularity of the progressive movement opposed to the anti-worker and pro-capitalist stances of successive United Workers Party (UWP) administrations since Statehood had also grown from the active trade union representation in defense of Civil Servants and Public Officers, which eventually led to a 57-day strike by government employees, led by the Industrial Solidarity Pact (ISP) that united the trade unions representing Civil Servants, Teachers, Nurses, Police and Prison Officers and employees of related government departments.
With General Elections due in 1979, the ruling UWP’s popularity was at an all-time low and waning, so the party needed a virtual political miracle to reverse the tide – and up came Independence.
Out-of-the-Blue, the ruling party’s 1979 election campaign was wrapped-up around Independence, forcing the political opposition to respond accordingly by opposing Independence, even though on the flimsy bases that the government should ‘Do it Right’ or ‘Not under Compton’.
The rest is bitter and salted history hidden away from the Independence Generation because the independence birth pangs have never really gone away for many, as the Pre-Independence Generation, divided along partisan lines over it, continues today to nurse the wounds of having fought over independence instead of being led to join and back a change the nation supported.
The deep partisan political polarization over unequal division that saw greater levels of support for opposition to independence saw the British reject the UWP administration’s insistence that Independence be granted by Westminster and Buckingham Palace on a royal silver platter on December 13, 1978.
December 13 earlier celebrated as Discovery Day (in honour of Christopher Columbus) had been an established annual colonial holiday and since it was now clear Columbus never set eyes on Saint Lucia, making that date Independence Day would have given the holiday new national meaning.
But the problem was that while the elected government of a West Indian Associated State was demanding independence and it would eventually have to be granted, London also saw more people opposing independence on the streets than those who quietly supported it at home.
London would allow December 13 to pass and decided February 22, 1979 would be the closest possible date after that – a date with no historical significance, only pulled out of a cork hat during negotiations at Lancaster House with the Saint Lucia Government and Opposition delegations.
Independence Day was also a clear reflection of the national sentiment, with the government restricting the midnight lowering of the Union Jack and hoisting Saint Lucia’s new national flag to within the secure walls of the Port Authority’s wharf, with the Princess representing the Queen protected by local police – and British Royal SAS sharpshooters atop a building nearby.
Independence Day was the same, with the celebrations limited to those who turned out to support and the majority who boycotted what they saw more as a partisan political event than the birth of a new nation.
And clouds of black smoke from a mysterious fire at Her Majesty’s Prison, the Royal Gaol (as jail was spelt when it was built) clearly demonstrated the level of heat in which nationhood arrived.
Saint Lucia’s colonial umbilical cord was severed in the heat of the political campaign for the General Elections set for July 2, 1979; and five months after forcibly leading the country into independence. the UWP would suffer a humiliating 12-5 defeat to the SLP.
The UWP’s partisan independence project was stopped dead twice in its tracks — first by the British and then by the voting majority in the world’s newest nation.
In the 44 years since, that sorry but important chapter in Saint Lucia’s history has been treated more like a national political embarrassment than an experience the Independence Generation should be allowed to share and learn from – and not just for reasons of academic or historical research.
Saint Lucia’s Independence@44 is taking place under a Labour administration committed to advancing the island’s constitutional status to the next logical stage of Republicanism, but after first severing ties with the British Privy Council and making the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Saint Lucia’s ultimate appellate court.
No date has been set for the island entering the CCJ or becoming a republic, but it can be expected that with its 15-2 mandate in parliament, the SLP-led inclusive administration can should have both at the top of its agenda for constitutional change before its term ends in 2026.
Luckily, there’s no sign that either will be treated as election distractions, as Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre had indicated — from Day One after his party won the July 26, 2021 General Elections — his intention to go that way, in that order.
The current administration has demonstrated its commitment to deliver on its election promises and it is to be expected that the lessons along the road to independence will have been sufficiently learned to avoid repeating.