Mr. Editor
The Silly Season Is on Again
I’m curious to see how the “WAR” will be fought this time around.
I’ve been listening, watching, and observing the entire time between the period -2021 to the present.
The protagonists from both sides, the United Workers Party (UWP) and the St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) have been relentlessly hitting at each other with deafening salvos of insults, accusations, put-downs, ripping each other apart.
There are times in the interests of a nation, political protagonists, even military opponents, step back and take time to iron out their ideological differences to focus on what’s truly best for their country.
In the context of the social, political and economic situation in St. Lucia, if there was a time ever, that politicians needed to set aside their narrow personal selfish ambitions to save the Nation, the time is NOW.
The current state of affairs in healthcare, crime and violence, food insecurity, agricultural output and rising cost, also a depleted workforce, a diminishing community and family structure, a culture faced with extinction, humanity, morality, values and common decency, the gender controversy, along with the demise of boys and men, the obliteration of civil liberties, human rights and freedoms, the manipu-lation of our institutions, a befuddled sense of worth and purpose, the mad rush to discard our own, our birthrights to favour the programme of continuous mental control, domination and enslavements, misplaced priorities not only among the youth but as a country, we have lost our focus; we are in a state of national crisis.
Moreover, the Donald Trump Administration’s “Make America Great Again” policy, his retaliatory, puni-tive tariff regime, his ethnically selective deportation assaults targeting Caribbean and African migrants, his annexation agenda and his military threat to enforce it, have brought a new dimension to this crisis.
This is a situation that demands a collective, unwavering response. It calls for a national emergency.
The answers to these challenges will not come about simply by wishing them away, casting blame, or consenting to defeat, we must act.
The citizenry must huddle together; and come to a united front with a National Plan to face this crisis.
For once, let’s turn Silly Season into a Sensible Moment. In this election campaign season, the debate must transcend “contract and project” politics to a conversation on who we are as people, our vision, our purpose for life. Ultimately, what is the St. Lucian, and what do we want for our country?
Richard Edwin