St. Vincent in Hot Water? Show No Love for Ralph Gonsalves
Is St. Vincent in hot water? Why not Ralph Gonsalves who has been prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines since 2001? Whatever the character of elections in this Caribbean country, this maximum leadership personality is long overdue to be discarded by the common people of this land. His presence for over two decades above society, and as a major personality of the CARICOM mob, is no more evidence of the contempt Caribbean authoritarian regimes have for the capacities of ordinary people. Can anybody else in St. Vincent be found to govern? Those expressing global solidarity with St. Vincent and other small Caribbean territories must assist in cultivating the popular will to arrive on its own authority.
Discarding Maximum Leaders Who Put on a Show
Gonsalves (pronounced “Gohn-sahv”) lives by a masquerade. An apparent visionary of Caribbean unity, a spokesperson for Caribbean labor — the man can write and speak. But what leader of a Caribbean or peripheral territory cannot put on a show?
Gonsalves plays the monarchy or republic game initiated by Barbados’s Mia Mottley. He finds it absurd that the “independent” Caribbean could be ceremonially under Queen Elizabeth or King Charles. If “Comrade” Ralph has been in Caribbean activism since 1968, and St. Vincent has been independent since 1979, how come he never made this the standard of his engaged life before? How long has he been engaged in mystification and bewildering Caribbean people?
Having taken his turn as CARICOM spokesman, he still runs around the region chattering at all meetings dedicated to economic and ecological planning where the wisdom of everyday people is never spoken or recorded.
In 2021, Gonsalves was injured and bloodied when a projectile was thrown and hit him in the head at an anti-vaccine protest. It was instructive that the police and army swarmed in to protect him. It is a political truism that when a contemptible politician is attacked this most often pulls on the heart strings of innocent and caring souls and gives these personalities a new lease on public life.
We were not among those who opposed vaccines during the Covid-crisis. But we were among those who have contempt at the activists for the government in the region who didn’t recognize the conflicting tendencies in this popular social motion.
Have Trouble Finding Wisdom in St. Vincent & Caribbean Crowds?
The fact that many felt no wisdom could be discovered in these insurgent crowds in St. Vincent and across the Caribbean is consistent with the viewpoint they have maintained for decades on every issue the Caribbean faces.
This was a historical moment to help clarify the legitimate reasons why Caribbean toilers do not trust the Caribbean rulers above society — it is alright to separate these from where we think ordinary people are mistaken. But Caribbean “progressives” held their tongues advancing the struggle in no way.
We have not forgotten that a Vincentian woman was held in custody for throwing that projectile — it is well known Gonsalves’s problem with patriarchy. Could it be that the rioting and flames in Kingstown St. Vincent in 2021 in response to the amendments to the Public Health Act were also an expression of the popular will against the longtime arrogance of a government leader who prances on the Caribbean and world stage but in many ways abuses and contains the aspirations of his own people?
St. Vincent is among the world’s small island developing states that are among the most vulnerable countries on the planet. In trouble, many are literally sinking in terms of their ecological and geographic condition. Why don’t global experts recognize that St. Vincent and Caribbean political life is sinking? As the waters that surround small Caribbean territories inch higher, threatening to swallow them up, the barbarism of Caribbean states and rulers should also be placed in hot water by the self-directed mobilization of its people.
The Ecological Problem and the Coming Popular Democracy
Caribbean waters, which for millennia have been sources of food and channels for transport, are getting warmer and more acidic, killing fish and coral, and becoming more chaotic in its movements.
The deteriorating state of oceans represents a threat to the entire planet and small Caribbean territories are on the front-line of this war. This scares many of the genuine brilliant minds of the region to death and often paralyzes and makes them discard their most popular-democratic outlook— something Ralph Gonsalves and his activists for the government, communists for capitalism have never articulated.
We must bring the direct democratic heritage of the region closer. Popular assemblies and workplace councils must start discussing what to do about the threat of ecological disaster in the region. We must act as if we are the provisional and emerging government of the Caribbean region.
From St. Vincent to Barbuda
If everyday people in St. Vincent joined with the spirit of self-organization found in Barbuda it would be a remarkable social motion that inspired the entire Caribbean and world politics.
Global solidarity, not the Imperialists and its United Nachinations, can help St. Vincent and other smaller Caribbean territories turn the tide. Far more than we realize the future of the entire planet, an emerging great catastrophe of similar proportions, will only be discovered as a tremendous burden of real life, after the Caribbean experiences it. Therefore, the Caribbean must be in the forefront of the next development in political thought.
Many say island nations face a unique set of challenges due to their small size, remoteness, exposure to natural disasters, and dependence on faraway markets and resources. These challenges are compounded by climate change, volatile global markets and the ongoing repercussions of the pandemic further. The cumulative impact of these challenges undermines their capacity to cope with current challenges, future shocks and crises. This has a ring of truth.
But do people who say this believe certain things should be produced by and for the Caribbean region with no regard for market relations at all? Behind sustainable development talk is often a confusion about the difference between mass production for profit and trade and the organization of the Caribbean’s urgent needs.
Why the Imperialists and Global NGOS Take Interest
International bureaucrats observe it is problems like these that undermine the Caribbean building “equitable societies.” Whoever is talking “equitable” under global capitalism we can be sure, especially if they prioritize their comfortable employment, are dogs. Where dogs stand on their hindlegs, they are not required to do it well.
The Imperialists through their multi-lateral agencies will take an interest in Caribbean dilemmas as a forerunner of their own, through a sentiment of their own national security, not from a disposition of a self-directed future for the Caribbean. The racists and overstated cosmopolitans in Europe and North America don’t wish to take in millions of refugees — their harvest of empire already knows an immigration crisis. Many will say: “We know.” But why is this? Their societies claim to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, whether articulated by whites or people of color, are words mouthed by people with cloven hooves.
Expose the Caribbean “Progressives”
Just as Caribbean “progressives” insist we must never separate political and economic realities and in fact do so all the time through their love of hierarchy and elitism as purported aspiring rational planners; we cannot separate the coming confrontation with ecological disaster from a popular democracy and social ecology where all scientific and technological discussions are led by, and not kept from, everyday people. Not to train Caribbean toilers for “jobs” but so they can increasingly hold the reins of government.
Cultivate St. Vincent’s Popular Will Against Ralph Gonsalves
If such a vision was wielded against the charismatic Ralph Gonsalves he would first say — “yes that is what I have been waiting for.” Sellers of breadfruit and jackfish know their buyers. But let the “buyers” say, first step down from power… Immediately! Then a genuine clash would begin. “Comrade” Gonsalves would not like that. A most profound social motion in St. Vincent would be one that stirred the popular will and showed no interest in electoral, ethnic, and party politics at all. Vincentians can form their own government of workplace councils and popular assemblies and stare down the maximum personality (but not invite him in).
Next year in Antigua and Barbuda, the United Nations will convene an international conference on the small island developing States. The agenda will pretend to have a sense of urgency. It will tackle issues like climate change, sea-level rise, and biodiversity loss side-by-side with the global debt crisis and rising inequality. The result will be a projection that will be inadequate given that the gathering of forces we already know are unfit to govern. Be mindful those denouncing empire will be making plans with who for the Caribbean ecological future? The forces of empire.
Slap Down Gaston Browne, Show No Love for Ralph Gonsalves
In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, recently the CARICOM governments gathered to hear firsthand an assessment of regional progress and their priorities for a new plan. These assessments — the experts above society who cannot extricate themselves from Global Capital’s greed — will not be the foundation for any coherent and effective global response that recognizes the special needs and circumstances of the Caribbean.
Anyone who proposes to provide access to finance and trade along with capacity building can’t extract their ecological vision from the contemporary forms of subordination. The sharing of certain technologies will help but the movement for solidarity with the Caribbean must take direct action so no prices or false values are imposed on what must be shared.
In the meantime, let Caribbean commoners prepare to gather at this global conference in Antigua and reveal to the world, under the inspiration of the ordinary people of St. Vincent and Barbuda, who will emerge to directly govern the Caribbean democratically, with a cooperative and social ecological spirit. Together, Gaston Browne can be slapped down, and it can be clarified we have no love for Ralph Gonsalves. For now, we not in hot water, they in the boiling pot.
