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Vision Commissioner: WE ARE AT WAR! by Toni Nicholas

By in Print

Written by Toni Nicholas for The St Lucia Star Newspaper. Sunday’s “Open Mic” with Michael Chastanet on DBS was no doozy. To make it clear, Mike is no talk show host, journalist or columnist, regardless of what you have heard before. The show too, after being on air for several weeks now, is no talkingpoint. I have watched now and again, but have never been drawn in past the first fifteen minutes. However, this past Sunday I did manage to sit through “Mike’s show” only because of his guest. I have always had time for consultant engineer and member of the recently named Vision Commission John Peter, either through his contributions to various newspapers, his comments on topical subjects in the news and these days as a pastor (but that’s for another show). But somehow, his contributions were just allowed to float in mid-air and not anchored by a less than astute host. A few things he...

CAN THE MOUSE ROAR?

By in Print

In 1997 I went to Anguilla to do a project on the Wallblake Airport. It was the first major construction project that a St. Lucian construction company, then B& D Construction Ltd, had tendered and won, and I was tasked to be the Project Manager. I lived there for about one year with a group of St. Lucians many of whom stayed back and became residents. It was my first experience with the little mouse that roared. In the 1960’s Anguilla was tied to St.Kitts and Nevis; however Anguillans were of the view that they were being neglected by then Premier Bradshaw. Ronald Webster led a group of Anguillans and staged our first coup in the English speaking Caribbean. The story ends with the British sending in paratroopers and the completely confused state of these soldiers when there was intense jubilation that they were landing in Anguilla. The “coup’ ended and Anguilla has remained a...

REINVENTING GOVERNMENT IN ST LUCIA

By in Print

On Tuesday of this week I visited a Government Department at the Waterfront to drop off a document. I approached a young lady to hand deliver the document, only to be greeted with the most profound expression of impertinence. This young woman was probably younger than my daughter, and I froze for a while in complete shock. It was only because I am not linguistically challenged and more so constrained by the love of Christ, that my response was not filled with a volcanic explosion of expletives. There is a principle of Physics called inertia, and if you understand that principle, it is the key to reinventing government within St. Lucia. Inertia is defined as followed: ‘A property of matter by which it remains at rest or in uniform motion in the same straight line unless acted upon by some external force ‘ If an object is at rest it will remain at rest until an external force acts upon...

THE HOUSE NEGRO AND THE FIELD NEGRO IN CARIBBEAN POLITICS

By in Print

Malcolm X placed the distinction of the house negro and the field negro in the perfect context in a speech he gave at Michigan State University on January 23rd 1963. The symbolism is evident in Caribbean politics. He said the following: ”So you have two types of Negro. The old type and the new type. Most of you know the old type. When you read about him in history during slavery he was called “Uncle Tom.” He was the house Negro. And during slavery you had two Negroes. You had the house Negro and the field Negro. The house Negro usually lived close to his master. He dressed like his master. He wore his master’s second-hand clothes. He ate food that his master left on the table. And he lived in his master’s house–probably in the basement or the attic–but he still lived in the master’s house. So whenever that house Negro identified himself,...