WHAT PEOPLE OF THE FUTURE WILL SAY ABOUT US
PRE-SUSTAINABLE ST LUCIA
They’ll call us Pre-Sustainable St Lucia,
if they are kind. If they’re brutal honest, they’ll call us names. And they’ll
be damned right.
Why?
1.
Because we went from being landless servants to
landed peasants and instead of growing food w grew a cash crop. One. Single.
Crop. For 40 years. And it wasn’t ganja. Smfh.
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| The Caribbean symbol of stupidity |
2.
Because when Trinidad and Jamaica ditched the
West Indies Federation, the small islands decided to go independent separately,
instead of sticking together and milking the British Empire for scholarships,
until we were prepared to go independent as the East Caribbean Federation.
3.
Because, for a moment there, we imagined that
tourism could replace monocrop agriculture as our new economic backbone. Pshh.
Who ever heard of tourism being stable? Tourism isn’t cake. It’s icing. It
isn’t bread. It’s not even butter, it’s cheese. Duh.
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| OMG! 20th century Lucians...so stchooopid! |
4.
Essiaygarconfellas, you mean to tell me we have
a Noble Prize Winner in Economics who actually mapped out what we were supposed
to do and we ignored him? We never really exploited our raw materials? We never
got the right kinds of investors to help us turn our raw goods into high added
value products and sweetass foreign exchange? St Lucia needs to stop giving Sir
Arthur Lewis lip service and actually give him some action. A dirty sanchez, at
least. I mean, show some respect.
5.
Because we never gave the local manufacturing
sector a fair shake and now, we’re leaving them to the ‘free hand of the
market’. At some point, we have to stop taxing all production on inputs and
agree that if you’re a creative business (not just some import/wholesale
operation), you will only pay taxes on income.
6.
Because we cry about foreigners headhunting our
nurses, teachers and cops, instead of turning our training schools into profitable
talent export agencies.
7.
Because we have not used our government’s
cultural offices for the organized and sustained export of the arts. You think
they’re going to prosper in St Lucia? That’s not a market, that’s bakery. It’s
place you make bread. Now we have to go out and sell it. Like Canaries bread.
8.
Because we can’t see what Pancho and Melanie are
saying about legalizing hemp.
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| I'm not crazy. I'm from the 21st century. |
9.
Because cocoa is growing and wasting, while the
world craves more and more chocolate, regardless of economic upturns and
downturns.
10.
Because macaroni and rice are the practically
traditional foods for the last two generations of St Lucians.
11.
Because sports scholarships making dog, but
local athletes have to make their own way and their own luck. The result: 99%
of all ex-football players end up on crack, in jail or working in some kind of
office. I don’t know which is worse than the other. (I’m exaggerating, but what you take it for,
a Flogging statistical audit. It’s a BLOG!)
ALL 10 of the above are so true!!! Have you been secretly listening to my conversations with my friends on all of this? If WE can see it - how come the flogging government fellas cannot see it? By the way, do you think the government fellas will allow us to import hemp fabrics? After all, the ropes that tie the ships to the harbour and buoy are made from hemp!!! Not so?
ReplyDeleteYes you can import hemp fabric into St Lucia. You can import most of the already processed products of hemp... but we may not produce them.
DeleteAh, the irony...and they wonder why we smoke...
DeleteBy the way, Mar, that is the best handle I have ever seen on the internet. Marijuanatarian is my new favorite word and with your permission, I shall use it wisely and justly to help free the political prisoners at Bordelais.
making sense puts us on the same page. As for importing hemp, they're too dumb to know the difference between hemp and ganja, you think they'll be smart enough to recognize hemp when you import it? I don't. I think you could grow your own hemp and export it before anyone in government even wakes up to have coffee
ReplyDeleteDat true!
DeleteVery flogging funny .... And true!
ReplyDelete99.9%.
ReplyDeleteEssiay u hit the nail on the head 11 out of ten times fwe-a, but i get the sense that as far as large organisations like government go, invariable the will of the people at the top will be expressed. The dreams and aspirations of the little people are always stepped on. I think the future generation will be disappointed with us because we never stopped whining like little puppies about the people in charge and their self serving policies, and put our shoulder to the wheel and establish our dreams despite of their restrictive policies. That is where the people's power lies, in beating the status quo on their own terms, up in their face and watch them crumble under their own gluttonous weight ... Obviously true religion has the major part to play in it also as there is only one who can establish the optimal dream in our head .... via, veritas, vita to de worl....
ReplyDeleteanother is that during the election season we should have every party leader in a debate to explain their plan to us and not just standing on the platform and running their mouths uselessly or going to a pre-question talk show. If one of them wants to inject 12 million dollars into our economy we should know where is that money coming from. IT'S TIME WE TAKE OUR POLITIES TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL! and quit having every jumbie on the road who has $250 to spare be on our ballot.
ReplyDeleteWould it not ba nice to have had atleast one mandatory debate per constituency? Seventeen debates total... every five years....
ReplyDeleteI hear you, people. We're going to have to do some more of this stuff.
ReplyDeleteMuch more...
Deleteok. so The Future is a major subject. I will be accepting submissions from anyone who has a good idea, or even just a different one. I'm also working on provoking more of this kind of thought and reaction. Thanks for making an important article popular. For a moment there I thought only soupsyon and halay kasay could cross the 500 pageviews threshold.
ReplyDelete