“It is now evident that most whom we call the ‘left’ have no sound political principles, no intellectual discipline, anything that is not negotiable.” — Patrick Lawrence.
“Sometimes the simplest act of dissent can change the course of history… Sometimes, the dissenter is the lone voice of reason in the dark. Some will privately agree with a dissenter, be it a Galileo, a Saro-Wiwa, a Rosa Parks or a More. The value and courage of dissent come in standing up, pronouncing the difficult view in public, and taking the consequences. It is easy to believe in something, it is much more difficult to speak out.” — Pius Langa, South Africa’s Chief Justice.
The government brags that it is a youth government. Nothing is further from the truth. Behind the rhetoric is a diabolical attempt to feather its own nest and to sustain its political agenda to maintain power rather than to implement sustainable policies aimed at holistic development and sustainable advancement of our youth and country.
Budget 2025 and the utterances of Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves and Senator Shackell Bobb prove this thesis. At its core, the government’s youth policy, to be implemented by the Prime Ministerial Advisory Committee on Youth, is elitist, top-down, non-participatory, undemocratic, and ultimately anti-youth.
The government’s youth committee, formed over a year ago, is well-resourced and well-funded. In Budget 2025, Camillo boasted of its successes, and because of its advances, funding tripled to EC$250,000. Precious little by way of achievement is in the public domain.
But there is more. Budget 2025 commits a further EC$1.5 million to an initiative called Greater Youth Volunteerism and Engagement (GYVE—pronounced “give”). GYVE, says the finance minister, “takes aim at the challenge of atomised individualism”.
“The programme is to incentivise civic engagement, solidarity, volunteerism and community-spiritedness among youth. The GYVE programme will encourage youth to ‘give’ of their time, talent and energy to tackle neighbourhood or national challenges. The GYVE project will fund each project up to a maximum of $60,000 and projects to engage as many as 1,000 youth nationally.”
The finance minister did not say which arm of government will administer this programme, but you can bet your left eye that this task is reserved for the PM advisory committee, which is essentially a ULP support group of credentialed people.
Viewed in this context, Senator Shackell Bobb’s assault on the National Youth Council’s history, legacy and record of achievement becomes fully apparent. In a full-throttled outburst of wilful ignorance during the parliamentary debate, Bobb declared:
“And from what I’ve heard, the National Youth Council have proven to be unsuccessful time and time again. And if you have an exceptional council, such as the Prime Ministerial Advisory Council on Youth, why dwell on a National Youth Council that has proven unsuccessful? Why live in the past?”
Even the pro-government Searchlight newspaper felt compelled to push back against the government’s attempt to corral our country’s youth. Crediting the initiative as commendable, the paper opined that “by itself, an appointed body is no substitute for independent self-organisation”.
The Searchlight editorial schooled the young senator. It also disabused the entire advisory committee of the hubristic notion that its time has come because the NYC was “unsuccessful time and time again”. It noted that “despite political pressure from various governments, the NYC managed to maintain its independence and to become a valuable [and] leading light in civil society organisation in this country”.
“The NYC distinguished itself in many areas of the democratic process … as regardings the naming of Joseph Chatoyer, the removal of the disgraceful ‘discovery day’ as a national holiday and the institution of National Heroes’ Day.”
The paper shied away from nailing the Gonsalves government’s role in the suppression and demise of the NYC as was reflected in the government’s strident opposition to the youth parliament and constitutional changes that allowed for places in the legislature for members of civil society organisations.
However, the editorial must be credited for striking the right chords. “One would therefore have thought that paramount among the advice to be given by the PM advisory committee would be how to encourage, facilitate and support an independent organisation like the NYC, open to all strands of thought and belief. Unfortunately, there is no indication that consideration is being given to that. But do we expect young people, traditionally affiliated to, or associated with, whether by family or community history, the political opposition, to want to be part of the current set-up? It is always good for young people to seek to organise, but central to it must be their right to independent organisation.”
But therein lies the rub. Gonsalves and his clansmen have no interest in the independent organisation of our people. They despise voluntarism. It is a commitment from the heart and not easily controlled. Lofty name GYVE aside, they want to use the citizens’ tax dollars to pay off youth to come into their political orbit for electoral purposes.
The foregoing is the context in which we should view Budget 2025 and the other projects directed at youth, such as the so-called semi-professional football and netball leagues, which will pay each team member EC$200 per game.
Look deeper! The government’s abandonment of the reparations cause further reflects its cynicism and lack of interest in developing political consciousness among our youth. One reads Budget 2025 in vain for anything related to the fight for reparatory justice. Adrian Odle was named chair of the Reparations Committee over a year ago. Since then, not a single event or initiative has been announced or carried out. Neither Chairman Odle nor government propagandist Augustine Ferdinand could say whether Budget 2025 allocated money to the reparations committee.
In this era when young people are searching to understand themselves and the world, when drug and alcohol use, crime and violence, as well as self-hatred as manifested in skin bleaching are on the increase, reparatory justice education about the glorious history of our Garifuna, Kalinago and African ancestors, the devastation caused by European conquest, genocide, slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism will go a long way towards sensitising our young people.
But the evidence is clear. Gonsalves’ ULP see youth as their ticket to winning the 2025 elections. The sooner the youth recognise and understand this fact, the better for them and the entire Vincentian population.
