Recently, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St Vincent et al experienced different degrees of COVID? Protests. Actions in Antigua-Barbuda and Barbados, were somewhat muted, compared to St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Why? In recent times, the governing parties in both countries gained office with big electoral margins. Thereby gutting their political opponents, of the “fire-in-the belly” for mass demonstrations.
In the case of SVG, things seemed a bit more intense, even bordering on the murderous, with an apparent, attempt on the life of PM Gonsalves. Perhaps, the intensity of protests in SVG is to be understood in the context that, the governing ULP has been in office for more than 20 years. Perhaps, even harder for the opposition NDP to swallow, is that PM Gonsalves has been leading the ULP to repeated victories with a 1-seat majority since 2010. So near, yet so far!
- Well, is there pent-up frustration in the ranks of the Vincentian opposition, because of its sustained failure to remove the ULP at the ballots?
- Is COVID, tempting the NDP to try and unseat the ULP using mass-demonstrations?
- Did the NDP over-play its hand at that demonstration where PM Gonsalves was injured?
- Check this, St Vincent and the Grenadines could get a big outbreak, if the protest, serves as a super-spreader. Very tricky for a country which may yet be among the highest per capita users of “herbal treatments”.
At another level, it is shocking to hear some political and union leaders of the anti-vaxxer campaign say they are fully vaccinated against ”COVID” but they are “fighting” for the right of their followers’ to refuse vaccination against the deadly pandemic condition – encouraging supporters to choose sickness or death over life?
What kind of a choice is that? I guess, the more people get sick and die from COVID related illnesses and the sooner the broader health services collapse, the better the anti-vaxxer leadership will look?
Politicians hoping to be taken seriously must recognize that, left unchecked, the COVID virus will sicken, and kill many persons, while crippling national health services. In those days, political leaders caught on record, discouraging vaccination against COVID, will be held responsible for such disasters.
The more sensible and strategically useful hand for opposition parties to play is to call for and support the achievement of herd immunity plus 10%, followed by lifting of emergency conditions.
In a COVID state, prudent opposition politics and union education tactics are to educate the population on how emergency conditions amend human rights and privileges. Instead, anti-vaxxer politicians and union leaders, continue to mislead uninformed supporters and workers, into believing that rights remain in full effect, under emergency conditions.
Walk good until next time.
Arvel Grant, Political and Current Affairs Analyst
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