The legacy —

of colonialism

St. Vincent gains independence

By NORMAN FARIA

KINGSTON, St. Vincent —
.When the mountainous West In-
dian island of St. Vincent follows
in the footsteps of seven (Jamai-
ca, Trinidad-Tobago, Barbados,
Bahamas, Grenada, Dominica
and St. Lucia) other Common-
wealth island territories and be-
comes politically independent on
October 27, its people will not
only face the onerous economic
tasks needed to build up the poor
country, but must also involve
themselves in the closely related
political struggles which will
probably take place in the post-
independence period.

Jutting out of the Caribbean
Sea 161 kilometres west of Bar-
bados, St. Vincent recently made
front page news around the world
when the island’s active volcano,
Mt. Soufriere, erupted last April
13. Many foreign countries in-
cluding neighboring Cuba gave
financial or material aid to the
more than 20,000 refugees
evacuated from northern parish
villages and towns surrounding
the base of the volcano.

The island’s economy, under-
developed in the first place after
so many years — St. Vincent has
been a British colony since the
Treaty of Paris in 1783 — of colo-
nial rule, is still reeling from the
effects of the eruption, a disaster
which sent ash as far away as
Barbados. The banana crop, the
export of which serves as the
principal source of foreign ex-
_ Change, is still'being nursed back
to life. It is estimated that half of
the agricultural land was affected
in some way by the heavy ashfall.

St. Vincent, which was one of
the British overseas plantations
visited (on a later voyage after the
mutiny on his ship the Bounty) by
Captain Bligh and his cargo of
breadfruit tree saplings from the
South Seas, also produces arrow-
root, a type of ground provision
from which a starch is made.
About 35% of the workforce is
employed in the agricultural
sector.

employed because of the erup-
tion. Even before Soufriere
started belching fire and molten
rock, the rate of unemployment
among the 100,000 people living
on the main island and on the
smaller Grenadines was high
(some of the critics of Premier
Milton Cato’s ruling St. Vincent
Labour Party (SVLP) say it runs
as high as 20% of the labor force)
and is rapidly tobogganing out of
control.

“They say when we become
independent they will be fixing up
the sugar cane industry, but I
don’t know about that,’’ said
Isrod Cato (no relation to the
premier), a 34-year old agri-
culturaPworker from the eastern
town of Georgetown who had just

returned to the island after a six-

month stint in the Barbadian
sugar harvest.

The Capital of St. Vincent is
Kingstown, a whitewashed town
with no sewerage system and a
great number of rats. The small
pier of its well sheltered deep
water harbour — (which had to be
constructed with the help of loans
from the Canadian International
Development Agency) — can
accommodate three ocean-going
freighters at one time. The market
place at the end of one of the
town’s three main streets, Middle
Street, also serves as the main bus
depot. Here, passengers from the
rural districts have to rely on a
fleet of Datsun vans. In their

‘hands they carry what groceries

the average annual per capita in-
come of US $250 will then buy.
St. Vincent is surrounded by
some of the richest fishing
grounds in the world but the le-
gacy of colonialism has ensured
that the fishing industry still has a
long way to go. Most of the boats
are simply dug out tree trunks
with planks nailed onto their sides
to provide extra freeboard (al-
though we did see a number of
modern looking 16-foot runab-
outs with outboard motors). Few
Vincentian fishermen can afford
the EC $2,300 (one Eastern

Workers on their way to work get.a lift from a truck on the
deserted road near the island’s Arnos Vale airport. Insert: housing
on the southern part of the island:

$2.28) price tag on a 20 h.p. out-
board motor, imported, like the
majority of consumer items here
from overseas. ‘

Campaigning against this state
of affairs is the United People’s
Movement (UPM), a coalition
which came out of an agreement
among the island’s socialist
groupings. Formed earlier this
year, the UPM’s influence is dif-
ficult to ascertain at the moment,
but it will certainly have the back-
ing of those who have supported
the major political movement
outside the established parties
and one of those involved in the
merger: the Youlou United Lib-
eration Movement (Yulimo). This
militant, well organized and in-
fluential force was formed in
1974.

‘There is undoubtedly a shift .

from the Gairy (Sir Eric, the de-
spotic former Prime Minister of
the neighboring island of Grenada
who was overthrown in a March
13 popular revolution) brand of

politics. Their time has passed, .

they have outlived: their rele-
vance,’’ Adrian Saunders, a
Yulimo Central Committee

member told us.

Yulimo is in favor of indepen- -

dence but, as Saunders adds: ‘“‘It
must be an independence which

will not isolate us from what is
taking place in the rest of the
world, especially from the
socialist movements. We don’t

want to degenerate into a gang of .

narrow chauvinists.”’

The UPM is already actively
campaigning for the post-
independence elections which are
constitutionally due before the
end of June next year. None of the
members of the coalition has con-
tested national elections before.
According to Saunders, a Univer-
sity of the West Indies-trained
lawyer who is in charge of
Yulimo’s youth work, the UPM
will field a’ full slate, but will keep
up their work at the community
level where the left is strong.

Facing this challenge will be
Cato’s SVLP and the insignificant
People’s Political Party led by

- veteran politician Ebenezer

Joshua. Both the established par-
ties are social democratic, model-
led, as is the case with most of the
other parties in the English speak-
ing Commonwealth Caribbean,
on Britain’s Labor Party.
Political observers here will tell
you that the SVLP’s reputation
has been tarnished by its handling
of the relief supplies and funds
sent down by foreign countries in
the aftermath of Soufriere’s

anger. Although Cato will build
up political capital for being the
dispenser of this aid, his admin-_

istration is suspected by some |
Vincentians of holding back of |
- mismanaging a proportion of the -

aid.

Cato’s regime was also

humiliated when it was forced to |

relent and accept Cuban relief aid

of 1,041 cartons of condensed |

milk. The change of mind fol —

lowed a ‘campaign waged in |

Yulimo’s newspaper Freedom for
acceptance of the aid.

Well-to-do spokesmen for |

Cato’s party readily give short
shrift to the chances of the UPM ©
influencing the course of events

here at present. They are certain |

that what happened in St. Lucia
and Dominica, two close islands
were progressive forces have

gained the upper hand this year, |

will not take place in St. Vincent.
They nevertheless concede that

there is a strong yearning among | —

Vincentians for change.

Indeed, many of the un |
employed have not forgetten that, | —
immediately after the March |
events in Grenada, the SVLP — ‘
government instituted a newS |
blackout about what.was happet- |

ing to the sister to the south.

Many of these are now un- Caribbean dollar = Canadian
INTERNATIONAL FOCUS
Would Carter agree 20 minute time limit elapsed

half of the ‘‘free world’’ and his

what it sees as a civilization

But the ties are not merely

ideological. Military collabora-
tion and cooperation in
“‘defence’’ production which

_ built up by its own hard work \
and initiative ...’’
Leaving aside the question

stated concern for human
rights and free speech, we’re
sure he will jump at Cuba’s of-

and Castro quickly agreed.

At the end of the talk, Rather
said to Fidel: ‘‘Is there any

to be interviewed by
Cuban television?

es Ses : question I should have asked fer. of who really ‘built’ South has been going on since 1962 ‘
cae eer iced” you that I didn’t?’’ Fidel re- Africa and the wagon-train- _ has risen dramatically. Israel e
Giban. premier Fidel plied, “I’m the one who would —_ Lots of ‘common ground’ in-a-circle mentality of a sur- supplies Pretoria with tanks, | | >
Caste gave © lemethy. inter: like to ask you a question — _ between Pretoria and See i Israel behind vias it ee pei ates
. . would President Carter be wil- < es its expansionist charac- . electronic gear, ground-to-air
view to CBC's Dan Rather, Tel Aviv ter, there is plenty of evidence communications equipment,

ling to have a journalist from
Cuban television interview
him? (This would) allow for
some parity in the situation, so
that he could answer our jour-
nalists’ questions ... if Carter
should so desire, we will put all
the television channels in Cuba
at his disposal so that he can
say whatever he wants to the
, Cuban people’.

Rather said he could’ not
speak for the president, but as-
sured Fidel he would make
Carter aware of the offer.

Given the U.S. president’s
reputation for speaking on be-

one of the hosts of the premier
hour-long TV program ‘‘Sixty
Minutes’’. A segment of that
interview was shown and, as
was the case with the wide-
ranging interview Castro gave
U.S. newswoman Barbara
Walters last year, the Cuban
newspaper Granma reprinted
the full text of the discussion.

Rather was blunt and
straightforward with his ques-
tions. Fidel was candid and
forthcoming with his answers.
As a matter of fact, Rather
asked Fidel if the interview.
could continue even after the

The Oct. 14 issue of The

Jewish Standard runs an in-

_ triguing story which describes
the problems of Israeli diplo-
macy when it comes to its ties
with racist South Africa. The
piece begins this way:

“Israel and South Africa, in
many respects, stand on com-
mon ground. - Israel is sur-
rounded by a mass of close to
100 million Arabs, most of
whom are, officially at least,
sworn to her destruction.
South Africa looks north and
sees a vast ocean of 350 million
‘Blacks’ threatening to destroy

spare parts for the French-built
Mirage aircraft, sea-to-sea
missiles, light cannon, heavy
mortars and mechanical warn-
ing systems for border securi-
ty. South Africa builds patrol-
boats under Israeli license and |
military personnel regularly a
exchange experiences on | ©
anti-guerrilla warfare. |
These ties are, of course, :
bolstered by rapidly growing
economic arrangements.
Trade between the two states,
for example, increased ten-fold
between 1967 and 1975.

’ of common ground.

Israel and South Africa are
the north and south anchors of
imperialism’s grip on Africa.
They are the two strongest
military powers in the region
—and ties between the two are
growing as the national libera-
tion movements develop and
become stronger. :

They represent the last

- major hope of colonial domina-

tion and part of the ‘‘common
ground”’ is each state’s inter-
vention into the affairs of its
neighbors and repression
internally.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—NOVEMBER 2, 1979—Pag® 104