POLITICAL IGNORANCE AND INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY

Mr. Statchel Warner - 1989 Anguilla National Alliance
(ANA) candidate for District 6, Road South, Anguilla

Recently there is a lot of talk about independence for Anguilla. The right to self determination is something every human being has a right to strive for individually or as a social group. Anguillians at this point are not ready because nothing has been done over the years to prepare them. 

Independence can be achieved in two ways, one in terms of preparatory 5 to 10 year period. The other as an immediate shock treatment. The latter will only be successful with leaders that have vision, understanding and integrity.

At present Anguillians in general are little more than transplanted Africans in a mental rot refusing to leave behind the belief that slavery entitles us to somehting. We cannot forever remain African with a European Language and name, ruled by European Governor and Queen while we worship a European Jesus/God and teach our children to believe in a European Santa. Breaking with the past is not only about replacing the political system, its also about thinking for ourselves.

In order to move forward Anguillians must cast in the garbage bin of history, all forms of political ignorance, dishonesty and corruption. We must also be weary of those who say we are willing to support you if you agree to a time table but they refuse to set a time. They refuse to formulate tangible objectives. Their only selling point is to say we will do better than the other guy irrespective of what we did in the past. Ignorance in a society spells disaster but arrogrance offers a similar path to destruction.

Today its easy to divide Anguilla into those who are willing to die for the beilef that common sense is more important than education and those willing to die like bugs around an educated light. We have one group of leaders that seem willing to capitalize on ignorance using religion and other forms of emotional appeals and others who despite their high level of education, refuse to think, refuse to be intellectually honest. Intellectual dishonesty is killing the economy as much as the lack of an understanding of the functioning of the global system.

In 2012 for one group of leaders to call for independence simply because they cannot ignore  colonial arrogrance or even use it to our advantage is as destructive as the next group that is wagged by its tail saying that since the British wont agree to full Internal Self Government so its a waste of time to ask, you are the waste of time, the British can only refuse because its not a national consensus. They know they can depend on you to oppose when you are on the outside and not ask when you are on the inside. History shows that the British like every other European power dont give anything to those who refuse to demand it.

The facts are simple. It was stupid to promise that you could have fixed the economy in a month without an understanding of the problems at hand. It was stupid for the people to believe it could have been done. It is also intellectually dishonest to tell the people that the fix is to put you in office because so you can continue with business as usual when its obvious that not only has your policy failed but your entire economic paradigm of development is flawed. We cannot continue with business as usual because there is no more business as usual, the entire western capitalist system is under review. Intellectuals? if they deserve the title you should be searching for models of development that will allow small islands to survive in the coming period where everything as we know it will be scarce.

By: Statchel Warner