Commentary: Carnival’s over but the bacchanal now start!

We jumped to soca and waved our flags; we danced to calypso and raised our rags but when The Real Mas was over, the bacchanal began. Despite the many bandanas, rags and flags that we waved during Carnival, they could not outnumber the red flags that surfaced when the season ended, to signal that all was not well within.

First was the confusion over the date of Carnival. There was obviously no discussion and much discord among factions of Carnival organizers. To change (the date) or not to change the date, that was the question. In one corner of the ring was Dominica’s Cultural Advisor and Chairman of the CDC, Dr. Alwin Bully, calling for a change of date, and in the other was Natalie Clarke Meade, Events Director of the DFC.

It wasn’t the first time that Bully had raised the issue. In fact, in 2010 the issue reared its head but was met with intense venom. This time around the public seemed more receptive to the idea, perhaps because of the caveat – a three-year trial period was proposed and if it didn’t work, Carnival would revert to its original dates. While 878 voters (according to a DNO poll), don’t want the date touched, a surprising 601 or 39% of the 1,553 voters were in favour of a date change. And then the players mentioned above began to criticize the marketing of Carnival, essentially scolding themselves over the fact that the event is not marketed properly. After all, who else would they be speaking to? So, stop the in-fighting, get together, come up with a Marketing Plan (that’s what is done in any enterprise) and move forward.

Then crime against tourists took center stage, with a spate of violent attacks on tourists which included the rape of a young member of a visiting French family. And, unless the perpetrators in the latter incident didn’t get greedy and allegedly decide to rob the Marigot Credit Union that same day, none of the culprits would have been caught. Since August 4, 2011, following a homicide and vicious beatings in Marigot, the DHTA called for an “action plan and a progressive policy against crime in Dominica” and the DAIC threw its full support behind this call. Has anything been done since? Let me answer that for you – “No.”

Fast-forward six months – On February 16, 2012, the DHTA came up with a multi-pronged plan and again called for a “bi-partisan approach to tackle violent crime,” no doubt because crime struck close to “home” – the tourism industry. They called for it to be “tabled in parliament today…” Let me remind you that it was February 16. One month later, on March 16, to keep the issue in the spotlight, the DHTA came out and expressed optimism that its recommendations will be “taken up by the authorities and implemented.” Today is March 26 and still no word from the authorities and certainly no action coming out of the “talks.” According to the DHTA, they were “dialoguing with top government officials including the Prime Minister, Minister for National Security, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police”, so once again it appears to be all rhetoric with more talk than action. Is not a $143M industry worth some action? What are you all waiting for? Get down to the job of addressing this situation.

And then crime really hit home when two young locals were reportedly kidnapped from their communities at gunpoint, allegedly beaten and stabbed. They have seemingly vanished off the face of the earth. Two persons with French connections were interviewed and let go and now they’re being sought by the authorities. Did those who were allegedly kidnapped not have a surname worthy enough to hold those being questioned for the period that they could legally have been held? If the police keep slipping up, “the devil [will] take the hindmost.” Police authorities, when you slip, don’t slide. Take back the streets now; nip crime in the bud before it’s in full bloom, if it isn’t already.

Then it was the issue of, “Is it gambling or not?” as Ma Pau Entertainment put the final touches on its operations at Krazy Koconuts, and the bacchanal of semantics began. Well Government has put its stamp of approval on it, with the man at the helm of the country stating that, “There is no casino gambling in Dominica, they are slot machines.” The word “gamble” as defined by most dictionaries is “to play at any game of chance for money or other stakes.” We’ve heard the age-old adage of “a rose by any other name is still a rose.” Could this be a case of “gambling by any other name is still gambling?” According to a DNO poll of 1,711 persons, the jury’s still out in terms of introducing gambling to Dominica, with 49% or 838 voters “for” and 47% or 804 persons “against” or almost a 50/50 split.

But I’ve saved the best for last…a cruise ship docks reportedly carrying only men and purportedly carrying gay cruisers and the police authorities find the time and the resources to find themselves on the ship to arrest two men who were supposedly making love. Trust me, they were probably just nude. Now that’s not to say that it’s okay if, in fact, they were warned. But whatever happened to “make love, not war?” “Rogues and vagabonds,” what’s that about? They wanted the tourists to undergo a medical examination. Is that real? I hope it was contrived or could we really be so inane. Would we have preferred it if both men were fighting or, worse, stabbing and killing one another? They were arrested, charged, convicted, fined and released. Some felt the fine wasn’t enough; others felt they should have been jailed. Now what would have been the good of that?

Then the international backlash came into focus and after all was said and done; more was said than done with a record 890 comments on a single DNO story and a total of 2,302 comments on all related stories, not to mention the radio talk shows. Surprisingly, too, as of the day of publication, of 3,419 voters in the DNO poll, a whopping 73% voted “yes” to welcoming gay cruise passengers and only 25% said “no.” This should tell us something about our laws – out of touch – yes, archaic – yes, need to be revised – definitely. Like it or not, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (lgbt) grouping is here to stay; it’s not going away. They’re in our churches, our schools, our offices, our homes; they are our brothers, our sisters, our mothers, our fathers, our cousins, aunts and uncles, and the bottom line is that they are people too. Moreover, like it or not, the aftershocks of this event will reverberate against this island for a long time to come

What do all the above events have in common? They all speak to our tourism product and what we want or say we want for and from it. They all affect the sector in one way or another and they’re all begging for a National Consultation, where all stakeholders can come together and decide the direction in which we want our tourism product to go, and that includes the vision we have for our Carnival, creating an environment where people feel safe again, both locals and tourists, being honest and allowing what is good for the goose to be good for the gander because today it’s gambling, tomorrow it might be something else, and putting a system in place so that if visitors (the word “foreigner” doesn’t belong in a global village) commit a misdemeanor, they can be processed on the same day and sent on their way.

In the end, the Nature Island is an island but it operates in a global environment and our lives and livelihoods are being affected daily. I’m sure you would agree that this calls for some serious action so now that the fête is over, let’s stop the bacchanal and get down to some serious work!