{"id":150875,"date":"2015-12-10T09:57:52","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T13:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=150875"},"modified":"2015-12-10T09:58:59","modified_gmt":"2015-12-10T13:58:59","slug":"commentary-salisburys-continuing-agony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-salisburys-continuing-agony\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMENTARY: Salisbury’s Continuing Agony"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"J.J.
J.J. Joseph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once again, in a desperate attempt to scapegoat the industrious people of Bawi, another ludicrous episode of a series of harassments has been perpetrated by the government on them. Let the truth be known, however, that these seemingly customary issuances of summonses are nothing more than the PM’S tactics of using the Salisbury Constituency to set a precedence.<\/p>\n

This scaremongering strategy is twofold: Firstly, Roosevelt Skerrit may be hoping that by frequently mandating the villagers to appear before the court of law, he would, in effect, succeed in instilling fear and embarrassment in them. This fear, he probably believes will serve as a preemption to any future protests against perceived acts of injustice, corruption and the like. Secondly, the PM, it would appear, is using the Salisbury farmers as an expedient ‘ace in the hole’ to deflect or detract Dominicans’ attention from the real pressing issues facing the country – such as his ineptitude – and the persistent deplorable state of the economy.<\/p>\n

This onerous ongoing saga was precipitated by aggrieved hard-working farmers of the community, exercising their inalienable rights, on May 11th, by peacefully taking to the streets to protest prolonged dereliction by the government. The planters had simply been advocating for proper farm roads to enable them to access their farmlands, so they could provide for their families – and the nation, by extension. In return, these earnest villagers were met with assaults by Skerrit’s deployed militant police, when they discharged bullets and expired teargas canisters. Even innocent residents were discomforted by the gas, and some homes severely damaged by stray bullets.<\/p>\n

Subsequent draconian treatment of the people of Bawi which ensued – beginning on June 11th (precisely one month later) to present – have been relentless. The constant evocation of reasons to issue summonses to Salisburyans has been nothing short of victimization. Conventional wisdom seemingly is that this fixation by the Roosevelt Skerrit Administration on prosecuting innocuous farmers, however, can only be attributed to retaliation. Some may argue that the never-ending harassments could be due to the constituents’ past history of denying the DLP their votes during elections as well. Another reason for the authorities’ unwelcome attention may be their innate independent nature – which do not conform with the principles of a quasi-dictatorial system of total dependency on government. These qualities could potentially be working against the villagers.<\/p>\n

But…..this continuing demonstration of heightened insensitivity and antipathy by the government in relentlessly pursuing the people of Salisbury, can prove consequential. Largely, most ingenious Dominicans – particularly those living at home – are frustrated and disheartened by the static state of the economy – with no foreseeable chance of improvement in the near future. People are languishing due to lack of job opportunities, hence little or no independence or empowerment. As a consequence, local citizens, predominantly men, resort to violence, such as murder, robbery, and suicide – as well as sexual abuses – perpetrated against women and young children. To further aggravate the Bawi farmers by continuously tormenting them with repeated court appearances, can potentially result in the people’s frustration reaching the dreaded tipping point. Underestimating the power of the masses would be a huge mistake by the government.<\/p>\n

Could Bawi be the catalyst?<\/p>\n

Opinions expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Dominica News Online or its advertisers.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once again, in a desperate attempt to scapegoat the industrious people of Bawi, another ludicrous episode of a series of harassments has been perpetrated by the government on them. Let the truth be known, however, that these seemingly customary issuances…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":128959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150875","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCOMMENTARY: Salisbury's Continuing Agony - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-salisburys-continuing-agony\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COMMENTARY: Salisbury's Continuing Agony - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Once again, in a desperate attempt to scapegoat the industrious people of Bawi, another ludicrous episode of a series of harassments has been perpetrated by the government on them. 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