{"id":207540,"date":"2018-11-07T09:42:35","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T13:42:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=207540"},"modified":"2018-11-07T09:53:34","modified_gmt":"2018-11-07T13:53:34","slug":"commentary-dominicas-forty-year-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/features\/commentary\/commentary-dominicas-forty-year-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMENTARY: Dominica\u2019s Forty Year Mark"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_202525\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-202525\" style=\"width: 642px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-202525\" src=\"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/sapphire-2-642x488.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"642\" height=\"488\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/sapphire-2.jpg 642w, https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/sapphire-2-300x228.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-202525\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sapphire Carrington<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The number forty (40) generally symbolizes a process of testing, of trial, or an evaluation period. Jesus, Elijah and Moses, fasted for 40 days and forty nights, 40 days of Moses on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments; the children of Israel had to suffer through the wilderness for 40yrs, Moses died after 40 years upon wandering in the desert just within the sight of the promised land- \u00a0In 2018, we\u2019ve reached our 40th Anniversary of gaining independence. It is on this day we celebrate that Dominicans can exercise self-government and sovereignty over our island. Probably at this point, you intend to stop reading because what you expect to follow, is the same riddle you hear and read over and over again that comes from officials. I\u2019m not promising that my independence statement will contain firecrackers and rockets. I simply want to express how deep in my heart about where Independence stands now in Dominica. To put it bluntly, there is little to none!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Yes, on November 3, 1978, we became an independent and sovereign nation. That was forty years ago and worth commemorating the fact by itself. Dominica became a self-ruling nation and did not have to listen to or abide by what was determined abroad and those far away anymore. We were now on our own. And that is where the new dependency begins to evolve.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The community of Dominican people became dependent on the actions of the government and whatever they decided, when and how they decided. I must add that too often Autocratic leadership style gets confused with a democracy. A democratically elected government but nevertheless a ruling party could determine more, and the opponents had less to say. One could only hope that the government would represent the wishes of all Dominicans regardless whether they did or did not have the voter\u2019s approval of all.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>When I look back over a 40-year independence period and see what has evolved with our government system, I get a tear of sadness in my eye. It makes me even more sad when I think of the young generation of Dominicans that have to deal with the current situation which they did not create and sadly may not get better in the future unless some fairly radical changes are upcoming and soon. For me, we are not truly independent.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>One of the reasons that I believe that we are not independent, is that decision making within the Government is lacking transparency. It simply means that we as a people are totally dependent on what a few in positions of authority decide. Just about four times a year we have the occasion to observe calls of \u2018the ayes have it\u2019 upon political, social, and economic realities without any careful thought, without involvement of the constituents, much less analysis of the realities faced by the residents. And while they thrust their responses passing laws, and at times not passing laws, there are much consequences. Do you call that independence? I don\u2019t! I also must ask, Is that something you can feel proud about on Independence Day? You can decide for yourself!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>My contention is that Independence is more related to \u201cLiberty and Justice For All\u201d as they proclaim in the USA or \u201cLiberty, Equality and Fraternity\u201d as the French do assert. What do we have in Dominica? Think about that for a few&#8230; a few seconds, a few days, a few years&#8230;I will share with you what the people of Dominica really want after carefully listening to a great majority of Dominicans across the globe and residents.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>We the people of Dominica want Sustainability, Equality and Prosperity. We want the goods and products we use to be produced right here in Dominica, by Dominicans, for Dominicans. These so called opportunities that the government manufactures comes with a great cost to us as a people, as an island nation. You see, we continue to have our cognition mapped by those who strive to occupy the minds of the people with fluff, fake news, narrative twists and continue their divisive and oppressive politics. Everyday these traditional parties occupy parliament, it\u2019s like having a Trojan horse placed in our system of governance by our colonial masters- nothing has changed from colonial rule for the better and that is sadly by design- the sad part is that this type of dependence, divisive and oppressive governance is all the majority of Dominicans alive today know &#8211; to elect them again, is to willingly reinstitute a Trojan horse in Dominican consciences.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>This is Dominica&#8217;s 40 year mark, and it\u2019s time to pull up your pants and tie your waist \u201cmaway wrenw&#8221; and come together as a people both those residing in Dominica and in the diaspora to build a legacy of becoming a true self-sufficient, sustainable, equal and prosperous producing island nation. It is my hope, that you, like myself, look forward to see a rebirth of the Dominican spirit and much better governance.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The sad reality over the last two plus decades, we\u2019ve seen a nation weaken &#8211; with no emphasis on civic education &#8211; the costs of that was and is too grave &#8211; you see typically when people talk of costs our brains automatically shift to think money but the costs we suffered as a people, as a country, is much greater than money can buy- many have lost hope, their human spirit, our identity, nationalism and consciousness &#8211; for decades we\u2019ve allowed the powers that be to make us, our country become the base of exploitation upon which these transnational criminal organizations stand- our villages, your communities have become ravaged by the powers that be, resulting in alcoholism, dependency syndrome, drug addiction, unwanted\/unplanned pregnancies, single parenthood, mass migration, brain drain, illnesses, pure degradation &#8211; WOW! I ask again, Is that something you can feel proud about on Independence Day?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>40 years has gone, yes, but don\u2019t let us die in the wilderness like Moses. We know what\u2019s at hand, let\u2019s wake up and clear a path from the wilderness and bring our people home. Let\u2019s start a new 40 years of Sustainability, forty years of equality, and forty years of prosperity- it will be no easy walk in the park, cause we\u2019re starting from a time of hardship around the world. The time to begin\u00a0anew is now. If we don\u2019t reset now, then when? After another 40?. \u00a0Today, our youth are suffering from a moral vacuum as a result of poor governance. Today\u2019s governance is a harsh reflection of Dominica\u2019s geopolitical reality. \u00a0Look around you, your community and be honest with yourself, face the realities and again, I ask, is that something you can feel proud about on Independence Day?<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>As for me, while many habitually celebrate \u202aNovember the 3rd\u202c, as the day that we received freedom and independence from foreign rulers, in my heart I feel sadness and I\u2019m worried about the evolved new dependence on local rulers that we now experience. I have a strong desire that positive change will happen on Dominica rather sooner than later. It is time we pause for a moment and reflect; reflect upon who do we want to be as a nation moving forward and reconnect with the true meaning of Independence Day. This time of reflection is not just for me, it is also for you, and the young generation of Dominicans. The time is now to come together and build the Dominica we all can feel proud about on Independence Day.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>May God Bless our Sovereign Republic, the Commonwealth of Dominica.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number forty (40) generally symbolizes a process of testing, of trial, or an evaluation period. Jesus, Elijah and Moses, fasted for 40 days and forty nights, 40 days of Moses on the mount receiving the Ten Commandments; the children&#8230;","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":202525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-economy-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>COMMENTARY: Dominica\u2019s Forty Year Mark - 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-dominicas-forty-year-mark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"COMMENTARY: Dominica\u2019s Forty Year Mark - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The number forty (40) generally symbolizes a process of testing, of trial, or an evaluation period. 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