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#BTEditorial – To be a ‘dead right’ martyr

by Barbados Today
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There is an old saying that it makes no sense being dead right. For the benefit of younger folk, it is simply about being pragmatic. You may be on the right side of an issue but you take a deliberate decision not to be a martyr but to simply survive to fight another day.

We posit this position because survival as a small nation with an open economy, dependent on global trade and travel for our existence, makes us a vulnerable nation.

In today’s world, we all want to represent the highest of ideals in our actions and to even vocalise our positions to others. But as difficult as it is to accept, might is often accepted as right even when it is wrong. It is only when we can convince others of like-mind to join in solidarity to effect change. Without that support, you become nothing more than a martyr for a cause.

Entrepreneur, former senator, Rotarian and all-around upright Barbadian citizen Andrew Bynoe, made an intriguing appeal recently. He insisted that the Barbadian leader tell the mighty United States that the treatment of its black citizens was appalling and that it was time to stop.

Obviously pained, like millions around the world, by the public execution of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in the streets of Minneapolis by police officers, Bynoe urged: “It is time to stop cosying up to the White House”.

Prime Minister Mottley is surely aware of the precarious economic situation that Barbados finds itself, particularly in the middle of this COVID-19 pandemic. We were just approved for an additional $278 million in vital financing support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as more than 41 000 or about a third of the island’s workforce is jobless and contemplating their next move.

This country’s leader has already experienced how easily some of her Caribbean Community (CARICOM) brothers will desert her when the Americans come a-calling with promises yet to be fulfilled of major investment dollars. Ostracism can be a cruel, slow and painful punishment.

As we reflect on the governance structure of key multilateral institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, the American government has the power to choose who leads these institutions. It is for that reason that the IMF chief has never left the revolving doors of Europe and the World Bank from the United States’.

Lest we forget, the executive board of the IMF is no democracy. When the IMF and the World Bank were created following World War II, there was an understanding that a European would run the IMF and an American the World Bank. And to keep it a real closed-shop, the US gets to choose the number two at the IMF. Mr Bynoe, things have not changed.

Yes. The balance of power is not fair in this world and we do not expect it to change anytime soon. We are not suggesting that our American ally would be so petty in the face of criticism to deny us IMF financing. But then again, it was widely rumoured that President Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump was being considered to head the World Bank. We leave that subject right there.

We agree with you, Mr Bynoe. Right should stand in the face of might and say “you are wrong”. But are we prepared for the consequences? Will our people be like those who followed Moses to the promised land but then wanted to return to Egypt when the road appeared too long and difficult?

Your call is noble, Mr Bynoe. And we wished Ms Mottley could speak boldly speak truth to power, not only on behalf of Barbados but the entire CARICOM grouping which she presently leads. But we highly doubt that when she rises to condemn the United States, and she looks back for her CARICOM supporters, she is likely to find the other 14 leaders.

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