#BTColumn – A vision beyond ‘yardfowlism’

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today.

by Dr Ronnie Yearwood

Barbados is a deeply unequal society. This has only been accentuated by COVID-19. Barbados is segregated among class lines by a use of government patronage and favours to limit opposition and democratic engagement. This is to the point where structural violence and deep political partisanship appear incorporated, not as a threat to the society, but as an accepted political process.

Small pockets of society are enriched, as the private sector remains underdeveloped, retail driven and dependent on government procurement, subsidies or concessions. The working class and working poor remain despondent, and the middle-class struggle to carry the burden of taxation.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the issues as ranked by the 2019 Global Competitiveness survey. Barbados ranked out of 141 countries with 1 being the highest; 140 for companies embracing disruptive ideas; 131 for growth of innovative companies; 125 for attitudes towards entrepreneurial risk; 62 for a willingness to delegate authority with an overall 123 for entrepreneurial culture; 117 for critical thinking in teaching; 41 for pupil-to-teacher ratio in primary education; 89 for digital skills among active population; 100 for distortive effect of taxes and subsidies on competition; 77 for cost for starting a business and 85 for time to start a business.

Endemic in our society is Government involvement controlling and deciding who gets and who gets neglected. The result is a “yardfowlism” – the giving of political support for government favours, that is integrated at all levels of our society. The effect, whether intended or otherwise, is for a parasitic rule that incorporates opposition and antagonistic forces.

The poor who get little in return are the ones often out there defending “their” government, supported by public commentators choosing to ignore logical discourse that Barbados remains, post-Independence, a society riddled by inequality. No symbolic change to Republicanism will somehow erase or start to erase that.

Inequality 

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) stated in a 2016 report that slightly above a third of Barbadians (33.7 per cent) were multidimensionally deprived. The CDB stated, “Traditionally, poverty was defined as inadequate income or consumption levels.

However, participatory approaches have shown that poor people go beyond income in defining their experiences and the solutions needed. Individuals experience poverty differently based on their geographical location, the stage in their life cycle and gender. In addition, invariably individuals are generally consistent in defining poverty as lack of education, health, housing, decent jobs, empowerment, inclusion, justice and personal security.” Therefore, multidimensional deprivation is to understand deprivation in its widest sense covering education, health and living standards and simply not as a matter of inadequate income or consumption levels.

That a third of Barbadians are multidimensionally deprived points to income and wealth distribution issues, as well as a lack of opportunities or barriers whether in education, health and society in general, to make their lives better.

Income could be concentrating at the very top of our society and in the hands of a few. Take, for example, in tourism, 47 per cent of all the rooms available in traditional hotels are owned by eight people according to recent research (Lorde and Joseph, 2019).

This means that the key economic driver in our society is controlled by a few who may be able to extract concessions and promote their interest for an industry that should be all of our business.

It was also estimated that by 1970 the top 10 per cent of landowners owned 77 per cent of the land in Barbados. Data on income and wealth distribution can be hard to come by, but the picture seems to be a mix of multidimensional deprivation for a significant number of people and wealth convergence at the top of Barbadian society.

In this vein, I abhor the concept of low-income housing that creates pockets of deprivation and destroys generations
of families.

Policy makers and politicians need to drop the vocabulary and concept from the political and social lexicon. To build good and decent housing for people should be the aim.

Barbados does not only have issues with inequality as to wealth but also in our education system, for example. Research shows that the majority of prison inmates come from eight
of the lowest ranked secondary schools in Barbados.

These children from the same multidimensionally deprived households are not only failed by the education system but the legal system that incarcerates them, essentially, for the household they were born into.

The middle-class illusion

The Barbadian middle class lacks financial security. The middle class are one or two generations removed from poverty, meaning the loss of a job for a key member of a household could see a household slip back into poverty.

To understand the precariousness of the Barbadian middle-class, take note of The Financial Stability Report (2017, 2019) highlighting that Barbadian households owned over $6 billion in debt accounting for more than half of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), what we produce.

Mortgages were the largest share of household debt. Barbadians also had 129, 000 credit cards with credit card debt at $347 million (2017). Overall, higher household debt is usually linked to lower GDP growth in the long term and higher unemployment.

Hard questions and real change

Inequality in Barbados is real, and this should worry us all. How long can Barbadian society be held together by an elite consensus that ignores its inequality?

Leadership matters, and it must be definitive and real. What are the priorities for Barbados? What kind of society do we want to build?

I have seen many articles, blogs and social media posts about remaking the economy, but the question remains, is Barbados going to address the structures that perpetuate inequalities? Is Barbados going to go forward on the same old unequal base that COVID-19 reminds us exists, essentially a plantation type society and economy? Or does Barbados set about to build a more equal and meritocratic society with opportunities for all?

Barbados must be set on a new direction where integrity and good governance cannot be just words. However, as I said in the last column, Barbados can only change when we accept that it needs to change and set ourselves to that task.

As Barbados is to become a Republic, shouldn’t we actually make it count? Changing names and symbols are fine, but how about also changing the core. We can walk and whistle!

Dr Ronnie Yearwood holds degrees in Political Science, Sociology and Law. He is currently a lecturer in law at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill. He is a Chevening Scholar, National Development Scholar, and Overseas Research Scholar. He is called as a lawyer in Barbados, England & Wales, and the British Virgin Islands. His areas of interest are varied and include commercial law, international trade, politics and law, education and governance. Email: yearwood.r.r.f@gmail.com