#BTColumn – Some things remain the same

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

by Courie Cox

For decades the working class throughout the region have given their lives, even forsaking their families at times, that we may have lived a life of equality, a life free from oppression. A life where respect and dignity formed the foundation on which many societies were built.

The names stretch as far as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, and right here at home Clement Payne, Sarah Ann Gill, and Errol Barrow to name a few. blessed with more vintage than I possess possibly would cite the then Garfield Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Joel Garner, and other cricketers of the golden era who saw cricket not just within the boundaries of playing strokes or bowling with a ferocious demand for respect for themselves and everyone back home in the Caribbean.

Games weren’t just played for trophies but rather with a deep-seated pursuit of recognition for equality regardless of colour, class, or creed and to destroy the years of oppression their forefathers would have faced.

As I reflect upon an era of which I have only been fortunate to read about and compare it to our present situation, my head shakes. It shakes to see that today oppression still exists, albeit in different forms, but it still exists, nevertheless.

Just over a year ago many of the front-line workers in Barbados were hailed as essential workers, some even hailed them as the real heroes, now it seems their status has been relegated to that of zero by the capitalists in this country, threatening to take the same jobs or subject them to frequent expensive COVID tests.

I will never sit here and ridicule the capitalist class in society, they are critical to economic growth and civil development especially in a small island developing state short of natural resources. I, however, believe that we all have a role to play as we seek to defend the interests of varying groups in society.

It’s not lost on me how absent the Barbados Workers Union (BWU) has been on the protection of workers in this country over the last few years and increasingly quieter over the last nine months especially following the admission of the General Secretary into the hallowed halls of Parliament.

I for one never supported it although it wasn’t the first time it occurred. I am someone who subscribes to the view that workers’ unions and Government must never sit together as partners at the same table for their core interest is of a different orientation.

Just like those throughout the world who would have fought for better living conditions for their people, this Government needs the fortitude to give and display respect for its citizens despite proclamations to the contrary. How on God’s earth can the workers in this country be forced to take a drug that more information is presented on said drug daily?

It is wrong in every way! Instead of displaying to the world Barbados as a shining beacon, a mature democracy, we rather join with the rest of the world, some of the same countries whose hands are dirty with oppression of its people, to now turn and oppress our own.

I said before this Government is lazy in its actions and everything it does continues to show the lines which become more visible that there are two or more ‘Barbadoses’. A responsible Government would launch frequent public service advertisements on all forms of major communications with well-known Instagram influencers.

We must educate our population on the capabilities of the Covid-19 vaccines, the pros, and the cons. In addition, we must have mobile clinics set up in towns, terminals, and malls. I would like to recommend also mobile COVID-19 information centers in similar places.

Not everyone who has decided not to take the vaccine is anti-vaccine. I support vaccination and although they are justifiable reasons for taking it there is no denying the justifiable reasons which exist for taking a wait-and-see approach or denying it.

Vaccines suppress the symptoms and transmissibility associated with COVID-19 but the original protocols to mask up, sanitise and physical distance where possible, prevents the contracting of the virus. Our forefathers fought that we may have a choice and I dislike anyone who will seek to trample on the choices of their fellow man for we have come too far. I support dialogue and education, not coercion.

Interestingly enough when Government met with the Social Partnership a decision was taken that Government will go back and draft a legal position on mandatory vaccination.

The salient question no one has asked is who in fact will draft this position? Will it be Government that is actually part of the Social Partnership or someone else? I don’t know! I don’t know if you do but suffice to say so much for transparency!

Courie Cox is the Democratic Labour Party’s candidate for St Michael Central in the next General Election and the shadow spokesperson on labour and social partnership relations.