#BTColumn – When things fall apart . . .

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Dr Derek Alleyne

Gun violence is too familiar in Barbados, and if one were to follow the advice of the Attorney General, such violence would become normalised.

One could also interpret his mouthings as taking no cognisance of the wider impact of these unfortunate killings – the impact on the family and friends of both the victims and the perpetrators.

More worrying beyond the individual and family effects are the responses of the communities involved.

When behaviour becomes widespread, to the extent that it becomes normal, then the values of the society become distorted.

Guns have become part of the daily experience of some communities. Fear is endemic in these communities, until the fear of death gives way to a stage of life.

The search for a political solution is the reason why this distortion continues, for the correction needed is beyond the competence of the political directorate.

In fact, when examined, the intervention of the political mode has done more harm than good. Barbadians have grown too dependent on politicians, and the politicians have used that dependency to damage the social institutions in Barbados.

In “Cultural Practices, Norms, and Values”, Frese (2015) explains that norms define how people are thinking and behaving as well as how to control the behaviour of people.

Norms prescribe certain behaviours, and once these behaviours are socially routinised, they become practices. It is now common to walk a neighbourhood and find scores of young boys and girls apparently “liming” and that has been considered so normal that the current administration started a “block program” by constructing kiosks at blocks that, according to Minister Dwight Sutherland, “is engaged in empowering our guys on the block with the view to solve some of the social challenges that we have”.

The Minister said the program is to develop entrepreneurs. I kid you not.

Back in the 1990s, after a showdown between politicians, “block” kiosks were constructed outside the working class communities of Ferniehurst and Rosemont, now known as the “Red Sea”. It is no secret that those communities have been subjected to their fair share of youth violence.

The Good Friday political intervention when the police were slapped down, took place in that district and may be considered a reminder of what is now politically normal in Barbados. Surely, the government was trying to develop entrepreneurs.

Political interventions or interference is becoming normal and is a factor in the survival of guns and violence. In Values, norms, and social cognition, Maltseva, (2018), tells us that “Norms provide rules describing what a behaviour should be like, and values provide criteria by which the behaviour is judged as good or bad.

Norms have motivational properties and capacities that affect our behaviour and perception of the world”.

When government changed in 2018, that event was accompanied by known drug lords intermingling with politicians at the opening of parliament.

What was it saying about whom or what was valued? When a video makes the rounds on the social media showing a group of men hunting another and then the group turns on a partner, that behaviour becomes normal and the conversation across Barbados is about the matter.

It is also normal to hear the Attorney General repeat the same folly he has for the last four years and even more normal for us not to hear the PM say anything.

Getting guns off the street is a national problem and the longer Barbadians sit and wait for the politicians and the police to change the normal, the more likely the normal remains normal.

Mothers and families in the poorer communities will continue their bellowing. More and more cameras will be installed in better-off neighborhoods. Drugs and gun runners will take greater hold of the minds of our youth and the influence of police will decrease.

Maltseva explains that, “in face of factors destructive for the unity and longevity of human groups, one of the sources of human values is argued to be social constrains and requirement for cooperation.”

An “either or” approach is unhelpful. Solving human challenges requires a process of involvement and participation of all stakeholders. Politicians who think they know everything will fail.

The growing reliance on political solutions to social and economic problems can only lead to greater distancing between politicians and the people they swore to serve.

The inability of politicians to effect positive change will not end, but get worse, especially when the politicians carry the disposition and interests that are self-centered and Machiavellian.

Dr Derek Alleyne is a trade unionist and social commentator.