The views expressed herein are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of One News SVG.
The anti-vaccine brigades, self-appointed intellectuals, so-called pandemic disease experts/epidemiologists, political scientists, and security/terrorism experts are now using the “victim-blaming” template to claim that the prime minister is at fault for being attacked. This is not hyperbole. This is happening. To all right-thinking Vincentians, take my foolish advice and stop having conversations with some people about what transpired on August 5th. Do not give these extremist individuals the attention they seek.
The NDP’s ever-changing narrative about what transpired on Thursday (August 5th), bespeaks a party that is seemingly living in an alternative reality. A profusely confused, misguided, disingenuous, and out-of-touch party. A party that is also being led by a parochial, myopic, and unsurprising leader, who neither has the capacity, competence, or compassion to deal with the most pressing issues of our time in a serious manner.
At first, the NDP charlatans claimed it was a police officer that hit PM with a baton. When that didn’t work, they shifted the narrative to falsely claim that the PM staged his own attack. Now, they’re claiming the alleged attacker was probably suffering from “mental illness”. An attacker they claimed never existed in the first place.
I must applaud NDP for creating a cult-like following who simply acquiesce and regurgitates any diatribes against the PM and his government because of their detestation of Ralph Gonsalves. A following that they’ve manipulated into believing that they’re living in a dystopian society, headed by the wantonly cruel dictator Ralph Gonsalves. Not even Kim Jung Un could match Ralph-style authoritarianism. People are not even allowed to express their freedom of speech. I know this because many attacked me and my mentally ill mother and called for the assassination of the prime minister on social media. Yet, their freedom of speech is being circumvented. They don’t have rights and they’re being oppressed. Evident by the fact that they voted in every single general election since Ralph took office in 2001, and let’s not forget the numerous protests since then. Oh, let’s not forget the violent protest on Thursday (August 5) that prohibited Members of Parliament from entering the House of Assembly. An act that violated the country’s constitution. But, of course, they’re “oppressed” because they’re not in power. Nothing to do with the actual meaning of the word or authoritarianism. The latter is used for spectacle and to demoralize the “enemy” (Ralph) in this “war of every man against all” in Hobbesian political fashion.
Are there genuine problems in our society that need serious attention? Yes! I talked about some before like the “minimum wage” which I deemed a “slave wage,” among others. However, I do not subscribe to this false notion of an authoritarian regime or the mystic, metaphysic, and Manichaeism interpretation of SVG that has seemingly constructed a bifurcated society of “Us” vs “Them,” or “Friend” vs “Enemy,” or “ULP” vs “NDP”.
But, I digress. Back to reality. Over the coming days and weeks, the NDP sicko-fans are going to inundate social media with a lot of disinformation aimed at dehumanising Ralph to legitimise and justify the the egregious terrorist attack that right-thinking people, and the civilised world have all since categorically and unequivocally condemned. It’s a military tactic known as “blitzkrieg”. Only this time, the weapon of choice in this offensive warfare method is not tanks, motorised infantry, artillery and aircraft, rather its keyboards, laptops and smartphones with the theatre of war being social media.
The NDP is also using the same far-right extremist playbook used in America’s far-right media houses like Fox News, Newsmax, Alex Jones, among others. They did the same to George Floyd by drawing on his past record and drug abuse to dehumanise, legitimise and justify his public lynching at the knee of a white police officer. The NDP is doing same by drawing on “anti-Ralph’s record that they’ve constructed over the past decade or so.
The “Justice For All” regiments don’t want justice for everyone. They seek to destabilise and undermine the government at every turn. They yearn for political power. Not justice for all. This was made evidently clear when the Opposition Leader called for “fresh elections”. It was also abundantly clear when the faux politically-woke call-out culture brigades stayed silent about an NDP Senator alleged violent attack of an innocent civilian because he called him “ugly”.
Their supporters’ hypocrisy and lack of awareness are quite astonishing. Being ignorant is one thing. For example, the opposition party leader and his family are fully vaccinated, while so many unvaccinated and highly risked Vincentians blindly followed like Zombies, his marching orders. Some of them ended up violently prohibiting members of Parliament from entering the House of Assembly.
Moreover, some claimed that they were protesting the case as it pertains to the Senator. A case in which the Senator in question has been CHARGED, took a leave of absence and the matter is currently before the COURT (it has been transferred to the Calliaqua Magistrate’s Court). However, many NDP stalwarts conveniently omit that critical piece of information. Perhaps, they are unaware of this fact, or it’s easier to engage in faux-outrage over a perceived injustice. Others went to protest the amendments to the Public Health Bill regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Fine. What is the valid medical or health-related reason (remember COVID-19 is health-related) for not taking the vaccine? A vaccine that will increase your chances of survival, mitigate the risk to others and help SVG return to some semblance of normalcy. Now, I am not saying that people don’t have the inalienable right to decide whether or not they want to take the COVID-19 vaccine or partake in peaceful protests. However, violent protest is never the answer and I think that people must be properly informed about what it is they are protesting about. Especially, when it concerns a health-related matter.
Lastly, a message to the NDP propagandists: no amount of mental gymnastics (dumbfounded and illogical they might be) performed by the extremist individuals and propagandists, who are ardent supporters of NDP will save the party from the imbroglio of the violent and bloody protest on August 5, 2021. Let me also reiterate, if the authorities don’t seriously address the growing threat of “Homegrown Extremism” in St Vincent and the Grenadines and nip it in the bud, we will experience a Grenada 1983, Trinidad 1990, Dominica 1979 (Civilian protest against Patrick John-led government that turned deadly), Jamaica 1980 (attempted kidnapping of JDF Cheif of Staff & capture of prime minister Michael Manley to force him to resign) and most recently, a Haiti-style assassination.
To borrow a lexicon from the British national Anthem: “God Save the Queen”. God Save Our blessed Hairouna (Yurumein).
By Emmanuel Quashie
One News St.Vincent 