Monday, September 19, 2005
The political game
It is that time of year when seemingly rational persons become almost unrecognisable.Friends fight with each other,neighbours no longer speak and even parents and their children become estranged.In other words campaigning for general elections constitutionally due by July 2006 has begun.
The major political parties have already begun staging rallies where the candidate for the particular constituency is launched.It is at these rallies you get the best and worst aspects associated with an election campaign in small islands like ours.
Therefore,it is not uncommon for character assassinations of candidates and/or their relatives to be heard at these meetings.The juicier the details the greater the approval from the thousands of party supporters hanging on to every word from the lips of their messiah/leaders.
The following comments made by the Prime Minister,a man of Portuguese descent have sparked off considerable debate regarding the use of race in the political campaign since it is felt that the remarks are a jab at the blackness of the Opposition Leader.
1.If President Bush is to see me Ralph Gonsalves and Arnhim Eustace under the midday sun,he would not recognize Arnhim.
2.If President Bush is to see me,Ralph Gonsalves and Arnhim Eustace in the darkest night,he would not recognise Arnhim
3.Can you imagine Arnhim Eustace hugging up President Castro, President Chavez, President Bush,PM Blair or the PM of Japan?
Seems like another candidate for the foot in mouth award as far as am concerned.The second comment in particular feeds into local race baiting where you often hear people say person X is so black you won't recognise them in the dark.Therefore the PM should have known better than to make such an inflammatory statement.He,however has defended his comments as not being race oriented but rather a testimony to how well known he is in certain circles.Additionally,since blackness is apparently a philosophy he sees himself as one of the blackest persons around.Oooooookay,then.
Maybe somebody can tell me what is so special about being known by George Bush?
The major political parties have already begun staging rallies where the candidate for the particular constituency is launched.It is at these rallies you get the best and worst aspects associated with an election campaign in small islands like ours.
Therefore,it is not uncommon for character assassinations of candidates and/or their relatives to be heard at these meetings.The juicier the details the greater the approval from the thousands of party supporters hanging on to every word from the lips of their messiah/leaders.
The following comments made by the Prime Minister,a man of Portuguese descent have sparked off considerable debate regarding the use of race in the political campaign since it is felt that the remarks are a jab at the blackness of the Opposition Leader.
1.If President Bush is to see me Ralph Gonsalves and Arnhim Eustace under the midday sun,he would not recognize Arnhim.
2.If President Bush is to see me,Ralph Gonsalves and Arnhim Eustace in the darkest night,he would not recognise Arnhim
3.Can you imagine Arnhim Eustace hugging up President Castro, President Chavez, President Bush,PM Blair or the PM of Japan?
Seems like another candidate for the foot in mouth award as far as am concerned.The second comment in particular feeds into local race baiting where you often hear people say person X is so black you won't recognise them in the dark.Therefore the PM should have known better than to make such an inflammatory statement.He,however has defended his comments as not being race oriented but rather a testimony to how well known he is in certain circles.Additionally,since blackness is apparently a philosophy he sees himself as one of the blackest persons around.Oooooookay,then.
Maybe somebody can tell me what is so special about being known by George Bush?
# posted by Abeni @ 5:17 AM 
Comments:
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That means nothing... George Bush wouldn't recognize himself in a mirror. The man has the IQ of a potato.
yup tings does get real ugly and personal during election campaigns and it is at times like these you see the ever present racial under currents that run right through Caribbean societies surface...
My first response to this was "sigh". You would think Ralph would know better than to utter those words even if he believes them.
My first response to this was "sigh". You would think Ralph would know better than to utter those words even if he believes them.
hugging president bush would be like hugging air. you really only see/ feel his presence if he's causing destruction and more problems.
Ralph Gonsalves one of the blackest people around? Not according to this picture. Yeah, it sounds like the man made a mistake and revealed some of his true feelings! Maybe you guys should give his statements some thought when you are marking your 'X' on ballot paper...
I quite agree with this comment, leaving out the unneccessary rude words of course. No one seems to be caring about the positive things that are happening. SVG is still at the bottom in the Caribbean, but we have a government that is trying to pull us up by the booth straps. How about giving them some support and encouragement and help put SVG on the map, where it belongs in the caribbean. As of yet we are far from being anywhere.
# posted by 
: 4:12 PM
: 4:12 PM
well it seems that the author of this article is somewhat politically biased.i am a vincentian and i am living in st.vincent presently and was there when this so called debate about "who is blacker?" (as the author put it)arose but contrary to the beliefs of the author and most of the people who posted comments it had nothing to about that.it was concerning the ever growing relationship between st.vincent and two countries that have radical veiws against the us.venezuela and cuba,it was the oppostition leader however who stood up in parliament and asked "what would the us think?" concerning the relationship between svg,venezuela and cuba.so the prime minister was just saying in his own words by giving that comment that the author also has very wrong, what is this?!? the states is not our bigger brother so that every time we make an idependent decision we must worry about what would president bush do to punish us and that is the exact mentality the opposition leader has.so the pm was simply saying you care so much about the us but if we were walking down the street in either day or night and we met president bush along the way he would recognise him for the priminister that makes open minded decisions not caring about what other nations think about it and turn and ask who is that guy standing nex to you that he has no clue of just one of those guys who look up to big brother.
# posted by : 8:26 AM
: 8:26 AM
well it seems that the author of this article is somewhat politically biased.i am a vincentian and i am living in st.vincent presently and was there when this so called debate about "who is blacker?" (as the author put it)arose but contrary to the beliefs of the author and most of the people who posted comments it had nothing to about that.it was concerning the ever growing relationship between st.vincent and two countries that have radical veiws against the us.venezuela and cuba,it was the oppostition leader however who stood up in parliament and asked "what would the us think?" concerning the relationship between svg,venezuela and cuba.so the prime minister was just saying in his own words by giving that comment that the author also has very wrong, what is this?!? the states is not our bigger brother so that every time we make an idependent decision we must worry about what would president bush do to punish us and that is the exact mentality the opposition leader has.so the pm was simply saying you care so much about the us but if we were walking down the street in either day or night and we met president bush along the way he would recognise him for the priminister that makes open minded decisions not caring about what other nations think about it and turn and ask who is that guy standing nex to you that he has no clue of just one of those guys who look up to big brother.
# posted by : 8:28 AM
: 8:28 AM
you have some real nerve saying things like that about your country's leader if it wasn't for him svg would be falling apart,you ndp self,lets see who wins elections next year again .ralph is going for 20 years to mash up mitchell record.if ahnim win den yall will see how much stupidness the man gon do.this one is out to the person who said common sense and politics cant co-exist well did u even go to college and if u did did u go to unervursity and get your bachelors or your masters or your docterate.............. i bet not so yall shut up, how about you try running the island see how it feels to wake up at 4 o'clock EVERY morning and to go to bed at 12 o'clock in the night or to hardly see your family do u know he has never gone to his child's school for a parent /teacher meeting plus all of that stress so really just shut your mouth and try do something better wit urself cus ur blog is horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!so how does it feel to be critercised huh.......... doesn't feel to good does it so leave him alone cus 1 of these days he'll find this blog and u just mite need his help hhhhhmmmmm ......wonder wat will happen.and wats up acting so politically intelligent,ur probally some drop out from community college hu got knocked up by some van driver
# posted by : 5:44 AM
: 5:44 AM
Bullshit! You ralph worshippers and apologists will fall with him when he self-destructs!
maddd
maddd
# posted by : 3:02 AM
: 3:02 AM
Well now Ralph is accuesd of rape a lot of people are coming forward and saying he raped them too but they were either ashamed to report or the police frustrated them in making such a report. Whether it is true or not most people on the streets agree he is promiscious and for that reason he is not getting the benifit of the doubt. I am really disappointed in PM Gonsalves and his behavior and I think he should be more circumspect as the PM of a Nation.
Although anyone is innocent until proven guilty, all these noises coming from all angles would indicate that where there is smoke there must be fire. He has lost the battle in the court of public opinion. A good friend of mine told me in confidence many years ago that he was indecent towards her...She never made a report but was so turned off she did not return to SVG (which she was planning to do). Shame on you PM!!
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Although anyone is innocent until proven guilty, all these noises coming from all angles would indicate that where there is smoke there must be fire. He has lost the battle in the court of public opinion. A good friend of mine told me in confidence many years ago that he was indecent towards her...She never made a report but was so turned off she did not return to SVG (which she was planning to do). Shame on you PM!!
# posted by : 4:57 AM
: 4:57 AM << Home
