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Barbarians at the gates of Rome

Dickson Igwe. Photo: Provided
Dickson Igwe

The Virgin Islands economy composed of the financial services industry, ecotourism and maritime, and the domestic market economy, is the core tool for the empowerment of Virgin Islanders and citizens.

The economy works in partnership with local and foreign investors for the mutual benefit of Virgin Islanders, citizens, and residents. The economy cannot become a means by which specific interests disenfranchise and dis-empower citizens. There are signs that this may be happening.

OK. Post Irma, Virgin Islanders and Virgin Islands Citizens appear to have come under the onslaught of aspersions and innuendo, from specific quarters, that are not only inaccurate, but appear designed to disembowel the local culture and way of life. At a vulnerable time for citizens, negative rhetoric by specific interests has become the order of the day.

Now this Old Boy is basically an empiricist. He worships at the Altar of God and Jesus Christ of course. But he also vibrates with excitement at rational thought, reason, and logic.

The preceding have been virtues completely lacking since Irma and Maria devastated the territory's economy in September 2017.

Ok. Allusions have been made by some prominent citizens that Virgin Islands youth are “entitled and lazy.” Not only are these assertions completely inaccurate, they are an insult to the local culture and traditional way of life.

To bring context to this story, it has to be stated that the Virgin Islands has always been essentially, economically, socially, and racially segregated. Rich go to rich schools. Whites go to white schools. The rest go to public schools. Various communities within the greater community tend to socialise and exist separately. And so on and so forth.

Any concept of entitlement is not a unique feature of any one social group. Entitlement exists yes: it exists in all the various ethnic sets. To say it is specific to any one social group is a completely flawed assertion.

Social segregation is a feature of the community that has been swept under the carpet. It is one reason specific crimes are difficult to solve. Segregation is a hangover from the days of slavery, plantation, and colonialism. Heaven knows why it is a silent matter. It is a “no go area” for social commentary.

But it is a feature of VI community that is glaringly obvious to any observer of [British] Virgin Islands society. Like segregation everywhere, it is subtle. It is also innocuous. Segregation is a universal evil. However, in a micro community it becomes especially overt and malevolent.

Social separation is an ever present sub culture of these Paradise Islands. And it is very damaging to all: ruler and ruled; white and black; wealthy and poor. Social Segregation will never produce a safe, cohesive, and harmonious, culture and society, for these Virgin Islands.

Social integration is the one option for harmony. However, integration is accepting the native culture as the dominant Modus Vivendi by all residents and guests.

There are economic factors in the social segregation of Virgin Islands society. The society is top down, and practices an austere type of economics, even though government is the largest employer. That divergence in the economy has to do with geography, history, and social demographics.

However, the preceding sociology is acceptable to this Old Boy, and he has never made it an issue. If it is acceptable for the country to exist in a type of splendid separation of the various ethnic, racial, and social groups and sub types and sets, who is he to comment on this absurdity, idiosyncrasy, and anachronism.

Where he swiftly pulls the sword out the scabbard, is when one social set believes it has the authority and right to label the other as “lazy and entitled.” Then goes on to infer that certain foreign imported elements have a better work ethic and more efficient way than the local workforce.

Not to be unreasonable and patronising like people who generalise about “entitled Virgin Islanders, and not to generalise, this writer will swiftly add that this idea that certain foreigners are better workers is not held by the vast majority of employers.

This Writer's great friend and Old School Buddy is a fellow Briton and hotelier who manages a very well known bay front hotel. The man delights in employing Virgin Islanders, and he goes out of his way to ensure their welfare and wellbeing with generous financial support. Post Irma he has been enormously generous to his work force who have been put out of work.

But it now appears the subtle segregation, a sad reality of this territory, is increasingly becoming a feature of the imported labour matrix, with specific nationals considered better employees than others.

This is simple patronage, and is used as an excuse to change the employment matrix at the grassroots, for the benefit of specific elements in the society. One could even label the idiosyncrasy, racist.

It is totally inaccurate that these foreigners are better in the workplace than locals. This consumer has had some pretty terrible customer service from these imported, “bright lights” in the services and retail sector, so there!

In any event this assertion that these imports are better at customer services than locals is the same assertion that has been used to keep blacks in the deep south USA in economic and social shackles for decades since Civil Rights attempted to free blacks in the USA from social and economic oppression.

The tragedy is this: economics is a tool of freedom for VI Youth. The economy is a tool of empowerment for Virgin Islanders and residents. However, the economy, which belongs to the country, and no one specific business or person must not be hijacked by certain interests to change the composition of the local workforce.

Virgin Islanders are not as stupid as these people who call down natives in the workforce believe. These damaging assertions that locals are lazy and entitled are simply an excuse to continue to import labour into the territory while locals go unemployed. Locals who are the bread and butter of many of these businesses who inaccurately label natives as entitled.

This idea that specific foreigners are better workers is a growing narrative that must be stifled immediately, before it grows and infects labour policy to the detriment of Citizens of the country.

It is a type of manipulation of the labour matrix that is very subtle. However, it is designed to change the facts on the ground to the detriment of Virgin Islands Natives and Citizens.

The question is this: post Irma with rising unemployment among the country's youth especially, and warnings of job cuts in the public service, can this deleterious culture of exchanging natives for foreign workers be allowed to continue? Of course not!

It will never lead to social harmony. And it must not be allowed to work. Charity begins at home, I remind the businesses who make these unfortunate assertions.

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10 Responses to “Barbarians at the gates of Rome”

  • Wise Igwe (17/03/2018, 07:58) Like (8) Dislike (0) Reply
    Thanks for your thoughtful and logical understanding on this topic of entitlement. I stayed of the the conversation because assertions without empirical data to back up that claim is not worth debating. I was very taken aback and surprised that owners in the business sector actually subscribed to this way of thinking without exploring the lurking multidimensional factors and sub-factors of the situation, and I am pleased that you have addressed some here. There is a great deal of awareness, mental, and psychological reconditioning and re-educating that urgently needs to take place in our beloved country before we destroy each other without understanding how history was reproduced and why.

  • ... (17/03/2018, 08:36) Like (1) Dislike (1) Reply
    Another good read but he is too academic
  • first hand (17/03/2018, 17:38) Like (3) Dislike (0) Reply
    Ok, so why does the BVI government accept wrong behaviour and actions by banks operating here and in other
    British territories and other countries? What pride in allowing (censored name with maple leaf) to continue another
    day? What is so great about pandering to the European union when THIS IS NOT EUROPE? Or that funny
    nebulous international journalists who keep slinging mud in the media. WHAT financial sector?
  • We need Freedom wages (18/03/2018, 13:18) Like (3) Dislike (0) Reply
    Not Slavery Wages. That’s why these businesses taking advantage. It’s all done by design from Africa to India, and throughout the Caribbean to people of colour.
  • Reading now (18/03/2018, 13:29) Like (5) Dislike (0) Reply
    When we talk of entitlement, we only need to study what is happening right now in South Africa. The indigenous Africans have voted to take back their Lands that were stolen by the Europeans and handed down to their descendants for generations, but now they think that what they have stolen and killed soo many Africans for, should not be given back- “let’s talk who feel entitled on this planet- with soo much stolen legacies. We must read to be understood. Good piece Igwe.
  • Diplomat (18/03/2018, 16:07) Like (7) Dislike (1) Reply
    Race and social status have always been issues in the VI. The Ciboney, Arawak and Carib Indians were the earliest recorded settlers in the VI. They were followed by supposed European discoverers ( how can you discover what already existed?) and African slaves ( after physical slavery some islands recruited indentured servants from India, ie, Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana). . The large African diaspora is the descendants of African slaves. No doubt, the African diaspora was not on equal footing with the planter class; they were seen as inferior to the planter class and colonialists.

    After Emancipation in 1834, race was still an issue but social status started to take hold and emerge as a dominant issue. The social classification included 1)the few Europeans that remained after the mass exit of the planter class, 2) lighter skin residents that resided on down street Road Town, 3) darker skin folks that resided up street in Road Town ( Methodist burial ground and beyond), 4)still darker skin country folks (any villages outside of Road Town), 5) residents on larger outlying Islands, ie, Anegada, Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke, 6) residents on the southern cays and smaller islands, and 7)expats,ie, down Islanders and others. Moreover, within each group are subgroups. This social stratification may cause many to recoil and go in hiding but it is real. Nonetheless, with generational shifts, attitude and realities are changing. For example, living in the country was once dispised by town dwellers. Now, most people are racing for the hills; Time has changed. Further, there is family fusion occurring between locals and expats.

    Moreover, globalization has race ashore in the VI as it is elsewhere. Locals and others have to compete globally for positions. However, in many jurisdictions, qualified residents are given preferential treatment for available positions. So should not qualified Virgin Islanders have prefential treatment for available positions in the VI? Is this entitlement? Further, many employers are dishonest in their attitude towards locals and Belongers. They claim to prefer expat workers due to their work ethic, loyalty, cooperation.........etc. They prefer to hire expats because they are highly motivated to work for a lower wage than locals and belongers. Further, they exploit them. This situation is not unique to VI; it is an emerging practice in other regional sister former Anglophone countries, USVI, US, UK.....etc. Let’s keep it real and call a spade a spade, up up, down down, straight straight, crooked crooked........etc.
  • ------------------- (18/03/2018, 20:47) Like (1) Dislike (3) Reply
    Personally i like minding my business an leaves people business alone
  • bat cave (22/03/2018, 16:53) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Good! Now go back to reading


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