Things the people should know in defense of the vote and calypso
This article was first published at the end of the first week of the Lenten season, observed by Roman Catholics in the year two thousand and nineteen. It is meant for a Dominican audience in lieu of heightened partisan polarization and bickering coming out of the Carnival-Calypso season, a period which saw unprecedented partisan rhetoric very much common to such climate. The struggle to gain votes and to redefine Calypso away from its oversight responsibility and place it in a sort of bias partisan point of view gave rise to this response. This is an election year in Dominica and I argue that both the vote and Calypso have been paraded as scapegoats of a status quo which is unrelenting in its opposition to the people’s conscious demands for a new social order.
I am never one to judge the judges because one cannot really judge the judge unless there are set criteria with which to apply judgement. One certainly cannot use the criteria that judges use to judge a particular Calypso to judge the judges of the Calypso, and Calypso itself does not even know that it is being judged. The form simply avails itself to the performer and it is the system which fights over whatever it fights over. Judging is a subjective art as the best Calypso is the one which invokes the people’s consciousness and gains their vote of confidence.
It is evident that ‘the vote’ and ‘the Calypso’ belong to the same struggle and should therefore be preserved in the same manner. Vote buying and Calypso bashing only seek to compromise the gains which ‘we the people’ have made. My dear Dominican people, I know we are better than that and we should do better. This is not and should not be about a party or a man or a group. Our strength is vested in our family, the cohesive community, our strong and healthy nation, the empowered region and a better world. If you doubt this, well you could ignore my call; if you believe this, let us wise up and address what needs to be addressed.
It is amazing how some people have crumbled under the weight of thirty pieces of silver; it is sad to see that some, who messaged for a stronger, better, a united and more progressive Dominica in times past, now linger by the wayside and seemingly applaud the architects of her demise. Young people, please be counted among those who dare to do better. I love you…I love Dominica and always will.
This article is copyright © 2019 DOM767
