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From  A  Little  Room  in  an  Unpainted  Building    

by  Yasser  Musa,  19  September  2014  

 Address  at  Fordyce  Memorial  Chapel,    

Landivar  Campus,  St.  John’s  College,  Belize  City,  Belize    

33  Years  of  Belizean  Independence  

  2   “If  the  past  has  nothing  to  say  to  the  present,  history  may  go  on  sleeping  undisturbed  in  the  closet  where  the  system  keeps  its  old  disguises.”  ―  Eduardo  Galeano    “If  you  want  to  go  quickly,  go  alone.  If  you  want  to  go  far,  go  together.”  –  African  proverb    A   Spanish   expedition   setting   out   from   Yucatán   to   Chetumal   in   1531,   faces   fierce   Maya  resistance   from   leader   Nachankan   who   announced   the   tribute   he   would   pay   would   be  turkeys  in  the  shape  of  spears  and  corn  in  the  shape  of  arrows.    Powerful  British  of  the  Bay  in  1787  began  to  pass  laws,  which  resulted  in  them  owning  four-­‐fifths  of  all  the  land.  This  settlement  was  86%  African,  just  two  years  after  the  infamous  St.  George’s  Caye  battle,  a  distorted  figure  since  no  one  counted  the  indigenous  Maya  on  the  register,   and   the   main   reason   they   counted   Africans   was   that   they   were   still   enslaved  assets.      In   the   19th   century   the   mahogany   lords   band   their   slaves   from   cultivating   this   land,   a  historical   African   tradition;   and   instead   structured   the   economy   on   exploitation   and  extraction  feeding  the  headquarters  of  the  British  Empire  5200  miles  away.    My  young  brothers  this  is  a  land  of  struggle  and  resistance  to  oppression.  The  British  were  constantly   in   fear  of  revolts  and  escapes.  One  such  revolt   in  1773   lasted  five  months  and  was  only  suppressed  with  help  from  a  British  naval  force  from  Jamaica.  In  1820  the  British  reported  “two  Slave  Towns  –  long  formed  in  the  Mountains  to  the  northward  of  the  Sibun.”      On  the  white  paper  it  says  that  slavery  was  finally  abolished  in  1838,  but  who  still  owned  the  land,  and  who  controlled  the  power  and  wealth  of  the  economic  system  that  had  been  established  and  entrenched  by  empire?    It  is  important  for  us  to  look  to  our  resistance  heritage  as  a  wellspring  of  a  nation  moving  forward.  Look  to  Joseph  Chatoyer,  the  Garifuna  paramount  chief  who  defended  his  people  to   the   death   against   the   Spanish,   the   French,   and   the   English.   Important   to   understand  Marcus  Canul,  the  Icaiche  leader  who  fought  a  fearless  struggle  against  British  aggression,  and  exploitation  in  the  north  of  this  land  we  now  call  home.    We   entered   the   20th   century   a   backwater   colonial   outpost.   The   great   poet,   activist   and  freedom  fighter  Samuel  Haynes  rose  up   in  riot  against  the  oligarchy  and  challenged  us  to  take  responsibility  for  our  land,  to  Arise,  to  drive  back  the  tyrants  so  that  freedom’s  noon  could  be  possible.    The  seeds  of  national  deliverance  having  been  sown  would  sprout  with  the  agitation  of  the  workers  leaders  like  Clifford  Betson  and  Antonio  Soberanis  in  the  1940s.  

  3    But   the   full   bloom  of   our   liberation   stated   in   1950  when  George  Price,   a   graduate  of   St.  John’s  College,  joined  forces  with  Leigh  Richardson  and  Phillip  Goldson  and  others  around  a  small  mahogany  table  at  #3  Pickstock  Street,  Belize  City  to  crystalize  a  real  political  national  consciousness  –  setting  out  a  clear  destiny  –  self-­‐  government  and  Belizean  Independence.    In  the  1970s  we  Belizeans  used  diplomacy  to  convince  the  world  that  this  small  nation   in  the  hurricane  zone  deserved  its  freedom  with  full  sovereignty  and  territorial  integrity.  And  from   a   little   room   in   an   unpainted   building   in   Belmopan,   a   small   team   led   the  internationalization   process   courting   poets,   generals,   revolutionaries,   diplomats,   world  leaders  and  friendly  brokers  from  Africa  to  Caricom,  Cuba  to  Panama.    So  young  brothers  I  come  to  ask  that  we  not  bend,  or  betray  the  legacy  of  our  ancestors.  I  call   on   all   of   you   to   recognize   our   new  appointment  with   history,   to   reflect   on   and  own  1981  –  the  process,  the  struggle,  the  opposition,  the  unfounded  Guatemalan  claim  in  order  to  understand  the  true  aspiration  of  the  Belizean  people.      Fast  forward  to  September  21,  2014.  We  will  march  uniformed  this  Sunday  as  an  SJC  family,  not  because  we  have  to,  but  because  the  journey  is  still  on.    The  Father  of  our  Independence  George  Price  always  said,  “we’ve  come  a  long  way,  but  we  still  have  a  long  way  to  go…”  It  is  no  coincidence  that  in  our  current  House  of  the  people’s  Representatives   we   have   30   men   and   1   woman.   That   is   perhaps   the   most   extreme  absurdity  of  our  journey  33  years  on,  but  it  is  real.  It  speaks  loud,  and  it  means  that  at  33  we  must  still  resist,  fight,  and  struggle.      Independence  is  not  just  an  idea  or  a  dream  deferred.    It  is  a  state  of  mind  and  conscience  that  must  find  action.      Independence  can  be  creative  experience.  Let  us  think  about  how  we  can  make  it  so.      Happy  birthday  beloved!      Happy  birthday Belize!