TIM HECTOR was buried this week in Antigua. His intellectual contributions featured prominently in the TRINIDAD/TOBAGO REVIEW published by LLOYD BEST. As I write, Best himself is ill, but he remains one of the Caribbean's leading thinkers.
My earliest recollection of Best was at a lecture he delivered at the UWI Trinidad campus about 1969. He seemed to strut before his audience…took several steps forward…and then back. The palm of his hands were brought together in a little clap at regular intervals. Best seemed to "levitate" with wisdom, as student Gerry Acosta put it.
At the inevitable question time a student whose name was Modeste said that a couple of Best's pronouncements had confused him. "I did not confuse you," answered Best. "What I said may have added a little bit to the confusion that already existed in your mind." At that very moment I decided that I would do no course with Best as the lecturer.
Louis Bertrand studied Caribbean Economic Problems with Best as lecturer. Louis was a bright teenaged student who neither flinched nor flaunted that fact. He read and understood Best's theory about Plantation Economy. But he also reviewed the contributions of other leading Caribbean authors whose thoughts were in consent with, or contentious of Best. Louis could, above all, do some thinking of his own. One day, he deliberately determined to present an important assignment without quoting Lloyd Best to himself. Even Best commented in writing that it was a very good paper; but, he added, "see also" certain publications "by Lloyd Best."
Not everybody accorded the status of divine truth to all he said or wrote. But I am unaware of anyone in the know who has not accepted him as a massive talent and influence in our reigon and beyond. THANK YOU, MR. LLOYD BEST.
I make the unscientific assumption that many students today may not develop an interest in the MUSCOVADO BIAS, the GOVIEA SYNDROME, the WILLIAMS EFFECT, and related theories of Best. So let me employ a distraction.
A cricket match - I think it was a test match - was being played at the Queens Park Oval, Port -of- Spain. That day, a photograph in the daily newspapers showed a policeman in uniform grabbing Best by the back of his trousers and leading him away. A newsman asked Best what the matter was. Best responded: "I was at the Oval selling TAPIA (newspaper). That fellow decided he wanted free TAPIA and free money. I refused. An argument ensued. There was an exchange of blows until our friends in the police came to my rescue."
I believe if the fellow had struck the first blow, Best would have said so!! In that excellent precis however, Best admitted no guilt, while setting the stage for his legal defense, if necessary in the future. The episode was reminiscent of SPARROW ("TEN TO ONE IS MURDER") many years before.
Many called him arrogant: none could call him ignorant. I am reminded that many of his thoughts and observations pertained to all of us in the region. He could have been speaking to us here in D'ca as he castigated the foolishness that passes for national discourse in Trinidad/Tobago:
"The impoverishment of the statements coming from the national leadership, whether business, political or academic, has left the population with little but gossip and old talk. The dominant theme of discourse is entertainment interlaced with comess, character assassination and abuse."
With a little inspiration from Best, permit me to review the "major" news items for the week ended November 22, 2002 in Dominica.
Based on the law as we know it, the motion must be debated and voted upon as soon as possible. Having so admitted, it will prove to be another non - debate if the Opposition itself has no viable solution to the problems of the country when it takes office. If the Opposition is like Government, waiting on the IDP, then it should say so.
I believe it is the other way around: it would surprise me if the P.M. says he met an American diplomat who did NOT use the meeting as an opportunity to remind him that the Isidore matter remained unresolved!!
One source tells me that getting off the list has less to do with actions of those on the list. It has more to do with the powerful banking lobby that finances Bush and his Republicans. Those banks resent the regulatory activities of institutions such as the FATF and are working to emasculate them. In face of the Washington DC banking lobby, its money and hegemony, D'ca, Isidore, and its offshore sector become irrelevant.
Nobody is lying; the two statements are compatible.
IMF/World Bank have justly been criticized for being oppressive in terms of the economic policies they prescribe. But Best warns that we should not demonize individuals or institutions to the extent where we fail to acknowledge when they make sense.
We should not ask Athie or the P.M. whether in their opinion world oil prices have increased. A change in cost/price is a question of fact that is readily verifiable. Their opinion is irrelevant.
If prices have increased should govt. "absorb" the increase or pass it on to the consumer? I will say more in writing to follow. For now let it suffice to say:
The demoniac truth is, it is irresponsible economics and bad politics to borrow forever in order to subsidize anything - from oil to bananas - when we cannot afford it. We should not wait for the World Bank/IMF, and the funding agencies in apposition to them, to tell us the truth.
Because we have demonized them we may believe that we need an exorcist to remove demons such as World Bank/IMF. In fact, what we require are practical solutions, some of them short - run: how do we manage this economy without sacrifice and without pain?