The Reign of Fatal Error
During the pre-colonial era in many West African traditional societies, mass democracy operated in a very disciplined way towards poor leadership. Political leaders were venerated, and they were bequeathed divine status, as divine kings. They embodied the best traditions of the society and were perceived to be the links between the ancestors and existing humanity.
However, if the leader became ill or incapacitated, or made fatal political errors, he would be forced to commit suicide or even be executed by someone within the "inner circle."
In southern Nigeria, the elders who represented the people would seek an audience with the leader, indicate the people's dissatisfaction, and hand the leader an emptied "gobi," or calabash. The empty shells would signify a vote of "no confidence" and death. This ancient custom was a form of tyrannicide and an internal check against abusive and ineffective leadership.
Should we send a few emptied gobis to our local leaders? Today, the Virgin Islands is an unincorporated territory which is based on the U.S. model of liberal democracy. The people/electorate removes leaders through elections, and, if it desires, the electorate recalls political leaders. Three incumbent senators from the 23rd Legislature were recipients of gobis on Nov 7. Even more, the legislature can impeach the chief executive if he makes fatal blunders. In essence, our system provides for political deaths/suicides – not the rough stuff that our ancestors implemented.
The U.S. system seeks stability at all costs, and it avoids physical elimination or violence within the three branches. Our gobis can be ballots on election day. Despite the propaganda of a few politicos, the Virgin Islands government has been collapsing (I hope that is the correct verb construction). The official line seems to be that payrolls are being kept; therefore, we have not collapsed yet.
Virgin Islands politicians are unique in their ability to proclaim danger and crisis openly on one side of their mouths and then inform the public that things are "better" and "turning around" on the other. Anyone who openly questions their forked tongues are accused of being "nay sayers" and people with "agendas." What is impressive is that I have heard three consecutive administrations use these same adjectives to identify attentive citizens whose only crime is to say the government is in trouble, broke or collapsed!
Well, if our ancestors were alive, they would send a bag full of gobis to the legislative and executive branches! Why? Essential services are collapsing, and the fiscal crisis worsens. On Sept. 15, 1999, the American Federation of Teachers in the St. Thomas-St. John district shook up the Turnbull-James administration and the 23rd Legislature when a relatively large delegation of teachers walked out of classes and paid the legislature a militant visit. The jumbis/ancestral spirits of Buddhoe and Queen Mary were there. With menacing postures and explicit hostility, teachers shut down the legislature that Wednesday morning.
This was a dress rehearsal for the Oct. 10-27, 2000, strike. Here, the teachers withheld their labor from the government for 17 days. Their mood has been clear: principled austerity for all residents, or there will be no cooperation with the administration.
Two senators in the St. Croix district lost their seats due to the public furor over the present crisis. Surprisingly, the vast majority of senators kept their seats, but the people overwhelmingly voted for reducing the legislature to nine seats. What does this mean? The people demand true leadership and public service. They do not desire anointed shepherds, messiahs or visions.
They want loyal, devoted people who will put the community's collective interests first and their individual political careers last. They demand the unconditional devotion to the needs of this society and its aspirations. They demand the immediate cessation of the ongoing personality and petty conflicts that hog-tie our political systems. They demand that all political leaders create the political consensus and will to solve our social, economic and political crises.
By voting for a reduction in the number of senators from 15 to nine, the electorate has sent six emptied gobis. If the 24th Legislature does not solve the present crisis, the people might send six more. And if the Turnbull-James administration cannot solve anything, either, they too might receive a few. The elders are watching, and the people are impatient.
Editor's note: Malik Sekou is a member of the political science faculty at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas campus.
