THE THIRD WAVE

Each of the three generations of adult Belizeans who have been in the vanguard of the various episodes of what the Father of the Nation George Price called the ‘peaceful constructive revolution,’ will harbor distinct impressions of the battlefront. So too will the public’s perspectives of each generation differ.

The Seniors of the 1950-1981 class are understandably nostalgic about the early years when the PUP juggernaut was unstoppable and when Mr. Price, having taken over as Party Leader in 1956, rallied the troops to six consecutive general elections victories, from the landslide in 1957 to a nail-biter in 1979. Along the road, the Party outwitted both the British and the Guatemalans, constructed a new capital, championed land reform, opened up a national road network and helped to create a modern public service. The Party’s seminal achievement was political independence in 1981, delivered with the reassuring armor of a progressive Constitution, international recognition and with all of Belize’s territory intact.

Price did not journey alone along this arduous road: his able, elected companions included David McKoy, Guadalupe Pech, Gwendolyn Lizarraga, Jesus Ken, Florencio Marin Sr., Hector Silva, Fred Hunter, Louis Sylvestre and CLB Rogers. Even now, 59 years into the revolution, many aging party supporters recall wistfully the struggles and sacrifices that defined the quest for nationhood, their faces brightening at the memories of the milestones of triumphs.

After the setback in 1984, the Juniors advanced and the Party retook Belmopan in 1989. For fourteen of the next nineteen years, initially with Price and then from 1996 to 2008 with the leadership of Said Musa, the Party sought to uplift the quality of life for Belizeans, to deliver greater economic independence.

The Berlin Wall and communism also fell in 1989, the virus of capitalism unleashing the virus of unfettered and unconscious capitalism, not the mixed capitalism strain that Mr. Price had initially pursued. For developing nations like Belize, the economic prescription proved irresistible: convenient access to multilateral and commercial debt to build economic infrastructure but with the conditions of lower corporate taxes, unfair trade and reduced worker security. In this episode, the size of the Belizean economy tripled, thousands of jobs were created in new industries and the quality of life for most Belizeans improved. Social sector spending surged with the opening of new classrooms and clinics and the virtual universal access to water supply, telecommunications and electricity. But lurking in this strain of capitalism were dangerous monsters.

Thus came the serious setback in February 2008 and the emergence of the PUP Sophomore class. This third generation of leaders now faces arguably the most complex matrix of challenges, starting with the need to restore the once enviable bond between the party and the people it aspires to serve. To replenish the party’s account of voter confidence, if not trust, then the sophomore class will have to make generous deposits of novel ideas, of freshman talent and of ironclad covenants with the social partners, the workers and the business community.

On the occasion of the 59^th birthday of the PUP, it is timely to reflect upon the Party’s unique roster of accomplishments. It is a time to recognize and to applaud all generations of party members who have contributed to the Party greatness and to its longevity.

It is also timely to call out the principal enemy of the Party and of Belize. His name is poverty. The enemy’s aliases are injustice, corruption and inequality. This is the enemy that the PUP must now vanquish, if she is to fulfill her sacred charter to her members and to Belize.

In that first wave of the Party’s revolution, the enemy and his cohorts were naked. They strutted about the national stage, denying natives the right to the democratic process, repressing basic freedoms and exporting the nation’s wealth. Today, the enemy is stealthy; he wears elaborate disguises. His presence is writ unmistakably, though, on the faces of the estimated 110,000 Belizeans who are poor, who earn hunger wages, who are jobless, landless and hopeless. He is visible but silent. He pretends to be a part of the natural order when in fact, he is man-made.

Possessed as the Sophomore class of PUP Leader Johnny Briceno should be of the lessons of earlier PUP classes, more will be expected of these men and women. And it is expected more quickly. Indeed, when the bubble of its expectation is pricked, the modern electorate has shown its proclivity to vengeance. On the other hand, they reward humility and loyalty. So shall the voters behave towards the Sophomores.

So, on this occasion of the 59^th birthday of the Party, let us recommit to the central cause of disabling “the poverty trap.” This poverty trap, as the economist Jeffrey Sachs calls it, can surely be unwound by Belize’s bountiful wealth. There is a liberating share for every Belizean in the riches of our seas, reef, land, rainforests, oil and industries. There is untapped value in our freedoms and culture. May all PUPs gather the collective resolve to champion justice and equality, to live the creed of the PUP, to work for the best interests of the people and the country. The common good was the inspiration of the first wave of the revolution when the Party marched shoulder to shoulder with the General Workers Union in 1954 and 1957. This allegiance to the common good is the legacy that this Sophomore class must bequeath to the fourth generation of PUPs, the youthful freshmen whose soaring expectation and potential yearn to be fulfilled.

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