We Are Destroying Our Future

Mondays used to be the day when the news was dominated by murders and violence; however it has now become a nightly occurrence.    No longer exclusive to the start of the work week or even the first block of the nightly news, crime news has become very much like the weather, a constant in the evening newscast on radio and television.  Belize has become a violent society.

At the rate at which the acts of violence are occurring in Belize, the statistics now show that our nation is averaging one murder every 3 days.  So far this year there have been 74 murders. If the violence continues at this pace it could be another record year.  It is quite likely that by the end of 2010 the number of murders committed could reach as high as 120.

What is it about our society that is causing so much rampant violence?  Why is there so little regard for life among this sector of our youthful population?  According to the report by Dr Kenneth Gayle, one in every three Belize City youth has had some contact with the gang world or has witnessed some form of gang violence.   This is an indication that the prevalence of gang activity in our urban society is growing at an alarming pace and that the authorities may very well have lost control of the situation.

Undoubtedly the main issue that is causing all the murders and the other forms of violence is rooted in the drug trade which seems to have taken over Belize.  This has fuelled a new culture of fear, which comes from the barrel of a gun and prosperity which is gained though illegal activities.

The experts will argue that it makes so no sense to throw our hands up in the air in despair, just as they will agree that it matters little if we lock ourselves inside our homes in fear.

So where do we begin?  We begin at the top with the Barrow administration; they must provide the moral leadership, demonstrating that they will aggressively fight crime and that it will be fair and always follow the rule of law.   They must also ensure that there is no tampering with the judicial system and those criminals will be brought to justice.

As a society, everyone must contribute to solving the problem.  In New York after 9/11 they introduced a slogan which called on everyone to help to keep the city safe, that slogan was, “if you see something, say something.”  Of course if this is to work, the authorities must be able to protect those who step forward, ensuring their safety.

All of us must take responsibility for what is happening in Belize today and we have to be prepared to work at not only stopping the violence today, but to help to protect the next generation of at risk youth from the lure of drugs, violence, prison or death.  This cannot be the only options for a poor urban youth of Belize.

In Europe when violence started to get out of control, a number of cities developed a system to aid local authorities deal with the problem at the community level.   City governors empowered communities to organise themselves to engage in what they called: “outcome focused prevention planning.” This is a type of programme that seeks to use tools for prevention of crimes, especially in the area of drug use and trafficking.   In this exercise community leaders developed a way to measure risk, protection, delinquency and drug use outcomes reliably in at risk neighbourhoods.   Using this information, community leaders put a risk level from neighbourhood to neighbourhood and use resources based on the level of risk.  What leaders also did with the information was to work with local communities to provide them with the information and assist them in organizing themselves to engage in outcome focused prevention planning, they assisted in cleaning up the neighbourhoods, providing better lighting at nights, organized local events that would bring the community together and provided after school programmes in sports, education, and outdoor activities.

So far Restore Belize is all talk, the time for action is long overdue and we are still in the talk show phase.  If Belize is to have a future, we must all take responsibility and take action now.

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