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General Secretary of the Democratic Labour Party George Pilgrim as he presented a token of appreciation to featured lecturer Dr. Henderson Carter on Wednesday night.

Dr. Carter: Violence must be tackled now

Fri, 08/26/2016 - 12:00am

 

KNOWN across the world for its peace and stability, even during the intense movement of opposition to Independence back in the mid-1960s, one historian is cautioning that 50 years later, this could be eroded if acts of violence are not swiftly addressed.
 
Dr. Henderson Carter’s comments came as he delivered a lecture entitled “The Nature of the Opposition to Independence,” at Almond Bay on Wednesday night as part of the lecture series being hosted by the Democratic Labour Party in celebration of the golden anniversary of Independence.
 
“That Opposition did not degenerate into a blood bath. And it indicates the country’s maturity and stability. The people who opposed then were not imprisoned or killed. Many of them went on to play leading roles in public life. That is a virtue that we can teach the world. It is our greatest asset,” he stated.
 
“It is challenged. Brand Barbados, is being challenged by violent trends, which goes against what Barbados stands for. I call on a broad-based response to this problem. Let the churches and the youth groups, and political parties and businesses, trade unions, get together and try to arrest this problem,” he urged.
 

Dr. Carter told the packed conference room that the major issue at work is unemployment.

 

“We have a lot of people unemployed and we have a lot of waste land. Why can’t we let those two things work for us. Get that wasteland working again. If not grow cane, grow something else. Grow cabbages so that we won’t have to import cabbages and lettuce. And reduce our food import bill. I think we have to look seriously at getting our land into production, reducing our food import bill and perhaps that could help us in our fiscal deficit,” he opined.

 

The historian reiterated that peace and stability defines Barbadians as a people. “That is why visitors keep coming to this island. It is why people invest in this island.”

 

“Do you know that outsiders think more highly of Barbados than Barbadians? There are people who come here from Africa, even US and do not want to go back. They want to live in Bim. But if we listen to some people we would think we are living in a dump heap,” he lamented. (JH)

 

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