Tony Benn- The Best PM the UK Never Had

I did History, Government and Politics, and Sociology for my A’ Levels during the years 1994-1996. History was divided into two components- Caribbean and American- as was Government and Politics- British and American.  It was during that time when reading about the 1981 election for the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party that I was introduced to Tony Benn.  I was a 17 year old who identified with leftist politics and as I did more research on him, I became a fan.  I again came across him shortly afterwards when I did a British politics course in my first year at LSE.  His outspoken statements, his criticisms of New Labour and his leadership role in the anti-war movement continued to endear him to me over the years.  Tony Benn was a man whose intellect I held in high regard and whose willingness to speak truth to power I respected a great deal.  It was with great sadness that I woke up to the news of his death this morning.  His loss is a huge one for the UK and the world, especially at a time when voices like his are rare to be heard.  He was for me the best Prime Minister the UK never had.

What Makes One a Bajan?

I was born and grew up in a working class neighbourhood in Bridgetown. I went to school with Bajans from all walks of life.  I also interacted with Bajans in rural parts when I went out with my old man on his itinerant sales job (“coolie man” as Bajans of all ethnicities refer to it).  I studied Barbadian and Caribbean History.  I know more about Barbados, its history, culture, government, politics, economy, etc. than the average Bajan.  However, to many Bajans, I am not a real Bajan because my ethnicity is Indian and added to that I am a Muslim.

When I was younger, I would be bothered by the various comments questioning my Bajanness, expressing shock at my Bajanness or insisting absolutely that I am not a Bajan.  I was a patriotic Bajan and who were these people to question my Bajanness?  One of my favourite ways to react to the ignorance displayed in these comments was to not only speak the rawest Bajan possible in my retorts but also to spice them up with a gigantic dose of Bajan “cussing”.  The shock on the faces of those who dared to question my Bajanness was always worth it.  You see, growing up in the heart of Bridgetown meant that I was exposed not only to everyday Bajan cuture like food, norms and language but also cussing and by cussing I mean cussing of the worst kind.  I was known for having a potty mouth from a young age and it has only been about two years since I severely restricted my use of colourful language, to the disbelief and relief of many.

Over the past five years though, my patriotism has increasingly waned to the extent that I find myself detached from Barbados and I no longer care whether Bajans accept me as a fellow countryman.  I have always had a global outlook but this was alongside a fierce Barbadian patriotism. Working for the government and my mostly negative experiences with this, growing older and seeing things differently have made me realise that in reality, I don’t fit in in Barbados. There is much to unpack in this disconnect I feel with the country of my birth so I won’t delve into it now and will leave it for a future blog.  Needless to say, when Bajans question my Bajanness because of how I look, it does not trouble me anymore and if I do counter, it is just to bother them as opposed to responding because I am upset.

This brings me to an incident that occurred this morning.  I am attending a training course for public sector managers this week. Each day there are different sessions with different presenters. This morning we had a session on “Diversity in the Workplace”. The “instructor” in her introduction says she will be speaking in Bajan so that everyone can understand her. Then she proceeds to look at me and ask if I will be able to understand her. Needless to say, I blew my top and let her have it, albeit without the insertion of any cuss words! I did not lose it because she questioned my Bajanness. Nope.  I lost it because it upset me that a retired senior civil servant was presenting on diversity in the workplace and had the bleeping audacity to question my Bajanness because I am not black! Then the idiot instead of recognising that what she did was wrong tried to make it seem as if I was the one who did not understand what was going on and again because I am an outsider to this group of Bajans.  I therefore decided to have some fun and on a few occasions questioned what she was saying.  I also made a point of expressing my absolute contempt for the silly personality exercises she wanted the class to partake in.  I took great satisfaction in knowing that she did not at all enjoy my challenges to her supposed expertise on the subject of the session.   

I have always relished making life difficult for teachers, presenters, trainers, religious folk, bosses and persons in authority when they make ridiculous claims and are unable to defend them.  Inevitably, they make fools of themselves because people who issue asinine pronouncements are generally the type that are incapable of offering solid arguments and hate being challenged.  They will get riled up and dig an even bigger hole for themselves when you tear their weak cases apart.  They expose themselves rather easily.  I guess I am getting old because I don’t usually do this anymore.  However, there are times like this when “hard ears” Mohammed does cahn help he self and he does gots to have some fun 😎

People like this woman occupy large swathes of the civil service, many in senior positions.  It is persons of this ilk that ensure my refusal to buy into this farce called public sector reform.   Big loud stupz! But no Rs and other such vivid words : )