BARBADOS: PM’s 54th Anniversary Of Independence Address

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley speaking at celebrations for Barbados’ 54th anniversary of Independence at National Heroes Square today. (E. Brooks/BGIS)

ADDRESS BY PRIME MINISTER MIA AMOR MOTTLEY ON THE 54TH ANNIVERSARY OF BARBADOS’ INDEPENDENCE

Your Excellency, Dame Sandra Mason, Governor General of Barbados; Chief Justice Sir Patterson Cheltenham, The Right Excellent Sir Garfield Sobers, our national hero living among us; members of Cabinet; members of Parliament; members of the diplomatic corps; distinguished guests; members of the armed forces and the Royal Barbados Police Force;
Barbadians.
I don’t think any of us would have expected sun on this morning, given the last few weeks.
So, that first and foremost, I’d like to give thanks for the blessings conferred upon us this morning by the Almighty. But not just for the weather, for our being here, because this is the one year that we take nothing for granted, and for which we must give absolute thanks.
Last year, we met pregnant with expectation, as to how we could perfect our finest vision in 2020. It was almost magical and lyrical as we planned and prepared for it. We expected those who helped raise us, and who we helped raise, and who may not have been on the 166 square miles to join us and allow us to celebrate and refine that fine vision. We had plans, but
others had plans for us.
Before I proceed any further, I want to salute the loyal sons and daughters who have been conferred with the honors of this nation this morning for their wonderful, and sterling contribution to the building of this nation which we love. And I say that we recognise you, not because of
anything that is unusual in your efforts, but because you chose to stay the course in the disciplines, or in the contributions that you made in a way that has brought admiration of you from among your peers. This is intended not only to be congratulations to you, but also a moment to teach the rest of the nation that you are our inspiration; and that you equally can lift to higher heights those who work and live among us daily. These moments are always difficult with parades and I trust and pray that he will be fine. But I want this morning, for us to reflect first and foremost on the fact that as I said 2020 was intended to be a different year. But 2020
did in fact allow us to perfect that final vision of ourselves, just not in the way we anticipated.
And against this background, we saw Barbadians from all stations in life rise to the occasion.
To be able to face what will now be regarded as one of those global historic moments that has defined how humanity sees itself, and is capable of moving forward.
As we sat here this morning, I reflected on what Barbados was like 100 years ago, when we fought the Spanish flu. We recognise that in those days we did not have responsibility for our people. Today, we do. In those days, there may have been little regard for the well-being and welfare of persons from all communities. Today, we must. And as I reflect on that, I ask us
to remember that this is not a victory for the Government of Barbados. This is not a victory for a few in Barbados. This continues to be a victory for all of Barbados because this is who we are, in coming together to fight this battle.
We accept that there may have been many among us who were nervous, and who were anxious, and who in February and March, as things started to unfold, could not even begin to think about how they would see the end of 2020. The truth is, when COVID threatened, all started to wonder what would be our future. But we, as we are always wont to do, took guard;
and from early on, recognised as early as the middle of January, that we could not simply become a victim of circumstances, and that we had to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.
As we prepared for the worst, Barbadians built a wall around our seniors. We didn’t wait until the borders were close to ask those who were most vulnerable among us to stay at home and to allow our communities and our families, literally, to protect them; to go to the grocery; to go to the shop; to pay their bills; to do all that was necessary so that they could avoid being in
the company of large numbers of persons, because no one knew what we would be facing, and what they were able to survive. At the same time, we were also still catering to our obligations as a home port and recognising that while there may have been those who justifiably would have
been anxious and scared among us, that nevertheless, this is the country that lives by its obligations and stands up to its obligations, once required to do so. And even when difficult, we do not shy away because this is who we are, as Barbadians.
Our Government has taken a decision because of the very pandemic that we could not on this morning, celebrate in the way that we would want to celebrate. Our children, who are the recipients of leadership badges every Independence, we would have wanted to be here this morning, but it was not practical or advisable. And hence, I salute them for their leadership at
all stages in our school system, as we conferred the leadership badges on them on Friday morning. And for the most obvious group of persons, for which this wonderful and glorious but modest square in size could not be sufficient, those who literally are frontline workers and I can’t use the past tense, because the battle is still very much on.
Our Parliament will have laid before it, a special piece of legislation to the conferment of the Barbados Humanitarian Medal for all of our frontline workers in this country, regardless of where they fought. We also will amend the national heroes that in order to be able to ensure that we can confirm more than one gold medal of achievement for extraordinary service and causes that literally have protected this country over the course of the previous year. When we pass that legislation, it was always contemplated that it would be conferred on one, but we must know recognise that this truly has taken a village, not simply to build the nation, but to also protect the nation. And I look forward to a date in early January, when we shall bring from the doctors, the nurses, the lab assistants, the lab technologists, the supermarket workers, the port officers, the Customs, the Immigration, the list is too long to mention, but which we all know that
have allowed all of us now to stand before this country today, comfortable that our future is still secure, against the background of those who stood and protected us, in this a moment of one of our gravest challenges, since becoming an independent nation.
I don’t want us to take for granted the scolding and the inspiration from our Czar, Mr.Richard Carter, whose voice we may now miss, but who in those early months helped to stabilise this nation, by not being afraid to talk strong and firm to our people, and at the same time, to reward and encourage when we did the things that we were supposed to do to help us out of this grave difficulty. Nor do I want us to take for granted that we are so blessed that we have a preeminent specialist in infections among us in the form of Dr. Corey Forde, or indeed Songee Beckles, who heads up the Best-dos Santos lab, and who through their combined work with the
other doctors in the system, have literally placed this country in the fortunate position of being able to contain the number of persons with whom, or for whom we must treat at the Harrison’s Point isolation facility.
I want to explain how and why. Because when others were complaining about why we do a second test, the Minister of Health insisted that there would be no compromise on that position. Because in his words, we could not afford any retreat, or any surrender. When others equally wondered why we were taking persons and persons who may have been viewed as
borderline and having them further isolated through the second test results and taking them to Harrison’s Point, the truth is, it has been that close partnership between the clinical practitioners, and those in charge of the lab that, in my humble opinion, has made that wonderful difference
to our being, on this day, still limiting the number of cases to 276, way below many other nations across the entire earth.
And you have seen those who have been rewarded for their gallantry, this morning, and we talk about it. But how many of us can imagine climbing a cruise ship in PPP, climbing a cruise ship period, out in the middle of the ocean, on a rope ladder, having not necessarily ever done it before. You are truly our heroes, with respect to what you have been able to bring in
terms of distinction to this, our nation. All of us saw the thank you and a deep appreciation from the cruise industry as the ships in particular as they left our waters. And all of us are aware of the honours that have been conferred upon our nation and the Bridgetown Port for the extraordinary effort to take 21,000 cruise ship passengers through the roads of Barbados from our Bridgetown Port to our airport. And I want to say, without a population rebellion, which more than any other thing, gives me the greatest pride to be your leader today. This is who we are.
But I ask us to cast our minds back on where we might have been today, if we did not adequately prepare, or if we did not build upon those values that make us Bajan. When this Government came into office we made it clear that the gravest crisis facing our country was in fact, our ability to save our dollar and to stabilise our economy. We were able to complete that
mission, and only with the help of all quarters of this country. Our social Partnership, which we value continues to be the bedrock upon which great progress is made in this country, not as a notional institution, but as one that is representative of labour, representative of those who want to earn a living and to bring prosperity to themselves and to their workers and communities. And of course, to a Government who recognises its absolute role to protect each and every one, and to give voice to the voiceless, and to see those who are otherwise kept invisible in our midst.
This is the Barbadian way, and long may that be the case, because it is this same Barbadian spirit that has caused us to recognise that we must not leave to any chance, the ability of any child to become the best that they want to be. By ensuring that they can go as far as their capacity and abilities allow them to go in terms of education, without worrying about how they
are going to pay for it, because this is who we are.
This is also the country that has said that we must not let people fall through the cracks, and hence the development of the Adopt Our Family programme that has seen us reach out through public resources and private donations from ordinary Barbadians to more than 1,500
families, and continuing to ensure that we work with others, to make sure that the thousands, who all of a sudden were without work, all of a sudden were in many instances without hope that we could hold them up and lift them up, recognising that the most important thing was to keep
people’s heads, and if necessary, their nostrils above the water, because once we have breath and life, a year from now, I trust that you all agree that we can continue the path to greatness that is part of our destiny.
There are those who ask, why Bajans feel they are so special? Who Bajans think they are? They don’t only ask who Gabby think he is; they ask who Bajans think we are? And I say to all who asked, we know who we are, we don’t think who we are. And we know we are special.
And we are not special out of arrogance. We’re special because we recognise the humanity of each and every one of us, and we recognise that against the background of a history that made exploitation and hardship and oppression and tyranny its hallmark, that people were able to rise
above it, not to use that as their motivation for moving forward to a pathway to prosperity, but to use it as motivation to ensure that never on these lands should any party, any entity, any human being, seek to oppress and reflect tyrannical behaviour against other citizens in this nation.

We have come too far, and we have fought too hard, across too many centuries, for us to turn our back on the history of those who caused us to be standing here today. And as I saw the persons walk across this wonderful square this morning, our National Heroes Square, may I add, I looked at all of you, and I wondered what would Nelson be thinking were he standing
behind us now. That in National Heroes Square that Barbados has reclaimed the space to confer, as I look at you mam, 92 years old from Saint Joseph, hawking as a hawker in this nation, building a life for your family, building a life for your community, and finally achieving the recognition from us, rather than conferring the glory as a people to a man who did nothing other than to ensure that our forefathers were oppressed.
This is an emotional moment for me, because I do not take lightly the journey, nor easily, the decision. Barbados didn’t choose to dump Nelson in the waters. We chose to treat to him in a dignified way. And we chose to treat to him in a dignified way because that is who we are, in the same way that when I spoke just now about the Adopt Our Family programme, or the other charitable donations done to lift up our people. We didn’t ask them to go and stand up in lines to receive it, but we found ways through the issuance of credit cards and transfers to accounts, so that no one would know as they went to that supermarket cashier who was the recipient of
charity, and who had earned their money to pay for their groceries, because that is also who we are as a people.
But I ask us as we stand here this morning to reflect that a journey doesn’t happen in the wink of an eye, or the twiggling of a nose. A journey happens because we stay the course. And yesterday as we listened to the address by brother Suleiman Bulbulia, to quote that great American poet, Maya Angelou, in her poem Continue, I reflected on how much it mirrored our
own journey and why we must stay the course and stay focused on where we must go.
On January 2 this year, I asked this nation to join with us to allow us to set a mission that we could be world class within seven years. World class meaning not that there are flashes of brilliance because we already have that, but world class meaning that there is a consistency in all that we do, and a reflection of excellence in all that we do, such that we may be considered top of class amongst any class that we are put globally. And in doing that, we recognise that the journey is still long. And I ask Bajans today to note that one of the reasons we introduced this address in our Independence celebrations is to give ourselves a national charge every year, and that charge must of necessity be to continue, and to stay the course. We’re not going to get there overnight. And the Government, certainly the one that I lead, cannot be interested only in polls or electoral victories, but must be interested in building a nation, and transforming a people, and that is who we are. That was the mission of Grantley Adams. That was the mission of Errol Barrow. That was the mission of Tom Adams. That was the mission of all of our prime ministers, thus far; all of our leaders.
But even as we recognise and reflect on it, we have to talk it through, because as you hear persons across the length and breadth of this country, sometimes we need to be reminded what our mission is, what our destination shall be, as we go forward. There are those who will
complain about the roads and the disruption, but we know that you cannot get roads paved without there being disruption in traffic. There are those who will say, why haven’t we done more. But as we say that, let us recognise that the Government is putting in place things that take time.
We can’t go immediately and spend $215 million on roads in the East Coast and Scotland District. A feat that has never been done in this country without planning for it, and without ensuring that the engineers and the different professionals do the design work and do the assessments as to what is necessary, and to prepare the loan and financing work, and to prepare all of the things for the contractors to come in, that takes time.
We can’t begin to believe that it is possible to achieve educational reform overnight in the blink of an eye. Turning back 80 years of a system and a policy that literally has dissected our population and taken out the top 30% for greatness and left the rest to literally see if they can reach up on their own, instead of recognising that everyone in us has the ability to attain
excellence in different areas. Those whom we honour today have not only come by way of academia. They’ve come by way of different expressions of endeavour across this nation, from vending to water sports, to engineering, to medicine, to literally sports and other areas of activity, to education, to research, because we recognise that it takes all of us to make that defining
difference in this nation.
Similarly, I want us to recognise that we have a duty to each other, and a duty that allows us, my friends, to work together on the big and small things. It isn’t only the good things that we can reflect on and pat ourselves on our back, but we must also look at ourselves, and have the honest conversations for the things that are not quite so right, and not quite so good, however small or however large. From the bush on the side of the road as you hear me talk about incessantly, and the lots that continue to be over grown with bush, to the indiscipline of not giving your best, and your fullest, especially at this time, when to hold a job is an honour and a privilege, not a right. And similarly, our ability to talk with each other, not at each other, but to talk with each other in civil tones and to define that common mission that will allow us to make progress together as partners.
I ask us equally to recognise that each of us has a duty to reach out in particular to our young people and to help stabilise those who believe that wrong looks like right and right looks like wrong, when in truth, and in fact, there are two completely different concepts. And I repeat myself over and over, because it is our mission to lift our young people and to give them that
moral compass and to guide them appropriately, for they are the ones who will be responsible and who will be standing here as we speak, in just a short few years.
I asked us to recognise that we must have the difficult conversations. Why violence does not achieve anything, be it violence of language or violence that is literally physical. And in particular, how we can set ourselves the target of wanting to reduce the number of persons who fall and lose their lives at the hands of other persons in this nation. Don’t say it is not possible.
I have lived long enough to see New York City, which was regarded as one of the worst places to visit three decades ago, be able to change its path with respect to the records of violence within its community. And I stand here today, to say to you that I believe that from St. Lucy to St. Philip, from St. John to St. James, and everything else in and about and around that, we can
literally achieve the effort of wanting to remove the spectacle of gun violence and deaths from our community, because this is not who we are, and this must never be who we are.
I asked us equally to recognise that sometimes it is not the loudest voice or the easiest way to make a spectacle that brings actually honour to yourself, to the community, or to the country, and to what do I refer. This has been a country that has been anchored by stable industrial relations for, next year, 80 years, when the Barbados Workers Union shall celebrate its 80th anniversary. We must not, at this stage of our development, not even for COVID, not for a war, not for any purpose, lose sight of how we do things and how we do business in this country. It has been a hallmark that has allowed others to hold us in high regard, and we must not lose that at this point.
I ask those who believe that they are threatened or that they’re compromised to recognise that this Government will not leave you alone; will not leave you without voice; and will not leave you without seeing you. And even if it means that we must stand in the breach through the provision of severance to those who have been left out by the employers, rest assured, we shall do so without blinking an eye, but we shall equally without blinking an eye, recover the funds of the National Insurance Scheme from those who have failed to pay the 75% of the severance
due to each and every worker. And why, because this is who we are. We do not leave people standing on the side of the road, and therefore there is no need to shout. There is no need. I don’t shout across the Caribbean seas, even when others shout at us. And I ask us in Barbados
not to shout at each other, even if somebody starts to do us wrong. There are ways of dealing with these matters. And we know how to do it, and we can do it without undermining the confidence that those who may be watching us from outside have in us, literally, because they see all of these examples of what they view as wildcat action taken hold in this nation.
It is no different from us telling the parents of children who feel that their children have been aggrieved at a school by a principal. We don’t gain anything by blocking in front of the school or in the school, but we gain by going and having the conversations with those who are taking the disciplinary action to understand why it was taken, and to recognise that blocking does not help the person or the child who was affected. What helps that child is the ability to have a sensible conversation about their behaviour, and to ensure that if they were unfair that they are
protected. And if they were themselves. the perpetrator of inappropriate action that they are appropriately spoken to. And, indeed, if necessary, disciplined. This is who we are.
And there is no need for us to change this are 54 years of independence, what we must do is to recognize that there are patterns that are bigger than us, the climate crisis. There are people in St. Lucy who will tell you that there are parts of St. Lucy that they have never seen flood in their entire lives, but yet today we stand, having lost one of our citizens as a result of
flooding taking the car over into a gully, because the climate crisis is truly upon us. This is who we are.
And recognising that we cannot have a country where some parts of the country have access to pipe water and others have to rely on community tanks, that is not Barbados. Barbados is a place where we prided ourselves on everyone being able to have access to pipe water, and that is why this Government set as its commitment the provision of pipe water, the augmentation of our water supply, and the enhancement of our distribution system as one of our primary planks upon which we bring stability and social justice to the people of this nation. Is it sexy? It’s not.
Absolutely not, but is it necessary? Absolutely. And to that extent, does it happen overnight?
No, it doesn’t because you have literally to plan out the work. And I ask those communities to recognise that if you have not yet gotten help, help is on the way. But it takes time, literally, for the engineers to design for the procurement, for the financing, for the construction, and all of the
things necessary to ensure that that pipe water comes to you. And if we begin to understand process, as much as we appreciate destination and mission, then we would be able to enhance our productivity as a people, as we did in this year with COVID, when all came together to be able to quell that monster, as we did with the saving of our dollar, when all came together to make the sacrifices for a structural adjustment of over a billion dollars in order to be able to sustain our stability.
Can anyone within my hearing, and anyone, imagine what it would have been like for us to have faced COVID without settling our economic problems, and without saving our dollar? I tell you today that there are countries in this region and further afield, who are facing the weight
of a debt crisis, largely because they had not taken the preemptive action before the onset of this pandemic. We did it. And we are not out of the woods with respect to the pandemic, but we have stabilised the foundations of our economy, such that once we can deal with the vaccines and have access to the vaccines and educate and sensitize Barbadians as to why the same vaccines that we were taking as children, lining up and taken the swab on our arm and having the injection and taken the drops, whether it be for polio or for other diseases, it’s the same vaccines that we will roll out. And we have given our commitment to roll it out for as many
Barbadians as we can humanly do so, once there is access, without reference to your having to be able to pay for it, if you cannot pay. Those who can pay can contribute voluntarily to the effort, but we are not charging persons for the vaccines, because this is who we are, because
the public health of this nation determines the overall wellness and prosperity of this nation.
So my friends, as we move to the 55th year of our independence, I ask us to stay the course, and to reflect always on who we are. It is easy sometimes to shout. It is easy sometimes to turn your back when you think things are not going your way. And if ever there was an example of why we must stay the course, 2020 has become that living example for us, because without cooperation and without partnership, believe you me, we could not be standing here on the 30th of November 2020 with the ability to suggest to others that it could have been far, far worse. Yes, the seven who died. We salute, and remember you today, recognising that you ought not to have passed, as a result of this pandemic. But then, left to us there would be no
pandemic too.
We also recognise that next year is going to be better. It can’t be worse. It can be better, or the same, but if we commit ourselves to digging deeper, and to bringing the resolve necessary to work our challenges out, to recognise that those who have no revenue that we must find ways
of them being able to sustain themselves, preferably through enterprise, but if necessary, through benevolent donations.
And if we look back on our history, we look and see where have we displayed those elements of excellence. I watched this morning and yesterday, and indeed on social media, as all saluted the performance of the Royal Barbados Police Force band and today joined by the Zouave band, because the example of excellence in what they do for us and to represent
Barbados in the performance of their music is something that makes us proud, and makes us want to ensure that they can continue at that level.
This is the country equally that has produced persons who may not want to be constrained by 166 square miles, and who have gone overseas to make a better life for themselves and their families, but in doing so, and in performing at levels of excellence. Whether it is like persons like Shirley Chisholm, who became the first black woman ever to be elected to the Congress of the United States of America, and the first black woman ever to dare to believe that she could be president going for a nomination in an official established party, or whether it is people like Juliet Daniel, who left here in Culloden Road and believed that she could be at the front line of
scientific research, and to create, literally, new knowledge for others to be able to fight battles like cancer, particularly triple negative breast cancer that affects predominantly young black women. These people left these shores influenced heavily by their parents and grandparents and their teachers, but they never forgot where their navel string was buried.
Similarly, this is the country that on one side of Bridgetown, Sir Gary, could raise you.
Ironically, the same Juliet’s father helped raise you and to allow you to become the greatest that the world has ever seen in that field of cricket, from a village right outside of this capital city.
Throwing, batting, fielding, and mastering strategy in a way that others couldn’t; this Barbados produced you, because this is who we are.
And on the other side of Bridgetown, Barbadians produced a Rihanna, who continues literally to stride the world as a Colossus, capable of influencing more people than many nations across the world. But we raised her in Westbury Road and sent her to Combermere and
produced in her a person who has not lost her accent, not lost her values, not lost her passion, because this is how we raise our children to be.
And I ask us to recognise that we are also the ordinary people who allowed the ambition of a man like Harold Hoyte to be able to grow large that we could produce our own information and our own news in order to be able to stabilise our democracy, and to give credence to what we must do as a people, if we are literally to climb the ladder of prosperity and the ladder of
development. It wasn’t only Mr. Hoyte. It was the rest of us who helped support the print industry and the publishing industry for daily newspapers that we take for granted in this nation, and which in many other small island states does not happen.
So my friends, I ask us today to look forward to 2021 with confidence, with pride, with courage. 2020 has tested every ounce of who we are, and we are standing and standing proud still. But, as we go forward, it is going to require even more. I am confident that we shall make this journey, and that we shall not only make this journey, but our mission to reach 2027 as a world class nation shall indeed be part and parcel of our record of success. How does it happen?
By each and every one of us. Those here, those watching and listening to us, those who are only going to hear about what we do today, by each and every one of us, remembering that at the core, Barbadians are loyal and committed. At the core, Barbadians believe in sharing and giving comfort to those who for whatever reason may not have. Barbadians are those who are prepared to stand up for just causes, recognising that we too were victims of tyranny and oppression, and that we cannot today, equally replicate that behaviour that may oppress others, or that may discriminate against anyone. I ask us to stand tall as one people, recognising that the words of our anthem were not by accident.
Read them, read them today, and believe them, and reflect on them, because it is up to us to be firm craftsmen of our fate. It is up to us to be strict guardians of our heritage. And if we do so, believe you me my friends, we shall move inspired on to a greater future; inspired, exulting, free because when given the opportunity to chart a destiny for our people, we are committed without exception, and we intend to ensure that we leave no one behind because we come from a country that says all must live.