BELIZEAN DIASPORA POWER: WE WILL NOT BE MOVED! (11 photos) by Bilal Morris As the Belizean diaspora faces its most formidable opponent so far, Belizean Major Lloyd Jones, we want to remind those in the Belizean communities at home that we welcome the challenge and appreciate the fact that he has woken up some of us who have failed to realize how important and effective Belizeans abroad has become to Belize today, and how important is it that Belizeans abroad are given their fundamental constitutional rights as natural born Belizeans, and how this new wave of anti-diapora Belizean rhetoric that has been coming from many special interest groups at home has actually infringed on the constitutional rights of natural born Belizeans abroad who have supported and have continued to develop Belize internationally. The spirit of exclusivity that has suddenly invaded the body politic of a few Belizean brethren and sistren in Belize is a mockery on hose nationalistic figures like Corporal Samuel Haynes and Ernest Lyons who migrated out of Belize before many Belizeans at home and abroad was even born, and to give Belize a respectable face and integrity among the international community of friends that supported Belize in its independence in 1981. It is a mockery to the work and vision of those like Nadia Cattouse in London in the 1960s who rallied for Belize support at the House of Parliament in London, Engalnd against the unjust and insidious Guatemalan Claim that continues to take Belizean casualties over the years. With the respect for those Belizeans who came before us and paid the price to resist racism, exploitation and victimization at the hands of a colonial government at first and then at the hands of their own Belizean governments later, we appeal to the minority in Belize who seek the exclusion of Belizeans abroad to vote by proxy in all elections in Belize and to hold political office to rethink their opposition and move out of the way of a countrys development. It is better to be of help to development rather than to be of detriment to it. When we look at the work that Belizeans in the diaspora like Corporal Samuel Haynes did for the development of Belize and Belizeans at home and abroad, we are touched by the love and spirit that he showed for his country and people and how he resisted any oppression and exploitation of his people by imperialistic power of the day. But we are also saddened by the ignorance of those who have trampled on their legacy and contribution seek to deny the fundamental rights that Haynes spoke about when he wrote in the Belize national anthem, brought freedom from slavery. Here was a man whom and he and his people were written out of the constitution by British colonial rule, and who could not enjoy the same rights as his white counterparts in the British military though they were fighting for the same objective. It is then baffling to me that if he had returned to Belize to take up his rightful place as leader of the country whether those same laws that are been used to shut out Belizeans in the diaspora today would have done the same to him and others who had dared to seek the development of their country elsewhere. As the work of those like the late ambassador Bert Tucker who also pushed for the inclusion of Belizeans in the diaspora for their constitutional rights in 2011 in the Diaspora Homecoming Summit, and others like BREDAA who are on the forefront of the struggle internationally for the development of Belize since the organizations inception in 1985, we challenge the Belizean-ness in the opposition against the Belizean Diaspora constitutional rights in Belize to embrace this noble objective of full citizenship rights and respect the sacrifice of those who left Belize to seek a better life for their families at home, and who paid the ultimate price with their lives, blood and persons to make Belize what it is today.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 12:32:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015