INDEPENDENCE DAY ADDRESS 2014 HON FRANCIS W. FONSECA, Leader of the Opposition Belmopan, Belize Unlike any other day in our National Calendar, September 21st imbues us with patriotic sentiment and a deep sense of national pride whether you are here, or you live elsewhere. Indeed the entire month of September is regarded as our most patriotic month with homes, parks, office buildings and vehicles lavishly adorned with decorations and our streets and monuments festooned with flags and streamers in our national colors. In between savoring the soulful Afro-Caribbean rhythms of sweet steel pan music and delighting in the wildly creative costumes of Carnival, our abiding sense of history and gratitude should oblige us to pause to pay collective tribute to the founding fathers of Belize’s nationalist movement: George Price, Antonio Soberanis, Philip Goldson and Leigh Richardson. It was the vision, courage, sacrifice and tireless work of these national leaders, over decades, that swelled the powerful headwaters of our freedom movement and burst the dam of colonial resistance to sweep us to our rightful date with independent self-determination. But we must take care not to fall victim to the tendency of history to focus solely on leaders. Let us not forget the tens of thousands of courageous Belizeans all across the country who rallied to the call to throw off the shackles of colonialism, courageous in the belief that we were ready for Independence and could construct a free state on the foundation stones of self-government. On the morning of that first September 21st in 1981 George Price, the Father of the Nation declared that Independence was not just a changing of the guard but a chance to create a new society in which each Belizean man and woman would be assured of a fair opportunity to improve his standard of living in the new Belize. Our task, as contemporary national leaders, is to strive with a sense of purpose, direction and urgency to deliver on this promise of Independence. We recognize that Independence is not a single isolated event. It was just the first important step in the ongoing task of building a nation. This involves a sustained commitment by all Belizeans to work towards a national vision; to toil tirelessly in the fields of national endeavor; to respect other cultures and ethnicities; to protect and uphold the rights of our indigenous peoples and to forge a society united in its commitment to justice and equality for all. We celebrate the 33rd anniversary of our independence amidst a world in turmoil. The emergence of ISIS threatens to once again unleash the dogs of war and fragment global stability in to alliances of “good” and axes of “evil” and draw the international community inexorably in to the global war on terror. The continuing crisis in Northwestern Europe portends the coming of a new cold war between NATO and the west and Putin’s Russia. The latest seven-week war between Israel and Hamas has left an estimated 2100 Palestinians dead, mostly civilians and children, and some 64 Israeli soldiers have also lost their lives. Viewed against this global tapestry of terror and turmoil, Belize remains relatively peaceful-even while we are not quite the tranquil haven of democracy we once boasted of. Our challenges even appear by rigorous comparison to be tame. But they are real nonetheless. Real for the hundreds of families who have lost loved ones to senseless violence unleashed in the urban terror that besieges Southside Belize City and is slowly spreading to other population centers of the country. Like the global war on terror, the battle to stem the rushing tide of violence by marginalized Belizeans, especially our youth who have very little to lose, can never be won with brute force and aggression and without understanding and focusing on the root causes of the problem and without investing more in people and less in meager, unsustainable handouts. The political rewards may be less tangible immediately but ultimately our nation will be better off socially and economically. While we are grateful that we do not have to face incoming rocket fire across our borders as in Israel and Gaza, we recognize that we are nonetheless at war. A war we are currently losing. Even as we celebrate in our towns and cities across Belize, deep inside the magnificent Chiquibul and other protected rainforest areas of our country, hundreds of acres of our pristine national patrimony are being lost to illegal farmers, miners, and extractors of xate and rare artifacts. Virtually all originate from our neighbor, Guatemala. Precious hardwoods and important wildlife, including endangered species are being illegally harvested and hunted. And our water security is being imperiled from contamination and pollution through illegal and indiscriminate activities from those coming across our borders. We are a country of limited financial resources but the situation demands that we re-prioritize so that we can invest in adequate security infrastructure, including helicopters. Without the ability to quickly reach our borders, patrol our seas and safeguard our natural resources, proclaiming our sovereignty and territorial integrity risks becoming nothing more than empty, clamorous rhetoric. I say to every Belizean in cities, towns and villages; in sugar cane fields, in citrus factories, on banana farms, on the seas fishing, in the tourism sector, in our schools and churches, in our health institutions, to public officers and the workers preserving our rainforest and marine reserves, keeping our communities clean, caring for our elderly and disabled, to the youth of Belize; I say to you: RISE UP. AWAKE. It is NOW tomorrow’s noon. And each and every one of us has our part to play in building on the hopes, dreams and aspirations of independence. We are the sons and daughters of George Price, the inheritors of Soberanis, the heirs of Richardson and Goldson. God’s goodness may have given this land to us, to honor and to love-but it was given, above all for us to sustainably develop and preserve. Let us join hands, hearts and minds in the service of that sacred task for our nation.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 19:51:59 +0000
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