Mai'khi C'Nia
IN THE beginning was the rock, and the rock was a tranquil locale, which was endowed with nature's gifts and inhabited by Arawaks, or Tainos, for in recent times there is confusion as to which it was.
Yea, conies and iguanas ran wild, but eventually supplemented the diet of the hammock-lounging, cassava-eating inhabitants who enjoyed a peaceful existence, actively hunting wild hogs for barbecues, and fished, constantly eyeing the horizons of the Caribbean for the war canoes of the Caribs, who art cannibalistic, and raided them to roast the males, and breed the females.
And it came to pass that after many moons, three strange vessels appeared on the high seas, bearing peculiar markings; and overly dressed, pale-faced beings, who communicated in a confounding language, came ashore bringing strange animals.
And one of the animals in particular was extremely vicious, yea it attacked the children, and bit them all over their bodies, and terrorised them. And the strange men from the strange vessels enslaved the inhabitants, and obliterated their entire population within one-half of a century, through unbridled savagery and unfamiliar diseases.
But the strange beings had established great plantations on the flatlands of the rock, and they cultivated tall grass-like crops, which produced a saccharine substance, which they loaded onto other strange vessels, which dropped anchor in the natural harbours of the rock on a regular basis.
STRANGE BEINGS
And with the demise of the inhabitants, the strange beings accepted from the visiting vessels, another people who were very dark in complexion, and robust in build, capable of toiling ceaselessly, and were extremely musical, to labour on the huge plantations.
And these new people endured an extended period of oppression and hardship, first at the hands of the strange beings, then by e'en stranger beings who attacked the original strange beings and chased them off the rock, and took over all that they established unto themselves, and the new strange beings exploded the exploitation of the dark people, and worsened their lot, and they were likened unto the Children of Israel, according to the level of their persecution.
OVERCAME MYRIAD OBSTACLES
And it came to pass that after much tribulation and representation, an integrated people overcame myriad obstacles and eventually liberated the rock of varied encumbrances, and instituted a system of majority rule. Thus Jamdowners set out on the road to finding their true destiny amongst men.
Hear oh Jamdown, for Peto hath reminded ye of these things so that thou may recall from whence thou cometh, and for what thou standeth.
Behold, the history of thy land is replete with stark instances of its people combating overwhelming odds to advance themselves. Choose ye this day between extinction and vindication.
Verily, the rock is sufficiently endowed with natural and agrarian resources to sustain ye, but if thou tilleth not the soil, or if thou mineth not the bauxite and gypsum and such, and package them to international standard for export, thou shalt not achieve that which is yours in the global economy.
Furthermore, competition is rife for thy products both within thine own borders, as well as in the global marketplace. Therefore, manufacture ye to standard and quality that will blow thy competition out of the water and establish thee at pole position in the markets. Yea, go forth and find thy niche.
Behold, the CSME is upon thee, and the EU and the WTO art deleting the preferential advantages of thy most eligible products. Act now and be ye not distracted by thy politics, for after matters of governance hath sorted themselves out, the threats to thy economic well-being shall remain. Selah.
