[dropcap]S[/dropcap]t Jude Hospital has, since June 6, 2016, become a heavy tug-of-war rope in the hands of the incumbent United Workers Party on one side and the Saint Lucia Labour Party on the other. Both sides insist that politics has nothing to do with their related activities. But it’s hard not to see the rallies and counter rallies as anything other than a political campaign destined to further divide the egregiously polarized citizens of this country.
On Sunday evening, both parties hosted public rallies in Micoud and in Vieux Fort, perfect opportunities for platform speakers to serve supporters their favourite brands of divisive goolash. (Referring to the other side, an unusually worked-up Fortuna Belrose spoke of mouths like toilets ever open to “SLP shit.” It was hard to determine, based on what bellowed from their speakers, which was more important: getting the hospital operational or getting Allen Chastanet’s party out of office two years after its 11-6 victory at the polls.
Meanwhile a WhatsApp message was appealing to “generals in the fight for our health” to come out in a “peaceful protest,”not in red or yellow but rather in white to indicate the purity of their intentions. Before the scheduled House meeting on Tuesday a small group had gathered near Constitution Park, some wearing the ostensibly non-partisan uniform. Their purpose? To tell Prime Minister Allen Chastanet to “let Saint Lucia go.” When questioned by this reporter, however, the demonstrators revealed they were just regular citizens hanging around. As for their white tees, they wore them “because we want to.”
The fairly peaceful demonstration turned into something else when declared UWP supporters arrived on the scene. Some claimed they had seen the earlier mentioned WhatsApp appeal and decided that “these SLP people were coming to try to take out
our prime minister so we come to support him.” Before long typically Looshan insults were flying across Laborie Street into Constitution Park and back.
When I asked a woman in white if she planned to continue demonstrating until the St. Jude situation was settled, she answered with a non sequitur: “The only thing that can fix this country is if we riot!” I remain uncertain what she meant by “we.”
As I left the scene with several of the demonstrators, my mind turned to Kenny Anthony’s pre-election declaration of “war against the Chastanets.” I also wondered why St. Jude is generally considered “the patron saint of lost causes.” A Saint Lucia at war with itself may well answer that question.
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