By Dylan Vernon, Time Come (special) #14, 8 October 2024.

Yesterday, on the anniversary of 7 October 2023 that sparked the worst phase of the resistance to the Israeli occupation of Palestine since the Nakba, I re-read my post on Palestine of 25 October 2023. I had titled it “Campaign of Genocide in Palestine: Why Belizeans Should Care.” At that time 5,791 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli bombardment. Today the number killed is seven times that: over 41,000,

However, while much has changed in these twelve months in terms of deaths, injuries, the deepening of the genocide, the utter destruction of Gaza and the expansion of the war by Israel, much has also remained the same. This is because the actions of Israel since 7 October, 2023 have only been an escalation of its 76 years of occupying Palestine, taking more Palestinian land, expelling more Palestinian people, apartheid and genocide. Nations in the West continue to be complicit. The images and the numbers are horrific and our hearts ache for humanity.

After Hamas killed 1,139 Israelis and took 251 as hostages on that October 7, Israel has since killed 41,909 Palestinians of whom 16,891 are children, injured over 97,000 others, killed 174 journalists and 222 UN staff with impunity.… Read the rest...

By Dylan Vernon, TIME COME #13, 25 September 2024, Belize City, Belize.

Twenty-nine posts later, TIME COME will be one year old this Sunday, 29th September. I am using the occasion, to re-post my very first and launch article of 29 September 2023, mostly for new subscribers and viewers. (Don’t buy 29 in the Boledo). Having put little effort in marketing, I appreciate that readership has grown steadily, especially over the past six months. I was a bit surprised that the most viewed post, by far, was my immediate last one: Septemba Kanfyoozhan: Rethinking the 10th. Maybe it was re-shared widely by both the ‘yays and the nays’. Maybe it was because it is September — the month during which so many of Belize’s major political historical events, both triumphant and dispiriting, have happened. Among the latter was the death of George Price, Father of the Nation, on 19 September 2011. Another happened 55 years before that when Price was at the pinnacle of his early career in 1956.

In my first TIME COME article, I omitted one of the most consequential September dates in the history of the nationalist movement: 27 September 1956. On this deflating day, the last three of the ‘big four’ nationalist leaders, and founders of the People’s United Party (PUP) split apart for good: George Price, Philip Goldson and Leigh Richardson.… Read the rest...

By Dylan Vernon, TIMECOME #12, 10 September 2024.

During the long bacchanal this month, we can be excused for not reflecting too deeply on September’s absurd legacy of contradictions. Every year on September 10th we celebrate the British staying in what became Belize. Then just 11 days later we celebrate the British leaving. If ‘national post-colonial schizophrenia’ is a thing, Belize would be a prime candidate for collective psychotherapy. Some Belizeans embrace this unique 10^th and 21^st irony sin preguntas. But a few of us can’t help but ask critical questions that some deem as irritating or unpatriotic. But here goes.

In the 1990s, I spent a lot of time getting worked up over the 10^th, which I viewed as damaging colonial baggage. The fact that I am now more chilled about it does not reflect a change of view; only that I decided to redirect my energies to other substantive issues. But three things spurred me recently to re-visit our ‘Septemba Kanfyoozhan’. First, I refused invitations this week to appear on talk shows to discuss the 10^th. I have done one too many of these and figured it wasn’t worth increasing my blood pressure for a fluffy 10-minute chat while still waking up.… Read the rest...

By Dylan Vernon, TIMECOME #11, 5 September 2024.

Whether you find the current infighting in Belize’s Opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) delightful, depressing or just plain popcorn worthy, it does raise a few prickly constitutional questions. For example, can the Honourable Shyne Barrow, the current UDP Leader of the Opposition (LOO), force members of his own party to vacate their parliamentary seats? Such questions put a spotlight on Section 59A of the Constitution of Belize which deals with members of the House of Representatives resigning from their political party or crossing the floor. Has 59A served our democracy well? Does it need rethinking?

Current UDP Woes

Cutting to the chase, a long-standing cut-throat competition (since 2020) for leadership of the UDP has devolved into a political circus that sometimes seems just on the verge of partisan suicide. It almost makes the intra-party conflicts of the People’s United Party (PUP) of 2008 to 2015 seem distantly quaint.

Most recently on 28 August 2024, the central executive of the UDP announced that four of its executive members had ‘constructively resigned’ due to actions it perceived as violating the party’s constitution. Three of the four have held or sought the post of UDP party leader before: John Saldivar, Patrick Faber and Tracy Taegar-Panton.… Read the rest...

By Dylan Vernon, TIME COME #10, 8 August 2024.

For this TIME COME, I share the keynote speech (without the ad libbing) I had the pleasure of delivering to the 102^nd Annual General Meeting of the Public Service Union of Belize on 2 August 2024 in Belize City. The AGM’s theme was “PSU: 102 Years Strong! United in Service, Legacy in Action.”

Congratulations on the 102^nd anniversary of your Public Service Union. There is much in your PSU legacy to be proud of but also more legacy to create. I have been asked by your Council of Management to share some thoughts on key issues of political reform in Belize today. Whenever we use the word reform it is usually because something needs fixing. In this case it is our very democracy.  I opted to build my remarks tonight around an issue I know that your union has often highlighted: the blatant failure of Belize to deliver constitutionally mandated annual audits of public accounts in most of the past 12 years. However, I propose to approach this ‘audit problem’ from a rather different and wider angle than what you may be used to.

On the PSU Legacy

Before I get to that, let me share some bits and pieces of your PSU legacy as it relates to Belize’s post-1950s constitutional history:

• In 1963, the then Public Officers Union was one of very few organisations to submit proposals on the self-government constitution.

… Read the rest...