Welcome to the PDM

Sisters and Brothers, both those resident in Dominica and others living overseas, let me on behalf of the leadership, membership and support base of the P.D.M (People’s Democratic Movement), welcome you to our Party’s website. It is fitting that the site is formally launched today, on the 30th anniversary of the attainment by our country of constitutional independence from our former colonial master, Britain.

As a people, we have moved a long way from slavery and classical colonialism. In law we are no longer the property of slaveowners. And, by our Constitution, we are a sovereign country equal in international law to any and all within the comity of nations.

But, the striking reality is that one hundred and seventy years after Emancipation and thirty years following on Independence we have not yet scratched the surface of development. Our country is a poor, underdeveloped small nation-state located on the margins of the global economy. And our people remain for their livelihoods at the mercy of those external forces which conspired to institutionalize slavery and colonialism in the first place. In a sense, the more things have changed, the more they have remained the same.

This does not have to be so. We should have done better. We cannot any longer blame our present predicament solely on the circumstances of our history. We must ourselves share the blame. In fact, we are largely to blame.

Dominica is rich in potential. We are blessed with natural resources which, if properly exploited, could provide us with more than enough wealth to enable each and every one of our comparatively small population to live comfortably. An abundance of fertile soil. Untouched rain forests. Our herbs, ranked among the best in the world for medicinal purposes. Fresh, wholesome water from our 365 rivers. Eco-tourism resources. Reserves of hydro power. Geo-thermal potential. Sources of wind and solar energy. Reservoirs of stone and tarrish. Acclaimed underwater dive sites. Agro-manufacturing possibilities.

And in our people, at home and in the Diaspora, we have talents, skills and expertise more than adequate to maximize the management and use of these resources.

But we have been backward in coming forward. We in P.D.M. believe that the central problem continues to be one of leadership. In civil society. In the private sector. But most of all and first and foremost, among the political directorates which have been mandated by the people to set direction for the rest of society. There has been an absence of the quality of leadership required to put our country on a path of sustainable growth and development.

It is well known that in the historical period before our accession to Associate Statehood in 1967, it was not so critical for our local politicians to fully understand the dynamics of the processes of development. After all, the time to fend for ourselves had not yet come. Our external relations remained in British hands. And we were provided with all our budgetary needs, including for infrastructure and social welfare.

That came to an end in November 1978. On Independence, we were cast off on our own. And the global environment confronting newly independent small, resource-scarce states was unhelpful, if not, hostile. In these new circumstances, popularity among the voting public was no longer enough. Sound political vision of the highest order was of the essence.

P.D.M. is convinced that such a vision must incorporate four elements. They are all related:

  1. A political philosophy and practice that locates people at the beginning and end of the development process. It puts people, not things, first.
  2. A need to unite our people, wherever they are, across lines of political Party affiliation, social class or religious denomination.
  3. The forging of such unity on the basis of a National Plan for Development supported on sector plans for the various economic and social sectors.
  4. A team of patriotic, knowledgeable, disciplined and caring men and women of integrity to take charge of the implementation of the national and sector plans.

No such vision has ever been brought to the politics of our country. Neither in the post-Independence period. Nor before. The objective of development was, and is, not taken to be advancement of the quality of life of the people. It is seen as enough to construct and showcase highly visible infrastructural projects that have no connection to raising living standards.

Moreover, the relation between Government and the governed is one in which leaders in government lead and the people follow blindly. Hence, the need for consultation does not arise.

There is no shortage of calls for the people to unite for the sake of the nation. These are most vocal when Government because of popular criticism finds itself forced on the defensive. But no indication whatsoever is given as to how to bring this about. And electors are kept at loggerheads with each other according to political Party affiliation and, even, according to whether they live at home or in the diaspora.

Ad hoc implementation of projects aimed at securing electoral advantage is substituted for national planning.

And leadership of the nation continues to rest on persons least qualified to lead.

So, we have come some way. But much, much more needs to be done. We have scarcely embarked on the road to development and nation-building. There is dire need for leadership with the quality of vision required to take our country into the 21st. century. P.D.M. was launched in April 2006 with the intention of providing that vision. The document “Co-ordinator’s Report” summarises the story of our coming into being.

Our website seeks to reach out to Dominicans at home and overseas, our sisters and brothers in the Caribbean and in Africa, and people everywhere who are interested in forging a new humanity out of a people deeply scarred by slavery and colonialism and, now, by failed national leaderships.

None of our documents posted on the website is cast in stone. They are preliminary positions intended for review and commentary. We invite your contributions: the more critical, the better. Above all else, we call on you to join P.D.M., help us to shape its vision and, so, lay the basis for a new Dominica.

November 3rd. 2008.