Shall We Disagree Without Violence?
By Rebecca Miller

She lay on the floor kicking, trying to ward off his blows, but the man who was dressed in white shirt and trousers with a kippah on his head did not appear to have any desire to stop pummeling her with his fists. A group of men came forward and pulled the man off the young woman holding both his arms. Someone in the crowd threw a punch at him hitting him square in the jaw. On the other side, other people were throwing punches at each other, women screamed, while some people were spewing out a very familiar local invective. Later, the organizer of the show, Gregory Lorde expressed his regrets with the occurrence, but said that what had happened would not deter him from organizing future shows of the same nature.
Such was the DBS footage of what was supposed to be a very peaceful Miss Independence Pageant of last Sunday at the National Cultural Centre on Barnard Hill, Castries.
According to reports, pandemonium broke out at the Centre when, during the Miss Independence Pageant the contestant of community’s choice had failed to emerge the winner of the show. What started off as friendly chanting on the part of supporters escalated into violence. It is not entirely clear who struck the first blow, but reports indicate that a shoving match had ensued between two opposing supporters and others joined the fray.
Ironically, the show’s theme “Peace and Love” was not enough for the rowdy crowd at that show to maintain discipline.
One person who attended the show said, “It seems that St Lucians must be policed everytime there is an event somewhere.”
Another said, “It’s a shame the way some of us behave. We do not know how to disagree without beating up on one another.”

Apparently St Lucia is being weaned on a culture called “Destroy the Opposition,” and its people are rapidly developing the propensity to eliminate anything and anyone with whom they disagree. Sadly, they choose violence to express their dissatisfaction and that type of conduct is rapidly progressing and to the detriment of all.
Incidentally many of our so called leaders, though they claim not to advocate violence, they incite it among our people. They propagate hatred by the language they use when addressing gatherings, by the manner in which they speak of their opponents they engender mistrust and create miscreants who truly believe that they cannot get satisfaction by expressing their disapproval without the use of violence. Is it any wonder some of us display violent reactions when we disagree with the decisions that others make? We do not need to wonder about the ever increasing violence on the island. This is by no means meant to apportion blame to society’s leaders, who will be quick to say that the indiscipline starts from home.
According to one member of the public, “The problem of indiscipline might start at some homes within some families, but when we are getting it full force from some of our so called leaders, things like what happens at these public shows must be expected. Our leaders do in some uncanny way breed the violence that exists today.”
In his book, “The Future of Humanity, Songs of Life, Kingdom Happiness, Jiddu Krishnamurti wrote: “Violence is not merely killing another. It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we make a gesture to brush away a person, when we obey because there is fear. So violence isn’t merely organized butchery in the name of God, in the name of society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper, and we are inquiring into the very depths of violence.”