In August of 2004, large public protests against the Musa Administration rolled out led by a cluster of social groups. That was 17 months into the administration's second term and it came after both the G7 fissure and the revelations that Government was using Social security money to pay Glenn Godfrey's private debts.
27 months into its second term, the Barrow Administration has not had to face anything close to those kind of internal and external shocks. But that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of hot issues out there, even if they aren't as seismic as G7 or Glenn Godfrey.
Many see it as a gathering storm, and today the BNTU called all the agitators for various causes together to try and harness their collective energy, and muster a united front against the Barrow Administration. 7News was at BNTU Headquarters in Belize City to see how it all came together:..
Jules Vasquez reporting
The social partners, actors and activists started arriving at BNTU headquarters just before 9:00 AM. They were all there, COLA, the Belize Pharmacists Association, the Association of Public Service Senior Managers, SATIIM, the Public Service Union, the Belize Energy Workers Union, the National Trade Union Congress of Belize, BGYEA and Mose Hyde in support of BGYEA, the Nurses Association, the Belize Evangelical Association and even DJ Keegan Lord - who organized last week's protest against Shy7ne and Dianne Haylock and of course the teachers union - who set up the meeting and sent out the call to its fellow activists in the first place.
They were all in by 9:45 - and the meeting continued for about two and a half hours. They filed out at around 12:15 - and assembled on the back stairs for a group photo and an interview by a single spokesperson, the president of the National Trade Union Congress:
Dylan Reneau, President - NTUCB
"Out of that meeting we resolved to form movement that we are calling the "Rod of Correction (ROC)" and one of our first decisions of that committee is that we are going to support the protest march of BGYEA."
Jules Vasquez
"What will happen now on Saturday now that you have this critical mass supporting you?"
Nigel Petillo, President - BGYEA
"Nothing changed. We plan to see how we could get people out from all walk of this nation now that the PSU, BNTU and different unions are onboard. They will be doing their mobilization as well, so we expect to see a huge turn out at Battlefield Saturday morning from 9am to 1pm."
Mike Rudon, Ch5
"Will there be a move to get the numbers together for example; if there is a demonstration this weekend and only you show up representing the NTUCB or Mr. Blades show up representing the PSU, yes you all are representing the unions but the numbers won't be there and nobody pays attention if you don't have the numbers."
Dylan Reneau, President - NTUCB
"I always have this concern about having numbers to make a point. If one person is out there, news worthy, you will cover that because its addressing an issue. But certainly the unions have to be more forthright, they have to start to mobilize and show the collective power that we have within our membership and so I agree with you. We have to show our faces out there on Saturday in mass."
But with less than two days to organize and mobilize, they may not be able to get out significant numbers for Saturday - so what comes after that?:
Reporter
"What will be expect to see on Saturday and after that will be there like another national demonstration?"
Dylan Reneau, President - NTUCB
"Preliminary we are focused on Saturday's demonstration. We are expecting to have a significant amount of the population support this issue because it deals with land right and I know that there are so many Belizeans that do not have a piece of land for themselves and so we are pushing our collective might behind that issue."
But that is only one in a larger basket of issues:
Dylan Reneau, President - NTUCB
"Well I can summarize them in very simple words "land rights" - SATIIM, BGYEA - we have the health issue, pharmacy association, nurses association, we have the governance issue, COLA, the issue of Penner and all the other governance issues. The issue of democracy, having our system work for the benefit of the people and so those issues have brought us together and I want to re-emphasize workers issues as well because that is the focus of unions. All of those issues have brought us together under the "Rod of Correction" movement."
"The truth is that each of these organizations have been trying to address their issues with little to no success and so we recognize the power of numbers and the power of unity."
Jules Vasquez
"I notice the notable absence of one important social partner which is the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry. We say important because they control the business sector and other movements in the past, have relied upon them for that effect. Will there be any effort to reach out to them?"
Dylan Reneau, President - NTUCB
"That was agreed upon by the collective "Rod of Correction" movement that we have to reach out to more organizations to build our collective power, so certainly the Chamber will be approached."
Jules Vasquez
"Will there be any effort to speak with the government to try and force them to agree to specific outcomes that you all want from these galvanizing issues?"
Reporter
"Or is this saying that you've passed that speaking point?"
Dylan Reneau, President - NTUCB
"At the end of the day we still have to speak to the government."
And so a new process of agitation begins - but with no clear reading on the current social ferment in the wider society - it's not clear where it will end:
Jules Vasquez
"Is this what we would call in basketball a heat check that you are going to see how hot you are by shooting maybe a long shot and see if it hits?"
Dylan Reneau, President - NTUCB
"Jules, we recognize that there is no magic bullet; there is no one event solution to our issues, so certainly it will be the start and that is it - it's a start."
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