Stockholm Syndrome in the Virgin Islands
Stock·holm syn·drome
noun
"feelings of trust or affection felt in many cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor."
Over the last month or so there have been hundreds if not thousands of comments on the issue of direct rule in the Virgin Islands.
Many of the comments who are in support of colonial measures are made by those who hide their faces behind false names.
You know, those afraid to admit who they really are.
Ignorant comments
Here are a few examples.
- "BuzzBvi (23/05/2022, 17:37) Like (27) Dislike (9)ReplyPerhaps you in Montserrat like we in the VI, need overseers"
- Talk Talk (23/05/2022, 19:42) Like (9) Dislike (2)Replywhich one of the talkers will or can prevent the United Kingdom from doing as it which in the overseas territory. Just give the talking a rest and focus on what can be done upon the uk arrival
By process of elimination, one can guess that those writers are either from another Caribbean Island or possibly from Europe.
Let's address the former.
Mass migration
As we know the Virgin Islands has become a place where persons from other Caribbean Islands are eager to work
Here are some of the chief reasons.
- Here to be with family
- Higher payscale than other islands
- Low crime rate
- Abundance of jobs in certain fields.
No matter the reason, the fact remains tthat the immigration department will always have thousands of applications for new work permits and or renewals.
Essentially, there are more persons wishing to migrate to the Virgin Islands than those wishing to leave.
The other fact is that it is abundantly clear that those wishing to work in the VI come from independent nations.
Whether those nations be in Europe or the Caribbean, they are independent nations.
Hypocrites
So, it is somewhat hypocritical of some of those who come from independent nations to be advocating for the VI to be ruled directly, by force, by another country.
Would they themselves want their countries to be taken by force by a larger nation?
Would they write silly comments supporting the dissolution of their National Parliaments?
I suspect the answer would be a resounding "No".
Yet, somehow they feel comfortable hiding behind false names and advocating that the VI be directly ruled by the UK.
Their Caribbean islands were subjected to the same centuries-long genocide, enslavement and colonialism as the Virgin Islands. So, it is shocking that they would be advocating for direct rule by a government, led by someone who has lied to his own Parliament on a repeated basis.
Perhaps these nameless hypocritical bloggers have "Stockholm Syndrome?"


16 Responses to “Stockholm Syndrome in the Virgin Islands”
Proud of your words, boldness and great support. Please keep up the good work on out behalf. We appreciate you ???? ????
On Territories Talk, one of the guests said that TCI could have been sorted out on a regional basis. Some years later we are here again. Unfortunately, either local or visiting politicians weren't paying attention or they were simply fooled by the veneer of respectability. Governor Gus did see the problem.
The COI was initiated by a senior Civil Servant wearing a white uniform. The revelations coming out show that like most places, there are some who put their own wealth enrichment ahead of their fellow man. That's fine if you are sympathetic to that kind of thing, but if you find it displeasureable, it is better not to confuse cries of Colonialism with those instruments in the constitution. Certain individual arguablbly were operating outside of the agreed constitution. In effect, it was a defacto suspension. The population were being held hostage.
@Same cloth...., they are chatting froth because they are not behaving like sheep and being led off the cliff like lambs to the slaughter. They are proud of who they are as Virgin Islanders and believe in Virgin Islanders. They believe that Virgin Islanders can fix the BVI problems, the current setbacks notwithstanding. They are not behaving like Sambos, believing that the UK , colonial master, . Is the savior and only it (the White man) can fix the problem. That notion is even embarrassing to write.
If we in the Overseas Territories don't like our constitutional relationship with the UK, why don't we leave? The answer is because most people are frightened by their political leaders ineptness.
Many in the BVI and Bermuda frame the UK relationship with the Overseas Territories as one of Colonial tyranny. Yet, Britain is a modern cosmopolitan country. Not perfect, but certainly not the place characterised by some of these comments.
Bermuda has a Black Female Governor. Britain has many immigrant children now in key Ministerial possitions. Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy is the child of highly successful immigrants from Ghana. The Home Secretary is an immigrant from Ughanda. The Education Secretary is a child immigrant from Iraq. The idea that Britain is controlled by 19th Century men in top hats is right out of the Robert Mugabe playback.
Britain remains the destination of choice for those fleeing failed policies back home. Mp Famous will no doubt testify to that fact.
Note the irony.
Persons who come from countries that long abandoned direct UK rule are advocating for the VI to have direct uK rule.
For the record, the TCI Good Governance precepts are very agreeable. I think that could be achieved in the BVI without having a limited suspension of aspects of self rule. I would prefer a less controversial approach.
At the end of the day some very grave things were going on. The BVI would have kicked out of Caricom for some of them.