The current government in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) who is seen as more socialist, have been trying to make the country a new constitution. But first a little history- SVG was handed its independence from the British just 30 years ago, and with it a constitution to govern by- but this constitution still ties them into the commonwealth, has the queen as their head of state and requires some high British something court to preside over its justice system. So understandably these guys want more autonomy.
Well here everyone has an opinion on the new constitution, and you'll get as many reasons why to vote yes or no as there are people on these islands. Bequia is traditionally against the current party in power, and this rally I went to was by the current party in power... so the turnout was small, and many of the people who stood in the shadows (of the almond tree, of course) were just there to yell naughty things at these guys. It was really interesting to hear the yes argument- they wanna give more power to the opposition and more autonomy to the country. But there's also some things that stood out, like making hanging legal again (great modern way to control violence and crowded prisons), outlawing gay couples, eating babies (KIDDING!)...
Many people say they aren't ready to get full autonomy, they're still too young of a country. I think they'll be ready when they remove the silliness from the proposed constitution.
The vote was yesterday. The No got the majority, and for now nothing is changing. For the better. I'm sure they'll have a few more attempts to pass it, and hopefully they'll realize their mistakes. And hopefully in not too long they'll have ironed out the crap and they'll pass themselves a good enough constitution to take off the training wheels. But it is admirable that they're trying to change things at least.
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