ARE WE REALLY THE CHERRY ON THE WORLD'S CAKE?

I was struck a few days ago by a remark made by Mr. Victor Paines on the radio Program 'Talking Point'.


He said and I quote: "St. Martin is the cherry on the world's cake"!


The thought stopped me short, but I had to agree; it does seem as if everybody in the world wants a piece of us these days, whether on the French side or the Dutch side.


Why and how did we find ourselves in this situation and even more important, is this a good thing? And if not, what can we do about it?


Back in the sixties and seventies, when independence fever was running high, tourism had put out its first tender buds on St. Martin. Those were the days of Sweet Saint Martin's Land, when people came to St. Martin to see the way we lived, and started coming back to build vacation homes on the island. The tourists were almost all Americans.


Jobs were flourishing in those days and some people had as many as three jobs in one day. Money started coming in and some of those had had to leave home to find work started coming back, especially from Aruba and Curaçao.


Then the eighties rolled around and many Caribbean islands became independant, creating proud new countries with citizens proud of their new identities.


By this time St. Martin was beginning to feel the impact of the influx of outsiders, who came looking for jobs and who found jobs, since the tourist trade had expanded to a degree that St. Martiners alone could not fill all the jobs.


There were however many illegals who were allowed and even encouraged by St. Martiners to remain, based on their feeling that they were repaying a debt, since they had had to go away to find work. This though, was soon interpreted by the outsiders as weakness.


Also being the host population, nobody thought they had to defend themsevelves in their own house, nor did anybody give much thought to identity, not having gone through the independence struggle. At home nobody notices an identity which is shared by all. It is only in leaving your home that you realize that you are not all exactly alike in expression.


Now, however in the twenty first century we are being told that everybody is a St. Martiner, and that native St. Martiners have neither identity nor culture.


Why then is everybody here? And why do so many people want to be called St. Martiner and and rant and rave when they are told that they are not? At the moment those who came lately to St. Martin seem to be having a much easier time of it than those of us whose ancestors settled this island.


Are there any cherries left on the cake for us? And how do we go about getting our share?

IS THIS FAIR?

My first few blogs were written from the point of view of being on the French side of the island. This one goes to the Dutch side and was caused by the article in the Daily Herald regarding the fact that Voyager will now be able to take passengers from PJIA direct to St. Barths, apparently from directly accross from the airport, cutting out the taxi drivers who are accustomed to take them to Oyster Pond, Voyager's normal placeof departure.


Again I ask: is this fair? Why would Voyager need to leave from the Airport? And from government's point of view, did they think when they were giving this permit, because I assume a permit should be required. Did they think of those drivers whose living depends on carrying people around the island? They have delivered hundreds of taxi permits, each one cutting down the profits of the other. Now another unknown amount of lost fares.


Another thing, the owners of Voyager are metropolitan French. What flag does the boat fly? There are offices on both the French and Dutch side, so we assume the company is registered on both sides of the island.


There are many questions surrounding this whole affair, so let us wait and see what will develop further down the line, but I still find it unfair.

CAN ONE REALLY BE A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD?

The world is either a very big place or very small place, depending on your point of view.


Can your point of view really make you feel yourself a 'citizen of the world', with no more feeling for the place where you were born and where you grew up than for the place where you now find yourself?


True, there are people who leave their native lands and never look back, but does that mean that they feel the whole world is their homeland?


Can somebody born and bred in the desert be really at home in the tropical rain forest, even if both desert and rain forest are on the same continent, such as Africa and South America? Can someone from a tiny island in the middle of the ocean really belong to continent and vice versa?


All this makes me wonder why so many people of late have claimed tove St. Martin so much they claim it as their homeland, not so slowly and not so subtly pushing the natives out and causing them to be treated as second and third calss citizens.


If it were not possible to do so much in St. Martin that cannot be done elsewhere, would the rich keep coming? If the French did not give such generous social benefits even to illegals, would the poor keep coming?


This little island is only 37 square miles and is not likely to grow in the near future, and it is being forced to support outsiders from its own budget without being able to decide who stays and who leaves. How long can this go on?


And where does it leave the natives who consider this their ancestral homeland and are not 'citizens of the world?'

TWO NATIONALITIES - A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING?

Is the fact that St. Martin is a two-nationality island a good thing or a bad thing? For whom is it good and for whom is it bad and why should this be so? And then, what can orshould we do about it?


As a tourist attraction it is definitely a good thing. The island is only 37 square miles, its frontiers are virtual, one passes them almost unnoticed.


The Dutch side can capitalize on things Dutch and the Frenchside on things French, especially food and restaurants. That is probably the biggest of the good things. It is also probably the biggest of the bad things too.


The two administrative systems are so different it is almost unbelievable. Most of the time French people have gone to the Dutch side to work, mostly in the tourism sector. Yet it is almost impossible for people of the Dutch side to come to the French side to work.


On the other hand, today we have immigrants who live on one side of the island, and profit from the laws of the other side, something the natives cannot do.


Another bad thing is the rampant immigration, which rewards the illegals by granting them both legalization and after a few years the nationality of the country. This puts the French side especially in a bind. Because of the French system they cannot decide who enters, who is expelled, who gets legalized or who gets French nationality. Yet, again because of the system, the collectivity has to pay the dole for them.


It seems to me that we are reaching a point where it is definitely not a good thing.
 

WHY DOES OUR ENGLISH BOTHER FRANCE MORE THAN OTHER DIALECTS?

What is there about the fact that we speak an English-based dialect here on St. Martin that bothers France so much? I'm sure they cannot understand the French-based ones spoken around the world any more than they understand ours.


It has been said that France has forgiven Germany for invading them but will never forgive the U.K, the USA and Australia (all of whome speak English), for having liberated them.


Now, St. Martin has been English-speaking for centuries. The island is surrounded by English-speaking islands, including the Southern side of St. Martin itself, where most of us have family members and other relatives.


Having said that, it is true that we should be able to speak French, if only to be able to defend ourselves, and when I look around, since France 'rediscovered' us in the seventies, most young people have been attending French school. Not without problems, since the children are expected to know the French language from the day they enter school.


If we gave up speaking English, what would we become? We would become like the French, monolingual and would be like Guadeloupe and Martinique, unable to communicate with our Caribbean neighbors. Not forgetting our relatives on the Dutch side of the island. Must they learn French too?


My feeling is where other dialects are concerned, most of which are incomprehensible to others of the English and French speaking world, our dialect, even though ridiculed many times as 'broken English', would still be and is understood by most English speaking people who come to this island. Maybe even the French are unwilling to admit that they understand more of our dialect than they can of French-based ones!

WHERE IS FRANCE (AND ST. MARTIN) HEADED?

France has issued 46.000 permits to illegal aliens during the course of 2013, up 30% from 2012. There is a 'Valls circular' which sets out what is 'required' for legalization of these illegals. What is the government hoping to achieve by doing this? They have also eased the requirements for naturalization. So these illegals not only get legalized, they also are rewarded with the French nationality!


The former government considered naturalization the final step in the integration process of a person into the French system, which seems a reasonable assumption. However, if people are naturalized without proper integration, what kind of country are they creating?


On the one hand France has it in for St. Martin because they speak English, which we have been doing for centuries, while on the other hand granting their nationality to people who are not so slowly and not so subtly forcing French people to change their way of life to suit theirs.


When I consider the legalization and naturalization of all these people I am forced to think of people of St. Martin who are being condemned in court for engagin in 'clandestine' work activities, the very same word used to describe people who enter the country illegaly.


On one hand those 'clandestine's are rewarded for their illegality, while we are condemned for trying to make a living without have to beg the government for money. Engaging in 'clandestine' working activities does not give the government any money to throw around the way they do, since it is the social charges collected from businesses that gives them this money.


Another point is that because of that they have turned our people into a population of unambitious, lazy and cowardly people! It does not pay to have ambition in the French system, since if you were born without money, you won't get rich in the French system. Government will find a way to take it from you, while those who were born rich only continue to get richer.


How long before something blows up?

WHEN ARE WE GOING TO ACT?

When is St. Martin going to amend its Organic Law to suit our specific circumstance's? Why should we have to support and pay out money to people who have no jobs and who contribute nothing to the community, people who only come here for the social benefits they receive from the French state? And once having received this money, it is sent back to their country of origin?


If France wants to pay them for living in St. Martin then the State should pay them while the Collectivity pays the natives. How long can continue having the responsiblity of paying these people who arrive in droves year after year without having the competence to decide who can collect and who can't?


This is a burden that St. Martin can no longer carry. France is setting the Collectivity up to fail. The state wants to be able to step in and say that we are incapable of handling our own affairs. They have wanted to do that for several decades now, ever since they realized the treasure chest they have in St. Martin.


They cannot do so in St. Barths, because that is a whole different setup. They are one people, to start with, and they know what they want. St. Martin has never been one in that way, two nationalities have always had its effect on us, whether we like to admit it or not. We may have relatives on both sides, and I for one consider the island as one, since a hurricane or earthquake will not hit one side and not the other, but where we stand right now, we are definitely divided.


This story might sound trivial, but demonstrates a profound truth about the French state. For the upcoming World Cup France has no referee qualified to take part. However French Polynesia does, and because it is a Collectivity under article 74 (and because it has amended its Organic Law at least 16 times), it does have one such referee who can participate in the World Cup as a French Polynesian and not simply be swallowed up the name of France.


When are we going to emulate what is worth emulating?