{"id":1274,"date":"2003-09-03T12:20:09","date_gmt":"2003-09-03T12:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2015-05-17T12:20:34","modified_gmt":"2015-05-17T12:20:34","slug":"the-st-martin-book-goes-from-the-street-to-the-island-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/2003\/09\/03\/the-st-martin-book-goes-from-the-street-to-the-island-council\/","title":{"rendered":"The St. Martin book goes from the street to the Island Council"},"content":{"rendered":"

GREAT BAY, St. Martin <\/strong>(September 3, 2003) \u2014 At least one Island Councilor took the advice of Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards and read the book\u00a0An Introduction to Government<\/em> in preparing for this week\u2019s Island Council (IC) Meeting.<\/p>\n

It was IC member Gracita Arrindell (PPA) who quoted directly from\u00a0An Introduction to Government <\/em>and strengthened her overall debate in the IC Meeting.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, her discussion point supported by the text was related to the very Lt. Governor\u2019s role as chairman of the IC and the Executive Council. \u201cI was not attacking the governor, or trying to embarrass him\u201d in the public debate about the proposed Great Bay Beach boardwalk, said Arrindell.<\/p>\n

\u201cI prepared for the debate. And in serving the people it is my democratic right to be able to challenge or question any office of government with regards to performance and projects,\u201d added the first term councilor who holds a degree in political science.<\/p>\n

But there is another exciting point that may not really be about the IC meeting topic or debate tactics and strategies, said Lasana M. Sekou, House of Nehesi\u2019s projects director. \u201cWe\u2019ve been looking at and appreciating over the last few years how the use of well-researched information, good writing, and quality design and production of books published in St. Martin are slowly but surely making their way throughout the society.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1999, House of Nehesi published\u00a0An Introduction to Government \u2013 Island territory St. Maarten<\/em>, authored by government affairs historian Louis Duzanson. It was the first time since the modern IC was instituted over 40 years ago that a book became available in English, explaining factually how the \u201cIsland territory\u201d government branches work, listing the responsibilities of elected and appointed officials.<\/p>\n

Most people still do not know this information in English, admitted Arrindell. In fact, outside of a few Dutch university graduates, most people in St. Martin have never read to the extent of this book about the workings of their own territory\u2019s government in Dutch either. Duzanson\u2019s book is changing this, including for people elected to the IC and appointed to the Executive Council.<\/p>\n

The easy-read, almost hands-on guide book to government, was sold out over two years ago but an inching demand from schools, students, the general public and, this year, from government itself, has forced the publisher to decide on a reprint of the title.<\/p>\n

Actually reading from a St. Martin book in an IC debate is new and thus probably worth writing about. \u201cWe are encouraged, and thankful, to point out that it is the St. Martin people, the every-day people, who first showed support and confidence by their genuine interest. by buying, reading, talking about, and taking home books published on the island. It didn\u2019t start with the establishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen a few brave schools like the Academy and educators like Mr. Rombley at the MPC led the way for the schools in the 1980s. Now Rhoda Arrindell is virtually building a literature canon for USM that includes books from around the world and the St. Martin books that can stand up to comparative criticism,\u201d pointed out Sekou.<\/p>\n

The bookstores followed the general public. \u201cBut and it took Van Dorp to raise us to the front counter during the late 1990s, and broke the practice of shoving the St. Martin book in a back corner or on a bottom shelf, which was the case in most bookstores from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the North, the majority of bookstores owned by French metropolitans refused outright to carry the St. Martin book, until the Marche in Hameau du Pont crossed that border at the turn of the century, clearing the way for the Consensus book and Daniella Jeffry\u2019s\u00a01963<\/em> to actually find a willing distributor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back to the South, in the mid- to late 1990s, Lt. Gov. Dennis Richardson became the first official in that office to be a virtual patron for the St. Martin cultural arts and he consistently presented\u00a0National Symbols<\/em> and later Neville York\u2019sSweet Salt<\/em> as VIP and protocol gifts to visiting dignitaries from around the world.<\/p>\n

The Tourist Bureau head Regina LaBega became another champion of the national book, and supported openly by Commissioner of Tourism Theo Heyliger,\u00a0National Symbols<\/em> especially became a tourism promotion standard\u2014joined now by\u00a0St. Martin Massive!<\/em> and\u00a0St. Martin Yesterday Today<\/em>. No wonder then that the Tourist Bureau presented a World Tourism Day award to House of Nehesi in 2001.<\/p>\n

Lt. Gov. Richards was not to be outdone when he took office as the first Lt. Governor for the new century, he actually presented members of the civil service with copies of, what else,\u00a0An Introduction to Government<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Gracita Arrindell may get the footnote in history as the first to quote from a St. Martin book as part of a public council debate. For doing this, and with world literacy day on the horizon, she is adding to a kind of a leadership service, encouraging young and old to read, especially their own books and to big up their own intelligence. Talking about encouraging reading and the visibility of the St. Martin book, it cannot be ignored that the island\u2019s newspapers and broadcast media have remained steadfastly at the forefront\u2014and has sometimes served as the only public fora for homegrown writing and reading\u2014whether critical or uncritical.<\/p>\n

Of course, a minimal amount of other officials have given some mention to a national book or two in their talks at various functions over the last five years or so. \u201cIn fact, just a few months ago, during the dedication of the Baobab tree at Bellevue, Romeo Fleming, Commissioner of Tourism in the North, made reference to\u00a0National Symbols<\/em> during his comments at the brief ceremony,\u201d noted Sekou.<\/p>\n

As for the IC as a legislative body, we are nowhere near Trinidad where to quote a calypso in parliamentary debate is not only a standard but also a classic thing of national pride\u2014or at the very least a sign of political acumen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure that before independence it was practically unheard of for politicians in Trinidad and Tobago to seriously mention any national literature or specifically a kaiso, which is definitely lyrical text and part of the region\u2019s first free press,\u201d said Sekou.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GREAT BAY, St. Martin (September 3, 2003) \u2014 At least one Island Councilor took the advice of Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards and read the book\u00a0An Introduction to Government in preparing for this week\u2019s Island Council (IC) Meeting. It was IC member Gracita Arrindell (PPA) who quoted directly from\u00a0An Introduction to Government and strengthened her overall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-2003"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1274"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1276,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1274\/revisions\/1276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/houseofnehesipublish.com\/sxm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}