Creole
Friday (Vandwedi Kweyol) Oct. 25 provided the ideal opportunity for one
citizen to play on St. Lucia’s Creole-English vocabulary to protest the
effects of the value added tax (VAT) on himself and the rest of the population.
Using the buzzing Constitution Park/Boulevard as a stage, cultural activist, Laurent Jn Pierre, b.k.a, ‘Jomo’, carried a crown of leaves to resemble the crown of thorns carried by Jesus Christ; a wooden cross fitted with a tie (kwavat) in the traditional ‘madras’ fabric; and two madras ties around his own neck.
Jn Pierre is Chairman of the Folk Research Centre’s Kweyol Language Committee, which organizes Kweyol literacy classes and produces the Kweyol Poetry Competition during Kweyol Heritage Month.
His piece of drama on Kweyol Friday made use of similarly pronounced words in different languages to mean different things. The kweyol word for cross is ‘kwa’, and the word for ‘tie’ (the item of clothing) is ‘kwavat’. Separate the word into ‘kwa vat’ and the direct English interpretation is ‘the cross of vat’!
Figuratively, Jn Pierre was carrying the financial burden of the value added tax on the people. ‘Mwen ka pòté kwa-vat la!’ (I am carrying the cross of VAT), as he himself declared.
According to Jn Pierre, his action on Creole Friday was not only a protest, but also an awareness campaign and political statement.
“It’s about raising consciousness and an open critic of our present system of administration, using symbols that carry a heavy impact,” he told The Mirror. “It was meant to engage all (ordinary folks) in a philosophical and political discourse on the way forward for small island states in general, but St Lucia in particular.
The general idea of the street theatre was to critique the Westminster model of governance which, “instead of using our creativity and imagination to look for indigenous solutions to indigenous challenges, we are blindly following a Northern paradigm which is failing, but we continue to follow the same path,” he said. “If we continue along this path, the outcome will be failure just the same, since we are “a microcosm of the macrocosm,” he said.
Jn Pierre added: “We just seem to follow blindly. So, the economy is in trouble, let’s just tax them by introducing VAT – even when we admit that it is an oppressive method of taxation. We have moved from the consciousness of the 70′s of Shirt Jack back to Kwa-VAT (tie)……including the Value Added Tax. For me symbols are important; they speak volumes.”
Jn Pierre thinks that 15 percent VAT is too high because, according to him, the economy seems to stifling more now than before its introduction. “It should be lowered, plus, the Government bureaucracy is too top heavy,” he said.
This was not the first time that Jn Pierre used Kweyol drama to make a political point. A few years ago he was shooed away by the police when he tried to use the area of Constitution Park/Government Buildings as a stage.
“The police did not harass me (this time), but a few ordinary folks were very negative and verbally abusive even threaten violence,” he lamented. “The press was not very vigilant so it (the action) did not have the islandwide impact it was intended to have, but so be it. I have done my part. Let the universe unfold as it should.”
Claiming that “bagay wèd èk bagay vini move (things are hard and getting bad), Jn Pierre promised to continue to produce more of the same, as he gets the inspiration. “It’s my way of raising awareness and send vibes that bite,” he said.
Using the buzzing Constitution Park/Boulevard as a stage, cultural activist, Laurent Jn Pierre, b.k.a, ‘Jomo’, carried a crown of leaves to resemble the crown of thorns carried by Jesus Christ; a wooden cross fitted with a tie (kwavat) in the traditional ‘madras’ fabric; and two madras ties around his own neck.
Jn Pierre is Chairman of the Folk Research Centre’s Kweyol Language Committee, which organizes Kweyol literacy classes and produces the Kweyol Poetry Competition during Kweyol Heritage Month.
His piece of drama on Kweyol Friday made use of similarly pronounced words in different languages to mean different things. The kweyol word for cross is ‘kwa’, and the word for ‘tie’ (the item of clothing) is ‘kwavat’. Separate the word into ‘kwa vat’ and the direct English interpretation is ‘the cross of vat’!
Figuratively, Jn Pierre was carrying the financial burden of the value added tax on the people. ‘Mwen ka pòté kwa-vat la!’ (I am carrying the cross of VAT), as he himself declared.
According to Jn Pierre, his action on Creole Friday was not only a protest, but also an awareness campaign and political statement.
“It’s about raising consciousness and an open critic of our present system of administration, using symbols that carry a heavy impact,” he told The Mirror. “It was meant to engage all (ordinary folks) in a philosophical and political discourse on the way forward for small island states in general, but St Lucia in particular.
The general idea of the street theatre was to critique the Westminster model of governance which, “instead of using our creativity and imagination to look for indigenous solutions to indigenous challenges, we are blindly following a Northern paradigm which is failing, but we continue to follow the same path,” he said. “If we continue along this path, the outcome will be failure just the same, since we are “a microcosm of the macrocosm,” he said.
Jn Pierre added: “We just seem to follow blindly. So, the economy is in trouble, let’s just tax them by introducing VAT – even when we admit that it is an oppressive method of taxation. We have moved from the consciousness of the 70′s of Shirt Jack back to Kwa-VAT (tie)……including the Value Added Tax. For me symbols are important; they speak volumes.”
Jn Pierre thinks that 15 percent VAT is too high because, according to him, the economy seems to stifling more now than before its introduction. “It should be lowered, plus, the Government bureaucracy is too top heavy,” he said.
This was not the first time that Jn Pierre used Kweyol drama to make a political point. A few years ago he was shooed away by the police when he tried to use the area of Constitution Park/Government Buildings as a stage.
“The police did not harass me (this time), but a few ordinary folks were very negative and verbally abusive even threaten violence,” he lamented. “The press was not very vigilant so it (the action) did not have the islandwide impact it was intended to have, but so be it. I have done my part. Let the universe unfold as it should.”
Claiming that “bagay wèd èk bagay vini move (things are hard and getting bad), Jn Pierre promised to continue to produce more of the same, as he gets the inspiration. “It’s my way of raising awareness and send vibes that bite,” he said.
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