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From poverty to prisoners of policy: The dark psychology of ULP

: Troy Prince
7 Min Read

“I miss being hurt by you. I’m your captive, your fool. I understand you, my captor. You’re my weakness and my saviour”. — Unknown

In 2023, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves warned Vincentians that the $577 million in loans from Taiwan would discourage anyone in St Vincent and the Grenadines from severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan, as the debt is a ‘hook in the gill’. In fishing, this means a deep hook that harms the fish and requires special handling.

However, if we apply a figurative meaning to the phrase, it suggests Vincentians are being caught or manipulated, with metaphors like a fish hook representing being stuck in a painful situation like resentment or anxiety, where the Unity Labour Party (ULP) holds onto the pain to keep them impaled or unable to escape. This raises the question of whether the PM’s statement sounds like a captor admitting to holding his people captive to Taiwan. If so, why are so many Vincentians still singing ‘Labour is Working for All’ and “6 in ah row”? The simple answer is political Stockholm syndrome.

Voters for the ULP in the next general elections will be the political equivalent of Stockholm syndrome. This condition describes a situation where hostages develop a psychological bond with their captors, often to the point of defending them. In St Vincent and the Grenadines, we see how Vincentians who are statistics in the 25-30% of the population living in poverty believe the ULP is the best option to lift them out of their situation, even if the ULP is responsible for their state of affairs over the last 25 years.

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Sadly, poorer Vincentians still form a psychological bond with the Ralph Gonsalves-led ULP government. This is understandable because poverty can override decision-making. Consequently, over the past two elections and leading up to the upcoming one, poorer Vincentians continue to rely on the ULP for crucial decisions. This misplacement of trust and loyalty is concerning.

A famous example of Stockholm syndrome is Patty Hearst. At 19, Hearst was kidnapped on February 4, 1974, by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) at her California apartment. Her fiancé was beaten, and Hearst was taken to gain financial and political leverage with the US.

News of the kidnapping dominated the headlines. In April 1974, Patty Hearst joined her captors and declared her intention to become a revolutionary. She even helped rob a bank and travelled across the country after a shootout between the SLA and Los Angeles Police killed SLA leader Donald DeFreeze. She was finally captured in San Francisco on September 18, 1975, charged with robbery and sentenced to seven years in prison. Hearst claimed to have been brainwashed.

This example is relevant to the case of political Stockholm syndrome in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Vincentians continue to see the government imposing high taxes on citizens while wealthy foreign friends receive tax breaks that enrich them at the expense of the poor. Under the current Prime Minister for 25 years, poverty, crime, corruption, dilapidated infrastructure, potholed roads, inadequate healthcare, unemployment, high taxes, dependency, and mismanagement of public resources have worsened.

Despite these challenges, many Vincentians still support the ULP, perpetuating their suffering.

Those not benefiting from the ULP’s policies face dire conditions. They live in poverty, are unemployed, depend on government handouts, secure jobs only during roadworks, endure substandard conditions at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, lose jobs through political victimisation, and live in fear of crime. These social ills are exacerbated by the ULP regime’s neglect of the poor, leaving many communities without prosperity or hope. This level of hopelessness is especially evident in communities that elect opposition members of government.

The ULP continues to create a false reality and a deceptive image of competence that benefits them electorally, despite the suffering of thousands of Vincentians. After 25 years of governance, nearly 5,000 Vincentians are on poor relief. The ULP offers numerous incentives to the voting population, including laptops, lumber, galvanise, cement, and other gifts, but Vincentians settle for the bare minimum in the four years prior to the election year. Despite this, some Vincentians keep falling for the ULP’s trick and return them to office, keeping them in their hostage situation.

The psychological manipulation of Vincentians has been successful since 2001. The consequences include the threat to the security of our fragile democracy and a nation where the people who vote for the ULP and claim to love Ralph only do so because of poverty. The masses continue to suffer as the government ministers and their families prosper. This phenomenon is not physical captivity but mental enslavement through misinformation and disinformation spread by the ULP’s dominant media platforms.

This issue is not confined to Vincentians in the country. It has also spread to those in the diaspora who are unwilling to live and work in SVG under a ULP government but are willing to persuade their families and friends to remain there as they support the government from afar. This is a clear example of hostages who broke free of the ULP government but have developed an irrational affection for their captor.

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The views expressed herein are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the opinions or editorial position of St Vincent Times. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].
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