MEMBERS OF THE DIASPORA movement have decided that it might be best to let things cool down here for a bit before they have their assembly. The conference which had been scheduled for around now, has been shelved for the time being. The press releases don’t say so but it is evident that our homeland has become too hot for comfort right now.

The society of writers of letters from afar no doubt will tell us, “Sly mongoose… you name gone abroad”. Conspiracy theories abound, presented not as speculation but certainty. From the tone of Letters to the Editor, we are at the epicentre of a great plot to bring down this little country, so powerful that even great nations quake. So, don’t take this extradition controversy lightly, yuh hear. There is far, far more to it than meets the eye, especially the political connections. In the diaspora, no secrets are hid — or so our relations Up So would have us believe.

The twists and turns of recent events have all the makings of a film script which could top even the most seasoned of mystery writers. Our villains are larger than large. Our heroes — well, they’re another matter. We’re having difficulty trying to separate them from the villains, but that is good for surprise endings.

Ask the security forces (police and army). When the call to arms came the other day to go forth and dismantle the Great Garrison, they went off to the war, confident that the rest of the nation had their back. “Clean it up,” the good citizens cried. “Clean it all up.” When the smoke cleared, however, civilian casualties were high, too high, the society said, and so the song and dance began. “We never mean yuh fi clean it up so much!” the good people cry and war of another kind rages — a campaign to win hearts and minds in the Battle of Tivoli.

Who has won? Who has lost? As Member of Parliament, Prime Minister Golding, determined to salvage something, straightened his spine and headed West at mid-week, despite the fact that some Tivolites had said he shouldn’t go back there. Let the records read that he did — even if the reception, as the TV cameras showed, was decidedly mixed. And now, with Act Two of the drama under way, the air abounds with the catch-phrase of the day, “social intervention”.

If the press releases are to be believed, brighter days are coming for Tivoli. The battle ground is to be socially transformed, the tunnels blocked, the barricades all removed. Like the PM said before he became PM and still on the campaign trail, and like one of the youth arm of the Party on TV repeated proudly the other night “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

It is a little unclear as to just how quickly joy will come for the various protagonists in this complex plot — the mothers left to bury their sons, the security forces picking up the pieces of their reputation. Drama is a two-faced mask — tragedy and comedy. There is a lot of the former, more than enough to go around, but not so much to laugh about. No bouquets are being handed out to the soldiers and police and that doesn’t make their leaders happy.

Few in the public seem to want to recall the minefield into which they were sent, which makes it understandable why there is nothing that soldiers in battle dread hearing more than the word “civilian casualties”. In the court of public opinion, that case is never easy to win. How do you distinguish the good from the bad when the guns are firing? Who was innocent and who wasn’t? Who, if anyone, should have died? Why does the public find it hard to grieve for fallen soldiers?

The most interesting figure in the drama this week is the prime minister. At one minute, he’s sending the troops into battle. At another, he is fending off the attack of the Opposition in a no-confidence vote in Parliament which he narrowly survived (by two votes). Despite that, and all the twists and turns of the strange case of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, the concern for the elusive Dudus Esquire, the ups and downs of a day in the life of the Attorney General and all the et cetera, et cetera, in which she has been trapped, have now been entered into the records of Parliament for history to read. This, I suspect, was the real intention of the Opposition, for they must have known that they couldn’t win the no-confidence vote.

For the debate, the PM adopted a stoic air while he was being battered from across the aisle. When his time came to respond, he threw in an “I’m sorry,” and proceeded to other business, in particular the resumption of debate on the six crime measures. The anticipated outcome of the crime bills is already being treated as a victory by the government for the government, so it was with apparent confidence that the PM-MP walked into Tivoli to show the people that he is still the Boss. Despite the absence of hosts of women to sing praise songs as they had done for the President (now in hiding), Mr Golding ploughed on resolutely, viewing the damage done and promising “social intervention”.

Meanwhile, what of Mrs Simpson Miller? Not much media analysis has been made (yet) of her presentation in the No-Confidence Debate, which supporters of the PM have proclaimed to be a “waste of time”. The presentation was interesting to watch, however. Say what you want, she was outstanding in her delivery. It has been fashionable to sneer at her lapses in articulation, her tendency to shrillness and what some people see as an overly combative stance. This time she enunciated her words carefully and clearly. She avoided losing her cool, in response to the baiting from across the aisle. She has developed an understated, well-tailored fashion style. This time she was in a cool grey suit which added to her new air of authority.

And so we move tentatively back to normality (whatever that is). Dudus was still at large up to press time. Two pastors have revealed that they met with him before the showdown and tried to persuade him to surrender. The soldiers patrol Tivoli. The dead are given names. Another dual-citizenship case has one MP, Shahine Robinson, shut out of Parliament — if only for the time being. A burnt-out part of the Coronation Market has been repaired and returned to use.

The arguments continue. All calm on the Western Front. None but ourselves can

free our minds. Thank you, Bob, for singing Mr Garvey’s message. It is a pity we’re not listening.

gloudonb@yahoo.com