Its called “ATTITUDE” in Antigua. Buy something from the grocery store, try to get something done which requires some effort on an Antiguans part, and without exception dealing with a government worker, and you will get “ATTITUDE”!
The Immigration department must have special training for their officers to teach them to show “ATTITUDE”. My experience over 7 years with Antiguan Immigration Officials is not nice. They begin by searching for “something wrong” with your documents or your story. Friendly, polite, courteous, and helpful, they are not! Once they latch on to anything they feel like latching on to, they begin to demonstrate their “POWER”, by telling you what you need to do, asking lots of questions, and then finding more reasons to abuse and belittle you. If you are white this is typical. If you are from Jamaica, The Dominican Republic, Guyana, or Dominica, they will hassle you. The show of “POWER” simply emerges because they seem to have none as individuals. It’s as if they want to make up in an instant for all the ill deeds perpetrated on their ancestors. A major need to gratify EGO,indeed!
Antiguans have been deemed the most xenophobic people in the world. If you are not from Antigua, they find fault with you. I never met an Antiguan who liked Jamaicans. Not only do Antiguans find fault with outsiders, they often blame the crime and lack of any abiltiy at all to manage crime on their island, on all the “foreigners”. Antiguans generally will not accept blame or responsibility for even small things or simple errors.
My son just left Antigua to join me on a neighboring island. He is thirteen traveling on a Jamaican passport. Immigration sent him back outside the boarding area to get his mother. The officer then began to tell my wife she owed money for time on the island since my son’s passport showed he last entered in 2006. She also began to demonstrate her “ATTITUDE” by telling my wife she would have a much more difficult time next time one of her children traveled out. My wife is used to this nonsense and she laughed out loud. Her reply was, “what makes you think I’m going to have more children”? My wife then produced a receipt for my son’s Antiguan passport. My family are all Antiguan citizens as well as Jamaican.
My wife has noted how the Antiugan authorities treat her if she uses her Antiguan passport. Or when they detect she is not born in Antigua they treat her with “ATTITUDE”, until they learn she is Antiguan by decent, and then they rapidly change their tune.
I have just let them ramble on over the years, standing quietly, answering only when asked, and then keeping my answers as simple and vague as possible. And never, ever, ask a question or state any kind of thing which might be interpreted as your taking power from them. DO NOT TRY TO TAKE THEIR POWER! IT IS ALL THEY HAVE! After all, they are descendent from slaves for the most part. They are paid tiny amounts of money. They usually obtain their govenment job based on nepotism, and rarely if ever on merit. Jobs are retained for life unless you commit a serious crime and are convicted. Since the justice system in Antigua is completely broken and even the worst criminals are rarely caught or convicted, you are pretty much in a job for life. Incompetence, dishonesty, rudeness, and the general inability to deal effectively and politely with customers, has little or no effect on getting a promotion or keeping your job. Promotions are few and far between, and government workers usually have no expection or hope of ever rising above their current position. Where is any incentive for excellence?
I mentioned “slave mentality”. If you want to understand how this manifests, simply go back to the days when the slave boats arrived in Antigua with the Antiguan ancestors. Slaves were never to show one another up. Keep each other down and never do more than your job. Make no decisions which might make you responsible, and when the shit hits the fan, deny, deny, deny. Now put yourself in the role of a waitress in a local restaurant. What level of service are you able to provide. What rewards can service personnel expect. Tips, not usually, unless the customer is an American. Recognition, no. Promotion, not likely. And the owner who is also Antiguan, will pay you as little as possible. Often workers are used and abused by their Antiguan counterparts who have “made it”, or have attained some degree of power or influence, or are “owners” of something like a business. The highest paying jobs have traditionally been jobs with “white” bosses, such as Mr. Alan Stanford. Note he has discontinued most of his activities on the island because of the way he was treated! I believe one government leader said, “we don’t need no white man to come and tell us what to do”!
So you may now see how all this “ATTITUDE” developed. The sad part is many foreigners leave the island after a couple of years of being treated with abuse. This includes students at the medical universities, retired folks, professionals of all types who are hired to fill jobs Antiguans are not qualified for, such as in the teaching and health professions.
As these folks leave the island two things happen. First and foremost they take their money and incomes with them, moving on to another country where they can pay taxes and be productive members of society. And secondly, they tell as many people as possible. A friend recently wrote to me telling me she was offered a position in Antigua. I reminded her of her past experiences when she worked there on a temporary basis. I also informed her about the current complete breakdown in law enforcement. That coupled with the new “taxes”, nasty attitude of government workers, hassles with immigration and everything else an outsider must face upon setting up house keeping in Antigua, she opted out.
Antigua has almost no agriculture, and no industry. Most people live below the poverty level and are not employed full time. Women are left to tend to as many children as they can biologically produce, by fathers who give little or no support. Antiguans are usually found seeking help from the “white” folks. That takes the form of hustling taxi rides, promoting tourism, taking aid from Canada, European Union, and the U.S., and suggesting outsiders should come and invest in their country. All this and what do they give in return? You can count on it, “ATTITUDE”. No thanks!
Acceptance is not compliance. Nor is it agreement. It is simply acceptance and not resistance to what is. I accept what I found in Antigua. I do not agree with it, and now what can I do about it. One thing is to shine some light on what is. Thank God for the internet, and thanks to a few others like the med student who recently posted an article about Antigua on an international website for med students. My guess is his truth cost the school and the islands people a signifiant loss in revenue. Potential students may have decided to go elsewhere after hearing this students truth.
What I have described is a reality for many. It exists because the Antiguan people live it and are hopelessly buried in their own ego. It makes no difference which of the two parties are in power. The things I have described are systemic to the Antiguan culture and history. I love the island and in spite of what I’ve written, I have many close Antiguan friends. (Or at least I did before this post). Mokenman being a truth teller, felt this account needed to go to press. Honestly, I do hope change will come. I’m not holding my breath.
The truth shall set you free.
May 30, 2008 at 11:39 am
“Attitude”? Nuttin tal go so!
As the only country in the Caribbean with a foreign population in excess of 30% of the general population, I fail to see how any right thinking person could conclude that Antigua was the most xenophobic country in the world. If hoards of Antiguans ever had cause to invade Jamaica, Guyana, or Trinidad they would be slaughtered at the airports. FYI, all customs officers in every country pose questions to visitors and returning nationals alike. They also pay special attention to high risk visitors, its called risk management. The Antiguan jail and the police blotter are overflowing with foreign criminals who are illiterate or unskilled rejects from other islands. The ubiquitous complaint about the lack of customer service in many islands has been broadcasted ad nausea thru out the Caribbean media. I guess blacks are still expected to know their place, “slave mentality” indeed.
Cordially,
PLM
May 30, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Thanks PLM for responding to the observations of Mokenman.
First, let me say your response proves my point on xenophobia. “Calling immigrants “illiterate or unskilled rejects” is on the same level as Americans denigrating the Mexican immigrants in their country. It keeps the ego in tact by making you better than them.
When you travel abroad, does that make you a reject? Your education seems to have shorted you on the fact that man has historically been migrant. Or maybe it goes, “just not my country”.
Your invasion and slaughter comments are xenophobic, thank you. No one is invading you! In fact if you study Antiguan history you will find who invaded who, and it wasn’t Jamaicans, Trinidadians, or Guyanese. History illuminates the concept of ownership of the islands as comical.
The next point I’d like to make is, a recent study was commissioned by the Antiguan government on “Poverty in Antigua”. It pointed out the country lacked statistical data, although they have a department who’s duty it is to gather statistics. The finding clearly pointed to the incompetence of this bureau, and recommended serious reforms. Yet you are making some statement of fact about the percentage of foreigners on Antigua. If the government cannot gather that information, I suggest you are getting it from the same xnophobic group of Antiguans who blame all their ills (and there are many) on outsiders, rather than taking responsibility themselves for the ill state of affairs of the country.
Lastly, you have demonstrated you have some education when you talk about “risk management”. You also have demonstrated the gap of ignorance or blind eyedness between the reality of abuse and rudeness encountered by travelers in the trenches, at the hands of the ‘Antiguan authorities, and your educated description of abuse as “risk management”. Hitler could have benifited from that spin. Your comments remind me of the gap between what George W. Bush says, and what the people of New Orleans experienced during Catrina.
My interviews with multiple travelers, travel agents, and immigrations and customs officers of other Caribbean states, confirms Antigua has a unique reputation of being nasty, rude, and difficult!
Lastly, if you do not know what “slave mentality is”, and mistake it for a racist statement, you may benefit from a discussion with Antiguan trainers, who’s job it is to instill new attitudes and work ethics in the Hotel industry. It is their term, not mine!
Mokenman
June 5, 2008 at 2:07 pm
“Dem ah complain, but dem na go back home!”
The vast majority of Caribbean immigrants in Antigua from Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Guyana, or Dominica have never darkened the halls of any university, college, or secondary school. They come to be “security guards”, maids, drug dealers, prostitutes, and unskilled hotel workers. I’m a poor working class stiff and very proud of it, so I don’t need to flatter my ego.
It’s safer in New York than it is in Jamaica, Guyana, or Trinidad, so my “slaughter comments” are a reflection of the social conditions that exist in those failed states. Even with all of Antigua’s “ills” these people can’t get here fast enough, funny thing that. People who leave countries overrun with HIV, murder and lawlessness should be thankful that they are now among civilized people not nitpicking and criticizing. The most conservative estimate of the non-national population from the then ALP government was 30%. I personally believe it to be closer to 50%.
As for the customs officers, I think that Guyanese travelers to Barbados and Trinidad might take exception to Antigua’s “unique reputation of being nasty, rude, and difficult!” The customs departments of Antigua, Trinidad and Barbados have a responsibility to protect their citizens from foreign drug runners and criminals even if it offends foreign sensibilities, and if the Jamaicans or Guyanese or British don’t want to be offended, they are free to remain in their countries of birth. If you do decide to relocate or visit another country, respect their laws, culture, mores, and conduct yourself accordingly. Immigrants must assimilate not nationals.
Cordially,
PLM