I use strawberries here as a metaphor for things we crave and buy that are from another land. You can go for days, weeks and months even, without hearing pan music on the radio, our so called national instrument. We embrace Machel for 1 month and Justin and Adele and Chronixx for the rest.
Of course I believe in the free market system. I also believe that if we are to survive and thrive as a small island state we have to nurture and protect the things that make us unique. Canada is not small yet it has seen the value of protecting and promoting its musicians and film makers through legislation. In contrast, we subsidise poor Nikki Minaj and cry crocodile tears when Raf passes, leaving behind work that we are not likely to ever see or hear.
How do we curb our love for strawberries? The short answer is we need to start eating mangoes again. We keep wasting trump. The market can choose bikinis, beads and feathers but we must not subsidize it, in any form. I have been told that our national school feeding programme is going total local. We also need to get more local content for our nation’s soul.
