Apathy Wins

  

 

Stop wunna boasting

And look at who en voting,

One hundred and eighty-seven thousand

And still counting.

 

More than two-thirds

By a simple calculation,

Even Mia could not bring them out

Is my summation.

 

Last time out

Was the lowest poll ever,

To tell me that this time would be so low

I would say never. 

 

  

 

A staggering statistic

Regarding this one

And I dare say it would have been so

Regardless of who won.

 

Eighty-three thousand

Is the electorate that voted,

It’s just a new national consciousness

Someone quoted.

 

‘Tis nothing to celebrate,

Madam PM, take note,

For when apathy wins, we all lose,

That is my quote.

 

Even as the Bs celebrate

We ought to cogitate

On the ramifications of this statistic

For our beloved state.

 

 

 

Just 30.8 percent

Has got to be a protest,

Meaning the BLP got out their base

But not the rest.

 

Rather than vote BLP

They decided not to vote,

Meaning that the winning BLP party

Must also take note.

 

 

 

For the second time

The Apathy Party has won:

The first time in the 2022 snap election

And again, in this one.

 

Only once prior to ’22,

Was a poll less than 60%

But these two recent snap elections

Show a certain bent.

 

It is interesting to note

The poll of 1994

When the Erskine Sandiford DLP

Was shown the door.

 

A “no confidence” motion

Brought by Owen Arthur

Succeeded on the floor of Parliament

And the D's struggled ever after.

 

That three-year term

Occasioned a snap election

And was one of three 60% turn-outs

Going back to the ’56 election.

 

The highest election polls

Came in successive elections:

The first in our year of Independence

And in the 1971 elections.

 

Both were Barrow wins

In the upper 70s and 80s,

79.7% in the year of Independence

Full of expectancy.

 

 

 

Independence was granted

Just the February before,

Thus, Barrow became a national hero

For this and more.

 

In '71 was the highest

With a whopping 80.63 %,

That the vote was a powerful means,

Drove the Bajan intent. 

 

But now gone from us

Are those civic conscious days

When a complete parliamentary term

Comprised five years.

  

Now we have elections

Long before that time

And this strategy puts other parties

In a serious bind.

 

Mia is very clever,

A shrewd strategist is she

And it’s time she uses her clever mind

To curb this apathy.

 

  

 

Apathy Party has won

These last two elections,

So, the buck now stops at PM Mottley:

Leader of our Nation.

 

The worst of it all,

None will enter parliament

And unless someone crosses again,

There’s none to represent.

 

No opposition in Parliament

Hampers true democracy

And I must remind my Bajan family,

This is a travesty.

 

 

 

Apathy has won again

And in effect we have lost,

So, all we can do now is wait and see

What will be the cost.

 

Stewart Russell © February 12, 2026

 

Today Is Polling Day

  

 

Today is polling day,

The rhetoric is over

And the campaigning is done.

Each candidate strove

And fought tooth and nail

And their race has run.

 

Now it’s the electorate

That will now speak

As by their vote they will decide.

It’s a powerful moment

And it is left to see

How flow the ripping tide.

 

The outcome is critical

To every one of us

As we wait with bated breath.

Hence, the thrill of victory

And the agony of defeat

Invariably will attest.

 

 

 

One way or another

We must move ahead

As we steer this ship of state.

For whatever the tide

Be it in stormy gale

We must face whatever fate.

 

May democracy win

And the vote reflect such

Whether for Mottley or Thorne.

And let it be known

While party lines separate

We are mostly Bajan born.

 

So, perform your duty

Those so disposed

And do so in peace and in love.

For in the final analysis

An account is required

Before the One above.

 

Stewart Russell © February 11, 2026

 

Missing the Point

 

 

What is the price of apathy

Or closing of the eyes to reality:

An induced restriction of visibility

To explain away what we see?

 

A sixty percent participation

In General Election 2018

With the BLP taking all 30 seats:

The first of two scenes.

 

A repeat of the performance

In General Election 2022

With the BLP taking all 30 seats

In the midst of much ado.

 

A forty-five percent turnout

Of the eligible vote

Thus, the question must be asked,

Are we taking note?

 

 

In the midst of celebration

There was no time to note

The whopping fifteen percent drop

In those eligible to vote.

 

What were the reasons

For this record low turnout?

COVID-19 could have been one

Surely, without doubt.

 

That election was called

To acquire a fresh mandate,

Twenty-nine seats were not enough

After one escaped.

 

The DLP lost some ground

But not as much as the BLP

Suggesting it was more than COVID-19;

Perhaps, some apathy.

 

A people increasingly fed-up

With the much political posturing

And no serious attempts being made

At delivering.

 

Fast forward to the present!

May this year, 2025

And that the apparent apathy continues

Should be no surprise.

 

 

Wednesday’s by-election

Could only muster 38 percent,

By the 2022 General Election standard

This is not even decent.

 

A growing disenchantment

Is particularly apparent

And a message to both political parties

Is being sent.

 

It’s a message of protest

By the largest political party:

The electorate who refused to participate

On account of their apathy.

 

Two reasons for this apathy

I will dare to highlight,

You may agree or disagree with me;

That is your right.

 

There are some who believe

They cannot be touched,

They feel safe in their ivory towers

And they have so much.

 

 

 

It can go either way,

It does not matter to them

For they have more than sufficient

To take care of any problem.

 

Then there are the electorate

Who have often switched

But regardless of whom they voted for

There was no fix.

 

Promises never delivered

Led to their apathy

And they withdrew their support

For either party.

 

 

 

We are missing the point

If we still cannot see

That the large majority of voters

Favours neither party.

 

 

 

 

Neither can stir the numbers

Now steep in their apathy

Even though one party has turned

To jump-up and revelry.

 

They have curried the favour

Of many of the youth

But the low turnout in St James North

Says apathy is the proof.

 

It is a “couldn’t care less”

Or “nothing will change”,

And this speaks to a political system

That is undoubtedly deranged.

 

Of more than 8500 electorate

Thirty-two hundred turn out

And the so-called overwhelming win

Causes the BLP to shout.

 

There is nothing exciting

When only 38 percent turns up,

In our good old Barbadian vernacular,

“That really sucks”.

 

 

 

 

So, while Chad and the BLP,

Rejoice over their landslide victory,

Over 5000 of the electorate stayed away

Displaying their apathy.

 

We are missing the point

If this fact we cannot see

That the majority of the electorate

Is voting neither party.

 

Stewart Russell © May 22, 2025

 

Absolute Nonsense

There is sense in nonsense

But only in the word,

In day to day living however

That saying is absurd.

There is no sense in nonsense

It must not be excused,

From the youngest to the oldest

Such we must refuse.

It’s not the needle in the haystack

That you might find it by chance,

You can search all you like

Nonsense does not sense enhance.

If what a person says or does

Is replete with nonsense

Do not expect to find sense

There can be no defense.

If something is full of something

There can be nothing more

Hence if it’s full of nonsense

Of that you can be sure.

You must have been admonished

To pick sense from nonsense,

Of course that’s not possible

Because in nonsense there’s no sense.

A lesson you might learn is

Not to do what the idiot did

Like playing “hide and seek”

And finding me before I hid.

Closing one’s eyes so he won’t be seen

Is absolute nonsense you’d agree

But people do it all day long

In a moment I’ll help you to see.

It’s like you are driving

And someone deliberately cuts across

But feigns he doesn’t see you

So your vision too must be lost.

And if further along the road

You should him accost

His response would be, “Not me my friend

You could not have seen me, boss.”

Peter felt if he could close his eyes

To what Jesus had said

Then those who saw him

Would have been deluded instead.

There’s no way one can do nonsense

And then reason it is sense,

It’s like saying he’s neither dead nor alive

Instead he’s sitting on the fence.

All I am saying is

You can’t pick sense from nonsense

Even if you are a magician

And I am totally dense.

It is absolute nonsense

Some of the things we say and do

And then add insult to injury

With, “Others say and do it too.”

A high point of our nonsense

Is pointing to the majority

As though once the majority does it

That gives us indemnity.

Maybe you are wondering

Why I am giving you this caution,

It’s because politicians are out

And this is the silly season.

They will come prepared

With manifestos and notes

Trying to impress you

So they can woo your vote.

Don’t fall for their nonsense

And try to pick from it sense

Even if it sounds impressive

And appears intense.

Think with your conscience

Even if they ignore theirs,

Tell them you’ve made your choice

And in you mind it is clear.

Do not tell them for whom

You plan to place your vote,

Tell them you’ve been following closely

And you have taken note.

Tell them it’s an informed decision

And they need not worry,

They need not waste time with you

And to the next they can hurry.

Do not encourage vote buying

It will get you nowhere,

Your integrity is costless

And such politicians don’t care.

And even if you don’t support

The one who bought your vote

You’ve given him a promise

Upon which he can always quote.

A vote buyer is worse that a vote seller

That should be clear to see,

One has clearly lost all conscience

The other has lost his integrity

Some have advocated

If money sharing out get some of it,

I say act like informed electorate

Not like the dumb and illiterate.

And bear in mind this little quip:

Nonsense is sure to return to haunt

Even the wise and ignorant

When ostensibly such they flaunt.

Stewart Russell © April 2018