The UN General Assembly speech of the Prime Minister of Barbados has been circulating widely on social media, especially the segment in which Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley quoted Tacitus to describe the horror unfolding in Gaza. She said: “It calls to mind the Roman historian Tacitus, who quoted a Scottish chief team fighting against the military might of the Roman Empire. I mention only the last two sentences. ‘They plunder, they butcher, they ravish … they make it desert and call it ‘peace.’
“They make a desert and they call it peace. The real tragedy of war is that these children, when they become grandparents, will still be answering the innocent questions posed by their grandchildren as to how they lost their limbs. ‘Granny, how did you lose your leg?’ And when they answer, we run the risk that the violence and hate will be perpetuated for another two to three generations.”
Mottley began her remarks with reference to the financial crash of 2008, and how it led to many other crises, but went on to say that the really devastating crisis is one of “Truth.”
“Excellencies, when we lose shared TRUTH, our countries and our global society loses its center of gravity. At first, the damage may seem quiet. Words bend and facts drift in the service of political point-scoring. But, slowly, over time, we descend into political tribalism. We develop alternative realities. And, we are unable to understand each other and communicate with each other because we lack a center.
