~ We are the ones we have been waiting for ~
By Laura Bijnsdorp
Last Sunday I found myself at Buccaneer Beach Bar listening to the first presentation of Light Workers St. Maarten. I was told to go there by a friend, who called it Occupy-SXM; a name which caused my interest to peak at once.
If you haven’t heard about the Occupy movement, you have probably not been following the news much. This international protest is directed against economic and social inequality. The movement’s main slogan is "We are the 99%" and it refers to the concentration of wealth among the top 1% of income earners compared to the other 99%. By October 9, 2011, Occupy protests had taken place or were ongoing in more than 95 cities across 82 countries, and in more than 600 communities in the United States.
St. Maarten definitely has problems with social and economic inequalities if you keep in mind that for example the minimum wage is NAf. 7.96 for a person 21 years and older (less than half of what you would make in the Netherlands), the unemployment rate was 12.2% in 2009 and 29.6% when it came to youth unemployment (15-24 years) according to the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2008. How do some people survive with the high cost of living on the island? A protest against social and economic inequality on St. Maarten, I thought to myself, is just what we need!
Light Workers
Light Workers St. Maarten started with four members. To find out more about the group, I talked to Brett Sutherland. “Occupy was a term that became loosely used because there was no other term like it. The movement Occupy was encountering all kinds of problems in society that needed to change over the world. But on St. Maarten, we were aware that nothing was happening. St. Maarten needs a movement like this,” said Brett.
“We were inspired by people wanting to become more community-oriented. What I wanted to see here was an increase of consciousness that promotes self responsibility within people themselves. For example, food is a major problem; we import all our food which is GE (genetically engineered) food. We have no choice but to eat this; since we are not cultivating food ourselves, we can’t control the prices. And if a crisis breaks out and imports stop, we will starve within a week. This can be prevented if people start to think and look after themselves. So one of our goals is to promote community and shared gardening and provide land for people who want to participate.”
He continued: “We need to get back to our roots. In the system that we live now, we have lost part of our humanity. Because we are not in touch with how we used to be with our environment, we are not connected with our earth, which causes us to live unnaturally and not respect the earth as we should. A symptom of this is for example littering or polluting our waterways. If we are involved in growing our own food, we need the earth to be healthy and thus we become more environmentally aware.”
2012
Not only did the current Occupy movement and the spirituality, myths and legends around it inspire Brett and the Light Workers, but also 2012 is the year change is supposed to happen. “People are hearing that it’s doomsday; this is fear-based. 2012 and the myths around it have nothing to do with fear. It is a positive year; time to make a change and enter into a ‘Golden New Age,’ Mayans, Maori, Native Americans, Sufi, Asian groups. Everyone can gain from this,” explained Brett.
“Golden New Age?” I thought to myself, “What does he mean?” Brett has been studying tribes and their prophecies and myths for years. “So many tribes have congruent prophecies. They all talk of 2012. The most famous of course being the Aztec calendar that maps out that 2012 is the end of one of our 26,000-year cycle. It is said that every 26,000 years, something massive happens. But this time, it is not about wiping out humanity. It is says that we are entering a Golden New Age, an age of positive change.”
Even though I have my doubts about myths and legends, I do agree with Brett’s final statement about their spiritual inspiration: “Government has different interests, while these prophesies and myths are pure and for humanity; which is why we are inspired by them.”
The future
I think the most important aspect of the Light Workers is that they are promoting the asking of questions. In my opinion, not enough people on St. Maarten question what they are told or are forced to do or live by.
The first Light Workers St. Maarten presentation was a success. Seeing the amount of interest that was shown afterwards, they have various offers of land that might be appropriate to use for their community gardening projects, as well as various people in different fields willing to share ideas.
Brett ends the interview: “I want a spark to happen, so that conscious minds come together in different fields. Together we can come up with solutions, something that the government is obviously failing to do. We are the ones we have been waiting for!”
To contact Light Workers or for more information, go to:
https://www.facebook.com/lightworkersxm or
www.lightworkerssxm.tumblr.com
Tonight, January 21, Light Workers will have another presentation at 6:00 at Lagoonies. The presentation will be followed by the movie “2012.”
