The legend of Phillip Goldson seems best defined by struggle: the struggle against colonialism, the struggle against Guatemala, the struggle against the PUP, the struggle against the Maritime Areas act, the struggle against glaucoma: you name the fight and the man Goldson took it on.
And perhaps it is that long history of struggle that often ended in short term defeat that makes it so difficult to neatly package this man's sprawling legend. But finally a group of Belizeans are working to ensure that Goldson is recognized for the 50 years of unmatched public service to Belize.. The group has organized a tribute in the form of a public meeting which will be held tonight. The group is being led by Bert Tucker who told us why Phillip Goldson still matters.
Bert Tucker,
"People in this country need to come aware again of, and especially our younger people, of the tremendous service and sacrifice and the contribution that he made in his 50 years career. That set of contributions include work on the security of this country which he kept unbroken, his work on the democracy of this country, his work on the process of prosperity to help people to begin to organize themselves and to earn and to live a decent life and also what he focused on was that the people of Belize should participate and so this was a man who had a vision who was at the beginning of the whole independence process of Belize in 1950, who went to prison for that and who actually came out strengthened by that process and continued to pursue a vision over a 50 year period notwithstanding all kind of personal sacrifices he became blind and pursued nevertheless his work which was really service to the people of Belize so I believe it is very important for our people to understand it to get some of the facts that have been missing because very few of us know the whole story and tonight's session is truly about asking people to bring what they know. It is the start of a process, it is not a one shot affair."
Tonight's tribute to Phillip Goldson begins at 7:30 at the Bishop Sylvester Memorial Center.