On Saturday, July 3, certain sections of downtown Montreal should have been teeming with the music and vibrations of the Caribbean on what was supposed to be the 35th or 36th staging (depending on who is counting) of the annual Carifiesta parade. Instead, not a drum will be heard and the soca, calypso, reggae and zouk rythmns that should have been fueling the fire in the tens of thousands of participants and spectators along Rene Levesques Blv'd. will be replaced by the usual humdrum of Saturday commerce on the thoroughfare. So when it's all said and done as the cliché goes... it's our fault that we'll not be palancing in downtown Montreal.
Two years of quibbling by 'wanna be' organizers, the Caribbean Cultural Festivities Association (CCFA), and the Montreal Carnival Development Foundation (MCDF), led to a mediocre and divided parade last year and a deadlock this year that made the community exasperated and provided municipal politicians with a reason to call off the parade. We should be worried, very worried by that cancellation. Because it shows that City officials do not value Carifiesta's place in Montreal's cultural tapestry nor do they appreciate the true meaning and relevance of the festival to our community. If they did, they would have resorted to any of the other available options, like giving the permit to the legally constituted CCFA or to an interim group of organizers. Let's start denying them by taking back our signature festival Carifiesta. It's part of our legacy in Montreal and that shouldn't be compromised because of the behaviour of illinformed men and bad minded politicians.
