United Black Association For Development - From Movement To Party and Regression

From Movement To Party and Regression

UBAD returned, defiant as ever, in 1970 with an article in Amandala entitled "Games Old People Play" which lampooned a petition heard in the Supreme Court over the 1969 election results. Hyde and editor Ismail Shabazz were charged for sedition in March and acquitted after an exciting trial in July. Less than two weeks later, the UBAD movement had metamorphosed into a political party, the UBAD party for Freedom, Justice and Equality (abbreviated for this article as PFJE), established on July 22, ironically the anniversary of the 1919 post-World War I riot in Belize City.

The PFJE continued to speak to the people and lobby for representation in government, arguing that it had paid its dues. But it suffered a setback in 1971 when a coalition of NIP and UBAD candidates lost the Belize City Council election (not UBAD's fault as the NIP had never won a City election) and three of its supporters were arrested after riots during the "Pan African Liberation Week" celebrations on May 29, 1972.

The PFJE lost momentum even further in 1973 when half its executive voted to join the newly formed United Democratic Party (UDP), occasioning a rift between Hyde and the UDP that exists even today. Early in 1974 Hyde announced his intention to run in the Collet Division of Belize City in elections scheduled for later that year. He posted 89 votes, running third behind the PUP and the UDP candidate, but caused the margin of victory to swing to the blue by one vote and costing the UDP one of the three seats that might have deadlocked the House. The result reaffirmed a tenet that survives today in Belizean politics: support whoever you want between election days, but on election day its either PUP or UDP. Hyde subsequently dissolved UBAD in a column in the Amandala of November 8, 1974, entitled a "Farewell to Arms".