Sir James Fitz-Allen Mitchell (b.1931) is a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines political leader. He has been a dominant figure in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for almost three decades.
Born in Bequia, Saint Vincent, Mitchell trained and worked as an agronomist in 1958–65 and then bought and managed a hotel in Bequia, Saint Vincent. He entered politics through the Saint Vincent Labour Party (SVLP) and, in the pre-independence period, served as Minister of Trade 1967–72.
After Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gained complete independence on 27-Oct-1979, Mitchell became prime minister 1972–74, heading the People’s Political Party (PPP.) In 1975, he founded the New Democratic Party (NDP) and, as its leader, became prime minister in 1984, winning a historic fourth term in 1998. He resigned in 2000.
Mitchell published articles and books on agriculture, including studies on fungicide usage and land reform and the problems of Caribbean society. His autobiography is Beyond the Islands (2006.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by James Fitz-Allen Mitchell
We are not anxious to grab the easiest dollar. The tourist dollar alone, unrestricted, is not worth the devastation of my people. A country where people have lost their soul is no longer worth visiting. We will encourage only small numbers of visitors whose idea of a holiday is not heaven or paradise, but participation in a different experience. We shall try to avoid the fate of some of our Caribbean neighbors who have ridden the tiger of tourism only to wind up being devoured by it. Large super-luxury hotels with imported management, materials, and values bring false prosperity with the negative side effects of soaring land prices that kill agriculture, polluted beaches, traffic jams, high rise construction that ravages hillsides and scalds the eyeballs – the very problems that the visitors want to forget.
—James Fitz-Allen Mitchell
Topics: Holidays
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