Respect or the lack thereof, the missing ingredient to propel the Haitian recovery

By Jean H Charles

I have been reflecting and pondering on why Haiti is not developing harmoniously while it has an optimum population -- 10 million people -- resilient, industrious, willing to work for almost nothing (a base revenue or a salary of $500 per month for each working Haitian would create a brand new middle class and provide an extraordinary boom to the Haitian economy!) I have found respect or the lack thereof is the missing ingredient that could propel the Haitian recovery.

This lack of respect is almost universal. The Haitian government, the international community, the NOGs implanted in the country and by ricochet the Haitian people toward each other are all culprits in this chain of disrespect that infect the seedling of a relationship that would produce a tree filled with welfare, generosity and good hospitality for all.

As the Haitian people and the rest of the world were commemorating last week the January 12 earthquake that devastated the capital and the surrounding cities, it is proper to recall how the Haitian government under the baton of the man who is now proposed to become the next chief of state of the country has collected the bodies and proceeded with their inhumation.

Pay attention to this wrenching story as recalled by my parish priest of St Louis King of France in Port au Prince. Armed with a leadership style that is not obvious in Haiti, the priest went to scout out the place where thousands of victims of the earthquake were placed in order to bring the whole congregation to a pilgrimage to pay respect to the dead ones.

His description brought tears in the eyes of the parishioners. He could not find the place except the frame of a small hill where the goats and the pigs were roaming freely. An eyewitness told him that 60 large trucks were in line to dump the bodies to a former site -- Ti tayen -- where the dictatorial regime of the Duvaliers used to kill its opponents.

There was a small riot by the surrounding populace at the infamous site, forcing the macabre convoy to be diverted further to St Christopher, where they unceremoniously dumped the bodies. Dirt was put on the dead by tractors, making a small hill. The site has been abandoned since, with no memory and memorial, visited only by the goats and the pigs.

In life as in death, the Haitian government treats its people in oblivion. The living do not fare better. The capital city is filled with garbage not collected for weeks or months sometimes. The public market is in condition so filthy that it should shock the conscience of any civilized person.

Cape Haitian the second city of the Republic, a museum style treasure that should be cherished not only by the citizens of Haiti but by the rest of the world as a world heritage site because each house is a museum relic of the colonial era. It reflects the decomposition of the profound disrespect of the Haitian government towards its own people.

Sewers have not been cleaned for decades. For a population of half a million people there is no public water distribution. The lack of leadership in service delivery is only equal to the limitless resilience of the Haitian people in accepting and living with the squalor imposed upon them by their own government.

The rest of the country is completely abandoned with no dedicated funding going directly to any of the cities or the rural villages. The First Lady in a recent interview to the Associated Press was offended at the national and international press for treating her husband president as derelict in leadership style. Using the lowest denominator on the evaluation scale, one cannot find a better characterization. As a scholar educated abroad, I know the First Lady know better!

The international community, in spite of the outpouring of generosity following the earthquake, has treated Haiti and the Haitian people with contempt. The Organization of American States (OAS), the main actor in framing the political transition, has not made any excuses, pardon or retribution to Haiti for contributing to the destruction of its economy through the enforced embargo against the country in October 1992 for reasons that had nothing to do with reason, logic, and good politics.

The president (Jean Bertrand Aristide), who was expelled from the country, was so divisive in tearing apart the very fabric of society that it has not being able to be woven again. Imposing an OAS-led embargo for his return was the high point of insanity, nay, stupidity!

Accurate reports by international organizations have found one thousand children dead of malnutrition every month during the two years embargo. The destruction of the environment was accelerated and maintained since the embargo. The Haitian economy has taken since a deep decline it has never recovered from.

The disrespect of the OAS/CARICOM organizations towards Haiti is so deep that you will not find one single Haitian professional in the policy making decision of either organization, in spite of the fact the population of Haiti and the immigration issues confronting the region and its relations in the context of public private international law necessitates a Haitian voice and insight in the policy deliberations.

The OAS resident in Haiti, Mr Ricardo Seitenfus, a scholar on Haiti in his own right, in a departing shot, has expressed with a phenomenal clarity the true picture of Haiti vis a vis the international community. “The international reconstruction commission to this day is searching for its real functions. (As such) 11 billion collected for Haiti never got to the country. Haiti needs a peace mission not a war mission. MINUSTHA has been an albatross out of place devoid of a true mission thrown into Haiti as a cottage industry for its own needs not to bring relief to the people; in the case of Haiti we need not a security council but a council for social and economic development. If people imagine that Haiti future can be made through MINUSTHA or through the NGOS we are deceiving the public opinion and we are deceiving the Haitian people.”

For these accurate comments Mr Seitenfus was fired by the OAS Secretary General at a critical time when his judgment is necessary to facilitate the smooth transition of the Haitian democratic process.

In the next weeks the lack of respect of the OAS/CARICOM team will be more evident. A scheme concocted last June between the Haitian government represented by one of its ministers, at the headquarters of the OAS in Washington DC, with Mr Colin Granderson and Mr Albert Ramdin to facilitate the Preval regime to maintain its power through a flawed and corrupt election will be either confirmed or tossed out of the basket by the vigilance of the Haitian people and/or the leadership of some friends of Haiti, including the Obama government.

The NGOs have descended en masse into Haiti after the earthquake. The emergency support was unprecedented, yet the haphazard mode of reconstruction is offensive to the nation. A giant ghetto -- Corail -- is being planned and executed with the funds donated by the people of the world while the rest of the country needs decent housing, convenient school and hospitals and incubation for business promotion. Massive amounts of money are channeled to truck water distribution when the purification could be done easily at the source.

Their intrusion into the country would be beneficial if they would agree amongst themselves to coordinate their work and pay a decent salary to their workers – a minimum of $500 per month to the unskilled. The NGOS represent also a safe harbor for the thousands of Americans, Europeans, Canadians and South Asians who cannot find a job at home. One of them told me the truth: “But for Haiti, I would still be unemployed with a 14% rate of unemployment in Florida.”

Finally but not least, the lack of respect of the Haitian people amongst themselves is contagious. The public officials in their tainted cars with all the privileges showered upon them by the government exhibit an arrogance that echoes the master-servant relationship. Haiti, the land where democracy and human rights took birth in the western hemisphere, is today a de facto apartheid state. The vicious circle of disrespect by and amongst the ordinary citizen is pervasive. It can be seen in the public transportation, in the delivery of the health system, in schools and the organization of the public markets.

The rebuilding of the country must start with the most elementary ingredient: respect for each citizen and respect for each other. The spirit of the hundreds of thousands who lost their lives in the January 12, earthquake demand no less! One year after the earthquake, faced with a complete disorganization of the international institutions, as well as the low level of the trickling down of the recovery resource, it has become clearer for each Haitian that salvation can only come from within, starting with respect for and to each other.

Note:
January 12 of each and every year should be dedicated as a Day of International Solidarity with the people and the Republic of Haiti to honor the 300,000 dead from the earthquake, spirit the 1.5 million internal refugees out of the fetid camps into self dependence and last but not least usher into economic self sustenance eight million (out of ten million) Haitian people who live now in abject and extreme poverty!

January 17, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Another Day at The College of The Bahamas (COB)

C.O. B. - Another ‘New’ Day!
The Bahama Journal Editorial


For quite some time now, The College of The Bahamas has been able to make the news for all the wrong reasons.

The College has made the news when a president was found to be a plagiarist; on another, it made the news when it was discovered that some other senior people were egregiously incompetent.

The College has also made the news when some of its faculty decided that they could or would bring the institution’s work to a screeching halt.

Had we so wished, we could today write reams and volumes about some other nightmare stories now going the rounds in that hapless place. One such involves the alleged theft of a brand-new $7,000.00 aluminum gate; with this rip-off allegedly taking place sometime between mid-night and eight in the morning of January 4, 2011.

To date, no one from the College of The Bahamas has seen fit to raise a public alarm about this alleged theft of public property.

And perhaps, today we might have raised such an alarm.

To date, we have not done so; and this, because we have concluded that such an alarm should have already been raised by the most appropriate College of The Bahamas personnel – perhaps, its new president!

Even now, we await some response or some sounded alarm from the College of The Bahamas.

If – in the most unlikely of cases – it is discovered that we are mistaken, we gladly admit error.

But “believe you me” we are convinced that our informant was telling the truth when she alleged that an aluminum gate was stolen from the College sometime on January 4, 2011 in those hours when most Bahamians were fast asleep.

Regrettably, the gate thieves were doing what they do best, ripping off gates.
Notwithstanding the bad news, there was some news that could be put in the good news bracket.

In the first instance, we can report that, a new four-year industrial agreement between The College of The Bahamas and the Union of Tertiary Educators of The Bahamas has been sealed.

This was done during a so-called “private” ceremony which was said to have been held in the board room of the College.

It is also being reported that, UTEB President Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson is of the view that, [this signing] came as a relief to many of the men and women who teach and lecture in the College of The Bahamas.

The signing bonus of $500.00 might have something or the other to do with their new-found sense of both release and relief, however small each might turn out to be as far as such matters are concerned.

The agreement will expire in 2012.

Signing on behalf of the college were Board Chairman T. Baswell Donaldson, President Dr. Betsy Vogel-Boze, and Council Secretary Wendy Poitier-Albury.

Signing on behalf of the union were Isaacs-Dotson, UTEB's Vice-president External Vicente Roberts and Trustee Janet Donnelley.

But even here, these folk have to wait for another barrier to be hurdled; this involving minutiae regarding registration of the document signed on their behalf.

They who have waited patiently, now wait some more.

For them, this passes for what some of them might call good news.

In the second instance of some of what might also be called good news, we have information to the effect that, The College now has another brand new president; and that her name is Dr. Betsy Vogel-Boze.

We are also told that, this fine lady took up the reins of power in The College with effect from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2014.

The same public relations script noted that, the appointment of Dr. Earla Carey-Baines as President would have come to an end on December 31, 2010; and that, the College was greatly indebted to Dr. Carey-Baines, has resumed responsibilities as Dean, with effect from January 1, 2011...”

We are told that, “Dr. Vogel-Boze comes to The College with a wealth of experience in building and transforming tertiary academic institutions; and that her experience in academic administration spans 20 years in multi-campus university structures.

We note also that, “Kent Stark is a public liberal arts university offering baccalaureate and masters degrees. It has a student population of 5,400 enrolled in academic programmes and about 5,000 that enroll annually in executive education programmes...”

Note also that, “Dr. Vogel-Boze holds a PhD in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas, a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, both from Southern Methodist University.  She currently holds the post of Senior Fellow at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), a leadership organization for 430 public colleges and universities...”

We wish this fine lady well.

And for sure, we also hope that she will do her utmost to help the police find the gate.

January 17, 2011

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Caribbean integration is a mockery - CSME at a standstill

by Oscar Ramjeet


It seems as if Caribbean leaders are not serious about regional integration. The talk about freedom of movement is only lip service and there is no genuine effort for this to become a reality.

It is since 1989, more than 21 years since the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) agreement was signed and, although there has been a series of meetings throughout the region, very limited progress has been achieved to date, especially in the area of free movement of capital, skilled labour and the freedom to establish business enterprises anywhere in the Community.

It is rather surprising that former Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, who had been travelling from island to island "preaching" regional unity and for governments to adhere to CSME, has criticised St Lucian-born Mara Thompson, for contesting the vacant seat in St John created after the death of the late prime minister.

The action by Arthur is very surprising and, in my view, very ridiculous because it defeats CSME and the regional integration process, but two friends of mine who are very familiar with regional affairs reminded me that Thompson, when he was prime minister, completely disregarded CSME when he took stringent, harsh and unconscionable action against non-Barbadians, especially Guyanese. He chased them out of the country and many of them did not get the opportunity to take their assets with them.

My friends said that you reap what you sow and said that the sins pass on to the third and fourth generation.

However, two wrongs cannot make a right and Arthur, who served three terms as prime minister, should know better because Mara is a citizen of Barbados and under the Constitution she can hold office as a lawmaker. The Constitution does not state that you have to be a Barbadian by birth. It states a citizen of Barbados and she has been a citizen for the past 21 years by marriage and residency.

Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has expressed surprise at Arthur's comments.

It seems to me that there is a dim future for the regional integration movement and recently distinguished commentators have been questioning if the CSME has a future. One is David Jessop, Director of the Caribbean Council. He spoke of the criticism meted out against CARICOM Governments and institutions for not ensuring the capacity and economic strength to create a sound regional economic base for investment and trade.

He also touched on the failure to implement regional and external agreements which, he suggests, indicates at best the absence of any coherent long term strategy and, at worse, irreconcilable divisions.

Sir Ronald Sanders, former Caribbean diplomat and well known commentator, suggested that the time had come to stop playing with the aspirations of the Caribbean people and argued that CARICOM needed to devise urgently a comprehensive regional plan utilising the best Caribbean brains that can be assembled from inside and outside the region.

Jessop agrees with Sir Ron's comments and said there is desperate need for a commission with popular support to be empowered to make recommendations on how to move forwards and modernise CARICOM.

The delay by most of the regional governments to abolish appeals to the Privy Council and accept the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is another glaring example of the lapse by the various administrations. So far only three jurisdictions, Guyana, Barbados and Belize have accepted the CCJ as the final appellate court.

January 15, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Without violence, without drugs

Reflections of Fidel

(Taken from CubaDebate)

YESTERDAY I analyzed the atrocious act of violence against U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, in which 18 people were shot, six died and another 12 were wounded, several seriously, among them the Congresswoman with a shot to the head, leaving the medical team with no alternative other than to try to save her life and minimize, as much as possible, the consequences of the criminal act.

The nine-year-old girl who died was born on the same day the Twin Towers were destroyed and was an outstanding student.  Her mother declared that there has to be a stop to such hatred.

A painful reality came to my mind, which surely would concern many honest U.S. citizens who have not been poisoned by lies and hatred.  How many of them know that Latin America is the region with the greatest inequality in the distribution of wealth in the world?  How many have been informed of the rates of infant and maternal mortality, life expectancy, medical services, child labor, education and poverty prevalent in other countries of the hemisphere?

I will confine myself to merely noting the level of violence, starting with the detestable event which took place yesterday in Arizona as a starting point.

I have already indicated that every year hundreds of thousands of Latin American and Caribbean immigrants, driven by underdevelopment and poverty, make their way to the United States and are arrested, often even separated from their close family members, and returned to their countries of origin.

Money and merchandise can cross the border freely, but, I repeat, not human beings, no.  Drugs and weapons, on the contrary, cross unceasingly in one direction or the other.  The United States is the largest consumer of drugs in the world and, at the same time, the largest supplier of weapons, symbolized by the gunsight cross-hairs published on Sarah Palin's website and the M-16 on ex- marine Jesse Kelly's election posters with the subliminal message to fire the full barrel.

Is U.S. public opinion aware of the level of violence in Latin America associated with inequality and poverty?

Why is the relevant information not released?

An article by Spanish journalist and author Xavier Caño Tamayo, published on the ALAI website, offers some facts that U.S, citizens should know.

Although the author is skeptical about the methods currently being used to defeat the power gained by the big drug traffickers, his article provides information of unquestionable value which I will try to summarize within a few lines.

"... 27% of violent deaths in the world occur in Latin America, although its population represents less than 9% of the planet's total. Over the last 10 years, 1.2 million people have died violently in the region.

"Violent slums occupied by military police, murders in Mexico, disappearances, assassinations and massacres in Colombia […] the highest murder rate in the world is in Latin America.

"How can such a terrible reality be explained?

"The answer is provided in a recent study by the Latin American Social Science Foundation.  The report shows how poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity are the fundamental sources of violence, although trafficking in drugs and handguns act as accelerators of murder crimes.

"According to the Ibero-American Organization of Youth, half of Latin American young people aged 15 to 24 are without work and have little chance of finding any.  [...] According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the region has one of the highest rates of informal employment among youth and one in four Latin American youths is not working or studying.

"According to ECLAC, in the last few years, poverty and extreme poverty in Latin America has affected and is affecting 35% of the population, almost 190 million Latin Americans.  And, according to the OECD [Cooperation and Economic Development Organization], some 40 million more citizens have succumbed or will succumb to poverty in Latin America before the end of this 2010.

"According to the United Nations, poverty exists when people cannot satisfy basic needs in order to live with dignity: adequate nutrition, potable water, decent housing, essential medical care, basic education… the World Bank quantifies this poverty, adding that those facing extreme poverty survive on less than $1.25 a day.

"According to a report on world wealth in 2010 published by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch, the fortunes of the Latin America rich […] grew 15% in 2009 […] in the last two years, the fortunes of the Latin America rich grew more than in any other region of the world.  There are 500,000 rich, according to the report by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch. Half a million, as opposed to 190 [...] if so few have so much, many are in need of everything.

"... There are other ways to explain violence in Latin America [...] poverty and inequality are always related to death and pain. [...] Is it an accident that [...] 64% of the eight million who died as a result of cancer in the world lived in regions with the lowest income, where only 5% of the funds dedicated to cancer are spent?

"In your heart and looking us in our eyes, could you live on $1.25 a day?" Xavier Caño concludes his article.

The news of the massacre in Arizona is filling today’s pages of the main U.S. media today.

Specialists at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson are cautiously optimistic.  They have praised the work of emergency personnel who saw to it that the Congresswoman was treated within 38 minutes of the shooting.  Such information was available on the Internet between 6:00 and 700pm this afternoon.

According to these reports, "The bullet entered the forehead, very close to the brain, on the left side of the head."

"She can follow simple directions, but we know that inflammation of the brain could cause a turn for the worse," they stated.

They explain the details of every one of the steps taken to control her respiration and reduce pressure on the brain.  They add that her recovery could take weeks or months.   Neurosurgeons in general and experts in the field, will follow with interest the information released by the medical team.

Cubans follow health issues closely, are usually well informed and are will also be pleased by the success of those doctors.

On the other side of the border, we know the extremes to which violence has escalated in the adjoining Mexican states, where there are also excellent doctors.   Nevertheless, it is not unusual for drug traffickers, equipped with the most sophisticated weapons produced by the U.S. war industry, to enter operating rooms to finish off their victims.

The infant mortality rate in Cuba is less than 5 for every 1,000 live births; and the victims of violent acts, less than 5 for every 100,000 residents.

Although it belies our modesty, it is our bitter responsibility to indicate for the record that our blockaded, threatened and slandered country has demonstrated that Latin American peoples can live without violence and without drugs.  They can even live, as has transpired for more than half a century, without relations with the United States. The latter, we have not demonstrated; they have done so.



Fidel Castro Ruz
January 9, 2011
7: 56 p.m.

Translated by Granma International

granma.cu

...the real McCoy in today’s blood-drenched Bahamas – Blam/gadjammit!

“…bite and blam…”
Rough Cut,
By Felix F. Bethel
The Bahama Journal




“Today it is the right that amuses itself with violent chat and proclaims an injured innocence when its flammable words blow up…” Jacob Weisberg.

“The officer approached her and [grabbed] her, [yanked] her hair and then the woman (Farah) threw her drink in the officer’s face, and the officer bit her,” Gibson claimed. “You should know the law. If you approach her, you’re supposed to arrest her and carry her. How could you beat her and bite her... what is this? Are we not humans anymore?”

From what I am hearing, some tourists are not coming back to the Bahamas – ever! “They said they’re not coming back here because if this is the way the police treat Bahamians they don’t want to return.”

As some of them are said to have described the police… They’re nasty… [The police] scared us…”

Ho dear what can the matter be…oh dear; ho dear, who cares anymore… and so [and on this note], I wish to remind you that, now that they are done with their pleasantries about a merry Christmas; a happy and prosperous new year and a host of other bull, the nigs and the nig police have returned to their nasty past-times.

And so the hurt continues; and as police beatings make the headlines and [sadly] the same tired-assed politicians are bleating like lambs on the way to the slaughter –with some bleating about national security and others bloviating nonsense galore about majority rule.

In the meantime – as the following news excerpts reveal – the beat continues.

Story number one concerns an event that involved two women, a fight, some biting and fine some face-scratching – and a bevy of shocked tourists.

Here I am told that, “…Tourists and Bahamians looked on in horror as a police officer allegedly beat a woman before hauling her off to jail yesterday in the area just behind the downtown straw market.

Edena Farrah is the name of the woman who was allegedly beaten by an off-duty officer for reasons that are still unknown.

Now note this: “The lady (Farah) was on the scooter with about 12 tourists following her… She stopped and was talking to the tourists, and the police woman, who wasn’t even in uniform, grabbed the woman by her hair and started to beat her…”

And then we have the question: “How could we have policemen in the force like that? The police should not be [acting] like that…”

Thereafter I am told that, some of the tourists on the tour chimed in with color commentary to the effect that, the police who beat the woman was truly nasty.

“They’re nasty… [The police] scared us. We came here; we spent our money and what are they doing? They beat the woman. They’re showing us bad things. They should not do that. It’s scary because you know you have lots of tourists here. They should cut it out. The policemen are a little too aggressive here. Just let them tour... let them serve us. We’re coming here because of the people. Don’t be aggressive here.”

And then there was even more commentary: Referring to the vendors who had served her earlier in the day, the woman added: “These are lovely people. The police should help - not hurt.”

“They’re nasty… [The police] scared us.

Now hear some of what happened ex post facto; and now – for emphasis – and after the nasty facts on the ground, Superintendent Wayne Miller informed media that he could not give details on what happened as the matter was still under investigation.

And as the investigation begins, Miller explained that, “Right now I’m trying to restore calm… We’re going to look at everything that happened then give a report…”

Yeah, Miller, I hear you.

Even now, I wonder if Miller heard what one witness said she saw and thereafter what the newspaper said she said.

Here I am told that, Wendy Nixon, a straw vendor, said she was sickened by what she witnessed.

As I am told she said that, “The police beat her like they wanted to kill her. I’m calling on the chief of police to investigate the officers. They are not officers; they are bullies.”

The plot sickens and thickens: Natasha Farrah said she was told that her sister was punched in the face several times. Several family members gathered yesterday at the Tourism Police Station on Bay Street where Farrah was being held…”

Another sister said police would only say that Edena Farrah was arrested for disorderly conduct.

And then we get another blast of hot opinion: “She’s in there bruised and bloodied. She is not a robber. She is not a thief. And she is not a murderer. Instead of beating her they need to go and do their job…”
Oh dear, [and sadly so] they are doing their jobs!

The only mercy in all that stuff that involved the police woman who they said bit the woman and then and thereafter yanked her hairy head has to do with the fact that there was no blam-gadjammit involved this time around.
Thank God for little mercies.

While this was so here; things were decidedly different there in Tucson, Arizona where as one Jacob Weisberg wisely advises: “…First you rile up psychotics with inflammatory language about tyranny, betrayal, and taking back the country.

“Then you make easy for them to get guns. But if you really want trouble, you should also make it hard for them to get treatment for mental illness.

I don't know if Loughner had health insurance, but he falls into a pool of people who often go uninsured—not young enough to be covered by parents (until the health-care bill's coverage of twenty-somethings kicked in a few months ago), not old enough for Medicare, not poor enough for Medicaid.

“If such a person happens to have a history of mental illness, he will be effectively uninsurable. To get treatment, he actually has to commit a crime. If Republicans succeed in repealing the Obama health care bill, that's how it will remain.

“Again, none of this says that Tea Party caused the Tucson tragedy only that its politics increased the odds of something like it happening.

And as the wise one concludes and as I concur; “…It was in criticizing writers on his own side for their naiveté about communism that George Orwell wrote, "So much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot."

Blam/gadjammit in Tucson, Arizona where a gunman armed with a Glock semi-automatic killed so very many people. Ironically, had he made it to the army and thence to the place where killing is condoned, Obama may have had reason enough to call him a hero.

Oh dear…Ho dear!

Sure seems as if contexts do matter when you set about that nasty business of wishing or wanting to kill people.

Here I end as I might not have wished but nonetheless, I have for you some real blam/gadjammit coming from the bloodied eye of that storm coursing its own destructive way through these islands, rocks and cays that belong to so very many foreigners.

The facts are clear and simple enough: A pre-school teacher was shot about the body multiple times with a shotgun by a lone gunman on Sunday night, leaving her school community in a state of shock and her family devastated.

According to police, Denise Adderley, 39, of Chippingham, was at Texaco Service Station on Wulff Road and Kemp Roads when she was shot.

Adderley died on the scene, bringing the murder count up to three for the year.

A man was arrested and a shotgun seized, according to police.

There it is: the real McCoy in today’s blood-drenched Bahamas – Blam/gadjammit!

January 13, 2011

The Bahama Journal

Bahamas Blog International

The crime against the Democratic Congresswoman

Reflections of Fidel

(Taken from CubaDebate)

AS is known, the state of Arizona, a territory that was snatched from Mexico by the United States together with many other expanses of land, has been the scene of painful events for the hundreds of Latin Americans who die trying to immigrate to the United States in search of work or to join parents, spouses or other close family members who are there.

In that country, it is they who do the hardest jobs and live under the constant fear of arrest and forced deportation. Despite drastic measures, the number of people dying in the attempt is growing every year and those expelled to their countries of origin annually are in the hundreds of thousands.

The number of U.S. citizens opposed to that abuse is also growing, like those who supported and, for the third time, elected the young Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

The state of Arizona is currently one of the richest in the United States on account of the minerals extracted there, especially copper and molybdenum; large-scale cotton and meat production, which utilizes huge expanses of its land; the beauty of its landscapes, including the Colorado River Grand Canyon, considered one of the loveliest on the planet, and one of the three major indigenous communities. The state is annually visited by 30 million national and foreign tourists. Approximately 30% of its population is of Hispanic-American origin.

On the other side, the Tea Party, constituted by the most reactionary and politically backward elements of society, is trying to drag the Republican Party into extremist and warmongering positions which, in the midst of the crisis and disappointment over the promises that Obama has not wanted or has been unable to fulfill, would take the country into the abyss. The relevant conclusions can de drawn from the debate that will obligatorily have to take place.

As for the state of the Congresswoman's health, the Spanish press website El Mundo, published:

"The bullet entered the back part of the Democratic congresswoman’s head, […] crossed the left hemisphere of the brain and exited the front. After a two-hour operation, in which they extracted the remains of the bullet, part of the dead cerebral tissue and approximately half of her cranium – which they have kept to re-implant later – surgeons at the Medical Center attached to the University of Arizona, Tucson […] are expressing ‘cautious optimism.’

"It would seem that the surgery went well, according to Dr. Peter Rhee, head of Traumatology at the hospital, who explained that, despite the patient being sedated and on a respirator, which means that she cannot talk, she has been able to communicate with gestures and respond to simple commands, ‘like squeeze a hand or raise two fingers,’ something which indicates the existence of ‘cerebral function.’"

"Dr. Francisco Villarajo, head of Neurosurgery at the Niño Jesús Hospital and La Luz Clinic and with experience in this kind of surgery, explained to El Mundo: ‘What is most dangerous for the congresswoman at this point is brain swelling, given that, in its passing, the bullet has taken with it portions of bone, which could result in inflammation. A risk that is further increased after surgery, as the area is highly sensitive.’"

I hope that world public opinion will learn clearly and precisely the real condition of the congresswoman as soon as possible. It is a matter of interest to everyone.



Fidel Castro Ruz

January 10, 2011

7:11 p.m.

Translated by Granma International

granma.cu

Bahamas Blog International

One year since the earthquake in Haiti

Bill Van Auken


Today marks the first anniversary of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that devastated the impoverished Caribbean nation of Haiti, leaving a quarter of a million of its people dead, more than 300,000 injured, and approximately a million and a half homeless.

One year after this natural disaster, the horrors facing Haiti’s population have only deepened, with a cholera epidemic claiming thousands of lives and a million left stranded in squalid tent camps.

This festering crisis underscores the social and political sources of the suffering inflicted upon Haiti’s working class and oppressed masses.  That such conditions prevail virtually on the doorstep of the United States, which concentrates the greatest share of the world’s wealth, constitutes a crime of world historic proportions and an indictment of the profit system.

Those familiar with the conditions on the ground in Haiti provide an appalling account of the indifference and neglect of American and world imperialism toward the country’s people.

“The mountains of rubble still exist; the plight of the victims without any sign of acceptable temporary shelter is worsening the conditions for the spread of cholera, and the threat of new epidemics becomes more frightening with each passing day,” said former Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, the Caribbean community’s special representative to Haiti.  “In short, there has been no abatement of the trauma and misery which the Haitian populace has suffered.”

Roland Van Hauwermeiren, country director for the NGO Oxfam in Haiti, described 2010 as “a year of indecision” that had “put Haiti’s recovery on hold.”  He added, “Nearly one million people are still living in tents or under tarpaulins and hundreds of thousands of others who are living in the city’s ruins still do not know when they will be able to return home.”

Of the approximately one million people living in makeshift tents or under tarps in the crowded camps of Port-au-Prince, more than half are children.

The Haitian capital remains buried in rubble.  It is estimated that less than 5 percent of the debris has been cleared by Haitian workers attacking the mountains of fallen concrete and twisted metal with shovels and their bare hands.   Heavy equipment has not been present in any significant amount since the withdrawal of the US military more than six months ago.

At its height, the US deployed some 22,000 soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen in Haiti, seizing unilateral control of the country’s main airport, port facilities and other strategic facilities.  The US military’s priority was to secure the country against the threat of popular upheaval and to deploy a Coast Guard and naval force to prevent Haitian refugees from making their way to the US.

To those ends, in the critical first weeks after the earthquake when aid was most needed to prevent loss of life and limb for the hundreds of thousands of injured, the Pentagon repeatedly turned away planes carrying medial aid and personnel in order to keep runways free for US military assets.

Within just 11 days of the earthquake, the US-backed Haitian government of President Rene Preval declared the search and rescue operation over—with only 132 people having been pulled alive from the rubble.  Had an adequate response been organized, many more could have been saved.  Decisions were taken in Washington based not on humanitarian considerations, but rather on the cold calculus of national interests and profits.   Undoubtedly, this included the calculation that rescuing injured Haitians would only create a further drain on resources.

In contrast, the spontaneous response of the people of the United States and the entire world was one of solidarity with the suffering Haitian masses.  An unprecedented outpouring of support yielded $1.3 billion in contributions from the US alone, the vast majority of it coming from ordinary working people.

One year later, however, just 38 percent of those funds have actually been spent to aid in the recovery and rebuilding of Haiti, according to a survey by the Chronicle of Philanthropy.  In Haiti, there are widespread suspicions that vast amounts of money have been diverted into the coffers of NGOs and aid organizations.

Even worse is the response of governments. At a donors’ conference convened in March of last year, more than $5.3 billion was pledged.  Of that, only $824 million has been delivered. Worst of all is the response of Washington, which pledged $1.15 billion for 2010, only to subsequently announce that it was postponing payment of virtually the entire pledge until 2011.

Last July, former US President Bill Clinton, who serves as the Obama administration’s envoy to Haiti, the UN’s special envoy to the country and the co-chair together with Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), expressed frustration over the slow pace of the payments and promised to pressure donors to make good on their promises.  Apparently he has had little success in this effort, including with his own wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.  He has repeatedly made it clear that the only acceptable path to Haiti’s reconstruction lies through private investment and the assurance of profitable conditions—based largely on starvation wages--for US-based banks and transnationals.

On top of the earthquake’s devastation has come an epidemic of cholera, which has already claimed 3,600 lives and is expected to infect at least 400,000 people.  Public health experts acknowledge that the spread of the disease has still not peaked, yet the terrible toll of this disease merits barely a mention in the US media.

The Obama administration’s indifference to Haitian life has been underscored by the decision to resume deportations to the country, with 350 Haitians slated to be sent back this month. With many of these people destined for incarceration in Haitian jails, which are rampant with cholera, the action amounts to a death sentence.

The epidemic is not a product of the earthquake, but rather, like the extraordinarily high death toll from the quake itself, the outcome of grinding poverty and backwardness resulting from the domination of Haiti by imperialism and, in particular, the role played by the US government and American banks and corporations over the past century.

Haiti is by far the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  Even before the earthquake, less than half of the urban population and less than a fifth of those in rural areas had access to sanitation, leaving the country vulnerable to cholera.   Prior to the quake, nearly three quarters of the Haitian populace was living on less than $2 a day, while barely 20 percent had jobs in the formal economy and 86 percent of urban dwellers were housed in slums.

These conditions are inextricably bound up with an oppressive political and social order that was forged through the US military occupation from 1915 to 1934, the savage 30-year dictatorship of the US-backed Duvalier dynasty, and the subsequent enforcement of so-called "liberal free market" policies by Washington and the International Monetary Fund.

The growing frustration and anger of the Haitian people over the criminal policies of Washington and the country’s narrow and corrupt financial elite have erupted repeatedly in mass resistance in recent months, first against the United Nations troops over the spread of cholera and then in response to the fraudulent November 28 election.

This popular resistance deserves the full support of working people in the US and internationally.  The demand must be raised for immediate and massive aid to Haiti.

But aiding the people of Haiti and rebuilding the country on the basis of human needs rather than the interests of the native elite and the foreign banks and corporations can be achieved only by uniting the working class in Haiti, the US and throughout the hemisphere in a common fight for the socialist transformation of society.

12 January 2011

wsws

Honouring our commitment to Haiti

By Senator Kirsten Gillibrand


Families across New York will be reflecting this week on the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake that ravaged Haiti.   The tragic loss of life and hardship from this disaster has anguished the people of Haiti and their families here at home.

While we mourn the more than 300,000 people who died during this tragedy, we must also not forget the over one million displaced Haitians who are still living in crowded camps and many others still without basic services.

Now that the cameras have gone, we cannot leave Haiti behind.

In the aftermath of the earthquake there was an outpouring of support from governments, ordinary Americans and people across the globe.  And while we have made some progress, a number of events from deadly storms, to a cholera outbreak, and contested local elections have further complicated long term reconstruction efforts.

We must not let up on our pledge to help rebuild Haiti.

The way forward requires commitment and vision.  I saw the challenges firsthand when I spent time in Port au Prince last year, and I believe there are opportunities to tackle the country’s serious needs.

First, the Haitian people deserve free, fair and inclusive elections and a stable, working government that responds to their needs.  Election fraud must be addressed and corrected.  Only then can the Haitian people have confidence that their government will effectively use international and Haitian resources to help move the displaced out of camps and into permanent homes, strengthen schools, and create new economic opportunities.  I am closely following the Organization of American States (OAS) review of the election results and will work to ensure a fair election process.

Second, we must do a better job of partnering and working with the Haitian people and the Diaspora community.  I have consistently raised this issue with the Administration and will continue to urge the USAID Director to ensure that we stay true to our government’s commitment to engaging with all the stakeholders in supporting a Haitian-led recovery.

Third, I will continue to call on the United States to make a high quality, public school system a top priority in our relief efforts.  It was inspiring to see eager schoolchildren in backpacks on their first day of school during my visit.   If Haiti is ever going to rebuild, and if these children are ever going to succeed, Haiti needs a strong publicly funded school system serving as community cornerstones, offering health clinics, immunizations, literacy education, job training and nutrition for children and families.

While we seek to rebuild Haiti, we must protect Haitian nationals residing in our borders.  In the hours after the earthquake, I called on President Obama to grant temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians living in America.  I am grateful the Administration took swift action, allowing Haitians in the US to continue to live here without fear of returning to a country ravaged by devastation.

With TPS set to expire in July of this year, I am urging the president to once again extend temporary protected status for an additional year through 2012.

I am also renewing my push to help 35,000 Haitians who have US government-approved family immigrant petitions reunite with their families in the US.

Due to visa backlogs, some Haitian spouses and minor children of US permanent residents or adult children of US citizens could wait for years to come to America.   This month I will re-introduce legislation in the Senate to allow such individuals to leave Haiti and work in the US.

Haiti faces a series of enormous challenges and there is more work to do.  We must do more to ensure that the problems of Haiti do not become a forgotten cause.  The survivors of the tragedy remind us of the strength, resilience, and hope that emerged from the rubble.  We must stand in unity with the Haitian people and remain steadfast in our mission to see Haiti overcome, recover, and succeed.

January 10, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Gun Violence Running Amok

The Bahama Journal Editorial
Nassau, The Bahamas


In yet another instance of America’s morbid fascination with the gun and with the violence implicit in this ruthlessly efficient weapon, people around the world now look in on some of what can and does happen when an armed man in Tucson, Arizona enters a scene where he has the part of maiming and killing a number of innocent men, women and a girl-child.

We deplore this violence and today we pray not only for those who have been wounded; but also for the sweet repose of the dead.

We also pray that those who mourn might yet find comfort as they remember their dead neighbor, family member or friend.

While this is clearly all we can do in the circumstances, we also note the extent to which gun-violence now pervades the consciousness of so very many of our people.

We deplore this debauch of so very many of our criminalized men, women and increasingly our youth.

And so, even as we look inwards, we look north and see how hard men with guns can and do manage to twist human history in their own twisted direction.

And so we note how [this time around]; the man with the Glock in Tucson, Arizona is 22 year-old 22 year old Jared Loughner.

This man is thought to be the gun-man responsible for the carnage that has left behind a trail of blood, horror and the nauseatingly nasty stench of violence perpetrated upon the innocent.

His victims include men, women and a nine-year old child.

In this grisly list we find included, U.S. Congress Representative, Gabrielle Giffords [wounded]; U.S. District Court Judge John Roll and five others, including a 9 year old girl, Christina Taylor Green, murdered and 12 others injured in the mayhem.

For better or worse – and most often for worse – anger and violence finds themselves woven into the very fabric of life in the United States of America.

On occasion, this brew is expressed rhetorically; but on other fateful moments, the violence expressed is to the point as gun-shot finds its mark and people are left either maimed or dead.

Today we note that bloody instance that occurred this Saturday past in Tucson, Arizona when a U.S. State Representative was shot at point-blank range and where and when some others also bit the dust.

As Carl Hulse and Kate Zernike note, “... The shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords and others at a neighborhood meeting in Arizona on Saturday set off what is likely to be a wrenching debate over anger and violence in American politics.”

They also argue that, “… Not since the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 has an event generated as much attention as to whether extremism, antigovernment sentiment and even simple political passion at both ends of the ideological spectrum have created a climate promoting violence…”

Indubitably, today this is precisely the case.

For our part, we are absolutely convinced that it is America’s morbid fascination with violence and the gun that today under girds that great nation’s epidemic of gun violence.

So, the prognosis is bleak for America and for the recurrence of nightmares such as this one that involves Gifford and her fellow victims.

This is why today we commiserate with those who mourn the death of loved ones brought down by murderous gun fire, whether they reside here in the Bahamas, our region or whether they live in places like Tucson, Arizona, or Fort Hood, Texas where thirteen people – most of them soldiers- were laid low by bloody gunfire.

In this regard, it is today as clear as a blue-sunny day that gun violence in our country is but yet again a contorted expression of the extent to which some Bahamians ape, mimic and model behavior imported from the United States of America.

These idiots do what they have to do with weapons smuggled into the Bahamas from the United States and other countries.

This is all so very sad.

Indeed, it is also so very tragic.

Put simply – and to the point- the great United States is being ravaged and devastated by gun-violence run amok.

Some of these are of course used for hunting.

But true too is the fact that, most of the guns that are purchased will be used to intimidate, maim or kill human beings.

But truth is that most other guns that Americans say that they have a right to bear are obviously intended for their very best uses, namely to maim and kill any and all, inclusive of man, woman or child.

Indeed, when all is said and all is done – the question remains as to how much longer it will take the American people to come to their senses and realize that it is their own morbid fascination with Death that now fuels the kind of rage, violence and mayhem that found expression this Saturday past in Tucson, Arizona.

The Bahama Journal Editorial

The cholera epidemic in Haiti

By Jean Herve Charles



I was travelling at the beginning of the month of October, from Port au Prince to Cape Haitian by public transportation when one of the travelers exchanged a phone call giving the information in the bus that eleven persons had died from food poisoning from a restaurant in Mirebalais, a bustling town not too far from the Dominican border. I would learn later it was not a case of food poisoning but the beginning of a cholera epidemic with the epicenter located near the Nepalese UN contingent stationed in that city.

Mirebalais is close to the Artibonite River, the largest and the longest Haitian river. Investigative research initiated by the French Health Ministry and conducted by a French specialist, Professor Renaux Piarroux, along with the Dean of the School of Public Health at Harvard University, has concluded that massive dumping of human waste from the UN base had compromised the quality of the water for regular use.

Notable institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, have hidden the origin of the disease with the lingo that ‘the source of the virus could not be determined with certainty”. The Swedish Ambassador Claes Hammar broke ranks with the wall of silence against Haiti that its own government has contributed to erect.

I have the information from reliable sources from the United States that the strain of cholera in Haiti is from the Nepal UN contingent in Haiti. It is up to the United Nations to reveal the whole truth about the genesis of the cholera.

The cholera germ could not find a hotter bed than Haiti to germinate with celerity and intensity. Public health as an institution and in practice does not exist in the entire country.

To facilitate the vein of corruption, the government has emasculated the power and the means of each local entity to clean its streets and the management of its waste, by creating an institution, the CNE, which is outside the purview of the legislative branch and of public scrutiny.

The CNE with massive equipment bought with the Caribe fund is using this material and its human resource with the prism of political priority not with the goal of providing the citizens of Haiti with a clean environment.

To add insult to injury the man in charge of that institution, Jude Celestin, is the dauphin groomed by the president of Haiti to become the next head of state of the Republic.

According to John Snow (1813- 1858), the father of the etymology of the disease, the cholera epidemic is, above all, a disease of contaminated water. You will find no city in Haiti, including the capital, equipped with a system for distributing potable drinking water. (The town of Petit Goave has just received a grant from Red Cross France to provide the city with drinking water.)

Close associates of the government are in the business of selling drinking water; as such the government should stay out of that business. DINEPA the new institution funded by the Spanish government to manage the water system in the country, does not have a policy of universal distribution of potable clean water.

The cholera disease has already caused the death of some 3,481 people with 80,000 in hospitalization. It is expected, according to the Pan American Health Organization to reach an effective 1 million people. The Cuban doctors, as well as Doctors Without Borders, have been in the frontline of the epidemic containment.

The term cholera, derived from the Greek word khole, is caused by a bacillus named vibrio cholera. It has its origin in the Indian continent near the squalor of the Ganges Delta. It spread from there through the silk trade to Russia in 1817, killing one million people. It went next to Germany, 1831, London and Paris in 1849 and returned to Russia in 1852. It is a dangerous infection that starts with a profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting of “a rice water with a fishy odor”. It can kill a person within hours, with circulatory collapse leading to a renal failure and certain death.

While the cholera disease is extremely dangerous, it can be treated easily with vaccine (85% effective), oral serum and, in the larger context, universal water purification, clean sewage and proper waste management system.

Haiti is postponing this radical operation to engage in the propaganda of cleaning hands and bottled water, while refuse and uncollected garbage is all over.

The earthquake of January 12, 2010, was an occasion for Haiti to rebuild itself. The cholera epidemic is another opportunity for Haiti to correct its deficient public health system. I have seen no clear signals that the Haitian government, along with the international community, is seizing the opportunity to create a new nation where cholera or any other disease or epidemic will have no quarter.

The Dominican Republic has registered already 139 cases of cholera. The epidemic respects no borders. A functioning and responsible leadership in Haiti is the best handicap against this modern scourge that enjoys squalor to spread its wings!

January 8, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

The National Congress of Trade Unions to commemorate the historic 1958 general strike which brought Nassau to its knees...

Trade Unions Congress to mark 1958 general strike

tribune242

Nassau, The Bahamas

AT A TIME of high tension between the government and labour unions over the sale of BTC, the National Congress of Trade Unions has decided to commemorate the historic general strike which brought Nassau to its knees for several weeks in 1958.

NCTU general secretary Robert Farquharson announced that a rally and voter registration march will be held on Monday beginning at 7pm at RM Bailey Park.

The march will begin at the BCPOU headquarters on Farrington Road at noon.

Mr Farquharson asked all members and affiliates to take their lunch hour at that time, make the five-minute walk to the Parliamentary Registration Department and register to vote.

He noted that persons will need to have their passport and national insurance card with them in order to register.

The general strike of 1958, in which thousands of workers took part, resulted in the Trade Union and Industrial Conciliation Act and the creation of the Labour Department.

It is also credited with influencing Allan Lennox Boyd, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, to order the first constitutional steps toward Majority Rule for the Bahamas.

While the NCTU's statement made no mention of the government's current plan to sell BTC to Cable and Wireless, several union leaders have threatened to protest the deal by orchestrating a strike rivaling the 1958 upheaval.

This week, State Finance Minister Zhivargo Laing hit back at these union bosses, saying their threats display their "arrogance."

Mr Laing said: "They hold fast to this position to the extent of a threat of national strike, to the extent of going down to Bay Street. They say, 'I know better than the whole country, I know better than the prime minister and the government, we know what is good and right'."

He also noted that the unions are decrying the deal but declined to meet with David Shaw, CEO of the purchaser Cable and Wireless, for discussions late last year.

As for BTC's privatisation, Mr Laing reasoned that the sale is crucial in order for BTC to compete in a completely open telecommunications sector.

"In terms of BTC, privatisation of telecommunications is fundamental to pushing us toward, realising our potential. This is what we have to get, the big gain to the Bahamian people is in a liberal telecommunications sector. Liberal meaning no law of the Bahamas bars a Bahamian from providing a telecommunications service to the Bahamian population," said Mr Laing.

"When we liberalise it, you and others get to compete to serve the Bahamian public. That competition makes you better off, that liberalising also provides the economy with more products and services at levels that allows the enterprises in it to compete better and make the economy of the Bahamas more competitive."

BTC's markets will become fully liberalised after the expiration of its cellular monopoly three years from the date of privatisation.

According to Mr Laing, if the industry were to be completely liberalised today, BTC's assets would plummet.

"We have an asset called BTC, if I liberalise the sector today that asset will be decimated in BTC's current situation. There is no question about that, even BTC's own internal research tells them - forget privatisation, in a liberalised environment you will have to instantly reduce your staffing by the order of 25 to 30 per cent in order to be able to compete. So that is why privatisation has to be pursued before (liberalisation)," he said.

January 08, 2011

tribune242

Caricom or Cari-gone?

By Sir Ronald Sanders


The New Year started with a great deal of frustration being publicly expressed over the Caribbean regional integration project which, this year, will have been in construction for forty-three years.  Other integration efforts, such as the European Union (EU), which began after the Caribbean Community and Common market (CARICOM), have moved ahead much faster and much more effectively for the benefit of the people of their member countries.

It is understandable, therefore, that, in an editorial, one of the Caribbean oldest newspapers observed that a majority of people believe that “any official attempt to unite the region as envisaged in the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) is nothing but reverie and doomed to failure”.   To be fair the editorial did not trumpet this observation with glee or satisfaction.  It said that “as we enter the second decade of this century, we hold fast, nevertheless, to the idea of one region”.

So, on the one hand, this editorial, reflecting the views of many, still believes in the notion of a deeply integrated Caribbean – “one region”, but it expresses no faith that, after forty-three years, we will see a CSME anytime soon.   The editorial identified four contemporary reasons for its lack of faith in any “official” attempt to unite the region.

These reasons were: an unfortunate statement last year by the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister that her government would no longer be “an ATM” machine for other countries of CARICOM; an injudicious remark by the same Prime Minister that, in the provision by her government of assistance to the islands of St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines she would expect some benefit for the construction industry of Trinidad and Tobago; the more recent suggestion by Prime Minister Bruce Golding of Jamaica that his government favoured setting up its own national final Court of Appeal rather than acceding to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ); and that CARICOM heads of government are yet to establish “any executive machinery to enforce” their own policy decisions.

All of these points are valid.  There are many more besides.  Among them are that instead of getting on with fashioning CARICOM into an effective vehicle to help with the improvement of their people’s lives and progressing development in their countries, some governments are busily trying to cultivate relations with other larger countries far beyond the region to try to get what they can while they can.   The latter strategy is, of course, unsustainable.   And, as has happened in the past, the governments now flirting, on their own, with bigger countries not on their doorstep will return to the regional fold which is not only their natural home, but also their best hope.

Fortunately, the statements by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, while indicative of an attitude to CARICOM held by many in that country, were made in the early flush of government.   In the past, other heads of government have made equally hurtful (and not fully informed) comments in other contexts.   The truth is that Trinidad and Tobago is the principal beneficiary of trade in goods and services to CARICOM – benefits are not a one-way street. This is the message that the government in Port-of-Spain should be delivering to its people.   Also, to those who say that Trinidad and Tobago does not need the CARICOM market, they should be challenged to identify the alternative markets, how quickly could they be developed if they could be developed at all, and at what cost.

With regard to the statement that Mr Golding has made about establishing Jamaica’s own national, final court of appeal instead of joining the CCJ for this purpose, it really is time that someone bells the cat on this as well.   As I pointed out in my last commentary (“Time to make up your mind”), by April this year Jamaicans will head five extremely important CARICOM-wide institutions.   These are positions for which the Jamaica government fought and other CARICOM countries agreed.   What is the message that is being sent to the people of CARICOM by Jamaica?   Is it that all is well when Jamaica holds the reins, but it isn’t well when other CARICOM nationals are involved?   This cannot be so, and Mr Golding is far too intelligent a man and too well informed to hold such a position.   The time has come for Jamaica’s leadership to cease pandering to the false notion of some special Jamaican capacity, and, instead, spread the true message that this region is one – and one to which Jamaica’s contribution has been highly regarded by its Caribbean brothers and sisters.

The quicker that the CARICOM Secretariat, as part of an overall reform of all its activities, is given the resources and empowered to mount a sustained, multi-media campaign throughout the region on how membership of the Caribbean Community has benefitted, and can continue to benefit, the people of each CARICOM country the better.   And, every government should regard it as its responsibility and obligation to carry out its own domestic programme of education and information.

Of the four points made in the Editorial to which this commentary refers, the most crucial is its observation that “the decade closed without the establishment of any executive machinery to enforce the implementation of policy decisions by heads of government”.   This is – and has been for decades – the fundamental problem with the lack of progress of CARICOM in establishing the CSME and even in carrying out a range of activities that are routine in organisations similar to CARICOM.

In his New Year’s address as Chairman of CARICOM until July 2011, the Prime Minister of Grenada, Tillman Thomas, said that “the cry for the ‘quickening of the pace’ was heard” and “active consideration of new governance structures” was given by CARICOM leaders.   He offered that “one of the main ideas in taking the necessary steps will be tested in this coming year with the establishment of the Permanent Committee of CARICOM Ambassadors” which, he said, “heralds a new dawn for our Community”.

Mr Thomas is right to hold out hope, but it is difficult to see how another layer of national representatives will implement policy decisions of Heads, when ministers and the Secretariat were not able to do so.

The CARICOM vehicle needs an urgent overhaul, or it really will be a case of ‘CARICOM and gone’.

January 7, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Perspectives on the CARICOM Ideal Person

By Oliver Mills



Many classical and current educators have speculated on what kind of education is necessary to produce the ideal citizen, or human being. This is necessary if we are to have persons with the desirable values, knowledge and dispositions that will make a positive contribution to our societies, and be able to solve many of the problems and challenges that beset us, and which continuously present themselves as our societies respond to the requirements of modernity.

Dr Didacus Jules, the Registrar of the Caribbean Examinations Council, has recently given a commentary in Caribbean News Now, on “Rethinking Education in the Caribbean,” in which he argues for an articulation of a philosophy of education for the Caribbean. One of the precepts he mentions that would inform this philosophy is a statement outlining the idea of the CARICOM Ideal Person, or type of person the system ought to produce. He mentions eight areas which incorporate this concept, and I would now like to comment on four of these. These are: that this person should have emotional intelligence, be democratically engaged, be culturally grounded and historically conscious, and be entrepreneurially capable. I am sure that there is an elaboration on these, although Dr Jules states the concept has not been aggressively pursued.

Emotional intelligence is important in enabling the individual to confront challenging issues in a rational, calm, and non-aggressive manner. It ensures that the person, through self-analysis knows himself or herself, knows what triggers certain behaviours, but is able, through training to govern these behaviours appropriately, so that their reaction does not harm others, or complicate the situation further. Emotional intelligence implies being capable of rational thinking, of not allowing personal prejudices to cloud our thoughts, and therefore responding in an objective, fair, and balanced way to issues and contexts, which contribute to those issues being dealt with in a mature and thoughtful way. There are no irrational outbursts, no frenzied reactions, and no getting hyper about an event. It means responding with maturity, and philosophical tranquility.

Emotional intelligence therefore results in an improved situation, clarity on the issues, and the formulation of a measured position which makes the situation qualitatively better than it previously was. It also keeps the individual centered, and in control of his or her self. Controlling the emotions intelligently therefore is a positive attribute. It prevents an issue from developing negatively, restores camaraderie, and there is always a win-win result, with no losers.

But emotional intelligence does not mean passivity. One could still express points of view passionately, in order to influence others. This is however done on an intellectual level, and in a cultured way. It also does not mean putting arguments forward, but deferring to authority. It challenges authority, and presents alternatives for consideration. Emotional intelligence also does not mean giving into the group because it is wise to do so, because of overwhelming pressure. Rather, it implies demanding to be heard, and the right to have our views aired. But in many Caribbean societies with the old boys relationships and ties, there is the risk of losing friendships because of holding views that are controversial or different from the status quo. It may compromise our professional connections, resulting in us being ostracised from important social groups. The point is to have self-assurance, and maintain our dignity in the face of unpleasant reactions to our views. Later, after careful personal reflection, our associates might well end up accepting, even adopting our viewpoints, precisely because they make sense.

The precept, therefore, that emotional intelligence should be an aspect of the CARICOM Ideal Person is important, It means a society that respects contrary views, practices open-mindedness, is assertive with respect to the issues, and possesses citizens who defend their positions, who are self-assured, and who are committed to fundamentally transforming their societies in a positive way, through the use of the power of reason, and not in any physically harming way.

The above fits into the next characteristic of the CARICOM Ideal Person, which is, being democratically engaged. The democratically engaged person seeks to be involved in the process of political, economic and social change. He or she, challenges the status quo, provides alternatives strategies for societal development, and aims to make qualitatively better, the processes that result in new, different and effective policy options and outputs.

The democratically engaged CARICOM Ideal Person is an advocate of strong democracy, maximised to the fullest. This implies the total involvement of all facets of society in matters that affect their welfare, and remaking society and the individual in new and profound ways. This means facilitating contexts in which society becomes more socially conscious, more gentle, more entrepreneurial, and sensitive.

Being democratically engaged is also about promoting responsive structures, ridding organisations of bureaucratic and cumbersome practices, and opening up new avenues for greater opportunities for the not so privileged.

At another dimension, democratic engagement means being responsible for the actions one takes, and owning up to them. It is making prudent choices after careful deliberation, respecting the views of others, and incorporating them into the frames of decision making. It treats each individually equally, does away with privilege as a standard for assessing others, and sees society as not an entity to be manipulated, but to improve the welfare and well being of all its components. Democratic engagement is therefore a strategy to transform and enhance the individual and society, so that we wish for all others what we wish for ourselves.

Being culturally grounded and historically conscious, are related to being democratically engaged. It is the culture of society and its historical heritage that are the assets that facilitate democratic engagement. This culture and history explain the reason why of things, why they exist as they are, and inform the strategies that promote greater democracy. They are also the soil in which emotional intelligence is grounded, takes root, and is operationalised, since they inform our identity, sense of purpose, and awareness of a future context.

Culture and history further are the bedrock for our authenticity, for indigenous policies and programmes, as well as guarantors of their success. Our self-assurance and sense of autonomy are integral to our history and culture, and contribute to lives lived purposely. These three elements of emotional intelligence, being democratically engaged, and being culturally grounded and historically conscious, are therefore interconnected. They positively contribute to, and can be regarded as important ingredients in the psychological formation of the CARICOM Ideal Person.

Being entrepreneurially capable is the final aspect of the CARICOM Ideal Person I will now deal with. Entrepreneurship is usually associated with innovations and risk-taking in business. The entrepreneur seeks out new and better ways of accomplishing maximum results cost effectively, and bringing new products and services on line. He or she adds new dimensions to the way business is done, exercises creativity, and induces novelty in the practice of business.

In this context, being entrepreneurially capable, as an ingredient of the CARICOM Ideal Person, suggests an individual who constantly questions the way things are done, and seeks new and different strategies for achieving enhanced results. This individual must therefore have the type of intellectual and critical skills with which to interrogate, analyse, and present transformative views and ways of operating to whatever activity he or she is engaged in.

Critical analysis and constant self-reflection therefore become the new normal in organisations, and in social practice as well. The practice is entrepreneurial because it moves away from passive acceptance to actively seeking new knowledge, and transformational ways of being and doing. A new type of individual therefore emerges with a new outlook, new tools, and different dispositions towards what is required to be done efficiently.

This results in changing structures, methods, motivations, and mind-sets, which are at the core of social entrepreneurship. With this orientation, change is a constant factor, different and proficient become the standard for doing things, and this results in greater productivity and efficiency, which are definitely needed in a greater, grander scale in the Caribbean. The CARICOM Ideal Person facilitates this.

But to what extent is this concept of the CARICOM Ideal Person valid and possible? And to what extent could it be said that the principles on which it is based actually are representative of the preferred ideal person? Does CARICOM have the credentials and moral authority to depict its ideal person? A further question is, “ideal” as opposed to what? The point is, how did this concept emerge? How were the depictions selected, and what other descriptions were they chosen against?

You cannot define an ideal into existence, and further, ideal suggests the probability of not being realised. The term therefore could be used as an excuse, when its characteristics are either not realised, or realised only partially.

Also, the fact that CARICOM sees these characteristics as representing the ideal person testifies to the fact that such an individual does not now exist in the Caribbean, and has yet to become what is desirable in a person. Further, what we have in the term is a conception based on preferences, connected to a particular set of values held by a segment of Caribbean society.

In a wider sense though, there is nothing really irrational in having preferences, or stipulating desirable qualities concerning the kind of person a society should have to function ethically and productively. There has to be some standard of judgment though, to determine how the stipulations are arrived at, and when they have been achieved.

The Caribbean in my view really needs individuals having the qualities mentioned by CARICOM, and I am sure the best Caribbean minds have given serious thought to this, as is reflected in the eight areas given. Such qualities are essential if Caribbean society is to have a sense of purpose, mission, identity, and uniqueness. Dr Jules deserves credit for again bringing these to the forefront for discussion in the region at large.

January 5, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

“…resurrection…”

Rough Cut
By Felix F. Bethel
The Bahama Journal


"Whatever your truth is, you have to stick with it." Cornelius Dupree Jr.

God is good. God is great. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Happy new year to all of you; and as I am supposed to say, I wish you and yours all of God’s blessings on you and yours.

As for me and my house, we shall continue to serve Him.

And so, and yet again, as I put myself in harness for the journey ahead, I am reminded that, I am of the dust and to the dust I must return.

But yet – and even as I tarry – I am reminded that the battle is not mine, but His – and that, in the fullness of time, I shall come face to face with Him on that great gettin’ up morning when the dead in Christ shall rise.

Here I am also convinced that, my testimony would also resonate with that of my brother – that brother of mine, I remind you - whose story was carried by the Associated Press – that story as written by Jeff Carlton.

DALLAS – A Texas man declared innocent Tuesday after 30 years in prison had at least two chances to make parole and be set free — if only he would admit he was a sex offender. But Cornelius Dupree Jr. refused to do so, doggedly maintaining his innocence in a 1979 rape and robbery, in the process serving more time for a crime he didn't commit than any other Texas inmate exonerated by DNA evidence.

Texas is surely one hell of a place.

Today it is surely something else – a place where so very many Lazarus men now walk free, thanks to people like Barry Scheck who have been able to help call them forth.

Evidently, there is really no story that can ever be told that excites me as much as a real story about a real resurrection; that is to say, real flesh and blood men who were buried deep, left to rot and stink and who have returned to the land of the free, the live and the brave.

As reported by Jeff Carlton: 1. Cornelius Dupree Jr. was 20 when he was arrested in December 1979 while walking to a party with Massingill. Authorities said they matched the description of a different rape and robbery that had occurred the previous day.

2. Police presented their pictures in a photo array to the victim. She picked out Massingill and Dupree. Her male companion, who also was robbed, did not pick out either man when showed the same photo lineup.

3. Dupree was convicted of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. According to court documents, the woman and her male companion stopped at a Dallas liquor store in November 1979 to buy cigarettes and use a payphone.

4. As they returned to their car, two men, at least one of whom was armed, forced their way into the vehicle and ordered them to drive. They also demanded money from the two victims.

5. The men eventually ordered the car to the side of the road and forced the male driver out of the car. The woman attempted to flee but was pulled back inside.

6. The perpetrators drove the woman to a nearby park, where they raped her at gunpoint. They debated killing her but eventually let her live, keeping her rabbit-fur coat and her driver's license and warning her they would kill her if she reported the assault to police.

7. The victim ran to the nearest highway and collapsed unconscious by the side of the road, where she was discovered.

Thereafter, Cornelius Dupree, Jr. was arrested; and thereafter, this brother of mine was charged with rape; and thereafter, this good brother of mine was convicted; and thereafter for all of thirty one years, this brother of mine insisted that he was innocent.

Now please believe me when I tell you that, when I woke this morning to the realization that, something had to be said and written that would fill this page of white, I thought to myself for a long while; and after nothing would come from wherever it comes, I decided to say a little prayer.

And as I said that little prayer, I began with the words –Lord help me! And as I prayed a little more, I cried out Lord help me! And as I did this for a third time, I was reminded that this is perhaps what Saint Peter said as he began to sink into the water upon which he had – just like Jesus – walked.

Lord help me!

And as I thought about it a bit more, it occurred to me that, these must have been the words of one of my brothers in Texas - Cornelius Dupree Jr. – when he was arrested some thirty one years ago; arrested and then charged with rape; charged with the rape of a young woman.

As the world now knows, this brother of mine was innocent of this heinous crime.

Notwithstanding his protestations, Dupree was sentenced to 75 years in prison in 1980 for the rape and robbery of a 26-year-old Dallas woman a year earlier.

He was released in July on mandatory supervision, and lived under house arrest until October. About a week after his release, DNA test results came back proving his innocence in the sexual assault.

And knowing that he was innocent; this brother of mine protested the same from the moment he was convicted to that recent moment when he was told that he was free to go.

As reported by the Associated Press and as written by Jeff Carlton – the word today is to the effect that: “…Looking fit and trim in a dark suit, Dupree stood through most of the short hearing, until state district Judge Don Adams told him, "You're free to go."

“One of Dupree's lawyers, Innocence Project Co-Director Barry Scheck, called it "a glorious day."

"It's a joy to be free again," Dupree said.

“This latest wait was nothing for Dupree, who was up for parole as recently as 2004. He was set to be released and thought he was going home, until he learned he first would have to attend a sex offender treatment program.

“Under Texas compensation laws for the wrongly imprisoned, Dupree is eligible for $80,000 for each year he was behind bars, plus a lifetime annuity. He could receive $2.4 million in a lump sum that is not subject to federal income tax.

“The compensation law, the nation's most generous, was passed in 2009 by the Texas Legislature after dozens of wrongly convicted men were released from prison. Texas has freed 41 wrongly convicted inmates through DNA since 2001 — more than any other state.

“Dallas County's record of DNA exonerations — Dupree is No. 21 — is unmatched nationally because the county crime lab maintains biological evidence even decades after a conviction, leaving samples available to test. In addition, Watkins, the DA, has cooperated with innocence groups in reviewing hundreds of requests by inmates for DNA testing.

“Watkins, the first black district attorney in Texas history, has also pointed to what he calls "a convict-at-all-costs mentality" that he says permeated his office before he arrived in 2007…”

And yet, God is good and God is great. Blessed be the name of the Lord; and yet, I wait for the soon-coming of that day when Innocence is no longer nailed to on either Calvary or in today’s Texas.

Texas is surely one hell of a place in the land of the free and of the brave.

January 06, 2011

The Bahama Journal

Bahamas Blog International

One year after: Taking stock of the Haitian recovery

By Jean Herve Charles

Every year at the beginning of the New Year I take time to stop, to take stock of the Haitian situation.   Haiti has been going from bad to worse every year during those last ten years!   It is true 2004 was also an annum miserabilis but the wave of misery fallen on the nation and the people of Haiti in 2010 was so frequent and so wide and deep that the year can be characterized as an annum miserabilissum.

At the dawn of the year, and the end of a magnificent tropical winter day filled with golden colors of the sun going to sleep on the hills surrounding Port au Prince, the land shook so violently under the capital and the adjoining cities that 300,000 people were found dead and 1.5 million have remained without a home.   There was also inundation in the spring causing more damage to the land, followed by the seasonal hurricane during the summer.

As if it was not enough an imported germ of cholera from South Asia brought by one of the UN contingent into the country, has decimated some 3,000 people and sending 50,000 to hospital during the fall.   The tropical winter has brought its lot of misery in the form of a political crisis when the Haitian government, supported by a sector of the international community, in particular the OAS-CARICOM team, has stolen the vote of the Haitian people thirsty of a life of peace and prosperity in one of the most beautiful place on earth.

The international media will descend en masse to Haiti on January 12, 2011 to make an assessment of the progress realized since the earthquake.   They will be disappointed to find there was no progress according to the lowest standard of evaluation.   Only 15 percent of the debris has been removed.   The majority of the people are still living under tents, in fetid and dependent condition.

There was a massive outpouring of goodwill and financial support from the world community to Haiti.   The Haitian government has exhibited a level of leadership so frail, mixed with a culture of corruption so deep, draped with complete indifference to the fate of its people that the enthusiasm of the donors and the NGOs has been reduced to naught.

The president of Haiti, Rene Preval, as well as his government led by Mr Bellerive, after two non consecutive mandates has no idea where he wants to lead his people.  He is only concerned about remaining in power through a subaltern in order to dole out to associates and to partisans the spoils and the funds of the reconstruction without concern for the welfare of his citizens.

One would expect that the leadership vacuum in service delivery could have been filled by the myriad of non-governmental organizations that received the bulk of the funding raised for and on behalf of the Haitian people.   Haiti is the perfect example that a nation cannot be developed harmoniously when the government as the main vehicle for service delivery has outsourced to NGOs the steering wheel to lead the growth process.

Case at point is the policy of building Corail (the biggest and the largest ghetto in the Caribbean) under the supervision and the expertise of the largest international NGOs such as Food for the Poor, International Red Cross, and Doctors Without Borders, etc.

Haiti’s recovery stands in the policy choice of building Corail or rebuilding the nation.   So far the choice has been to rebuild Corail and ignore the rebuilding of the nation.   The republic of Haiti with its 365 rural counties, its 142 towns, its 10 cities and the capital is either in complete ruin or has never been constructed.   After January 12, 2010 Haiti had a chance to start de novo and rebuild itself.   I am witnessing with the building of Corail, the compromising of the rebuilding of the rural villages, the towns and the cities of Haiti.

I have visited Corail on several occasions.   On a rugged deserted hill facing Port au Prince, where you will not find one single tree, a sprawling new fevella or ghetto is being constructed, with homes designed by the international community no larger than a slave cell, while ignoring or feigning to ignore the fact that this agglomeration is ferment for future social explosion.   The funding for this monstrosity should go instead to rebuild the town of Corail (a real agglomeration in the south of Haiti) as well as the other similarly situated 150 other towns of the nation.

The concept of nation building includes the concept of rooting the citizens in their own localities with their culture, the infrastructure, the institutions and the creative incubation to insure that they not become nomads in their own land.   If the Haitian government has been delinquent in formulating and enforcing the policy of rooting their citizens at home in their towns or their villages, I would expect the international community, with funding from the good people of this earth, would know better!

I am observing a culture of map roule or faking diligence or disguised empathy practiced by both the Haitian government and the international community.   The true beneficiaries of the avalanche of international NGOs in Haiti are the well wheeled Haitians who own a splendid villa for rent at the rate of $4,000 per month and/or a brand new 4/4 diesel jeep with a driver for rental at the rate of $4,500 per month.

Haiti has a window of opportunity this month and in the coming weeks to escape from its turbulent life of misery and squalor.   The OAS as a corrupt incubator is multiplying its intervention in Haiti to keep alive a culture of death that is now sixty years old.   It will become clearer for each and everyone to assess whether the international community is a foe or a friend of the Haitian people.   It has in the past hijacked its political transition at each significant corner to maintain the economic strangulation.

The test will be whether the ghetto of Corail, right across the magnificent bay of Port au Prince shall continue to be a permanent fixture in the Haitian panorama or whether significant funding will trickle down into the rural villages, the towns and the cities of Haiti so the nation can rebuild itself on a permanent and sustainable basis!

The test will be also, whether the OAS/CARICOM tandem will succeed in reviving against the will of the people of Haiti, the Preval regime through a Siamese brother to maintain the misery of the majority of the population.

Stay tuned next week for an essay on: The epidemic of cholera and Haiti.

January 1, 2011

caribbeannewsnow