The Bahamas National Trust (BNT) Says No to Oil Drilling in The Bahamas

Bahamians are clearly opposed to oil drilling in the Bahama Islands - and are not willing to accept the risks associated with an oil industry in The Bahamas

BNT Says No to Oil Drilling And Chooses Our Oceans

Since the release of its last statement on proposed oil exploration in The Bahamas, The Bahamas National Trust (BNT) has closely followed the national and international discussion on this issue. A growing number of Bahamians are clearly opposed to and not willing to accept the risks associated with an oil industry in The Bahamas. The prevailing view is there is simply too much at stake.

As a staunch defender of the Bahamian environment, the BNT is categorically opposed to oil exploration in The Bahamas. The BNT stands with every Bahamian speaking out against proposed oil exploration in our ocean nation.

Bahamian communities rely on healthy ocean ecosystems to support jobs in fishing, recreation, and tourism. The oil industry's track record in often failing to protect the environment effectively makes such developments too big a risk to be allowed in our fragile ocean nation.

An oil spill can irreversibly damage our oceans, threaten our tourism industry, and our very way of life. The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon disaster proves that no amount of reward from oil drilling is worth the risks of a potential disaster.

The proposed initial well by BPC is incredibly close to the Cay Sal Bank, one of the most ecologically productive and economically important marine systems in the country.

The Cay Sal Bank Marine Protected Area (MPA) was declared a protected area by the Bahamas Government in September 2015. The Cay Sal MPA protects thriving marine life inclusive of commercially important species, most notably one of the last remaining viable populations of the queen conch. This large MPA also protects crucial marine mammal habitats, coral reefs, seagrass meadows and open ocean ecosystems.

Eric Carey, Executive Director, Bahamas National Trust: “The importance of the Cay Sal Bank for biodiversity and the fishing industry in The Bahamas cannot be overstated. Because of its critical importance, any pollution of the area would be devastating for The Bahamas, our fishing industry, and the country’s food security.”

Tourism is the top economic driver of The Bahamas. We risk turning our coastal tourist destination into an oil nation. The nation’s tourism industry relies on clean, swimmable waters and healthy ocean ecosystems to thrive. Oil drilling and exploration threaten clean coastal economies.

Furthermore, The Bahamas is known to be one of the most vulnerable nations on the planet to the impending impacts of climate change, which is now recognized as an existential threat to The Bahamas. The country, our people, and our way of life could disappear if we are not successful as a global community in reversing the factors of a changing climate.

The Cay Sal Bank Marine Protected Area (MPA) was declared a protected area by the Bahamas Government in September 2015. The Cay Sal MPA protects thriving marine life inclusive of commercially important species, most notably one of the last remaining viable populations of the queen conch. This large MPA also protects crucial marine mammal habitats, coral reefs, seagrass meadows, and open ocean ecosystems.

The country would be sending a careless signal of hypocrisy to the world. The benefits of fossil fuels are finite and insignificant compared to the cost of global climate change. We should not compound the damage of increased storm activity and sea levels due to global climate change with the risks associated with oil exploration. Drilling for oil would require us to ignore the damage of Hurricane Dorian and other storms. We would be overlooking the harm done to Grand Bahama in the Equinor spill. We would be turning a blind eye to obvious risks to our own well-being.

The Bahamas has stood in the presence of the United Nations, demanding urgent action to combat climate change. We cannot, therefore, cry out to the world that our country is being severely threatened by climate change, and still allow the exploration for fossils fuels, one of the main drivers of climate change on the planet.

To learn more about the role that the BNT plays to manage terrestrial and marine national parks, protect species that inhabit them, and inform environmental policy, please visit its website: www.bnt.bs and follow/subscribe to various social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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NO MORE CORONA LOCKDOWN IN THE BAHAMAS

PLEASE, NO MORE LOCKDOWNS: THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE!

By Professor Gilbert Morris:

https://www.facebook.com/1048690701/posts/10220979749137299/

We have a bad habit in this region - which is a bad habit in politics in general - in that we constantly make excuses for failure. 

For instance, we’ll make poor decisions in the face of obvious unheeded advice, with catastrophic consequences, then we’ll say “But the Coronavirus is nothing like has ever been experienced”, as if that could explain all the previous failures and habits of failure that led to our condition before Coronavirus. 

As a friend of mine likes to remind me: We are nearly $9 billion dollars in debt...but we can’t point to a single thing that advances this nation on which $9 billion dollars has been spent. We don’t have either excellent infrastructure or efficient institutions. The majority of Bahamians live in misery and tens of thousands of Bahamians now stand or sit in atrocious daily lines for food, when a simple technology used in children’s toys or a basic APP, could eliminate those sickening, disgraceful, dehumanising lines.

I saw the sign below on future Governor General Ca Newry’s page yesterday. 

It reflects the utter confusion that has gripped the Bahamian people, because we are failing in our attempts to deal with the pandemic in a humane manner. But what is really happening is our hideous decision-making methods, poor management systems and our reckless disregard for human misery are on full display. These are the traits of a plantation system; which we have failed - over many administrations - to reform and which now infects our psychology of political power.

Let there be no doubt: Covid 19 is treacherous. But DORIAN was also treacherous. Selling Batelco for nothing was treacherous. Failing to account for the 7.5% of the Port Authority is treacherous. The millions that went missing at Road Traffic was treacherous. The failure to account for who holds Crown Land or mining leases and who gets paid is treacherous. The absence of an electronic land registry is treacherous. Defending “D” grades is treacherous. Engaging OBAN, the Post Office deal, the Freeport hotel deal that can’t get done, the Lighthouse Point deal are all a continuing tale of treachery: the fact that Bahamians cannot live their best lives in the Bahamas is the vilest of all treacheries. 

Our problem is not Covid 19. Our problem is a retrograde demented concept of power, a system that favours only the advice of lackeys, all extended from political tribalism!

For instance, our failure at DORIAN aftermath was not about how vicious DORIAN was. Its about the failure to have learned from all the previous hurricanes of the last 100 years and to have built our social economic and political systems around that knowledge and experience to foster resilience and induce human comfort. 

I wrote on January 20th 2020 - in these pages - in letters, in proposals and expressed in Zoom calls the following: 

a. Covid 19 is not going away. Bubonic Plague arose in 1347. Killed 50% of the known world. Spent 300 years popping up killing tens of thousands and there were 10,000 cases in the 20th century and China closed down an entire village last week for a plague that arose nearly 670 years ago!

b. I wrote the US will not regain an appreciable normalcy until Summer of 2021, if then. Do you mind of I say I was right? Consider: 27 states are experiencing increased infections; 1000 people died each day for the last 9 days; there is no federal programme; nearly 60 million Americans are out of work; the wealth gap has exploded, and its unlikely Americans can come out of this crisis with any sort of a middle class; There are BLM protests; Mr Trump is destroying the Post Office to rig the elections, which means more conflict, more protests; even if Biden lives long enough to win, he won’t take office until January 20th, 2021, then it will take him 30 days to shut down the entire country for 30 days; then another 3 months - tax and stimulus fights - to reopen the US economy by Summer 2021.

c. What have I said about this consistently? IT MEANS NO TOURISTS, which means NO US DOLLARS; which means given our debt is nearly 100% of GDP, we’re experiencing over 50% unemployment, our Reserves (whilst over $2 billion reportedly) is falling, our deficit is approaching $1 billion, our credit rating is junk bond status and we’ve lost over 80% of national income...THIS MEANS our crisis in the Bahamas is structural, systemic and existential!

d. I designed and argued for the Bahamas to “act as if the US ceased to exist” and to lead by being FIRST IN THE WORLD in establishing COVID (Free) TRUST ZONES (CTZ). (Singapore, Dubai and a cluster of Eastern Caribbean states are now implementing it together with a major regional hotelier). Our advantage in the Bahamas over most of the world is that we are an archipelago, our tourists derive meanly from one source country, we have (as Leon R. Williams teaches us) 53 airports and we own our own airline. We should have been testing travel methods between our islands since February 2020, and by now become sufficiently expert to LEAD THE WORLD!

e. I advised that if we failed to have national testing by February 20th 2020, testing becomes irrelevant, because testing is arithmetical but the infections are exponential. Therefore we must switch to detection, monitoring and risk management through the use of coordinated technology platforms that include Bluetooth contact-tracing and eDiagnostic Surveys. I proposed that we remove the elderly and those with preexisting conditions to hotels for the next 6 months. Had we done so, the staff that would service those properties would have been experts in Covid 19 Compliant Hospitality by now with 7 months of tested experience. 

WHATEVER YOU THINK OF THIS CURRENT ADMINISTRATION, WE NEED THEM TO SUCCEED:

They are NOT, as this sign below shows....but they can.

1. In January -on this page - I stated: “Borrow Big and Borrow Now”. These funds would have been to upgrade power and broadband infrastructure and to develop a care-model for at risk Bahamians. It would have required, removing the at risk population to hotels or confirm arrangements for their loving-separation under self-quarantine conditions. (This would require an electronic registration platform) 

2. Provide a food distribution system for EVERY LIVING SOUL in the Bahamas that needs it (This requires a basic online booking system. And it requires a bold fund raising/donations approach (of between $300 million to $500 million) for the next 9 months; which was communicated to our own masterful Mr. Ken Kerr.

3. Simultaneously, launch Covid 19 (Free) Trust Zones (CTZ) in Exuma, Eleuthera, Paradise Island and other hotel properties that can be made Covid 19 compliant “all inclusives”! (This would require an exclusive national eBooking system to ensure settlement of US dollars in the Bahamas).

4. Use Bahamasair, and bring other qualified domestic airline companies under Bahamasair, establishing a fleet of scheduled charters, eliminating our dependence on commercial airlines...to ensure a vertically integrated system. (Again, an eBooking platform)

5. We have launched/proposed the Study-visa programme. I have explained: I wrote that concept into the draft Turks and Caicos Immigration Ordinance in 2007. It was not followed because Turks and Caicos hotel pricing was not aligned. Barbados launched a variation of it. I wrote that at $3,000 per year, its too cheap, requires too many students (which is a Covid 19 risk) and it does not even dent the loss of national income. To be fair, the programme could help AirBNB operations and if 1000 Bahamians earn $1000 US dollars per month, that’s not a bad thing. ($12 million per annum). But it is NOT what we should spend time about at the highest levels. That could be designed and managed by UOB students. (I don’t address here the power and crime issues). (But what is need is an eResgistration system that aggregates the available spaces for rent, pricing to prevent gouging and compliance).

6. As I also proposed in February 2020, forget laptops and eLearning. Use ZNS and a channel from Cable Bahamas to run an education curricula on cable for 4 hours daily, with round-table discussions by scholars and thinkers for Bahamian students (I’ll release the curricular I proposed in another post), and incentivise this approach with cash prize essay completions at all grade levels based on the education channel content. (This requires two cable channels and 12 Bahamian historians, technologists, scientists, economists and intellectuals). 

Two further points: 

I am not recommending we stick to tourism. But in a crisis, you go with what infrastructure and skill-sets are available and maximise them.

2. This approach is really applicable to the entire Caribbean with variations and would be more powerful of all Caribbean governments bundled together  and drove these policy options. 

LET’s REMEMBER: we don’t succeed in a crisis by controlling our populations, locking them down or creating committees: We succeed by engaging the entire country around an inspiring national purpose that unleashes innovation!

The Colonial Mentality Throughout the Caribbean Diaspora - has Created a System of Political Clientelism

Emancipated Day!  "But today we are Mentally and Economically - Slaves"

The colonial mentality throughout the Caribbean diaspora, has created a system of political clientelism.  In other words,  an “all for me baby”syndrome

By Dr Kevin Alcena

Nassau, The Bahamas
  

Happy Emancipation Day to all Africans in the Caribbean — It is indeed a culturally mixed dichotomy  in regards to freedom.  The colonial mentality throughout the Caribbean diaspora, has created a system of political clientelism.  In other words,  an “all for me baby”syndrome.

When we look around, all we see is failure, from Haiti, Jamaican, Trinidad, Guyana, The Bahamas and the list goes on.  We inherited a system after the emancipation, called democracy by default, that is orchestrated and manipulated by an elite black class who has a colonial mentality that is worse than the slave masters.

We have somehow lost the social contract to the common man and woman.  A good example- a number of young Bahamian men trying to make an honest living selling guinep and coconuts being arrested by police.  Since when did you need a license to sell guinep and coconut water?

Are you going to deprive these children of their opportunities?  Most of the children are wearing masks but the state sees fit to harass them, and this is what we call, “the people’s time”?

Not so long ago the Prime Minister of the Bahamas Hubert Alexander Ingram, used to walk to school barefoot.  And, if I’m correct, he used to shine shoes—did he have a license to be a shoe shine boy?

Civil society in this country is laughable, they have no clear understanding in terms of our history and where we’re going.  Our national debt—I don’t even know if it’s even manageable at this point.

And whilst we are experiencing an increase in the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of Bahamians are going to bed very hungry, unable to find jobs, can’t pay their light bills, or even their landlords.

There is no thinking system, whilst the elite benefit.  What we have inherited on this incredible Emancipation Day is a form of economic and mental slavery.

There’s a form of application for the common man and woman that is unprecedented at this time.  There is no care of the church to the politicians.

I must compliment one man who is doing a remarkable job in feeding thousands of Bahamian people, Philip Smith and other individuals who are taking matters into their own hands.

What is remarkable about this country is that we are small; it is easy to fix our problems.  Every Bahamian should be tested for Covid-19 so we can nip this in the bud.

We don’t have millions of people.  Why is not every Bahamian being tested?

We have the data to deal with this crisis.  Emancipation means responsibility and our government has abdicated their responsibility.

They are governed by ego and emasculation “I’m in charge, I am the boss”.  This is a very symbolic emancipation, we need the Marcus Garvey’s, the Sir Lynden’s we need the Michael Manly’s to count the chains that hold us, and to remind us that it was only yesterday that our great grandparents were slaves.

Happy Emancipation Day Bahamas.

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MOODY’s DOWNGRADE OF BAHAMAS SETS A MOOD!

By Professor Gilbert Morris

I have condemned the ratings agencies as corrupt and unfair:

I won’t change tune now!

The rating agencies aided in the near destruction of the global financial system in 2008; and shew themselves interested in money rather than clear crisp accurate analysis of the credit statuses for which they claimed expertise.

I have argued that we should rate ourselves according to the same mathematical and statistical benchmarks, determining for ourselves our financial and economic health and our prospects.

Alas, in the Caribbean and Africa we have no credibility on this front:

When Moody’s or the S&P gives us a favourable rating, we treat it like its  front-room flowers.

When they call us frowsy, we say we know ourselves better with no evidence.

The fact is our situation is frowsy at the moment and has been so for sometime...that is because:

1. Our governments mistake government’s finances for the economy, and speak of the health of the fiscal state without due regard to the economic realities; particularly the ‘misery index’.

2. We have failed to innovate away from our one-legged plantation economic model, which requires hardly even a pulse to fashion or manage and is susceptible to even mild exogenous shocks, toward 21st century decentralised systems.

3. We seem clueless about the economics of the PEG, and are prioritising  constantly away from the PEG and so away from the more efficient means of feeding the PEG - so the National Reserves - which is the ONLY means to broaden the capacity for economic growth. I emphasise: IT IS THE ONLY MEANS TO BROADEN THE CAPACITY FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH!

4. Our government’s focus has been constantly lusting after an even larger share of GDP through further regressive taxation; despite failing to collect taxes currently on the books!

5. We have failed to innovate toward a system in which investing in and through Bahamians becomes a driver of economic expansion.

6. Our government systems are sclerotic and nations that arose from nothing 20-years AFTER our independence, surpassed us 20 years ago from nothing to world leaders; as we make the same excuses we made 40 years ago.

I am on reactors on January 20th 2020, here in in other spaces Zoom Conference and the like, in urging government to borrow large...because the crisis would extend beyond 2020.

We did not follow that proscription!

At the moment, the Bahamas are at a precipice...and whilst Dorian and Covid 19 have driven economic prospects to some degree, our current situation arises from our own failures to have been proper stewards of the largess of these islands.

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ABJECT FOLLY: CARICOM NEED NOT ENGAGE THE EU

Reject the EU Blacklist WITHOUT engagement!

By Gilbert Morris


Since 1998, I worked with Pierre Darier directly (as Chairman of Darier Hentsch...now Lombard Odier; and at the Swiss Private Banker’s Association), with a notable Swiss industrialist. My role: to provide the intellectual counter-narrative to the OECD/EU’s wilful demonisation of IFCs; culminating in convincing US Secretary of Treasury, Hon. Paul O’Neill (together with others) to REJECT the OECD’s “Harmful Tax Competition Initiative; which he did did May 2001, and he and I explained the rationale in joint articles in Tax Notes International journal that same month.

In years intervening IFCs have grown punch-drunk from the OECD/EU’s goalpost moving fiats, constantly exempting their members; most notably the US (which has 7 actual tax havens) for the reason (which Prof. Jason Sharman detailed in writing) that the US pays the lion’s share of the OECD’s bill.

Let’s speak plainly: The OECD is NOT an international organisation recognised in international law; the FATF LESS SO.  They have no legitimacy to call on sovereign states or constitutional territories.

The EU has acted OUTSIDE the multilateral system issuing fiats of no validity or legitimacy under the Vienna Convention on Treaties 1969.

Reject their Blacklist WITHOUT engagement!

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Covid 19 will be with us forever

COVID 19 HAS EVOLVED AND NOW CHILDREN ARE DYING IN ITALY!

There are new spikes in cases with children!

COVID 19 WILL BE WITH US FOREVER!

“A pandemic is not about ideas or even medicine. Speculative approaches won’t do: Every habit of hubris, decision-stupidity or presumption ends in tragedy.

The best national responses have been Taiwan, New Zealand, Senegal, South Korea, Iceland, Japan, Dubai, Estonia and Singapore. Their approaches confirmed the need for mathematical skills, a game theoretical sensibility and empathy.

A pandemic is about interstitial demographics; dynamics of cascading, data gathering and analytics; exponentiality statistics and avoiding utilitarian triage.

Bubonic plague rose in 1347. We know now it was just the Justinian Plague of the 5th century AD. It killed 50% of known civilisation, wrecked the feudal system and invented the “Job” (yes I mean employment.  So many people died, peasants were able to bargain for compensation).

The pestilence terrorised Europe for 200 years, evolving into the “Black Death”.

There were 1000 Bubonic Plague cases in the 20th century - that we know of - nearly 700 years later. There were 3 Bubonic deaths in the US in 2019!

Covid 19 will be with us forever.” -

Professor Gilbert Morris on ZNS TV Bahamas

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The Politics of Pandemics

THIS HEADLINE IS FALSE! 

By Gilbert Morris:

There will be no reckoning: the idea of reckoning is not the arrival of catastrophe.

The calamity is here and deepening absolutely. But this pandemic will not produce any sort of systemic or structural reckoning as a correction for past failures in the political sense.

Governments across the world have adopted an authoritarian stance - from America, to Philippines, to Austria, Italy, Poland and Brazil - in which they assume the citizen-voter’s perspective means nothing!

We ourselves in the Caribbean have known this political authoritarian - know-it-all - stance since independence. Most winning political parties don’t bother about with policy substance, campaigning by merely maligning their opponents.

The Hon. Mia Mottley MP in Barbados - a heroine for her humanity in this Covid 19 era - is potentially the only leader whom citizens voted for rather than against the outgoing administration.

So, there will be no reckoning: governments in the places named will wreck their citizens lives through haphazard policies at a time when 20% of jobs will vanish and 80% of what’s left will pay 50% of pre-Covid 19 wages levels.
There will be no reforms for three cardinal reasons:

1. In crisis cronyocracies seek to protect cronies, not citizens. Lackeys and government form an unimpeachable cabal - as is to be witnessed now in the US - and they claim all must be done to save businesses, premised not on innovation, growth or fair broad prosperity, but rather whatever is needed to maintain chokeholds on their patronised economic sectors!

2. Congenital imaginative laziness: cronyocracies induce creative avoidance and laziness. Ideas have no career in such places.

Our governments in this region will largely await the opening of the US and “wing it” on the hope that there are no explosions in Covid 19 infections.

That is because Cronyocracies cannot respond to crisis in any broad sense. First, because they do not possess or cultivate citizen trust.

Second, because they destory and so lack strategic verve or creative capacity!

3. Citizens who howl at crony government cabals are themselves to blame as well. We have the governments we deserve. Cronyocracies survive because each demented political tribe feeds off of collusive nexus, in hopes of some temporary crumbs from its table of feckless skullduggery!

We are our worst political enemies!

There will be no protests because governments now have the excuse of “Emergency Powers”; which means they can prevent citizens protesting against failures now crippling their lives, even though that failures have been expanding for decades.

This is how pandemics work politically!

Country defaults and company bankruptcies will cascade. Governments will never blame their cranial sclerosis for the carnage; even as they ignore, wilfully, basic sound policy options in preference for reactionary decisions that protect their lackeys...as we are now discovering with Trump and Boris Johnson in the UK!

They will have at the ready - galloping nonsense - excuses, stating the obvious that this - pandemic - has never happened before; despite the fact that the majority of their citizens have been living in Covid 19 conditions for decades.

For companies the only margins available will be those which digitisation brings...but that means not only 20% fewer jobs globally, it means at a time when nations have seen their incomes vanish, the social-safety-net/public assistance will face unprecedented demands.

And starvation level suffering will pervade the world, whilst overfed politicians make mumbling excuses. 

Mark my words!


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Cannibals in the Church of The Bahamas

Are Cannibals in the Church of The Bahamas?

By Huedley Moss:

During the 40s and 50s a reporter asked Mahatma Ghandhi his view on Christianity. He responded, I know of Jesus, but Christians are so unlike Jesus Christ!

Right he is. It seems, the Bible and Jesus as the head of church is inappropriate with all of its examples for us to learn from and follow; is no longer the golden standard for Christian stewardship!

Let’s faced it. Of the more than 9 billion people who have lived and living on earth, not one of us were perfect and without flaws! Not Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, Daniel Peter and Paul! Jesus Christ is our example!

If we modeled our lives after Mortals, we will most certainly not accomplish our primary goal, of entering His Kingdom!

So why are contemporary Christians cannibalizing each other in Satan’s Arena?

Samuel, David, Elijah, Nehemiah, Paul and Jesus never destroy a flawed brother publicly!

They never used Fleshly works to attack a brother! Cuz they realized we are all mortal corruptible beings!

Naturally Jesus Christ is the Only exception!

What we have seen on social media with one person claiming to be God’s Oracle viciously attacking the well loved Singing Bishop in a setting chaired by Satan himself, is the most outrageous attack I have ever seen one mortal Inflicted on another! To God be the Glory.

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Our United War on the Coronavirus

Dear friends and family around the World:

It is now certain that we are at the early start of an extraordinary pandemic of the new corona virus 19 - with at least two mutations: S being the original and L being the later one - which is much more fatal than the original.

In this period of great uncertainty none of us knows how future events will turn out - other than knowing that dealing with the virus is not a sprint but a long marathon that is to last probably at least two years.

We have to make a joint combined effort to overcome this global challenge, and each of us has much to contribute in the positive; even though such things may seem minor they will become monumental if done by as many of us as possible.

We are facing a war like scenario to combat, contain and become immune to this new virus. In the emergency situations our institutions will be put under unprecedented stress tests.

Like in any turmoil, some individuals will try to disregard our institutional framework and misuse the fog of first major biological war for their selfish aims.

Irrespective of the country you may be in, I appeal to you to preserve a social order and the type of constitutional democracy you live under.

Every challenge is also a great opportunity to make an historical contribution to a better society, and to be remembered for the positive and heroic deeds we are all capable of.

Both stability and progress toward a better society are essential.  Our joint efforts will greatly contribute to our humanity's survival - as we emerge in a better, healthier and more prosperous World for us and the future generations.

I wish you my very best, and remember that tough times do not last - but tough people do.

As challenging as it may seem, let’s unify the World to pursue greater and more ambitious goals then ever before.

Victor Kozeny

ANTI-BAHAMIAN NASSAU

By Gladstone Thurston

Downtown Nassau was abuzz with cruise ship tourists.

Decked out in summer wear, they sauntered lazily along taking in this balmy, winter’s day.

Merchants touted their wares; taxis plied their passengers; walking tours showed off sites of interest.

Gay music filled the air contributing to a brisk, upbeat tempo.

But, wait! Screeeech! Slam emergency brakes. Something is not right here!

Not a single one of the songs being played was Bahamian. Not one. Not while I was there.

And as if downtown Nassau today is not anti-Bahamian enough already, merchants are driving perhaps the last nail in their cultural takeover of the capital of the Bahamas.

Back in the day, Bahamian music and Bahamian entertainment played key roles in showcasing Nassau to the world.

I say, unabashedly, that downtown Nassau is all but Bahamian! One would need an electron microscope to find anything Bahamian in the shops and restaurants there.

We are presenting as the face of this nation that which this nation is not. We are giving the world a false impression of who and what we are.

Take a close look, folks. Nassau has degenerated into nothing more than a very expensive flea market featuring cheap tee-shirts and merchandise many say borders on fakery.

If tourists come to the Bahamas to enjoy things Bahamian, then downtown Nassau is not the place for them to go.

We have, appointed to serve this nation, a well-paid minister with responsibility for culture.

To what extent the current minister has been advocating on the part of Bahamian culture, I don’t know.

But, based on the preponderance of non-Bahamian cultural expressions taking root in the Bahamas, we have to question the effectiveness of the minister's policy as it relates to Bahamian culture, if there is one.

Long story short: we call on the minister for culture and the government to rise to the occasion and Bahamianized downtown Nassau.

Failure to do so and we will move for the minister’s permanent recall from parliament.

We also warn those who would want to highjack Nassau, for their petty, personal gain, that unless things Bahamian obtain, we will lead a boycott of the anti-Bahamian Nassau merchants.

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...something ordinary yet extraordinary as hell for the white elite of the Caribbean...

By Christian Campbell:



It must have been fifteen years ago that Ian Strachan invited me to speak at a Majority Rule event at the former College of The Bahamas with the recently honoured ex-minister of the colonial UBP regime.

I was fresh from Oxford, recovering, working as a journalist and editor in the meanwhile. Ex-Minister was revealing in this public conversation. He said that he had no white friends because, in his words, all the set he knew were boring and only spoke of money, no thought.

Then, he did something ordinary yet extraordinary as hell for the white elite of the Caribbean (or anywhere for that matter)— he said that as a child he once asked, *Why Grammy so dark?* And they explained why.

Of course, to my eyes, perhaps to Blind Blake’s eyes too, it was obvious. I told him he looks like Michael Manley. Without missing a beat, he said, “First cousin!” We laughed.

To be sure, this late-life phase of pseudo-atonement posed no great risk to him— he had long since made his money by any means necessary; he had long since damaged and denied education for black people that couldn’t pass, meaning for everyone. But it remains intriguing.

What, we must ask, is more fragile, more suspect, more slippery than whiteness in the Caribbean (or anywhere for that matter)? The tarbrush levitates overhead, Avenging Angel. We, Manley Cousin and I, laughed the strange laugh of the Plantation, knowing. How maimed and monstered are we by the eugenics of the Ship.

¿Y tu abuela, dónde está?

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...the largest money laundering and drug dealing centre in the world is the United States!

US NAMES BAHAMAS AS MONEY LAUNDERING DRUG DEALING NATION!


By Gilbert Morris

Well, here we go again! Let us at least try to read the tea leaves and resist drinking other people’s tea: First, the largest money laundering and drug dealing centre in the world is the United States!

 But who is prepared to risk their Miami privileges to say that? On the regulatory compliance aspects of the report, the US complied with NOTHING in its reports.

In Delaware, Wyoming, Alaska, Colorado, Arizona and Wisconsin, anonymous accounts are permitted. In fact, Delaware lives off of them.

Second, when you are the “big dog” and you are surrounded by incompetent nations, you can hog-slap them for doing what you are doing. But when these weaklings have spent nearly 50 years with no strategy, merely begging the US and Europe, when these pusillanimous nations are festooned with debt and crime, yet tethered to the US economy by tourism: the US then has got your goat! Grin and bear it!

Now let’s do some geopolitics: First, this list is a dragnet. There are nations named toward which nothing will change and others that will feel the wrath of the US in direct and indirect ways.

Second, look at the list of nations: the US itself is on the list, so is Israel and more than 50 other nations.

Third, how will smaller nations feel the US pressure? Did you notice Canada’s name on the list?

That’s now really for Canada. That’s because Canada is the banking powerhouse in the Caribbean Basin.

The US has been pressuring Canada to tighten the screws on Caribbean banking operations. In the case of Bahamas, there is an added dimension, the US concerns about China creates a lynchpin and the US can press its China concerns under the guise of regulatory issues, demanding corporate and financial transparencies unavailable in the US itself!

Fourth, under Mr Trump’s aggressive “America First” approach, this report now sets the ground work for foreign policy specific to each country on the list. What shall we do?

I have warned politicians in this region that when you see this sort of report or initiative, don’t wait for the US to frame you. Go to them first.

Now that we in The Bahamas seem to have hit a wall with the WTO nonsense. Let’s do what i have advised since 2001: instigate and sign a bi-lateral Friendship Treaty with the US, in which all these matters are treated or face one sided US directed rules that demands compliance by threats.

Under a treaty arrangement we get something for everything given up. Under a treaty we can show the economic impact of our financial services on investment in the US; we can explain “generative investment”, pass-through status” and “node building for capital aggregation” all impacting the US economy.

We could leverage transshipment countermeasures for financial services benefits...all under one agreement; whilst neutralising the European Union and the OECD in one move. If we wait, we are just a problem the US must deal with, and that means a fat stick across our backs under threat!

If we don’t hear; we’ll feel!

Gilbert Morris - Facebook

A slave in Haiti called Francois Makendal

By Professor Gilbert Morris:

THIS IS DESPERATELY IMPORTANT!

In my Smithsonian Lectures in 1998 - together with Professor Katya Vladimirov and Pulitzer Prize winner Professor Jeffrey Stewart, I emphasised a slave in Haiti called Francois Makendal.   At 13, he was a chemist and physician before being captured and sent to St. Domingue.

He was Muslim, with a mastery for instructional communication and his skill in chemistry would have made him equal to any expert anywhere in Europe or Asia at the the time of his capture in the early 1750s.

It should be noted that he wrote well, could read music and knew biblical scripture with expertise.

Makendal (Macandal) was a master of poisons.   And in the 12 years leading to the great Haitian Revolution in 1791, he taught slaves how to poison their master’s food, clothes and animals to ensure death at different rates; days, months etc.   Why is this important?

Because even slave representations by Blacks, like Alex Haley’s “ROOTS”, depict slaves as ignorant.   But the West African coasts from which slaves were sold, were the sites of mighty empires that had traded with Europe and Asia - before Christopher Columbus!

For example, Cotton Mather tells the story inoculation for small pox, which he learned from a quite young African slave named Onesimus in 1706; who described to him in detail how he had been inoculated in Africa before being sold as a slave, in a procedure of inoculation (then known as variolation) and how it worked!

What I mean to show is that Blacks and Whites alike, depict the slave as sweet but ignorant and deserving of the mercy one shows to pets; when in fact, many slaves were intellectual superiors to those who held them captive; as was the case for instance with Demosthenes in Greece, who was so talented he was made Prime Minister as a slave.

In Mackendal’s case, he is rumoured to have poisoned nearly 25,000 French before the Revolution!

The narrative of Omar Ibn Said below is testament to what I have rendered above!

source


How the autobiography of a Muslim slave is challenging an American narrative

On the issue of marijuana legalisation in The Bahamas...

Insight: No One Should Go To Prison For Smoking A Joint:

By Frederick R. M. Smith, QC

No one should go to prison for smoking a joint. No life should be ruined over a small amount of weed. Marijuana is not the devil and, like certain other recreationally enjoyed substances like alcohol, most humans are perfectly capable of using it responsibly. In certain contexts, it is beneficial for your health and in an increasing number of countries, it is becoming legalised for recreational and medical use – generating massive revenue returns in the process.

Most right-thinking Bahamians know all this, yet our society continues to vilify, hunt down and destroy young people over this relatively trivial pastime, condemning them to lengthy prison sentences as if they were hardened criminals. On this issue like so many others, The Bahamas is simply stuck in the past.

A hangover from the 1970s

There was a time when a zero tolerance approach to marijuana was considered cutting edge. The term “War on Drugs” was coined by a US journalist in 1971 shortly after President Nixon declared drug abuse public enemy number one. The prevailing view at the time was narcotics in general were a scourge on society and must be eradicated by strong action – interdiction, arrest and prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. Users were weak, deviant, morally degraded and essentially deserved what they got at the hands of the authorities. Countless substances, differing from each other in virtually every way imaginable were all lumped together and referred to under the category of “drugs”.

Over the last 50 years, many of the underlying assumptions that fed this perspective have been debunked. Substance abuse is now widely and rightfully seen as a mental health challenge, not a crime, and users are recognised as victims, not perpetrators. There is also an appreciation that certain substances which were once vilified can have numerous heath benefits and qualify as medicine to treat several conditions. Chief among these is of course marijuana. Meanwhile tall tales of the terrible consequences – that it kills brain cells, is a ‘gateway drug’, etc. – are laughed off by today’s experts.

Gradually, the rest of the world is coming to see that marijuana is not some demon that will steal away the minds of their children, but a complex substance which, like countless others consumed by humans, can have benefits if used responsibly and lead to negative affects if abused. The light has not yet shone on The Bahamas, however. We remain mired in the Dark Ages as usual and the resulting effects on our society are more egregious than most realise.

Overwhelming the system

Thousands of young people in The Bahamas today smoke marijuana; perhaps tens of thousands. Whether you like it or not, this is a cultural fact that simply cannot be avoided. When caught with whatever the police arbitrarily happen to believe is “too much”, usually all but the tiniest amount, they can be charged with a serious offence and face years in jail. Because use is so prevalent, and because users tend to be young, comparatively non-violent and generally cooperative, marijuana possession charges make up a very large percentage of the cases before the courts. This, in a judicial system already overwhelmed and struggling to cope, with individuals facing serious charges waiting months and even years on remand – though supposedly innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law.

The arrests themselves probably make up a large part of the work of police officers who, instead of going after violent offenders, tend to prefer to target marijuana users as they represent a comparatively easy way to rack up arrest numbers without undue effort or risk of violence.

Destroying lives

Unfortunately, our aggressive enforcement and punishment policies for marijuana possession have destroyed and continue to destroy countless good people’s lives. The predominant victims of our flawed approach come from lower income families – a sector of society that has found escape from daily hardships in alcohol and other narcotics throughout history and across every nation on the planet. Meanwhile, habitual users of more serious and potentially deadly drugs like cocaine, tend to hail from the wealthier sectors of society. Safely ensconced in their gated communities and behind armies of attorneys, they are all but immune from police action.

While the privileged continue to do as they please in their safety and comfort, unconscionably long remand and or prison sentences in some of the most harsh, violent and depraved conditions imaginable at Fox Hill Prison are the fate for the hapless poor teenager who merely sought a few hours of harmless escape in marijuana. Inevitably, when released such victims will be very changed; afraid, angry, frustrated, resentful and emotionally broken by this harrowing experience. They will also have criminal records and will find it near impossible to secur a job, open a bank account, or go back to school. They will be rejected and stigmatised, outcasts for the rest of their lives.

In the circumstances, it is not unreasonable to expect these victims to lash out, to hurt others or engage in criminal or anti-social behaviour in an effort to quell their emotional turmoil or even just to survive. Society’s response is to vilify them as enemies of the state, forget them on remand or throw the book at them and lock them up for lengthy periods. The Bahamas has become a factory that uses the raw material of harmless youngsters to produce hardened, violent criminals in a seeming endless cycle.

The rest of the world

We are talking about a substance that is already fully legal in Canada and Uruguay, and soon it seems, will also be legal in Mexico. Its consumption, but not cultivation, is legal in the Republic of Georgia and in South Africa. It has been decriminalised in 10 American states and the District of Colombia, with more on the way. Meanwhile, its medical use is allowed in 33 US states and 13 other countries.
Just last summer, the CARICOM Regional Commission on Marijuana recommended the declassification of marijuana as a dangerous drug. It has already been decriminalised in Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda.

These changing attitudes are not a coincidence; they follow the evolving evidence uncovered by science. Recent research asserts that marijuana can improve quality of life by improving sleep, increasing appetite and reducing pain for people with chronic conditions, especially when these conditions do not respond to conventional treatments. It is, by all accounts, an extremely safe substance with benign and largely avoidable side effects. Marijuana has never been linked to death by overdose, despite being the most widely used illegal drug in the world. The most adverse effects are from the act of smoking, but a number of alternative delivery systems are now available.

Opportunity

Apart from the human benefits, the process of decriminalisation and legalisation has opened up hitherto unimaginable opportunities for financial profit, for both nations and intrepid entrepreneurs. Take for example, what has happened in Colorado.

In 2014, the first year of legalisation, combined recreational and medical sales totalled nearly $700 million. By 2018 that number had jumped to more than $1.5 billion. In the last five years combined, the state has sold $6 billion worth of marijuana.

Sellers are making a killing, but so is the local government. In that same period, tax revenue is said to have grown by 266 percent – from $67 million in 2014 to $247.4 million in 2017. These tax gains have been spent in areas such as public schools, social services, employment boosting efforts and health care.

Contrary to what the fear-mongers projected, there was no measurable increase in use among middle school and high school students and traffic citations for driving under the influence actually went down.

The courts had to deal with 6,000 fewer cases per year thanks to the change, while the total increase in the number of adults reporting marijuana use went up by only two percent. Clearly, those who wanted to were using it anyway; all Colorado legislators did was recognise and accept this ineradicable fact, then find a way to employ it as a benefit rather than a drag on society.

The Bahamas could learn so much from this example. We are ideally placed off the eastern coast of the United States and just north of the Caribbean to service two emerging markets; and boasting ideal weather conditions for marijuana growth, we could take this industry by storm. It would take serious regulation and even more serious enforcement of quality control and proper accounting practices, but if the government can pull it off with the illegal numbers racket, they can certainly do it with marijuana.

This country has everything it needs to pioneer this extremely lucrative industry in the region while at the same time saving countless youngsters from terrible fate. We have a class of well-educated, industrious and hungry entrepreneurs capable of making The Bahamas world renowned for marijuana tourism - both medical and recreational. We have the land, we have the climate, we have the location. Sadly, we still lack the vision and the will.

We could truly pursue a “Green Economy”! And, provision could be made for growing it in certain designated areas, like Grand Bahama, to spur economic activity and create jobs and actual exports.

Our own worst enemy

On the issue of marijuana legalisation, like so many others, our failure to take initiative is the only real barrier to social progress and financial success.

The world changes all the time and yet we stand still. Surrounded by the wreckage of hopelessly outmoded, woefully misdirected and shockingly inhumane polices that achieve absolutely nothing while destroying lives and making a mockery of justice, we seem chronically incapable of acting in our own best interests. We are unable to think intrepidly, to grasp opportunity. We are a nation allergic to change.

This is precisely why, though remarkably well placed to be a leader in global innovation, this country continually finds itself playing catch-up, if ever, on so many fronts to more courageous, ambitious and forward thinking nations. Despite ideal geographical location, political stability and abundant resources, both human and natural, we remain our own worst enemy.

Source

WHAT THE DEATH OF NET NEUTRALITY MAY MEAN FOR THE CARIBBEAN

By Gilbert Morris:

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will begin a rollback of net neutrality; which is likely to lead to a two tier internet; more extreme than the current division between the internet you know today and the ominous "dark net", in which everything from humans to nails seems to be for sale.

What is important is that large corporations will be able to pay - as some do now - to lock in their web presence at higher speeds, including processes for purchasing.
 
As usual, whilst in general poor people will suffer the first eddies of unforeseen disadvantages, also as usual, the Developing World and the Caribbean - in particular - will be at the bottom of the heap.
 
I wonder whether we observe how the global financial and political system is forming a divide beyond our shrinking opportunities to go to Miami?
 
Already, all of our telephone calls are recorded; already US visas are being denied in record numbers; already foreign banks are limiting credit charging astounding higher fees or just outright leaving our region, and already, money transfers are being hampered by arbitrary rules which seem to change daily with little regard for the hardships caused.
 
Now the internet, which neither Caribbean governments nor business, nor our institutions or our publics have exploited for commercial advantage, cost cutting, convenience or transparencies, is next.
 
The undermining of net neutrality could prove to be a slow, imperceptible attack on booking platforms to Caribbean destinations. It could mean that competitive destinations could pay to have ours down graded in search profiles, leading to "throttling"; which could mean seeing our content bunched down with North Korea or countries at the low end of the development scale.
 
Although I have no ideology, I am known as a conservative economist and I do believe in market forces.

However, I reject "trickle-down" theory as barking nonsense. The assumption of Ajit Pai - FCC Chairman - is the Trumpian belief that if you remove regulations internet service providers will pass benefits and potential lower costs to the consumer. (If you believe that, I will next try to convince you that back hair is sacred).
 
Here is the point: the affects may be less harmful than expected. But here is yet another example of something - alike to climate change - upon which our future competitiveness and prosperity may hang, and after all, this time, it may change for the worse with no input from us.

Source

DONALD TRUMP IMPEACHMENT: Don't Bet on It

TRUMP IMPEACHMENT: A FALSE HORIZON

 By Gilbert Morris:

Pundits, Democrats and drunkards have been predicting Trump's election loss, his criminal indictment and his impeachment since he launched his fatiguing indefatigable campaign and assault on the American presidency.
They will be proven wrong!

Let's get at the FACTS:

Mr. Trump and his cohorts enjoyed an unusual degree of coziness with the Russian security establishment, as that establishment hacked into US campaigns and passed information to Wikileaks.
 
Wikileaks distributed that information just in time to influence an electorate that already regarded Mrs Clinton somewhat askance.
 
Then come Comey bearing letters and his soul, tiefing up Mrs Clinton's last bit of credibility, and this and the Russians and Wikileaks all occurring just in time to blunt or even soften Mr Trump's crotch-grabbing boasts.
 
So we accept that the Russians through Wikileaks's, together with Comey impacted American voter perception just before an American election;
AND: Trump's people were canoodling with the Russians the entire time!
AND: Trump's people lied about that canoodling.
 
Again comes Comey, investigating the affair, forcing General Flynn, The US Attorney General, hosts of Trumpian lackeys and his son-in-law to admit, that they were part of the "Stolichnaya Breakfast Club"!
 
Trump - who has not been told no since he was four years old - accosted Comey, and begged of him, "Let Flynn go...!"
 
Is that Obstruction of Justice?
 
Mmmmmmmm, depends...
 
It requires a set of compelling circumstances:
 
So, Flynn gets fired.
 
Comey announces investigation.
 
Trump and his people denounce the investigation publicly. Gets the House Intelligence Chairman to call media houses to counteract Comey's claims.
 
Trump calls Comey, asks am I going to jail?
 
Trump meets Comey and says repeat John 3:16, but replace the "only begotten son" with Trump!
 
Trump invites Comey for dinner, says you want to stay at FBI?
 
Trump says drop this investigation!
 
Yes!
 
It's abuse of power, obstruction even bribery.
 
What it lacks is a systematic scheme to frustrate the interests of justice and it is so disorganized that it is hardly a crime.

Source

THE STATE OF (HUMAN) RIGHTS IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS IN 2017

PRESENTATION AT THE HUMAN RIGHTS FORUM AT THE UNIVERISITY OF THE BAHAMAS

April 7, 2017

By:  Joseph Darville

VP Grand Bahama Human Rights Association

The Israelites, the Bible states, wondered forty years in the desert. It’s not that they were physically lost, for they knew where they were headed, and knew how to get there. The stars by night and the sun by day were the only GPS they needed. And they were fortified by manna in the desert.

But woefully, that nation of people was mentally and psychologically lost. Leaving the land of enslavement, after coming to the realization that as a people of value and dignity, they no longer cherished the ungodly treatment meted out to them. Yet, having subjected themselves for so long to this bondage, they were infused with the consciousness of enslavement at the very core of minutest parts of their being.

By Divine grace and a genetic transformation, they came to realize that no entry into the promised land was possible until every iota of mental slavery was exorcised from the very foundation of their being. It could have taken them but a mere sixty days by foot to reach their ultimate physical goal. But as long as forty years were necessary to wipe out the vestiges of enslavement.

Four decades, yes, it took them to wipe clean their minds and hearts, that long, indeed before old habits died out. The very genetic recalibration had to take place. Even the great Moses was never allowed to enter the promised land. He and the other “old” heads had to literally die out and take with them the residual of the consciousness of slavery, for indeed, a consciousness of enslavement cannot ever enter the Promise Land.

For many years too, we were enslaved. Almost two hundred years ago, the physical shackles tumbled from our ankles, and we began our wandering in the desert of human reconstruction, not really knowing who we were or where we wanted to go. But yet, like the Israelites, we knew intuitively, and our souls cried out in desperation for our promise land.

But the sounds and sensation of those damn shackles kept us in mental bondage. Even now, and after forty plus years of political independence, the curse of enslavement still hangs around our necks. And if we listen very quietly, we can still hear the hammering and the clinging of those despicable physical shackles.

For fear of retribution, many, too many of us, cling to the old vestiges of the plantation. Our masters now, only having changed color, and having elevated themselves to the status of demi-gods, have so fine-tuned their capricious power and control over us, that mental enslavement has become their special art. Thus, our promise land is nowhere even on the horizon.

So, my lamentation is that we are more enslaved now under our own native leaders than we were under our white slave masters. Please excuse my expression, but the ‘black nigga” syndrome of slaving on the plantation, without any notion of our singular rights, is very much alive in this nation, both for poor blacks and whites.

In such a state of affairs, one can conclude that the state of human rights in this nation is defunct, not even in ICU, but in rigor mortis, having for too long under gone the rites of extreme unction (last rites). Sadly, we have yet to see the birth of real freedom in this land. As a matter of fact, if what has been now called the Spy Bill had been passed, our individual freedom especially of privacy and public utterances would have been drastically curtailed, if not totally abolished. It would have indeed further shackled our most precious gift of freedom to express.

Individually, we are very proud people, and we love our Bahamaland. However, a child given a piece of candy, when she deserve a full meal, is also very happy and proud. Essentially, we have gotten rid of one set of slave masters and embraced another; and that “another” is even more pernicious. For when our own, knowledgeable about every iota of our psyche, enslave us, they do so with even more vengeance, for they have fine-tuned the technique of psychological enslavement as an art.

At the rate we’re going, or really, not moving, we may achieve true freedom and independence by 2041, when I’m 100 years old. In other words, we will take five times longer than it took the Israelites. I pray I’m still alive to witness that illusive reality.

We are an independent people, and as such should have the freedom, the right and ability, even obligation to structure and build one by one our beautiful communities. We can then become the envy of island nations, the glory of our own nation and the focus of the world. Our beauty, of both people, land, and sea with their natural and abundance of resources, are all we need to become all that the Good and Great Creator meant us to be. But we will recognize and accept this reality only when we are REALLY independent, really free, relying on those wonderful gifts so bountifully bestowed upon us by our loving Creator.

The Good and Gracious Creator gives to each and every one of us all that is essential, not just for our survival, but enough to prosper and grow together as wonderful reflection of his glory and power.

First we have to recognized what we have been bountifully given, give thanks for it all, and them work to create a fruitful and enjoyable life for everyone else. Selfishness, greed, and false pride must be removed from our hearts, and replaced with joy, thanksgiving and the ultimate gift of unconditional sharing. Dreadfully, our political leaders, embracing wholeheartedly the colonial mentality, know not such an enlightened path.

When Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment are meted out to our defenseless citizens, with impunity, even when our constitution and the UN Declarations of Human Rights, forbids such, we are again embedded in the plantation syndrome. From the some thirty articles, simple and yet profound, in the United Nation Declarations, and to which our nation is a signatory, some nineteen of them are contravened and denied on a daily basis in this nation. When our disciplined forces are so uninformed, or simply calloused, in these matters, brutal and dehumanizing treatment of our citizenry, as well as those who enter our shores from other nearby nations, become the norm.

Beating of suspects by the very ones designated to protect our safety, as if they were only useless black niggas is carried out with impunity, no accountability; only when someone actually dies does an individual family member become sufficiently incensed or is courageous enough to report brutal and dehumanizing treatment. And then, even then, the course to justice is literally a nightmare.

But these reprehensible acts come to light from time to time, as has occurred recently in the cases of the despicable treatment of Cuban and other nationals in the detention centre. Consequently, our national and international image sank deeper and deeper into the abyss and the quagmire of ignominy.

Yet the most sad thing about this matter, in the present STATE OF THE NATION, is that for those who can excuse such behavior, mistakenly on our behalf, view even the expression of “human rights” with anger and vengeance. We, rights defenders, are seen as being anti-Bahamas, devious, infidels, subversive, carrying out treasonous acts against the state. That my sisters and brothers, spells out clearly the state of human rights in our nation. Thus, this legitimate arm of any civilized and democratic society has to be practiced mainly underground for fear of threats, ridicule and retribution.

Without even keeping in mind the serious physical actions brought against individuals in society at the hands of law enforcement personnel, the daily life of citizens of this nation is burdened with a plethora of uncertainties.

One does not share in the daily decisions which fundamentally affect our lives. Our leaders play the secrecy game, making decisions which often create havoc, fear and apprehension in the nation. They take umbrage in the fact that there is no Freedom of Information Act yet enacted. We are thus subjected to the old colonial civil servant secrecy law, and thus in all matters, confidential or not, we only become aware of them and the consequences of these many decisions after the fact, when our lives have been seriously impacted.

This again, is in the order of the old plantation regime, keeping us ignorant, uninformed, and thus our masters can ride higher and higher on their thrones of pontification, in the name of “divine right of kings.” We are under the illusion that we live and operate in a participatory democracy; this is, in fact, a fallacy, and illusion.

The system of democracy we exercise in this land remains one of psychological enslavement; we daily obey our maters for fear of retribution. As a matter of fact our leaders aim to become plutocrats (rich), and rule as if we were an oligarchy (ruled by the wealthy), and not a democracy. Whether they be ecclesiastical or political leaders, they are our servants and not demi-gods who rule with a condemning iron fist.

The Commission on the reform of our Constitution states the following in reference to freedom of information:

“ 15.11 A corollary of the right of free speech is the right to have access to public information. The right of free expression embraces the right to impart and receive information. Thus it is not surprising that some Constitutions link the right of freedom of information to that of free speech. Some provide for extensive rights of freedom of information, such as the South African model, which provides a right of access to information held by the state (art.32). Others do not elevate it to a constitutional right, but have adopted freedom of information laws. It would be difficult in a common law system, where legislation dealing with official secrets, breach of confidence legislation and the regulations governing the public service still pertain, to grant a constitutional right to government- held information. But the Commission is of the view that some form of statutory regime should provide the citizen with the access to information needed for the proper functioning of a democracy.”

One by one, our civic, human and natural rights are denied in so many ways, resulting in many of our brother and sisters suffering relentlessly. And according to my venerable friend, and veteran poetic prophet, Etienne Farquharson: we have been shackled with the 7D’s: disregard, disrespect, deceit, dishonesty, denial, disorder, and culminating with the seventh D: DAMNATION. You may wish to add more D’s.

These are the modern-day shackles inhibiting our way forward; aware of our fundamental freedom and rights under the constitution and international protocols, the frustration of enslavement becomes even more malicious.

The contravention of our basic human, civic and social rights, are mainly perpetrated by official agencies of the state. As was stated in the human rights report, a few years ago the UN in referencing to cruel and dehumanizing treatment of persons:

“The constitution prohibits such practices, but human rights monitors and members of the public expressed concern over continued instances of police abuse of criminal suspects. Police officials, while denying systematic or chronic abuses, acknowledged that police on occasion abused their authority.

There were other allegations of police beatings and brutality throughout the year. The government stated that no official complaints were received, in reference to many of these allegations. Victims' families and community activists claimed that many officers had their cases thrown out of court or dropped by the Attorney General's Office. In addition, many officers waited years for their court date, only to return to work without having their names cleared.”

With a large percentage of our citizens living at the level of subsistence, and many even below that, too few have the means to fight for, defend or legally afford the costs to maintain or regain their fundamental rights as citizens in a democratic society. These abuses will continue unabated until sufficient numbers of our citizens wake up, realize and accept their individual freedom. So until then, expect the carnage to continue, due to ignorance of our national and international rights: acts which result in the maiming of our citizens, even to the finality of death; desecration, pillage, raping of our environmental heritage by foreign entities, like what took place and still presently taking place in Bimini; the dispossession of our crown land generally without our knowledge; the fallacy that our leaders have infallible rights to do as they please without consultation of the citizenry. This is the very antithesis of a true and participatory democracy.

Yes, we do elect leaders every five years, but then, soon after, we go into a catatonic state, mesmerized, hypnotized, seduced by the trickery, deception of our leaders, as we fall prey to their almost despotic rule.  Then again, after five long years we awaken from our slumber. With the enticement of plenty liquor, money, adorned with T-shirts and an abundance of Bahamian food, we become aggressively passionate again, elect others or the same individuals; then we’re back into our slumbering state, ruled by our masters, having again reaffirmed their continued power base of domination.

Oh, how our psyche loves to be ruled; it is indeed so much easier to be ruled, ordered and subjugated to the will of our masters. They are no longer our servants, but our indomitable plantation slave masters. And thus continues the regime of banana republic politics.

My brothers and sisters, all the acts which undermine our fundamental rights are the basis of much of the malaise, crime in our nation. A people who have no sense of ownership, power or participation in the national life are easily led to feed on and destroy the nation. Thus, the level of murders, the rape and pillage of our women and children. As has been so truthfully stated, “society prepares the crimes and individuals commit them.”

Did you know that in 2010, the Bahamas was declared by the United Nation to have the highest per capita in the world for rape, some 133 in 100,000. And those are just the reported cases. The way we treat our women and children marks the manner of our bearing. I cannot imagine at this moment the statistics! But who pays attention when our beloved women still cannot officially be recognized as equal to men in this nation. And our LBGT Community becomes the vicious prey of religious bigots.

Our environmental rights are daily being eroded in the manner our lands and seas are offered to the highest bidder, irrespective of the pillage, rape and devastation which can result. All of this again is carried out in secrecy, and I’ve already addressed one of the prime example in the utter and on-going destruction of the beautiful gem in the ocean, Bimini.

These are our lands, sea, sea coast and seabed and they should not be sold, given away, or in any way used unless benefitting us, the Bahamian people. So states the legislation governing crown land. By virtue of the stewardship of these islands, we have a serious responsible to safeguard this heritage patrimony for thousands of generations to come; it is our right and privilege; and, thus, a national and fundamental and individual right. We should aim to protect and preserve for the generations from whom we are borrowing them.

The Freedom of Information movement is embedded in Universal Declaration of Human Rights developed by the United Nations in 1948. The guiding principle is based upon four freedoms: Freedom of speech; Freedom of religion, Freedom from want; and Freedom from fear.

In further expounding on freedom from fear, it states:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

If our people do not wake up soon, and very soon, we will continue to be doomed and sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. Our voices need to be heard and not simply on talk shows, but in practical, meaningful, and dynamic ways. If ever we needed a quiet, peaceful, non-violent revolution, it is NOW! We labor under the calloused burden of unrighteous taxation with, certainly no representation, but even more so without consultation. Information is power, and we need to know every fundamental right we should enjoy as a human being, citizen of this Commonwealth, and actually citizen of the world.

We have by virtue of the ignorance of our fundamental rights, have inadvertently sold our freedom to the calloused, indifferent and corrupt demagogues. They tread upon us furiously, as if it were their legal prerogative.

As someone has so truthfully stated in historical perspective:

Apartheid was legal

The Holocaust was legal

Slavery was legal

Colonialism was legal

Legality is a matter of POWER, not justice.

Thus, it is not righteousness or justice which governs our nation, but rather power and that unrighteous power breeds corruption without limitation.

I encourage more individuals, especially the young, to become educated, informed, committed and passionate about leading this Commonwealth into the promise land, “God’s Kingdom come on Earth”, as promised by Jesus Christ. According to His admonition, we are not independent until our spirits are free and all fear is removed from our hearts! Until then, we are nothing but slaves in our masters' vineyards. Fear not my sisters and brothers, fear not; do not even fear itself, for then that is still fear!

The Good and Gracious Creator gives to each and everyone of us all that is essential, not just for our survival, but enough to prosper and grow together as wonderful reflection of his glory and power.

About the Author: Joseph Darville is a native of Long Island, Bahamas and a resident of Freeport, Grand Bahama. He is the founding member and past president of the Bahamas Counselor's Association; past president of the Bahamas Mental Health Association and the Grand Bahama Mental Health Association; founding member and past president, and presently Vice-President, of the Grand Bahama Humane Rights Association; founding member and presently co-chairman of the Bahamas National Drug Council; a founding member of the Caribbean Human Rights Network; past VP of the Caribbean Federation of Mental Health; founding member and chairman of Operation Hope, [volunteer drug prevention, education & rehabilitation program]; and an administrative VP of the Freeport YMCA. Joseph is a past VP of the Bahamas Union of Teachers and taught at the St. Augustine's College in Nassau as well as at Queens' College, where he was also a guidance counselor; principal of Grand Bahama Catholic High School from 1977-1997. He is an advanced master/teacher in Reiki training, a natural energy healing method, as well as a teacher of Transcendental Meditation. He has received many awards for outstanding service and achievement in teaching, communication, and citizenship, including the 25th year of independence Commonwealth of the Bahamas Citizen’s Award. He now serves as a director/Chairman of the Coalition to Save The Bays, and presently Board Chairman for the Grand Bahama Humane Society. Joseph is married to Melanie and they have two children, and four grand children. Joseph can be reached at: jldarville@savethebasys.bs

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...a masterclass in the art of diplomacy and sheer Alpha Dog swagger by The Hon. Sergey Lavrov - Russian Foreign Minister and The Hon. Rex Tillerson - Secretary of State of the United States of America

TODAY WAS A MASTERCLASS IN FOREIGN POLICY:


 By Gilbert Morris:

If you observed the diplomatic meetings in Moscow today, there was a masterclass in the art of diplomacy and sheer Alpha Dog swagger by The Hon. Sergey Lavrov - Russian Foreign Minister and The Hon. Rex Tillerson - Secretary of State of the United States of America.

First, the "bone of contention" was the hellish situation in Syria; most notably the alleged use of chemical weapons that outraged the selective conscience of President Trump; unmoved previously by 161 uses of chemical weapons. But 162 simply got his goat.

The nexus (where two diplomatic parties cite their disagreement was that Russia had assured the world that it had rid Syria of these weapons. As such, their use meant that either:

a. Russia was incompetent and failed to rid Syria of the weapons, or
b. Syria tricked Russia, or
c. Russia was complicit in Syria's use of these weapons, or
d. It's was all a false flag for Mr Trump to change the subject

Second, the clever student of strategic logic or foreign policy need not come to a conclusion here, but merely master the ability to raise credible questions and present both pre-texts and plausible explanations for each option.

Sean Spicer - the embattled, forever yelling, fidgety - White House press secretary, Rex Tillerson and President Trump all had differing explanations both for the Russian role in Syria; Assad's culpability in the use of chemical weapons and the meaning of US policy in the circumstance; the substance of which is yet to be articulated.

In foreign policy, every move a country makes must either:

I. Support and advance national interests
Ii. Impose, maintain or advance a "balance of power"
III. Confirm or advance a set of values

I defy anyone to show me which of those options have been revealed in US statements or actions.

But today there was indeed an alpha dog Zen master and he was Sergey Lavrov, and by extension Vladimir Putin. Here is what he (they) did today:

a. They blurred the moral lines of US policy by listing off half a dozen examples of US invasions of other nations which ended in disaster.
b. They raise questions concerning the lack of intellectual basis of the US's "trigger happy" military interventions, which seem content to blow things up, but lack the capacity to manage what they insist on bombing.
c. They sowed doubt about US commitments; reminding Europeans of Mr Obama's reticence and Mr Trump's raving mad flourishes concerning NATO.
d. They "took the wind" out of US claims - easing reasonable doubts - about US certainty that chemical weapons were used in Syria; reminding them poignantly about false claims of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Lavrov even showed himself the dominant dog in the room, reminding an American reporter of her manners as Mr Rex Tillerson sat bewilderingly mute like a cafeteria security guard.

In fact, Tillerson's tone changed from chastising Russia, to expressing concern that Syria was being so deceitful as to undermine Russian credibility, which is crucial - in Tillerson's words, to any solution to the crisis.

I do not necessarily agree with Lavrov in any particular. But those of you aspiring to high office, wanting to hold offices requiring a defence of the country - at which we have failed miserably in financial services for instance - Lavrov's approach came from knowing every background fact, understanding and cultivating pre-texts (the most important strategic skill in any public facing endeavour, which we lack in every degree), whilst planting a credible oppositional narrative in the minds of all observers.

Gilbert Morris - Facebook