Jamaica: Pope Benedict, the church, Brady bunch, PNP audit

Pope Benedict, the church, Brady bunch, PNP audit
BY FRANKLIN JOHNSTON



ALL churches in Jamaica owe their origins to the Pope and the trend to abuse by some -- from Rasta to revivalist is disrespectful and ignorant. As 3,000 local church leaders meet for a talkfest, this fragile 83-year-old head of the Vatican state and the Catholic Church visits the UK. His job is serving God and man. To some he is "antichrist", to most a lighthouse. His shock and sadness at the crimes of some priests, and his soft rant at "militant secularism" pushing good values to the margins resonate with us too. His trip is the second to the UK by a Pope in 600 years and the first State visit. He gave the Queen lost gospels from 500 CE. I would like "a read"! The Pope is first among equals as our conduit for the Bible. The British church fought the slave trade and slavery; yet after 178 years our churches make no progress on "mental slavery". Whether by illiteracy or denial we make up a past and they approve our fictions being princes and queens in Africa, exiled and so we will not toil. Some form a group of 89 members and say it's the true church.

They speak in tongues; say they have visions of some deacons lusting, hell fire and lottery numbers, yet none of martyrs or thinkers of the global church; all are limited by the little they know. Ask your pastor about the church in 1962, 1862 and 1000? What says he? The Pope is an affront to ignorance as he embodies 2,000 years of faith with archives to show good and bad, crusades and Inquisition! Your pastor got a Bible, a vision to start a church; a penchant for fine robes, titles, ham and eggs prayer breakfasts, but no vision to tackle state corruption or a mission to subdue the land, produce and live in love — imagine that! The riches of many new churches are an affront to poverty. Are some pastors in the pocket of politicians? Who is using whom? They stipple our landscape with tasteless buildings paid for by the poor; they get honours, land and permits — a sop for keeping us quiet! British churches delivered for us! These have not! Foreign missions acted and removed our chains. For 30 years Wilberforce was dedicated to freedom for blacks he didn't know! Our churches collude in keeping us in mental slavery! Is corruption on their agenda? No! New MPs for old? No! I went to Westminster Cathedral and lit a candle for my sins, my friends and my nation -- anything for JA! The Pope is our link to 2,000 years of Christ's blood, guts and glory! Pastors cannot ignore politics, they were born in it. The Pope called Henry VIII to account, so the king beheaded Sir Thomas! Our bishops "see an' blin', 'ear an deaf". Who will say "Bruce, enough!"

The Pope's armour-plated Benz M class Popemobile is as incongruous as his elite Swiss Guard and his retro-red shoes - emblem of blood of martyrs. Let us "hail the man" as the patriarch of all Christians in the West and invite him to JA. Sir Thomas Moore, the Pope's envoy, refused to annul King Henry's marriage. The king executed him in 1535, took England out of the Catholic (universal) church and had royal sex with Anne Boleyn. This break-up was not the Pope's doing, and now for the first time a Pope visits Lambeth Palace and Westminster Abbey, the Anglican power base. All churches derive from one man who could not keep his pants on! What a bam-bam! Anglican, Adventist, Baptist, Rasta, Church of God, all exist because the king desired a woman, the Pope said, "No, stay with your flippin' wife", and lust tore apart the global church! Even today new churches are born of lust and sex. The Pope just visited Westminster Cathedral and love flowed; brown faces of Eastern Catholic priests in mufti and British youth of all colours testify that faith is strong! Our churches want "repentance healing, renewal", why not protest and action? They have the numbers. Prayer is OK, but why not call out members to picket Gordon House and demand good government? Is there a Daniel?

The Bruce, Brady, Manatt debacle is in a primal twist --the don, JLP hacks, suborned writers and civil servants, now a heavyweight! Bruce disowns Brady! Adopt him, Portia! The man "gie weh 'im fren Dudus an now 'im fren Harold". Who next? Brady is credible in and out of the JLP and knows if we follow the money we find truth. No lawyer goes abroad with US$50k, no contacts, no client and no brief. Bruce is playing "business as usual" but is seen by many as damaged goods, a weak heir, disloyal, indecisive, power-hungry, he "sang sankey" and many in the JLP rejoice at his misery! Revenge is better cold! It is as Seaga left it; autocratic, arthritic, no one dares open his mouth! Bruce is no match for Brady; can he buy him off by retraction, apology or rewards? The executive must regret not taking his resignation and they will not fight Brady as he can exhume bodies and make the Dudus episode seem a tea party. I fear for his safety. The spotlight moves to donors, so watch things escalate. What can good JLP donors do now? The donor of the US$50k is the key. If he comes out freely, he clears his name and sanitises all honest donors! He runs a private firm; gets legal permits, contracts and deposits; is an old friend of the JLP; affects the Abe Issa mantra and donates to both parties as "business must always be in power". He has nothing to fear. He is the "game changer" we must pray for. He is the catalyst to make it OK for all of us to support a party openly, if we so wish! This donor is not tribal or criminal and to be a pioneer in our twisted nation is a hard decision to make. He may begin an avalanche of openness; a catalyst to a Parliamentary vote for disclosure! Sir, you can change the tone of our politics! In the sweep of history Bruce is nothing, but our country we can count in history if we defeat the Goliath of ignorance and secrecy and prosper. Please help us. Stay conscious, my friend!

Congratulations to the PNP on a watershed audit! Transparency begins here. Please ensure the next audit is vouched by a registered public auditor and the donor schedule given to the OCG and the taxman "for their eyes only". Most big firms are on both JLP and PNP lists anyway. Whoever loses, business always wins. More power to you!

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants currently on assignment in the UK. franklinjohnston@hotmail.com

September 24, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: Can't justify Straw Market's counterfeit trade

Can't justify Straw Market's counterfeit trade
tribune242 editorial



MANY Tribune readers were shocked at the attitude of straw vendors Tuesday on learning that nine of their own were arrested in New York and charged with allegedly purchasing counterfeit designer goods for resale in the Bay Street market.

The cry of the locals seemed a plea to the Bahamas government to question the authority of US law enforcement to snatch their life's bread from their tables.

Although many vendors are aware that they are trading in counterfeit goods, they seem to think they have a right to do so. There is no apparent awareness -- despite many warnings -- that such a trade is against the law and that there are serious penalties for law breakers.

The president of the Straw Business Persons Society, a reverend no less, went so far as to tell our reporter that unless someone can provide a means for Bahamian vendors to get the counterfeit designer bags without risking getting caught by US authorities "things are going to get rough" for vendors and their families.

Let us suppose that someone did find a means to get these illegal goods onto their shelves, don't they know that they could be arrested by local police for doing so? It is only because our police have not been as aggressive as they should have been about enforcing the law that the incident in New York took place this week.

The US government has accused Bahamian police officers of being "complicit" in the straw market's counterfeit trade. The Bahamas' enforcement laws, it said, are "lax" when it comes to protecting intellectual property rights. Tired of dealing with a country of "lax" laws, US authorities decided to enforce the law themselves -- especially when it is broken on their own territory.

"I would feel sorry for the Bahamas if we have to stop selling these bags," the Society's president told our reporter. "It will affect the vendors and it will affect The Bahamas. These bags are generating a lot of funds. The whole economy will feel it. The tourists come and they have to go to the ATM to purchase these bags. I guarantee you they wouldn't go to the ATM to buy a straw bag.

"If you look at the straw bags, you would be surprised to know how long they were hanging there. The knock off move quickly. So if you are looking to put food on the table that's what you do."

Does this argument justify breaking the law? If so then why arrest the little thief in the night who breaks into your home because he too has to put food on his table?

True it is stealing of a different kind of property, but it is still stealing.

It is probably the same argument used by the pirates when Woodes Rodgers - on pain of the noose -- tried to restore legitimate commerce to these islands.

Our reporter walked through the "world famous straw market" on Tuesday to find that "virtually every stall sells at least some fake designer goods, and many of them are heavily-draped in knock-off designer handbags of all shapes, colours and sizes."

The vendors made no attempt to hide them.

Although many vendors have acknowledged that their goods are counterfeit -- from such designer brands as Gucci, Prada, Dolce, Gabana and others-- their attitude is that theirs is the right to sell. The pushing of these "hot" items was so obvious that if the police were in fact intent on applying the law, the market could have been cleaned out in a matter of days. But, of course, the political fall-out also has to be reckoned with. Straw vendors have always expected rules to be bent in their favour, so the squeals would have been loud and furious had there been a hard local crack down.

The "world famous straw market" disappeared from our shores many years ago -- ever since the days when it was removed from its Rawson Square location - a colourful scene of Bahamian basket women, plaiting their bags, hats, toys and mats, while their children learned the trade by their sides. It was a scene that inspired poets and artists. But no more.

Today we have a cheap flea market, which as Mr Charles Klonaris, chairman of the Nassau Tourism and Development Board, pointed out last year is of no benefit to the Bahamas.

We hope that taxpayers' money, now being spent to create a new straw market, will be one that displays local arts and crafts of which Bahamians can be proud -- and visitors will want to purchase as souvenirs. "But what they are producing now," said Mr Klonaris, "is just not acceptable."

September 22, 2010

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

Strengthen the family by decriminalising the single mother

By Mutryce A. Williams:


Over the years we have heard the calls for the decriminalisation of drugs, prostitution and homosexuality. What we haven’t heard the call for is the decriminalisation of the single mother.

You may ask, “Well who is criminalising the single mother and by what means is she being criminalised?” How did you arrive at the conclusion that she is being criminalised when our society is comprised of single mothers who do a stellar job in raising their children? How is she being criminalised when we give her so many accolades?

Now, society, do we really give her accolades? Well maybe we do, but when are these accolades given? Isn’t it after she has proven herself? Isn’t it after she had toiled and struggled immensely in raising upstanding citizens? It definitely isn’t when she had begun the journey of single motherhood.

It is my opinion, and I reiterate, my opinion that we view the single mother, especially if she is quite young as the cause of ALL societal ills. Some of us may not vocalize this but we think it and whether it is by our actions or inactions we let her know that this is the case. We let her know that we disapprove of her. We let her know that we think that she has committed a criminal act by being a single mother.

Our thoughts are that this female, knowing that she is ill-equipped, whether it is emotionally unprepared or not financially sound has chosen to bring one, two, three or more children into this world. She does this knowing that times have changed. She does this knowing that she may have little or no help in raising them. She is blameworthy as she should have been more responsible.

We say, “Look how she go let sheself get breed off no…this aint like once ago they have so many methods of contraception…is pure carelessness and willfulness that… me arm peets she breed again… these young people aint thinking…they don’t like themselves…”

The thing that irks me at times is that some of the same people who are making these remarks have walked the same path that these young mothers are walking and instead of lending a hand of support or a word of encouragement they join the fray and chastise them.

We don’t criminalise the men. As my mother aptly told me the other day, “You don’t see cock walking with no chicken behind it, is the hen you always see with the chicks.”

The single mother wears the scarlet letter. She holds the burden of proof, not the man. She is the one with the impregnated belly. She is the one with the one, two, three or more children in tow. She is the one who gets the looks of disdain. She is the one who bears the brunt of the remarks and advice that society so readily spews. Again, we don’t criminalise the man who impregnated her. We criminalise her. The fact that she has all of these children is her fault. It is seen as willful, negligent and criminal.

On Mother’s Day many churches honour mothers during the service. There are several gifts that are distributed. There is the gift for the oldest mother in church, not the oldest married mother but the oldest mother and then there is a gift for the youngest married mother.

Now you may say that the church is a moral institution and that by awarding the youngest mother, that this may be seen as enabling, but isn’t the youngest mother, a mother? Is she less of a mother, less of a woman; is her child less of a child? Wouldn’t you think that by acknowledging her status as mother, that she would be proud to be a mother, that she would view her role as all important and not as a burden? Don’t you think that she needs more support than the married mother?

Now let me tell you what would happen here. She feels slighted. She is shamed. This single mother who needs the support, whose child needs the biblical teachings instilled in him or her would no longer feel welcomed at church and won’t return.

It is not my intention to “call out” the church but the same can be said for baptism. The single mother approaches baptismal counseling with trepidation, as the first thing she is asked is, where is the father of your child? Some pastors even refuse to baptize the child unless the father shows up. This is added pressure for the mother. She cannot control this man, so why refuse her child the sacrament of baptism because he fails to show up?

This should be an indicator that this mother is clearly “on her own.” She needs to be welcomed into your fold. She needs support. At baptismal counseling the focus isn’t the sacrament of baptism; how this child is going to be welcomed into the fold or what support services the church has available for mothers, but rather chastisement. The mother receives a sermon on how she has sinned. She is told that should she have any other children out of wedlock she shouldn’t approach the church for baptism.

I can go into a doctrine about what Jesus says about suffering the little children but that is another discourse. I attended baptismal counseling as a godparent and the “liberty” that pastor took with my friend, if that were me, I would have walked out.

The pastor, whom she had just met, as she had not been to church in quite some time, knew her entire life story and begun preaching to her about the type of life that she had been living. He made it crystal clear that the church was doing her a favour. He noted that had it not been for her aunt who was a leader in the church, he would have refused to baptize her son.

When we left she remarked, “I had all intention of going back church because of my son, I want him to raise up in the church, but when he done christen that’s it. I am finding another church.”

Then we go on the pulpit and remark on how morally bankrupt and crime ridden our nation is, and criticize other churches by saying that they have no standards or morals, when they offer support and agree to baptize those children that we have turned away.

One can say that we have come a long way, as in past times only “lawful” children were allowed baptism during the Sunday service. The child of the single mother was baptized on a weekday. Could you imagine that? I wonder what Jesus would have said to that, as if this child is less than a child, as if this mother didn’t go through the nine months of pregnancy and arduous labour in bringing this child into the world.

I can hear the remarks now, “This is pure slackness… how dare you… nobody going tell us how to run we church…the church is an institution of morals… we not bending our rules…this aint no scamby namby business…this article is blasphemous…”

Have you asked what the purpose of the church is? As an institution that is in the business of saving souls, is your target audience those who sit in the pews every Sunday or those who are out there, those single mothers who are in need of support and not chastisement.

Isn’t there a hymn that goes, “there were ninety and nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold but one was out on the hills away, far off from the gates of gold, away on the mountains wild and dare, away from the tender shepherd’s care.” This lost sheep is that struggling single mother who is in need of support. You don’t welcome her into the fold by criminalising her. You welcome her with reassurance.

Now, society, the reality is and has been that our society is comprised mostly of single mothers. This is the reality. Instead of chastising them, instead of letting them know how immoral their acts are, instead of letting them know that they are unworthy because the father of their child did not see it fit to marry them, that because they are single mothers that this is equivalent to being an unfit mother, why not lend our support.

Often times we debate on the causes of problems and how to prevent these problems, what we fail to do is to find means of dealing with these problems and when I say dealing I don’t mean in terms of eradication but rather a means of lending support, rather a means of lessening the burden.

The single mother needs support. She doesn’t just need financial support but she needs emotional support. She not only needs the support of family and friends but she needs society’s support as well. What we do is criminalise her and shame her.

As our nation celebrates 27 years of Independence under the theme Strengthening the Family, let’s be aware that in order to strengthen the family we have to provide support to the person who heads the family and often times that person is a single mother trying her best to raise her children with many obstacles. Instead of judging her or chastising her let us lend a hand of support.

September 22, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Caricom in 'changing' Cuba

ANALYSIS

RICKEY SINGH





A communiqué was expected to be issued yesterday on the Third Caribbean Community-Cuba Ministerial Meeting that concluded in Havana on Friday.

It was expected to offer an explanation on future Caricom-Cuba co-operation and initiatives in economic and political co-ordination with Latin America in the context of new economic and political alliances and arrangements in response to international developments.

The two-day meeting occurred in the significantly changing Cuban environment compared to that of 1972, when four Caricom countries had played a vital role in helping to bring the then Fidel Castro-led revolutionary Government out of the diplomatic cold in a display of courageous defiance of the United States of America.

At that time, Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago chose to break Washington's crude isolationist policy against that small Caribbean nation with their unprecedented joint establishment of diplomatic relations with Havana.

The legendary Fidel Castro along with the administration he led for some half-a-century, before serious illness compelled him to hand over government leadership to younger brother Raoul Castro four years ago, has never failed to show his deep appreciation for that pace-setting diplomatic initiative by the quartet of Caricom states.

Caricom ministers who participated in the Havana meeting were expected to learn at first-hand why Cuba -- the only country to suffer from the longest and most punitive embargo enforced by the USA -- is now in the process of implementing serious adjustments to its economic model from total State control, based on socialist transformation, to embrace a widening experiment in private sector operations.

The announcement earlier in the week by President Raoul Castro that some half-a-million State workers are to be facilitated in new employment, mostly in a gradually expanding private sector — including tourism and construction industries — had followed a controversial interview by elder brother Fidel with an American journalist, Jeffrey Goldberg, published in The Atlantic magazine.

The "misinterpretation"


Castro lost no time in telling the media at the launch of his latest book that he was "misinterpreted on the economy" by Goldberg when he reported him as saying that "the economic model no longer works for us".

But the Cuban leader refrained from any criticisms of Goldberg, remarking that he would "await with interest" the journalist's promised "extensive article" to be published in The Atlantic.

Those in the US Congress and mainstream media, known for their anxieties to ridicule Cuba's economic model and governance system, can be expected to join in political jeerings.

Of course, they would have no interest in considering, for instance, that after 50 years of admirable struggles to survive the onslaughts of successive administrations in Washington, with their suffocating blockade as a core feature, Cuba does not have to apologise for tough, pragmatic decisions on adjustments to its economic model; not in this closing first decade of the 21st century — long after the disappearance of the once powerful superpower, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and not after the collapse of Wall Street, America's traditionally flaunted economic model of capitalism.

Indeed, the 'Wall Street crash' was a development that spawned the prevailing global economic and financial crisis still seriously impacting today on economies the world over.

Work force


Initially, as explained in Havana, the alternative employment programme will affect half-a-million of the five million-strong Cuban work force, with another half-million to follow over a phased period with State assistance in various private sector businesses.

This, according to reports out of Havana, is not an overnight development. The adjustments, linked to reassessments of policies and programmes over the past two years, are being made all the more necessary by the global crisis that has affected so many poor and developing nations.

Incidentally, as readers would know, none of the economically affected nations have had to contend with a 50-year-long spiteful blockade by Uncle Sam.

Yet, for all its domestic challenges, the Cuban Government continues to reach out, in offering assistance, though not as previously extensive, to countries in the Caribbean and other regions in various areas, including health, agriculture and construction.

The United Nations has long recognised the remarkable achievements of Cuba in health and education. And just last week, while President Raoul Castro was speaking about redeployment of sections of the labour force, Inter-Press Service was reporting on Cuba's success in making available in the world VA-MENGOCO-BC, the only vaccine against meningitis-B. This medication has been included, since 1991, in Cuba's national infant immunisation programme and is used successfully in South and Central America.

As we await the outcome of last week's Third Cuba-Caricom Ministerial Meeting, it is of relevance to recall here what Professor Norman Girvan noted when he accepted in 2009 an Honorary Doctor of Economic Sciences degree from the University of Havana.

In recalling the debt of gratitude owed to the people of that Caribbean island state by so many in the poor and developing world, Girvan, a former secretary general of the Association of Caribbean States, observed:

"The Cuban revolution has been a source of inspiration on the ability of a small Caribbean country to chart its own course of social justice, economic transformation and national independence by relying on the mobilisation of the entire population; on the will and energy of its people; and for its numerous actions of intensive international solidarity... The debt is unpayable."

September 19, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Haiti needs a democratic revolution not an election!

By Jean H Charles:


“After Rwanda and Yugoslavia, Haiti seems to be the next theater of a major mischief by some international institutions.”

I must state at the outset that I am not advocating nor promoting neither a violent nor an armed revolution. I am talking about a democratic revolution in the minds and the spirit of the people, a revamping of the institutions and a new covenant of the government to usher in a true process of democracy. Once this revolution is on the way, Haiti can then proceed with a free and fair election.

The country needs a hiatus of three to five years of reconstruction, free of politicking, to heal the nation and set the country on the road of reconciliation and nation building. The present regime can be compared to a piece of wood filled with termites in a piece of furniture. To repair the furniture one needs to cut and throw away the damaged wood before affixing a new piece. Otherwise the damage part will eventually infect the entire furniture, including the new piece.

It was Alexis de Tocqueville who coined the concept of democratic revolution, while speaking of the birth of the United States. Akin to South Africa before Mandela, Haiti must transform itself from a de facto apartheid country to a state where the sense of appurtenance is the rule. It needs now a democratic revolution not an election.

I have this week visited a rural community named Mazere on the road from Grand River to Bahon. I have in mind these pictures that depict the extent of the misery, the magnitude of the squalid conditions as well as the inequality that 85% of the population of Haiti is forced to live under.

The public school, the only state presence of the area is located across the river. There is no bridge for easy access. I asked the kids how they get to school, one of the mothers interjected to let me know they carry the younger ones across the river, which sometimes destroys everything in its way, including an irrigation dam recently built.

Inquiring further with the adults, I asked them what their most pressing needs are. They told me that the government used to protect the land with rock formation on the hills to prevent avalanches during the rainy season. This operation has not been done for the past decades. We have now huge amount of water sitting for months in the fields destroying our produce.

It has been decades that the Haitian government has been a predatory entity preying on its people instead of providing services and support to help its citizens to enjoy the pursuit of happiness.

As such the people of Haiti educated or otherwise are waiting for the Blanc (the white man) to bring about deliverance. On the political scene, the question is not what is the agenda of the candidates, it is rather who has the blessing of Barack Obama for the presidency of Haiti? The sense of civics patriotism and leadership has been dimished by the last sixty years of corrupt governance.

The entire population is a crowd in transit. The rural world with no services from the government is in transit towards the small cities. The small towns have become ghost entities with the citizens in transit towards the larger cities, their citizens are in transit towards the capital and there the dream is to find an American visa or take a leaky boat towards Florida or the Bahamas.

Building up the sense of nation has not been a governmental priority or a United Nations foreign intervention initiative. MINUSTHA (the UN force) is substituting itself as the Haitian army without assuming the defense of the country. Inequality and injustice is queen, extorting the notion of appurtenance from and for each other. The sense of noblesse oblige of the past that kept the poor ones afloat has been substituted by the doctrine of “rock in the water against rock in the sun” or class warfare by Aristide. The Preval regime has introduced the concept of “swim to the shores at your own risk” leaving everyone to fend for themselves... It has left no lifeline of security for the majority of the population which is going into a free fall abyss.

In an article this week in the Miami Herald, Jacqueline Charles depicted the fetid situation where the Haitian refugees are living under in the Corail camp. “What was supposed to be the model for a new Haiti looks like the old one, a menacing slum.” Jean Christophe Adrian the United Nations Human Settlements Program added “the international community has a tremendous responsibility for creating this monster.”

Haiti, after Rwanda and Yugoslavia, could be the scene of a major catastrophe orchestrated by a non sensitive government with the connivance of major international institutions. I was in Washington last June at the OAS mansion at a conference on Haiti organized by CARICOM. In a conversation with Mr Colin Granderson, the Haiti resident, I shared my intention of running in the next election. His answer: how much money do you have, instead of what is your vision for Haiti? Sounds like “how many regiments do you have at your disposal?”

The gang of three -- the UN, the OAS and CARICOM -- in its dealing with Haiti is using according to Emil Vlajky in the wretched of the modernity, the absolute rationality which is anti-human. The human rationality with its sense of ethics is not in favor. The poor, the wretched, the refugees of the catastrophe will continue to live with unkept promises. While the entire country is decrying the upcoming election as a masquerade with the president holding all the marbles, the General Secretary of OAS characterize the process as “credible”. The Haiti of the Duvalier’s, the Aristide’s and the Preval’s culture is a gangrene that must be extirpated to create a modern nation sensitive to the needs of its people.

Any policy short of this radical intervention is unfriendly to the gallant people of Haiti that deserve a break from a life of abject misery.

September 20, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Honduras 14 months on: Time for a dose of diplomatic realpolitik

By David Roberts




So, those who plotted the coup in Honduras at the end of June last year got their way, after all. The coup-backers' bogeyman, President Manuel Zelaya, was successfully overthrown and remains in exile in the Dominican Republic, and the new government led by Porfirio Lobo has been recognized as democratic, or very close to democratic, by Washington, the EU and most of the countries that cut off ties when Zelaya was ousted.

The latest countries to recognize the Lobo government and restore full diplomatic relations were Chile and Mexico, both citing a report by the Organization of American States - which expelled Honduras after the coup - that concluded Lobo has made "considerable progress in the cause of restoring democracy and freedoms in the Central American country."

Still holding out are the left-leaning Latin American nations inspired by Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, and, most notably, Brazil and Argentina. So was it right for the US, the EU, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and others - including all of Honduras' Central American neighbors except Nicaragua - to recognize the Lobo government? And if the answer is yes, should those who haven't done so follow suit?

Whatever the rights and wrongs of last June's coup - those behind it justified their move by arguing that Zelaya was trying to change the constitution illegally so he could run for another term in office - not having diplomatic relations with a country should not be used as a "punishment" for events in the past, nor as a means of protest because one nation does not like another nation's system of government. Otherwise, western-style democracies simply would not have diplomatic ties with most countries in Africa and the Middle East, nor with quite a few in Asia.

Nor of course with Cuba, although the argument that if a country is going to have diplomatic relations with Havana then there's no excuse for not having them with Tegucigalpa doesn't entirely stand up, as Cuba was not a democracy when the present incumbents took power.

Of course, withdrawing ambassadors and cutting ties can and should be used as a means of expressing disapproval of a serious breach of the democratic "rules of the game," as happened in Honduras last year, but times move on and the de facto government has given way to one that has earned a certain legitimacy.

Like it or not, Lobo was democratically elected, although Zelaya should be allowed to return without having to face criminal proceedings - and perhaps those who carried out the coup should face at the very least a full investigation (although not necessarily criminal punishment as Chavez and company maintain). But in deciding whether to restore relations, a nation needs to give priority to the current situation, and, of course, practical issues such as its own political, business and cultural interests, along with the interests of its own citizens.

In conclusion: Breaking off diplomatic relations may be a useful means of protest but in itself it doesn't solve anything, and over time has negative effects in other areas such as trade, investment, travel and cultural exchange. In the case of Honduras, it's time for the Venezuela-led bloc to fall in line with the rest of the region.

bnamericas

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: ...no law in place to govern shark harvesting

BAHAMAS:NO MARKET FOR COMMERICAL SHARK HARVESTING
By JASMIN BONIMY
Guardian Staff Reporter
jasmin@nasguard.com:


Amid calls for the government to enact legislation aimed at clamping down on shark fishing, officials at the Department of Marine Resources insist that policies are in place that strongly discourage commercial shark harvesting.

Director of Marine Resources Michael Braynen told The Nassau Guardian yesterday that despite recent reports in the media, there is no evidence indicating that there is a viable market for commercial shark or sea urchin harvesting.

While he admitted that there is no law in place to govern shark harvesting, Braynen said the Department of Fisheries adheres to a policy which in effect bans commercial shark fishing, and does not recommend applications for licenses to the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources for shark meat or any shark products to be exported outside the country. The recommendations of the Marine Resources Department weigh highly in the decision making process, said Braynen.

In a joint release sent out over the weekend by the Bahamas Marine Exporters Association(BMEA)and the Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance(BCFA)the two organizations expressed their opposition to the commercial harvesting of both shark fins and sea urchins in Bahamian waters. The organizations added that they do not believe proper research has been conducted into the impact of the commercial trade of both marine species.

The Bahamas National Trust(BNT)has also highlighted the issue of shark fishing in The Bahamas in a release, which strongly opposed any type of shark finning or commercial shark fishing in The Bahamas.

"While there are no specific laws prohibiting fishing for sharks in The Bahamas, there is really no commercial fishery for sharks in The Bahamas,"said Braynen."As a consequence fishermen do not pursue them. Braynen also noted the absence of a viable market for sea urchin harvesting in The Bahamas.

"The policy being pursued by the Department of Marine Resources has for years not allowed the export of sharks of shark products from The Bahamas. So i think there is little concern for the establishment of a shark fin industry in The Bahamas."

Braynen said while shark harvesting is a major issue for countries in Asia where the shark fin trade is a major industry, he insisted that simply is not the case in The Bahamas.

Given the fact that shark meat is not a Bahamian delicacy, Braynen added that local fishermen focus their attention on big sale items like crawfish and conch.

As a result he said fishermen shy away from wasting their energy and resources to catch a product that is not profitable in the Bahamian market.

"The big selling item for sharks around the world is their fins, but we have no evidence that commercial shark fishing in The Bahamas would be sustainable,"he said.

"That is why we don't support the export of sharks. In effect that's one means for controlling and limiting the fishing of sharks in Bahamian waters. Fishermen would not be able to makemoney because the export market would be closed to them."

Braynen further added that long line fishing, the most common and popular practice used in commercial shark fishing, is banned in The Bahamas.

9/17/2010

thenassauguardian

Bahamas Blog International