Cool Heads and no Crowns: The Caribbean in a storm

By Sir Ronald Sanders


Not for the first time in the history of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), Heads of Government are conveying mixed signals to the people of the region about how they feel about the CARICOM relationship and, indeed, about themselves.

Two incidents brought this reality into sharp focus over the last few days. The first was an inflammatory statement attributed to Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, that she did not make, and the other was the almost complete turn out of CARICOM Heads of Government to the funeral of David Thompson, the late Prime Minister of Barbados, and the genuine sense of “family” that they showed.

The statement that Persad-Bissessar is alleged to have made is, “No free help” for the islands of St Vincent and St Lucia that have been severely battered by Hurricane Tomas with St Lucia getting the worst of it. Earlier, as a tropical storm, Tomas had also sallied through Barbados uprooting trees, dislodging utility poles and wires, and damaging hundreds of mostly low-cost houses throughout the island.

“No free help” were not Persad-Bissessar’s words. They were the headline in the Trinidad Express newspaper on November 1, which did report what the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister actually said. According to the story and other newspaper reports, the Prime Minister was speaking at a press conference about a request that she had received from the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, for assistance after his country was ravaged by the brutal Tomas.

What all the Trinidad and Tobago media reported her to say, was: "We will have to look at ways in which we would be able to assist. But you would recall my comments earlier this year, when I said there must some way in which Trinidad and Tobago would also benefit. So if we are giving assistance with housing for example, and that is one of the areas that we (Prime Minister of St Vincent and myself ) spoke about, ... then we may be able to use Trinidad and Tobago builders and companies, so that whatever money or assistance is given, redounds back in some measure to the people of Trinidad and Tobago."

She did not say that the Trinidad and Tobago government would not help. Indeed, she is reported as actually saying that her government had already mobilised two containers of foodstuff, and a decision would be made about where to send them but "certainly to St Vincent".

The issue here is not that she refused to provide assistance. If she had done so, I would have joined the chorus of voices that are now condemning her. When she talked earlier this year of Trinidad and Tobago not being “an ATM machine” for the Caribbean, I was one of the first to criticise that statement drawing attention to the fact that Trinidad and Tobago enjoys almost a monopoly market in the Caribbean for its cheaper oil-subsidised goods because of the CARICOM Treaty and that the Petroleum Fund (badly managed though it is) is as much in Trinidad and Tobago’s interest as the rest of the CARICOM countries since it helps to keep those countries as markets for Trinidad and Tobago’s goods.

The real issue with those who now condemn her is the link she drew between her government’s assistance and the use of “builders and companies” from Trinidad and Tobago.

Heat over that issue should be tempered by two realities. First, other countries (not only the former imperialists) link their assistance to their own materials and people. As examples, Cuban projects in many CARICOM countries use Cuban material and Cuban labour, as do several Venezuelan-funded projects. And, China not only insists upon the use of its material and people in aid projects, it does so for commercial projects too. And, it has long been the condition of many donors – either directly or through the agencies they use to finance aid projects – that their money be used for materials and workers from their countries exclusively.

The second reality is that Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the leader of a political party and Prime Minister of a country that, like many others, has become sceptical of CARICOM. It is up to her and her Ministers to demonstrate to a large section of the Trinidad and Tobago population that there is benefit in CARICOM for them.

Of course, they need to demonstrate CARICOM’s benefit to them over a very wide range of issues which includes the fact that CARICOM is a very lucrative market for Trinidad and Tobago’s products and services keeping thousands of its people employed; the country needs the support of CARICOM in fighting drug trafficking and crime, and maintaining security; it needs CARICOM in international bargaining in trade against larger entities such as the European Union; and it would not fulfil its international aspirations in the international system without the full backing of CARICOM.

Trinidad and Tobago, too, must realise that it alone does not wear a crown and it is not an island (not even two) unto itself.

But Persad-Bissessar should not be lynched for what she did not say, or for linking her government’s assistance to use of her country’s material and work force. At no time did she say no help would be forthcoming.

The entire Caribbean is going through what Professor Norman Girvan recently described as “existential threats”. This is a time for cool heads. It is not a time for tit-for-tat statements or for statements whose content sound like “something will not be given for nothing”.

Much of this present controversy is unnecessary and would not happen if CARICOM governments talk to each other on a platform of interdependence and common problems, and with a resolve to solve them collectively, recognising that none of them can go it alone and the task at hand is urgent and huge.

It was significant that at the well-organised and dignified funeral of Barbados David Thompson in the same week of this incident, CARICOM leaders turned out in full force to honour their fallen brother, and CARICOM was given an important role in the proceedings through its Chairman, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding. It is on that sense of CARICOM “family” that the region needs to go forward in its own vital interest.

November 5, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: Father David Cooper and an affair that was his and one woman’s

Rough Cut,
By Felix F. Bethel.

“…the dark end…”



Today is a hard one for me; this because I feel constrained to say something about that matter that today brings Father David Cooper and an affair that was his and one woman’s to the public’s attention.

In this regard, I have taken note of the fact that, “…A Catholic priest admitted yesterday he was intimately involved with a woman who died in a fire at her apartment four years ago - the same day he had to be pulled from a separate blaze at his own home…”

I am so sad for this man.

I am sadder still for the family and in particular, I am terribly sorry for the son of the woman who lived on Faith Avenue-no less who had decided that, she could/ should and did truly love a man who was a religious.

I also now know that, “During the continuation of the coroner's inquest into the death of 35-year-old hotel worker Nicola Gibson, Father David Cooper took the stand, claiming he visited the deceased on the night before she died, but does not remember how he got home…”

But no matter how this man got home, today I heard Percy Sledge as he cried out in song: At the dark end of the street; that is where we always meet, hiding in shadows where we don't belong; living in darkness, to hide alone…”

And in refrain, the word echoes - You and me, at the dark end of the street; you and me…

The ‘you and me that they were’ came with its fair share of tensions; some so severe that, Father Cooper was constrained to tell the Coroner’s Court that, “…at the time of her death there was tension in their relationship as he was trying to pull away, but she wanted their involvement to continue…”

Percy Sledge affirms: When the daylight all goes around; and by chance we're both down the town; please meet, just walk, walk on by; Oh, darling, please don't you cry…”

In truth, the crying did end; it ended in the stone-cold silence that is Death’s stony-hard handprint – with the information in the wind attesting to facts and even more facts: 1.Ms. Gibson was found dead following a fire at her Faith Avenue apartment on the morning of July 21, 2006; 2. Just hours earlier, at around 3.30am, Fr. Cooper was found unconscious at the rectory of Holy Family Church on Robinson and Claridge roads by fire officers, who had been called to tackle a fire at the building; 3. Fr. Cooper, who was the rector at Holy Family at the time of the incident, told the court he met Ms Gibson during 1995 and 1997 when she came to see the rector of St Francis Xavier's Cathedral in relation to her upcoming marriage at the time; and 4. The priest told the court their friendship began after her fiancé died in a motorcycle accident; and 5. Things have a way of happening in this stone-cold place.

Like what I’m trying to say is that, you go about your business and you try your best to keep your balance – and then, like wham-gadjammit; something happens.

That nasty something makes you giddy as hell; and then, once you are giddy with the dizziness; something else happens that makes you want to holler. That sad something that makes me want to holler so very much has to do with the really sad story concerning the man who loved a woman; and as to how the same woman died in a fire; and as to how the man who loved the woman might have also died in a fire in his home.

And then, I hear say that the man who was found in the burning room has told a Coroner’s Court that he thought that he was somehow abnormal for having succumbed to the mystery he thought inherent not in loving a woman; but for him – a religious- to have been that man who loved a woman.

Lord God Almighty, protect me now as I say to this people that is yours: The night that came before the morning after was short enough and in the fitful time I slept and in which I dreamed; I dreamed a number of dreams; and in the time I dreamed the dreams I dreamed, I saw in one of them a good man – Conrad Knowles; himself a very good man.

I really can’t say why I dreamt as I did and as to why it was my fate on this recent night that came before the morning after; but what I can tell you is that on waking, I discovered that, I was still clothed in my right mind.

And so, clothed thus, I made it my business to listen in to songs piped my way thanks to stuff on the internet; with two of these songs clinging in memory: Morning has broken and Dark End of the Street by Percy Sledge.
At this point, I thought about the matter that matters so very much to me on this blessed Thursday; that matter being the one in the news concerning Father David Cooper.

And then I listened in to Percy Sledge as he continued with his woe-filled lament about what did in truth and in fact go down as it did on the dark end of the street: I know a time has gonna take it's toll. We have to pay for the love we stole; it’s a sin and we know it’s wrong; oh our love keeps going on strong…

And I listened in –as it were from a long time ago in my life - when I too searched for love and comfort and care and for caresses galore; I searched knowing full well that: Steal away to the dark end of the street/ You and me was an act of transgression fit for the likes of David who thought that he could have it all because he just so happened to be a man after God’s own heart.

At that juncture –as the Word informs – Uriah’s fate was sealed and so was what that of Bathsheba, Uriah’s beautiful and well-bathed wife.

In the same twinkling moment, I remembered some of what Father Cooper allegedly told the police. And then, it also dawned on me that Percy Sledge had said, “They gonna find us, they gonna find us; They gonna find us love someday; You and me, at the dark end of the street - You and me.

Interestingly, [so I put it, interestingly]: Fr. Cooper described his relationship with the deceased as "abnormal" considering his vow of chastity…

Even I now I wonder about the need for celibacy itself as a co-requisite for service to the Master and to God Almighty Himself.

Even now, I wonder; and even now, I bless God for the gift he gave me when he caused my path and that of the late Conrad Knowles to cross where it did and how it did.

And I bless God for the dream I dreamed when I dreamt about this good man; and so, too I suggest is Father Cooper; and so too any number of men who have stumbled and fallen.

I am also quite aware that, the God we all serve is a God of truth and He is also a God of mercy to all his children: the good, the bad and the truly ugly.

Clearly, then, we have all sinned and we have all sinned and we have [each and every one of us] fallen short of the glory of God; this even as some of us continue to rendezvous with lust at the dark end of the street.

November 4th, 2010

jonesbahamas

Bahamas Blog International

Islamophobia - A brewing 'Cold War' in the US and the Caribbean

By Rebecca Theodore


Ever since the Runnymede Trust of 1997 made Islamophobia a household name, the usage of the word has spread like wildfire throughout the developed world. Cemented on the slates of history as a barbaric, primitive and sexist political ideology that supports terrorism, monolithic in origin and does not possess values common with other cultures; Islamophobia is now fulfilling the ideological role that anti-communism served in the Cold War era from which to understand the world.

Although it is the belief of political scientists and sociologists in the US that it was the 9/11 attacks that continues to confirm Islam as “enemy” with destructive clarity, the myth that perpetuate all Muslims as terrorists compressed with the hysteria and outpouring of hate for Islam and Muslims has never been more evident than by the incidence of Koran burning and the debacle over the building of a Muslim community center near Ground Zero.

It follows that if “nothing is more dangerous than the influence of private interests on public affairs” then the way in which the media continues to dehumanize Muslims not only detaches the issue away from its socio-political context, but the “CNN effect” hypothesis, which continues to imply that the media is more influential in shaping policies since the cessation of the Cold War, enforces the culture of victimhood against Muslims and vividly demonstrate that Islamophobia is a one-stop cause for the myriad of problems facing the world today, when in essence it is only a human and technological construct -- an aggressive television sound-bite, that does not exist in time and space.

It is now clear that the finalization of the Cold War now brings a greater focus upon alternative enemies and the portrayal of the binary ‘other’ as a new Cold War is not taking place with socio-economic factors, but with great partition among humankind, hence a dominating cultural conflict that now carries the potency of a blockade mentality, that fuels more antagonism and bitterness and making Muslim communities more inward looking and more open to religious extremism.

In the same way the Holocaust revealed how ferociously unchanged beneath the veneer of civilization lurks the old bête human (human beast) and how moral progress can be stamped by a Darwinian-Malthusian conflict model embedded in intellectual thinking, hostility towards Islam justifies Muslims as “Successor to the Berlin Wall”, thus the buildup hysteria against the Muslim community and their exclusion from mainstream society. On this assumption, it is impossible to encode the lives of Muslims in Darwinian-Malthusian genetics because the dogma holds no clues for human conduct, no answers to human moral dilemmas and in my view is the most potent intellectual force that is presently eroding the West’s traditional moral order by glorifying ideas of discriminatory practices towards Muslims and confers approval on discrimination as a biological necessity and in this way anti-Islamism is normalized.

As images are important in constructing the discourses of everyday life, the politics of the veil and hatred and abuse of Muslims is exaggerated to suit politicians and journalistic needs in the US and the world at large. Inflating anti-Muslim prejudice is useful for mainstream politicians to draw attention to themselves and to make monetary gains. TV personalities, intellectuals, newsworthy Islamophobes, politicians, bestsellers with melodramatic titles by unknown authors with no knowledge of Muslim history are frenziedly defining the dangerous ‘other’ in western society, with no regard to Muslim families who are presently facing a crisis of individuality and freedom in their explanation of the impasse to the younger generation.

Being sensitive to Islamophobia allows politicians to reclaim honorable high ground lost in political mauling over the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The latest of several controversial remarks by Nevada Republican US Senate candidate Sharron Angle that the country needs to address a "militant terrorist situation" that has allowed Islamic religious law to take hold in American cities like Dearborn, Michigan, and Frankford, Texas, strongly indicate that Islamophobia is not limited to the textual, but can be understood with reference to fields of visuality in politics and shows a terrifying lack of connection with reality and that there is big money to be made in promoting bigotry against Muslims.

In the Caribbean, Islam plays a prominent role in Caribbean history, stretching back over one thousand years and tracing its presence to the Atlantic slave trade, the influx of refugees caused by the Spanish persecution of non-Christians in Spain, resulting in Muslims fleeing a ravaged Ottoman Empire in search of opportunities, Arab refugees fleeing persecution by Jews in Palestine, and also Muslim Indians, both indentured servants and immigrants seeking a better way of life. Regardless of the origin of the Islamic presence, it has endured and is currently growing with a Caribbean Islamic Secretariat playing a prominent role in politics and education and catering to economic development within the business community.

Moreover, new research reveals evidence leading to the presence of Muslims in the ancient Americas long before Columbus’ destructive interference in the fifteenth century. What is significant about the Islamic presence in the Caribbean is that it has survived for so long. Alex Haley in his book “Roots” realistically reconstructs the story of his Muslim ancestor Kunta Kinte, who was kidnapped, sold and transported to the Americas, thus showing attempts made by slaves to cling to their Islamic culture and heritage, proving that hostility towards Islam stems from the atrocities and cultural genocide perpetrated by ‘pseudo civilized’ European colonizers in their scathing mission of the cross and the sword and bringing light to the heathens.

Forthwith, in 1848, Karl Marx began his Communist Manifesto with the famous words: “A specter is haunting Europe – the specter of communism.” Today, another specter is haunting the world. It is the specter of a brewing Cold War against Islam.

November 3, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

The crucifixion of Obama

BY LLOYD B SMITH




United States President Barack Hussein Obama's The Audacity of Hope has overnight become The Audacity of Hopelessness. At least, this is the opinion of his many detractors, namely the irascible Republicans and Tea Party affiliates, in addition to extreme rightists, disenchanted Independent and blacks, plus outrightly racist Anglo-Saxons who were never comfortable with the idea of a black man being in the White House.In November 2008 Senator Obama was elected the 44th President of the United States. And during his subsequent stroll from the Capitol in Washington DC in January 2009 I recall saying to myself here goes "the man of the moment" like Jesus Christ riding on the Democratic Party's proverbial donkey on his way to Jerusalem where he may well be betrayed, accused, tried and condemned to a swift political death.

Politics is an ungrateful profession. Here are some of the descriptions that were made about the first Black man to become president of the world's most powerful and influential country (cannot say it is the richest anymore): "The most exciting politician of the day" - Independent; "In our low-down, dispiriting era, Obama's talent for proposing humane, sensible solutions with uplifting, elegant prose does fill one with hope." - Washington Post; "The Audacity of Hope offers readers on this side of the Atlantic a window not just into the mind of one of America's most exciting politicians, but into the political landscape of post-Bush era...like Bill Clinton, he has the knack of weaving together the personal and the anecdotal with the political and the conceptual, so that each point seems both persuasive and commonsensical." - Guardian

Euphoria has turned to hysteria; love has turned to hate; admiration has turned to vilification; dreams have become nightmares and now the Pharisees and Sadducees, the High Priests and Scribes are shouting, "Crucify him, crucify him!" And whom do they want? Sarah Palin! Now if this scenario does not suggest that many Americans have lost their bearings, what could convince any sane person otherwise?

I am not for one moment saying that Obama has not fouled up in his presidency. There are times when I have quietly expressed anger at some of his decisions, actions and pronouncements, but does this make him into a Communist or Socialist, a Hitler, a Muslim sympathiser and worst of all an illegitimate president by virtue of the propaganda that he is not a born American? Many terrible things have been said of American presidents, but I am yet to be convinced that Obama has not been the most denigrated of them all. I am further convinced that he has suffered this opprobrium even from members of his own party because of his having had a Kenyan father.

Alas, poor Obama. In a bid to be all things to all men, he has failed most miserably and so he has ended up angering just about every spectrum of the American political kaleidoscope - Conservatives, Liberals, Independents, women, the Anglo-Saxon males, youths, seniors, Wall Street, the unemployed, etc. Will he ever be able to get it right? Not as long as he is deemed to be on the left, some say. Today, millions of Americans will go to the polls to vote in the Midterm elections. The latest CNN poll shows the GOP (Grand Old Party) 10 points ahead of the Democrats. It would appear that after today there will be a big, rambunctious elephant charging around in the Oval Office.

The Republicans have skilfully used fear as their major weapon against the Obama administration. Already known as "the party of no", they have set out to make it impossible for Obama to return to the presidency in 2012, if he dares. But history may well be on Obama's side - a history that has shown that incumbent presidents who fare badly in mid-term elections tend to be comeback kids. Ronald Reagan did it and so did Bill Clinton. Within the next two years, his fortunes can turn around, especially if the White House can build consensus with the Republicans on major issues without veering too much from his stated visions; defang Al-Qaeda, grow the economy and create jobs, reduce the national debt, empower the minorities (blacks, Hispanics in particular), deal effectively with the contentious immigration issue, revisit the health-care bill, tackle with compassion and common sense gay and abortion rights, among the many other matters that beset that great nation. A tall order, indeed, but Obama must be pragmatic and come up with an agenda and timetable that are doable within the years he has left in his presidency. Lest he forget, "It's the economy, stupid!"

The spectre of China superseding the USA as the number one world power is most frightening and demoralising to the Americans. It is this fear that has driven many individuals into the lap of the Republicans who, despite today's predicted landslide victory, are not seen by the majority of voters as much better than the Democrats. That is why the Tea Party has emerged in essence as a third party and has attached itself parasitically to the GOP - a marriage that may well end up in a bitter divorce.

I still believe in Obama and I have this gut feeling that he will rebound. After all, if there is any logical historicity to his presidency, then the crucifixion should be followed by the resurrection. His must not be a dream deferred but a dream realised.

lloydbsmith@hotmail

November 02, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Was CARIFORUM wise in rushing into a 'full' EPA?

By Norman Girvan


Recent news on the stalemate in the EPA negotiations in Southern Africa raises fresh questions about the wisdom of CARIFORUM countries in rushing to sign on to a ‘full’ EPA with Europe in October 2008.

According to an article in one of the region’s leading newspapers, the EPA negotiations with SADC -- the Southern Africa Development Community -- are unlikely to meet the latest deadline for conclusion at the end of 2010.

That will make three years since the expiry of the original deadline of December 31, 2007 for conclusion of a trade agreement to rake the place of the Lome/Cotonou arrangements. We in the Caribbean had been told that this deadline was cast in stone.

One of the main sticking points in the EU-SADC negotiations is EU insistence that “new generation issues” be included in the EPA, even though this is not required under WTO rules. New generation issues include investment, government procurement, competition policy and expansion of intellectual property rights and of trade in services.

The article quotes Namibia’s Director of International Trade as saying that “if we agree to EU demands on new generation issues we would be opening up our economies to very serious problems”. Two major concerns mentioned are the restriction of the right of SADC nations to pursue their own development strategies and the undermining of their regional integration schemes.

Inclusion of these issues was one of the controversial features of the Caribbean’s EPA. Critics had argued that more time was needed to consider the implications of the EPA for development and regional integration.

SADC has apparently also forced the EU to concede ground on its demands for a ‘Most Favoured Nation (MFN) Clause’ whose effect would be to hinder South-South cooperation. The MFN clause was bitterly opposed by CARIFORUM, but the position of European negotiators was ‘take it or leave it’.

Now it seems the Caribbean might have won that battle had they made common cause with the Africans.

CARIFORUM negotiators have always argued that being the first to conclude a ‘full’ EPA with Europe would be an advantage in securing additional development assistance and enhanced access to EU service markets.

It is an open secret, however, that implementation of the EPA by most CARIFORUM countries is well behind schedule because of the onerous legislative, regulatory and administrative obligations and the limited financial means of many countries.

Nearly three years after the conclusion of negotiations, some reassessment of the Caribbean strategy may be necessary; comparing the Caribbean and African experiences.

In addition, the fall-out from the global economic crisis has devastated the financial resources of EU states, which must impact their aid budgets.

And how accessible will European service markets really be, with slow economic recovery and rising unemployment in Europe?

October 30, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Jaundiced voters all over send politicians messages

Keeble McFarlane





The severe economic crunch of the past few years has left millions of people from Athens to Atlanta in deep financial distress and frightened about the dismal prospects they face. The result has been a miasma of frustration, confusion and unfocused anger which is having an unsettling effect in the political sphere. In short, voters are feeling like the central character in the mid-1970s movie, Network: "Mad as hell and not going to take it anymore!"

Australians voted in June after the then-governing party, Labor, suffered a palace coup. Its leader, Kevin Rudd, had fallen out of public favour and the party held a convention, dumped him and replaced him with his deputy, Julia Gillard, who then called an election. Disenchanted voters rewarded them with Australia's first hung parliament in 70 years. Both Labor and a coalition of the Liberal and National parties each won 72 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives. That's four seats short of what's required for a majority government. The balance of power now lies with two minority party members and four independents. Labor retained power by gaining the support of four cross-benchers.


The next month, grumpy British voters trekked to the polls and denied the ruling Labour Party a fourth term in office. The party, which had had an extraordinarily successful run under the telegenic Tony Blair, was now run by his very competent but totally underwhelming finance minister, Gordon Brown. He was one of the architects of the efforts by the G8 and G20 to use government stimulus to buffer the worst effects of recession but citizens were not happy about the sluggish response of the economy and the huge debts and deficits piling up. So they gave the traditional Labour and Conservative parties less than enthusiastic support but opened up to the traditional outsiders, the Liberal Democrats.

No party had a majority, so rounds of feverish negotiations began and the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats fashioned a workable deal. David Cameron of the Conservatives became prime minister and he appointed Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats as his deputy, while bringing several members of Clegg's party into his Cabinet. They immediately began slimming down the government, social programmes and the armed forces.

Voters are in a cantankerous mood even in well-off Sweden, one of the few countries in the world running a surplus in its national budget. The country is one of the models of the welfare state, paid for, it must be noted, by high taxes. This framework was built by the Social Democratic party, which has formed the government for 65 of the past 78 years and has never before lost two elections in a row. Well, even though they had allied themselves with the relatively new Green Party, they lost the election last month to a centre-right coalition which formed the last government under Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

The Social Democrats have lost their magic touch to the Swedes of today, who are more focused on the economy and question their country's generosity to outsiders, like the flood of refugees escaping the misery of war in Iraq. The election brought the spotlight on the Sweden Democrats, a xenophobic, anti-immigrant group some describe as racist, which managed to pick up 20 seats and for the first time gain a foothold in the national Parliament.

Just this week, voters in Canada's largest city, Toronto, displayed their anger. A man who runs a lucrative label-printing business with his two brothers accurately captured the dyspeptic voters' mood and ran with it to a very convincing victory for the mayor's chain of office. Rob Ford, the wealthy man who nevertheless personifies Joe Lunch Pail, ran on the mantra Stop the Gravy Train. Ford had been a city councillor for 10 years and always boasted that he never touched the discretionary allowance every councillor gets to help run their constituencies. He constantly criticised his fellow councillors for their spending as well as attacking such practices as having people on staff to water the plants in the multi-storey City Hall.

Newspapers had a field day digging up his record of bad behaviour, such as calling a fellow councillor "a waste of skin" and another of Italian origin the derogatory "Gino-boy"; verbally abusing fellow spectators at a sports arena and being busted for drunken driving and possessing ganja while on a visit to Miami. But the voters liked his simple message which he stuck to during a very disciplined and focused campaign and forgave him for being himself.

What resonated was his focus on the lack of respect for taxpayers' money and taxpayers themselves displayed by councillors and city staff even as taxes and levies kept going up. In his acceptance speech on Monday night, Ford summed up his approach: "The party with taxpayers' money is over!" Of course, the real task now begins, as this lone wolf former councillor who never made any alliances even with like-minded colleagues will now have to learn to work with others and forge alliances in order to wield his cost-cutting cutlass.

Perhaps the most grumpy voters around are those in the United States, and they vote on Tuesday in what the Americans call the off-year elections. They will choose a new House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate, one-third of the state governors and a host of state, county and city officials as well as numerous referendums.

Much of the frustration and anger is focused on President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats. A movement taking its cue from a protest in formative years of the nation's history has been making noise from one end of the US to the other. It calls itself the Tea Party and masquerades as a grass-roots movement but most of its supporters are well-off older white men. They clamour for a return to the past, but their detractors point out that the past was one in which discrimination was the order of the day against people who were poor or black, or both. There's considerable overlap between members of the Tea Party activists and the Republican Party, but the mainstream party has an uneasy relationship with the Tea Partiers, some of whom come out with the most ludicrous of suggestions.

Underlying all the dyspepsia and frustration, the bleating about socialism and freedom from big government are real problems: the hollowing out of the country's mighty industrial base, the atrocious behaviour of the big financial institutions causing millions of people to lose their houses and way of life and the growing realisation that, as happened to Britain a half-century ago, their country is losing its pre-eminent place in the world.

Tuesday's vote will significantly change the political picture in Washington, with Republicans regaining control of one, and possibly both, houses of Congress. Then the US will be right back where it was halfway through Bill Clinton's first term, when the leader of the House Republicans, Newt Gingrich, brought the business of government to a grinding halt. Then the fun began.

keeble.mack@sympatico.ca

October 30, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International

Sex, scandal and society

Barbara Gloudon




THERE'S nothing we love more than a juicy scandal. Bring it on, especially if politics and politicians are in the mix-up and blenda. Our adrenalin gets going when the talk turns to corruption and any kinda ruption, which can prove what we believe -- that politics and politricks walk hand in hand. A recent survey says corruption is diminishing a bit, but let's see before we break out the champagne.

Up North, the three-letter word (S-E-X) is part of the scandal equation not only for errant politicians but for sports persons and entertainment superstars. There's nothing to boost ratings in the media like news of a headliner caught with pants down. (Remember President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky?) Efforts to take the US economy out of its tailspin paled in significance to the lurid coverage of Tiger Woods' dalliance.

Now that he's handed over a hefty chunk of his fortune to his ex-wife and is fighting a slump in his golf game, interest in him has waned considerably. He is not the first US hero to crumble under the crushing weight of a sex scandal. It's happened before and will happen again, so long as women are drawn by the aphrodisiac of fame, athletic physiques, and the possibility of a pay-off.

The groupie phenomenon is prevalent in the entertainment world but somehow, if we're to go by reports, entertainers do not seem to crash as spectacularly as sporting heroes. In our territory (the Caribbean), we are not as concerned about the romantic life of our superstars, not even when they mistreat women. Sadly, very often their staunchest defenders, willing to forgive, are women... The boys pretty much do what they want, thanks to the culture of — "Man haffe do wha a man haffe do — yuh nuh". The word for the boys: "If you can afford it, go for it. Nutten wrong wid gal inna bungle."

On the occasions when we do get a glimpse of the dark side of a hero, we don't quite know what to make of it. The recent exposé by England's notorious SUN tabloid of the alleged boudoir exploits of our Number One name-brand runner-boy, may have excited comment Up There but has barely evoked a whisper Down Here. In some quarters, there seems to be nothing but admiration among "the boys" for our young hero's achievement of having two hot young women fighting over him and the drama played out in the media.

The claim of one of the women that she has received text messages to participate in...shall we say, group activities... is definitely TMI — Too Much Information — for some, but not everyone. I met one person who responded, "All that stuff about threesomes and foursomes, who can prove that he really said it? Who knows if the girl is telling the truth?" Another view was, "So what? If he can manage it, why should anybody be concerned?" Then there are the many variations on the theme: "Youthful exuberance, that is all it is. What do you expect of a 24-year-old, with all that money and all that fame?" Not surprisingly, the foregoing responses came from men. One woman's response was, "I don't believe he would do that."

Should it matter really what this young man or any of our other young achievers do with their private time? Why shouldn't an athlete, an entertainer or anyone else who has attained success, be free to enjoy the benefits of their efforts in whatever permutations they choose? So long as no laws are being broken, should the rest of the community have any right to pass judgement on their private conduct? Not everyone is comfortable with that. What about moral values, role model and all that? Shouldn't we expect a certain level of conduct from people whom we hold up as icons?

Let's face it — arguments based on morality don't get very far here. Check the debates on lewd lyrics, slackness in dancehall and in the electronic media. A popular response is that people should be allowed to do what they want to do. "Leave us alone, thank you, please". That is for everybody except the politicians. So far nobody seems interested in their sex life. We leave that to those Up North. But back to the super-heroes, should they care if we find out what they do when the lights are turned off?

They need to be reminded that it doesn't take much for the cheers to stop. It is not such a long way from today's super-hero to tomorrow's "super-who"? The feeling is that we should not be too hard on "the youths". It's not such an easy thing to go overnight from pickney looking a lunch money and a bus fare, to platinum-card millionaire. It seems almost ungracious to warn about the potholes which can develop along the way.

Since Beijing, many of our young athletes have gained worldwide fame, and with it, healthy financial returns. They have become our new standard-bearers representing the best of JA. We've proclaimed them to be our Brand Jamaica. Should we expect any more of them? For the most part, they have been doing so well. Perhaps it is time for a little word of caution, however, that juvenile over-indulgence is to be avoided at all costs, especially too much information on bedroom olympics.

MR CLINTON CAME TO TOWN: Billed as an evening of intellectual challenge, it could not escape, however, being another high society event. It's the times! How could a former President of the United States of America come to town and we didn't play dress-up and nibble on gourmet delicacies? (Never mind that he spoke about poverty.)

The promoters apparently had their own reason for confining it to a high-end audience with an entrance fee of J$13,000 for regulars and US$1,000 for VIPs, I'm told. That was guaranteed to exclude those who wrestle every day with the soaring cost of chicken and flour. Corporate sponsorship more than took care of both the Bill and the bill. Not surprisingly, the event was an overwhelming success, fully sold out.

Feedback is that some thought the speech was the best thing since sliced bread. Others said they'd heard it all before. Some asked, why did it have to take a visitor (no matter how presidential) to make us sit up and listen to what we've been told often before (for example, urgency of solar energy) but haven't been interested enough to hear? Most said just to be in Bill Clinton's presence was worth it all.

DIS-COVER-UP: Did you see the disguises of the new millionaire winners in the Lotto Jackpot advertisement this week? Talk about Halloween! There's no limit to which some people will go to keep friends and relatives from beggie-beggie!... SING ON, COOL RULER... Gregory Isaacs moves on to the Ultimate Engagement. Another page is turned... The vintage list is getting shorter.

gloudonb@yahoo.com

October 29, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International