Three Caribbean nations on the list of the top 10 most ethical travel destinations in the world - 2013

Bahamas Among 10 Most Ethical Destinations

by Ianthia Smith
Jones Bahamas
Nassau, The Bahamas


The Bahamas has been voted one of the top 10 most ethical travel destinations in the world, according to non-profit organisation Ethical Traveler.

The 2013 report noted that The Bahamas won its way onto the list by making efforts to reduce human trafficking and expand national parks and protected areas, such as the Andros West Side National Park, which grew from 882,000 acres to nearly 1.3 million acres.

In addition to more standard criteria like unspoiled natural beauty and authentic cultural experiences, researchers judged destinations on 35 metrics in four categories: environment protection, social welfare, human rights, and for the first time, animal welfare.

“In other words, judges considered quality of drinking water in the category of environmental protection, women’s rights in the category of human rights, and so on,” the report read.

The complete top 10 list for 2013, in alphabetical order, includes The Bahamas, Barbados, Cape Verde, Chile, Dominica, Latvia, Lithuania, Mauritius, Palau and Uruguay.

Ethical Traveler does not rank the countries within the top 10.

“The Bahamas was also awarded for its intention to set aside 20 per cent of its territorial waters as marine protects areas; the government achieved results in the proactive identification and assistance of trafficking victims and launched its first prosecution under its human trafficking law; The Bahamas gets top ratings for both political rights and civil liberties overall in the 2013 scores,” the report added.

“The constitution, other laws, and domestic policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally respected religious freedom. The constitution provides for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respected these rights in practice. The Bahamas has an independent press and a relatively effective – albeit extremely backlogged – judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system and a number of domestic and international human rights groups generally operated without government restriction.”

While The Bahamas made its way onto the list, the country lost points in several areas.

“The government has not yet reported a conviction of a trafficking offender,” the 2013 Ethical Traveler report read. “Reported incidents of police killings of six people in disputed circumstances and the failure to adhere to the call by the UN to stop involuntary returns of Haitian nationals; poor ratings for gender inequality according to the UN; the criminal code still discriminates against gay, lesbian and bisexual people in that the legal age of consent to engage in homosexual conduct is 18 years, while the legal age of consent to engage in heterosexual conduct is 16 years.”

Three countries that fell off the list from 2013 – Costa Rica, Ghana and Samoa – slid backward on key metrics such as environmental protection and human rights violations.

“We feel that we can make a difference in those countries because they really want to try to do the right thing,” Ethical Traveler’s Founder and Executive Director Jeff Greenwald said. “If we can send more travellers there because of their good policies, we think they’ll really stand up and take notice.”

March 13, 2014

The Bahama Journal

Caribbean people need to re-educate themselves and fight for social change

By Hudson George

Caribbean people need to re-educate themselves to fit into a changing world that is globalised by capitalism. Some of the religious and political values the majority of Caribbean people are trying to hold on to were indoctrinated in them during the colonial era by the capitalists. However, the capitalist system always keeps changing and, with the constant changes in capitalism, moral values within society changes too.

Unfortunately, the majority of Caribbean people do not understand how the capitalist system functions, and they seem to hold on the Christian values given to them by the capitalists during slavery. In some Caribbean countries people take the law into their own hands and punish citizens who participate in behaviour that is opposite to Christian values. And while the majority of citizens might condone mob rule justice, they are blind to the fact that they too are guilty of going against Christian values. In addition, the Christian values they are trying to hold on to is not what the capitalist media is selling to the Caribbean youth of today, through the media.

Caribbean societies’ Christian values have been compromised with the plantation culture of poverty, promiscuity and illiteracy. Therefore, in all Caribbean societies that claim to be Christianised, it is alright for a man to have children with various women and he will never experience resentment from the mainstream society. And the main reason why some Caribbean men are fathers of many children with different women, goes back to the days of slavery on the plantation when slaves were not allowed to raise a family.

During the period of slavery in the Caribbean, the slaves were not considered to be real human beings. Yet still, they were forced to be Christianised by their colonial masters, but they were not allowed to raise a family. They were considered as their master’s property and the religious leaders on the plantation colonies throughout the Caribbean were supportive of the slave system of such oppression. Today it is very common to hear that religious leaders of those churches that aided and abetted slavery are the ones talking about the lack of moral values in society, when they are the genesis of the problem.

However, the negative effects from that past plantation era still affect some Caribbean people up to this present time. Most Caribbean people’s biggest problem is that they do not read on a daily basis and because of the lack of reading and trying to analyse things, they become paranoid by new cultures introduced into society by the giant capitalist media. Therefore, the only way for Caribbean people to survive in this changing world that they do not have control over is to re-educate themselves.

Some Caribbean folks go to church on a weekly basis and, whatever they were told by the religious minister of church where they worship, they tend to believe everything without taking the extra time and effort to do further research. Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons why mob rule is very common in some Caribbean countries, whenever a minority of people act in certain ways that the majority of citizens are not accustomed to as part of the norms.

With globalisation and the spread of western cultures into the Caribbean, it is expected that new sub cultures will take root in society. And while the elders keep on defending the old style Caribbean values, the young people are exposed to social media that promote North American lifestyle values. Television news and entertainment influence coming from networks such as BET, CNN create a new mindset for today’s generation of Caribbean youth. Now they have access to iPods and internet cell phones and it is expected that some youths will conform to the foreign culture they see in the media.

In addition, most of the older Caribbean people might try to deny the fact that the usage and popularity of illegal drugs started in the 1960s during the hippie cultural era from the United States and, in the 1970s, the Rastafarian movement spread through the region with music and songs glorifying the smoking of marijuana.

Therefore, with a lack of information through education, some Caribbean people formalised what they think is right from wrong and the value system they created has deep roots in ghetto culture, which is not progressive even though it seems to be entertaining.

Now it is very common to see young Caribbean men trying to act as a macho-man to portray how manly they are in society; while on the other hand, they are lacking professional work skills to make a decent livelihood. However, these young Caribbean men do not realise that a man can only show he is a real macho man when he has a professional skill and a job that pays good wages. In addition, they do not recognise the fact that capitalism and a technology are more macho than they are, because within a capitalist society and a capitalist economy, new and better technology is always needed to keep capitalism functioning at the highest level.

However, the macho-man culture cannot build an economy and it will be impossible for Caribbean countries to make economic progress as long as they keep fighting against changes that have become part of the sub-cultures in western societies, because Caribbean countries still depend on western countries for economic and technical support. And it is not all sub-cultures in western societies that promote macho-man behaviour. However, due to the fact that the genesis of Caribbean societies begins with slavery and colonialism, the legacy of ignorance is still holding back progress and modern thinking.

Additionally, it is very easy to observe that most Caribbean folks do not understand that the societies they are living in are made up of sub-cultures that were imported from outside influence. For example, in some Caribbean countries, marijuana smoking has become part of the popular culture, even though it is an illegal drug according to the law. And if police officers catch users of that drug smoking it, they will be charged for breaking the law. Yet still, there is an increase in the number of people smoking marijuana but there are no functioning organisations with a plans trying to find a solution how to deal with marijuana issue, even though it is very common to hear musician artistes express their love for smoking marijuana.

However, with the lack of proper organisational skills and activism grouping among marijuana smokers, it is expected that they will continue pointing fingers at the police officers who arrest them for using the drug that they consider a holy herb. And unfortunately, they forget that the police role in society is to serve and protect the state according to the laws that govern the nation. It is very important that Caribbean people to re-educate themselves and fight for social change in a professional way. It will make no sense in trying to break the law and sometimes ignorantly making their own laws without the formation of proper political structure and planning.

But the strange thing is that is puzzling, with all the ignorance among some Caribbean people when it comes to dealing with social issues, that they are strong supporters of US President Barack Obama, who wants to bring about some social and political changes for the American people in a democratic and civil manner. However, it was very amazing to see the joy on Caribbean people faces, on the night of the US presidential election when President Obama was re-elected for a second term.

Those of us who are thinking openly and willing to accept changes in society can see clearly that Caribbean people only love President Obama because he is black. They are not paying any attention to Obama’s domestic policy for changing some things within American society. Therefore, based on how they are thinking in terms of dealing with social changes in the Caribbean, their political and social thoughts are more in line with the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s conservative backward politics.

They really need to re-educate themselves.

November 21, 2012

Caribbeannewsnow

Neocolonialism and economic imperialism in the Caribbean

By D. Markie Spring
Turks and Caicos Islands

When God created man, He did so in His own likeness!

Nowhere have I known that God breathed into a ‘black man,’ ‘white man,’ or an ‘Asian,’ or any other so-called races. Neither did He make any of these humans superior to the other. However, there are people of one kind that devote their chief energies to thinking that they are superior to another.

Often, I refuse to use the word ‘race’ as I do not believe in ‘races.’ Conversely, I believe that there are people that happened to look differently on the outside, but on the inside the human body, regardless of differences on the outer layout of the person, our hearts, lungs, intestines and other body parts are shaped the same, located at the same dimensions of the body and have the same functions. Our blood is the same colour and it operates in the same areas of the body, transported by endless veins and arteries.

God is an omniscient Being and knew that the world would be one boring place without differences. Imagine a world filled with blacks or whites, or Asians. Visualize a world with one culture or language, or for that matter one climate. When fast forwarded in time, the world would seem like an austere, monastic, rootless ‘out-of-shape’ ball wriggling on its axis while it dances around the blazing hot sun, tormented into a monotonous brutish environment.

These facts have rejuvenated and given rise to modern day imperialism and colonialism. One would think that imperialism and colonialism have aged and that the world has rid these economic and financial, nonetheless, political exploitations – think again!

West Indians look around! The facts are surfacing and are evident like the shining stars in the night sky. Henceforth, the big regional cooperation are dominated, controlled and directed by mega metropolitan centres headquartered in the outer sphere of the Caribbean; and nonetheless, establishing and expanding settlements within the Caribbean Basin.

Furthermore, the colonizers are hiring liked-figured people, giving the impression that the regional boys and girls cannot perform certain categories of jobs, especially at management levels. West Indians are given the duties of the dirty jobs and lower end jobs when they are more experienced and qualified that the colonizers and their liked creatures; and their only experience and qualifications stems from their pale outlook.

They set up a ‘New World Order’ that is constantly and consistently merchandizing their kind into the work force; dodging all legality of the requirements, regulations and policies that directs the system. And for those of us who have made it to certain level, we ended up being paid at twice as lower than the non-West Indians on the jobs.

However, it must be noted that not all are the same, but there are the legitimate few who tend to contribute meaningfully to the regional economies and aid in lifting the standards of living for citizens.

Along this path, we cannot solely blame the imperialist-colonizers for their actions, but the local authorities, including our government, business entrepreneurs and lawmakers for solely concentrating on holding back one another especially those from neighboring islands and their constant disregard to neo-colonizers that are secretly spreading their empires.

Astoundingly, this fascist doctrine defeats the lure of economicinfrastructure, such as the ironic fate of the ‘Education Revolution’ in SVG, the surge for independence in the Turks and Caicos, or does it subjugate the strife for political and economic stability within the region?

Already, we are witnessing the aftermath of these two phenomena; impacts that are both immense and pervasive – and effects that are both instant and protracted on our societies from inequality, exploitation, enslavement, trade expansion and the creation of new literature and cultural institutions.

Our fall is subsequent to our failure in accepting our own while the rest take advantage of the vacuum within our system!

Wake up!

June 27, 2012

Caribbeannewsnow

Jamaica: Michael Manley, Garveyism and Matalon

Manley, Garveyism and Matalon

By MICHAEL BURKE

Forty-three years ago today Michael Manley was elected president of the People's National Party. Twenty-three years ago today, the PNP returned to power and Michael Manley once again got a chance to be prime minister. In this 50th anniversary jubilee of our political Independence, perhaps the man with the greatest impact over the last 50 years was Michael Manley. Whether he was the most effective prime minister or he did the most for Jamaica, was the greatest negotiator or was the worst thing to ever happen to Jamaica are all debatable topics. But not even Michael Manley's detractors can successfully challenge the impact that he had.

I call myself a Norman Manleyist, in that I recognise Norman Manley (Michael Manley's father) as the person as "the man with the plan". Indeed, Michael Manley, for the most part implemented his father's ideas. While I am not in favour of Michael Manley being made a national hero unless another 50 years have passed when there can be a proper evaluation of both the way he lived his life and contributed to the growth of Jamaica, it has nothing to do with the massive impact that he had on Jamaica, the Caribbean and the World.

In 1969 when he was Opposition leader, Michael Manley visited Ethiopia and returned to Jamaica with a rod purportedly from Emperor Haile Selassie. That fact alone inspired Rastafarians to participate in the Jamaican democratic process from which they had hitherto stayed aloof as they awaited a return passage to our African motherland.

From the 1960s there were Rastafarians and Pan Africanists campaigning for Garveyism to be taught in schools. During the Social Services debate in 1992, then education Minister Burchell Whiteman announced that as of September that year, Garveyism would be taught in schools. I had advocated the teaching of Garveyism in my columns in the now defunct Jamaica Record, so I celebrated. But it was not to be.

The teachers said that they were not trained to teach Garveyism and that there was no Marcus Garvey textbook. To my mind, their stance was nothing but delaying tactics and I wrote as much. Now we hear that as of September Garveyism is to be taught in schools and a textbook has been provided. Is this another announcement which will be followed by delaying tactics for another 20 years? If it is not, then it will be ironic that it took a white man (education minister, Deacon Ronnie Thwaites) to implement the teaching of Garveyism in schools.

Children who were born out of wedlock could not inherit property until Michael Manley piloted the act to abolish the illegitimacy law in 1975, so that "no bastard no deh again". There was no minimum wage in Jamaica before 1975, some 84 years after Pope Leo XIII encouraged it in his encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891. There was the adjustment of the land tax law in such a way that the rich paid more land tax. The establishment of the National Housing Trust so that ordinary people could access housing has done a lot to empower the poor. This was done under Michael Manley's watch in the 1970s.

And this brings me to the subject of the late Mayer Matalon, former chairman of West Indies Home Contractors who recently passed away. By the way, Mayer Matalon was chairman of the Jamaica College board of directors (1967-71) while at the same time his brother, Eli Matalon, was chairman of the Kingston College board of directors. Had it not been for the Matalons, who invested heavily in housing, we would have serious housing problems today.

As an aside, no one might know that housing in Jamaica also contributed to the ecumenical movement, where churches of different denominations come together for prayer and action. The Church of Reconciliation in Bridgeport, Portmore, St Catherine, was opened in September 1977. It is a church that is jointly used by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.

For its 20th anniversary in 1997, I was asked to prepare a history of the Church of Reconciliation. I approached the late Archbishop Samuel Carter (already retired from 1995), and asked him whose idea it was to have the joint church: was it his, or was it Bishop Herbert Edmondson's, then the Anglican Lord Bishop of Jamaica. "Neither," Archbishop Carter answered. "So whose idea was it then?" I asked. After a pause, the archbishop said "Matalon". However, he did not say which of the Matalon brothers.

Yes, it took a Matalon (who is of Jewish religion) who evidently wanted more space to build more houses to earn more money, when the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches applied for land within the Bridgeport Housing Scheme to build churches, to say, "Why don't you two bishops just build one church?" The truth is stranger than fiction.

I am not aware of any move by the powers that be to include in our celebrations a way of teaching our young people about the achievements of the last 50 years so that they understand that we truly have something to celebrate this year.

ekrubm765@yahoo.com


February 09, 2012

jamaicaobserver

The G7 passes the buck to the G20

• Impossible to certify the end of capitalism’s global crisis

Joaquín Rivery Tur

THEY may be the 20 countries with the most economic weight in the world, but they are not wizards, nor are their computers fortune-tellers. Nobody on the planet can sign the death certificate of capitalism’s global crisis. What just took place in Pittsburgh, in the United States, is best described as buck passing.

The Group of Eight (G8: United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, Britain, France and Italy plus Russia) was unable to deal with the global crisis, much less with controlling the tangled neoliberal financial web of the capitalist system, and had no choice but to pass it on to the Group of 20, possibly to dilute the responsibility of the world’s most developed countries for the economic turmoil into which the planet has sunk, and to look to another 12 nations to share the blame.

In reality, the Pittsburgh Summit represents the total failure of the richest nations in their desire to rule and exploit a world that is totally ungovernable for two reasons; one, the social movements are increasingly up in arms over the generalized injustice and, two; the large financial corporations have rooted their power within the highest layers of officials, so as to have free reign for their profit ambitions and, therefore, they cannot be controlled. Governments have always been accomplices.

According to the news agencies, the leaders of the G20 — within which the seven richest nations have greater ability to exert pressure, more influence and the power to coerce — agreed that the new group is to be transformed into "a principal forum for international economic cooperation."

That is an ambiguous sentence. It assumes that the fundamental purpose of the meeting was to collectively attain greater control over financial corporations in order to avert – as far as possible – the risks of a crisis as profound as the one humanity is currently experiencing. In fact, in order to do so, the seven richest countries demonstrated their will to increase by at least 5% the voting power of emerging countries — such as China, India, Brazil and others — within the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as if that could actually change the relationship of forces, and above all, as if the move signifies a major change in the international financial architecture, which the underdeveloped countries have been demanding.

The summit called for stricter regulations on banking activities and limiting bonuses paid to banking/financing executives, who had the power to raise their own bonuses by millions, even in cases where their companies were showing losses that resulted in bankruptcy.

The problem is that a 5% increase in voting power for emerging countries does not mean, for example, that the United States will lose its veto power in the IMF or the World Bank. Instead, it retains a strong lever of pressure, mostly on the Third World, which desperately needs help and investments to pull it out of underdevelopment, but without those nations becoming part of the crazy model of U.S. consumption, which is leading the world to environmental destruction due to climate change and the depredation of nature.

The measures approved in Pittsburgh are an attempt to avoid the phenomena that led to the formation of financial bubbles with a tremendous capacity for explosion and the creation of new crises, but the most serious problem will be how to really control the financial giants, and how to dictate mandatory regulations to govern their fraudulent operations. Is that possible in unbridled capitalism?

It is very difficult not to hold the IMF responsible in good part for what is happening internationally, because its experts should have realized that the financial bubble was about to burst.

On top of the repeated affirmations about how everybody is supposedly emerging from the crisis, in a contradictory fashion, the G20 agreed not to withdraw government aid packages to the major corporations because of a risk of another downturn. Even Chinese President Hu Jintao stated that the alleged recovery "is not as yet solid," and he wasn’t exactly referring to his own country, where not even the crisis has been able to deter its booming economic growth.

Apparently, nobody has learned anything. The G8 (which still exists) has incorporated another group of countries into its vicissitudes, but even that is not a solution, because it is a question of agreements within capitalist globalization, whose neoliberal character is incompatible with government controls. Nevertheless, protectionism is still growing.

The big banks want deregulation, absolute freedom to cheat and take risks in order to satisfy the adrenaline needs produced by financial speculators’ ambition for profits.

With respect to the famous bail-out, in early September, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Washington revealed that in the second quarter, banks with capitalization and bad loan problems (impossible to collect) totaled 416; in other words, 111 more than in the previous period. A very befogged atmosphere.

The IMF put the frosting on the cake of the crisis a few days ago, when it announced that the planet-wide financial hurricane will affect economic growth for at least seven years, and suggested — now! — the implementation of structural reforms. The result of the crisis forecast by everybody is less employment, less growth, less investment and less productivity. The problem is not one of phenomenon, but of essence. It is called capitalism, no matter how many times you spin the wheel.

granma.cu

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