Tribune242 Editorial Bahamas:
PRESIDENT Barack Obama, like College of the Bahamas president Janyne Hodder, stresses the need for a better educated work force to keep a country competitive.
Mrs Hodder, in an address to a women's luncheon earlier this year, underscored the threat to the Bahamas' economic future with fewer than "15 per cent of our young people enrolled in higher education when every prosperous nation around us is moving to increase higher education participation rates, as high as 50 per cent in some countries."
Paying a surprise visit to a school in Kalamazoo, Michigan Monday, President Obama told students that a better-educated workforce will help the U.S. stay competitive globally. Don't mimic Washington by making excuses, the Associated Press reported President Barack Obama as saying as he advised graduating high school students and encouraged them to take responsibility for failure as well as success.
In remarks delivered Monday evening at Kalamazoo Central High School, the President said it's easy to blame others when problems arise. "We see it every day out in Washington, with folks calling each other names and making all sorts of accusations on TV," the president said.
He said Kalamazoo high school students can and have done better than that.
The 1,700-student school in southwest Michigan landed President Obama as its commencement speaker after winning the national Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge. It was among three finalists picked through public voting on the schools' videos and essays. The White House made the final selection.
The administration cited Kalamazoo Central's 80 per cent-plus graduation rate, improvements in academic performance and a culturally rich curriculum. Would that one day the Bahamas could boast such an achievement for its government schools.
About an hour before the Kalamazoo ceremony, President Obama surprised the 280 graduates by dropping in on them in the recreation centre at Western Michigan University as they prepared for the big moment.
Walking around with a hand-held microphone, he told the students to work hard, keep their eyes on the prize and continue to carry with them a sense of excellence.
"There is nothing you can't accomplish," he said, suggesting they might consider public service. "I might be warming up the seat for you." Students rushed from the bleachers to shake the President's hand and take cell phone pictures after he spoke.
President Obama, who says a better-educated workforce will help the U.S. stay competitive globally, said in his prepared remarks that the school had set an example with its level of community and parental involvement and the high standards of its teachers.
"I think that America has a lot to learn from Kalamazoo Central about what makes for a successful school in this new century," he said. "This is the key to our future."
He advised the graduates to work hard and take responsibility for their successes and their failures.
"You could have made excuses -- our kids have fewer advantages, our schools have fewer resources, so how can we compete? You could have spent years pointing fingers -- blaming parents, blaming teachers, blaming the principal or the superintendent or the government," the president said.
"But instead, you came together. You were honest with yourselves about where you were falling short. And you resolved to do better."
Education is widely seen as one hope for Michigan's long-struggling economy. The state has had the nation's highest unemployment rate for four consecutive years, including a 14 per cent jobless rate in April. Thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost, many connected to the auto industry, and the state is trying to diversify its economy with alternative energy, biomedical and other jobs -- most of which require education beyond high school.
The White House said more than 170,000 people voted in the contest.
Kalamazoo Central's valedictorian, Cindy Lee, said she was excited but jittery about sharing the stage with the president.
"The whole school is excited about it. The whole community is excited. It's on the news every single day," Lee, 18, said last week.
As for COB President Hodder "a high school diploma is no longer the end point. There is more learning to be done if we are to have an informed, critical citizenry and to have better control over the prosperity of the nation. An expanded elite of well educated people build prosperity and where such status is open to all who work hard and want to, it also builds hope."
June 08, 2010
tribune242 editorial
An International Caribbean Online Log about the news and opinions in the Americas and World. This Caribbean Blog of global reach and appeal is maintained by Bahamian Blogger - Dennis Dames with all readers and subscribers in mind.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Bahamas Bracing for oil spill impact
Bracing for oil spill impact
By ERICA WELLS ~ NG Managing Editor ~ ewells@nasgaurd.com:
Ever since the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico 47 days ago local officials and concerned environmentalists have been bracing for the likelihood that oil from the sunken rig owned by British Petroleum (BP) will eventually make its way to The Bahamas.
Oil entering what is known as the "loop current" in the Gulf of Mexico could make its way through the Florida Straits, potentially oiling the shorelines and marine resources along the western edge of Cay Sal Banks. Over time, there is the potential that oil could reach the Biminis and West End, Grand Bahama.
"It is a near certainty that we will see oil in the Gulf Stream at some point in the near future," said Dr. Will Macking, a seabird specialist who worked on an Oil Pre-Impact Assessment report submitted to the Bahamas Oil Response Team and NEMA.
The BP oil spill has been labeled the U.S.' biggest environmental catastrophe. It has also been described as the worst oil spill in U.S. history - nearly double the output of the infamous Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.
Since the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20, that killed 11 people, official estimates have put the flow rate of the leak at 12,000 barrels to 19,000 barrels a day, although some scientists have said it could be substantially more, as much as 1 million-plus a day.
One only has to read the press reports coming out the U.S. to get an idea of just how damaging the impact from an oil spill can be.
On May 27, scientists from the University of South Florida returned from a six-day voyage into the Gulf of Mexico with evidence that huge plumes of oil - broken into bits and beads by the dispersants - were moving thousands of feet beneath the surface in a great toxic cloud, according to U.S. reports. That underwater mix of oil and dispersants could poison fish larvae, with cascading effects up the food chain, and damage the corals found in some parts of the Gulf.
Already oil has stained some the marshes of southern Louisiana, disrupting the habitats of shorebirds, sea turtles and other threatened species. Tourist areas in the Gulf are facing visitor cancellations, and there is growing concern over the impact the spill will have on the area's shrimp and oyster industries.
PREPARING FOR THE WORST
Here in The Bahamas, government officials emphasize that preparation measures have been mobilized. The Bahamas is also receiving assistance from the International Maritime Organization, taking advantage of its status as the third largest ship registry in the world.
"We are on top of this and we are getting first class advice," Ian Fair, chairman of the Bahamas Maritime Authority told The National Review.
Daily monitoring exercises for presence of oil on beaches in Cay Sal Banks will begin once oil is confirmed in the Florida Keys area or the north coast of Cuba, according to an Incident Action Plan (IAP) for the spill.
Booming will also begin in Bimini once oil is reported in the Keys or Cay Sal Banks, then Grand Bahama once oil is reported in Bimini, and then Andros (west). Beach clean-up will be conducted once tar balls are detected, the IAP notes.
Officials here are hoping for the best-case scenario, which is that oil entering the eddies could be carried in prevailing currents, bypassing the western Bahamas; however this would be difficult to precisely predict.
What is also difficult to predict is the full brunt of the damage that oil could wreak on our environment and marine resources, which include damage to beaches, fish, seabird, lobster and turtle populations and habitats.
One worrying potential impact noted in the pre-impact assessment report is the presence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), which occur in oil, or tar deposits and make up most of the toxicity in oil.
PAHs are the most common organic pollutant in the environment and can be extremely toxic as a carcinogen or mutagen, causing cancer or chromosomal damage in reproducing adults.
PAHs also accumulate in the tissues of marine organisms, potentially making those animals unsuitable for human consumption.
The report also points out that the areas most threatened by oiling events over the next year include near shore seagrass, hard-bar and reef environments that are critical to the fisheries production for the entire Bahamas.
The pre-impact report establishes the environmental conditions of Cay Sal Banks, which is one of the likeliest locations to experience oiling - including seabirds assessments, marine surveys, ocean samples, marine tissue samples and surface sediment samples - before any petroleum contamination. This also provides valuable evidence in any future claims The Bahamas government may make against BP.
Florida and other American states have already started exercising this option.
Against the backdrop of the severe economic environment, the government will no doubt move to seek compensation from BP if necessary, given the potential impact to our beaches and reefs, which power the country's bread and butter industry of tourism, already hard hit by the global recession.
The estimated cost of equipment for the potential clean-up effort has been pegged at over $70,000, according to the IAP.
'NO OIL NO SPOIL'
Concerned environmentalist Sam Duncombe of the group reEarth, wants more information disseminated about what the government is doing to prepare for the likelihood of the impact from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
She has also organized a petition "No Oil No Spoil" petition calling on The Bahamas government to stop all oil exploration and to never issue permits for drilling.
"The lack luster response of The Bahamas government has been shocking and we are wondering what is the plan?
"Minister (of the Environment Earl) Deveaux does little to impart confidence in our government's ability to contain a matter of this magnitude," Duncombe said in a statement released over the weekend.
Duncombe hit out at Deveaux for supporting oil exploration in The Bahamas - under oversight with the highest safeguards - in the face of the potential impact of the oil spill.
She said that neither BP nor the U.S. government was able to respond adequately to contain the Gulf spill at the source after 45 days of trying. However, by Sunday, reports indicated that a cap placed over a ruptured well spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico was capturing about 10,000 barrels a day.
"Despite their vast resources and professional consultants, experts, and international support at their fingertips, BP was scrambling for almost two days to get the necessary equipment to the explosion site to try and put the fire out and now 45 days later are no closer to a solution to plug the well. Additionally, the improved track record of the US Government in preventing oil spills and containing them has not been proven in this instance and both parties are wavering in direction, on the brink of a global disaster.
"The response from the Bahamas Oil Response Team to the Gulf leak has been underwhelming. Although there is evidence of them having met, there have been no reports made to the terrified nation on how we will deal with the spill, not if, but when, it soils our beaches. Again, we have to wonder if there is a plan?"
Duncombe notes that the consequences of an oil spill persist for many years after the initial spill is "cleaned up", and that the cost of oil spills can quickly reach billions of dollars as a result of lost revenue for businesses, as well as continued poisoning of beaches, soil and water tables.
"Fumes from oil spills affect people living nearby. I have experienced that first hand at Clifton with the Bunker C fuel. Oil spills are one of the worst environmental disasters affecting fisheries, fishermen, wildlife, and tourism...expect tarred beaches and contaminated drinking water for many years after the spill," she said.
"Prince William Sound Alaska, the site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 11 million gallons has yet to recover, 20 years later."
Duncombe, like other observers in the U.S., is now urging officials to take a more serious look at reducing dependency on oil, and by extension reducing disasters like the Deepwater Horizon.
"We have a moral responsibility to protect the environment for present and future generations," said Duncombe.
"Continuing to power ourselves with oil will inevitably lead to more disasters. We have to think about the capacity of the Earth's ecosystems to continue to absorb the 'mistakes' we continue to make. Alternative energies exist and work, as the present generation we have an obligation to begin to make that switch in a meaningful way."
June 7, 2010
thenassauguardian
By ERICA WELLS ~ NG Managing Editor ~ ewells@nasgaurd.com:
Ever since the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico 47 days ago local officials and concerned environmentalists have been bracing for the likelihood that oil from the sunken rig owned by British Petroleum (BP) will eventually make its way to The Bahamas.
Oil entering what is known as the "loop current" in the Gulf of Mexico could make its way through the Florida Straits, potentially oiling the shorelines and marine resources along the western edge of Cay Sal Banks. Over time, there is the potential that oil could reach the Biminis and West End, Grand Bahama.
"It is a near certainty that we will see oil in the Gulf Stream at some point in the near future," said Dr. Will Macking, a seabird specialist who worked on an Oil Pre-Impact Assessment report submitted to the Bahamas Oil Response Team and NEMA.
The BP oil spill has been labeled the U.S.' biggest environmental catastrophe. It has also been described as the worst oil spill in U.S. history - nearly double the output of the infamous Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.
Since the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20, that killed 11 people, official estimates have put the flow rate of the leak at 12,000 barrels to 19,000 barrels a day, although some scientists have said it could be substantially more, as much as 1 million-plus a day.
One only has to read the press reports coming out the U.S. to get an idea of just how damaging the impact from an oil spill can be.
On May 27, scientists from the University of South Florida returned from a six-day voyage into the Gulf of Mexico with evidence that huge plumes of oil - broken into bits and beads by the dispersants - were moving thousands of feet beneath the surface in a great toxic cloud, according to U.S. reports. That underwater mix of oil and dispersants could poison fish larvae, with cascading effects up the food chain, and damage the corals found in some parts of the Gulf.
Already oil has stained some the marshes of southern Louisiana, disrupting the habitats of shorebirds, sea turtles and other threatened species. Tourist areas in the Gulf are facing visitor cancellations, and there is growing concern over the impact the spill will have on the area's shrimp and oyster industries.
PREPARING FOR THE WORST
Here in The Bahamas, government officials emphasize that preparation measures have been mobilized. The Bahamas is also receiving assistance from the International Maritime Organization, taking advantage of its status as the third largest ship registry in the world.
"We are on top of this and we are getting first class advice," Ian Fair, chairman of the Bahamas Maritime Authority told The National Review.
Daily monitoring exercises for presence of oil on beaches in Cay Sal Banks will begin once oil is confirmed in the Florida Keys area or the north coast of Cuba, according to an Incident Action Plan (IAP) for the spill.
Booming will also begin in Bimini once oil is reported in the Keys or Cay Sal Banks, then Grand Bahama once oil is reported in Bimini, and then Andros (west). Beach clean-up will be conducted once tar balls are detected, the IAP notes.
Officials here are hoping for the best-case scenario, which is that oil entering the eddies could be carried in prevailing currents, bypassing the western Bahamas; however this would be difficult to precisely predict.
What is also difficult to predict is the full brunt of the damage that oil could wreak on our environment and marine resources, which include damage to beaches, fish, seabird, lobster and turtle populations and habitats.
One worrying potential impact noted in the pre-impact assessment report is the presence of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), which occur in oil, or tar deposits and make up most of the toxicity in oil.
PAHs are the most common organic pollutant in the environment and can be extremely toxic as a carcinogen or mutagen, causing cancer or chromosomal damage in reproducing adults.
PAHs also accumulate in the tissues of marine organisms, potentially making those animals unsuitable for human consumption.
The report also points out that the areas most threatened by oiling events over the next year include near shore seagrass, hard-bar and reef environments that are critical to the fisheries production for the entire Bahamas.
The pre-impact report establishes the environmental conditions of Cay Sal Banks, which is one of the likeliest locations to experience oiling - including seabirds assessments, marine surveys, ocean samples, marine tissue samples and surface sediment samples - before any petroleum contamination. This also provides valuable evidence in any future claims The Bahamas government may make against BP.
Florida and other American states have already started exercising this option.
Against the backdrop of the severe economic environment, the government will no doubt move to seek compensation from BP if necessary, given the potential impact to our beaches and reefs, which power the country's bread and butter industry of tourism, already hard hit by the global recession.
The estimated cost of equipment for the potential clean-up effort has been pegged at over $70,000, according to the IAP.
'NO OIL NO SPOIL'
Concerned environmentalist Sam Duncombe of the group reEarth, wants more information disseminated about what the government is doing to prepare for the likelihood of the impact from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
She has also organized a petition "No Oil No Spoil" petition calling on The Bahamas government to stop all oil exploration and to never issue permits for drilling.
"The lack luster response of The Bahamas government has been shocking and we are wondering what is the plan?
"Minister (of the Environment Earl) Deveaux does little to impart confidence in our government's ability to contain a matter of this magnitude," Duncombe said in a statement released over the weekend.
Duncombe hit out at Deveaux for supporting oil exploration in The Bahamas - under oversight with the highest safeguards - in the face of the potential impact of the oil spill.
She said that neither BP nor the U.S. government was able to respond adequately to contain the Gulf spill at the source after 45 days of trying. However, by Sunday, reports indicated that a cap placed over a ruptured well spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico was capturing about 10,000 barrels a day.
"Despite their vast resources and professional consultants, experts, and international support at their fingertips, BP was scrambling for almost two days to get the necessary equipment to the explosion site to try and put the fire out and now 45 days later are no closer to a solution to plug the well. Additionally, the improved track record of the US Government in preventing oil spills and containing them has not been proven in this instance and both parties are wavering in direction, on the brink of a global disaster.
"The response from the Bahamas Oil Response Team to the Gulf leak has been underwhelming. Although there is evidence of them having met, there have been no reports made to the terrified nation on how we will deal with the spill, not if, but when, it soils our beaches. Again, we have to wonder if there is a plan?"
Duncombe notes that the consequences of an oil spill persist for many years after the initial spill is "cleaned up", and that the cost of oil spills can quickly reach billions of dollars as a result of lost revenue for businesses, as well as continued poisoning of beaches, soil and water tables.
"Fumes from oil spills affect people living nearby. I have experienced that first hand at Clifton with the Bunker C fuel. Oil spills are one of the worst environmental disasters affecting fisheries, fishermen, wildlife, and tourism...expect tarred beaches and contaminated drinking water for many years after the spill," she said.
"Prince William Sound Alaska, the site of the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 11 million gallons has yet to recover, 20 years later."
Duncombe, like other observers in the U.S., is now urging officials to take a more serious look at reducing dependency on oil, and by extension reducing disasters like the Deepwater Horizon.
"We have a moral responsibility to protect the environment for present and future generations," said Duncombe.
"Continuing to power ourselves with oil will inevitably lead to more disasters. We have to think about the capacity of the Earth's ecosystems to continue to absorb the 'mistakes' we continue to make. Alternative energies exist and work, as the present generation we have an obligation to begin to make that switch in a meaningful way."
June 7, 2010
thenassauguardian
Jamaica: After Christopher “Dudas” Coke, soul-searching
After Dudus, soul-searching
Keith Noel, Contributor
jamaica-gleaner:
IT IS now time to speak the truth and apportion blame. I say speak the truth first because this requires thought, it demands guts, and it holds the answers. It will literally 'set us free'. Only after we speak the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, will we be in a position to apportion blame.
Let us all speak the truth, at least to ourselves. Those who were in politics in the days when we first began to exploit the poor for their votes must answer hard questions; moreso those politicians who, to ensure political success, extended this to the point of putting guns in the hands of disadvantaged youth. Those politicians who lied to the country, telling us that it was 'the other side' who was responsible for the gun violence, must converse with their conscience, along with those who, when in power, built high-rise housing communities and ensured they were peopled with his/her political supporters only.
And most of all, those politicians who, after realising that the garrison communities they had created had spawned a type of criminal who grew increasingly powerful, continued to give excuses for hugging them up, attending their funerals and repeating euphemisms about them 'protecting' their communities. And I include those who lamely gave 'lists' of the names of these men to the police, in a facile attempt to lessen their power.
Hard-pressed
We now hear business leaders speak of the efforts they made to battle extortion. Unless they come forward and speak about how easily they gave in to the criminals - admit their fear, confess their actual complicity at times - we will be in for another round of lies and will so easily slip back into the mode we are trying to escape. And this includes all - the man with the emporium to the corner shopowner, the man with the fleet of buses, to the one running a single taxi.
Most hard-pressed will be the police. I am not speaking only about the crooked cop who extorts money from a speeding driver or from a bar owner operating outside the scope of his licence. More in need of this internal review will be the policeman who has been in the payroll of the don. The cop who has passed on information about police activity, turned a blind eye, or helped him in other ways and, in so doing, has increased the level of public mistrust of the police! So too, the honest cop who shrugs when his colleague does wrong!
Then, our entertainers. In order to gain popularity among criminal elements, or to get their financial support, some have become spokespersons and proselytizers of the doctrine of the don. It is they who have spread the 'informer fi dead' message and have encouraged youth to report offences to the big man and not the police. It can NOT be 'money talk, an everything else park', his/her mind can not only be on the financial bottom line. The bottom line must be the youth! The media also must soul-search because, in an effort to gain popularity by being 'liberal' and 'of the people', some media persons have encouraged the anarchy that these entertainers have propounded.
But most of all, the general public has to accept blame. Every man or woman who has had their purse stolen, their son beaten up, their daughter raped, and who reported it to the 'big man' instead of the police, has helped to establish this new order. Every citizen who claims that the young 'shotta' in the lane is a 'defender' of the community and protected him when the police came to investigate a crime, is part of the problem. So, too, is the church leader who, in his effort to maintain peace in the community, has turned a blind eye to any illegal activity of those he or she is trying to help.
Every person, public official or private citizen, must examine himself. All of us, the church leaders, the school principals, the librarians who, in accepting that their institutions belong to the community, might have unwittingly or tacitly accepted the unrequested protection of the 'area leader', must now search for ways to let them and the community know that it is the ordinary folk on whom they depend, not any 'big man'.
Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com
June 7, 2010
jamaica-gleaner
Keith Noel, Contributor
jamaica-gleaner:
IT IS now time to speak the truth and apportion blame. I say speak the truth first because this requires thought, it demands guts, and it holds the answers. It will literally 'set us free'. Only after we speak the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, will we be in a position to apportion blame.
Let us all speak the truth, at least to ourselves. Those who were in politics in the days when we first began to exploit the poor for their votes must answer hard questions; moreso those politicians who, to ensure political success, extended this to the point of putting guns in the hands of disadvantaged youth. Those politicians who lied to the country, telling us that it was 'the other side' who was responsible for the gun violence, must converse with their conscience, along with those who, when in power, built high-rise housing communities and ensured they were peopled with his/her political supporters only.
And most of all, those politicians who, after realising that the garrison communities they had created had spawned a type of criminal who grew increasingly powerful, continued to give excuses for hugging them up, attending their funerals and repeating euphemisms about them 'protecting' their communities. And I include those who lamely gave 'lists' of the names of these men to the police, in a facile attempt to lessen their power.
Hard-pressed
We now hear business leaders speak of the efforts they made to battle extortion. Unless they come forward and speak about how easily they gave in to the criminals - admit their fear, confess their actual complicity at times - we will be in for another round of lies and will so easily slip back into the mode we are trying to escape. And this includes all - the man with the emporium to the corner shopowner, the man with the fleet of buses, to the one running a single taxi.
Most hard-pressed will be the police. I am not speaking only about the crooked cop who extorts money from a speeding driver or from a bar owner operating outside the scope of his licence. More in need of this internal review will be the policeman who has been in the payroll of the don. The cop who has passed on information about police activity, turned a blind eye, or helped him in other ways and, in so doing, has increased the level of public mistrust of the police! So too, the honest cop who shrugs when his colleague does wrong!
Then, our entertainers. In order to gain popularity among criminal elements, or to get their financial support, some have become spokespersons and proselytizers of the doctrine of the don. It is they who have spread the 'informer fi dead' message and have encouraged youth to report offences to the big man and not the police. It can NOT be 'money talk, an everything else park', his/her mind can not only be on the financial bottom line. The bottom line must be the youth! The media also must soul-search because, in an effort to gain popularity by being 'liberal' and 'of the people', some media persons have encouraged the anarchy that these entertainers have propounded.
But most of all, the general public has to accept blame. Every man or woman who has had their purse stolen, their son beaten up, their daughter raped, and who reported it to the 'big man' instead of the police, has helped to establish this new order. Every citizen who claims that the young 'shotta' in the lane is a 'defender' of the community and protected him when the police came to investigate a crime, is part of the problem. So, too, is the church leader who, in his effort to maintain peace in the community, has turned a blind eye to any illegal activity of those he or she is trying to help.
Every person, public official or private citizen, must examine himself. All of us, the church leaders, the school principals, the librarians who, in accepting that their institutions belong to the community, might have unwittingly or tacitly accepted the unrequested protection of the 'area leader', must now search for ways to let them and the community know that it is the ordinary folk on whom they depend, not any 'big man'.
Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com
June 7, 2010
jamaica-gleaner
Sunday, June 6, 2010
A close-up view of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke
A close-up view of 'Dudus'
From Tivoli ‘don’ to accused international drug lord
jamaicaobserver:
Journalist Tino Geddes, who has frequented Tivoli Gardens for many years, gives a personal account of the rise of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke from a modest community 'don' to the international figure described by United States authorities as one of the most dangerous drug and arms dealers in the world today.
DESCRIBED by Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, a former head of the Jamaica Defence Force, who later became commissioner of police, as the "Mother of all Garrisons", Tivoli Gardens has been the most feared inner-city community in Jamaica for the past five decades.
Official crime statistics show that virtually no crimes are committed in Tivoli Gardens, although its best known residents are regarded as the most dangerous and ruthless persons in Jamaica. Such is the fear of the Tivoli 'dons' that blanket assurances can be given for the security of any person's property or life in the community on their say-so.
The world famous Wednesday night street dance "Passa Passa" is a classic example of this. Patrons are assured that if they leave their vehicles open and unmanned these will not be interfered with. This has held true since the inception of the event seven years ago.
Tivoli is a self-sufficient community, boasting schools, churches, a variety of shops, a state-of-the-art maternity and pre-natal clinic, tailor and barber shops, hairdressers, dressmakers, bars and food shops, shoemakers and an assortment of playfields.
The community is adjacent to the Coronation Market (now being rebuilt after being gutted during the ongoing unrest), and opposite the famed Miles Pharmacy which offers anything from prescription and over-the-counter drugs to good luck books and candles, fresh bread and even bar services.
It required someone of real and rare vision to conceptualise this community, and a special breed of men to maintain it.
Starting with Zackie, the 'High Priest', followed by Claudie 'Jack' Massop, then for a short while Carl 'Bya' Mitchell, through Lester Lloyd 'Jim Brown' Coke, to his son Anthony 'Jah T' Coke and now on-the-run Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
During the reign of the successive dons, there has always been a cadre of feared men 'upside' them. Zackie had a young Claudie Massop; 'Bobeye', who later became known as Jim Brown; Alvin George Gordon, 'Micky Jacques' and Desmond Paige, who was charged along with Gordon for one of the earliest politically motivated gun slayings back in the late 1960s.
Jim Brown was supported by Micky Jacques, George Dinall 'Rock', Donovan Jones, one of two enforcers called 'Left Hand', 'Hunch', and a host of others.
Jah T's reign ran concurrently with his father's, as Jim Brown died on February 23, 1992, the same day Jah T was buried. It was decided after the death of the elder Coke that adopted son, Christopher 'Dudus' would take over.
He had no shortage of lieutenants, and unlike his father, he shied away from publicity and attention. Jim Brown, chief enforcer for the feared Shower Posse, would occasionally showcase an awesome array of jewellery and silk clothing, while Dudus always dressed modestly.
They were dissimilar in other respects as Jim was a tall, imposing figure, with a sharp wit and an always ready, swift and often brutal response to adversity, while Dudus stands no taller than five feet seven inches and speaks softly, and only when necessary.
Dudus inherited a kingdom, handed down from the mainly US-based Shower Posse, and took it to another level. Once installed as head of Tivoli, Dudus ensured that politics would be no barrier to his organisation.
Persons deported from the US and the United Kingdom with only their shirts on their backs and pockets devoid of cash, could find a measure of comfort from Coke, who would ensure that all their overseas contacts were preserved, and utilised.
As a result, Coke was not seen as just the leader of Tivoli Gardens, but indeed the leader of all inner-city communities.
Media reports which claimed that Dudus often met with Matthews Lane strongman 'Zeeks' Phipps are incorrect.
Dudus would only see Phipps if Phipps came to Tivoli, and then only reluctantly would he have audience. He never saw himself on the same page as Zeeks and made that abundantly clear.
Dudus always kept himself in shape, playing hours of football in his kingdom. He also kept himself well-informed about current affairs and persons in the news.
I have met with Dudus on several occasions, always in Tivoli, and I know quite a bit about how he thinks about local public opinion.
I recall taking a curious television behind-the-scenes personality to meet "The President", and he was shocked that at the first mention of his name, Dudus was able to pinpoint his job position at the television station.
This was always the man: shrewed, informed, confident, unassuming and quiet but exuding an air of capability that would put anyone on alert.
This is Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
I clearly remember his anger, suppressed though it was, when policemen were killed, apparently in retaliation for the police shooting the day before of 'Chris Royal' Coke, another relative.
He had no hesitation in advising the security forces who wished to interview him, about his whereabouts and the time when he would be in various places. He had nothing to do with those killings and thus, had nothing to fear.
He always felt that he had an obligation to the Tivoli community and he provided for the residents.
Labelled a criminal fugitive at the time of writing, Dudus may be all that he is made out to be by the US authorities, but he has always been a caring person, just as his predecessors were.
No matter what, as the residents of Tivoli Gardens maintain, they are prepared to die for the man, do anything for him, and display what seems by all accounts to be a genuine affection for him, not born from his generosity, but from his concern for them.
Dudus is not a run of the mill ordinary Joe, looking to make some money and in search of power. He has never been and he will never be regarded by those who have known him, in that light.
I have personally known all the previous 'dons' of Tivoli Gardens. I had a special affection for Massop; I was closely involved with Bya; I watched Jah T go through high school at Wolmer's; I was particularly close to Jim Brown, and although not as close to Dudus as I was to his father, the younger Coke has commanded my respect.
Having no way of communicating with him, I can only hope that, somehow, though highly unlikely, something positive will work out for him.
June 06, 2010
jamaicaobserver
From Tivoli ‘don’ to accused international drug lord
jamaicaobserver:
Journalist Tino Geddes, who has frequented Tivoli Gardens for many years, gives a personal account of the rise of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke from a modest community 'don' to the international figure described by United States authorities as one of the most dangerous drug and arms dealers in the world today.
DESCRIBED by Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, a former head of the Jamaica Defence Force, who later became commissioner of police, as the "Mother of all Garrisons", Tivoli Gardens has been the most feared inner-city community in Jamaica for the past five decades.
Official crime statistics show that virtually no crimes are committed in Tivoli Gardens, although its best known residents are regarded as the most dangerous and ruthless persons in Jamaica. Such is the fear of the Tivoli 'dons' that blanket assurances can be given for the security of any person's property or life in the community on their say-so.
The world famous Wednesday night street dance "Passa Passa" is a classic example of this. Patrons are assured that if they leave their vehicles open and unmanned these will not be interfered with. This has held true since the inception of the event seven years ago.
Tivoli is a self-sufficient community, boasting schools, churches, a variety of shops, a state-of-the-art maternity and pre-natal clinic, tailor and barber shops, hairdressers, dressmakers, bars and food shops, shoemakers and an assortment of playfields.
The community is adjacent to the Coronation Market (now being rebuilt after being gutted during the ongoing unrest), and opposite the famed Miles Pharmacy which offers anything from prescription and over-the-counter drugs to good luck books and candles, fresh bread and even bar services.
It required someone of real and rare vision to conceptualise this community, and a special breed of men to maintain it.
Starting with Zackie, the 'High Priest', followed by Claudie 'Jack' Massop, then for a short while Carl 'Bya' Mitchell, through Lester Lloyd 'Jim Brown' Coke, to his son Anthony 'Jah T' Coke and now on-the-run Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
During the reign of the successive dons, there has always been a cadre of feared men 'upside' them. Zackie had a young Claudie Massop; 'Bobeye', who later became known as Jim Brown; Alvin George Gordon, 'Micky Jacques' and Desmond Paige, who was charged along with Gordon for one of the earliest politically motivated gun slayings back in the late 1960s.
Jim Brown was supported by Micky Jacques, George Dinall 'Rock', Donovan Jones, one of two enforcers called 'Left Hand', 'Hunch', and a host of others.
Jah T's reign ran concurrently with his father's, as Jim Brown died on February 23, 1992, the same day Jah T was buried. It was decided after the death of the elder Coke that adopted son, Christopher 'Dudus' would take over.
He had no shortage of lieutenants, and unlike his father, he shied away from publicity and attention. Jim Brown, chief enforcer for the feared Shower Posse, would occasionally showcase an awesome array of jewellery and silk clothing, while Dudus always dressed modestly.
They were dissimilar in other respects as Jim was a tall, imposing figure, with a sharp wit and an always ready, swift and often brutal response to adversity, while Dudus stands no taller than five feet seven inches and speaks softly, and only when necessary.
Dudus inherited a kingdom, handed down from the mainly US-based Shower Posse, and took it to another level. Once installed as head of Tivoli, Dudus ensured that politics would be no barrier to his organisation.
Persons deported from the US and the United Kingdom with only their shirts on their backs and pockets devoid of cash, could find a measure of comfort from Coke, who would ensure that all their overseas contacts were preserved, and utilised.
As a result, Coke was not seen as just the leader of Tivoli Gardens, but indeed the leader of all inner-city communities.
Media reports which claimed that Dudus often met with Matthews Lane strongman 'Zeeks' Phipps are incorrect.
Dudus would only see Phipps if Phipps came to Tivoli, and then only reluctantly would he have audience. He never saw himself on the same page as Zeeks and made that abundantly clear.
Dudus always kept himself in shape, playing hours of football in his kingdom. He also kept himself well-informed about current affairs and persons in the news.
I have met with Dudus on several occasions, always in Tivoli, and I know quite a bit about how he thinks about local public opinion.
I recall taking a curious television behind-the-scenes personality to meet "The President", and he was shocked that at the first mention of his name, Dudus was able to pinpoint his job position at the television station.
This was always the man: shrewed, informed, confident, unassuming and quiet but exuding an air of capability that would put anyone on alert.
This is Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.
I clearly remember his anger, suppressed though it was, when policemen were killed, apparently in retaliation for the police shooting the day before of 'Chris Royal' Coke, another relative.
He had no hesitation in advising the security forces who wished to interview him, about his whereabouts and the time when he would be in various places. He had nothing to do with those killings and thus, had nothing to fear.
He always felt that he had an obligation to the Tivoli community and he provided for the residents.
Labelled a criminal fugitive at the time of writing, Dudus may be all that he is made out to be by the US authorities, but he has always been a caring person, just as his predecessors were.
No matter what, as the residents of Tivoli Gardens maintain, they are prepared to die for the man, do anything for him, and display what seems by all accounts to be a genuine affection for him, not born from his generosity, but from his concern for them.
Dudus is not a run of the mill ordinary Joe, looking to make some money and in search of power. He has never been and he will never be regarded by those who have known him, in that light.
I have personally known all the previous 'dons' of Tivoli Gardens. I had a special affection for Massop; I was closely involved with Bya; I watched Jah T go through high school at Wolmer's; I was particularly close to Jim Brown, and although not as close to Dudus as I was to his father, the younger Coke has commanded my respect.
Having no way of communicating with him, I can only hope that, somehow, though highly unlikely, something positive will work out for him.
June 06, 2010
jamaicaobserver
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Greek tragedy, Caricom, economic lessons for Jamaica
By Franklin Johnston
It is time for a mature discussion on Caricom and Jamaica and the EU/Greece crisis can guide us. Caricom is Jamaica's most costly overseas project. What do you know about it? Federation morphed into CARIFTA, now Caricom/CSME. I am "Carisceptic", as it hasn't delivered economic growth and I don't think it can. Jamaica is a global brand. Caricom is not, and for growth we must help our own first!
T&T is right to favour its industry and not give away its LNG. If we give away our bauxite, so be it. We need to chart our own growth path as they do. The Cabinet, PSOJ, UWI, Opposition must come clean. If Caricom is a device to draw down EU and other benefits, fine, but we need more to grow. Caricom has no traction here; most don't know it, the new HQ in Guyana does not affect us and as we are all "British" it is culture neutral.
Caricom is secretive. Where are its accounts? We work, sell and go on vacation north, so an oil spill off Louisiana concerns us, not in the Eastern Caribbean (EC). Caricom is of the cognoscenti; an elite club, those who make up the glitterati at its cocktail parties and banquets; workers have no part in it.
We need an independent inquiry. What can Caricom do for our economy? It went from common market to "single economy". What does this mean? Cabinet must publish full Caricom accounts, staff, expenditure, source of funds, etc. It cost us "a bag" since 1968 - for what? Now, with the shift from regionalisation to globalisation and WTO, is it relevant to our economic growth? No more speculation, we need answers!
What does Greece/EU teach us about Jamaica/CSME? We love Britain and our ex-slave, ex-colonial English-speaking brethren, but Caricom cannot just idolise "Britishness". The EC is not a destination of choice for us and the hostility at Air Jamaica's sale to T&T speaks volumes! Love at long distance is doomed as we are intimate with those close by! Notice, even our men go to Cuba, not the EC, to find wives and mistresses? Very French!
Caricom is our intergenerational project, but it does not work for us. The reason?
The preconditions to economic union are not met in our case. Consider the following:
*The EC is far from us and thousands of sea miles form a barrier to trade, travel, intimacy as they did for the Caribs and Columbus. English heritage is our only link with the EC.
*The union of several small, poor, distant island states with no major natural resource or intellectual property base cannot benefit our economy. CSME is politics, not economics!
*Our large population relative to the size of Caricom (ours is equal to the combined islands), our chronic poverty and failure to be sustainable in our heyday of bauxite and export preferences give our partners no confidence, and though rich, they are too small to support us. Let's now compare some common EU and CSME goals:
*Free movement for work, play and study. This works for Greece but not for us. Greeks can travel in the EU cheaply by air, car or on foot. Only UWI, government officials and the rich can travel in Caricom. Workers from poor members go to rich EU states to find jobs. Our workers are not allowed into the EC to seek employment.
*Common currency. If CSME had a common "cari" our debt would hurt all members. The euro is inflexible, so Greece can't devalue to help itself as it would hurt the eurozone. But the EU has mobilised US$1 trillion to help it. What does Caricom do to help us? Nada! One euro buys little in the north, but a lot in the south, so UK citizens live or work in Greece for the good weather and cheap living. Life is cheaper in the EC but we are not allowed to live there. Britain is not in the euro, but gives billions of pounds to save it as Greece's demand keeps UK factories open. Does T&T, our "trade gorgon", do this for us? No siree!
*Free trade. Caricom trade just makes us owe the EC more. Greece gets subsidy for farms and industry from the EU. In our distress do we get Caricom subsidy? No!
*Integration, fiscal, monetary discipline. The EU rides its members hard. They have to be prudent and balance their budgets. In the EU crackdown on Greece, they require cuts in spending, wages; higher taxes and oversight - it's done; budgets may soon be sent to the EU for approval and banks to pay a levy to fund bailouts. Germans cuss Greece as "lazy freeloaders" and Greeks cuss the EU and Germany as "Nazi", but Greece submits as the subsidies are good! Would we send our budget to Guyana for approval? No way!
The non-economic benefits of Caricom are modest and not unique. Check this:
*Our knowledge-based goals as CCJ can be had without union, some from "English" Canada, or India. We can get weather, legal services etc, based on treaty or payment.
*We all need new friends. EU masons, waiters, etc, work in Greece, the UK, and make friends - this is not so in Caricom. Only our officials and the rich have friends in Caricom!
*Our neighbours offer richer cultures than Anglocentric Caricom. Why not embrace all - French, British and Spanish? Let's unite with our close neighbours and enjoy their opera and ballet, then save up for that costly once-in-a-lifetime trip to T&T carnival!
*We share an ocean, geology, tectonic, climatic, security and air space with Haiti, DR, Puerto Rico, Cuba and our growth, environment and security future is with them. Will Caricom protect us from thousands of miles away? UWI has the EC and UTech must build joint campuses in Cuba, Haiti, DR; exchange students; train multilingual technologists, professionals, managers for job opportunities in the global economy.
We have Usain, Asafa and Bob but the EC states have Kim, Viv, Ato, Rihanna, Armatrading, some Nobel laureates and surpluses - Caricom works for them. Only growth and jobs can save us, so we need to do things differently. Do we focus on a distant market of 3m in Caricom or the 30m market of our close neighbours? A "no-brainer!" Stay conscious!
Alert: To raise standards, top UK universities may no longer admit students who resit A-levels and qualifying exams. One-one coco won't do, so if you got the subjects, but not at the first sitting, then apply to a second-rate university. UWI and UTech, please note!
Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants, currently on assignment in the UK
franklinjohnston@hotmail.com
June 04, 2010
jamaicaobserver
It is time for a mature discussion on Caricom and Jamaica and the EU/Greece crisis can guide us. Caricom is Jamaica's most costly overseas project. What do you know about it? Federation morphed into CARIFTA, now Caricom/CSME. I am "Carisceptic", as it hasn't delivered economic growth and I don't think it can. Jamaica is a global brand. Caricom is not, and for growth we must help our own first!
T&T is right to favour its industry and not give away its LNG. If we give away our bauxite, so be it. We need to chart our own growth path as they do. The Cabinet, PSOJ, UWI, Opposition must come clean. If Caricom is a device to draw down EU and other benefits, fine, but we need more to grow. Caricom has no traction here; most don't know it, the new HQ in Guyana does not affect us and as we are all "British" it is culture neutral.
Caricom is secretive. Where are its accounts? We work, sell and go on vacation north, so an oil spill off Louisiana concerns us, not in the Eastern Caribbean (EC). Caricom is of the cognoscenti; an elite club, those who make up the glitterati at its cocktail parties and banquets; workers have no part in it.
We need an independent inquiry. What can Caricom do for our economy? It went from common market to "single economy". What does this mean? Cabinet must publish full Caricom accounts, staff, expenditure, source of funds, etc. It cost us "a bag" since 1968 - for what? Now, with the shift from regionalisation to globalisation and WTO, is it relevant to our economic growth? No more speculation, we need answers!
What does Greece/EU teach us about Jamaica/CSME? We love Britain and our ex-slave, ex-colonial English-speaking brethren, but Caricom cannot just idolise "Britishness". The EC is not a destination of choice for us and the hostility at Air Jamaica's sale to T&T speaks volumes! Love at long distance is doomed as we are intimate with those close by! Notice, even our men go to Cuba, not the EC, to find wives and mistresses? Very French!
Caricom is our intergenerational project, but it does not work for us. The reason?
The preconditions to economic union are not met in our case. Consider the following:
*The EC is far from us and thousands of sea miles form a barrier to trade, travel, intimacy as they did for the Caribs and Columbus. English heritage is our only link with the EC.
*The union of several small, poor, distant island states with no major natural resource or intellectual property base cannot benefit our economy. CSME is politics, not economics!
*Our large population relative to the size of Caricom (ours is equal to the combined islands), our chronic poverty and failure to be sustainable in our heyday of bauxite and export preferences give our partners no confidence, and though rich, they are too small to support us. Let's now compare some common EU and CSME goals:
*Free movement for work, play and study. This works for Greece but not for us. Greeks can travel in the EU cheaply by air, car or on foot. Only UWI, government officials and the rich can travel in Caricom. Workers from poor members go to rich EU states to find jobs. Our workers are not allowed into the EC to seek employment.
*Common currency. If CSME had a common "cari" our debt would hurt all members. The euro is inflexible, so Greece can't devalue to help itself as it would hurt the eurozone. But the EU has mobilised US$1 trillion to help it. What does Caricom do to help us? Nada! One euro buys little in the north, but a lot in the south, so UK citizens live or work in Greece for the good weather and cheap living. Life is cheaper in the EC but we are not allowed to live there. Britain is not in the euro, but gives billions of pounds to save it as Greece's demand keeps UK factories open. Does T&T, our "trade gorgon", do this for us? No siree!
*Free trade. Caricom trade just makes us owe the EC more. Greece gets subsidy for farms and industry from the EU. In our distress do we get Caricom subsidy? No!
*Integration, fiscal, monetary discipline. The EU rides its members hard. They have to be prudent and balance their budgets. In the EU crackdown on Greece, they require cuts in spending, wages; higher taxes and oversight - it's done; budgets may soon be sent to the EU for approval and banks to pay a levy to fund bailouts. Germans cuss Greece as "lazy freeloaders" and Greeks cuss the EU and Germany as "Nazi", but Greece submits as the subsidies are good! Would we send our budget to Guyana for approval? No way!
The non-economic benefits of Caricom are modest and not unique. Check this:
*Our knowledge-based goals as CCJ can be had without union, some from "English" Canada, or India. We can get weather, legal services etc, based on treaty or payment.
*We all need new friends. EU masons, waiters, etc, work in Greece, the UK, and make friends - this is not so in Caricom. Only our officials and the rich have friends in Caricom!
*Our neighbours offer richer cultures than Anglocentric Caricom. Why not embrace all - French, British and Spanish? Let's unite with our close neighbours and enjoy their opera and ballet, then save up for that costly once-in-a-lifetime trip to T&T carnival!
*We share an ocean, geology, tectonic, climatic, security and air space with Haiti, DR, Puerto Rico, Cuba and our growth, environment and security future is with them. Will Caricom protect us from thousands of miles away? UWI has the EC and UTech must build joint campuses in Cuba, Haiti, DR; exchange students; train multilingual technologists, professionals, managers for job opportunities in the global economy.
We have Usain, Asafa and Bob but the EC states have Kim, Viv, Ato, Rihanna, Armatrading, some Nobel laureates and surpluses - Caricom works for them. Only growth and jobs can save us, so we need to do things differently. Do we focus on a distant market of 3m in Caricom or the 30m market of our close neighbours? A "no-brainer!" Stay conscious!
Alert: To raise standards, top UK universities may no longer admit students who resit A-levels and qualifying exams. One-one coco won't do, so if you got the subjects, but not at the first sitting, then apply to a second-rate university. UWI and UTech, please note!
Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants, currently on assignment in the UK
franklinjohnston@hotmail.com
June 04, 2010
jamaicaobserver
Friday, June 4, 2010
Caribbean credibility at stake in International Whaling Commission (IWC) vote
Caribbean credibility at stake in IWC vote
By Sir Ronald Sanders:
When people around the world think of whale-hunting nations, the Caribbean is the last place that crosses their minds. Yet, the governments of Suriname and the six independent members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are in a pivotal position to end or continue a moratorium on commercial whaling that has been in place for 24 years.
There is no benefit for these Caribbean countries if commercial whaling is resumed since none of them are commercial whalers. But they are members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which is likely to face a vote on whether or not to abandon the ban on commercial whaling when its 88 members meet in Morocco from June 21.
Several authoritative reports suggest that Japan’s pays the membership fees of Suriname and OECS governments to the IWC and also pays the costs of their delegates’ attendance at IWC meetings directing how they vote. In return, these countries get Fisheries Complexes from Japan.
A United Nations Environmental Programme publication, “Caribbean Currents” put the issue in stark terms, saying: “It currently appears that not only are whales in danger, but so are the autonomy and self-determination of Caribbean nations”.
If, at the June meeting of the IWC, the seven Caribbean countries side with Japan, Norway and Iceland – the only three remaining nations that favour commercial whaling – they could help to open the armoury on whales and resume a slaughter that the world has resisted for almost three decades. In the process, they could damage their tourism image in the world as an eco-friendly area.
Since 1992, all the Caribbean members of the IWC have consistently voted in favour of repealing the moratorium until 2008 when Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt declared that his government would no longer be doing so. In 2009, he repeated that his government “will not renege on that commitment of staying clear of voting for whaling”. However, Suriname and the other OECS members of the IWC - St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis – have continued to vote with Japan, the most aggressive of the three remaining countries that favour commercial whaling.
All eyes are on the Dominica government to see whether it sticks to its commitment despite the facts that Japanese officials have been active in OECS countries in the past few weeks.
This renewed Japanese activity has caused Caribbean business people and Caribbean environmentalists to argue publicly that it is not in the interest of the OECS countries to continue to support Japan’s whaling position.
Caribwhale, an organization of Caribbean tourism business people and their employees, has recently urged the governments of Suriname and the OECS not to vote for a resumption of commercial whaling since the region has a thriving whale watching industry as part of its tourism product. “Dead whales”, they said, “are no good to the Caribbean; live ones bring revenues and employment from the whale watching industry”.
This call was followed by an appeal by the Eastern Caribbean Coalition for Environmental Awareness (ECCEA), a grouping of Caribbean environmentalists, who wrote to the OECS representatives to the IWC and their heads of government, saying: “Commercial and ‘scientific’ whaling do not serve a Caribbean purpose”.
Suriname and the members of the OECS owe Japan nothing particularly as the balance of trade between them is entirely in Japan’s favour year after year. Japan’s aid for Fisheries Complexes is far less than the millions of dollars spent every year by the Caribbean countries on imports of Japanese motor vehicles, computers, printers, cameras, outboard motors, and agricultural equipment.
What’s more Japan has shown little concern for the Caribbean, repeatedly ignoring protests from Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government over the shipment of Japanese nuclear waste through the Caribbean Sea. One accident, however, small would destroy the fragile ecology of the Caribbean Sea and destroy Caribbean economies.
As far as the whale watching industry in the OECS countries is concerned, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada are already earning millions of dollars from it. The potential exists for an equally thriving business in St Kitts-Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda. But if Suriname and members of the OECS support any form of commercial whaling at the upcoming IWC meeting, they will harpoon this possibility.
Proponents of the proposition at the IWC to legitimise whale catches by Japan and others, argue that it will reduce the number of whales that are killed. However, leading world environmentalists refute this claim, saying the proposition as worded will open the floodgates to unrestrained commercial whaling.
Among these respected environmentalists is Dr Justin Cooke, who represents the International Union for the Conservation of Nature on the IWC Scientific Committee. In testimony to the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, he described the proposed deal as a “scam”. He testified that “the true nature of the scam only dawned on me after reading the text several times. And even then only with the benefit of many years of experience with IWC procedures, that enables me to relate such a text to how it would actually be implemented in practice. Those without the benefit of such experience will find it even harder to discern what the text really implies and to spot the scam”.
Several IWC Latin American members, known as the Buenos Aires Group and comprising Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay, also strongly oppose the proposition before the IWC. Joined by non-IWC members Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela, the Group stated that they will propose at the IWC meeting that "over a period of 10 years... there must be a significant and increasing reduction of quotas (catch limits)... until lethal research is completely eliminated.”
Just as the Latin American nations have done, there is every reason why, in making their decision on how to vote at the IWC, the governments of Suriname and the OECS should listen to a range of voices beyond the Japanese. Such voices should include environmental experts and their own business people and workers who make a living and earn sustainable revenues for their countries from whale watching.
Caribbean economies are small and in need of help, but such help should be genuine and concerned with sustainable development. Large industrialized nations, such as Japan, should not be taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of small countries to advance their own agenda. And, when they do, Caribbean countries should reject it in their own interests, or they will never assert their independence and command respect as sovereign nations.
For Suriname and the OECS governments, the IWC vote will be about more than the fate of whales; it will also be about their international reputation.
June 4, 2010
caribbeannetnews
By Sir Ronald Sanders:
When people around the world think of whale-hunting nations, the Caribbean is the last place that crosses their minds. Yet, the governments of Suriname and the six independent members of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are in a pivotal position to end or continue a moratorium on commercial whaling that has been in place for 24 years.
There is no benefit for these Caribbean countries if commercial whaling is resumed since none of them are commercial whalers. But they are members of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which is likely to face a vote on whether or not to abandon the ban on commercial whaling when its 88 members meet in Morocco from June 21.
Several authoritative reports suggest that Japan’s pays the membership fees of Suriname and OECS governments to the IWC and also pays the costs of their delegates’ attendance at IWC meetings directing how they vote. In return, these countries get Fisheries Complexes from Japan. A United Nations Environmental Programme publication, “Caribbean Currents” put the issue in stark terms, saying: “It currently appears that not only are whales in danger, but so are the autonomy and self-determination of Caribbean nations”.
If, at the June meeting of the IWC, the seven Caribbean countries side with Japan, Norway and Iceland – the only three remaining nations that favour commercial whaling – they could help to open the armoury on whales and resume a slaughter that the world has resisted for almost three decades. In the process, they could damage their tourism image in the world as an eco-friendly area.
Since 1992, all the Caribbean members of the IWC have consistently voted in favour of repealing the moratorium until 2008 when Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt declared that his government would no longer be doing so. In 2009, he repeated that his government “will not renege on that commitment of staying clear of voting for whaling”. However, Suriname and the other OECS members of the IWC - St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis – have continued to vote with Japan, the most aggressive of the three remaining countries that favour commercial whaling.
All eyes are on the Dominica government to see whether it sticks to its commitment despite the facts that Japanese officials have been active in OECS countries in the past few weeks.
This renewed Japanese activity has caused Caribbean business people and Caribbean environmentalists to argue publicly that it is not in the interest of the OECS countries to continue to support Japan’s whaling position.
Caribwhale, an organization of Caribbean tourism business people and their employees, has recently urged the governments of Suriname and the OECS not to vote for a resumption of commercial whaling since the region has a thriving whale watching industry as part of its tourism product. “Dead whales”, they said, “are no good to the Caribbean; live ones bring revenues and employment from the whale watching industry”.
This call was followed by an appeal by the Eastern Caribbean Coalition for Environmental Awareness (ECCEA), a grouping of Caribbean environmentalists, who wrote to the OECS representatives to the IWC and their heads of government, saying: “Commercial and ‘scientific’ whaling do not serve a Caribbean purpose”.
Suriname and the members of the OECS owe Japan nothing particularly as the balance of trade between them is entirely in Japan’s favour year after year. Japan’s aid for Fisheries Complexes is far less than the millions of dollars spent every year by the Caribbean countries on imports of Japanese motor vehicles, computers, printers, cameras, outboard motors, and agricultural equipment.
What’s more Japan has shown little concern for the Caribbean, repeatedly ignoring protests from Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government over the shipment of Japanese nuclear waste through the Caribbean Sea. One accident, however, small would destroy the fragile ecology of the Caribbean Sea and destroy Caribbean economies.
As far as the whale watching industry in the OECS countries is concerned, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada are already earning millions of dollars from it. The potential exists for an equally thriving business in St Kitts-Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda. But if Suriname and members of the OECS support any form of commercial whaling at the upcoming IWC meeting, they will harpoon this possibility.
Proponents of the proposition at the IWC to legitimise whale catches by Japan and others, argue that it will reduce the number of whales that are killed. However, leading world environmentalists refute this claim, saying the proposition as worded will open the floodgates to unrestrained commercial whaling.
Among these respected environmentalists is Dr Justin Cooke, who represents the International Union for the Conservation of Nature on the IWC Scientific Committee. In testimony to the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs, he described the proposed deal as a “scam”. He testified that “the true nature of the scam only dawned on me after reading the text several times. And even then only with the benefit of many years of experience with IWC procedures, that enables me to relate such a text to how it would actually be implemented in practice. Those without the benefit of such experience will find it even harder to discern what the text really implies and to spot the scam”.
Several IWC Latin American members, known as the Buenos Aires Group and comprising Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay, also strongly oppose the proposition before the IWC. Joined by non-IWC members Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras and Venezuela, the Group stated that they will propose at the IWC meeting that "over a period of 10 years... there must be a significant and increasing reduction of quotas (catch limits)... until lethal research is completely eliminated.”
Just as the Latin American nations have done, there is every reason why, in making their decision on how to vote at the IWC, the governments of Suriname and the OECS should listen to a range of voices beyond the Japanese. Such voices should include environmental experts and their own business people and workers who make a living and earn sustainable revenues for their countries from whale watching.
Caribbean economies are small and in need of help, but such help should be genuine and concerned with sustainable development. Large industrialized nations, such as Japan, should not be taking advantage of the vulnerabilities of small countries to advance their own agenda. And, when they do, Caribbean countries should reject it in their own interests, or they will never assert their independence and command respect as sovereign nations.
For Suriname and the OECS governments, the IWC vote will be about more than the fate of whales; it will also be about their international reputation.
June 4, 2010
caribbeannetnews
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Caribbean Consumer law: Developing a legal and regulatory framework
By Abiola Inniss LLB, LLM, ACIArb:
It is that noteworthy that among its undertakings for its mandate on the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), the Caricom Secretariat undertook the hosting of a seminar on Competition Policy and Law in Georgetown, Guyana on May 3, 2010. The programme outlined topics such as “Caricom Competition Policy in a challenging economic environment”, and “Competition Policy in Caricom”, though if the truth be told, it carried the semblance of a man’s bikini; significant for what it suggested, concealing of that which was crucial.
Consumer law and competition policy and law are almost inextricably intertwined at times and so are affected one by the other, it therefore means that any cumulative legal framework must be reflective of this relationship. It seemed that while the importance of this relationship was recognized, the creation of a regulatory framework complete with law harmonization and dispute resolution mechanisms (alternative and normative legal systems, such as arbitral tribunals and courts of law) still remains a distant idea which would be “looked into”;instead there was the espousal of a consistent piecemeal approach which considered the individual state mechanisms and the equipping of those systems in the hope that an eventual equality would result across the region.
It is an unhappy occurrence that the intellectual prescience in the Caribbean community has not come to bear on the necessity to establish a common regulatory framework which will dispense the resolution of disputes in an efficient, cost effective manner. Any mention of the establishment of a regional arbitral tribunal is customarily met with the “that costs money” and “we can’t afford it” responses in an answering machine mode. It is even more disturbing that the legal intellectuals have not seemed to examine the subject from the point of establishing a multi-purpose tribunal which will be constituted of the talents of a variety of specialists in the areas of law which are of especial importance at this stage of the development of the Single Market and Economy.
The laws of International Trade, Intellectual Property, Private International Law, Competition Law and Consumer Law fit this prescribed construction perfectly. The fact remains that whatever excuses Caricom officials may give there is a dire need for a legal and regulatory framework which will allow the resolution of disputes in whatever form it may assume, be it in courts of law or by the preferred time and cost effective method of arbitration.
The Caribbean may look to the European Union for guidance on the resolution of disputes which arise from and various jurisdictions and provide the added challenge of the mixing of civil and common law systems. The Caribbean community as it is now constituted comprises countries which have Civil law systems, as in the case of Haiti and Suriname and in the case of Guyana, the land law system, which is Roman Dutch in constitution, is common in large part to that which obtains in South Africa.
The other Caricom countries have fewer anomalies in their legal systems, since for most part the common law systems inherited from the British became the dominant legal systems. The legal system of St Lucia is a hybrid of French Civil law and English Common law which is unique and outstanding and carries its own challenges (see Belle-Antoine, Commonwealth Caribbean Law and legal systems, Cavendish 2009).
The example of the European Union shows the Court of First Instance attached to the European Court of Justice and a tribunal for the Civil service of the entire European Union. The idea for the Caribbean is that there should be a tribunal which will deal with consumer affairs in the Caribbean and which may also incorporate issues arising from the Law of competition, the Law of Trade and general Business Law.
Multidisciplinary tribunals have worked in other areas of the world and therefore if adapted to requirements of the Caribbean should prove to be quite successful. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of the United Kingdom is a specialist judicial body with cross disciplinary expertise in economics, law, business, and accountancy. It is empowered under United Kingdom law to hear and decide appeals, claims and other applications involving competition or economic regulatory issues. This tribunal came into being on April 1 2003.
It is safe to say that should the Caribbean planners spend a little more time constructively engaging the more advanced, modern thinking in these areas, and less time on talk shops which have to little to offer apart from the usual excuses of too little resources and a penchant for perpetually “looking into” matters, there will be substantial development in key areas of law and development. There is little point in the establishment of a Single market and economy which has little to offer in its legal and regulatory framework of the key issues of International trade law and development law and regulation, consumer and competition law and policy.
Multinational corporations and investors need to be assured that their disputes will be handled by competent, expert, fair Jurists in an efficient and effective manner. The Caribbean stands to gain much in terms of the development of a common jurisprudence, the development of expertise and substantial revenue generated by such a forum. The Law courts of England are a renowned choice of jurisdiction for international claims and can stand testimony to the verity of all the above mentioned benefits. Where there is a lack of expertise in the region, it may be sourced elsewhere through various projects. There is less and less excuse for the lagging efforts in the regulation of our legal systems. It is time to strip away the bikini and face the facts.
June 3, 2010
caribbeannetnews
It is that noteworthy that among its undertakings for its mandate on the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME), the Caricom Secretariat undertook the hosting of a seminar on Competition Policy and Law in Georgetown, Guyana on May 3, 2010. The programme outlined topics such as “Caricom Competition Policy in a challenging economic environment”, and “Competition Policy in Caricom”, though if the truth be told, it carried the semblance of a man’s bikini; significant for what it suggested, concealing of that which was crucial.
Consumer law and competition policy and law are almost inextricably intertwined at times and so are affected one by the other, it therefore means that any cumulative legal framework must be reflective of this relationship. It seemed that while the importance of this relationship was recognized, the creation of a regulatory framework complete with law harmonization and dispute resolution mechanisms (alternative and normative legal systems, such as arbitral tribunals and courts of law) still remains a distant idea which would be “looked into”;instead there was the espousal of a consistent piecemeal approach which considered the individual state mechanisms and the equipping of those systems in the hope that an eventual equality would result across the region. It is an unhappy occurrence that the intellectual prescience in the Caribbean community has not come to bear on the necessity to establish a common regulatory framework which will dispense the resolution of disputes in an efficient, cost effective manner. Any mention of the establishment of a regional arbitral tribunal is customarily met with the “that costs money” and “we can’t afford it” responses in an answering machine mode. It is even more disturbing that the legal intellectuals have not seemed to examine the subject from the point of establishing a multi-purpose tribunal which will be constituted of the talents of a variety of specialists in the areas of law which are of especial importance at this stage of the development of the Single Market and Economy.
The laws of International Trade, Intellectual Property, Private International Law, Competition Law and Consumer Law fit this prescribed construction perfectly. The fact remains that whatever excuses Caricom officials may give there is a dire need for a legal and regulatory framework which will allow the resolution of disputes in whatever form it may assume, be it in courts of law or by the preferred time and cost effective method of arbitration.
The Caribbean may look to the European Union for guidance on the resolution of disputes which arise from and various jurisdictions and provide the added challenge of the mixing of civil and common law systems. The Caribbean community as it is now constituted comprises countries which have Civil law systems, as in the case of Haiti and Suriname and in the case of Guyana, the land law system, which is Roman Dutch in constitution, is common in large part to that which obtains in South Africa.
The other Caricom countries have fewer anomalies in their legal systems, since for most part the common law systems inherited from the British became the dominant legal systems. The legal system of St Lucia is a hybrid of French Civil law and English Common law which is unique and outstanding and carries its own challenges (see Belle-Antoine, Commonwealth Caribbean Law and legal systems, Cavendish 2009).
The example of the European Union shows the Court of First Instance attached to the European Court of Justice and a tribunal for the Civil service of the entire European Union. The idea for the Caribbean is that there should be a tribunal which will deal with consumer affairs in the Caribbean and which may also incorporate issues arising from the Law of competition, the Law of Trade and general Business Law.
Multidisciplinary tribunals have worked in other areas of the world and therefore if adapted to requirements of the Caribbean should prove to be quite successful. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of the United Kingdom is a specialist judicial body with cross disciplinary expertise in economics, law, business, and accountancy. It is empowered under United Kingdom law to hear and decide appeals, claims and other applications involving competition or economic regulatory issues. This tribunal came into being on April 1 2003.
It is safe to say that should the Caribbean planners spend a little more time constructively engaging the more advanced, modern thinking in these areas, and less time on talk shops which have to little to offer apart from the usual excuses of too little resources and a penchant for perpetually “looking into” matters, there will be substantial development in key areas of law and development. There is little point in the establishment of a Single market and economy which has little to offer in its legal and regulatory framework of the key issues of International trade law and development law and regulation, consumer and competition law and policy.
Multinational corporations and investors need to be assured that their disputes will be handled by competent, expert, fair Jurists in an efficient and effective manner. The Caribbean stands to gain much in terms of the development of a common jurisprudence, the development of expertise and substantial revenue generated by such a forum. The Law courts of England are a renowned choice of jurisdiction for international claims and can stand testimony to the verity of all the above mentioned benefits. Where there is a lack of expertise in the region, it may be sourced elsewhere through various projects. There is less and less excuse for the lagging efforts in the regulation of our legal systems. It is time to strip away the bikini and face the facts.
June 3, 2010
caribbeannetnews
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