Where is our future Bahamas?

Democracy, independence and complacency
thenassauguardian editorial



The images and news stories that have dominated the international news media for the past week or so in Egypt are a telling story on the importance of the basic concept of democracy, a concept that is spoken about often, but a concept often not fully appreciated. The benefits that are gained from a properly functioning democracy are too often taken for granted.

The beauty of a democracy is that we, the people, get to elect the leaders of our own choosing through a formal process of narrowing down the candidates and casting a vote.

Another key aspect of that electoral process is that there is a time frame in which those elections must come around again. If we the people are not happy with our leaders, we have the opportunity to elect a new leader, thus holding our leaders to a certain degree of accountability.

The equation is not complicated: Please the people or get voted out of office. The common demands from the people are basic: Provide security (from outside forces and crime at home), infrastructure, jobs, and a growing economy. In other words, provide results.

A true democracy also has a time frame in which there is change. In The Bahamas, the government must have an election every five years. In the United States, it is every two years (for House representatives and senators) and four years for the president. The ability to call for change on a consistent basis allows for stability.

In Egypt, there is no democracy. President Hosni Mubarak has been in power for 29 years. The people are now rioting in the streets and calling for change. Suppressing the voice of the masses acknowledges the ineptitude of a leader to provide for his people while hiding behind the shield of his power.

We must accept that rallies and protests are part of many democracies. The rallies against the Vietnam War in the United States or those here in The Bahamas against the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) sale are examples. But these generally don’t call for ousting a leader, just a change in the policy position currently held by the government in power.

But one aspect of a consistent election process that we do not follow is that of term limits.

Sir Lynden Pindling was in power from 1967 to 1992 (25 years). Our current prime minister has been in power from 1992 to 2002 and 2007 to the present (15 years). The interim period was held by Prime Minister Perry Christie (five years).

Over 44 years we have had three leaders. The United States over a similar period has had eight leaders, almost triple that of The Bahamas. The United Kingdom has had 12 leaders, quadruple that of The Bahamas.

The Bahamas has benefited enormously from the perseverance of these leaders for equality, prosperity and peace. The people of The Bahamas enjoy one of the highest per capita incomes in the region and access to clean water, power, and communication. We have so much to be thankful for.

But it is inevitable that change is upon us. In the coming years it will be time for a new generation to take governing responsibility for The Bahamas. We must take heed of the lessons provided by our leaders and understand that Independence was won with heart and vigor, not to be forgotten.

We have become complacent in our positions and surroundings, a comfort that shields us from the change happening around us. To be constantly challenged by our peers and countrymen sets forth a standard that cannot be undermined.

The children of Independence need to stand and prove that they too possess the skills to govern a country in the 21st century. We know that the prime ministers past and present can do it, but where is our future? It lies in the hands of those born during the Independence era.

2/7/2011

thenassauguardian editorial

Bahamas Blog

May the good people of the world align themselves with the people of Haiti to facilitate the birthing of this true era of democracy!

Have no fear, 2011 will be a great year for Haiti and for the world!
By Jean H Charles



On November 1, 2009, I attended for the second time (the first one being at the Brooklyn Museum in New York) a voodoo ceremony celebrating the guedes (the good and bad angels). The voodoo mambo or priestess made the prediction that 2010 will be an excellent year for Haiti and for the world.

In fact, 2010 was the worst year in Haitian history and in the rest of the world.

In Haiti, a devastating earthquake killed 300,000 people, while leaving 1.5 million homeless. A cholera epidemic brought into the country by the United Nations has killed 5,000 people; it might go to 10,000 before leveling off.

Throughout the world, according to a study made by the Center for the Study of Catastrophes of the United Nations, 2010 has been one of the most costly and deadly for decades. With 373 catastrophes, 200 million people without homes, 400,000 dead and $110 billion economic losses in the US, $18 billion in China and $4.5 billion in Pakistan, the year has wrought calamities beyond recorded observation. Haiti has rung the alarm bell but it was repeated in Chile, Russia, China and Pakistan.

The prediction that 2010 would be a great year for Haiti and for the world was indeed a voodoo prediction, filled with holes and spurious expectation!

Based on the natural principle, after the bad weather is the good one, after the rain is sunshine, have no fear! God has promised He will not bring about the deluge twice to mankind; I am predicting that 2011 will be a good year for Haiti and for the world.

The signals are already there. Tunisia that lives under a dictatorship for the past thirty years has booted out its dictator at the beginning of the month of January. The people want nothing more than true and real democracy. Egypt is on the verge of packing up Mr Mubarak, who ruled as a dictator for the past thirty years. Yemen and maybe some more of the repressed Muslim or Gentiles countries will be taken the lead of Tunis to tell the dictators they have no clothes, they should let the people go!

2011 will be a determining year for Haiti to find, at last, solace after experiencing with dictatorship, militarism and anarchism as a tool of governance. In reviewing the literature on Haitian history, I was surprised to find this gallant nation has been suffering for the past not 50 but 500 years the ignominy of humiliation, repression and plain disregard of their human dignity. For three hundred years during slavery it was the de jure bondage, right after the independence during the next two hundred years it was the de facto enslavement.

Throughout this long history, the ruling nationals intertwined with the international sector have always conspired to keep the masses at bay, ignorant, poor and not in control of their destiny. This February 7, 2011, Rene Preval, sustained by a sector of the international community, at the end of his mandate will either succeed in having the upper hand to continue the culture of squalor in Haiti or he will be butted out by the people power to yield the scene to enlightened governance that puts the needs and the aspirations of the people on the front line.

I am observing in Haiti a global waste of international resources with no significant impact for the population. The United Nations, with a purse in Haiti of $865 million per year, is the biggest culprit. Encircled with a total wall of silence, the 42 nations that comprise the personnel of MINUSTHA are engaged in a scam of diligence and make believe when they know that we know they are completely useless.

The only harm endured by the UN military in Haiti is the wearing of a heavy helmet under constant 90 degrees Fahrenheit weather. For all the propaganda of a violent population, the Haitian people are peaceful, resilient, and going about doing their daily business of survival with a saintly resignation and a shrug that necessitates a personal and collective overhaul.

The thousand of NGOs that took up residence in Haiti after the earthquake are maneuvering like chickens without heads. Without direction, coordination and vision they are spending the international funds mostly on their own needs first, on the needs of the Haitian people maybe or after.

The Preval government, using words instead of action, is busy bilking the NGOs and the international institutions instead of helping them to help his people. In a perverse symbiotic relationship that feeds each other, the government and the international institutions are comfortable with each other, afraid of standing up on the side of the Haitian people.

In the flawed election, planned and coordinated by the Preval government, with the logistic support of the UN and OAS, the people of Haiti have misled the prognosticators and the polls to keep their candidate close to their cards.

When the discredited Electoral Board pushed the government candidate for a second run, putting aside the candidate who carried the popular vote, all hell broke loose. There was rioting all over the country, in particular in Les Cayes (the southern part of Haiti). OAS/CARICOM, an incubator of the criminal conspiracy, was called again by the same Haitian government to correct its wrong.

This time, it has no other choice but to reverse the results and put the popular candidate Michel Martelly in the second round, setting aside the government candidate Jude Celestin.

The drama is not over because Jude Celestin is pulling the patriotic bell to generate national sentiment in his favour. Jean Claude Duvalier, with his surprise visit, is shuffling the cards. Jean Bertrand Arisitide has a expressed strong interest in returning into the country, putting the weight of his popularity in the mix. Rene Preval, in spite of his mediocre leadership standing, wants to remain the broker par excellence of the Haitian political transition.

Haiti will necessitate cesarean section to give birth to a new nation hospitable to all. I am confident the political skills of the people have reached a mature level to handle the birthing of true democracy without too much pain and suffering. .

Closer to home, P.J. Patterson, the Haiti CARICOM Representative, has called for helping Haiti to become the driving force of the Caribbean. He will need the credibility of his long years of service to face the Colin Granderson force embedded with the discredited Haitian government and a corrupt sector of the Haitian elite bent on keeping Haiti in bondage forever.

February 7, 2011, a day of reckoning, will be like the birth of Christ in the world, the day that will force the dawn of a new beginning in Haiti. May the good people of the world align themselves with the people of Haiti to facilitate the birthing of this true era of democracy!

February 5, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

The Bahamian political directorate has chosen Haitians for their most favoured political prostitutes...

Time to stop prostituting Haitians
NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net



Haitians have been migrating to the Bahamas for centuries. For race-based reasons, it was a problem in the early 19th century. While the racial legacy formed itself in the post-colonial psyche of African and non-African Bahamians, the modern problem is driven by other issues, like erratic fear, selfish politics and lackluster leadership.

One day, hopefully, Bahamians will wake up and realise, as sure as a man cannot cheat death, no number of raids, repatriations or immigration policies will solve the problems we presently have.

The political directorate know this, but they have chosen Haitians for their most favoured political prostitutes: to use and abuse to stoke fears and hoodwink the masses.

The reality is, neither the Department of Immigration, the Defence Force nor the entire might of the state have the power to ease the plight of all people in despair.

For centuries, migration has been the answer to populations seeking a better life, according to Leonard Archer, former CARICOM Ambassador. This is the story of Europe, Asia, Africa, everywhere in the world. When people experience scarcity, drought, famine, hardship, or persecution in one area, they move to another.

"If you interview the Haitian people who are coming, a number of them have been deported two, three, four times. People are desperate. The reality is desperate people will always move and we can't afford to put a wall around the country," said Mr Archer.

"We have been deporting people to Haiti since the 1970s. Has it helped? Has it worked?" he asked. People should know: we have no ally in the Haitian government or the Haitian people where the immigration problem is concerned. In a country of 10 million, the hundreds of people who migrate to the Bahamas, whether legally or illegally, is not a problem on the minds of most.

Plus, Haiti, like Jamaica, relies on remittances from its Diaspora population. When countries realised that the side effect of the brain drain was a supply of cold hard cash from the Diaspora, suddenly the migration of nationals did not seem so bad. On the contrary, migration was encouraged and remittances became a primary source of foreign exchange.

In the Bahamas, we are banging our heads against the wall with our hysteria over the illegals. All the banging is just giving us a headache.

We desperately need a new approach to the so-called immigration problem and we need a new vision of Haiti.

We should never forget: when the African world needed a sign that its certain fate would not be decided by the interests of slave masters and colonial rulers, it was a group of disparate Africans on the island of Hispanola, with the backing of their ancestors and the divine spirits, who rose to the occasion. Empowered by a collective will, they planted the seed in the African consciousness that we are more than they say we are; we deserve more than what they want for us.

Two hundred years later, Haiti that gave us hope, appears to face a hopeless fate. All we see of its people is what seems to be their worst. The eyes of the world take an interest only when the story line is one of strife and scandal; when the images fit the narrative of poor, desolate, pagan and black. And in the minds of most Bahamians and many Haitians, the light that is Haiti has faded.

Experience tells us that in our darkest hours it often takes a light, whether shone by an external source or a spark in our own spirits, to help us overcome. In an Avatarish way that light speaks to us and says: 'I see you'.

In an African way that light says, ubuntu, 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. In the language of psychotherapy, the light says, 'tap into the greatness that lies within and live it'. And from our queen mothers it says, 'I love you'.

Africans across the globe need to care enough to be more informed. Bahamians need to rise above the malcontent, so our people and the entire world knows, Haiti is more and Haiti deserves more.

It is more than what the international media depicts. It is more than the actions of its political directorate. It is more than the folly that befalls it, and it is more than what our eyes see. In this season of great frustration, Haiti needs neither our disdain or pity, nor our charity; it needs our great expectations, and with our collective consciousness, we will call out its greatness. Haiti has much work to do, but I wonder if we will start to play our part from where we stand. Certainly, in the history of our relationship with Haiti, the Bahamas has missed countless opportunities. That is largely because of our singular focus on immigration.

If we date the start of diplomatic relations to 1971, when the Bahamas signed the first of three bilateral treaties, then we can claim the 40-year prize of missed opportunities in building a meaningful relationship.

With newly acquired rights of self governance, and a dispatch from the UK's Foreign Common Law Office giving it limited authority to conduct external affairs, the Bahamian government negotiated its first bilateral agreement in 1971. Haiti was the foreign partner.

That agreement envisaged a broad range of relationships, including commercial trade and technical co-operation, education exchanges and cultural linkages - understandably so, because for two decades prior, Haitian labour had been growing in importance in the Bahamas. From the 1950s, Bahamians were working to establish modern commercial farming and Haitians provided a source of cheap agricultural labour from then. Mr Archer said Haitian farm workers employed in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, in the late 1950s, were not "perceived as a threat".

Owens-Illinois, an American company operating in Abaco, was known to recruit Haitian labour in the late 1960s, recalls Joshua Sears, director general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Owens-Illinois originally had a timber cutting license to operate in the Bahamas, but when cutting rights were transferred from Abaco to Andros, the company switched its operations and opened a 20,000 acre sugar cane estate in Marsh Harbour. Suffice to say, the population of Abaco and the available supply of Bahamian labour at the time would have given rise to a demand for Haitian workers.

Unfortunately, whatever promise the 1971 agreement may have embodied was short lived because it was "never really actualised", according to Mr Sears.

This is evidenced in the subsequent agreements - 1985 and 1995 - for which immigration was the central issue.

To this day, the almost singular focus of our foreign interest in Haiti is immigration. Dr Eugene Newry, former Bahamas ambassador to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, said in the modern world, countries establish diplomatic ties to look after economic interests. He said the Bahamas is the anomaly. Its interest in Haiti is solely to keep the Haitians out. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture might disagree, pointing to regional security initiatives and mediation efforts in Haiti in which the Bahamas has played central roles, or recent exploratory projects. But as valid as those efforts are, anyone would be hard pressed to contradict Dr Newry's overall assessment.

What makes our efforts so laughable is that given our efforts over 60 plus years, the solution to the immigration problem remains elusive.

This is so, notwithstanding the notoriously draconian efforts of the much loved Progressive Liberal Party Minister of Immigration Lofters Roker, whose administration was said to raid schools, churches and even hospitals to round up "illegals".

History has shown us we are inextricably linked to Haiti. Today is no different. Waves of immigrants are seen any time public confidence in Haiti wanes, during economic crises, at the mere threat of political instability, and at times of natural disaster, to which Haiti is no stranger. So unless the Bahamas has control over Haitian politics, the Haitian economy, and acts of God, things will not be looking up anytime soon.

Short of Haiti being restored as the light of the world, and probably even after, migration will be a Haitian reality, and the Bahamas, less than 200 miles off the coast, will suffer the consequences.

All is not lost, for there is a solution to the problem. It requires less money, less resources and fewer headaches, but it is infinitely more difficult than anything we have ever tried before.

A new approach to the Haitian problem is not incongruent with a clear understanding of the Bahamas' national interests. Illegal immigration strains national resources; Bahamian sovereignty is a national imperative, as is the security of our people. These are the interests that motivate Bahamians to call on the government time and time again to crack down on the immigration problem.

But in the interest of national development, and to play our part in history, someone needs to start being honest with our people and stop paying the pimps to prostitute the Haitians. There is a better way. The Bahamas has unexplored and underdeveloped interests in Haiti.

Let's look at our economic interests and the question of labour, because if we are honest, we would acknowledge that Bahamian and Haitian interests are aligned in many ways.

Economic migrants flock to the Bahamas year after year, not political refugees. That means Haitian people look to the Bahamas like we look to the United States - as a land of opportunity. For Haitians, there is a lucrative labour market in the Bahamas and their skills are in high demand. If there was no reason for optimism and they did not find employment in the Bahamas, they would not come.

Yes, unemployment in the Bahamas is high. The government has a responsibility to create jobs and to stimulate the economy, and the private sector has an interest in creating jobs where there are lucrative business opportunities.

Most Haitian labourers are employed by the private sector. For better or worse, Bahamian businesses are empowered by the law to employ foreign labour. Just look at the financial and tourism sectors, although they are not necessarily models to emulate.

In fact, the employment of foreign labour in these sectors is not scrutinised nearly enough. While Bahamians have their eyes on Haitians, predominantly white foreigners in finance and tourism are holding a virtual monopoly on well paying jobs that would otherwise give Bahamians an opportunity to create wealth and better the nation. Foreigners in these sectors gain employment on a so-called temporary basis, with a provision to train Bahamians, but in most cases they never leave and they don't truly empower Bahamians. They find it easy to get naturalised, and permanently secure the senior job ranks for Bahamians like themselves. This system proves that Bahamians do not have an entitlement to employment although many believe they do. Perhaps we should, because this is our country. But perhaps not, because we live in a global village. That argument is another debate altogether.

For now, clear eyes would see, Haitian labour is not the antithesis to Bahamian unemployment. That is our own problem. Haitians are simply the most favoured scapegoat. It is like a scorned wife blaming a prostitute for her husband's infidelity.

If we were to round up every Bahamian who has at one point engaged in the practice of employing Haitian nationals, they would probably outnumber the Haitians themselves.

If Bahamians were genuine about wanting to exorcise Haitian people, that would require draconian measures like strict penalties for Bahamians hiring undocumented workers. The sacrifice would be a culture where people would spy on neighbours and employees would spy on their employers.

Let us stop kidding ourselves. Most of the nationalist outcry is just rhetoric. It does not reflect the desires of the private sector, the practice of our people, and it does not reflect our true economic interests. The government can vouch for that. The trade in foreign labour in the Bahamas is a lucrative business. The government's coffers are kept fat by the millions paid annually for work permits.

Sixty years ago, pioneers in the agriculture sector knew we could not thrive without foreign labour. There was a reason why. The Bahamas has 326,000 acres of arable land. According to Dr Newry, it would require two workers per acre to fully exploit this resource commercially. That translates to every single Bahamian in the country needing to take an interest in agriculture, supplemented by an abnormally high birthrate, and steroid aided child development.

Our opposition to Haitian labour is simply coming from our hurt pride. The notion that we might need Haitian labour is not an indictment on Bahamian labour. It is just a reality. People who accept this do not fear or scorn the idea of an organised temporary worker programme like the South Florida work scheme Bahamians participated in during the 1950s.

For people like Mr Archer, who does not agree with talk about the massive farming potential of the Bahamas because of our "poor soil quality" and questionable water supply, there are economic interests for the Bahamas in Haiti itself. "Let us be practical. If there is going to be a farming industry in the Bahamas it has to be driven by private capital and private enterprise. If the government has to engineer it then it will be a make-work scheme rather than an agriculture scheme. The reason we don't have a farming industry is those persons who tried it didn't succeed. We don't have the natural kind of conditions for a successful farming industry," said Mr Archer.

There are many who would disagree, pointing to success stories of the past and present, like the famous story of Edison Key. But a fair question would be, what about longevity?

Mr Archer does not deny some success. After all, the seaside mango farm of the Maillis family is evidence of such. But he argues, if the farming potential were really so abundant, the private sector would have already found a way to exploit it fully. So here is another notion to consider. Haitian mangos sell for 99 cents or less in New York City. The same mango costs $2.50 - $3 locally, according to Mr Archer. His point: Bahamians could invest in Haiti, as farming there is a lucrative business proposition. It would have consumer benefits at home and produce employment benefits for the distribution and marketing of farmed goods. Again, it is our hurt pride that makes us scorn the idea. Many Bahamians would surely say, we need to invest in our people. We have done enough for Haiti.

"You have to make up your mind what you want. If by investing in Haiti you would create the conditions where they wouldn't need to come, surely that is a useful solution. There are people who just want the problem to disappear. Unfortunately problems do not just disappear," said Mr Archer. He agrees that a work programme is one way, but it is not enough, he said.

"We have to ensure there is economic growth in Haiti. When (Jean-Bertrand) Aristide became president a number of Haitians left the Bahamas and went back to Haiti because they thought things would get better.

"The source of the problem is Haiti itself not Haitians in the Bahamas," said Mr Archer.

February 03, 2011

tribune242

Bahamas Blog International

Why Jamaica should take note of Egypt

jamaica-gleaner editorial


IT WOULD be easy for our Government, and Jamaicans generally, to assume that there are no parallels between the violent uprising in Egypt against the long-serving President Hosni Mubarak, or the revolt in Tunisia that chucked out the dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.

Nor might we see a congruence between anything in Jamaica and the events in Yemen, where President Ali Abdullah Saleh is under pressure from demonstrators; nor Algeria, where Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced that a 20-year-old state of emergency is to be lifted.

Nor would Jamaica expect to be classified with Jordan, with its limited constitutional rule and where real power rests with King Abdullah III.

After all, Jamaica, its social malaise notwithstanding, is a functional democracy with high levels of individual freedom and the right of people to elect their government at intervals, although the process sometimes gets rather messy.

This newspaper, however, believes that as Jamaica watches the deepening unrest in North Africa and the Arab world, it is serious cause for concern. For while the proximate cause of the uprisings - Ben Ali, Mubarak and Co - may be to throw off repression in favour of democracy, the underlying issues are much deeper.

disenchanted young people

They are as much social and economic as political, and have been driven, primarily, by disenchanted young people. And therein lies our parallel.

Ben Ali, for instance, found it relatively easy to maintain social stability when his country's economy was in reasonably decent health. Things, however, have gone sour, and domestic economic problems have been aggravated by the global crisis. Political discontent has been exacerbated by high levels of joblessness and underemployment, particularly among young people.

In essence, the crises faced by youth in the North African and Arab states are not dissimilar to those highlighted by social anthropologist Professor Don Robotham in last Sunday's edition of this newspaper, and upon which we commented in the same issue.

urgent and robust attention

There are some harrowing facts worth recalling: nearly 400,000 people in the 15-29 age group - 59 per cent of the cohort - are either unemployed or out of the labour force. Of this group, 83 per cent have stopped looking for work, most likely because they believe that there are no jobs to be found.

Fixing problems such as these is never easy, but they always demand urgent and robust attention, which Prime Minister Bruce Golding and his Jamaica Labour Party promised would be the case when they came to office more than three years ago.

We have, however, neither felt nor seen the urgency of an administration that is driving hard for economic growth and giving substance to its promise of job creation. It has mostly pursued a predictable economic orthodoxy of the recent past, with little embrace of a real partnership with the private sector to jump-start and rev the economy.

Early in its tenure, this newspaper suggested to the administration the need for something akin to a job council, similar to the one US President Barack Obama appointed recently with General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt at the helm. We recommitted to the idea at the time of Mr Immelt's appointment and do so again.

We don't assume that Mr Obama has greater insight than our prime minister, unless the US president has a better grasp of Middle East matters.


The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.

February 4, 2011

jamaica-gleaner editorial

Bahamas Blog International

How can CARICOM countries decrease the upswing of criminality?

By Ian Francis


Every day, the Caribbean region’s population, through the various and diverse media organs of print and radio resources, is bombarded with news of crime ranging from homicide, armed robberies, rape and other violent crimes against innocent citizens, who are later described as victims, after facing the trauma of being attacked and victimized by these misfits in our community.

As an exiled Caribbean person in North America, I understand the individual pains felt by victims and the lacking inadequacy of our law enforcement agencies to apprehend and bring many of these offenders to justice. Although, some of these alleged offenders are apprehended and brought to justice, the growing inadequacy of the justice system further compounds the situation by apparent backlogs, timid Crown prosecutors and lawless legal lawyers, who show very little respect for the judicial system by constantly plotting and finding schemes and alibis on circumventing the justice system.

Many of these legal misfits can be found throughout the regional court circuit and are very well known by sitting judges and magistrates. Unfortunately, the legislative disciplinary mechanism is still in draft or review in many regional states so these misfits enjoy disciplinary immunity.

So, a careful analysis of the crime upswing in the region should not be only attributed to the senseless hardcore criminals. Therefore, when the question of crime and criminality is posed to the ordinary citizen on the street, the usual response is “all ah dem in crime”.

Getting such comments, it became necessary for me to delve further into these damaging comments and the outcomes were as follows, with both victims and potential victims identifying group and individual contributions to this untenable situation in the region. Based on my frank and open discussions, it is fair to conclude that crime escalation in the region cannot be blamed only on hardcore criminals. There are many other accomplices, which include:

-- Crooked, lawless and unethical lawyers versed in running red short around the judicial system;
-- Rogue cops who wear the uniform but act as the ears and eyes to inform criminals and their accomplices of planned police operations against them;
-- The revisionist habitual criminal offenders and their known accomplices who have no respect for law and order and invasion of individual rights
-- Public servants who live above their means and in order to maintain the lifestyle, they have no alternative but to divert to corrupt practices, which often go undetected
-- Corrupted elected and appointed parliamentarians who see a niche where they can advance themselves by amassing wealth through money laundering and other corrupt practices
-- Corporate and small business owners who manipulate the customs, excise and tax systems.

These strong perceptions and feelings by the population cannot be ignored anymore. Respective Caribbean governments need to take immediate action.

The situation is very gloomy throughout the region. It was only a few days ago that Trinidad’s National Security Minister accused crooked law enforcement officers of renting their weapons to criminals to commit serious crimes. With this and other allegations emerging from around the region, there should be no doubt or uncertainty in the mind of decision makers that “it is time for house cleaning”.

Yes, there are strong possibilities that many will be caught and, of course, there might be embarrassment; however, if CARICOM governments are committed to disrupting the criminal elements in their states, action and cleansing is needed on all fronts. These are some of the critical elements of transparency, accountability and good governance. Criminality is in our midst and it must be flushed out with vigilance and aggression.

CARICOM governments have from time to time talked about assets declaration. Rather than lamenting whether elected and appointed officials should make the necessary declaration, it is incumbent on respective governments to move swiftly with such legislation. In my view, all public servants in the employ of central governments and statutory bodies should make a declaration on what they own? How was it acquired? Current value and plans for future economic activities.

To put it bluntly, a police corporal with no relatives abroad, no significant local inheritance, no previously known and published financial accomplishments in his or current position is the owner of several houses, fishing boats and “one mores”. A careful examination and monitoring of this individual life style shows minimal activities in an existing financial institution. However, at the end of the day, he or she boasts assets to the tune of millions. Well, as a Jamaican friend would say, “da en sound right”.

This is the reality of criminal and unethical conduct in the CARICOM region. Rather than thinking that the criminal troublemakers are only deportees, it is ample time to dig deeper and identify other perpetrators. They are amongst us and detection is reasonably possible.

There are so many examples of public servant misconduct and alleged corruption in the region that the time has come when it cannot be ignored. Take a simple look at Stanford’s behaviour in Antigua, where he controlled a key staffer in the financial regulation department. Certainly, it occurred in Antigua but it will be very silly to think that there are no other misfits within the region.

Criminal lawlessness is not only amongst the poor. Let’s take a holistic approach and the results will be very surprising.

Ian Francis resides in Toronto. He writes frequently on Caribbean Commonwealth Affairs. He is a former Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Grenada and can be reached at info@vismincommunications.org

February 3, 2011

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Obama's trip to South America: Not before time

By David Roberts




We all know US diplomats, or any other diplomats for that matter, don't say what they mean when they speak in public - we never needed WikiLeaks to show us that - and in recent days we've been subject to yet another insult to our intelligence in the form of various officials from the US and elsewhere claiming that President Barack Obama's forthcoming tour of Latin America, announced recently in the State of the Union address, is proof of Washington's high degree of interest in the region and of Latin America's importance to the administration. In fact, the exact opposite is true.

The fact that Obama's first visit as president to South America - the March trip will encompass Brazil and Chile, while El Salvador is the other country on the itinerary - is scheduled to take place more than two years after he took office, shows Washington's lack of interest in the region and how low a priority Latin America is for US foreign policy. Obama will have visited nearly every other region of the world before he finally sets foot in the southern part of "America's backyard," although he did make previous trips to Mexico and Trinidad & Tobago.

Nevertheless, the countries he has chosen to visit "to forge new alliances across the Americas," as he puts it, should take advantage of the honor. Details of the trip are still sketchy but Brazil as the region's economic powerhouse was an absolute must for Obama, and the visit is long overdue. While in Brazil, which under President Lula experienced at times tense relations with the US, especially over Iran, Obama will meet with new President Dilma Rousseff and the two are expected to discuss issues such as clean energy, the Haiti situation and the sale of fighter jets, among others. But the important thing as that Rousseff sets her own agenda, and uses the occasion to help Brazil take its rightful place on the world stage.

In Chile, Obama is expected to discuss with President Sebastián Piñera topics such as nuclear security, clean energy and crisis management, in the wake of last February's earthquake. Piñera needs to take advantage of the visit to get the almost forgotten topic of free trade in the Americas firmly back on the political and international agenda.

El Salvador is at first sight a curious choice to include on the tour, but issues such as immigration to the US will undoubtedly be featured in talks between Obama and President Mauricio Funes. Indeed, the need to win back the votes of many Latinos in the US may well be the prime motive for the El Salvador visit.

Perhaps equally interesting are the countries in the region not included in the tour. The omission of Venezuela was no surprise to anyone, given its leftist leader, but not including Colombia, where the US has some unfinished business in the form of ratifying the free trade deal between the two countries, and Argentina, and perhaps Peru too, may be seen as a snub. Some have said Obama did not want to be seen to be meddling in the upcoming elections in those latter two countries, but even so, he will probably never make it to those important and friendly nations, at least not unless he wins a second term in office, and that is another indication of Washington's - and not just this administration's, the same thing has been true under several previous presidents - lack of interest in the region.

bnamericas

Bahamas Blog International

Why is Hugo Chavez called a Dictator?

By John E. Jones - Venezuelanalysis.com



Hugo Chavez is the most controversial head of state in the world and also the most maligned. I believe that a man should be judged for what he does, or attempts to do, not by what he says, or what others say about him. All leaders make promises in order to get elected, few ever do what they promised, and many don’t even make the attempt. If we are ignorant enough to use Thomas Jefferson’s definition of democracy, and reverse the real meaning of the word, then we could call Hugo Chavez the undemocratic leader of a mob. Hugo Chavez was born the son of working class parents, and grew up in poverty living with his grandmother; he was first elected by middle class working people, and won with a huge majority.

It seems unlikely that a would be dictator’s first major undertaking after being elected would be to have the people rewrite the constitution, replacing one written by elites that like most constitutions was for their personal benefit. It also seems odd that he got rid of the presidential limo and donated his princely presidential salary to benefit the poor. Most dictators only travel in armoured limousines and flaunt their wealth. The photos we see of Chavez show him driving a jeep, riding on the back of trucks with the people, or mingling with people on the street; strange behaviour for a dictator, or even a president.

Hugo Chavez’s election promise was to work for the benefit of the working poor majority who were living in poverty. Venezuela was a wealthy country due to natural resources, mainly oil, but the wealth was all going into the coffers of the elites, and multi national oil, and mining companies. By nationalizing oil Hugo Chavez has been able to erradicate illiteracy, provide free health care, education, pensions, and numerous other social programs. Venezuela is also the refuge of four and a half million Colombian refugees, acknowledged by the UN as the largest refugee problem in the world, who are supported by the government of Hugo Chavez. Colombian refugees are still entering Venezuela in the hundreds every day, and coming from the drug producing capital of the Americas that poses the problem of weeding out smugglers, drug dealers, and other criminals from Colombia that he is accused of harbouring. Nationalization of natural resources has definitely made him a dictator in the opinions of the corporate elites, but a hero to his people and most of the Colombians who have found refuge in Venezuela.

The new Venezuelan constitution not only contains some eighteen clauses on peoples rights it also laid the groundwork for the development of the first real democratic government in the world since ancient Greece. As a result recognition of the need for a new constitution spread to other countries and Bolivia soon followed Venezuela, rejecting the old political parties and electing a peoples’ native president. Since then the people of Honduras were denied the right to a new constitution by a coup that was backed by the US and Canada. The latest demands for new constitutions are coming from the people of Tunisia who just ran their dictator out of the country. Yemenis, Egyptians, and Algerians are following the Tunisians lead demanding that their leaders step down. Many peoples in the world are becoming aware of how they have been manipulated and kept down by ruling elites, oligarchs, and dictators; and that the only path to real democracy and freedom is through a new constitution, and real democracy.

The propaganda calling Hugo Chavez a dictator or even a would be dictator is coming from elites not just in Venezuela but many countries around the world with sham democracies that are terrified of being exposed and facing a revolution. Most western countries, like the US, were never intended to be democratic. The word democracy does not appear in the US constitution for very good reason; As Thomas Jefferson, the slave owning third president and co-writer of the US constitution said: “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”

All depots, dictators, oligarchs, and elites fear of rule by the people. The word democracy comes from ancient Greece and means: Rule by and for the people, directly, not through representatives, or political parties. This is referred to as direct democracy as opposed to representative democracy. There can be no rule by and for the people under representative electoral systems because local representatives seldom have any say in the running of the country. Referendums are an example of direct democracy in action and are now used regularly in Venezuela to decide major issues. The president of Venezuela is elected by a referendum, not as the leader of a political party and is subject to recall by referendum as are all elected representatives in Venezuela under the new constitution; these are real steps toward democracy where the people choose their representatives as individuals; not candidates selected by party elites.

Creating a real democracy can not be legislated it is something that the people have to learn and do themselves. Hugo Chavez has been providing the people with the tools, education, and the support of his government. The people have to take over the country from the bottom up and eliminate the bureaucracy as they advance. Of course the bureaucrats are not willing to see their power and positions abolished so it is not an easy task for the people who have to learn as they go along, and there will be lots of trials and errors along the way. This is the mob rule that Thomas Jefferson feared; government by and for the people. The people form communal councils that decide on their priorities through consensus and are able to get funding directly from the national government. Representatives are elected for two-year terms and can be recalled at any time. Some of the communal councils formed have advanced to the city level, and must now go on to the state level.

The right wing extremists in the US who now claim that Hugo Chavez is the greatest threat in the world to the US interests are right in so far as his introduction of direct democracy is a threat to the US elites and the government but certainly no threat to the people of the US.

Eliminating Hugo Chavez or attacking and trying to occupy Venezuela would not stop the peoples’ movements throughout Latin America, North Africa, or the Middle East. The age-old desire for real freedom and real democracy can never be stopped. Considering Venezuela a military threat to any country is laughable. The Venezuelan military is much smaller than that of several of its neighbours. It is true that Hugo Chavez is training a huge militia but it is not being trained to support the regular military units, but is being trained for guerrilla warfare in the event of an invasion; he has also started training and arming peasant militias for self defence in the countryside where peasant leaders are still being murdered, and people intimidated by thugs hired by large property owners. Arming the people doesn’t sound to me like anything a dictator would do; but it does sound like giving the people the means to defend their new freedoms and developing democracy.

Of course now that Venezuela has the largest certified oil reserves in the world the US hawks will be busier than ever promoting a war and Hugo’s peasant army, and militia may need all the training and weapons they can get.

Like most countries in Latin America, Venezuela was plagued with crime, and corruption that extended through the police and judicial system. Removing and prosecuting corrupt judges has caused great controversy. Building a federal police force that is ethical and humane just began two years ago, and is being trained in a new facility that teaches the constitution, peoples’ rights, and their duties. This new police force had grown to 4,222 officers at the end of 2010, and had substantially reduced crime in the areas the officers were deployed. The new police force like the army is being taught to protect the people not just the elites, and property.

Banks and businesses that were corrupt have been nationalized to protect the public, and many former owners have fled to the US to avoid criminal proceedings and find a safe haven for their ill-gotten gains. These elite criminal elements all scream dictatorship and seek to overthrow the government.

I believe that in the future the 21st century will become known as the information age when many emperors lost their clothes. I hope it also becomes known as the century that freedom and democracy returned to the earth. The advancements in communications made possible through new technology since the turn of the century have already enabled people to stop coups in progress, coordinate resistance, bring down governments, and become informed free of corporate propaganda and control.

In Venezuela alone millions of people have gained access to computers and the world-wide-web. Last year more than a million people were trained in computing in Venezuelan internet Infocentros. Domestic access to the internet increased by 242,993 homes last year, for a total of 1,351,269 connections, an increase of 22%. A third of the population now have access to internet in their homes, compared to 3% before Chavez was elected. The “Canaima” program that provides school children with mini laptops has supplied 875,000 computers to first and second grade students, and this year the government is projecting handing out 500,000 laptops to third grade students. In the past year the government expanded the country’s satellite network, the first satellite in Latin America dedicated to public broadcasting, by installing 728 satellite antennas. According to the latest information posted in Vheadline.com “Venezuela provides free education to more than four million students at the primary level, more than two millions in high school, and an equal number of university students, as well as those who benefit from the Sucre and Ribas educational programs”. With a population of just over 28 million in 2008 eight million students is close to a thirty percent of the population.

Hugo Chavez could rightly be accused of being too humanitarian, or too generous for providing poor US citizens in the New England States and Alaska with cheap heating oil reduced in price by 40%, or providing subsidised fares to seniors using public transit in London England. He is already widely criticized for selling oil at greatly reduced prices to sister countries in Latin America because this has caused a big loss of profits to major international oil companies. He is also guilty of trading oil to other countries in trade for services or products instead of dollars. All these acts are very damaging to corporate capitalist profits, and to add insult to injury Venezuela’s nationalized oil company contributes its’ profits to social programs in Venezuela; and it these profits that enable Venezuelans to enjoy free health care, education, and many other social programs. The people in many countries would like their natural resources to be used the same way; no doubt the millions of people in the US with no health care would too.

When hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans Hugo Chavez offered to send help but Bush refused Venezuelan aid and sent in the army instead. Venezuela was one of the first countries to land aid and a rescue team in Haiti before the US army got there to shut down the airport and occupy the country. During the disaster caused by heavy rains in Venezuela, Hugo Chavez opened up the presidential palace as well as many public buildings to provide shelter to victims who lost their homes. Can you imagine such a thing happening in another country? We don’t have to wonder why the people support Hugo Chavez, it is because he is one of them, and treats them as equals.

If all men/women are born equal as many people like to believe it stands to reason that all men/women in any country are entitled to an equal share of the natural resources in their country. Hugo Chavez has been restoring these natural rights to his people, against the will of the elites who claimed to own most of the wealth. Venezuelan elites like their counterparts in most of the western “representative democracies” also own and control most of the media so it is easy to understand why we are being bombarded with their lies, and propaganda.

Whatever Hugo Chavez is he is greatly admired by millions of people around the world and his goal of restoring Bolivar’s goal of free republics united by their common bonds as an alternative to being subjected to domination by foreign powers appears to be inspiring peoples around the world to rebel against oppression and domination. Arabs are asking why their leaders don’t have the cajones to nationalize their natural resources and do something for the people who they rightfully belong to. How long before we will be hearing the same questions asked in Canada, the US, and other western “representative democracies” for corporations?

There are good reasons for elites, and leaders from around the world to hate and vilify Hugo Chavez; these parasites might have to start working for a living like the rest of us, although they are a tiny minority they are immensely wealthy and control most of the media. Hugo Chavez is called a dictator because he is introducing real direct democracy into thw world, and that spells the beginning of the end of privileged elites.

Looking at what he has done for his people as well as poor people in other countries shows that Hugo Chavez is an exceptional politician, perhaps the only one in the world that has and continues to fulfill his election promises on behalf of working people. Hugo Chavez is being judged and condemned by the elites, oligarchs, and dictators of the world and using their control of the mass media to spread their lies and distortions; any leader emerging in the world that attempts to serve his/her people to the detriment of corporations will experience the same vilification.

January 31st 2011

venezuelanalysis

Bahamas Blog International