The BU have written exhaustively on the need for Barbados to revisit its ‘open door’ immigration policy. We have been called racists, xenophobic, ignorant, backward, small minded and the beat goes on. We have demonstrated during the just concluded general election in Barbados that we are not thin-skinned and that we are prepared to deal with issues which our mainstream media resist covering.
It is evident to most Barbadians on the ground that we are beginning to see the signs of problems down the road; the increasing numbers of undocumented arrivals to our shores. There are the Indians who consistently demonstrate clannish behaviour wherever they anchor. There is the racial tension which exists in the neighbouring countries of Guyana and Trinidad.
Given the foregoing, we find it interesting that noted Trinidad Express journalist, Andy Johnson, has given vent to this issue in his column of today. We have snipped a part of his article which we find to be relevant to support our agitation on the matter of the impact of UNDOCUMENTED Indians entering Barbados. As we have stated in previous articles many of these UNDOCUMENTED Indians are unskilled and add little value to the GDP of Barbados.
Bajans are having to come to terms with ethnic and cultural diversity, a story about which they ought to learn heavily from Trinidad and Tobago. They aren’t sure, just yet, whether they are going to like it. In several sections of high end Bridgetown, along Broad Street and around Swan Street, for instance, sub-continental Indian business people beckon customers to shops and stores offering expensive jewelry and cosmetics, as well as exotic items of clothing. In plazas and shopping rendezvous along the well traversed south coast, the same thing happens.
Whereas they used to talk as victims, about the “Guyanese bench” at the Grantley Adams International Airport, nationals of that South American country which is a Caricom member state, may no longer voice their feelings of victimisation and discrimination as loudly. It does not mean, by a long shot, that they have stopped or slowed down their trek to the island in search of a better life.
Five years ago it was estimated there were 30,000 Guyanese hidden in the Barbadian economy. Undocumented and being exploited. That figure has grown near exponentially since then. By contrast, however, whereas the Bajans have disputed the figure, the situation could be even more alarming in this country, were we even to hazard a guess at the numbers. Whole sections of the Central Market in Port of Spain have been commandeered by Guyanese nationals for years now.
We anticipate the flow of invective which we be hurled our way. But we intend to stay the course on this issue in the hope that we shall overcome on this issue some day.
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