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Down By The Boardwalk

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Link submitted by Living in Barbados Blog

The recently constructed Boardwalk on the South coast which stretches from Accra Beach for about half mile towards Bridgetown has been well received by locals and tourists alike. This week it was reported in the news that the Segway Scooters donated to the Royal Barbados Police Force have been withdrawn from patrolling the Boardwalk. If we can read between the lines from the press report, a policeman was injured while negotiating the Boardwalk but may not have been covered adequately by insurance.

The biggest negative feedback to date about the Boardwalk has been the lack of lighting which makes strolling the Boardwalk in the late evening somewhat of a risk. We thought it was the biggest negative feedback until we viewed the video above. The Internet can be our friend but it can be our enemy.

The relevant government agency needs to get in gear and remember that if we don’t care for our own, we are a tourist country for Godsakes!

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593 responses to “Down By The Boardwalk”

  1. Bimbro Avatar
    Bimbro

    LIB, I really wish u would n’t address me as I see ur people as the disease which is causing us to be destroyed, in Britain, indeed, the world – except for running!! and, in all sincerity, who really gives a ***k about that!!

    To answer your question; I see all the ills which befall the W.I. community in the UK, if not the entire, western world, as being a consequence of the presence of your people. If you were all confined to the perimeters of your own country then none of this would happen, or to a much lesser extent! Hope that answer your question, comprehensively!! And now, please don’t bother me again!!

  2. Negroman Avatar
    Negroman

    Living In Barbados
    I cannot understand,neither do I admire or respect people who behave or think like you.

    Living In Barbados you have decided to come and live in Barbados.If you are legal and making a contribution to the further development of Barbados I am sure we Barbadians will welcome you.However,you are living among us and daily on this blog we are bombarded with you talking down to Barbadians.If you are not comfortable living among the semi-educated,uneducated,racist swine black people that people like you,Jack Bowman,Reluctant Non-Believer and some of the rest refer to us as, why don’t you pack your bags and leave for your homeland.

    Living In Barbados I get the impression that people like you,Jack Borman,in addition to Indo-Guyanese,White expatriates from Europe,North America,Canada & the rat catcher/mango seller Indians from India,Pakistan and that general region along with the Chinese hate the majority of the people of Barbados which is us Blacks with a passion,but will do anything to remain here.

    If the people I have mentioned do not like us Blacks who make up the majority in this Black country,we are not begging anyone to remain, do the correct thing and pack all of you all bags and leave this Black country.

    If you all do not want to govern by a Black government.leave Barbados.

    Living In Barbados,Barbados could do with out the likes of you with your pompous behavior.

  3. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    So let me not judge the words and thoughts of Bimbro. Jamaica and Jamaicans have been responsible for “all the ills which befall the W.I. community in the UK, if not the entire, western world”. I am not Jewish but help me Brownshirts and Oswald Mosley terrorising Jews in London, and with the Hitler regime and the Holocaust. I am not Muslim but help me with the recent wave of international terrorism spawned by fanatics from that part those who live in the western world. I am not a black American, but help me understand the role of Jamaica and Jamaicans in the lynchings and burnings in the USA. I am not Irish, but where is the link with the sectarian violence in Ulster? I think I know some answers, but I would not presume to be right.

  4. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Negroman
    I was asked to come by my wife, and I accepted. I decided to resign my job for family unity. I now work at home and have the luxury of being able to do most of that on a computer, without need to travel. I’m happy to raise my children.

    I’m very happy living in Barbados, but that does not mean that I have to share anyone’s views on what is good or bad. What I have long noticed (and discussed with some on this blog) is that my remarks are often mere repetition of things that I read in local papers or hear on local radio. Yet, they seem to strike a chord when repeated that is not matched when they are mentioned initially. For example, I do not dictate that Barbados does not have a good system for managing heavy annual rains and suffers regular flooding, and is also a water scarce country. Nor do I dictate that PSV vehicle regularly run red lights and endanger the lives of their passengers and other road users. I do not dictate that LIAT regularly makest travel from the local airport a journey into the unknown. If I am the only one suffering these things, then I have to wonder where the reporters are (I use LIAT about two times a year). wish I knew how I developed wukkin up and schoolchildren fighting in Bridgetown or at school. And so on.

  5. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Negroman
    In case your geography is not so good. Look dead east from Barbados and Trinidad and you will see a continent, where I worked with what you call a ‘Black government(s)’–Sierra Leone and Guinea, if you want to be precise. I was asked to stay longer by the government but my institution told them that no extension was permitted.

    You can check on the countries and what life is like for most people living on less than US$1 a day. Regular safe drinking water supply and electricity were luxuries, irrespective of who you were. Yellow fever, dysentry and malaria were endemic. Very difficult with a child under 2 years old. Travel was mainly by road (1000 kilometer trips between the countries were normal, but in the rainy seasons–like now– the road was sometimes closed so an immediate return was needed. The option was to fly to Brussels or Paris and back down again (usually 48 hour trip, and very expensive), because I could not drive to the neighbouring country.

    Hence I am very interested in Bush Tea’s notions of getting a population to live within its means.

    So, think me pompous by all means. I am looking forward to seeing how people here deal with what is called ‘hardship’.

  6. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Negroman
    “If you are not comfortable living among the semi-educated,uneducated,racist swine black people that people like you” I suggest that next time my face appears in the paper you take a really good long close look and do not think that you are looking into a mirror. I am like George Lamming, Austin Clarke and Derek Walcott perhaps, because we went to university. I am not a writer like they are. But I do think.

  7. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Negroman/Bush Tea: any discussion is about credible propositions and convinving hearts and minds. Some feel that by just dismissing or insulting that they make sunstantive points. I don’t. When I was enjoyning my green banana coucou and salt fish lunch in Britton’s Hill, no one felt the need to curse me because of how I spoke and we disceed BWA, agricultur and pudding and souse. That was a good place to discuss and heart ‘on the ground’ views. None of those people even knew what was a blog. Tomorrow I will go back for bbq and see what else we discuss. I’m glad to have other places to exchange views and face to face.
    :

  8. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    Correction: CONVINCING…SUBSTANTIVE…AND HEAR ‘ON THE GROUND’….

  9. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    Correction: DISCUSSED BWA, AGRICULTURE…

  10. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    BIMBRO IS BACK

    I knew that dis 199 imitation din’ gun las…!

  11. Negroman Avatar
    Negroman

    Living In Barbados

    This is my final response to you.Your arrogant,pompous,conceited behavior is still being shown through your writings.

    I do not care if you are a Black Man by your phenotype,your behavior suggests that if you are indeed from the beautiful Black Race you are what I consider an anti-Black Black or a token Black.

    Living In Barbados I would suggest that you use your fertile analytical brain to analyze the reason why the great continent of Africa is in the state it is in today and by converse to analyze why some Europeans countries,North America & Canada are so prosperous today.I think your brilliant analytical skills will point you in the right direction.

    It is indeed very interesting that you highlighted the problems in Africa and the under development in many of the states that make up Africa, but you have refuse to acknowledge the destitute state of many Europeans countries especially the European states in Eastern Europe where things are so bad that human trafficking,child labour & child prostitution are rampant.

    Living In Barbados you are a very deceitful individual.People of your ilk will never be able to come to Black Barbados and lecture to us or talk down to us anymore.We are not the docile,stupid,placid people that can be manipulated or abuse anymore.We are going to stand up & fight back and we will fight back by any means necessarily.

    Living In Barbados,go & take hike.Barbados must be rid of the intellectual idiots like you.

  12. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Negroman
    First, the accusation is that “we are bombarded”. Then the accusation is that you want me to talk about more things (“but you have refuse to acknowledge the destitute state of.. “). So, if I can manage to keep expanding on what you want me to cover, you can say that I know too much. I understand this condition, though I am no expert on how to cure it.

    I do not feel confused, but I really do wonder about the writer that makes that sort of wholly contradictory set of observation.

    I know that you will probably be more satisfied if the space you occupy does not need to accommodate other opinions, so that the venom of your comments can seem more the norm than the rarity it should be.

    I am really happy to leave the party to you and those who enjoy your discourse. But who will be next? Is the scorecard filled yet?

    A t some stage, though I personally do not expect it to be soon, you may feel able to acknowledge you are not absolved from contributing to problems. If you have acknowledged any failing our your part in the past, I will forgive myself for not have noticed.

    I’m used to assessing what is going on around me and will continue to do that and share it whereever I feel fit.

    Hasta la vista. A bientot. Das vidanya. Sayonara. Gute nacht. Go long. Me gone.

    David knows where to find me if he feels he has a question to ask.

  13. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Negroman
    If you would like to read my writings on the problems of eastern and central European countries, contact me via my blog and I will point you towards them. They are bit dated as the tapped out in the mid 1990s with the collapse of the Soviet Union.

  14. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Negroman
    “I would suggest that you use your fertile analytical brain to analyze the reason why the great continent of Africa is in the state it is in today and by converse to analyze why some Europeans countries,North America & Canada are so prosperous today” [I gave a talk on this yesterday, and can also point you to the useful Marxist analysis of Stuart Holland in “Capital versus the regions”, which still plays out not only in Africa, but to all areas that are not part of the economic core (eg Ireland, Spain, Portugal, etc.) Draw the map. Find the central node of economic power. Check the radius. See the fall off in wealth.

  15. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Man NM mekking you fret cause it is the truth!

    And he aint went UWI like you and George Lamming haa ha lol!

  16. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    LIB

    When I was enjoyning my green banana coucou and salt fish lunch in Britton’s Hill, no one felt the need to curse me because of how I spoke and we disceed BWA, agricultur and pudding and souse
    ************************************
    Looks like you are making an effort to sample some opinions from the other “grass roots”. Do tell us if their thoughts are in concert with what is said on the blog or if they reflect another reality?

  17. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Sargeant
    Consistent with my earlier message, I will gladly share my views via my blog or my email there. I’m writing a piece on the discussions (may be done later tonight). I had not gone with a view to sounding views–but of course one gets views all the time–just to search out my lunch on Villa Road (with some other plebs).

  18. Bimbro Avatar
    Bimbro

    Hi BAF, ur right!! That number did n’t do justice to my genuine feelings towards Bim, i.e. of being Bim’s No.1 bro – Bimbro!!

    In d meantime, way u get dis nutter LIB, from?!!

    Lor!!

  19. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    BIMBs
    Mr and Mrs Livinginbarbados will be with us for another few years to come so you gotta get use to him. These are the very pleasant faces that we see in these parts when we speak of the IMF. Please don’ piss he off tah much…LOL

  20. Sea Cat Avatar
    Sea Cat

    @livinginbarbados

    Cor blime. Man, you got real stamina. I hope you wife agree with me.

    You getting licks and insults left, right and center but you aint ducking at all, at all. Don’t let dem run you, boy. Keep punching back.

  21. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    LIB,

    Your latest article is quite humorous, indeed referring to these blogs and the ‘residents’.

    Was rather amused (bemused?) by your friends’ advice that these blogs contain rabid writings from others.

    A point in some cases, but certainly not generally.

    I rather think that your friends should read your own advice, or rather that of your early boss, to speak up during a discussion, for the reason given. Thus, your friends should also give others the benefit of the doubt.

    But, who am I to judge? Your friends have their own opinions, I am others have ours.

    Openmindedness is a wonderful thing, a mantra that I know you appreciate.

    Would be great should others follow this.

    Enjoy BIM, all are welcome.

    As the late Errol Barrow said.

    Friend of all, satellite of none.

  22. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    LIB

    I accept your point on the cultural ‘training’ of the early immigrants, but still assert that the early immigrants gave as much good as they took, as well as accepting the new culture as opposed to the current immigrants who either refuse to or are incapable of assimilating, while being a draw on the infrastructure, rather than as asset.

  23. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @SBD (excuse the informality)
    No one can be forced to give their opinions, and no one’s lack of expression should be taken as anything but the exercise of a freedom. If Japanese people refrain from speaking unless they believe that they have the best thought. But Americans tend to talk to fill up the time. Put the two into a room together. What do you get?

    Historians indicate that the late Errol Barrow left a huge and positive legacy for Barbados. I don’t know his writings, so will take some time to read them.

    Laughter is healthy as are the sentiments of Disiderata.

  24. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @BAFBFP
    That timing is news to me: much less, for sure.

    The institutional profile is wrong. Neither is the ‘face’ you suggest in the context you imply. Misinformation when it becomes current can be hard to correct.

    Others should feel free to offend. Chips will fall where the do.

  25. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @SBD
    I gave a rationale for differences regarding tendency to assimilate. What I omitted previously was the counterfactual. But I will pose it as a question. Did the British (or other) colonizers assimilate or adapt, or did they force the natives/residents to adapt? Depending on your conclusion what lessons would you to be learned by the colonized?

  26. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    See. BAFBFP almost had alla Buhbayduss reading dis blog to hear whuh de ‘IMF Man’ got tuh say!

    LOL

    BAF, yuh did doin David a favour!

  27. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    LIB,

    Noted. But surely we are then discussing two issues.

    Firstly, the micro issue re the situation in England, full stop. The above rationale addresses that.

    Secondly, now you refer to the ‘whole’ view.

    Generally, yes, the British culture was forced, despite necessary change on those long-term resident colonisers and their descendants (which is part of why Barbados is so mixed nowadays).

    Lessons for the colonised? Interesting question.

    From a pragmatic or cultural defense viewpoint?

    Can I suggest that some cultures actually did hold their own, e.g. India, the caste system, the religious, marriage etc remained.

    But that may have been due to the age of their civilisation, whereas the West Indies for example, were ‘created’ as such, with the Amerindians driven out.

    I agree that colonisation had severely damaging effects on the African civilisation.

    May I also go to one regular point of such discussions, (with apology), the merits or not, of being a colony of various nations i.e. many claim that the British colonies have fared the best, compared to the Spanish and Dutch colonies for example?

    Many blame the Haiti situation on such a cause, the origin of the coloniser?

    But, I am not a history expert, I will leave that to those who are.

    Lessons from a colonised, can it be simplified really?

    It is not so easy, when the colonised were so varied. One would like to use the Indian example, of sustaining one’s own identity, but it is not so simple.

  28. Livinginbarbados Avatar
    Livinginbarbados

    @SBD
    On 1, agreed.
    On 2. A well developed cultures such as in the Indian subcontinent (remember there are many countries that made up British India) could withstand the colonisers pressures on them to change and more or less ignore them. Population size and spread were probably important factors, too. (You have a parallel with the Soviet Union and Russia versus the satellite states: common economic and political system was enforced but culture in Russia was different from Kyrgyzstan was different from Estonia, etc.) But a similar well developed culture (Incas, Mayans, say) could not withstand (arms and disease made that easier). Numbers worked against the colonized, too. For numerically smaller and UNDERDEVELOPED/SUPRESSED cultures such as in the West Indies (remember slavery crushed/criminalised much of the African cultures–languages, marriage, property rights, and the people colonized were themselves displaced persons), I would say it was nigh impossible to do anything but bend.

    On whether the British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, (even Russian) colonizers were better, I think views differ. Each left a positive and negative legacy: religious allegiences; the French and British left the strongest legislative and administrative structures, I think; each left strong liguistic traits (common language); each created dependency but has honoured that differently (eg Martinique is politically a true part of France, and there are daily flights to Paris; likewise for Dutch places like Aruba, but Suriname is now independent; Barbados is not politically a full part of the UK (despite the monarch as constitutional head). Some (France) pulled the financial plug totally in some cases and/or played favourites when they left, others were ‘kinder’. The Spanish and Portuguese legacy is a bit less clear, and less strong beyond language and cultural/religious aspects.

    I would look at Haiti completely differently, as the only Caribbean island that fought for its freedom.

    Sorry, the answer is so long. It is that complex, I think.

  29. Bimbro Avatar
    Bimbro

    BAFBFP // July 23, 2009 at 7:03 pm

    BIMBs
    Mr and Mrs Livinginbarbados will be with us for another few years to come so you gotta get use to him. These are the very pleasant faces that we see in these parts when we speak of the IMF. Please don’ piss he off tah much…LOL

    *************

    BAF, well, in that case, all I can say is, “rathid”!!

    Lord!! – (Jamaican parlance)

    or, in Bajee talk, “backside”!!

    Laaaaddddddddddd!!

    Poor we!!

  30. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @SBD
    Even though the original thread seems to have drifted away from its topic, there’s a lot of relevance in thinking about things in Barbados from the colonizer/colonized perspective. The colonization process created a lot of deferrence, which given a weak cultural base, means that colonized/black people tended to ‘give way’ to whites. The converse is that colonizing/whites tend to expect blacks ‘to follow’. Nothing hard and fast, but it comes from several centuries of it being that way. But the relationships played out differently in each colony/island during the period and also since independence.

    I often see a carry over of this long-standing relationship in what people do, and how people react to what they think they see being done. It’s not necessarily about racial antagonism, but is about power relationships. (One of the startling things I experienced in Guinea was how centuries old slave-master relationships between ethnic groups still held sway, centuries after the relations were broken. At its most extreme you could have a person from a former slave tribe now being head of an organization, but clearly deferring to a lower ranked official who came from a slave owning tribe. Multiply that many times over and think about what it means.)

    Independence changed some of this in a notional sense, but surely could not overturn it in a practical sense. The history is just too long.

    A lot of the hostility toward the video seemed to stem from “who do they think they are showing us what we should be doing?” or “they are doing this to show that we cannot do it/don’t care/don’t know how to be responsible”.

    This is a scenario /reaction I’ve seen more in Barbados than in say Jamaica or The Bahamas. Put another way, why is it that the superficially laudable actions of whites generate so much animosity from blacks? Surely we should all be happy that a good thing was done? But, the reactions here show that it is not so.

    My take (and Adrian wants me to expand on it) is that key economic relations did not change much after independence, even though the political structure did. But political power without economic power is not very strong. (You see this more clearly when you consider the alliances that governments need to make with other agents, such as unions and business.)

    Hence my concern about the Hoad thesis and my contentions preserving the status quo. I think that tension between economic and political power is key to why there is this (deep seated?) resentment that surfaces so quickly. It plays out with national relationships and it plays out with foreigners too (especially in the tourism sector).

    It’s more evident to an outsider who does not come with that ‘baggage’, but an outsider has a harder time addressing or correcting it. That’s something for Bajans to do. If the accusations of being Bajan blacks being docile (not my words) hold true then you know that little will happen–and the resentment festers. But, if it is to break then what will be its tipping point? A recession is more likely to be a trigger for change.

  31. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    LIB

    Your interpretations of the overall scenario are understood and accepted.

    As for the local situation, your last four paragraphs actually have much truths.

    Fairly, if a man were to own a business, is it not natural that he would pass the heading of this to his son / daughter?

    On the other hand, you may have someone with no advanced training, leading a few people with advanced training, say construction.

    But, that youngster may have loads of business savvy.

    The problem comes when the youngster has neither, but heads a business inherited.

    It is not so much a problem in itself, as trained persons can go work for others surely? But, what if there are few other options and the trained persons find it hard to get enough equity to go their own way?

    Or indeed, ‘established relationships’ are so strong that business is not awarded on the basis of ability but ‘who knows who’?

    This is not always the case, but does occur.

    The ‘out’ for the average Barbadian, is education, if necessary afterwards leaving for pastures where one can at least make a fair living, comparatively.

    The counter argument is that the ‘elite’ rule in any country, thus Barbados is no exception, there is also some truth to this.

    Big money talks in any country, giving offspring enough for education, business etc.

    So, the next question is, where do we go from here?

    My approach is one of gradual change, such that all are given opportunities for learning (free education that Errol Barrow implemented), given a fair chance on the availablilty of land for residential and commercial use (my thoughts on a new Land Use Policy then apply) and legislation to ensure that fairness has some recourse by law, including regulationa on public disclosure of Government policy and spending i.e. full transparency.

    Some may argue that this is unrealistic, that politicans, their paymasters, will never enact and follow the relevant lagislation.

    However, to me, the alternatives in a ‘tipping point’ are too ugly to mention.

    We come to change as you say. which is the only certainty, that it will come is inevitable, it is up to us to determine, by what means it comes.

    Hence, as you say, the potential for this recession as a catalyst was always and still is very worrying to me.

    Not because of the change, which I support, but because of the inherent risks, that could cause the change to be negative rather than positive, in terms of a stable nation, both economically and socially.

    As we climb for better pastures, the drop from the slope is also steep and could be sudden.

  32. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    So Bimbro,

    You does go down Shepherd’s Bush pun a Sat’day and buy some West Indian items?

  33. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    Bimbro,

    Cuh dear, man. How uh cud treat de fellow pun de train so. ‘E was only looking for a friendly word from a fellow Windian.

    Man see a prospective friendly face, amongst the sea of grumpy faces pun de train.

    An yuh diss ‘e so?!

    Yuh hard man.

  34. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @SBB
    Little to disagree with in your reply. But, I think that graudalism is a ‘curse’ on the region, and it comes from our comfort in having had stability, but gradual change is really only ok if the divisions/differences are small or if those with power seem to share the ‘goodies’ fairly.

    Your inheritance scenarios apply positively and negatively. We know that both wealth and poverty can be inherited and lead to cycles of prosperity and poorness. You also have to navigate the very tricky waters when the ‘better qualified’ have to stand behind the ‘poorly qualified but in charge’. Add race and wealth to that and it’s a bad admixture.

    Yes, elites tend to rule and yes big money talks volumes, but if the doors to each seem effectively barred then you must end up with problems. The US believes that its merit is that the door (through education and a freeish economy) is always open to join the elites (Clinton, Obama?) and become big money (O’Neil/Amex, MJs, OJ, Buffett…).

    Where from? I think Barrow set the stage well, but cravenness has taken over. So get that out first, and things may well resolve easily.

  35. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    For those in The Bush. Walk through the market from Uxbridge Road toward Goldhawk Road. Turn left at the end and go into Cooke’s. Order lunch, and charge to me.

    Aftger lunch, walk back to Uxbridge Road, and go into St Stephen’s Church. Say a prayer.

    Come out of the church and look into the school yard. Imagine what it was like in 1961, with a few black west Indian children (Jamaican, Grenadian, two Trinis, one from Guadeloupe) amongst a sea of white face. You may find my name scratched on a desk. Imagine living in a basement flat across the street from the school. Imagine dealing with winter for the first time. Imagine your future 50 years on.

  36. John Avatar
    John

    LIB

    My take (and Adrian wants me to expand on it) is that key economic relations did not change much after independence, even though the political structure did. But political power without economic power is not very strong. (You see this more clearly when you consider the alliances that governments need to make with other agents, such as unions and business.)

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++

    This caught my eye and made me think about the oft repeated refrain to the effect that after independence, “”Blacks” got political power but “Whites” kept economic power.”

    I think political power was shared among Bajans of all colours when Adult Suffrage was instituted in the early 1950’s long before Independence.

    I think the politicians who appeared “Black” had been indoctrinating people into seeing the colour difference leading up to Adult Suffrage and used it to eliminate their competition and give themselves a clear advantage.

    In my current way of thinking, (it can change, and it may by the end of the day), political power was taken by politicians who separated the “Blacks” from the “Whites” ….. in people’s minds.

    The “Blacks” as “defined” by politicians, never got it … and are yet to get it!!

    Economic power is completely different from political power and it is worth comparing the two.

    It is not possible to imagine economic success like it is possible to imagine the “Black” “White” divide.

    Economic success is real and tangible.

    Agricultural output cannot be imagined, it has to be produced, and tourist arrivals and money spent either happen or don’t happen.

    Here is an example of sharing economic power which in some ways is very similar to the sharing of political power.

    C&W has economic power and it has it because of generations of profits in business which among other things led to the acquisition of assets like technology and knowledge and the institiution of a monopoly on the business of telecommunications in Barbados.

    Deregulation is like Adult Suffrage.

    So after deregulation, along comes Digicel and other companies which want to also develop Economic power and share in the spoils of war.

    … and make no mistake, it is war, they all have to fight to get it, C&W is not going to just give it up.

    The sides are clearly defined, however the combatants are neither “Black” nor “White”.

    It will be a longterm struggle and only the fit will survive.

    That is not to say that the combatants won’t use any advantage, real or imaginary, at their disposal, but there will always be a riposte.

    In business, how would anyone set about changing “White” to “Black” or vice versa?

    Why would anyone even want to?

    These are imagined constructs.

    Deregulation has in a sense levelled the playing field but the advantage must remain with C&W if only because of its extended experience in the business through which, whether we like it or not, it has built up its ability to hold on to that power and defend its position.

    Economic power, unlike political power, belongs to those who have the ability and resources to do what those who do not have those abilities or resources (particularly resources) cannot do.

    That is not to say that those without cannot enter the fray and learn the business and beat the established combatant, but it is a fight, and it is uneven, as level as the playing field may be.

    Political power was given to and taken by politicians.

    Before Adult Suffrage, that power was held by those who were qualified to vote by virtue of what they owned and it was exercised by those who they elected to exercise it, and it was exercised in their interest.

    We are still to get a majority of politicians who qualify for their position on merit alone and really understand the physical processes which make this island tick.

    There was no longterm struggle politically comparable to that which is required to change the balance economically.

    The “Blacks”, if they really exist and are not just the creation of past politicians, are yet to get that power.

    It is being held, “in trust” by the politicians.

    Political power in Barbados belongs to no one colour if such a single colour really exists, it belongs to the people of Barbados and they exercise it through election of representatives who exercise that power on their behalf.

    At the moment these are my first thoughts where Economic and Political Power are concerned.

  37. Bimbro Avatar
    Bimbro

    Sir Dick, no need to go to Shep Bush, they’re all over these days!!

    Where’re u living now??

    D, he was n’t looking fuh nuh friendly word from nuh fellow West Indian, he was probably high pun someting uh d udder cause he was poking he nose, not only in mine but in everybody else’s business there about!! Some kinda wierdo!! Man I wus glad as hell when he get off d train!! I doan want any uh dem people speaking to me man, whether ‘normal’ (cause as far as I concern mose uh dem in normal – excep one or two uh d hot chicks!!) an I could n’t even c one, yesterday!!

    Steupse!!

    He even sounded like an ex-con!! I jus wanted d man to kiss my ra** man but den he start bringing in other people! Hopefully, with the help uh d lord, I’ll never c e again!!

    Laaaaaadddddddddd!!

    Ben, u keep thinking uh the 60s! It’s very different ova hay dese days, boa!! W.Is don’t talk to each other unless they know each other personally! The place is just so dangerous now!! e.g. I made sure I kept a close eye pun e, d whole time!! Yuh caan trust nuhbody in dis dangerous country nuh mo bo. Befriend yuh one min, rob yuh d nex!! Idiot of a man, he was!! Mind u, he asked me if I’m a doctor or a teacher or someting or d udda, I caan remember precisely now!! I felt very flattered but I could n’t tell e d trufe dat I’m an M.P.!!

    He would n’t have believed me!!

    Laaaaaaddddddddddd!!

    Boy, if dah LIB in mad, I doan know who is!! 🙂

  38. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    The main differences I noticed when I was in The Bush last year (admittedly during midsummer holiday time) were:
    -fewer west Indians and Africans; those remaining seemed on average older (original immigrants? others moved to suburbs?)
    -more Indian subcontinent merchants;
    -more Somalia-looking people (refugees?);
    -more white Yuppies living in the area, having been attracted by jobs in the area and easy commute;
    -fewer white-owned businesses;
    -pubs turned into other things;
    -many more cars parked on every street;
    -public library now tripled as an Internet cafe and jobs centre;
    -the small businesses that were located in small mews (alleys) and arches (under the railways) were gone.

    But many things had not changed physically or socially. Several stall holders in the market were the same families as in the 1960s (Sir Bentwood note, on inheritance). Many people still stand and wait patiently for buses.

    Several people I met in Cooke’s–mainly white English, were former residents who told me that they visit regularly from further suburbs, and with their children, to ‘enjoy’ things still available in The Bush but not in the ‘burbs, and to give the kids a sense of ‘where they came from’.

  39. David Avatar
    David

    Good discussion.

    Bimbro give Jack his jacket. If a man makes a good point respect due!

  40. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    Bimbro, whatever you say I KNOW Hingland, and I know clearly what I see. Paint us all a picture that is of what you really see and really think. Step back and draw a mental sketch of what has really happened in that part of England that you live in.

    My west Indian and English friends who lived and went to school in The Bush, some of whom still live there with their families, paint me several vivid pictures and also share with me actual pictures. (BTW, they are not intellectuals, though most are intellignet. Some have done their time for the odd crime, and have stories of Wormwood Scrubs prison, that makes Dodds seem like Butlins.) I want to match their views with yours and mine. If we all see such different things then we need to understand why.

    Tell people what you have done to make you life better or how it has been made worse and by whom. If anyone is buying your Jamaica/Jamaicans have destroyed the western world story, we need to hear from them too, so that we can all understand how this small country has become so all powerful yet cannot rub two sticks together to make a fire. If the story is true we need to ask why Jamaica was missed off the list of the ‘axis of evil’ or if it there as a footnote.

    If The Bush is not your manor, then lay out the same picture for where you really are.

    I’m not asking you to rival John Betjeman and become a poet laureate (see http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/3499.aspx), but just to help educate with a realistic set of observations.

  41. Gear Box Avatar
    Gear Box

    BIMBRO dat did me pun de train dat you treat like stale fish … I ain’ goin’ back…!

    AAAAAAAAAAAAghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

  42. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    LIB

    The colonization process created a lot of deferrence, which given a weak cultural base, means that colonized/black people tended to ‘give way’ to whites
    *************************************
    Why did it turn out a bit different for say Jamaica vs. Barbados seeing that the newcomers to both countries were far removed from their tribal base and both countries had the same colonizers? As the one who made the statement about Bajans being docile and this was repeated to me by two Jamaican women after brief visits. They said that bajans tend to kow tow to any establishment figure and the local whites. Admittedly this is not a large segment to base any survey on but it probably explains why more Barbadian men are married to Jamaican women than vice versa  .

    I don’t want to bring this discussion to a Jamaican vs. Bajan cultural outlook but Jamaicans have a certain reputation for aggressiveness ; the Maroons took on the British; an older gentleman now deceased told me of his action while he was a student in Britain during the Notting Hill riots as opposed to his Jamaican roommate (while he was cowering under the bed his roommate went out and joined the fray); they took on the Teddy boys and I believe that they were the reason the West Indian community in Toronto was spared any “paki bashing” when it started to rear its head there.

    All in all some of the early respect that West Indian immigrants earned in foreign countries was due to the influence of Jamaicans.

  43. Gear Box Avatar
    Gear Box

    If Martin Luther King Jr did a Jamaici Vietnam war wudda stop a few years soona and Jim Crow wudda run way…bladclat

    AAAAAAAAAAAAghhhhhhhhhhhh

  44. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Sargeant
    “Why did it turn out a bit different for say Jamaica vs. Barbados seeing that the newcomers to both countries were far removed from their tribal base and both countries had the same colonizers?” [My quips about DNA were not trivial. The original stock of slaves was not homogeneous. The historical records show that the traders brought slaves from a number of areas. One common argument is that many of the originals that went to Jamaica were Mandigos, while those that were sent to Barbados were Igbos. These two tribes, were from different parts of west Africa, and have very different cultural bases and characteristics. One theory says that Mandingos were ‘fighters’ and that Igbos were a more ‘conciliatory’ group (it’s more complex, if taken, because once away from the cultural base other factors come into play).

    The ‘docile’ observation was made also by, Negroman yesterday (“We are not the docile,stupid,placid people that can be manipulated or abuse anymore.”)

    I have asked 199 about ‘nature vs nurture’ when he made observations about Jamaicans, but I do not recall a reply.

    But you can ‘unlearn’ or ‘modify’ your behaviour if it is not reinforced.

    The historical origins are I think relevant but I do not know how much.

    The Caribs were war like, and cannibals and were taking it out on Arawaks, who were reputed to be docile and peace loving. The Spaniards did for both of them.

    Our history is complex and confusing and sometimes uncomfortable.

    I’m not running with last couple of paragraphs. I think the Jamaicans were numerically far superior as migrants to the UK from the Caribbean, therefore featured more. The reasons for their reaction to Teddy Boys was I think more simple “You can’t treat me like this. Your people invited me here.” But, Jamaicans do have a sense of standing up for their rights and themselves. It’s in the history and people are proud of it (see Minister Henry’s recent letters to the Oxford English Dictionary for its disparaging definition of ‘Maroons’).

    Lastly, Sikhs, for instance are meditative and disciplined, but have a warrior tradition that is now largely ceremonial. It was brought to the fore (at least in the younger generation) when they ‘fought back’ against ‘Paki bashing’–if I recall correctly, in part provoked by a sacrilege, when someone tore off a turban/head covering.

  45. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    Whether you like or hate the idea of regionalism is your affair. My father told me that the thinking at the time was ‘together we are strong, apart we are weak’. Politicians have their agendas.

    Gadhafi is one of those who believes that you need to build regional blocs to be able to deal with the existing power blocs (European and American, say), otherwise, it will be ‘divide and rule’ forever. For him, until the continent of Africa can unite and see its common interests and build on those, it will remain in the kind of state that it is.

    So, back to the boardwalk. I suggested before, don’t let those whom you think are doing the thing for the wrong motives dictate that you don’t go and do the right thing yourself.

  46. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Sargeant
    If you have time and inclination to read, I may suggest:

    Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire’s Slaves, by Adam Hochschild (while also explores the role of the Anglican Church in maintaining slavery, especially in Barbados)

    Breaking the Chains: Slavery, Bondage, and Emancipation in Modern Africa and Asia, Edited by Martin A. Klein

    The Growth of the modern West Indies, Gordon K. Lewis (the thumbnail portrayals of each island/country strikes me as very close)

    Africa: The biography of a continent, by John Reader.

  47. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @Sargeant
    “the Maroons took on the British” [Just to get it right: “…and won…”, winning concessions to have their own lands and rulers within Jamaica. Remember, they got the first treaty in 1740 (100 years before emancipation was passed). So, similar to Haiti, this group fought for and won their freedom. But the story is more complex. The British tried to ship them out, and first sent about 600 to Nova Scotia in the late 1700s, and that did not work, so eventually shipped most off to Sierra Leone. That was only a partial success as it was hard for these people to somehow ‘reintegrate’ in a part of Africa that was not necessarily their ancestral home. Most returned to Jamaica to be planters. Some Jamaicans can trace their roots from Africa to Jamaica back to Africa and back to Jamaica.]

  48. John Avatar
    John

    Why did it turn out a bit different for say Jamaica vs. Barbados seeing that the newcomers to both countries were far removed from their tribal base and both countries had the same colonizers?

    As the one who made the statement about Bajans being docile and this was repeated to me by two Jamaican women after brief visits.

    They said that bajans tend to kow tow to any establishment figure and the local whites.

    Admittedly this is not a large segment to base any survey on but it probably explains why more Barbadian men are married to Jamaican women than vice versa  .
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Here is an assertion which I came across in reading Sugar and Slaves by Richard Dunn. It is on page 243.

    “More surprisingly, Jamaican masters were urged in 1696 to instruct their bondsmen in Christianity and “cause to be baptised all such as they can make sensible of a Deity and the Christian Faith.”

    Dunn continues “This seems to have been the first official endosement of religious instruction for Negroes in the English sugar islands, and it suggests – what was undoubtedly the case – that Jamaican slaves were generally better off than their brothers in Barbados.”

    I would not for one moment suggest that it explains the difference in present behaviour.

    Dunn also speaks to other differnces between the Jamaica Slave Act of 1694 and the Barbados Slave Act of 1688.

    I would say that depending on how the act was interpreted, in itself it defined differences between Jamaica and Barbados where the treatment of slaves was concerned.

  49. livinginbarbados Avatar
    livinginbarbados

    @John, Sargeant
    There is the other side of the colonization experience, the masters/overseers. I’m no historian but I have noted that this ‘class’ was not the same across the English-speaking region, but also different across the European nations. Briefly, a significant group in the English speaking area were ‘forced’ to go to the colonies, as indentured labour (and gained ‘status’ by being exported–a bit like some modern expatriates), others already had status (up to and including nobles). How that varied group interacted with slaves is not trivial: one observation is the behaviour that an ‘artisan’/less well educated person can show a slave is quite different from that of an ‘educated aristocrat’. My French friends have flagged this as a major difference in former French colonies, where the masters were of a ‘higher’ class.

    I cannot factor it in myself, but I add it to the equation.

  50. Bimbro Avatar
    Bimbro

    David, I’m not certain but am going to assume ur referring to LIB! Frankly, I don’t normally read his posts. Their length alone, is sufficient to deter me and suggest the rantings of a madman. I’m thus unable to say whether his points r good or bad. However, I’m not inclined to read the postings of a ‘madman’!!

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