Submitted by David Comissiong
Right Excellent Errol Walton Barrow
The premiere of a film of such national significance as “Barrow- Freedom Fighter” should automatically call forth a substantive critique by such entities as the national newspapers, the University, the Barbados Film and Video Association, the various Arts societies, and/or the many independent Barbadian scholars and academics. But since it would appear that none of these entities are prepared to do their duty to our society, I will essay a step into the breach and make an effort to critique this important film.
I would like to begin by giving credit to Mrs Marcia Weekes– the Executive Producer and Director of the docu-drama. Mrs Weekes is to be complimented for having had the vision and patriotism to recognize that the commemoration of Barbados’ 50th anniversary of Independence demanded the production of a major film on the subject of our people’s struggle to attain Independence / nationhood / sovereignty / freedom. Mrs Weekes is also to be complimented for having exhibited the will and determination to bring this project to fruition, and for striving for and achieving the very high international quality technical production standards that distinguish this new Bajan movie.
Indeed, Mrs Weekes’ contribution to the national effort to commemorate our country’s Golden Jubilee far outstripped our Government’s unimaginative staging of multiple mundane concerts, and their manifestly backward and reactionary parading of Britain’s Prince Harry at the supposedly climactic events of the year-long national commemoration.
The bad news however, is that “Barrow– Freedom Fighter” – in spite of its technical excellence– turned out to be a seriously flawed and deficient depiction of the life of the Right Excellent Errol Barrow.
OMISSIONS
Let us begin with the many omissions that marred the docu-drama.
If a movie is to do justice to the story of Errol Barrow as a “fighter” who helped pave the way to Barbados attaining Independence, then surely it must pay some attention to the several monumental battles that took place between Mr Barrow and the other acknowledged political titans of the day, as historic contests that shaped the contours of the great man’s career. Surely , the story of Errol Barrow’s career as a statesman cannot be properly told without dwelling to some extent on his battles with such other heavyweights as:-
- Sir Grantley Adams – from 1952 to 1966, on a whole range of issues pertaining to relations with the colonial Governor , constitutional advancement of the then colony of Barbados, and the contest for electoral supremacy within Barbados;
- Wynter Crawford and Erskine Ward – from 1965 to 1966, on the struggle waged by these powerful Democratic Labour Party (DLP) Government Ministers within the Cabinet and inside the DLP itself to determine whether Barbados should go into Independence alone or persist with the effort to establish and lead a Federation of the Eastern Caribbean into Independence; and
- Ernest Deighton Mottley – from 1965 to 1967, in the House of Assembly and in many a public meeting in the streets of Bridgetown over both the issue of “Independence alone or within a Federation” and the issue of whether Local Government structures (the locus of Mottley’s power) should be retained.
Regrettably, none of these major and historic Barbadian personalities of the day (with the exception of Mottley) are even mentioned by name, much less depicted, in the movie!
And please don’t tell me that there was not enough time to cover this ground in the movie, because more than twenty minutes of the docu-drama were devoted to the trivial issue of Mr Barrow’s love of food, while another sizeable portion of the film was squandered on Mrs Margaret Knight’s apparent obsession with the fact that when she served as Barrow’s personal secretary he once took objection to the manner in which she added punctuation marks to a letter he had drafted!
Furthermore, these were not the only omissions – there were also similar gaping omissions relating to the many persons who played seminal roles in the accomplishing of several achievements that the film misleadingly attributes to Barrow alone. For example, one simply cannot do justice to the story of the establishment of “Free Secondary Education” without at least referring to the contribution of one T.T. Lewis, nor to the story of the creation of the National Insurance Scheme without mentioning the critical contribution of the great Wynter Algernon Crawford. Yet this is precisely what the movie does!
GREAT MAN CONCEPT OF HISTORY
Indeed, the major flaw of “Barrow – Freedom Fighter” is that it serves to perpetuate the long debunked and discredited “Great Man” concept of history. Simply put, the movie leaves the viewer with the impression that the only person of true significance and agency during the “Barrow era” was Errol Barrow himself .
And I can give multiple examples of this. Just imagine – in a movie that purports to deal with national development in Barbados in the pre and post Independence years, there is no mention whatsoever of such close collaborators of Errol Barrow as Sir James (Cameron) Tudor or Brandford Taitt!
This is extremely unfortunate because, even while we rightfully credit Mr Barrow with being the maximum political leader who presided over this seminal period in our nation’s history, the reality is that he did not (and could not) do it alone.
There is a very great danger therefore that young impressionable Barbadians who view the movie will come away with the false impression that progress in a society is generated by the efforts of an individual “Great Leader”, rather than with an understanding that progress is the product of the commitment and actions of a multiplicity of engaged and active citizens.
TRIVIALIZING THE STRUGGLE
And then there is the problem of the trivializing of the struggle for Independence itself! According to the movie, the real drama in the struggle for Independence revolved around the British Secretary of State for the Colonies refusing to chair the England-based Barbados Constitutional Conference unless Mr Barrow first apologized for some comment that Barrow had allegedly made about him.
Surely, instead of focusing on this relatively trivial event, it would have been better to give viewers a sense of the long trajectory of the true struggle for Independence, ranging from the Bussa Rebellion of 1816, the People’s Uprising of 1937, the many popular (and often armed) anti-colonial rebellions that that took place throughout Africa in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, and to Mr Barrow’s own battles with the British Colonial Office during the long and tortuous struggle over the proposed Eastern Caribbean federation.
During the decade of the 1950’s the British Government made it clear that it had no intention of granting Independence to Barbados and their other Caribbean colonies in the foreseeable future. What caused the British Government to change its mind? The answer to this question is to be found in the heroic armed struggles that took place in Kenya, Algeria, Ghana, Cuba, the Congo, Rhodesia and South Africa, and the fear that these revolts aroused in the British that — just like in the 1930’s — similar struggles could once again take place in the Caribbean if they did not radically speed up the timetable for Independence.
Other elements of “trivializing” are to be found in Mrs Weekes’ decision to have a pioneering movie about the “father” of Barbadian Independence not only narrated by a North American, but to also have the Errol Barrow lead character played by an actor who is also essentially North American. This was truly unbelievable.
THE CLASS ISSUE
And then there is the class issue. A large part of the movie comprises interviews done with various residents or Citizens of Barbados, but in all the interviews done, no time or space was found for a single interview with a working class Barbadian! Apparently, while space could be found to accommodate opinions about Mr Barrow by such persons as Mrs. Ram Merchandani and Mr. and Mrs. Taan Abed, it was not found possible to ask a single ordinary working class Barbadian– not even a resident of Mr Barrow’s St John constituency– their opinion of this exceptional Barbadian.
The class issue also reared its head in the portrayals of the various members of the 1966 House of Assembly. All but one of the MPs were portrayed as serious persons. For some reason, the only MP who was portrayed as a comical clown who indulged in belching loudly in the House of Assembly was the quintessential working class Parliamentarian LLoyd “Boy Child” Smith. Why are we in Barbados still at the stage where we conceive of working class Barbadians as easy sources of farce and comedy?
CONCLUSION
I began this critique by giving Mrs Marcia Weekes credit for making the effort to produce a pioneering biographical movie about the great Errol Barrow, but unfortunately I have to end my critique with the conclusion that the effort was something less than successful. In my opinion there are simply too many flaws in the movie for it to qualify as a satisfying depiction of the life and record of our “Father of Independence”.
But, maybe “Barrow– Freedom Fighter” can be regarded as a valiant first attempt that will inspire other intrepid Barbadian film-makers to, as the Americans say, step up to the plate, follow Mrs Weekes’ lead, and make the effort to produce not only the definitive Errol Barrow movie, but all of the other essential local biographical docu-dramas that Barbados so desperately needs and deserves.
@ Carl Moore December 28, 2016 at 10:20 AM
“… why can’t the digital poltergeists (you know who you are) who waste so much mental energy on this blog do the same?”
“Identify yourselves in 2017 … and transform Barbados Underground into the think tank it can be.”
Carl, the digital poltergeists will do just that when you succeed in your lifelong quest for a quieter and cleaner Barbados.
When you are able to ‘persuade’ the same ‘powers that be’ to operationalize legislation to support legitimate access to information (FOI) and the right to examine the material assets and business relationships of people who run for public office (ITAL) without the confining pinchers of the archaic laws surrounding Defamation then and only then would the digital poltergeists used they keyboard to reveal their true identity as patriotic sons and daughters of the incestuous land called Barbados.
Then and only then would the digital poltergeists feel safe to bury the pitchfork of fear and secrecy and be armed with the ‘genuine’ information instead of relying on hearsay and rumour on which to based their criticisms.
But just remember there is ‘moore’ than one dog named Carl.
Signed:
Your friend in the war for a cleaner and quieter Bim,
Jethro Miller the Anunnaki who went to school with Vincent Haynes.
Bush Tea
is clearly wrong about Barrow being a giant. As I said previously, the man carried himself like an overweight Mafia Don (embarrassing), was a demagogue but made no great speeches, was insecure when dealing with obnoxious Americans, (mistakenly) thought he understood the British because he had lived in the UK for a few years, etc etc.
Richie Haynes would have been better than Sandiford, but even Haynes was a surly, arrogant, sinister, drive-by politician, without the communication skills to inspire the common man ( compare him to Michael Manley). Quite frankly, Barrow didn’t have anybody on his team who was an impressive leader. He was a one-man show.
Carl Moore December 28, 2016 at 10:20 AM #
“What a potentially rich and useful forum this could be if frightened folk like Bush Tea et al could only muster the courage to sign their names to the views expressed here!”
@ Carl Moore
What difference does it make if contributors use pseudonyms or their real names?
Similarly to how you reserve your right to use “Carl Moore,” the “digital poltergeists” reserve the right not to use their names.
One of the greatest polyphonic masses, Missa Caput, was written by an anonymous English composer and his anonymity did not in any way had an adverse affect on classical music.
Perhaps you should encourage individuals that write the editorials in the Nation Newspaper “to sign their names to the views expressed” in that paper.
@ millertheanunnaki December 28, 2016 at 11:13 AM
“used they keyboard”
Now, please Carl, don’t be like Alvin the pedantic chimp and comment on the grammar.
Just see it as the work of the printer’s devil aided and abetted by that digital poltergeist called ‘predictive text’.
Very educative indeed. I did not anticipate this volume of discussion. But it is remarkable how persons who witnessed the same events could end up perceiving different things and arriving at opposing positions. Fascinating.
Millertheanunnaki, stop looking for excuses, man. Come out and let’s have a face-to-face discussion.
In your brief response, you mention “fear”, “feeling safe”, “secrecy”. What’re you afraid of? You have nothing to fear but fear itself.
An interesting discussion now being degraded by Carl Moore asking for the impossible. When you are able to persuade journalists who post to BU using monikers your useless cry might resonate. State your message!
William,
In your brief, and accurate, history, you left out the role of the young socialists. By the way, Black Star bookshop was an enormous centre of learning, what we now call think-tanks.
I remember meeting the late Prof St Clair Drake, the great Chicago sociologist, in the shop. He also told us the origin of his surname: his father, a Barbadian, was what we now call an undocumented worker in the US. He dropped the ‘s’ from his surname in order to avoid the IRS.
It is not surprising that the Archives department does not have any copies of Black Star on file, but the Institute for Commonwealth Studies have nearly all.
A big subscriber to Black Star was the British high commission. I am sure they are still at their low level spying tricks.
There is a school of thought propagated by a few here that Barrow couldn’t have cared for the poor because he came from a privileged background. Doesn’t that ring true for Castro whom the same people idolize?
@ Chad9999
Perhaps you are right about Bushie being wrong about Barrow being a giant.
But surely you know that everything is relative.
Barrow is clearly not a giant of the ilk of MLK or Mandela – who faced down the KKK and Afrikaans…… but among a set of brass bowl idiots such as Carl Moore and Harold Hoyte, the damn man was a gorilliphant…..
…..You need to compare like with like….. not apples with oranges.
Barrow was socialised with these jokers (and thousands of others like them) and in comparison stood out head and shoulders above them….. to the extent that 50 years on, he is still the standard bearer…
…is that not a giant…? 🙂
Carl,
The myth is that they cannot be identified. But if they are wanted by the authorities they can be caught. Libel anyone in the US or UK using a pseudonym and see how fast they will catch you.
Some time ago we had a case in the courts involving a well-known criminal justice department involving suspected leaked information, they went after us like there was no tomorrow.
It was the only time my publisher had ever backed me. I was away on a course at a business school and just happened to go in to the office on the Sunday when I came across a storm of emails threatening legal action.
Eventually we reached a settlement. I think they thought the contact was a police officer. Pseudonyms fool readers, not the authorities.
They are only legitimate if by revealing the author’s name you put his/her job or safety at risk.
They are a poor excuse for the unethical, abusive and thuggish.
@ Carl Moore December 28, 2016 at 11:28 AM
Ok Carl, I will drop the veil of the “Anunnaki” when you call for the repeal of the Public Order Act.
“Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater one.”
It is good that Carl Moore has joined the conversation.
Surely Chad99999 now gets the point of Barrow’s status – when he considers that Barrow could have turned out much like Carl or Alvin, who were contemporaries to some extent. Indeed, they were even luckier that EWB in terms of opportunities, and yet they turned out to be nothing but useless consumers of food, oxygen and space, while making minimum contributions to the community or to the overall human condition.
Imagine that Barrow was able to achieve in a very short time, nation-changing accomplishments – while hampered with aloofness, aristocratic attitude, overweight and ‘insecurity around Americans’ (according to the provocateur Chad99999)….. while Carl Moore has never managed to achieve a single shiite in his almost 100 years of infesting the damn place….. Not even managing to get us a bit of peace and quiet….. far less to get the Nation to say who writes ‘pudding and souse’ or even its editorials…
Barrow was a man among brass bowls.
@ Carl Moore December 28, 2016 at 11:28 AM
“What’re you afraid of? You have nothing to fear but fear itself.”
Carl, tell that to the thousands of Bajans who daily put up with shit from the ‘Authorities’ and cowardly refuse to stand up for their rights out of sheer fear of victimization, either personal or to their family members.
Bajans might be thought of as sound fundamentalist Christians but you can bet they are not prepared to go to heaven through the lost of their lives with threats of getting their heads ‘cracked’ and being shot in the back from the mouth of a sadistic belligerent politician.
There is no “Atticus Finch” in Barbados. For sure the legal fraternity will sell you down the river.
Hal Austin December 28, 2016 at 11:42 AM #
“The myth is that they cannot be identified. But if they are wanted by the authorities they can be caught. Libel anyone in the US or UK using a pseudonym and see how fast they will catch you.”
@ Hal Austin
It is LUDICROUS for an intelligent individual such as you to suggest that, in this day and age of technology, anonymous contributors to this forum BELIEVE “they cannot be identified.”
BU provides the option to use pseudonyms or your “real name;” you chose the latter. However, it is amazing that some of you “named contributors” are guilty of “the unethical, abusive and thuggish” behavior you are accusing “the digital poltergeists” of exhibiting.
If you, Carl Moore or any other “named contributor” are aggrieved at some of us for using pseudonyms, then there is a third option available to you………….. cease contributing to BU.
“Much ado about nothing.”
See what I mean? It’s the poltergeists who make the most noise … including you, Mr. Blogmaster. I am “degrading” the discussion because I ask you to take off that mask and identify yourself as David King? Set the tone and let others come out into the sunlight!
For the benefit of Bush Tea, I must let you know that Mr. Barrow, the goriliphant, and I clashed on TV back in 1972 over the region’s “political bandits”.
But then you and Artax and the army of Johnnies-come-lately via the Internet were still being potty-trained.
I joined the conversation only to thank Mr. Commissiong for his critique and the gentlemen (with names) who are reacting, and to show how history can be used to fit various perspectives.
Some of the noise I’ve been railing about for the past 100 years comes from this very source.
It’s what poltergeists do best.
@Carl
There is a push by actors in the traditional media to rubbish social media, that too will fail.
You MAY have the last word.
People who have no life always attempt to stick their nose into the life of others.
The headline read:S&P upgrades Sagicor after move from Barbados base.A blogger using the moniker Steel Donkey in response wrote…”in a nutshell,these types of reports usually mean that a rat somewhere dead or dying,soon to stink”.I concur.
This is what you do best on this forum: cuss one another, rather than sit down at your computers and have an in-depth discussion of Mr. Barrow’s contribution and other issues.
Bush Tea will soon cut in with the “breaking news” that Ossie Moore was my uncle. I’ve already admitted to that!
@Hal Austin and Carl Moore, as the Artax asked “What difference does it make if contributors use pseudonyms or their real names?”
Does not your own retort “Pseudonyms fool readers, not the authorities. They are only legitimate if by revealing the author’s name you put his/her job or safety at risk. They are a poor excuse for the unethical, abusive and thuggish,” RUBBISH your entire argument.
How can newspapers since creation, use secret sourced pseudonyms to excellent effect for major news and you former journalists jump on your ridiculously hypocritical soap boxes with this nonsense. Are you not worried that the box caves inward from the weight of your collective hubris!
Readers are NOT fooled by pseudonyms. Not discerning ones anyhow. We read the data and cross check the crucial stuff.
The gullible will go hell for leather..regardless of the presence of a bye-line. Example: it was reported that 50% of Trump supporters actually BELIEVE that Clinton was involved in a pedophilia ring. Those reports were not anonymous…didn’t stop gullible idiots.
So back to the man’s query: “What difference does it make if contributors use pseudonyms or their real names?”
Just as the authorities can find us if we step over the lines, can’t you conversely leave the verbiage alone if a pseudo steps off to the “unethical, abusive and thuggish”.
The true hypocrisy of your palaver lies in the fact that as journalists you both would have accepted any anonymous data received…let’s say a secret admirer passing details on something called a Profumo affair or something like Watergate papers or maybe something interesting on the death of a certain Tom Adams.
You both would have made your careers on that data – whether you knew the source’s name or not – by validating the leaked info and doing all required back ground work.
Give bloggers some commonsense to do the same. We can check Bush Tea’s or Pieces’ verbiage without knowing who they are!!!!
Your hypocrisy on this point reeks to high heaven….This from journalists. Laughable!
My Guyanese friend would say Carl Moore talking bare fraff.
In response to accusations that, in his almost 100 years infesting the planet, he has not contributed one shiite, Carl Moore responds that he once ‘clashed on TV’ with Barrow.
Shiite!!
That changes everything.
I thought we were discussing Mr. Commissiong’s critique of the Barrow docu-drama.
Of course I know that most of the poltergeists here are journalists and politicians and priests and retired headmasters. They meet me and wish me well.
They want to have their puddin’ ‘n’ souse and eat it too!
A couple of points…
John Connell indicated in the Nation recently on being interviewed over his award that his father was a carpenter.
Chad of 5 nines made a statement at 0659,that was left totally unchallenged by all which suggests that we agree and accept the facts about the negrocrats ruling Bim untill 1987 when the peasants took over……..interesting…..
Man Carl….
The ‘breaking news’ is not that Ossie was your uncle, but that he appears to have been also the ‘brains’ of the family.
Miller
Chuckle…….so yuh claimin yuh went Cawmere wid muh……wha bout Bushie,ah got dis feelin dah boi did a cadet at Kolij an playin e nose nuff bout Cawmere…..wuh yuh fiel??
@ Vincent
Fret not thyself where Bushie went…
What you should worry about is who adopted his donkey
…and more importantly, who handed him a big-ass whacker… 🙂
@ Carl Moore (or less)
This is what you do best on this forum: cuss one another…
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Not true.
We do that well…..
But what we do BEST, is cuss YOUR donkey ..whenever you come and seek to disrupt a good discussion (and cuss-out) talking shiite about pseudonyms….
Everyone is now tired of your malicious interventions. It has become tiresome. How the hell do we know that you are THE ‘Carl Moore’ – slightly retarded nephew of the great Ossie?
For all we know you could be Dompey playing doltish….
…and how do you know that Mr B. Tea, is not the chairman of a regional financial conglomerate turning over hundreds of millions of dollars annually? …and to whom you kowtow..?
If you have nothing to add to Mr Come-and-Sing-a-Song’s post about the movie, or any of the comments by pseudonyms here, why not just bug off ….and go on NationNews or BarbadosToday and discuss with Hal Austin ‘what the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General plans to do about traffic accidents’…..
…or some such shiite…
LOL
ha ha ha
All this brouha about one man ..one man who accomplished more for this country in his shortened time on this earth than most PM’s who have come after him.
It could not have been an easy feat for the late great EWB trying to wrestle against the naysayers of that era in his endeavour of removing barbados from a state of dependence to a state of Independence
Many of the comments here are reminscent of the challenges which the great EWB had to endure by laying his good name and reputation at the alter of those whose purpose and desire was to keep a nation and his people as beggars at the doorsteps of their colonial masters
Any one who would suggest that EWB was less than a freedom fighter has failed to recognize the evidence by which he fought and won for barbados Independence but rather prefer to expedite evidence borne out of malicious agendas
As a boy, I remember Al Gilkes’ “Of men and mice and “Al’s Grape Vine;” Jeanette Layne-Clarke’s “Lick mout Lou” and I recall columns written by Harold Hoyte, Gladston Holder, Oliver Jackman, Waldo Walrond-Ramsay and even the guy who used to write a comedic article in the “Investigator,” whose name I cannot recall at this time.
I CANNOT REMEMBER the name “Carl Moore” listed among the list of prominent journalists in Barbados, nor have I heard that name associated with any outstanding journalistic achievement that would have made a memorable impact.
However, I recently became familiar with the name, having seen numerous “one & two sentenced letters” in the Nation Newspaper, written by someone going by that “moniker.” So, in that regard, you are correct in stating I’m a “Johnny-come lately.”
Perhaps this is characteristic of Carl the UNDERACHIEVER, who now believes his NAME carries some weight in the journalist arena, giving him the AUTHORITY to be critical of BU contributors who opt to use pseudonyms.
Rather than attack BU, perhaps Carl should also comment on the fact that people, using FICTITIOUS names or PSEUDONYMS, for example, such as “Michael Boyce” or “John Browne,” admitted to writing letters to the newspapers in support of political parties.
Carl should also inform BU if he wrote letters stating his disgust at this practice or at columns such as “Pudding & Souse,” Flying Fish & Cou Cou,” “Blabber Mout Babsie,” or “Under the Tamarind Tree,” in which readers could EASILY identify personal information relative to so called “big up people in Bubaydus.”
By REFUSING to COMMENT on these ISSUES, CARL is essentially MAKING himself ANONYMOUS.
Instead, unfortunately, Carl came to “this very source” to contribute to “some of the noise (he’s) been railing about for the past 100 years,” thereby proving “It’s what poltergeists do best.”
Carl Moore life in Bu is not easy nobody wants people throwing big rocks at their houses in the dead of night so why be foolish and allow such happenings by following your idiotic advise
Better to be safe than sorry
@ Carl Moore who wrote” Ossie Moore was my uncle. I’ve already admitted to that! ”
You fail to mention that your uncle Ossie Moore was a nice quiet fellow who was well liked.
I remember him as a quiet polite man.
Most “Ossie Moore jokes” were fiction but we all know that.
“Vincent Haynes December 27, 2016 at 11:08 AM #
charles skeete December 27, 2016 at 8:56 AM #
What is your thinking on the posit that the 14 years of the BLP govt should have been spent on diversifying the economy and rebuilding its infrastructure knowing that hard times always follow good times?”
Here are some excerpts from Mr Arthur’s 2004 budget- you can draw your own conclusions
It is therefore our judgment that the most feasible and the most productive
approach is to pursue a process of selective stimulation of the economy to further diversify our export base, and to enlarge domestic production of some of the consumer goods that Barbados is now importing in great and growing abundance
On the latter matter, while we do not envision that the agricultural or
manufacturing sectors can immediately add significantly to the earning of foreign exchange, it is clear that activity in these sectors can be better tailored to replace some of the commodities which we are now importing for consumption.
As regards our export thrust, it is critical that we do not overextend out dependence on the fortunes of our tourism industry. We need therefore to stimulate the development of new spheres of export service activities, especially in areas where we have the institutional and human resource capacity to do so. We need especially to broaden the scope of our international business and services sector to support the emergence of new lines of non-financial services as our main growth areas for the future.
In this regard, we need therefore to engender a new culture of service excellence in this country. We need to rapidly advance the enabling environment that supports new business activity which is designed to expand production aimed at reducing imports and increasing exports. We especially need to accelerate the national effort to build new productive capacity and to carry out institutional reform to foster a stronger export culture in Barbados. Since we cannot indefinitely live above our means, to support the improvement in the standard of living which we want for all Barbadians, we now have to engage in the most creative ways of ensuring that our means themselves are continually being expanded.
The policies which I am about to announce address themselves to these
imperatives.
We need especially to broaden the scope of our international business and services sector to support the emergence of new lines of non-financial services as our main growth areas for the future. The policies which I am about to announce address themselves to these imperatives.
III MAJOR INSTITUTIONAL AND MACROECONOMIC
ADJUSTMENTS
Government proposes to meet the principal challenge facing the economy, and to bring about further economic and national development by introducing new
measures principally to bring about institutional change, to build productive
capacity, and to create a vastly improved enabling business environment.
.
These measures now to be announced should be regarded as being complimentary to those announced in a previous presentation and conceived then as being part of a medium-term programme to be implemented over a number of years.
Crucial in this respect is the programme of tax reform to make our tax rates among the most competitive in the Caribbean by 2006. That programme remains in place.
So too does the programme to reform the social security system by 2007.
The five year programme to develop cultural industries and the creative economy and to rehabilitate the Scotland District as a major producer of non-traditional output also remains in place.
In a previous presentation I outlined the main elements of our trade policy,
including safeguard mechanisms to provide protection to our manufacturing and
agricultural sectors. These measures, too, will be continued. So too will the
measures to strengthen our standards setting and enforcement institutions.
National Initiative for Service Excellence
The principal new measure through which we propose to induce far reaching
reform of the Barbados economy is the implementation of National Initiative for
Service Excellence.
It is therefore now proposed that a new institution, Export Barbados Inc. be created to spearhead our initiatives to develop and to promote our exports.
The institution will have the capacity to formulate export promotion and
development policies, to carry out market research, to prescribe appropriate
incentives and other stimuli for export development, and to work with producers
mainly in the agricultural manufacturing and small business sector to find and
exploit niche markets for Barbadian products. It will also be so structured to be
able to work with the Barbadian community abroad to meet its demand for local
products and to generally oversee the development of an export culture in our
nation and the building of new distribution networks for Barbadian products
abroad.
iii Telecommunications Liberalisation
The liberalization of the telecommunication industry is as urgent today as when the programme was first announced in 1998.
iv E-Government and Business Facilitation
We can therefore significantly improve the climate surrounding the conduct of
business in Barbados by fundamentally changing the way in which the
Government does its own business and the speed at which it makes decisions
affecting private entities.
Already Government has undertaken a number of projects, utilizing information
and communications technology geared at improving its operations and the
delivery of its services to its customers.
Some of these initiatives include – Smartstream, EEPSI (The Enabling
Environment for Private Sector Investment) and ASYCUDA (Automated Systems
for Customs Data).
Smartstream is the computerization of Government’s financial and human
resource management system.Government’s financial procurement and payment processes and greater control inthe recruitment and personnel development functions.
EEPSI is a project geared at improving Government’s performance in promoting and facilitating private sector investment by linking approximately 15 ministries and departments to make it easier to collaborate and share common information.
Through the ASYCUDA project, the Customs Department is now in a position to facilitate full electronic document processing. The impact on the cost and ease of doing business in Barbados will be significant.
Facilitation
it is the intention of the Government to introduce a system that utilises the new technology to facilitate more timely processing of payments and returns by the Inland Revenue Department. This system which utilizes web based technology, will consist of four main components:
An Electronic Filing System
? An On line Transaction Processing system
? A Document and Workflow Management System; and
? A Decision Support System
Further Initiatives
To drive the e-government programme, Government will establish a new entity
entitled the Central Information Management Agency which will incorporate the
Data Processing Department, and will be responsible for the development of ICT
strategies, policies and programmes geared at delivering governmental services
through the use of information and communication technology.
The new Programme will make possible:•
The development of a high-speed wide-area-network linking all major
government offices to speed up the flow of information between
government agencies.
•The outfitting of our Post Offices to accommodate bill payments,
including drivers licences, land taxes etc.
•All courts will be connected electronically.
•User forms like passport applications; liquor licence applications;
income tax forms and all other user forms will be accessible on-line.
•Legal fraternity will be able to conduct searches in the land registry
database to speed up the time taken to have searches completed.
•Government economic reports and other information will be made
accessible on-line.
In addition, following the introduction of machine readable passports, the
Immigration Department will be moving by 2007 to have real-time entry of
information at all our points of entry
It is now imperative that we re-double our efforts to complete national land registration in a timely manner.
My Government firmly believes that transaction costs associated with land
ownership must be further reduced. Steps have already been taken to reform
Property Transfer Taxes
My Government is, therefore, committed to making resources available to ensure that the National Land Registration Project is brought to a satisfactory conclusion by the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century. To this end, officials from the UK Land Registry will be visiting Barbados within the first quarter of next year to review our operations and make recommendations on the appropriate staffing, training and information technology requirements necessary for a modern, efficient, fully computerised Land Registry in this country.
Title Deeds
My Government will also be making the necessary legislative changes to ensure
that persons who find themselves without title deeds to land for bona fide reasons will no longer be disadvantaged.
Overcoming Gridlock
It would be a form of folly to suggest that the congestion on our highways is not a major social and economic irritant and is not contributing to a loss of productivity.
In arriving at the resolution of our traffic problem it became quite apparent that a country, which is already among the top ten countries with regard to roadways per square mile, cannot simply build itself out of the congestion it is experiencing.
We, however, can make the existing networks more efficient by implementing a
variety of traffic management measures to clear major routes quickly. We have determined that there must be a major investment, immediately, in expanding our highway capacity.
It is therefore proposed that we create this additional capacity to the existing road network by way of new overpasses at 7 to 9 junctions along the ABC Highway. Cabinet has agreed to the building of these overpasses, with the work to be undertaken under a Build Operate Lease Transport arrangement and to be concluded by 2006 at a cost of US$50 million.
Government also proposes to fully support the implementation of a new Park andRide option as an element of the solution to the traffic congestion problem. The concept was tried successfully during the recent English Cricket tour when patronsgot to their destination on time with less frustration and with minimal travel disruption to other road users.
Our analyses suggest that the same concept can be utilized on a general basis on
the outskirts of Bridgetown from the centres at –
Hothersal Pasture
The National Stadium car park
The Flour Mill site
The Garfield Sobers Sports Complex
Agriculture
Recent experience has shown that significant increases in food crop and livestock production can be induced through the granting of appropriate incentives. There is even greater requirement that the Government should sustain its recent efforts to support the large scale reform that this sector has to undertake to cope with trade liberalisation.
The recent incentives provided to the sector and those to be presented today are
Contained in an appendix for easy reference. I will spell out only those that involve major sums.
The additional incentives that we intend to bring to bear are to enable it to:
1. Through increased domestic production, meet a greater portion of
domestic demand for selected commodities, where demand has been
growing but domestic production has been falling.
2. Enable the sector to upgrade its technology and attract new investment
especially in non traditional areas of production.
3. Allow the sector to continue export diversification and reform of the
traditional export sector
Beef and Dairy
Within the recent past, the number of beef and dairy animals in Barbados has
declined.
If we are to meet the demand for milk in the school system, as well as the emerging market for milk in other Caribbean states being developed by the Pine Hill Dairy, it will be necessary to expand production. It is estimated that the industry will need to increase production to about two thousand (2 000) animals in order to meet demand.
We propose that a rebate of 50% of the cost of approved embryos, up to a
maximum of $5,000 per farmer and $20,000 per farmers’ organisation, per
year, be provided for beef and dairy farmers who undertake embryo
transfers.
We also propose that a rebate of 30%, up to a maximum of $100,000 be
provided to cooperatives or partnerships of dairy farmers that establish a
common milk parlour. For the purposes of accessing this incentive, a
partnership must comprise a minimum of eleven (11) persons.
As an expansion of the 100% Bajan Initiative, and based on the success of the pilot of providing local fresh milk into 13 schools in St. Michael, Government will work with the pine Hill dairy and the milk producers to expand the programme to all primary schools across Barbados.
The Use of Greenhouses or Hydroponics Systems by
Cooperatives or Partnerships
It appears that the use of Greenhouses or Hydroponic systems is an important
means by which a country that is land scarce can maximize production. In 2001, I made provision for a rebate of 40%, up to a maximum of $30,000, for farmers
adopting greenhouses and hydroponics systems for crop or horticultural
production.
My Government is in the process of finalizing arrangements for accessing
technical assistance from countries such as Brazil, China and Israel which possess world class technology that can be of assistance to Barbados. One such area is the use of water resources where Israel is a world leader in the use of
brackish water for irrigation.
I therefore propose to designate an amount of $2,000,000 as counterpart
funding to enable Barbados to make use of this valuable technical assistance.
Sugarcane Industry
The program for the reform of the sugar industry especially focusing on product
diversification and the initiative to produce new high fibre varieties as a source of fuel is well advanced.
In the context of this new spirit of reform the Government will continue its
technical and fiscal assistance in order to effect the transformation of the
industry. This support will include $4.7 million for deficiency payments to
independent growers and support for the Cane Replanting Incentive Scheme.
Additionally, support will continue to be provided to the BAMC as well the
independent growers for the wages bill. We will therefore be providing a venture capital window of $10 million, within the existing Agricultural Development Fund (ADF), to assist with the
development of new agriculture related enterprises. With cotton having
exhibited significant potential and the ground work having already been
initiated, it is being proposed that cotton be earmarked as the first among the new enterprises to benefit from venture capital assistance under the above
There is renewed interest in investing in agriculture in Barbados. However,
one of the criteria used in accessing the duty free vehicle under the incentive scheme is that the person must have been in farming for 3 years. New ventures will therefore not qualify.
I therefore propose that duty free concessions on farm vehicles will be provided to new ventures subject to conditions that will ensure that this privilege will not be abused.
Disaster Relief Revolving Fund for the Agricultural Sector
The increasing number of natural disasters affecting the region this
year has served to further highlight the extremely vulnerable nature of agriculture as a commercial undertaking
To assist the agricultural community in rebounding as quickly as possible after the occurrence of a disaster event therefore, we propose to establish a Disaster Relief Revolving Fund for commercial agriculture. This Fund will provide affected producers with access to a revolving loan facility that offers lenient repayment terms, to assist in restoring the operation to its pre-disaster status. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, in conjunction with the relevant stakeholders, will be responsible for developing the programme, its policy and operational guidelines.
The Disaster Relief Revolving Fund will be administered under the
Agricultural Development Fund and will be capitalised, in the first instance at $2,000,000.
New Venture Promotion – Development of the Cotton Industry
We will be providing a venture capital window of $10 million, withinthe existing Agricultural Development Fund (ADF), to assist with the
development of new agriculture related enterprises. With cotton having
exhibited significant potential and the ground work having already been
initiated, it is being proposed that cotton be earmarked as the first among the new enterprises to benefit from venture capital assistance under the above proposed facility. It is estimated that the cotton industry will require $4.0 million in the first year.
ii International Business
The International Business and financial sector has recorded moderate success
during the period following the OECD Harmful Tax Initiative. It is necessary if we are to reduce our dependence on Tourism as a generator of foreign exchange that this sector be restored to its buoyancy.
To stimulate the further development of this sector I now propose the
following measures:
Pioneer Businesses
At present certain activities do not benefit from the provisions of the international business legislation which is highly favourable to the conduct of business. Such activities include but are not be limited to Film and Media production, educational and health services, shared services serving the CSME, exploitation of indigenous intellectual property (principally in the areas of art, dance and culture) and research and development activities in emergent technologies. We now propose to designate such activities as pioneering activities in the belief that such activities will mirror those areas in which Barbados believes it can develop a realcompetitive advantage and reinforce it as the premier ‘hubbing’ location for pan-Caribbean companies keen to exploit the enlarged economic space of the CSME.
Domestic companies engaged in ‘pioneering’ activities will therefore be accorded the benefits of international business entities for a period up to 15 years. This is specifically designed to support the building of non-traditional service capacity within the domestic economy.
.
Expansion of the Foreign Exchange Credit Scheme
At present domestic companies selling services to the international business sector cannot claim a foreign exchange credit. To deepen the linkages between the domestic and the international business sectors, and increase opportunities for the export of services, my Government will expand the Foreign Exchange Credit61
Scheme. In circumstances where domestic companies are the beneficiaries of the
outsourcing of services by entities operating in the international business sector,
these domestic companies will be permitted to claim the income earned as a
foreign currency credit.
Dividend – Tax Credit
Under the Barbados Income Tax Act a company may benefit from a tax credit in
respect of taxes paid on foreign income pursuant to a double taxation agreement, on a reciprocal basis, where the person has paid or is liable to pay income tax in a Commonwealth country and where an international business company, international society with restricted liability or a company licensed under the international financial services act, pays foreign tax on income earned outside of Barbados. Income from an entity other than in the circumstances mentioned above currently will not qualify for the credit. I have heard the representation from the private sector and this matter will be dealt with later in my presentation on taxation.
Removal of Stamp Duty on the Alienation of IBC Shares
A matter that continues to be of concern to our international business community is the attachment of stamp duty on the charging or pledging of shares in an international business company or quotas held in international societies with restricted liability as security for the performance of an obligation outside of Barbados by the foreign share or quota holder to facilitate the expansion of securitization transactions in Barbados’ international
business infrastructure the Government wishes to make it clear that the there will be no stamp duty or other impost payable on the amount secured by a charge or pledge of IBC shares or ISRL quotas.
Support for the export of professional services
The growth and increasing sophistication of Barbados’ professional services has
been inextricably linked to the expansion of Barbados’ international business
sector. To enable professionals to continue to support the development of
Barbados as a centre for international business and financial services and to enable Barbados to realize the dividends of the implemented CSME, the Government proposes the following:
1. The enactment of legislation to introduce limited liability partnerships;
2. The amendment of Section 153 and 154 of the Companies Act to enable
auditors to provide audit services to companies through the vehicle of a
limited liability company;
. The BIDC now carries out a $7 million technical assistance programme for
activities relating to plant upgrading, product design and training for our
manufacturing and services industry.
We now propose to provide $250,000 to the SBA Technical Assistance Fund to
enable it to begin to mount a similar programme of upgrading for its members.
In 1996 the Government provided the SBA with a sum of $2 million to establish a facility to offer a source of venture capital for the small business sector.
To meet future demand, we now propose to provide additional resources in the
amount of $1 million to expand the Small Business Venture Capital Inc
The systematic review and amendment of regulations to ensure that all professionals can take full advantage of these structures.
This initiative is of vital importance to the continued viability of Barbados’
professionals especially in circumstances where such structures are currently
available to other professionals operating from CARICOM countries.
Finally, as a necessary fillip to the continued integration of the local accountancy profession into the global market-place and the maintenance of international best
To meet future demand, we now propose to provide additional resources in the
amount of $1 million to expand the Small Business Venture Capital Inc.
Land Tax
Mr. Speaker, with effect from tax year 2003 2004, the Land Tax on improved
properties used for residential purposes was adjusted to make the first $125,000 of Improved Value TAX FREE. This provision applies ONLY in cases where both land and house are owned by the same person.
Dividends – Tax Credit
In an effort to encourage companies to earn foreign exchange from their trading and investment activities and repatriate the dividends to Barbados, I propose to give a tax credit in circumstances where dividends are paid to domestic companies or individuals from non-treaty sources outside of CARICOM. The
NHC will continue its drive to keep the prices of properties down. In
its Primary Homes Programme we are selling land between $6.00 and
$7.00 per sq. ft. It will continue to bring new initiatives to make housing
more affordable to the average Barbadian. In the future it will offer a
‘rent to purchase’ option to further reach the poorest of the poor in our
community.
These measures constitute a vital exciting part of our effort to bring about
national development, and are deserving of the full support and
commendation of the public at large.
“That you even associate the two calls your balance into SERIOUS question”
Didn’t intend to equate the two Bushie so i would have to duck under this one
charles skeete December 28, 2016 at 2:17 PM #
The difference between words and deeds……..these 12 years need not have been……
@ David,
Could you move the “excerpts from Owen Arthur 2004 budget” to its own blog….please ?
“Hants December 28, 2016 at 2:25 PM #
@ David,
Could you move the “excerpts from Owen Arthur 2004 budget” to its own blog….please ”
Why? a question was asked and an answer given-
@Vincent Haynes December 28, 2016 at 1:01 PM
“A couple of points…
John Connell indicated in the Nation recently on being interviewed over his award that his father was a carpenter.”
I too am surprised at Hal Austin’s assertion that John Connell’s father was NOT a carpenter.
The hack claims to have his navel string buried in the Ivy.
If that is true (and I believe him, given his natural affinity to St. Giles and his recollection of those halcyon days of its catchment areas, Carrington Village included), then he should have been aware that John and his brother Beresford (Berry the Psychiatrist and a contemporary of yours at Waterford) are the offspring of a man who was an outstanding carpenter of his time.
A tradesman who took his craft rather seriously all dressed in colonial garb of kaki shorts and brown long socks and his tools of trade well secured in a ‘sisal-made’ bag and valise.
The miller speaks from a position of authority since Connell the senior did lots of work on his great-grand mother’s various properties.
As a so-called professional journalist Hal should have double-checked his assertions before publication.
“Chad of 5 nines made a statement at 0659,that was left totally unchallenged by all which suggests that we agree and accept the facts
about the negrocrats ruling Bim untill 1987 when the peasants took over……..interesting…..”
I was going to but got sidetracked by Carl “Ossie” the Moor(e).
Surprisingly, Chad the 5 of 9 maverick does have a point. The “facts’ on the ground do support his controversial but intellectually interesting postulation.
Barbados was once seen as the ‘exception-to-the-rule’ when it came to the ‘inevitable destiny’ of ex-colonial countries rules by the black educated elite.
Now look what has happened to the once model little black country? Can you imagine a country falling from a position of investment grade to almost the very last rung on the ladder teetering in the junkyard of economic performance in just than 8 years?
What’s next for Bim to make its currency a serious competitor to Zimbabwe ‘zim’?
Alvin…it’s 2016, I want to hear ehat Fruendel and Co are doing to improve the island, it’s hours away from 2017, one year away from 2018, where is the gateway to progress for the black majority in Barbados.
When will the slaves in parliament start functioning as real leaders and get rid of the stagnating, archiac laws that is retarding real progress, instead of spending all their taxpayer funded years in parliament trying to impress local minority and foreign whites on what good little slaves they are and can keep the majority population in like manner.
https://nakeddeparture.com/2016/12/28/germany-to-atone-for-blacknamibian-genocide-in-africa/
The descendants of one group of savage wild animals in Germany have agreed to pay reparations to Namibia for their ancestor’s brutal theft of land and viciousness to the African tribes.
My Trini friend would say Carl Moore talkin’ bare fraut.
millertheanunnaki December 28, 2016 at 2:50 PM #
Surprisingly, Chad the 5 of 9 maverick does have a point. The “facts’ on the ground do support his controversial but intellectually interesting postulation.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Like you I noted the point and was hoping that Alvin,Hal,Carl,Bernard and that group would enter the fray…….but they are standing far…….is it that they are also of peasant stock?………would not mention Bushie as he busy with BBE gathering info on Cawmere.
WW&C
is always looking for a handout. I am sure the prospect of Germany making unilateral transfers to Namibia is very exciting news to her.
Problem is, the reparations project is DOA in North America and the UK. Sorry.
Chuckle…..second point with merit by the Chad of 5 nines at 4.01 pm……long may it last.
@ Vincent Haynes December 28, 2016 at 4:06 PM
Chad’s position will always win the day as long as blacks continue to swallow the propaganda spread by the likes of William Skinner as regurgitated below:
“In a five-part series in the Black Star, Harewood sought to answer the following salient questions: i) Who are black people? ii) Where did black people come from? and iii) Where are black people going? In seeking to answer these questions, Harewood stated that “we are Africans that were taken from Africa by European marauders to work as slaves on the sugar plantations.”
Not a query by the so-called black intellectuals about the role played by African tribal chiefs and the elite of their various ‘kingdoms’ in the capture and sale of their ‘own enemy’ tribes.
The trading in slaves (captured enemies and other social misfits and undesirables) was an economic and commercial institution in western Africa however facilitated by western Europeans and Jewish merchants through the banter of mirrors to the chiefs, foreign (exotic) food and drinks and other trinkets in exchange for captured human cargo to meet the demands of the sugar and cotton plantations in the Americas.
The black man’s case for reparations would always be undermined and weakened because of this very large role played by his ancestors in the trade in human cargo on the western African coast.
Unless the black man and woman accept this historical fact as part of the ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ process they will always feel the weight of guilt reinforced by the brainwashing shackles of the same white man’s religion which clearly portrays them as just economic hewers of wood and social drawers of water for the same white man and his other racial competitors.
When this mental catharsis has taken place then and only then can the black man and woman argue convincingly a justifiable case for reparations equivalent in value to the amounts paid to white slave owners for loss of their ‘black’ properties equivalent to money of the modern era and with interest compounded as in any case involving human pain and suffering both physically and psychologically.
The white man who settled in the Americas has no absolute obligation for reparations to other races other than to the indigenous peoples of the American continent(s) and its archipelago.
Thank you for giving me the last word, David. I’ve ruffled enough feathers, again, for one day. I enjoyed it, too.
Let me say as we close off another year—as I only today received the sad news of the passing of a dear friend who helped me to understand the fragility of life: Let’s make next year a better year.
For those of us who survive to see it, let’s treat one another with more understanding and respect. Let’s disagree without being disagreeable; let’s differ without being offensive.
Traditional and social media can co-exist, but be social, not mischievous.
If you must hold on to your anonymity, don’t use it to snipe, insult and defame.
To tell the truth, I don’t understand it other than in a situation like whistle-blowing. If it makes you feel safe, as ac says, so that no one will pelt rocks at your house at night or ignore you for promotion, stay anonymous. It’s a status I don’t understand; it’s claustrophobic.
All I ask is deal with the topics under discussion; not with one another. Let’s not linger on the foibles and frailty that are the lot of all humanity.
Let’s make wise use of this technology.
Good luck in the new year … to those of us who make it.
Chadster….speak for thyself, you and Trump are the ones looking to rob scheme and scam the American people, but when the population gets wind of it and understand the scam fully, you will have to run and find a hole to hide, neither Barbados nor UK will be big enough for you…by that time Trump eould have deported you somewhere, anywhere…you mark my words.
In the midst 70’s Chalkdust sang a song in which he poked fun at Barrow,Manley and Burnham dubbed Three Blind Mice by Eric Williams.In those days the favourite boast in TnT was to repeat Williams’s mantra…”money no problem,oil don’t spoil”.Then along came Kamla to preside over the biggest budgets in the history of TNT and promptly told her Caribbean ministerial counterparts that TnT ain’t no ATM.According to her successor in office,Kalma lick out the people money and nobody can see what she did with all those millions in terms of development of the republic or diversifying the economy to lessen the reliance on fossil fuels.Lawyers for sure came off licking.Millions went in legal fees and retainers.Kamla they said worked 2 days a week and Panday say she didn’t know one day from the other on account of the habit of exercising her right arm.Now the new PM is having all kinds of problems….depleting gas,depleting oil,depressed oil prices,lack of US dollars in the economy and the latest blow for our fun loving cousins is the news that the economy has shrunk by a massive 6% in calendar 2016,the sharpest decline since 1983.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/20161227/news/energy/-economy-hits-worse-slump-in-33-years
Barbados has now been reduced to 2 Seasons.Today I heard a band leader start the ball rolling with a discussion on the Crop Over Season.I have always considered that June 21st is the beginning of the Christmas Season….plans of purchasing stock,getting rid of old stock,consultation with media moguls on an advertising strategy and costing,choral directors choosing Carols for recitals,rehearsals,etc and hitting the ground running from September/October.Crop Over Season starts December 21st,plans and designs,musicians and calypsonians,location of tents,who,when,where etc to hit the ground running from April/May.
@ Carl Moore December 28, 2016 at 5:41 PM
“If you must hold on to your anonymity, don’t use it to snipe, insult and defame.”
By making that point you are creating the analogous conditions to argue for the propitious removal of that cloak of legally incontestable privilege given to elected politicians “to snipe, insult and defame” ordinary (and in most instances, innocent) members of the public whom these protected ‘honourable” gentlemen and ladies deliberately abuse as they see fit; sometimes grossly displaying it to one another with impunity as in the recent case of the “ka ya mudda scunt” affair and the gun-slinging incident at the OK Palmetto.
Remove that cloak of unjustified ‘protected’ privilege and let’s have a level playing field when it comes to sniping, insulting and defamation.
There are no political gods in this country, just servants of the people.
“Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them.” ~Aristotle
Poor Carl has been muzzled for so long, he thinks it’s normal..lol
WW&C
If for any reason I was denied permission to work in the United States, I have plenty of alternatives: UK, Canada, Barbados, Montserrat, and Grenada, to name a few.
God bless The Donald!
Miller
The elephant in the room will always be the sale of slaves by some kingdoms in Africa,as explained by Obasanjo to Comissiong when he asked for support on reparations.
So says you Chadster…you would be too ashamed to say otherwise. And ya still can’t see the whole thing going to hell in a handbasket, but many of us who know what we know can….lol
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-president-corrupt-shady-barack-obama-julian-castro-hud-a7498426.html
lol, hahaha. ..Don the Con…lol
Vincent…ya starting to sink to the level of Alvin….if you buy a car from a thief…ya will be arrested for buying stolen property, ya will be just as guilty as the thief and may get a heavier penalty than the thief.
Tell me you dont have a Ph.D. cause if ya do, that shit should be banned…, it’s producing only stupid people, if ya feel ya are some plantation elite, ya just an idiot.
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/91890/jamaican-minister-campaign-reparation-continue
Vincent…this should hurt bpth you and Chadster tremendously, when something is right and just, you do not give up, only losers cannot see what is just.
“Now the new PM is having all kinds of problems….depleting gas,depleting oil,depressed oil prices,lack of US dollars in the economy and the latest blow for our fun loving cousins is the news that the economy has shrunk by a massive 6% in calendar 2016,the sharpest decline since 1983.”
To attribute theses problems to a one term Kamla Bissesar Persaud regime Mr Gabriel is nothing short of disingenuous. The economic problems in Trinidad are endemic and systemic and go way back given that the PNM has governed the purported oil rich state longer than any other political party in Trinidad and Tobago Her ATM statement is nothing new and mirrors Mr Eric Williams famous one from ten leaves nought statement.
In Trinidad. Looking through the papers one can see they have similar concerns about their economy. The vanishing Forex and the fact that their economy is built on just one leg; oil.
Charles
In one term Kamla did more harm to the TnT economy and to the psyche of informed Trinis than Panday,Manning,Chambers and Williams combined.The woman under the influence of the stars,moon and what the doctor did not order,was completely out of her element or so it appears to those who assess these things.TnT has tremendous possibilities for investment in Tourism and can give a run to all the other destinations in the Caribbean.For a start it has its own airline inherited from the Brits with an excellent reputation for service and safety.It has lots of land area ripe for development and Tobago with lots of potential.The problem is that the government and the people have been so drunk on oil and gas that they have given the world the impression that they are among the most unfriendly people on earth with no regard for strangers in their midst.I don’t share the view,given my experience with them.
Some nut wants me to abandon anonymity. Hereby, submitted for his consideration is Carlos Saurez III. I hope he is now satisfied.
I used Carlos for use of the name ‘James Griffith’ might just put a bullseye on some poor Bajan’s back.
Has it yet dawned on him that some of the real looking names could be as fake as the pseudonyms?
Carlos Saurez III formerly TheGazer.
“Gabriel December 29, 2016 at 7:25 AM #
Charles
In one term Kamla did more harm to the TnT economy and to the psyche of informed Trinis than Panday,Manning,Chambers and Williams combined.”
I cannot support your view Gabriel neither would the facts.
Carlos,
You miss the point. To use a pseudonym to be abusive is not only unethical, but cowardly. I used to edit a paper and any anonymous letters criticising anyone we would go back to the author and ask to use his/her full name. If they refused we will spike the letter.
Under my editorship there was no room for cowards. Criticise, yes, but put your head above the parapet.
Just read this blog for the people who use personal, foulmouthed abuse, and those who argue with ideas. Then look at the names of the authors. I rest my case.
@ Carlos Saures III
Boss, pay Hal no mind.
Just like Carl Moore, he is a two-bit journalist looking to make a name for himself in the absence of any other life achievements….. give them a break nuh…
To such persons, ‘getting their name out there’ is the name of the game, so they find it hard to understand how someone can NOT be interested in accumulating such notoriety.
It takes all types to make our world, …and to make a good blog. Some persons use their names because it is the very basis on which they make contributions.
Adrian Loveridge, Caswell, Jeff C, Walter Blackman … these are people whose contributions are BUILT upon who they are…
…then there are those who, if their identities are known, find that the conversations revolve around WHO they are and why they are not perfect…. rather than around the IDEAS that they wish to project…. as GP pointed out to Carl recently.
…then they are those who want to share information that would result in personal danger if the source was known, but which, for ETHICAL reasons, need to be shared with the public.
The CAHILL papers comes to mind….
….and then there is Bushie, with a big-ass whacker, levelling every shiite in the way ….and calling a spade a spade…. What does it matter the name? …shiite will be whacked anyway…
So get over it Hal. Press on with your odyssey for name recognition …and you and your pal Carl can have a ball with wunna two liners in every print media available.
Some speculate that, but for the ‘name’ attached, those contributions would fade into obscurity…
…as for Bushie and his ilk…
Frig wunna…!!!
Carl Moore, do not pay Bushie any mind. It is common practice here to attack any one whose has the gall to use his or her name on BU. You are a giant for my times!!
Bushie, the MAN knew he had to free the bajan slaves; that included the red ones bout here who feel they white!!! So he had to get some brass bowls (Barrow, Tudor, all the national heroes except Sobers) and let them go to Oxford and Cambridge. You know Cammy Tudor’s greatest achievement was to become the head of some crap at one of those universities!!! Then he let them return and act like free range fowls and stir up some political stuff. Over time all of them got to feed at the trough. But the MAN continues in the shadows to RULE!!!! Why don’t you stop this brass bowlery about the giant Barrow was!!!
A few may have abused others, but should all of us have to strip naked on BU just to identify those few?
And, if they continue to ‘abuse’, under a Bajan name, what is the next step? A call to David to ban them or to review their posts before publishing on BU? Or perhaps have someone knock on their door and point out the error of their ways?
BTW: Abuse can mean a million different things to different people. I feel having to read ‘ac’ or “Dompey” is cruel and unusual punishment (abuse).
Putting one’s head above the parapet might draw targeted fire that is not friendly.
Let’s get that full name Lemuel..
Bushie
Skippah……leff out de lotta long talk an purty,purty xcuses…..simply put some of you refuse to be counted as is your right…..so stop cussin Carl for saying the same as I.
I totally miss the point. It appears that prevention of abuse and sniping are just a cover for some to link political ideas and names together. I can assure you that whilst you do not consider your effort as abuse, some may see it as subtle coercion and intiimdaion.
*intimidation
Bushie, let me apologize; I did not know that you were one of those red ones around here playing you are white. I believe mullato is now the accepted term!!! Don’t be a big brass bowl like stella st john; she is yet to arrive at the fact that the mullato era has passed.
@ Hal Austin December 29, 2016 at 7:45 AM
“I used to edit a paper and any anonymous letters criticising anyone we would go back to the author and ask to use his/her full name. If they refused we will spike the letter.”
Most interesting! Do you believe such a policy exists in the local print media?
How come we are not hearing you and Carl Moore condemning the use of pseudonyms when it comes to writing a whole set of political crap? Why not call for the revealing of the true identity of the writers calling themselves Douglas Leopold Phillips and Beresford Leon Padmore or whatever digital poltergeist of a nom de plume?
Why not criticise Douglas Leopold for revealing the personal data of Lisa Marshall stored in her work file and which runs totally against the principles enshrined in any worthwhile version of Data Protection legislation, for example, the UK version with which you are quite familiar.
Charles
Kamla mistake is that she thought anything she did in Couva like the children/’s hospital that still not open ( no mortuary,no autopsy facilities,no incinerator)and the airport in the same Couva that is not functional,qualify her for legacy shout out.GDP 05-10 was us87bn and during Kamla reign of disaster it was us151bn.Other than the aforementioned self serving projects,name some others.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-endure-2017-donald-trump-president-article-1.2927741
Reminding black people of the centuries worth of ancestral strength they possess.
1) Carl Moore does not know me from Adam and I suspect the same may be said of a number of other bloggers. It makes me wonder if those who are opposed to the use of pseudonyms are interested in the identities of BU universe or just a few ‘suspects’ and not the content of their post.
2) The use of real names would allow ‘the other media’ to more easily quantify the size of BU and to categorize its members. Currently, they do not know if BU is one blogger with 500 pseudonyms, if several users are using the same pseudonym, if pseudonyms are unique, if BU is just a front for the other party or if it is a collect of Bajans that crosses party lines.
I am quite certain that with a statistician and a few assumptions, they can guesstimate how large BU readership is. The use of pseudonyms probably gives them a number they cannot easily digest and an inability to describe BU population.
Don’t fall for their crap. Father forgive them for they know what they do.
3) Carl contributions to BU are few (mainly posts against the use of pseudonyms) and it is bothersome that he wants to be in a position to take names (prisoners).
“lemuel December 29, 2016 at 9:09 AM #
Bushie, let me apologize; I did not know that you were one of those red ones around here playing you are white. I believe mullato is now the accepted term!!! Don’t be a big brass bowl like stella st john; she is yet to arrive at the fact that the mullato era has passed.”
Lol…ya may want to also tell that to Vincent Haynes…the plantation elite wannabe..
…..big hardback stupid black men like crooked David Simmons, Barney Noel ” muscle mary” Lynch, the tiefing lawyer Jackman and others who are supposed to be the leaders in a black majority country….all want to own plantations, to give them status, did any of them hore any local whites to work on those plantations in any capacity…
They are all bad examples to future generations of young bajans, they have been rolling the gains of the people back for decades, those wannabe slave masters.
A few typos there. I will not correct. He can chew on those
Everytime Carl focues on the identity of BU bloggers, he reinforces what many said, that he was a mediocre journalist and at his current age still unable to focus on the important issues negatively affecting the island, the muzzling of the media and degradation of the island as a result.
Weak journalists makes for a weaker country.
What does the identity of bloggers have to do with any of that, he should be fearful to know blogger’s identities seeing as many live outside of the island which is tiny and he can so easily be found….typical bajan have everything assbackwards lol.
Miller,
Simple: anything that comes out under the DLP or BLP brand is party policy. A lot of it is poorly written, but that is life.
@ Bush tea
I| am not looking for name recognition, as any one who knows me will testify. I simply stand by my opinions. That I am a two-bit journalist is also wrong. I am a former journalist who longs for name recognition in the Ivy – certainly not wider Barbados – and definitely not in Britain.
I am just sorry that a forum that could be of real good has been turned in to a sniping little flea pit by lonely people.
Even so, BU is far better than the papers and radio and television stations we have, and the cowardly academics who fear for their jobs.
That is why we must celebrate people like Jeff Cumberbatch. He is worth a court full of QCs.
Funny, but I don’t see the sniping flea pit.
Sometime I see two ‘opponents’ squaring off and firing volleys at each other. The exchange is often illuminating. It would be silly of me to expect them to follow Marquis de Queensberry rules.
“Cowardly academics” is just a suspicion which I would change to ‘ignorant a**h*le’ were they so foolish as to give their names.
Hal
We had Ralph Gonsalves and Neville Duncan making commentary from the Hill many years ago.Ralph got put out by Tom and Neville got transferred back to Mona.Maybe there are others.Neither Ralph nor Neville spared the rod.While I enjoyed reading those two my favourite weekly contributor was Tom Clarke and his many tales of Combermere as a student and as a teacher.In addition,George Lamming is a fascinating speaker whose feature address at Carifesta 1981 is a masterpiece and which I replay from time to time.”Your Excellencies,distinguished,honest………”
I retract my last sentence.
So, Carlos,
Whatever the theory, we do not have free speech then? I have another spin on this, they do not say anything because they have nothing to say.
Gabriel, you are right, both Mr Lamming and Mr Clarke made their names inspite of Barbados.
The sniping flea pit is the foulmouthed and vulgar language. Maybe this is how we debate.
I live in a country in which people are encouraged to speak their minds without fear or favour.
@ Hal
I am not looking for name recognition,
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
According to Trump, he is not a racist either.
What you really mean is that you are not prepared to admit it.
There is ABSOLUTELY no value in having the words ‘Hal Austin’ below a published set of ideas besides name recognition.
Either you are putting these two words there to establish an expert reference – like Jeff or Caswell does; or they are there to CREATE a reference by broadcasting the idea that ‘Hal Austin’ is somebody of import….and to be revered in future.
Bushie has no such interests. indeed, the most common consequence of placing some names below a blog is that many contributors may be tempted NOT to cuss or engage the ideas presented aggressively …BECAUSE of innate respect for the NAME placed below…
Why do you think Bushie is so quick to cuss Jeff, Caswell, Vincent etc…? …it is to compensate for the many bloggers who want to cuss them, …but desist- out of respect for the PERSONS named.
LOL, but as you know, the whacker has no such constraints… (Bushie even put a little cussing on David (BU) on occasion – but tries not to press his luck there… 🙂 )
In the land of discussing IDEAS, there is no place for personalities -good or bad.
So except for those with REALLY strong constitutions, it is BETTER BY FAR, to use a pseudonym and concentrate on the logic, value and relevance of the ideas submitted …. and also on the grammar, … in case Jackass Boremann is awake….
Bushie your reasoning is silly. I am out of any further discussion on this.
Bush Tea at 3:07 PM…Your points were well made. I would add this tidbit to your remark that “Either you are putting these two words there to establish an expert reference …or they are there to CREATE a reference by broadcasting the idea that ‘Hal Austin’ is somebody of import….and to be revered in future” …. A pseudonym also allows one not ‘articled’ and ‘expert’ in an area to offer possibly profound comments based on their varied experience or just from having an insightful eye on life successes and failures.
As you suggest a name may cause others to dismiss their otherwise wise words because of perceptions of the poster’s wayward past (like Gazer suggested).
The other failure I find remarkable is these journalist improbable lack of awareness that the bad manners and thuggish actions are a pervasive shadow across society generally. It is certainly not a symptom of hiding behind a false name.
How do they theorize on the clear vindictive behaviour of a Don Trump…riding that to victory.
How can they speak to blog anonymity and churlish behavior when daily across social media persons have been attacked relentlessly by named known enemies.
As the blogmaster said (I believe it was him) it seems that newspapers are concerned by the ever expanding social-journalism and are catching at straws to disrupt the phenomena.
Mr Austin’s comment that as an editor his team dismissed critical letters which did not have a verifiable author is simply fulsome prattle. That’s fundamental of any mainstream News shop. What exactly is he saying there? That they were following their basic rules.
But did he remind us that at the same time – as noted by others- the paper would have satirical columns, columns without a byline that may have excoriated someone (truthfully of course) and those column with names that were totally fictitious…from MPs or others.
The arguments have so little merit.
Bushie and dpD
Ah dun tell wunnah…it is your right…stop the bogus reasonings
@ Dribbler
LOL …. Hal knows that he is talking shiite too… so off he runs – just like in his school days…
Anonymous blogs will be the future of ‘journalism’ and also of political transparency.
…but we all know what Hal’s REAL concern is…
He just wants to know who is this ‘Pachamama’ that regularly cusses him so profusely on BU.
…so that he can dig up some dirt for ad hominem attacks.
Remember how Carl Moore responded when GP told him his real name…?
The solution is, (as Artax said from the very beginning,) for such soft skinned jokers as Carl and Hal to either stay off the damn blog – or get a pseudonym and come back for some licks….
Bushie
Chuckle….when hard ears was sharing,yuh mussee get a double dose.
Every contributor has a right to their opinion.
I will enter here like one of those angelic beings “who fear to tread…”
@ Come and Sing Along.
You were kind to Ms. Weekes with your comment about first essay into the breech and all that crap, the fact is that like an essay that was about the founding father, or one of them, it lacked the reasonable perspective that should have be-speckled so profound a work which would suggest that the work “did not seek to offend the status quo read DLP, with anything contentious, but was compiled to be obsequious”
@ The Internet Detective(s)
I will put this to you both and suggest humbly that you are both liars of the first order
I will put this perpetual chant about declaring who you are to you both in simple terms.
You both claim to be editors (a claim that is gainsaid by many here)
I would challenge you both to (a) state the name of any one of the big boy drug dealers that live and breathe and operate in either of the climes you live in (b) provide for BU’s audience any article which either of you penned at any time that (i) declared aid parties to be drug lords and (ii) publicly requested sanction of any type on any such person.
I will not wait too long for your responses which fall into the single category of “wuss”.
You are both men who chose your “enemies” carefully and this topic of anonymity among mostly lawbiding men and women is a safe topic where wunna can show wunna selves to have balls to take on the establishment read we the anonymice
The fact is that we Bajans, of whom you both number, live in perilous times where, depending on the topic being discoursed, it is downright folly to open your mouth and comment on a matter, WITHOUT THE PROTECTION OF A NOM DE PLUME!
The same way wunna so called BU Detectives who canvass for the meaningless disclosure of identities here in this blog, I have called you both pussies of the superlative order who, in your substantive careers, were, and still are afraid to disclose the names of men, or women, and instances of more serious import than what my real identity is.
I see that the old guard still tells wunna ingrunt scunt that “as ole menses who are about to die” this campaign to know who we are, to feed to wunna respective bosses for tangential lawsuits, is a waste of effing time.
One likens it to the passtime of “fooping a ghost in Broad Street” which discerning minds of readers here know to be simply the guise for a man to expose his doggie in a public place.
It is quite obvious that with the seeming departure of Doctor Georgie Porgie that Carl Moore feels emboldened after his medical condition was exposed to all, to come back to that same campaign of “exposing the Batman alter ego”.
I understand his obsessive compulsive disorder syndrome and ascribe it to old age and trying to be relevant now that he has retired from the Nation. He considers it his job to destroy BU since it is obviously taking away $$ from his place of former employ
But i would have thought better of Hal Austin, a man who sojourns in a country where if he looks to hard at one of the foot-soldiers of the Russian mafia who lives on his block, he will be eating his balls for breakfast for such a glance “doan mind he talking bout living in a free cuntry!!”
@ Piece Uh De Rock Yeah Right – INRI December 29, 2016 at 8:14 PM
Excellent contribution!!!!!
PUDRYR;
A most excellent contribution which contains the essence of one which I was thinking of writing on the topic but couldn’t craft with anything near the clarity, wit, insight and thoroughness which you have displayed above. A super post that exposes the underlying fallacies to the unthinking calls for converting BU to an anaemic watered down Nation News rag.
All the best for the New Year.
Gabriel I stand by my position. The demise of Trinidad and Tobago started under Dr Eric Williams when the country was floating in oil money and nothing useful was done with it not Kamla, Robinson, Panday or Rowley or Manning .
Bush Tea,
Thanks for remembering my athleticism. When I tell the kids I used t be a school boy sprinter they laugh at me.