Every time Barbados enters an election period the quote attributed to the late John F. Kennedy (JFK) comes to mind – “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country“. It is said that droves of young people offered themselves for public service as a result of Kennedy glamourizing what the blogmaster considers to be the ultimate act of selflessness – offering oneself to serve the people.
As a young boy growing up starry eyed under the Bajan flag in the post 1966 period, we were inspired by that generation of Barbadian who inculcated values which aligned with the Kennedy quote. We lived at a time social centres were a hive of activity for sport, assisting with teaching skills to residents in the locale, hosting limes and many other community building activities. Most if not all so-called community practitioners were to be found a dime a dozen.
It was close to mandatory for young boys and girls to be members of the 4H Club, Boys Scouts, Girls Guide, YMCA and the numerous other civic non profit associations which all combined to foster requite skills to prepare us for future leadership roles. These types of engagements have not totally disappeared from the landscape of Barbados but one senses there is a relationship between non interest being shown by citizens in community and non profit associations and a diminishing attitude and focus in nation building behaviour.
We have concentrated and allocated billions of the national budget to growing a paper-middleclass in the last three or four decades. The consequence of which has been the emergence of a strident political directorate more concerned with feathering the nest by securing everything financial at the expense of serving with love. This is the root cause of the societal decay we continue to witness on the tiny island of Barbados in 2020. Unfortunately a scan outside of the local orb reveals that this is a universal trend.
Perhaps it is a simplistic view but the blogmaster argues that because of our small size and heavy investment in educating our people in the last 40 years – to the doom and gloomers nothing is perfect – we should be able to offer a better defence to protect from alien customs that have compromised the Barbados model we use to be admired.
We look to politicians moulded from a dysfunctional social system and wonder why things are not changing for the better. Successive governments continue to rollout policies that encourage conspicuous consumption habits, allow rampant undisciplined behaviour at the level of the individual and household, embrace all things foreign and then we wonder why has the Barbadiana brand faded. In a world where globalization is the new way, it is inevitable we will have to manage a level of multiculturalism entering our space. However, we cannot allow it to be dominant to the extent it subsumes homegrown customs which define who we prefer to be as a people.
To return to the community model on an island that measures 166 square miles cannot be too hard. Having 200,000 motors cars, mobile phones and an illegal gun in too many homes should not define who we want to be. What has to define us is our ability to cut and contrive, to assist our neighbour in times of stress, for each citizen to understand roles and responsibilities towards making Barbados the best country on the planet..feel free to add to the list. In other words we cannot leave any man, woman or child behind. An egalitarian society is idealistic but we need to strive for it.
Lastly for those offering themselves for political office to be always mindful of what JFK said – “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country“
This topic brings in focus Mia Mottley who belives she owns the country and in her mind the Constitution does not matter and she can do dam well as she pleases
For certainly Kennedy words does not applies to Mottley words and action
In any other democracy run by the rule of law calls for Mottley resignation would be loud and clear
She has placed barbadians and barbados on a dangerous path of being ruled by dictatorship laws and regulations
Those with greater understanding of Democratic rule are the ones who should step out and be guided by Kennedy words to stop the madness of Mottley whose has an insatiable appetite for power
Steuspe
On Fri, Oct 9, 2020 at 9:39 AM Barbados Underground wrote:
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Steupse back to you David
Truth is bitter but must be told
It was close to mandatory for young boys and girls to be members of the 4H Club, Boys Scouts, Girls Guide, YMCA and the numerous other civic non profit associations which all combined to foster requite skills to prepare us for future leadership roles.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What do all of these civic not for profit associations have in common that could explain people turning their backs on them?
HINT: They also have the same thing in common with JFK and his words.
So why are we surprised?
Another hint!!!
“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country“
What is the difference between “your country” and “your Government”?
David
It matters not how much you, rhetorically, bury, pardom the mixed metaphors, your writings in the sayings of the JFKs we’ve seen, this socalled underlying “democracy” compact can no longer hold at its centre. On balance, even Kennedy himself was a product of the very fraudulent electoral system at the heart of the wider existential threats we face.
First of all,I would like to thank all those politicians and want to be politicians for coming forward at great expense and risks to themselves ,and offering themselves for public service.
You will find that it is a thankless task. They are noise makers who do not have the courage to come forward to offer them selves but view themselves as judges, unpaid and uninvited critics of your politics and your families. Ignore them. They are of no consequence. It is bare envy that they are displaying and a large dose of ignorance of what is required to manage the affairs of this country. They just do not have it and hope to live vicariously through you. Keep on soldiering on.
“Having 200,000 motors cars, mobile phones and an illegal gun in too many homes should not define who we want to be.”
Small point.
The number 200,000 caught my eye.
I googled to learn that in 2015, there were 90k cars and 20K commercial vehicles.
One hundred and ten thousand vehicles. This was surprising, especially given the dire need for public transport.
Vincent Codrington
What a complete asshole you are.
Or maybe you live on another planet because these misinformed mouthings seem wholly inconsistent to lived realities everywhere on Earth.
@ Vincent
The bitter tongue speaks. It is an admission of in ability to discuss with reason. Abuse, ignorance and aggression, an explosive mix. Let us call it the Bajan recipe.
@Pacha
No man or man made system is perfect.let us go with the meaning the words convey and forget the man.
Has the ugly man from england said any new here in the last 10 years?
That is worthy of bitterness.
Indeed the unfortunate reality that a halton austin and a vincent codrington exist fortified by a belief that some cultural importance lies with them is unfortunate and worthy of the application of extreme malice.
@Vincent Codrington,
i have often wondered why you never put up yourself as a representative of the people in some constituency. why, if you dont mind answering?
David
What is a man?
Why are meanings important?
And if JFK was the product of a fraudulent election should not all the forces be weighed and not just rely on a single factoid, quote.
Warning, this is a deeply intellectualised debate not likely to meet the favour of the ugly man who wants to say the same shiiite all day, all night.
@Pacha
Focus on the weight of the words, do the words make sense?
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Yes, they make complete sense for the time spoken and to the nation statism that was.
@Pacha
The words have a timeless meaning.
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David
How could that be.
The notion of a country has been a very recent creation, post 1648.
In the future another fiction may replace it.
Pacha
I am no scholar.I know I will also achieve the wrath of your angry tongue. Why do you always to curse those who have a different opinion from you as it relates democratic governance? From what you write I take it you are a believer in communism/socialism.To me opposing views are not entertained in those systems.The leaders are always despots who enjoy the sweets of the country like the animal farm tale.
Ok
No, permit us to know better, we reserve that tongue for particular usages. You are in no such iminent danger.
And how is Donald Trump, and many historically loved by the West, any different to those you comdemn?
Our point is that this has to go beyond personal commitments to isms.
Personally, we care not what colour the cat is once it catches mice, sic
First of all, I would like to thank all those politicians and want to be politicians for coming forward at great expense and risks to themselves ,and offering themselves for public service.
Hahah. Joke of the day. What service what?! Politicians in Barbados serve no one but themselves and the odd young damsel. Politics in Barbados is primarily a means to amass great wealth and perquisites. Nada mas.
@Pacha
The notion of a country has been a very recent creation, post 1648. In the future another fiction may replace it.
Correct. I would go further and add that the contemporary notion of of the modern nation state, the sovereign state began after WW2.
The idea of nation is not fixed and immutable and changes with time. It is not timeless.
@David wheel and come again.
@Dullard
#Esoteric
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@David
#Factsarefacts
David
The failure to accept the position of The Dullard threatens to prevent you from properly understanding current phenomena. LOL
@Pacha
Do you observe how BU commenters prefer to discuss corn beef politics instead of the more meaty issues which require some independent thought?
@Dullard
I like your idea of the modern nation state being born after World War Two. Was it to do with the break up of the British Empire? What about the division of Africa? Or, even, the Westphalia settlement?
David
That has always been our constant and greatest frustration.
It is like if the conversation begins from scratch every time with belligerents in their corners.
Pacha..it’s about time this happens, Barbados is 40 YEARS BEYOND THE POINT OF RIDICULOUS….we’ve spent years on this blog, outlining the stupidity and many offfered a way forward out of tourism dependency and colonial racist politicies but the ignorant fowl slaves made sure to fight back….well there is NO FIGHTING BACK ANYMORE….bunch of asses.
As long as the miinorities were able to enrich themselves, STEAL BLACK PEOPLE’S MONEY those black face frauds in the parliament cared nothing aboiut the majority populaton and their families, after begging them for votes…well take this….SELLOUTS..Tiefing the people’s money, giving it away….writing off 1 BILLIONS in VAT STOLEN by ya business partners, who should ALL be in prison, now ya BEGGING FOR SEBT RELIEF…..ya must think these people are just as STUPID AS YOU….and don’t know that every black government in that parliament have UNDERSERVED the majority population..
all the time they were lyng, tiefing and selling out, they never told the people they had decades of low growth, ya have low growth but TIEFING BY THE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS…all of you should be in PRISON.
https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/10/10/barbados-told-not-to-expect-debt-relief/
“Mottley has argued that there could be severe consequences for small states that have been suffering from high debt and low growth for decades.”
“A top official of the World Bank has poured cold water on any hopes of Barbados getting debt relief from lending partners.
World Bank Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean Martin Rama said countries in the Caribbean should not count on getting any debt relief and should therefore look seriously at other alternatives of effectively managing and growing their economies.”
Police need to SPEAK about the decades of interference by backward, corrupt politicians who have RUINED the reputation of the force with their wicked policies…
“A retired high-ranking law enforcement officer has accused politicians of interfering in the operations of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF), and he has urged senior lawmen to stand up to the political directorate.
Although he did not identify any particular politician, former Deputy Commissioner Bertie Hinds, in a recent interview with Barbados TODAY, charged that “politicians like to put roadblocks in your way”.
While stopping short of pointing fingers at anyone for “interfering” in the promotions process within the RBPF, Hinds, who had a fractious relationship with his former boss Darwin Dottin, now a Government consultant, pulled no punches regarding the quality of leadership put in place over the years.”
You can’t only ask citizens to give of their best when the party you support is in office. A positive call for nationalism of ones country should be constant not intermittent.
Saying that the current pack of political jokers come to serve this country is a pure joke. What is their ideology, philosophy?Where is the record of these servants for the past fifty four years? Where is the legislation on land reform; enfranchisement? Did theses servants deliver water to the rural areas ? Why are the poor Black people who look like them still suffering while others are relieved from taxes and given mammoth financial aid?
Sometimes one laughs so as not to cry when reading BU.
Yep they come to serve all right but the last half century certainly shows they are not serving the majority of people who look like them!
We still praising them for garbage trucks, buses and putting marl in pot holes. When the folks in the rural areas get water they are so happy they call Brasstacks.
In the meantime millions going to consultants ……… yes sir they do serve but not the folks who look like them and this goes for both of the major parties. Yep after 54 years of independence we know who gets this incredible service.
Miseducated, corrupt, self-destructive, self-hating negros with slave titles…how does it feel, now the laughingstock of the region…who would still rob and sell out their own by default.
At least Elizabeth now has a whiff of what her little pet slaves, pet monkeys, PET SNAKES are desperate and want to GET AWAY FROM HER to do, she thinks she got plans but theirs are much, much bigger….
man makes plans, the DIVINE laughs…
David
We were never convinced that the political elites have been very successful in feathering their own nests.
That the appropriation of public resources, through any guise, was a reliable wealth accumulation model.
In other words that they are any good at thieffing, anything more than petty crooks.
What they have excelled at, like dutiful servants, managed to consolidate most of the new wealth created into a few hands of the people in the minority communities.
This is their gift to country.
@Pacha
You can use all the euphemisms in the world, it does not change the fact that any type of behaviour that cheats the people and is rewarded with crumbs from the table whether in kind or money is what it is.
We have created a zombie class who believe by placing an x on a ballot paper, civic responsibility has been discharged. We have to turn this around.
Elizabeth’s colonial pet snakes in Barbados….all because they could not steal the family’s estate, the daughter fought until she t FRAUDULENT LETTERS OF TESTAMENTARY WERE RESCINDED, this is their retaliation….a set up, wuh they SETUP THE MIGHTY UNITED STATES …ya think they frighten to setup anyone else….really…
“Valerie-Suzette Jean-Marie
a Uk citizen has been arrested for telling the truth about the corruption in Barbados that was able to let a man from Afghanistan collect her father’s body after his suspicious death and since have held onto his estate illegally . So Pamela Small who buried Valerie-Suzette Jean-Marie father illegally told her to come to the funeral Parlour today even though she was told to come on Monday and was arrested when leaving . Set her up .low lifes.”
David
We would be willing to tolerate a cadre of generationally corrupt Black politicians if in exchange the standard requirement that any and all significant developments in the country have to go to the “hirelings”
#goodword
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For the removal of this cultural requirement.
David
Call for the disgorement of the wealth accumulated as a result of the corrupt acts by politicians and senior civil servants.
Mugabe will listen to an editor with your influence.
Disgorgement
Pacha you know that will never happen. It will have be Mugabe, Zimbabwe- the very behaviour you accuser off now you call for her adopt. Make your mind up?
A respected man of the soil step out of his comfort zone to serve the people
Here comes Gline Clarke on stage talking s.hit about the man because he got him a job
These socalled political parasites who serve themselves while as ministers need to leave the political landscape quietly
For every finger they point at someone
Two is pointing back at them
Gline Clarke a political parasite has sung 26 years for his supper and has been rewarded having nothing to show but bush and unfinished projects in SGN
Steuspe
That’s what they do. All favors are eventually made public. Loans, jobs any help is revealed. How low can these BLPDLP political vermin go . That’s the great service some on this blog talk about.
But I thought Gline helped no one and did naffin but wuk fuh wuk? The lies and hypocrisy.🤣🤣🤣🤣
David
Leroy Parris qualifies as an example in our case against corporate elites benefiting from political corruption for disgorgement.
If you are disinclined to follow the money you have no right to talk about political crimes.
@Pacha
How many BU blogs have been posted about the corrupt Parris and David Thompson?
In addition, the banks in barbados placed “sanctions” on him.
Now he”ll be carried to the brink of bankrupcy by the courts
We need more to be made examples.many of these well placed citizens manage so-called respectable business fronts protected by the political class.
Endless
What they have excelled at, like dutiful servants, managed to consolidate most of the new wealth created into a few hands of the people in the minority communities.
@Pacha
In your view, what is the logical conclusion of this?
Corporate , Legal,Political and Intellectual corruption the diabolical cocktail of our current state.
And we actually believe it can be solved by the same people who mix it every day.
No wonder they treat us with such contempt.
Exactly!
If sanctions were good for Parris and a long list of Black businessmen challenging White interests they should be good for the historically corrupted White businessmen as well.
Dullard
We are well known for resorting to an instrument which has proven itself a reliable instrument of social transformation LOL.
However, that may not be useful to you. We suggested 30 years ago that the cooperative movement has the potential to more evenly and democratically distribute resources and should be the dominant economic force in our country.
Today, we may say the Mondragon model for empowerment
@Pacha
The establishment is not setup to prosecute prominent White people.
David
So what we gine do? Live till death under White corruption, officially sanctioned.
Yes, we have to lock up the Black politicians but also the beneficiaries of their crimes.
We have to continue with the tactics of attrition and be ready when the tipping point appears.
David
A gradualistic approach will never work. If we are serious we have to bite the bullet now.
@Pacha
A trigger event must occur to create the disruption we want. The gradualistic approach you mentioned is all a part of the process to lead to that disruption event- we hope!
David
You give this system a 500 year headstart and would resort to gradualism. Nah!
Read the majority commentary on BU, local media, at large- the majority of Barbadians are greatly influenced by establishment rhetoric. It will be a hard climb.
David
All this tells us is that they are sheep waiting for right leadership.
If this pandemic, deep recession, is not your trigger event, what could be.
@Pacha
Look around the regional and international spaces, what is the approach? We have seen changes to how the establishment will be distributing products and services via technology and that is all. The zero sum game exemplified. We have not seen the commensurate adjustment to mindsets. Our expectations suggest we want more of the same.
David
Yes. In all this corporare elites mekking uber dinero.
“be ready when the tipping point appears.”
we know Blogmaster is patient, but even he has to know that “tipping points” only appear once every millenna , we are smack in the middle of one now, better not wait for another, we don’t have 500 years to get anything right, if we include the demonic portuguese, 500 is already long gone.and others are way ahead by 400 already..
first order of business…get rid of the cursed fraudulent pretend leaders WHO LIED THEIR WAY into the parliament…make an example of them so the other retards in waiting slow down and don’t think they hit a jackpot instead of being hired for a job of managing THE PEOPLE’S MONEY AND WELLBEING..
Stupse!
fowl slaves….the younger generation is coming for yall, and guess who is going to guide them, ya done know am not sentimental and would never give any type of shit…so carry on smartly..
I personally want to know when Barbados and the rest of the Caribbean will start dismantling the slave societies that they are so proud of maintaining with the people’s money, that shite about ” building a Caribbean civilization” is nonsense, these islands are slave socieites and have been for hundreds of years, so Enuff with the bullshit, ya can’t build any civilization that are still slave societies….what are yall going to call it??? Civilization of Slave Societies……..
Sir Slave Title Shillary needs to come clean…Enuff already..
https://scontent.fbgi3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/p843x403/121004403_3560311774007521_4461701415252715069_o.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=swOUf18pwSoAX8__V6j&_nc_ht=scontent.fbgi3-1.fna&tp=6&oh=51e3464e37f1e60dbbaea6e66399e07e&oe=5FA76F3E
Tens of millions of people are seeing this, very bad business.
watch muh nuh..
“Winston Clarke
tSp9htotfnsored ·
Jackie Stewart is correct. These people are trying to shut Valerie up in every way possible. This same person who is trying to lock Valerie up put herself in the way to stop Valerie from changing the locks on her father’s house so their friend could get into it; sell the things in it, rent it out and try to sell it. This same person came on facebook and showed Valerie the watch Valerie had given to her father for his birthday and told Valerie she is not getting it back. This person is so afraid that she and her cohorts tried to plant Valerie’s luggage at the airport but Valerie suspected this and did not have any luggage when she was leaving. They tried spreading a rumour that Valerie had Covid. They are afraid because Valerie now has information which can lock all of them away. They are in for a surprise because Scotland Yard also has the matter. The fraud was commited in more than one jurisdiction. The fraud squad here wants to know who signed the name Garfield Steele on the permission note to the funeral home. They made a big error; his name is not Steele and he has never been to Barbados. All of you will fall. The bank has camera footage of you withdrawing money from her dad’s account 22 months after he had died. The licensing authority has said none of you are to drive P 4809 yet you are still driving it.0 ICBL now has the recall letter. Stop showing letters that have been recalled and have been deemed fraudulent.”
@David “Having 200,000 motors cars, mobile phones and an illegal gun in too many homes.”
Dear David:
I do not have a gun, so therefore in a place with less than 100,000 households, it must mean that somebody has my gun. Can anybody please tell me where I can pick it up please. O! and I don’t have a car either, so if wunna can tell me where to get one, perhaps I can make one trip outside and pick up both my items.
@Simple Simon
It is an obvious embellishment to make the point.
https://youtu.be/7uMQyM2L8Q8
I still want my gun and my car.
Because I is people too.
Unfortunately our politicians, all parties do favors for family, friends, school mates, lodge buddies, and campaign financiers.
And the money for all f these favours actually all comes out of the labor of decent hard working Bajans. Now that decent hard working Bajans out of work because of Covid the “business class” and the “political class” all hollering fah murder.
Most of our politicians when they first enter politics don’t have a po to piss in nor a window to throw it through.
Cuddear….all of those little pissy politicains in Barbados are Elizabeth’s colonial relics and she should make a sweep, pick them up and put them in museums in UK or spread them around the various palaces as display pieces, they have served no real purpose for over 50 years, it’s a shame, Elizabeth maybe the only one proud of them outside of their yardfowls and only as a successful experiment.
I could swear Mia was begging Lawson’s boyfriend to open Canada so she could have tourists flying in droves to infect Barbados with the plague, when he was hot and sweaty to get on the UNs security council, instead of asking for something realistic that would benefit Black Bajans,now that there is more water than flour re Covid, all of a sudden Canada is on a high risk list…that is and has always been the level of intelligence in the parliament…extremely low grade and low vibration.
https://www.nationnews.com/2020/10/11/canada-now-high-risk-list/
“Barbados has placed Canada in the high-risk category in a new set of COVID-19 travel protocols which go into effect on October 16.”
Our model of government must be amended. It is not relevant in these times Ezra Alleyne.
Per usual Adrian Greene hits on the kernel of the matter.
Ezra is now talking about the ‘founding fathers’ of the Barbados constitution. Who are they? Is the man crazy?
@ David BU
What is” these times”? And what Model of Government do you suggest for “these times”?
@Vincent
The only thing constant is CHANGE.
@ Hal Austin at & :45 AM
Surely from the context in which it is used you can surmise who the “founding fathers” are? The constitutions of former colonies did not fall, like manna, from the sky. Those who argued for self government had a big hand in deciding the form of governance.
@ Vincent
No. That is why I asked. Who were they? I never assume I know things I do not know.
@Hal,
i agree. whilst some are useful most of these Americanisms that creep into our lexicon are annoying. i wish we would just say what we mean
@ Hal Austin
You are also recorded in the archives of BU to state that you do not ask questions the answer to which you do not know. I take it you are using the “do not know ” plaster on this particular blog today.
@ Vincent
I do not know the authors of the Barbados constitution. I think I am familiar with one of the popular names. If you know the authors you are better informed than I am.
According to one BU sage, it was written by the Brits. Was it? Others say Barrow was the father of independence. Does that also mean he was the founding father of independence? And, if so, does that include writing the constitution? We need historical accuracy.
By the way, in cross examination (or interrogating an interviewee) do not ask questions unless you know the answer ie you need to know if you are being misled.
Ordinarily, if you do not know the answer you ask for it.
@ David BU at 9:11 AM
We, therefore, do not need to consciously amend the Model of Government. It too is changing imperceptibly along with the changing times. Why do we need this mythical disruption?
@Vincent
As you would have read, a gradualist approach has its detractors.
>
😃😃😃
The truth is, I try to keep some comments to myself. And then one of you almost draw me out.
Will not speak out unless I hear talk of “founding mothers”.
@Mr Blogmaster, the earliest responses spoke directly to the awesome ‘contradiction’ of your screed and piqued my cynicism of political conversation…
How do you, dear sir invoke the words (cultural penetration) of a foreigner like a US president who the blogger aptly describes as “himself […] a product of the very fraudulent electoral system at the heart of the wider existential threats we face” … and then lament that “we should be able to offer a better defence to protect from alien customs that have compromised the Barbados model we use to [admire]”???
Bro, I get where you are trying to go but that’s like saying you are a ‘green activist” and travelling from meeting to meeting on a badly tuned smoke belching ‘Roadmaster’ Indian motorcycle: absolutely counter-balancing!
And NOT taking anything away from the benefits derived from any of the programs noted but one must RECOGNIZE (again as the blogger suggests) that the US Peace Corps ran by a Kennedy scion was very much used as US ‘imperial’ tentacles … exactly often abusing (inadvertently or otherwise) the local cultural that you now look upon so wistfully! … So yes… you are going into a quite “simplistic view” of what we as a small nation can and cannot do to re-establish and reclaim a stronger local identity!
We really need to stop and ask ourselves exactly WHAT was our supposed ‘identity’ and then as important how and from whom did we develop those and how they evolved from generation to generation as influences CHANGED…why now do we EXPECT that they will not continue to be modified as we move forward under ever shifting dynamics!
BTW, as you further opine WHY do we continue to expect that “politicians moulded from a dysfunctional social system” can change or will change things “for the better.” … We go over this blog after blog after blog: politicians REFLECT society and they often change NOTHING unless they are “moulded” from those same citizens and are ‘pushed’ to power from that mould to reflect that change … We always are seeking the grand independent leader who completely bucks the majority to represent the alleged silent moral minority… and then we cry autocrat when that leader is not the ‘benevolent’ dictator we seek!
“Successive governments continue to rollout policies that” …the ELECTORATE fundamentally endorse … so yes “To return to the community model on an island that measures 166 square miles” is very HARD… because Bajans do not DEMAND that of their elected reps … well OTHER THAN PRETTY TALK that is!
It bothers me when we borrow bits and pieces of American politics/history/culture and wrap ourselves in it.
I find it hard to believe that across the colonies that became independent, separate groups of people say down and came up with almost the same document. Even the Bible does not claim that a large number of men independently wrote the same version of one book.
I prefer to believe a clerk in England put it together and distributed it.
Do you remember a few days ago, when the argument was about televised debates?
It is a local race; a candidate could reach a more targeted audience by taking his message to the streets (big truck and speakers) and setting up his own website but we want to the national Harris/Pence thing.
Only Mia and her surrogate benefit from a national tv debate.
@Dee Word
There is absolutely nothing wrong with borrowing from the learnings and best practices if alien cultures and try to infuse with local narratives. The thesis of the moment is that a society and economy is as functional as the capacity, ability of individuals to deliver at a high and consistent quality based on what we identify to our values, you mentioned identify. While the circumstances that provoked JFK would have been different, it does not change the equation for us as far as what his words portend.
“Independence did not automatically exorcise Harding’s demon and neither will becoming a republic. Until we develop a system and culture of our own, we will continue to be hitched to and dragged by Harding’s wagon/ system. It will always be another Middle Passage again and again.”
he certainly nailed it, but no matter how sweet and concise the writing or rough and ready like mine, it will all, unfortunately, be ignored, new negros only want to project to the world that they are large and in charge and show how much they can brutalize, rob, dehumanize, demoralize and reduce their own people using a system they did not create.
sorry Adrian, they will ignore you, ignore African culture as usual, and they sure as hell don’t know how to develop any new system or culture on their own……
Ms. FIghting Imperialism without any shame, was begging Pope Fraud to create a new order for her, and just a week or two ago was begging either EU or North America for a new financial system, so don’t hold your breath….these are vote begging, fly-by-nighters….with no substance and even less intelligence.
“I prefer to believe a clerk in England put it together and distributed it”
Theo…don’t mind the delusional, we went through this thoroughly on BU already with a copy of some of the Constitution posted to the site, it was a document drafted in Whitehall by some bored clerk and based on the 16th century slave system, am sure that draft sat in the dusty basement at Whitehall for at least 20-40 years before it was dusted off and delivered to them in 1965-66, it has only been amended about 17 or 18 times by the squatters in the parliament…they had no hand in its original design and creation…..and were granted PERMISSION to be psuedo “independent” by UK….these are jokers who have always pretended to be in control, they are only in control of their own people whom they victimize.
One godhorse lawyer was boasting up and down that he designed it, but he had to have meant the one they were all playing around with in their dreams of republic..since 1998 with Henry Forde…which is still in draft form.
I realized that we go around in circles, so talk of the founding fathers will be with us again.
–xx–
Given the ‘gravitas assigned to EA, I will assume he is perpetually punching below his weight.
@Mr Blogmaster I completely agree that “There is absolutely nothing wrong with borrowing from the learnings and best practices [of] alien cultures and try to infuse with local narratives” and that“While the circumstances that provoked JFK would have been different, it does not change the equation for us as far as what his words portend.”
Thus my cynicism that you can so strongly opine that “we should be able to offer a better defence to protect from alien customs that have compromised the Barbados model we use to be admired.”
When you borrow foreign best practices you of necessity bring with it some of the foreign customs that created those practices – now adapted to fit your culture – thus you also then automatically (continually) modify parts of your ethos.as well with those foreign mores.
We can’t expect to sip and sup so wantonly on those ‘learnings’ from afar and not expect that overtime we will reshape ourselves to become a vastly different society to the point that it’s almost impossible to “return to the community model on an island that measures 166 square miles” which we may not even remember!
You get the benefit of advances when you have these modern open border influences but you also lose your “identity”. History paints a sad picture on that. There are very few Amish societies or Amazon forest tribes left untouched and as soon as the new “learnings” come to their village center it’s “good bye” small state “community model”!
It’s a utopian’s dream not to expect drastic cultural degradation from the stronger outside influence… Barbados has done reasonably well over these many years to keep things from a complete surrender. but is fast going downhill right about now. On that we can agree!
@Dee Word
Let us agree to disagree. This like many of the issues that affect us are not binary matters to solve.
Is the query,“you is a rassh***”, half-a-idiot” a figure of speech for us Bajans that if used by a Guyanese, for example, would automatically be translated by savvy folks as ‘Banna, you is a scunt or what’ !
What are words if not the simple means of communication to express an idea as powerfully as is possible…so what is a ‘founding father” other than a figure of speech – admittedly made FAMOUS by the US constitution – (BUT a figure of speech nevertheless) which is summarily described in the dictionary as: “an originator of an institution or movement”
Thus as @VC noted “Surely from the context in which it is used you can surmise who the “founding fathers” are” supposed to be: our founders (whomever they may be named) of our political movement.
Why beat the simple words to death … is this too the latest fear of more “foreign” corruption of our culture!
Looka, I vote to ban all books, internet and learnings yes… leh we get back to word of mouth style ‘basics’! …. Wait what’s the Yoruba or should that be Swahili for that influenced English word.
Really guys get real, please!
@DpD
Before I begin to answer you.
Name one founding father that wrote the Barbados constitution.
Don’t just toss out the name of a politician who was active around independence.
We must be wary of context.
Can a lie that is given added context become a truth?
To claim to have written our own constitution is equivalent to plagiarism? Can plagiarism given
added context become authorship?
We have a constitution. Why must we wrap it in the story of others?
How can we reject the alternative facts of others and then try to ram a next set of alternative facts down the throats of others.
We decided ourselves when we try to make giants out of our leaders. Perhaps, we should ask ourselves.. ‘ “Given geniuses like Barrow, Adams, .and others, why has our nation retrogressed?”
Hint.. one-eyed men; land of the blind.
Take the donation and say “thank you”. Don’t embellish.
We deceive ourselves when we try to make giants out of our leaders. Perhaps, we should ask ourselves.. ‘ “Given geniuses like Barrow, Adams, .and others, why has our nation retrogressed?”
“Can a lie that is given added context become a truth?”
when you repeat a lie long Enuff, it becomes the truth in the twisted toxic mind of LIARS…similiar to the lie about nelson that has circulated in Barbados for centuries, am sure i saw an article this morning where the UK is reevaluating all the lies told to glorify nelson, they will also have to wade through all those lies told by Bajan whites and the frauds in the parliament fooling Bajans that the racist was somehow important and saved them..
@ TheOGazerts at 1 :51 PM
Ezra Alleyne , myself and may be dpD were around when the Barbados Constitution was being fashioned. We know the brilliant local minds that made inputs into that document. We were around when changes were made to it. Are you suggesting that we substitute our eye witness accounts for yours? You may stick to your perceptions since it is a free world but never arrogate to your self the monopoly of truth and facts..
Check it out Theo…they glamorize a barbaric piece of shit in Barbados while knowing it’s all a LIE….and they have the dumbest of Black people who would go right along with it…a battle which had absolutely NOTHING TO DO WITH BARBADOS….mind you, the maritme museum has ALL THE INFORMATION that ever existed about nelson, but bajan whites and other ignorant people still persist with the outright lies that they made up..
“Colonial legacy of Admiral Lord Nelson and the Royal Navy’s links to slavery ‘to be re-evaluated’ by Greenwich Maritime Museum who plan to change their historical displays following the Black Lives Matter movement
“The National Maritime Museum is seeking to communicate the ‘often barbaric history of race, colonialism and representation in British maritime history’, the Telegraph reported.
Issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement will guide its new strategy, which will use a database to reveal Britain’s links to slavery.
Statues of Royal Navy heroes including Admiral Edward Pellew have also been brought into the publicly-funded museum’s review of Britain’s naval past.
Royal Museums Greenwich director Paddy Rogers told staff the societal reassessment of colonial history after Edward Colston’s statue was toppled in Bristol earlier this year provided the museum a ‘moment to shine’.
Nelson has been criticised for his support of slaveholders and the British Empire’s colonies. Pictured: The museum’s portrait of Nelson
The museum holds the admiral lord’s love letters and the the bullet (pictured) that killed Lord Nelson during the Battle of Trafalgar
Nelson has been criticised for his support of slaveholders and the British Empire’s colonies. Pictured: The museum’s portrait of Nelson (left) and the bullet which killed him (right). It is also on display at the museum
Victory at Trafalgar: How Nelson routed the French navy to save Britain from threat of invasion by Napoleon
It was fought of the coast of Spain and was to be Lord Nelson’s (pictured) last and greatest victory against the French
The 1805 naval Battle of Trafalgar is considered one of the most divisive naval battles in history and saw a British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson defeat a combined French and Spanish fleet.
It was fought off the coast of Spain and was to be Lord Nelson’s last and greatest victory against the French.
The battle began after Nelson caught sight of a Franco-Spanish force of 33 ships.
Normally opposing fleets would form two lines and engage in a clash of broadsides until one fleet withdrew, but when planning to engage with the enemy, Nelson divided his 27 ships into two divisions.
He signalled a famous message from the flagship: ‘England expects that every man will do his duty.’
In five hours of fighting, the British devastated the enemy fleet, destroying 19 enemy ships.
A French sniper fatally shot Nelson in the shoulder and chest. He quickly realised he was going to die and was taken below deck where he lost his life about 30 minutes before the end of the battle. “
@ Vincent
In 1965/66, Ezra Alleyne was still in the UK. Name the authors of the Barbados constitution.
Anything you hear Bajans say as it relates to the British drafted Constitution, or slavery or anything that negatively impacts African descended people, always take with a pinch of salt…..they continue their existence of living in LALA LAND,.the constitution has a foreword that tells you exactly who drafted the document BEFORE any amendments, i believe those started in the 80s or thereabouts. by those in the parliament…i read the document myself….you can ask Blogmaster to post it, we beat it to death already..
I am outside my area of expertise.
However, I believe the evolution of the constitution of these smaller island is similar to that describe here.
httpss://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_constitution
As i told you, do not argue with Bajans as it relates to slavery, constitution, nelson, racism, mental slavery……nothing that their minds are unable to process…they will chase you around the place until ya get exhausted…..there is Vincent with his fantasy of probably drafting the constitution himself with a bunch of the other deluded ……they would even tell ya that the pretend independence was their idea when am sure it was a long term plan concocted 50 years before Barrow or any of them were born, they won’t hear that they are no match for these people, they insist on living in their little colonial world, their cocoon and comfort zone, safe from reality…
“Independence constitution is the name commonly given by African political scientists to originating constitutions (many of which are extant) of former British colonies, primarily in Africa, which gained their independence approximately 1960-1990.
Due to these colonies’ low economic output and the United Kingdom’s fading imperial prowess, independence was usually granted after little instigation, with the UK presiding over creation of the new state. Generally local leaders were hand-picked by the UK to be the new governing body and were given a political education in London, during which they often served as the sole representative of their country in the negotiation of their country’s new constitution. In short, independence constitutions were written in London, by a primarily British body, in line with British systems of governance. Supporters applaud the UK’s responsible transfer of power; critics cite low popular perceptions of legitimacy and claim that the independence constitutions maintained essentially colonial states.”
In search of the founding fathers – 1
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0035853042000300160?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=ctrt20
A good read
In search of founding fathers – 2
Investigative reporting has discovered that the first Barbadians landed on Pelican Island.
Move over Plymouth Rock.
@ Vincent
Ezra Alleyne , myself and may be dpD were around when the Barbados Constitution was being fashioned. We know the brilliant local minds that made inputs into that document. We were around when changes were made to it. ….(Quote)
Plsea explain. Don’t go silent on me.
A British colonial designed Constitution, means it was DESIGNED FOR SLAVES LIVING IN A SLAVE COLONY…..neither that document nor the colonial laws designed for people who are STILL SEEN AS SLAVES…should be in existence today and should be all NULL and VOID…but ya can’t tell that to old slaves, they too love their enslavement…and want to trap everybody else right there with them..
@ Hal Austin
Silence is golden. A brilliant investigative journalist, as you are, was also around. You in England and I in Jamaica taking a more than vicarious interest in our small country. Please do not play this ignorant game too. You should be above this level of discourse.
@ Vincent
You claim that Ezra Alleyne was around. Was he and who were the authors of the constitution. I am a pensioner, not an investigative journalist. Was that statement correct?
Vincent….cousin Boris won’t PISS ON YOU if you were on fire, he certainly not going to save your slave ass from us.
https://youtu.be/iL-kf5oQaDQ
@Theo, I am not and was never into clarifying who were our elders drafting/designing the constitution … that’s 1) a question answered from historical review and 2) has been debated here quite well several times.
Producing names … seems an exercise in satisfying deeply held perspectives of that process and adds heat rather than light!
I merely questioned the unnecessary analysis of the figure of speech “founders of our constitution”!
So do proceed apace with your clarifications.
Everyone is trying their best to erase the evil associated with racism from the public space and from the people’s face, everyone except a bunch of piece of shit Black leaders in Barbados…they don’t serve the people, they serve racist ideologies aimed at their people.
“Princeton University is naming a residential college for alumna and major donor Mellody Hobson, the first Black woman to have that honor in the school’s history. Hobson College will be built on a site once named for former President Woodrow Wilson, the school announced Thursday.
Princeton announced in June that it would remove Wilson’s name from its School of Public and International Affairs and one of its residential colleges, citing his “racist thinking and policies.”
Hobson, a successful businesswoman and former CBS News contributor, was honored after making a generous donation to her alma mater. She said she’s proud to help erase Wilson’s racist legacy.”
A case you cannot keep a good man (entrepreneur) down?