The following is not the type of update seen often on Barbados Underground – 2020 has been unprecedented in every ways. Our thought processes that fuel our narratives must also change.
Support Local is OUR Cry
The following is not the type of update seen often on Barbados Underground – 2020 has been unprecedented in every ways. Our thought processes that fuel our narratives must also change.
90 responses to “Support Local is OUR Cry”
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How come there is no race talk when the dlp are in powah?
To them and their minions race is a mere canard. An unserious party about race they have always been. Even when visions of White Shadows were raised by Don Blackman.
Now the same political shiite raises its head after 10 years in guvment having done one shiite about it.
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Here is the link to the Barbados Manufacturers website to buy local tomorrow at the blowout sale. They will deliverer. Stop the long talk and support local.
https://bma.bb/barbados-manufacturers-association-online-marketplace/
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What barbados is witnessing is the backlash from selling the country to foreign investors and the local investor that controls how policies should work and to whom they should benefit
The local economy has been stripped of any economic benefit that would benefit the true owners of the country
The older generation had an economic model one which if pursued would have changed the economic dynamics of barbados with purpose and intent of cultivating and creating a template built around our people and culture
Now our economy finds itself caught up in a vicious cycle of borrowing where the lower end if the population are slave hands -
I always check for the locally produced or finished goods first. I don’t have to check any website.
There is much we can do to improve our own lot that cannot be stopped by the WTO.
We are not powerless.
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Artax,
There is an excellent tailor just off Baxter Road who once made my son’s school pants. Did not cost me any more than the ready made and they remained intact for the two years of fourth and fifth form. Fit better too.
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Wait bosie! I now realise that it is Ms.
.001%!Well excu-u-u-use me! The decimals went over my head.
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RE Some of you have the ability to reduce every topic/blog to nothingness.
LOL THIS IS ESPECIALLY SO ON SSS AINT IT? LOL -
Barbados Underground should be rebranded Electronic Underground to cater for (a) the global visitors from around the world via the world wide web internet technology posting from various time zones 24/7/365 and (b) alien visitors from outer space who may tune in to learn about humanoid culture and nuances of peoples’ thinkings’ and reasonings’ of lack of thereof. The following song could be the theme tune for the launch of the New Underground.
Electronic Underground, AUX88, Akiko Murakata aka Ice Truck, (Andrez Bergen Remix), Andrez Bergen
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Did 2-degree say extrajudicial killings?🤭 Anyhow, support local whether the seedlings or wheat imported.
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The Bajan dollar is the cheapest it has been for two years, making imports more expensive
Please explain, with mathematical examples.
I say decouple from the Greenback, fix against a basket of currencies and commodities.
Please explain with mathematical examples. -
@ Artax
Outside of tourism, you should realise by now that our major industry could well be reinventing the wheel. Anything outside of the norm is reduced to : “Rome was not built in a day “ psychology.
Here we have a general acceptance , that COVID has basically destroyed the economy. And we have found our way back to Carmeta Fraser. We have always had thousands ofCarmeta Frasiers. Bajans have never really deserted growing their own little crops. It’s just when the politicians ran out of taking nonsense, they started to talk about back yard gardening and tried to fool the people that it’s a new thing.
Bajans have never stopped back yard farming and keeping cows , goats , sheep and pigs. We call it , I think “ stocks”.
While they pay lip service, they gave the retail giants the green light to import junk food and we can forget all this fancy talk about eating healthy. Believe it or not , the Adventist Church was promoting healthy eating habits within the community,for six decades , long before it became fashionable. Of course , we again bought into North American concepts about what eating healthy is. Good thing they didn’t reach all the centenarians.
Sometimes , I wonder if Barbados was discovered last week. The main reason people were turned off from small farming etc was the unavailability of a regular water supply and the politicians don’t know what marketing and product development really means. In other words we failed to connect Agriculture to Tourism. We trying now and we are already promoting so- called Bajan dishes with Spanish names. Imitation a major industry as well.
All we seem to do every morning is get up and put the cart before the horse. In the meantime , we glamorize and romantise what is really very ordinary.
How can we create 3000 jobs ? We need to stimulate small businesses and get about 1000 up and running employing at least 3 persons each. Oh no, we take 300 million and give into the blackmailing tourist sector.
Do we really want to get more people in farming and producing food. Pump millions into all the CLICO agricultural land and get a progressive cooperative small farmers program off the ground: proper water supply, concessions on new equipment. Create a new Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Think big.
Oh by the way , I bought some Shirley Buscuits and Plus today. Found them in the Hispanic Isle.
Peace -
William we have a large middle class who for the majority have migrated to built up neighborhoods where even if they wanted to farm the covenants do not permit. The scenario you paint does not align with current realities.
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David,
There are pot gardens and hanging basket gardens and small green and shade houses. They do not require much space. Although some people take up almost the whole plot with a big able house.
My diabetic friend who first made me long for a garden has EVERYTHING she needs in pots.
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“Barbados dollar is now 47. cents to the US”
where you see a decimal, i see a typo…..🤣🤣🤣🤣..i make them all the time and don’t feel the need to correct everything, ah ain’t got nothing to prove…not my style.
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Oh, and she lives in a built up area.
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@ David
“ December 17, 2020 6:03 PMWilliam we have a large middle class who for the majority have migrated to built up neighborhoods where even if they wanted to farm the covenants do not permit. The scenario you paint does not align with current realities“ (Quote)
I know of what I speak. Gallant attempts have been made by the Rasta community and there is still very active farming and backyard gardening in what we call rural areas. There is no covenant that ever stopped anybody from growing anything in their back yards. This middle class that you can’t really identify ,because it’s judged by address rather than income, is a farce.
Over forty or so years ago the government stopped people in a certain radius from
Bridgetown, from keeping pigs and outlawed backyard slaughtering. I have never heard anything outside of that. Many people in the heights and terraces have backyard gardens.
You twisted my words . I said Bajans never stopped- at no time did I say Bajans in town or country. You need to read a bit more carefully what I write.
Like I said all of these little inputs detract from my major point. Why are we back to Carmeta Fraser when the damn economy in the dump? Why didn’t you comment about the CLICO land that the taxpayers now own . I guess you did not know about the plans your government have for dat! Why didn’t you comment about creating 3000 jobs. I know why- you have not heard that from Mottley.
Peace. -
@ William
Where I stay in Christ Church, the next door neighbour was a lovely old lady, very decent and intelligent, sadly no loner with us.
There are also some ‘wild’ chickens, roaming about and laying their eggs, Where I stay we usually feed them, and predictably they will come around at feeding time; they will also lay their eggs on the neighbour’s property and she would come out every morning with a kettle of boiling water and pour on the eggs.
Then she would go down to Massy in Oistin’s and buy her eggs. There were so many contradiction in that. With chickens that we ordinarily call organic, she would ignore and buy eggs that she did not know the source of. Yet she was a remarkable woman.
It was from this experience that I realise that there were no mongooses in that part of Christ Church. If they were, all those chickens would have been eaten. In the same district people often cut down fruit trees. There was once a lovely avocado tree, when I returned the net year it was gone. The owner just got fed-up with it.
It was also there that I realised the absence of birdsong and of early morning cockerels. It is just a working class area. -
realised.
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@Donna
What you stated cannot be refuted, however, the mindset of many in middle class rsiding in the terraces is to say forget that, buy from the supermarket. Covid 19 may yet change such an outlook. We hope.
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Ms .001%,
I was referring to the post where you said Pacha was dropping hints that went over 99.999% of BU contributor’s heads.
Therefore you are in the .001% of enlightened souls who picked up on the hints. I was the one who categorized you wrongfully in the 0.1%. But I discovered that you float above us in even more rarified air.
And I just felt compelled to give you your due!
😊 -
contributors’
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Lol…ah got dues galore this week, this is just one more…trying to sleep off the others right now.
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@ David
You are too caught up in phrases and cliches . Please explain the middle class. What is the income ? Where do they live? What are their major professions? Can they be found in the city areas? Do they all live in wall houses?’
I am putting it you , that we are yet to define the middle class. Imagine, I was a civil servant working for $535 per month and I had friends who were waiters at hotels , receiving the equivalent of $300 Bds in tips per day/night. Driving Cortinas and minis, while I was riding to work. I know fishermen and mechanics who built their homes without mortgages. Are they your middle class? Can you honestly say so?
I know beach vendors who earned in excess of $2000 BDS. Per day. Many living in housing areas and tenantries. Are they considered a part of your middle class?
Please tell me about this damn middle class you and others always talking about.
When we are finished with that , let us talk about real income in traditional rural Barbados. Let us talk about who are the real Black Barbadians who have real wealth. You would not find a great percentage of them in the heights and terraces .
It’s about time that you and other propaganda agents are called to account. Spouting a lot of irrelevances that are mere figments of a very dormant imagination.
Let us have some serious discussion and let us bury these obstructionists myths once and for all. -
Back during the time when Regency Park was developed all the covenants contained restrictions barring domestic animals except dogs and cats. I believe the same obtained for all the subdivisions erected since then. I have several friends living in developments growing vegetables etc. for their family and friends’ consumption and a couple that live in the old family homes with lots of land that do so on a commercial basis.
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@Wiliam
The middle class was defined in the comment, those living in built up areas which mostly enforce covenants.
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@ Sargeant
Thank you ! There is a trend on BU, where I suspect, there are many who only discovered the country quite recently. They come here behaving as though they know everything but when put under serious scrutiny, they get personal or introduce red herrings. For example , I recently learned that WTO , will literally make simple backyard gardening a waste of time. In other words a lot of apparently sophisticated positions that really have no serious attachment to basic common sense.
Quite frankly, it may be the folks in the “ heights and terraces” , who indulge in more backyard gardening than other socio economic groups. I remember working with people who lived in the heights and terraces, who kept incredible kitchen gardens and so on.
Like I said , some come here with a lot of bogus information and they just get away with it.
A lot of pudding and souse , sweet bread , fish cakes are found on sale in the “ big up “ neighborhoods every Saturday.
It pays the bills. -
@ David
You can’t be serious! -
@Wiliiam
Yes
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All yuh too funny. Love terrace, heights, park and garden in wunna address and gladly signed onto the covenants, planted nuff lawn, paved the driveway and the yard (not even a lime tree or some lemon grass to mek tea),now talking RH. BU too sweet.
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Here is the link to the Barbados Manufacturers website to buy local tomorrow at the blowout sale. They will deliverer. Stop the long talk and support local.
https://bma.bb/barbados-manufacturers-association-online-marketplace/
(~_~)
Try this; click in the search box and then hit enter.
Wait a few seconds and then scroll through the BHL products.
Select any. Juice, milk, beer, malts etc.
Every BHL product has a price tag of $1.18 vat inclusive.https://bma.bb/product/guinness-stout
Now if that price is correct, blowout sale would be an understatement. -
Another thing there is no obvious “Continue Shopping” so clicking on the BMA is the only way to get back to the search page.
That site ain’t really ready for prime time yet.
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…clicking on the BMA…
Should be
…clicking on the BMA marketplace Buy Bajan logo…
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Too many Black people on the island believe they’re too important to grow food, i remember the dummy Kellman talking about it’s cheaper to import, yes, the same processed poison food, that got the island infested with NCDs and thousands of sick people.
Both DBLP governments have been nothing but destructive to the population, and ya got an even bigger problem, don’t care how prejudice to other black people bajans are, the worldwide population is more than or damn close to 1.7 billion BLACK PEOPLE….yall can NEVER CHANGE THAT DYNAMIC, by 2030 and going forward it’s projected there will be more than 3 BILLION BLACK PEOPLE, nearly half of the world’s population…..that’s a lot of tourists who will bypass Barbados because of black on black hatred, there’s not nearly that number in whites or anyone else that yall like to suck up to and NEVER WILL BE, too many websites and other media are carrying this shameful parade of black people on a dependent island believing they’re better than other blacks and showing their ignorance, promoted by even dumber, ignorant black face leaders….so yall can keep pretending that ya are other than black and mistreating those who you need the most. Don’t know why Mia jumped on ITV to complain of mental enslavement in the population and then still sits her ass down and don’t even make an effort to do anything to reverse the mental disease that they’re all responsible for creating. BTW, this is not only a huge turnoff for Black travellers, but for those whites who witness these episodes of slave like backwardness as well. Keep trying to cover it up as one jackass lawyer, had to be a lawyer right, is trying to do and see where that lands ya, only diehard racists will be coming to the island, until they find a way to get rid of all of you.
“Nyobi D. Naziah
tSpogfnsor6edhh ·
Barbados is this who we are? Published under the heading ‘Beautiful Country but Rude People’ on the biggest and most internationally renowned internet travel information news site, was the tale of an African American couple from Tampa, Florida, who visited Barbados some years ago. Another set of black visitors to sunny Barbados same old complaint. This ‘black’ couple decided to visit ‘paradise’ for five days, literally just months after the late Owen Arthur and the BLP lost the general election in 2008. After spending just 5 days on our shores the Tampa couple, failing the meeting of some specific conditions by some of our local black Bajans, have vowed never to return. The man in the published story said… “I have been to many countries all over the world but never in my life have I been to a place where the people are so rude…” Let me guess my fellow faultless Bajans, they are all lying.. All of these individual people of colour visiting our country at different times all have similar complaints of alleged racial prejudice at Customs(point of entry), similar complaints of racial prejudice and mistreatment by local black bajan restaurant staff, hotel staff, beach side vendors, and retail shop assistants(interior). There is a longstanding fundamental problem surrounding self racism and self hate in Barbados and many of the black majority are too arrogant to admit it. Then there is the common agreed analysis by these complaining ‘black’ visitors that is too familiar to be false. The man of the African American family disgruntled by their treatment said… “I MUST SAY I NOTICED THE TREATMENT TOWARDS THE WHITE TOURIST SEEM TO BE ALOT BETTER BY THE LOCALS, AS THEY WERE CATERED TO ALOT BETTER…” he goes on to say “…I dont know if it was resentment towards Black Americans or what BUT IT REALLY BOTHERED ME TO BE TREATED THE WAY WE WERE BY OUR FELLOW BROTHERS AND SISTERS”. Again, this is highly enbarassing and apperars to be exasperated whenever the extremely pro elite international BLP is in and around the relms of power.The country has to be losing millions in revenue from incidences of self hate such as this and it’s public reporting is a bad indictment of Bajan governance and Bajan society. These cases of self hatred and black on black prejudice are not reported about any other english speaking Caribbean island. To continue to deny the evident link between the charecteristics of the majority Bajan born slave and the characteristics of the modern day Bajan is counterproductive. We can never progress as a people untill we address the demons engrained in alot of our characters via the various methods of psychological & physical torture used during so called slavery. The man on behalf of the couple wrote… “I really debated on writting this note, but I’m hoping a native Bajans will read this and tell me what is the gripe with us, until then I can say we will never visit Barbados again. I WOULD RATHER SPEND MY MONEY SOMEWHERE I WONT BE TREATED LIKE I’M AN INTRUDER TO THEIR COUNTRY”.
For an African American from the South to write and publish this piece to the world, speaks volumes about our terrible race relations in Barbados. So what is the gripe Barbados? We are potentially losing millions annually in vistor revenue due to reported black on black racism, this is embarassing and wholly unacceptable. To think we had a Bajan based lawyer vehemently tell us we were doing the slave masters job by highlighting this clearly obvious, and ongoing problem. No Ms. Eastmond the slave master wrote daily journals which became scholastic studies of how he got the Bajan to still act this way. We must now develop ways to permanently break the cycle and sustain bajan black lineage and maintain progression. Insofar as the United Nations is concerned those are our Sustainable Develoment Goals 2030. The system, from education, to the historical system of governance in Barbados needs to be immediately reviewed. A child physically abused by parents at home will often go to school and physically lash out at other children. Are Bajans allegedly being prejudiced to black visitors because they are so oppressed and subjugated by the political elite and the upper class at home?”
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Hal Austin December 17, 2020 8:41 AM
@ Carson
The Bajan dollar is the cheapest it has been for two years, making imports more expensive. What is the government going to do about this? What is the economic argument for keeping fixed to the Greenback?
I say decouple from the Greenback, fix against a basket of currencies and commodities.ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Frank Layton December 17, 2020 3:00 PM
The Bajan dollar is the cheapest it has been for two years, making imports more expensive
Please explain, with mathematical examples.
I say decouple from the Greenback, fix against a basket of currencies and commodities.
Please explain with mathematical examples.ANSWER THE MAN QUESTIONS!!!!
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“The system, from education, to the historical system of governance in Barbados needs to be immediately reviewed. A child physically abused by parents at home will often go to school and physically lash out at other children. Are Bajans allegedly being prejudiced to black visitors because they are so oppressed and subjugated by the political elite and the upper class at home?”
read it twice, Mia complained on the world stage about the mental enslavement in the Black population, it did not happen yesterday, it’s been ongoing post slavery and within the last 60 years, it’s a mental enslavement that she and both governments contributed to, willfully, maliciously and still is, but to get her to lift one of her pointing fingers to do anything about it is a whole nother story, too busy propping up wicked thieving racists in the minority community at Black people’s expense and therein lies ALL the problems..
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I agree with wura support local dont let foreign hookers into the country
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Day that got away
Vendors upset fish market closed so close to Christmas
by RACHELLE AGARD
rachelleagard@nationnews.com
FISHERFOLK at the Berinda Cox Fish Market were upset to find it closed for general cleaning yesterday, five days before the biggest holiday of the year.
When a DAILY NATION team visited the Oistins, Christ Church market just after 8 a.m., the gates were locked and only a few people were milling around the compound.
But Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey said while the market was closed routinely for cleaning, had he known it was being done yesterday he would not have agreed to the closure.
“I was not aware that the market was being closed, nor was my office, as closure for cleaning is a routine operation that should occur every month as part of the upkeep of the property. Had I been told, I would not have agreed to the closure today [yesterday], so I understand if the vendors are frustrated,” he said.
Humphrey said the closed day cleaning was normally done once a month.
Hygiene standards
“[This] is a practice we must maintain for proper hygiene standards . . . . The idea that this is a lockout is ridiculous and far from true,” he said, adding there was a morning and evening shift to do the cleaning.
Vendor and boat owner Wilma Hutchinson said it was not right how the cleaning matter was handled.
“They shut down the market Sunday before Christmas, whereas this could do after Christmas. We would start the New Year with a clean market. Hundreds of people coming for fish and got to leave because they can’t get no fish. This ain’t fair to we that we can’t get no fish in the box, can’t get ice to put ’pon the fish and the market shut. This is a whole day we lose out. Nobody ain’t come and ask we nothing, and this ain’t right,” she fumed.
Hutchinson added she got a call informing her of the closure and a shortage of ice from Saturday and some people turned up yesterday expecting to get ice but there were claims that the machine “wash out”.
“They ain’t got no ice in the machine and Bridgetown machine broken down,” she said.
Another vendor, who requested anonymity, said sales were already slow and the closure was a big loss to them.
“The market closed for cleaning, but the general workers ain’t turn up for cleaning. I don’t think the market should close today. This is the right day that the hawkers could come out and make some money. Things slow already in the market. They had other options that they could have shut the market and close, but them choose to shut today. And no general workers ain’t here to clean,” she said.
A memo posted on one of the poles and dated December 17, signed by a supervisor of the market, stated there would be general cleaning conducted on December 20 and the market would be closed to all business for the day. All market patrons were asked to arrange their business accordingly.
Another vendor who declined to give his name said vendors were alerted about general cleaning set to take place yesterday, but only a couple people had shown up.
“We get the notice before, but still nobody ain’t cleaning. We could have work and we could be working, so what they close the market for? Only one general worker here and he can’t clean the market himself,” he said.
When approached, the supervisor on duty declared: “I have nothing to say.”
A general worker, who did not divulge their name, said there were only two of them present at the time.
“It supposed to be others but I ain’t see nobody else. There should be about three more of us here. With the two of we, I don’t feel this getting do – not before this evening,” the general worker said.
Regarding the complaint about the ice machine not working again, Humphrey said the machine delivered ice up to Saturday, but had been offline for a few hours.
“Today, the machine is experiencing an electrical issue, it seems. This happens from time to time with any machines that work as hard as ours do, but all issues are immediately assessed and addressed,” he said.Source: Nation
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Good to see so many Barbadians flocking to the various plantations across the island to dig their rod of potatoes, yams and cassava. Something to build on.
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We have to wonder what are the options not being exercise to manage such a situation from occurring in the national interest.
Some bakeries blasted
Minister: Powdered eggs being imported despite glut
by COLVILLE MOUNSEY
colvillemounsey@nationnews.com
A GOVERNMENT MINISTER is lighting a fire under some bakeries for importing powdered eggs while there is a glut of local eggs this Christmas season.
Kerrie Symmonds, Minister of Energy, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, who described their actions as “problematic, unfortunate and self-indulgent”, said it was doubly shameful that these manufacturers would attempt to exploit a loophole in the import classification at a time when Barbadians most needed to support each other, amidst the economic ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said he would be conducting his own investigation into the practice, which he acknowledged was not new.
“My initial view is that this is not only problematic, but it is a most unfortunate development. I think that the entire country has heard the Prime Minister of Barbados urge all Barbadians to support local business as part of our national strategy for each of us to contribute to the collective effort of sustaining jobs and business viability, especially during this difficult time,” said Symmonds.
First choice
“My ministry has led a national initiative of multiple vendors’ markets, to try to encourage small and micro businesspeople to be the option of first choice for Christmas season purchases, so that we can keep people employed in this country during this period. It therefore comes across as somewhat self-indulgent for certain individuals to appear to be exploiting loopholes in the hope of securing narrow individual comfort, while the rest of the nation sleeps on a bed of nails.”
President of the Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers’ Association, Stephen Layne, vowed not to rest until local egg producers were no longer at a disadvantage in their home market.
He revealed that one producer had as many as two million eggs but finding a market was proving quite difficult. He stressed it was tantamount to a betrayal and disingenuity when these same local manufacturers implored Barbadians to buy their products under the banner of supporting local goods.
“We are not going to be able to consume all of those eggs for Christmas, especially when there are sectors of Barbados that manufacture with eggs but are hell bent on using imported powdered eggs. It is slightly cheaper, but this is the disloyalty from these same people who are advertising to the Barbados consumers to buy their local products.
Duty-free
“They have no interest in supporting local farmers and local industry, and this is going to be my fight going forward because we need to work as one. We can’t be supporting farmers in the United States and in the United Kingdom while ours suffer. They are only doing this because there is a loophole given the fact that as manufacturers, they can bring in these raw materials duty-free. The farmers are playing their role and paying local wages,” a livid Layne said.
However, Symmonds said that on the flip side, people had to be mindful that the glut might be somewhat temporary, as the return of cruise ships and visitors to hotels could quickly shift the balance between supply and demand.
“As a former minister of foreign trade, I am aware that powdered eggs have been in the market for several years and I also suspect that the glut of eggs may be related to the unusually low number of visitors in the hotels on the island. And in the hotels themselves, because of COVID protocols, there are no buffets and therefore there is a far greater portion control.
“All of these factors are likely to be part of the mix, but this is a matter that clearly will require further investigation and in my judgment, the collaboration of the agricultural stakeholders with the manufacturing and tourism sectors in order to find a resolution in the best national interest,” he added. -
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