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Rihanna

Rihanna, National Hero of Barbados

The announcement by Prime Minister Mia Mottley during the independence and republic ceremony that Rihanna was recommended by the government and accepted by the now President of the Republic of Barbados to be added to the pantheon of national heroes came as a surprise. To be expected public opinion is mixed although many appreciate Rihanna…

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The announcement by Prime Minister Mia Mottley during the independence and republic ceremony that Rihanna was recommended by the government and accepted by the now President of the Republic of Barbados to be added to the pantheon of national heroes came as a surprise. To be expected public opinion is mixed although many appreciate Rihanna for what she has accomplished on the world stage as an entertainer, businesswoman and philanthropist.

It is instructive to to examine the criteria outlined in the Order of National Heroes Act, in particular the criteria for eligibility declared in the schedule to the Act.

Order of National Heroes

In determining the eligibility of a person referred to in section 8, the Prime Minister shall have regard to whether that person

  1. (a)  has given outstanding service to Barbados and his contribution has altered the course of the history of Barbados;
  2. (b)  has given service to Barbados which has been exemplified by visionary and pioneering leadership, extraordinary achievement and the attainment of the highest excellence which has redounded to the honour of Barbados; or
  3. (c)  has, through his heroic exploits and sacrifice, contributed to the improvement of the economic and social conditions of Barbados and Barbadians generally.
National Heroes Act of Barbados

The blogmaster will reserve opinion, for the moment.

174 responses to “Rihanna, National Hero of Barbados”

  1. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    The boss woman runs tings in Barbados. The Guardian have written a rather flattering portrayal of our numero one leader. I am sure Tron and one or two others will be over the moon.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/03/mia-mottley-barbados-first-female-leader-mission-to-transform-island

  2. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    So… what are the local journalists going to do about it? Who has a bigger platform than they?

    Only Gercine fed up?

  3. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    You captured the blogmaster’s first thought but it is better coming from others.

  4. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    an while wunna talking bare shiite.

    https://www.laineygossip.com/rihanna-asap-rocky-solid-close-as-ever-not-pregnant-in-new-york/69917

  5. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Local journalists should have been given the same treatment as visiting journalists and their crews.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    Local journalists should have highlighted that there was an issue by using its platform.

  7. David Avatar
    David

    Why does VOB allow Peter Wickham to bully some callers to the talk show? Especially DLP supporters?

  8. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    @ David,

    Journalists in Barbados are protecting their jobs in a perilous economy.

  9. David Avatar
    David

    @Hants

    The fourth estate is a key player to maintain a just society. If your comment is close to the truth- one suspects that it is- we are in deep doodoo.

  10. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    @ David
    We should start exporting crocodile tears.

  11. WURA-War-on-U Avatar
    WURA-War-on-U

    “We should start exporting crocodile tears.”

    🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 much better than dependency..

  12. Miller Avatar
    Miller

    @ TLSN December 3, 2021 10:48 AM
    (Quote):
    The boss woman runs tings in Barbados. The Guardian have written a rather flattering portrayal of our numero one leader. I am sure Tron and one or two others will be over the moon. (Unquote).
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Is this the same British Press which told by a blogger ‘going by the handle ‘Frank’ (a genuine political clown and peabrain of a yardbird) to “F*** OFF” just a couple days ago?

    The woman has been lionized by the UK Press.
    The Lioness- a symbol of real power- was rather proactive in transitioning to a de jure republic in order to avoid the coming royal confusion which will arise with the imminent replacement of the current Monarch.

    Of course the same British Press is fully aware that the Prince (like his regal namesake Charles1) will never be a popular King Charles 111 always with the spectre of Australia, New Zealand, Canada and even Jamaica) ‘ceding’ from the Realm under his reign.

  13. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    @David, the DLP will not be taken seriously by anyone, including journalists, until Ghosts of Christmases past are exorcised.

    That has been amply demonstrated by the calamity in the Rev running vs the incumbent leader, with the support of said Ghosts and being all but slaughtered.

  14. 555dubstreet Avatar
    555dubstreet

    “The woman has been lionized by the UK Press.
    The Lioness- a symbol of real power- was rather proactive in transitioning to a de jure republic in order to avoid the coming royal confusion which will arise with the imminent replacement of the current Monarch.”

    If you read between the lines Barbados are friends of China and will be put on a blacklist by Anglo-American spies and infiltrated with propaganda.

    Now Barbados is a baby Republic it’s bloggers need to up their game to be more intellectual and deep instead of macho like me.

  15. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Now tell me, why would local journalists have been sidelined by the Government? I doubt the Government had anything to do with it. Most likely stupid policemen at fault.

    Usually its the security guards and the policemen who throw their weight around like overseers.

    I have never stood for it. I would have attempted to go where the foreign press went. They would have had to arrest me. If you want change, you have to force the issue.

    Steupse! A bunch uh lily-livered yellow bellies!

    What journalists what!

    Journalist get arrested. Journalists get abducted. Journalists get killed.

    These play play journalists whine instead like puppies.

  16. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Correction – it’s

  17. Hants Avatar
    Hants

  18. TLSN Avatar
    TLSN

    @ Miller,
    The Guardian newspaper appears to have completed its survey. What a pity that some commentators expressed their antipathy towards it with the use of a four letter expletive.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/03/the-guardian-view-on-barbados-and-the-queen-it-has-moved-on-can-britain

  19. David Avatar
    David

    Our President is no Dame

    By Garth Patterson
    Most of us grew up hearing tales, or watching movies, about King Arthur, Camelot, and the Knights of the Round Table. A legendary king of that fictional kingdom who conjures up romantic images of a glorious medieval past, where English kings surrounded themselves with their elite knights in armour, who swore unwavering loyalty to their sovereign and stood ever willing to sacrifice their lives in protecting and defending him.
    Wikipedia traces the etymology of the word “knight” as being derived from Old English cniht (meaning “boy” or “servant”), and suggests that it is a cognate of the German word Knecht (meaning “servant, bondsman, vassal”). A knight, in the traditional sense of the word, is sometimes described as a “military follower of a king or other superior”.
    Chivalry developed as an early standard of professional conduct and ethics for knights, who, by the Middle Ages, were generally characterised as elite warriors sworn to uphold the values of faith, loyalty to king and country, courage, and honour. By the 16th century, knighthood had lost its significance for military purposes and had been mostly relegated to an honorific status that sovereigns could bestow at their pleasure.
    Today, knighthood is no longer synonymous with exemplary military service and is predominantly conferred on persons who distinguish themselves in ordinary civilian life. In the United Kingdom, several secular knightly orders, or societies, have been established, the membership of which comprisespersons appointed to knighthood by the British monarch.
    Modern shift
    However, despite the modern shift from military to secular importance, “knight” and “knighthood” are terms that are still popularly associated with the traditional conceptions of medieval martial service to a sovereign.
    Before becoming the President of Barbados, the Most Honourable Sandra Mason, FB, was the Governor General, who, from a constitutional standpoint, was not the head of state, but rather the representative of the Queen of Barbados. As such, she served, and represented the interests of, the Queen.
    She swore an oath of loyalty and allegiance to Her Majesty. And, as is customary with all Governors and Governors-General within the Commonwealth, upon then Justice Mason becoming Governor General in January 2018, the Queen conferred on her the honour and dignity of Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG).
    The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, as it is called, is a British order of knighthood founded in 1818. According to the Royal.UK website, it was originally bestowed solely upon those in high positions in the Mediterranean, but now recognises service in a foreign country, or in relation to foreign and Commonwealth affairs – for example, the work of foreign-service officers and diplomats.
    To be eligible for membership to this order of knighthood, one typically has to be a British citizen or of a citizen of the British Commonwealth realm (i.e. a sovereign state that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state). Honorary knighthood/damehood (i.e., without conferring membership of an order of knighthood) is, nevertheless, sometimes conferred by the British sovereign on foreigners (i.e., persons who are not citizens of a country whose head of state is the Queen), but it carries no right to be called “Sir” or “Dame”.
    The term “Dame” is an honorific title. It is the feminine form of address for the honour of damehood in the British honours system, the masculine form of address being “Sir”. It is the female equivalent for knighthood, which is a term usually reserved for males. Dame Sandra, as she then was, as a full-fledged member of the Order, therefore essentially became one of the Queen’s knights, and owed fealty, loyalty, and allegiance to the Queen.
    However, with the advent of Barbados becoming a republic, it seems to me that the retention of the trappings of knighthood by our sitting President is optically infra dig – it is beneath the status and office of an incumbent head of state.
    As our President, the Most Honourable Sandra Mason has been elevated to the constitutional status of head of state and, as the embodiment of the sovereign state of Barbados, is an equal among sovereigns. Her only allegiance is to the state of Barbados, according to law. Constitutionally, she has no superior and is subservient to none. She stands as the beacon of our real transition to sovereignty and represents the hopes and aspirations of a nascent republic that is seeking to assert its rightful place at the table of sovereign, independent, nations.
    She is our ambassador to all nations, the manifestation of our dignity, pride, independence, and sovereignty and, as such, is beholden to none other, be it king, queen, or president.
    Besides, the republic of Barbados is no longer part of Her Majesty’s Commonwealth realms, and the Most Honourable Sandra Mason is no longer one of Her Majesty’s subjects, or her loyal and faithful servant.
    The Queen is no longer our head of state and, because of its new status as a republic, Barbados citizens no longer qualify for membership of an order of knighthood.
    May be retained
    According to protocol, despite that disqualification, the designation of “Knight” or “Dame” may, nevertheless, be retained, at the option of the title holder, provided he or she was bestowed the honour before the transition to a republic.
    Protocol aside, however, it is somewhat incongruous with the philosophy that underpinned the republican movement, and anathema to the pride of nationhood, for our Barbados President, our head of state, to retain the designation of “Dame”, with all the negative associations with our colonial heritage that it conjures and all the implications of service and allegiance to Britain that it implies.
    The title of “Dame” connotes the state of knighthood, and that term evokes the traditional, historical conceptions of service to a monarch; it bears the glaring undertones of that medieval bond of unwavering loyalty that was owed by monarchial knights to their sovereign. Our President should be no-one’s Dame.
    As the first official act of our republic after the investiture of our new President, Barbados conferred on her its highest national honour, the Order of Freedom of Barbados, which is meant to be the local equivalent of, and substitute for, knighthood/ damehood. Membership of that Order carries with it the right to be addressed by the prenominal title, “the Most Honourable” and the post nominal letters “FB”.
    It is this country’s most profound gesture in recognition of the recipient’s extraordinary service to Barbados, the Caribbean, the Caribbean diaspora or to humanity. In this writer’s view, it is inappropriate to interpose the prenominal “Dame”, or the post nominal letters “GCMG”, which are the bestowments of a benevolent foreign sovereign that bear the historical connotations of loyal subordination to the monarchy.
    If we are ever to break free of the emotional and psychological chains that have anchored us for too long to our former colonisers, then we must be prepared to tear away from all the symbols of colonialism. We should take pride, and hold as pre-eminent, the honours and dignities that our independent state confers.
    We should not be content with renaming our buildings, hospitals, and institutions, but must permanently erase all the symbols that would otherwise diminish us and suggest that we are anything but equals among other sovereign peoples.
    The knight of our colonial past must now yield to the dawn of our republican future.
    If it is inconceivable that the Queen, as sovereign, would ever be referred to as someone else’s “Dame”, then why on earth should the incumbent head of state of our sovereign nation be so regarded? My respectful suggestion, therefore, to anyone who might in the future have reason to address our President: drop the “Dame”, please.
    Garth Patterson is a senior counsel.

    Source: Nation

  20. David Avatar
    David

    The process of transition
    We are conscious that we are in a process of transition and that the journey has started and continues at a new level. Three hundred and ninety-six years of a system of government is not two years, and it is with that in mind that I am conscious that we have a responsibility as of December 1 to ensure that our nation moves as one. – Prime Minister Mia Mottley, speaking at the National Independence Honours Ceremony It is indeed extremely important that we realise that Independence was not and is not a day. And that becoming a republic on paper is not the same as becoming a properly functioning republic in reality. We are, as Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley said, in a process of transition. One that will probably outlast all of us alive today.
    Because, in the words of Bob Marley, “ 400 years of slavery is not wiped away so easily”.
    The process of transition that Barbados has been going through since at least 1937, after the uprising, has been relatively peaceful, at least, on the surface. When compared with the turmoil that some of our neighbours in the region have seen and in other former colonies further afield, we can count ourselves lucky, blessed, vigilant or some combination of the three. With a sense of history and an appreciation for the centuries-long journey behind and ahead of us, we should learn to also appreciate that the process will often not be satin-smooth.
    In the same week that the international media reported that Barbados peacefully transitioned from under the British monarchy, they were also reporting that French armed forces were sent to the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique to deal with violent clashes in the streets of these territories. Still under French rule, Guadeloupeans and Martiniquais are rebelling against COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
    Long-standing dissatisfaction Even though the mandates are already in place on the mainland, the French authorities, as a result of the protests, decided to postpone implementation on the islands. But, according to reports, the unrest is also linked to long-standing dissatisfaction among the public with France’s governance. The transition process in the French islands is very different to ours.
    Europe may be going through a transition as well.
    Thousands of angry protesters also recently took to the streets in Belgium, the Netherlands and Croatia over COVID-19 restrictions. Along with economic pressure and pressure on the health care system, social division seems to be another symptom of COVID-19.
    Levels of diversity
    The Barbadian Government is trying to pull the nation together at a time when other nations almost look as if they are being ripped apart. While some may argue that this is why the timing of the transition was bad, an argument can be made that this is why it was necessary.
    With the levels of diversity and division on this small rock, the challenge of ensuring that our nation moves forward as one is hard enough ordinarily. It may be even more challenging at this time. Therefore, how we handle differences of status, opinion, origin, age, race, class, religion, group and political affiliation will be extremely important. It will take more patience in communication and more investment in engagement than we are perhaps accustomed to.
    I believe that these are integral aspects of the process to transition as smoothly as possible through the “new level”.

    Adrian Green is a communications specialist. Email: Adriangreen14 @gmail.com

    SOURCE: NATION

  21. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    “The Guardian newspaper appears to have completed its survey.”

    Was the survey commissioned by the Guardian newspaper?

    Was the survey conducted by UWI on behalf of the Guardian?

    Or, was it conducted by UWI, with Professor Cynthia Barrow-Giles, who was reported to be the ‘lead investigator,’…….”the early results of which were shared with the Guardian?”

  22. David Avatar
    David

    https://barbadosunderground.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/press-release-west-african-diaspora-awards.pdf

  23. khaidji Avatar
    khaidji

    The Order Of National Heroes

     

    To determine a person’s eligibility,

    Here are a few points requiring scrutiny.

    Examine their performance in their service to us,

     

    Outstanding service which positively altered the course of Barbados. 

    Redounded Barbados with honour through extraordinary achievement,

    Demonstrated visionary and pioneering leadership or management.

    Exemplified excellence in noble pursuit,

    Restructured and improved economic and social conditions to contribute,

     

    Order where there was chaos, unifying our people;

    Forming bonds from among them and not from some towering steeple.

     

    Native preferred, but it doesn’t have to be,

    And there is no creed required, gender or ethnicity.

    Their actions should be in the pursuit of benefits to us and not personal gain,

    It must be selfless exploits and sacrifices not done for glory or reign.

    One may not know another’s motives so the line is thin,

    National heroes are selected by the powers who are in. 

    Although consensus is made simpler with modern technology, 

    Letting the opinions of the public speak online, electronically.

     

    Have Government’s selections put for public poll,  

    Electorate choosing from a list should be the Nation’s goal.

    Riches can buy you most anything, but remember the “Eye of the needle”

    Our admiration and love for a person doesn’t necessarily list them with heroic people.

    Every cheer was genuine, shout outs real and we loved the shows,

    Should this however translate to eligibility for The Order Of National Heroes?

     

    By Khaidji

    http://www.BajanBooks.com 

  24. David Avatar
    David

    There is no doubt the side you land on the issue Khaidji 🙂

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