The Broken Trident

The storm is coming and its closer than ever before. We have no real military might not even a tank to speak of, we have no vast reserves of oil, and natural gas is a dubious reliance at best. We have no real standing in any international governing bodies and frankly we can count our embassies on foreign soil with one hand (don’t get all excited about consulates, out side of visas they are ornaments at best). So face the fact that we are nothing more than what we tell ourselves we are. We have no say in our own government (when is the last time you voted in a prime minster?), we do not have any input in the foreign policies of this nation, nor do we control the banks.

Our leaders through fate or folly have left us in a position of vulnerability, essentially at the whims of who or what ever has enough financial/political clout to do with this country as they see fit.

Has the question been asked as to the fate of Caricom, CSME in the light of the coming north American union and the strides of the EU?

Can we as a Caribbean region survive with each other?

If not, can we survive as a country truly independent? no foreign aid?

Are we willing to be tethered to a financial system that can crush us at any moment? knowing full well the current state of affairs up north?

There are a lot more questions like these that our “leaders” are unwilling to truthfully answer, unfortunately they are of the breed of being “pets” to the foreign powers. Is the need of cellphones, BMWs and plasma TVs so great that we will barter our lives away to the faceless evil over the ocean.

I say to you that with effort and determination we can as individuals and as a nation survive the coming hardships if we are willing to let go of what we were programmed to think and lust after.
Let us learn how to live on our own, let us learn to live on the very land we live on.
We can learn how to build and repair and maintain our critical systems,
we can live long healthy lives living off the fruit of our soil,
we can learn to work with our hands again.

It may not be as easy as pushing a button but it is easier than wearing a shackle chain.

Ah the ritual starts again, more rounds of promises, plans and thinly veiled smear campaigns. More glorious talk of of the wonders that have been done in our name; and promises of more to come. We are at a unique point in history, never before has our nation stood over a chasm so fraught with peril than it is now. Political scandals, gross negligence, corrupt officials and Federal investigations to boot, looking more like a first world country every day.

Allow these thoughts to cut through the merriment and political fog;

Barbadian citizens do not have a say in who becomes Prime-Minister (a party gets voted)

Whom ever gets voted in past the 15th, doesn’t control the Central Bank

Whom ever gets voted in past the 15th, still has to clear the national debt and honour existing contracts for work to be completed

Our officials still swear allegiance to a foreign power

The government has the ability to to ease the lives of the citizens of this country but have actively refused to make the necessary changes to policy. The bed of the Prime Minister is filled with political fleas (big businesses) and whom ever lies there has to contend with them. So the government cannot actively (of effectively) compete with its “contributors”.

What is our big plan when the tourism bubble bursts? population export?

Can this place really take a natural disaster? its grid lock even after a heavy rain.

Not sure who’s going to “win” but I’m sure we the people still lose.

this is from Wikipedia:

Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state.

In First Past the Post assemblies, where the tendency to gravitate into two major parties or party groupings operates strongly, government and opposition roles can go to the two main groupings serially in alternation. In this context, the opposition forms a recognized, even semi-official “government-in-waiting”. Its “opposing” can degenerate into a charade pending the eventual exchange of roles and occupation, or reoccupation, of the Treasury benches.

The more proportional a representative system, the greater the likelihood of multiple political parties appearing in the parliamentary debating chamber. Such systems can foster multiple “opposition” parties which may have little in common and minimal desire to form a united bloc opposed to the government of the day.

Some well-organized democracies, dominated long-term by a single faction, reduce their parliamentary opposition to tokenism. Singapore exemplifies a case of a numerically weak opposition; South Africa under the apartheid regime maintained a long-term imbalance in the parliament. In some cases tame “opposition” parties are created by the governing groups in order to create an impression of democratic debate.

By their very presence in the debating chamber, parliamentary oppositions recognize the legitimacy of the system of politics, and thus may share many of the views of the government. The opposition in such cases can justly claim the title of His/Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.

The title of “Official Opposition” usually goes to the largest of the parties sitting in opposition with its leader being given the title “Leader of the Opposition”.

That highlighted line is worrisome in the light of our current situation. On another blog a statement was made about the opposition was there not just as place holders but as a dynamic part of the governmental process. The opposition was there as a watch-dog to highlight the inadequacies of a particular policy or to make known a decision that was not in the best interest of the populace. However if the “opposition” is just a group waiting for their turn on the swing, then one must question the motives of these individuals and be wary of exchanging one dictator for another.

NeoColonialism

- The state of poor, third-world countries which enjoy formal political independence, but continue to remain economically dependent on rich, industrialized countries.

-a modern form of colonialism usually leftover from colonial times – the control over the nation is accomplished through economic rather than political systems

Who is in charge here? what exactly does our “leader” do? Look at the decisions that have been made with-in the past few years, the policies that have been created. The promises that were made were they met? the promises that were met have they lasted? Where is our ‘age of Aquarius’, this post world cup utopia promised by those who ignored the odds. Why have those who foresaw the failure ignored? why again in the face of reason are flawed projects fast tracked? Who really benefits from the status quo?

As the invisible strings that have been attached to our ‘liberties” are pulled one by one, as our rights are slowly eroded. As the blind and naive defend our leaders, firmly ignoring the monsters they are becoming. As the rich shore up their wealth as a ward against the beast that is coming leaving the “not-so-well-off” to fend for themselves. Like proverbial rats of the sinking ship, our nation’s leaders prepare for their exits, their work is almost done here. They are paving the way for the new master(s), the ones who truly call the shots. With our CSME and dissolving borders our region is being molded into one organism. Another organ to the global creature.

Let us this coming saint Andrew’s Day, remember the people who fought for our faux freedom, for those who labored so that one day the children can say; “Happy-Limited-Self-Governance-Day!”