M<$>AHATMA Gandhi, father of India’s Independence movement, once mused on the subject of establishing a successful nationalist movement: “First they ignore you; then they ridicule you; then they fight you; then you win.”No doubt with polls continuing to demonstrate that up to 70 per cent of Bermudians do not support sovereignty for Bermuda, there must be great joy among the anti-Independence detractors in this British Overseas Territory.

But I wonder how Bermudians would answer if a question was posed in these ongoing polls as regards national identity. How would they respond? Do they consider themselves to be British citizens?

Or, as I suspect, do they overwhelmingly regard themselves as Bermudians? If the latter is indeed the case, then the possibility indeed exists that they will one day want to formalise this sense of identity by becoming citizens of an Independent Bermuda.

I have always believed that the struggle for Bermudian Independence comes down to a struggle for Bermudian minds. And in my arguments in favour of Bermudian Independence I have, for the most part, addressed the subject from a philosophical rather than a dogmatically nationalist standpoint because minds tend to be more open to measured appeals to reason rather than strident partisanship.

Still, given the overwhelming public opposition to Independence, it is in that vein that I continue the struggle by posing this question: “Is it in our interests to continue to look at the problems and struggles within our country with a mindset that demonstrates a colonial dependency complex?”’

I am prompted to ask that question in the wake of a recent statement made by United Bermuda Party leader Mr. Wayne Furbert, the Opposition Leader. In discussing the various constitutional checks and balances that exist in Bermuda to curb abuses of governmental power, he said it was in Bermuda’s best interests to always have someone looking over its shoulder.

By that I presume that he was talking about the British-appointed Governor’s reserve powers which include overall authority for internal and external security as well as the appointment of the Police Chief, the Chief Justice and the Auditor General.

When I listened to that statement my immediate reaction was that Mr. Furbert doesn’t believe that his fellow Bermudians can be trusted to fully govern themselves and that the island will always require British supervision in some areas (although I will certainly not deny that Bermuda already enjoys considerable leeway in terms of internal self-governance despite its official status as a British Overseas Territory).

Now some Bermudians, perhaps very many Bermudians, are in full agreement with Mr. Furbert’s argument. They don’t entirely trust their fellow Bermudians, either — and this is what I describe as a manifestation of the “colonial dependency complex”.

We don’t yet have confidence in ourselves to take responsibility for all of our own affairs. How, then, do we reach a point where Bermudians attain the self-confidence necessary to make the step to Independence?

(To be fair, perhaps the Opposition Leader’s recent statement can be interpreted somewhat differently. Maybe what he actually meant was the current Progressive Labour Party Government cannot be trusted to govern without someone standing over it. Mr. Furbert should elaborate).

I don’t just write in support of Bermudian Independence. I often have discussions with my fellow Bermudians in an effort to bring them around to my point of view. But many entertain Worst Case Scenarios about what will happen if Bermuda does go to Independence.

I have always argued that no country has a cushion against failure — and failure for a country can come in many forms. Just look at the massive tragedy that overtook those nations impacted by the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004.

Yes, the world did rush to their aid with humanitarian help. But ultimately the people of Thailand, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and India had to find the strength to rebuild their families, their communities and their nations.

Their ongoing plight has long left the news headlines but this process of rebuilding and restoring their shattered infrastructures is ongoing. And as human beings they will ultimately achieve these ends as mankind has always had to either persevere or perish when faced with even the gravest catastrophes.

They will do what they need to do based on the national characters they have developed throughout their historical existences as individual peoples shaped by their environments and circumstances

It has often been said that Bermudians have to be taught what nationhood is all about, but I disagree with that statement. What we must do is regain our national character which began to develop at the very beginning of human settlement on these isles.

It’s a character that allowed us to have a greater sense of independence and confidence than we have now in dealing with the outside world. I have always believed it to be a supreme irony that the Bermudians — who built their own ships and sailed them around the world in the 18th and 19th centuries — had a common identity as solid as Bermuda cedar in those times, even in the face of being half slave and half free. The island’s isolation bred self-sufficiency, self-confidence and an adventurous spirit. Today none of those characteristics is in common currency among my fellow Bermudians.

In looking back to Bermuda’s past for answers to consider its future path, I have no doubt that those Bermudians of old would not have resisted creating their own micro-nation; in fact, I am convinced that they would have considered it a natural step forward for an island that was largely left to its own devices by Britain.

Interestingly, I recently had a rather passionate discussion with a friend over the possibility of an Independent Bermuda coming into being. Seeing that there was no chance of a compromise on this issue, she asked what I thought a new flag should look like?

I advanced the idea of a blue/blue design, the colours of Bermuda’s sea and sky — the first things that strike any visitor to our shores. This set off another round of arguments as she thought I was thinking of the St. George’s Cup Match colours. Why not combine both sets of Cup Match colours, she suggested.

It was not until the next day when driving to work that the thought struck me: this proposal could indeed work for a future Bermuda national flag. The symbolism is there. First of all, the Somerset and St. George’s colours represent both ends of the island and thus speak to Bermuda’s territorial integrity. White Bermudians may have been slow to go to Cup Match in the old days but today you see more of them there and they fly their Cup Match team colours. Since Cup Match grew out of Emancipation celebrations surrounding the end of slavery, Bermuda’s black majority would at long last be represented in Bermuda’s national symbols and in something as important as a national flag. I would retain Bermuda’s current Coat of Arms on such a flag because, as I have stated before, it is an historically accurate representation of how these isles came to be settled: the lion (not a bad symbol of how Bermudians should<$> view themselves) supports a scrolled shield upon which is a representation of the 1609 wreck of the Sea Venture.<$>

However, I would do away with Bermuda’s current motto — “Whither the Fates Lead Us” — because I don’t consider it to be a proper national motto for a modern Bermudian nation. In fact, I don’t think it was a suitable motto for the Bermuda of the past.

I do not get the impression that those Bermudians of old were waiting for fate to direct them. I tend to think that they made their own destiny.

What would such a flag look like? To answer that I got my daughter’s school friend who is something of a graphic designer, to work up possible designs of a possible Bermuda flag based on what I told her.

I was so impressed by the results that I am going to have one made up to fly on my car the next time all those foreign flags start flying in my country during an international sporting event.

In the meantime, I will keep flying both St. George’s and Somerset Cup Match flags together on my car year-round and when people ask why I am doing that, my one-man educational campaign on the need to create an Independent Bermuda nation will surely continue.