Are you in the PLP elite?

March 23, 2007

Dear Sir,

Despite the rhetoric we hear every day, if you are a black person then chances are the PLP is not the party for you. (If you are white the PLP is probably not for you either, but that’s another story.) What have the PLP really done for working class people? Is your life any better than it was five years ago? The PLP have managed, with the help of the media, to frame the current state of politics in Bermuda as black vs. white. The PLP are the party of the black people, and black people who are against their views are, in the words of Senator Burch, “house n<\m><\m>s.” The UBP are the party for white people and Uncle Toms. This is a false choice they the PLP have been very successful in forcing upon working black people.

What many do not grasp is that the divisions of race are no longer as meaningful as the divisions between socio-economic groups. People with power and wealth want to keep their power and wealth. Why wouldn’t they? It’s in their own interest. Before supporting the PLP, what all people, especially black people, need to ask themselves is: Do I attend the same catered dinner parties that the PLP elite do? Do I golf at the same golf clubs as the PLP elite? Does my investment portfolio look like Dr. Brown’s? Do I even get to play golf, attend dinner parties or have an investment portfolio? If the answer to these questions is “no” then the PLP is not looking out for your interests.

Many working Bermudians, rightly or wrongly, feel that expat workers take the good jobs, are partly responsible the soaring cost of living, and contribute little or nothing to Bermuda’s culture. Recently, the Department of Immigration released a variety of escape clauses for ex-pat workers who are approaching their six year limit. Why is that, you might ask, after so boldly stating that long term expats would be a thing of the past and that Bermudians would be trained to take these positions. Quite simply, the PLP elite do not care who works in international business, as long as those businesses stay on the island and are profitable. The stronger these companies perform, the better the elite and wealthy class’ personal investments boom, and the more influence and clout they have.

There are more examples of how the PLP elites’ use their power for their own financial gain and for power. Why did an MP get a government subsidy to buy the rights to the cricket World Cup? The Premier’s own medical clinic is in a position to take up the slack as a result of the closure of the indigent clinic. These are conflicts of interest that would never be allowed in other countries. How is the PLP “progressive?” Despite that being the other part of their name, the PLP has done nothing that is socially progressive and have been reactionary and conservative. Here are a few cases in point.

Renee Webb boldly put forward a bill that would outlaw discrimination against gay people. This would be seen as a mildly progressive position in most democratic countries. Ms Webb received no support from her party, despite the fact that several high ranking PLP members and supporters are gay. (This is according to Julian Hall, one of the only PLP members worthy of respect, who said so in your very newspaper.) I would like the media to directly ask elected members of the PLP (and the UBP while you’re at it) what their sexual orientation is. How ironic that black supporters of the UBP are painted as Uncle Toms, when the gay members of the PLP won’t support Ms Webb’s bill. The people living at the informal settlement at Club Med (commonly referred to by the derogatory term “squatters”) have been labelled as criminals and are going to be ushered out of their accommodations, as are the people living at the Leopards Club. A socially progressive thing to do would be to give these people the support they need until suitable accommodations are found, and to recognise the right these people have to shelter themselves.

Finally, the poorest of the poor, those who need help the most, have been a target of the PLP. They shall no longer receive a “helping hand” from Government but rather have been the target of a campaign waged against them. The closure of the indigent medical clinic, the tirade against the Salvation Army, and the attitude that the best way to help people is to make them help themselves is not socially progressive. (Nor is it Christian, in my opinion, something the PLP also claims to be.)

So I say once again, unless you happen to be one of the few black people that earn a salary in the upper six figures, and go to the same dinner parties as the PLP elite, their party is not for you. In the next election, which is coming soon, look to make a change.

DUSTY LAMB

Devonshire

Apology not good enough

March 27, 2007

Dear Sir,

I was pleased to hear that the Anglican Church has expressed regrets over slavery. Slavery has been entwined in the psyche of people of African descent for hundreds of years. I do not think anyone is really seeking an apology as such but merely a declaration from the descendants of the enslavers. This declaration should be as follows:

We accept that you are equal to us in every respect

You deserve all the advantages we have had in life

We acknowledge that you are as smart and capable of doing any job that we can.

We will do all within our powers to address the issues of poverty and disadvantage that has been visited upon you.

And last but not least, perhaps the most difficult for the descendants of the enslavers,

We vow to make you feel welcome where ever you go and will stop the pattern of exclusion which is still practised today.Until these admissions are truly embraced, there will be no progress between the races.

A huge omission in the litany of regrets is to the Indigenous people of the New World. Sadly most of them are gone, and those who are still with us face all the challenges of those of African descent.

J.K. WILLIAMS

Pembroke

Come clean on Southlands

March 23, 2007

Dear Sir,

I don’t believe the Southlands developers are coming clean about their plans. No one in their right mind would build a series of concrete platforms supporting enormous glass frontages, right on the beach — in Bermuda — facing south. The fallacy continues with the so called ‘plans’ showing the hotel built into a huge, concrete sea wall, taking the place of the natural cliff. And, did I mention already — row upon row of glass windows facing south — with others facing east and west? Those rooms would be fun in the summer...

Energy requirements for air conditioning alone would be astronomical — is Belco going to be ready or would the developers place huge generators on Southlands’ boundary to take up the slack? The drawings show that the cliff would have to be quarried to about a third of its present height — that’s a lot of stone requiring a battalion of big machinery to dig it out and fleets of trucks to cart it away — taking months to accomplish.

No doubt, the PLP’s new best friends at Island Construction would be amongst the few to welcome the news. Without a doubt, this would cause South Shore road to be virtually closed to commuters — leaving Middle and Harbour roads to take up the slack. One simple rear-ender at 7.30 a.m. would snarl traffic, business and schools for hours, if not most of the day.

Someone is not telling the truth — I am cynical enough to believe that the developers are up to something else entirely. Have they submitted these ridiculous plans just to withdraw them at some strategic time? In this way, they could submit ‘revised’ plans, doubling the number of luxury condominiums they are planning (this is where the money is) — having us think that they have listened to us regarding the hotel on the beach, and that they are good guys after all? Thereby achieving what they set out to do in the first place — fill the site with luxury condos with little or no benefit to the average Bermudian — at enormous cost to our infrastructure, our environment and the people of Warwick. I wonder how they sleep at night — why they think they can insult our intelligence in this way?

POPULIST IN PAGET

Longlining will damage us

March 22, 2007

Dear Sir,

Recent media attention has raised concerns over the impact of longline fishing on Bermuda’s endangered seabird and turtle species. But seabirds and turtles are not the whole story. This fishing practice introduces other negative ecological and economic risks to our shores as well. Specifically, longlining is often ecologically unsustainable to both target and non-target fish species, and may consequently imperil related sectors of the local economy.

Evidence from around the world raises doubt over the ecologically sustainability of longlining. A recent study estimated at least a 90 percent reduction in large predatory fish populations in the last 50-100 years. A dramatic and continuing reduction in weight-at-capture of tuna and swordfish by longliners leaves little doubt that populations are currently overexploited. A precipitous decline in oceanic shark populations has fingered longlining as the likely cause and highlights the threats to non-target species posed by these fisheries. Such unsustainable harvests mean that the majority of longline fisheries experience rapid declines in catch rates during the first ten years. Some are altogether abandoned soon thereafter.

Introducing longline fishing to Bermuda also carries the risks of negatively impacting the local economy. Profitability of the Hawaiian longline fleet, for example, hinged on evolving fisheries regulations, the costs of switching to new gear and the costs of hiring crew. A total ban on longlining on the west coast of the US and a partial ban in Hawaii demonstrate the risks involved in entering fisheries whose impacts require intensive regulation. Furthermore, longliners maximise profit by hiring cheap labour — the opposite of the Bermudian labour market. Even if Bermudian operations can absorb start-up costs and can withstand the kind of fishery regulation that will be required in the future as fish populations continue to decline, will such a venture be profitable without the low-cost foreign crews used on many boats? If it is profitable, for how many years in the face of declining catches? Similar economic uncertainties will exist for small commercial fishermen forced to compete with longliners and for charter boats facing the high rates of marlin by-catch on longlines.

While introducing longlining may move local fisheries into new territory, such a practice would exact a dear ecological cost and potentially result in an overall economic loss. If Bermuda’s fishing industry must evolve, should we not instead seek a direction that preserves our only wilderness, the fish upon which we already depend, our socioeconomic integrity and our priceless natural history?

EYE ON THE FUTURE

Smith’s

Put Jumeirah elsewhere

February 22, 2007

Dear Sir,

Why “Southlands”? What about the Eastlands or Westlands? Would it not benefit both the Bermudian people and possibly Jumeirah to look at these two options? Why not develop the Club Med site? It’s already a tourist site; the two star golf course could be converted into a seven star course attracting more attention from the PGA and it would help bring more business to the town of St. George’s. Alternatively the former base lands in Southampton could be used. In stead of a 20 Year least at “Southlands”, offer Jumeirah a 50 year lease to include an environmental clean-up of the mess left behind by the US. This land is already developed and in need of attention and a marina could easily be incorporated.

BUILD ON BROWNFIELDS

Paget

We should all be outraged

March 20, 2007

Dear Sir,

Bermudians should be outraged by the revelation that the large international insurers, veiled behind trusts, have been active purchasers of Bermuda real estate. This has a number of distorting effects that are just plain wrong. It reduces the “share of the pie” distributed in the community through rents. It reduces the number of properties that are available to Bermudian homebuyers. It encourages developers to upgrade their “Bermudian only” properties to a pricepoint beyond the means of most Bermudians, knowing that the insurers will buy. It creates unfair competition, with average Bermudians needing to pursue uncompetitive bank mortgages, while the insurers grant themselves a 3.5 percent rate.

XL is gaily spinning the story when they say they are merely acting on Terry Lister’s request that they seek housing for their workers. I suspect that he meant group housing for the hundreds of lower work permit holders, not swanky corporate perks for the handful of corporate chieftains. The charity wrapper around the trusts is a smoke screen to avoid criticism. Real philanthropy is not tied to loaded subjects like this. Let’s be clear here: XL are not the only ones playing this game and the potential effect on Bermuda real estate is huge. These are properties that are locked out of Bermudians’ reach for future generations.

There’s been a lot of fuss about fronting by individuals, leading to steep restrictions on Bermudians ability to sell and even own real estate. Given the Finance Minister’s role at ACE, government must have known of the insurers’ practices, which are clearly against government’s policy. Will Government have the guts to stand up to the insurers on this account?

HOMELESS

Paget

The irony of it all

March 27, 2007

Dear Sir,

Isn’t it ironic that as Bermuda and others commemorate, apologise and symbolically acknowledge slavery and its remnants,

The Royal Gazette <$>has yet to publicly apologise for being a vehicle of information and miss-information to the slave trade through the print media since 1828? Secondly, isn’t it ironic that the Government’s spokesperson to justify closure of the KEMH clinic is also someone’s employee. So, if he works at the clinic for only eight hours per week, where does he work and for whom? Medical ethics 101. Lastly, isn’t it also ironic that the so-called environmentalists, parents and supporters of the Montessori school in Devonshire would protest the building of a hotel on the South Road, yet when their open space and large field was destroyed to be replaced by concrete and steel, no one said anything... Go figure!

SAM

Warwick