Community activist Charles Spanswick yesterday called for action to be taken to prevent Bermuda from becoming a “Third World country”.

Mr. Spanswick, 64, is concerned about the level of pollution and garbage on the Island and expressed his grievances to The Royal Gazette yesterday.

“By me travelling the whole Island and spending a lot of time on the beaches I think the Island is becoming a Third World country when it comes to cleanliness,” Mr. Spanswick said. “No one cares.”

Mr. Spanswick has been a candidate in the Hamilton mayoral elections before and believes that if he was in power an improvement would be seen in the environment on the Island.

He said: “Give me a month — if I was put in charge to run the sanitation department with Albert Richardson, you would see a big difference in the City of Hamilton in a month.”

Mr. Spanswick, a local, spent the last two years in Barbados and said Bermudians could learn a few lessons from that country.

“Barbadians they are all in school — you don’t see kids sitting on the wall, they have jobs,” he said. “They take care of their own. Back in the 80s Bermuda was a fantastic place — most of the Island was employed by Bermudians.”

He also believes it is growing more difficult for young people to get employed on the Island and added: “I really feel sorry for the youth.

“I really believe that if this Government keeps spending their money by taking trips and treating international business the way they are, this country could be a Third World country overnight.”

Mr. Spanswick is planning a youth rally on July 26 from 7 to 10 p.m. at the St. Andrew’s Church Hall on Church Street and expects between 100 and 200 young people, of all different races, to show up. There will be no political candidates present and the rally is aiming to get young people to get their ideas out there, discus the challenges facing them and vent their ideas for the future.

Chris Carreiro, 25, will be participating in the rally because he believes it is important for young people to start taking action. He said: “We as the young people need to start preparing to clean up the mess going on right now. That’s the purpose of the youth rally — to start brainstorming.”

Mr. Carreiro plans to talk about issues such as government “corruption” and Independence and believes that many people his age will come out. “From what I understand there will be quite a few people there,” he said.

He added: “We want to make sure there are a lot of bright minds in attendance.”