Black people should make no apologies for getting emotional in the debate on Independence, says columnist Alvin Williams.

Opposition MP Trevor Moniz named Mr. Williams - along with Rolfe Commissiong, Bryant Trew and lawyer Julian Hall - as one of the Progressive Labour Party's “running dogs” and members of the ruling party's “radical fringe” that was being accommodated by Premier Alex Scott's call this week for an open discussion on Independence.

And he said he would be willing to engage in any debate on Independence provided it was based on rationality but not with people who saw it as an “article of faith”.

“Half the people who write these articles say they have no interest in being rational,” Mr. Moniz said on Sunday.

Last night Mr. Williams said Mr. Moniz's analysis of the Premier's motives was wrong, because the PLP was never worried about its internal critics.

Mr. Trew, for his part, said that he had never been a member of any political party and found the characterisations by Mr. Moniz amusing. Mr. Commissiong declined to comment.

“That is rubbish, they have never worried about those who oppose PLP's stance going way back to the PLP's decision to boycott John Swan's referendum,” said Mr. Williams.

“The PLP has never worried about that. The question of Independence for Bermuda is a long term PLP issue which will not go away.”

Mr. Williams added: “I welcome the return of the PLP to its historical roots as far as Independence is concerned. And I have never accepted the decision of the former Premier Jennifer Smith to put the question of Independence ‘this term or maybe the next term'. I never accepted that so I welcome the return although they are being very cautious - they are politicians and as a member of the ‘radical fringe' I don't have to adhere to those niceties.”

Mr. Williams took issue with Mr. Moniz “running dogs” comments. “As usual he's out of context because the late Chinese leader Mao Tse Tung used that to describe the Chinese who collaborated with the various colonial powers that held power in China before the liberation army kicked them out.”

And he said he definitely planned to be involved in the Independence discussion called for by the Premier. “People like Trevor Moniz are going to play on people's fears, try to reinforce colonial dependency,” he said, with talk about opportunities in Europe for Bermudians.

“As a black person I don't think I would be welcome in Europe because I look just like the people from the Caribbean, or Africa, and besides I have no desire to be anyone's privileged negroes.”

“I'm not going to let him dictate the terms of this debate. Yes I'm emotional because when I look at the Bermuda flag I do not see myself as a black person. I see a British flag and I see white settlers. It does not represent me. So, yes, I will get emotional. I am not prepared to make an apology for having these feelings. Besides they are being dishonest, because they want to maintain in a selfish way the British image which shuts out black people, so they are being selfish.” But Mr. Williams agreed that the topic could be discussed rationally, saying that he had participated in rational debates on Independence on television, and in many articles.

But he said Mr. Moniz should define what he meant by “rational”. “I'd like for him to define that. Europe doesn't even want to accept people from Eastern Europe. And they're white.”

In a letter to the Editor, columnist Bryant Trew said that he had never been a member of any political party despite being labelled as a member of the “radical fringe” of the PLP by Mr. Moniz and a “UBP convert” by ruling party stalwart Laverne Furbert a week earlier.

“Wow, so now I'm an Independence-advocating, Uncle Tom, fringe PLP radical who's forgotten the struggle. Makes a whole lot of sense to me!” he wrote.

Mr. Trew also set the record straight saying he had never “advocated a ‘yes' decision on Independence - I recommended a three to five year year discussion of the issue”.

“Politics can be quite interesting at times, and I really don't mind an effort to pigeonhole me,” Mr. Trew continued. “I guess it comes with the territory when you write opinions. Nevertheless, I'd recommend that both Mr. Moniz and Ms Furbert firstly judge me by what I have actually written, and secondly confer with some of their own party associates before making such absurd statements.

Both efforts would have debunked their theories in advance. For the record, I do not possess or have ever had membership in either political party. However flawed my approach might be, I simply try to support Bermuda - all of us.”