A dysfunctional political system and colonial institutions are the targets of the Gombey Liberation Party (GLP), Bermuda's newest political party.

A profile of the party, submitted to the Parliamentary Registrar last week, calls upon members of the "Gombey community" to rally behind its efforts to end and reverse the damage done by colonialism.

The party says it represents "grassroots activists from every race, ethnicity, gender and creed" and draws a distinction between "grassroots values" and "establishment priorities".

The five page document defines the "Gombey community" as "peoples of Bermuda who oppose colonialism and choose to exercise their birthright of self determination."

GLP Leader Gavin Smith, the party's sole candidate in the July 24 General Election, will be running in St. George's North against Premier Jennifer Smith and the United Bermuda Party's (UBP) Kenneth Bascome. According to the profile, the GLP was established on July 3, 2003, "once it was recognised that the peoples of Bermuda were at risk of being denied the right of self determination due to the inadequacy of the parliamentary process in Bermuda."

"The risk is highlighted by the apparent volatility of a black-dominated parliament, government and civil service having to deal with increasingly racialised threats to national unity, namely: violence between local factions of black youth; civil disobedience and wildcat strikes amongst black political leaders; racial polarisation between black and white partisans; uncertainty regarding black participation in the local and global economies."

It notes that the Governor has "exercised increasing discretion over constitutionally `sensitive' affairs" such as the Regiment and the Police Service, prosecutions and the "banking system and the f".

"Indeed, the Gombey Liberation Party maintains that these national threats place the grassroots community at risk of `neo-colonial' counter-strategies that justify colonial privilege by the `manipulated consent' of the governed where traditional colonialism was based solely on violence and force."

The party also believes that "the right to self determination is a necessary precondition for effective management of the complex issues impacting Bermuda's resident populations - no matter what race, creed or nationality."

"The fact that the grassroots population has historically been deprived of the tools of self determination means that they are most at risk of destructive policies that result from the prevailing uncertainty in matters of national unity.

"The pathology of psychological dependence and underachievement is demonstrated most profoundly by the fact that neither of the leading political parties are disposed to engage the subject of self-determination for their constituents. This political disconnect has persisted as a result of entrenched adversarial prejudices on questions of race, identity and citizenship. Indeed, the apparent entrenchment of adversarial dysfunction is now at risk of reinforcing the stereotype that the Bermudians are not fit to exercise the responsibilities of a self-determined people because of these self-same pathologies."

It continues: "The Gombey Liberation Party represents grassroots activists from every race, ethnicity, gender and creed who feel the time has come to engage constructively in the process of restorative justice for the psychological, sociological, environmental and economic damage that gas resulted from indiscriminate colonial abuse in Bermuda. The Gombey Liberation Party implements therapeutic rather than adversarial measures to achieve its political aims. These measures require civic engagement at every level of the political process so that balance is maintained between grassroots values and establishment priorities."

It lists faith, family, fulfilment, fairness, freedom, fun, flexibility and unity as grassroots values, while ideology, bureaucracy, necessity, force, control, protocol, efficiency and order are "establishment priorities".

"The Gombey Liberation Party maintains that Bermuda's grassroots population presently suffers from a chronic sense of civic detachment in which political leaders and ordinary constituents alike have become alienated form each other and from the institutions that constitute a healthy civil society."