The ruling Progressive Labour Party (PLP) yesterday invoked Bermuda's fight against racial segregation as it announced four more candidates for the general election.

Finance Minister Eugene Cox labelled criticism of his Government's moves to establish formal links with Caricom as "strongest among those conditioned to supine genuflection to the United Kingdom and the United States, while resolutely looking forward to a past when voting, governing and economic enfranchisement were reserved for the few and denied to the many."

Before naming Patrice Parris, Ottiwell Simmons, Calvin Smith and George Scott as candidates for districts 10, 15,19 and 27 respectively, Mr. Cox said that July was a "triple milestone month" for Bermuda.

Not only did July 2 mark the 40th anniversary of the theatre boycott which led to Island-wide desegregation of public facilities, it also marked Bermuda's formal accession to Caricom Associate Member status, he said.

"Thursday, July 24, is Affirmation Day, the opportunity for the majority of Bermudians to advance the cause of political, social and economic enfranchisement that the PLP election victory heralded on November 9, 1998.

Not everyone in Bermuda would have known its significance or observed the call for a 2-minute pause for peace on Wednesday," Mr. Cox said.

"The capitulation of local segregationists to the pressures of the "Progressive Group" who organised the Theatre Boycott in a segregated Bermuda, was a pivotal development in Bermuda's long and arduous journey to a just and cohesive society."

He lauded the Progressive Group's efforts, saying they paved the way for further progress including universal adult franchise, the 18 year old vote and his party's 1998 election as "Bermuda's first true majority government".

"Not everyone in Bermuda welcomes our membership in CARICOM, or, for that matter, any relationship with the islands to the south," he continued.

"This is despite, and in some obvious instances, because of the genetic links between Bermuda and the Caribbean and, for that matter, between Bermuda and Africa. Resistance to Bermuda's membership in Caricom is strongest among those conditioned to supine genuflection to the United Kingdom and the United States, while resolutely looking forward to a past when voting, governing and economic enfranchisement were reserved for the few and denied to the many."

But that "perspective" was "rudely disrupted" by the PLP's victory at the polls, Mr. Cox added.

"The affirmation of the full empowerment of the majority of the Bermudian people that will come with the re-election of the PLP on July 24 is therefore the worst nightmare of Bermuda's reactionaries."

The United Bermuda Party (UBP) opposes Caricom membership saying it wasn't sold on its purported benefits.

Bermuda formally signed onto Caricom Associate membership yesterday.