Webb assails ?fundamentalism? and hate
PLP backbencher gave a powerful speech warning of the dangers Bermuda faces if it continues to have Government and religion as close bedfellows, particularly with taxpayers money being used to promote religious events and causes.
And she had stinging remarks to the preachers who took part in a recent prime-time TV broadcast that heaped scorn, condemnation and repulsion on homosexuals. Ms Webb began by calling on people to realise that Government and the State do not exist to molly-cuddle people from cradle to grave, but that they must take responsibility for their own lives first and foremost.
Government would give assistance but that helping hand should not be mistaken for a right to be looked after by Government, she argued.
?Government is responsible for giving people a hand-up. It is not Government?s responsibility to ?fix people?, we have to take responsibility for our own lives,? she said. ?Some people think Government is responsible for putting the education in your head and finding you a house when you are making no effort yourself.?
She said it was not for Government to take the blame for people being homeless or on drugs. ?Who asked people to go and take drugs?? the MP asked.
She said Government would give aid to help people to get off drugs but tit was important to remember that everyone has a personal responsibility for their circumstances and this also related to the high level of failings amongst schoolchildren where it could be said parents themselves were failing their own youngsters.
Ms Webb hit back at the UBP?s reply to the Throne Speech for using the term ?smell of corruption lingers in the House? in relation to the Government as being an inappropriate term and unlikely to be used in any other Parliament around the world, particularly as it was not backed by proof.
On race she said the real differences are caused by economics, and those below the poverty line, without homes, without jobs are mostly made up of those who did not prosper in the past.
She urged her Government to find ways to address the issues of those who did not benefit as a consequence of past constitutional racism.
And Government has not done enough to balance out the disparities caused by international businesses and hotels on the Island being predominantly owned and run by ?whites and foreigners?.
She acknowledged the need of foreigners in Bermuda?s economy but said Bermudians also need to feel the benefits.
Religion and the sway it appears to hold over Parliament is a major concern of Ms Webb. ?I have a problem with taxpayers? money going into ?faith-based tourism? ? this is how fundamentalism starts in society.?
In a secular society everyone is represented, she said, but it was dangerous for Government to fund religious activities.
She also spoke about a TV broadcast made in the run up to the multi-church gathering at the national stadium where the Human Rights Act Amendment was one of the advertised topics.
Ms Webb tried but failed earlier this year to have the Act amended to specifically protect people against discrimination on the grounds of racial orientation.
She said: ?That programme on TV was a travesty. It should never have been allowed. It tore hate through the airwaves of this country.?
She said no one should be discriminated against and said the preachers who took part in the TV programme ?should all be ashamed?. She added: ?These were black people who went through discrimination are now discriminating against a consenting adult sleeping with another. Can?t we connect the dots and see that it?s wrong to discriminate for whatever reason? I don?t want to be part of a community that promotes religious dogma through taxpayers dollars.?
Shadow Race Relations Minister was next to speak and said that everyone had a right to have their voice heard and any group could buy time on TV or call their MP to do so. He pointed out that economic exploitation continues to be a problem on the Island with young mothers working multiple jobs to survive, professional couples priced out of the housing market and skilled young men returning to the Island but unable to get a job.
A landlord/tenants Bill of Rights is needed to protect landlords and tenants, he argued, and Government needed to remove what he termed ?anti-family housing policies? such as those that split up mothers from their children or family members from other family members staying in sheltered accommodation.
He also wants to see immigration problems addressed, such as requirements for guest workers to have good English and to be given orientation on Bermudian customs, such as responding to ?Good Morning? and alike.
On race he said it was not right to tell the older generation who lived through the worst of segregation and racism to ?get over it? but to find real solutions.
And Mr. Simmons praised Government?s efforts towards economic empowerment of the disadvantaged through setting up specific zones such as the one identified in North Hamilton.
?That is something I am passionate about but Bermuda is 20 years behind the rest of the world,? he said. Mr. Simmons further suggested that a Community Trust Board could be set up to buy derelict buildings and plots of land which could then be put to good use, have technical trade training that encompasses high tech areas such as computing and assessment of longer term needs so that Bermudians might be trained up to fill workplace vacancies that can be predicted in the middle to long term.
Continued on Page 8