Bahamas Endangered Iguanas Intercepted in London

Endangered Iguanas Intercepted in London

The Bahamas High Commission London:




Endangered Bahamian Iguanas in London

The High Commission can confirm that thirteen endangered iguanas were identified and seized from two arriving passengers from The Bahamas at London's Heathrow Airport on Monday 3 February 2014. Two Romanian women, aged 24 and 26, were arrested on suspicion of importation offences and are being held without bail.

On instruction of the Government and in order to assess the animal's welfare and potential for repatriation, the High Commission dispatched an Officer to Heathrow's Animal Reception Centre to meet with Customs Officers where the twelve surviving iguanas are being cared for by Officials from the UK Border Force and City of London.

The High Commission can confirm that the animals were inspected and micro chipped by a specialist veterinarian on Thursday afternoon and the initial results are positive. The High Commission will continue to monitor the welfare of the iguanas while awaiting official test results, before a time frame can be set for their potential return to The Bahamas. A number of partners have offered their assistance in repatriating these animals and the High Commission wishes to express its gratitude to these partners.

The High Commission wishes to further express its gratitude for the assistance received by UK Officials and will continue to provide updates to the public when available.

Photo Caption: The twelve surviving iguanas which were intercepted on Monday are being cared for at Heathrow's Animal Reception Centre by Officials from the UK Border Force and City of London.

Photo Credit: BHC London

The lingering legacy of the transatlantic slave trade and chattel slavery in Caribbean societies

 World Structure May Not Bring Reparations Justice

By RUPERT MISSICK Jr:

THE Caribbean’s claim for reparations over “the lingering legacy of the Atlantic slave trade” is so fundamental to the current world structure that there may be no real, just way to respond, social anthropologist and College of the Bahamas professor Dr Nicolette Bethel told The Tribune.

CARICOM maintains that Caribbean societies have been built upon transatlantic slave trading and chattel slavery. It encouraged the slave-owning nations of Europe – principally Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Denmark – to engage Caribbean governments in reparatory dialogue to address the “living legacies of these crimes”.

This dialogue took place on a smaller level recently in one of Dr Bethel’s classes at COB. She was joined by Dr Gilbert Morris who discussed with the students, via Skype, among other things, the legal foundations of a reparations claim.

Dr Bethel said she invited Dr Morris to lecture her class because she and Dr Morris have different positions on the question of reparations.

“The students need to know that scholars don’t always agree and need to learn how to think for themselves,” she said.

One of the issues surrounding the debate is the question of whether it is possible or even realistic to believe that reparations could take the form of dollars and cents.

Dr Bethel believes the debate should involve both the tangible and intangible.

“For me, the main point is the intangible, immaterial, and fundamental issue – that fundamental issue that when crimes are done to human beings and the world takes note, reparations are paid.

“The fact that people of African and indigenous descent have not been treated the same way suggests that the same lie that was invented to justify the slave trade still holds: that we are somehow less than human, and don’t rate the same respect.

“But the monetary side is also fundamental. The modern capitalist world was built on the forced labour of the people of the ‘new world’ and that debt has yet to be paid.

“Rather than Europe and North America paying back the Caribbean, Caribbean countries’ debts are being multiplied under the current world economic system, which, despite all mouthings to the contrary, is in no way ‘free’, unless the ‘free-ness’ is still free, forced, unwaged, underpaid labour,” Dr Bethel said.

Dr Bethel said that Bahamians have a difficult time addressing the issue of slavery because they were mistaught their history.

“We have deep shame about that history and we have not faced it or discussed it. I think this is by design. We imagine that it might be dangerous to our social relations to do so. Our social relations, whether we talk about the enslavement and dehumanisation of our past or not, are endangered. Perhaps one way of fixing that is to re-humanise us all, and one way of doing that is sitting down and reasoning together,” she said.

Slavery, Dr Bethel said, has created a society in which brutality is still the most accepted way of functioning.

“If we are not brutalising one another in every way, little and big, physical and psychic, we wish to brutalise those people on whom we place the label of ‘brute’ – our poor, our disempowered, the criminals.

“The institution of slavery dehumanised everyone, no matter what their origin. The process of beating down the enslaved dehumanised the enslavers. We have only to look at how we have designed our city and our public institutions to understand that we don’t really believe in our full humanity, our people-ness yet,” Dr Bethel said.

While there are many who feel something should happen in terms of reparations, it is doubtful that anything will.

One recent reparation claim levied against Lloyds of London in 2004 by a coalition of Rastafarian groups argued that European countries formerly involved in the slave trade, especially Britain, should pay 72.5 billion pounds to resettle 500,000 Jamaican Rastafarians in Africa.

The claim was rejected by the British government, which said it could not be held accountable for wrongs in past centuries.

So, in a perfect world, how should the Caribbean’s claim for reparations be answered?

Dr Bethel says she doesn’t know but feels that the Caribbean’s claim is so fundamental to the current world structure that there is no real, just way to respond.

“...So I cannot imagine a perfect world. However, let us look at what the Caribbean, what the new world lacks: we lack a real, fundamental connection to and agreement that our humanity is worth celebrating.

“What we lack is the luxury of spending money on things we deem ‘unnecessary’ but which are critical for the development of democratic and civil society, and that is what we need now.

“A fund for the creation of that kind of infrastructure? I don’t know. A return of all that we have lost – all our ancestral knowledge, our ancestral civilities? Can they be returned? Can they be rebuilt? Can we fund the healing that is necessary?

“Even if it is not possible, the gesture, the foundation, the funding must be provided somehow, somewhere, now,” she said.

February 04, 2014

Tribune 242

What's the precise meaning of the death penalty test imposed by the London-based Privy Council?

Call To End Confusion Over Death Penalty

Tribune242:



ONE of the country’s top judges has called for an end to the confusion surrounding the imposition of the death penalty.

 

Amid escalating crime and growing calls for capital punishment, Court of Appeal President Justice Anita Allen said the precise meaning of the death penalty test imposed by the London-based Privy Council must be made clear.

 

“We’ve considered these decisions, listened to and appreciate the concerns of the public and what the Constitutional Commission has recommended. I suggest that the time has come to bring clarity to the dispensation of justice in these cases,” Justice Allen said.

 

Speaking to politicians and members of the judiciary yesterday during the annual special sitting of the Court of Appeal, she noted that a 2006 Privy Council decision outlawed the mandatory death sentence for murderers then on the books, and made capital punishment discretionary.

 

But, Justice Allen said, the high court’s definition of a capital case as the “worst of the worst or the rarest of the rare” has caused “consternation in the ranks of legal scholars and the general public at large.”

 

“The test,” she said, “even appears to confound judicial thinking as (Privy Council member) Lord Kerr himself admitted in the case of Maxo Tido, when he said that the epithet ‘worst of the worst and rarest of the rare’ gave rise to conceptual difficulty as to which cases qualify for the death penalty.”

 

Responding to calls for the Privy Council to be replaced by the Caribbean Court of Justice, the government-appointed Constitutional Commission warned last year that this move would not necessarily lead to a different stance on capital punishment, or eliminate concerns about “foreignness”.

 

“In reality, London is not much further away from Nassau than Port-of-Spain (Trinidad),” the commission said.

 

Justice Allen’s call for clarity comes on the heels of anti-crime activist Rodney Moncur’s claim that his upcoming march to “remove impediments to capital punishment” will attract thousands of participants.

 

“The society is tired of the number of murders and mayhem which are taking place in the Bahamas and we believe these murders can be reduced through swift justice,” said Mr Moncur.

 

“We are marching once again to bring pressure on the Parliament of the Bahamas to remove all of the impediments which prevent persons charged with murder from getting bail and to move all of the impediments which prevent murderers from being executed.”

 

The last person executed in the Bahamas was David Mitchell in January 2000.

 

He was convicted of stabbing two German tourists to death.

 

Mitchell’s execution was controversial because it was carried out while he had an appeal pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

 

International criticism of the move was followed by a moratorium on capital punishment which lasted until the Privy Council’s 2006 decision in the case of Maxo Tido.

 

January 31, 2014

 

Tribune 242

Bahamians are now engaged in a journey towards economic empowerment and freedom ...the final struggle in the centuries-long voyage from enslavement ...to full freedom for generations to come

The march to Majority Rule, pt. 4

Consider This...

By PHILIP C. GALANIS

“For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.” - Senator Edward M. Kennedy

As we noted in the first three parts of this series, the march to Majority Rule in The Bahamas can be characterized by two words: Sustained struggle.

Earlier this month, we celebrated the first public holiday to commemorate the day that Majority Rule came to The Bahamas on January 10, 1967.  It was a life-changing event that catapulted the lives of many thousands to unimaginable heights.  We began the march to Majority Rule with the discovery of these islands by the Europeans in 1492 and the subsequent accelerated population growth, aided as much by the American Loyalists who sought sanctuary here following the American Revolution, as by the trans-Atlantic slave trade which engendered numerous attempts by those slaves for freedom from their masters.

We also reviewed how the Burma Road Riot, Bahamians who were “on the Contract” and participants in the General Strike helped to create the framework for the attainment of Majority Rule.

In the final installment of this series, we will continue to Consider This… what were some of the major final milestones that contributed to the centuries-long march to Majority Rule?

The Women’s Suffrage Movement

The 1950s was a decade of tremendous activism by Bahamian women who were deprived of many of the benefits of citizenship.  Women could not vote, could not be elected to Parliament, and could not serve on juries, on public boards, as justices of the peace or in many of the established institutions in the colony.  Much has been documented about the women who led the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and the leading “Suffragettes” included Mary Ingraham, Eugenia Lockhart, Georgiana Symonette, Mabel Walker and Althea Mortimer. The Suffragettes petitioned Parliament for the right to vote and were largely supported in their efforts by the Progressive Liberal Party.

Through Doris Johnson, the Suffragettes asked permission to address members of the House of Assembly in 1959, which was refused. However, Magistrate Maxwell Thompson allowed them to use the Magistrate’s Court for their presentation. The Suffragettes’ activism also included a petition to the governor of the colony to change the law for universal suffrage, which, having failed, resulted in them (along with Henry Taylor, then chairman of the PLP) travelling to London to seek assistance from the British government.

The movement sent another petition to the government of the Bahama Islands in 1960 which was also rejected. The PLP took up the cause and held rallies in Nassau and the Out Islands.  Following a relentless, focused and sustained struggle, on February 23, 1961 Parliament passed a bill, which came into effect on June 30, 1962, to allow women to vote and to serve in Parliament.  Registration of women immediately followed and on Monday, November 27, 1962, women voted in The Bahamas for the first time. That election marked a tectonic shift in the body politic.

The general election of 1962

The general elections of 1962 were historic because it was the first general election in which women voted, the first time that the property and company votes were not allowed to vote and an election in which the PLP actually polled a majority of votes cast although it won significantly fewer seats than the incumbent United Bahamian Party (UBP).  In that election, the PLP polled 32,261 votes or approximately 44 percent, winning only eight seats, compared to the UBP which polled 26,500 votes or 36 percent, but winning 18 seats. The Labour Party polled 3,049 votes which represented four percent, winning only one seat.

Several reasons were given for the PLP’s defeat, notwithstanding its decisive plurality.  Clearly there was considerable gerrymandering of seats, allocating a larger number to the Out Islands where it was much easier for the governing party to influence voting behavior by economic threats and political intimidation. In addition, many voters were still out of the colony “on the contract” and, finally, there was a level of trepidation and concern about the ability of black government to govern and maintain the level of political and economic stability to which the colony had become accustomed.  The victory by the UBP resulted in deep-seated racial polarization for the next five years.

Black Tuesday

The next five years would witness considerably greater political activism in anticipation of the general elections in 1967.  The PLP organized and orchestrated its activities with pin-point precision to maximize its political agenda.  On February 4, 1965, during the debate on the report of the Constituencies Commission to which the PLP objected, Milo Butler and Arthur D. Hanna, both PLP members of the House of Assembly, were named and ejected from the House when they refused to take their seats after having exhausted their 15 minute time limit.

Several months later, on April 27, 1965, Lynden Pindling, then leader of the opposition, stated that Premier Symonette and his government appeared to be intransigent on the issue of boundary changes and, given the gerrymandering experience of the 1962 general elections, determined that more radical recourse was required.   Regarding the government’s intransigence, Pindling stated that he could have “no part in it” and picking up the mace (the symbol of the authority of the House), said that “the mace is supposed to belong to the people of the country and the people are outside”. He then threw the mace through the second-floor window to the people below. Milo Butler followed Pindling’s lead by tossing the hour glass, which was used to time speeches, out of the window.

That event, which came to be known as Black Tuesday, stirred the emotions of the people, so much so that the police had to be called to quell the fervor that had been excited by Pindling who left the House to join the people outside.

Over the next two years, the PLP accelerated its political activity including the appeal to the United Nations Committee on colonialism, a boycott of the House of Assembly and the enlistment of support from noted American freedom fighters and celebrities, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte. The PLP also galvanized the support of the unions, churches, and lodges.  The stage was set for the general elections of 1967.

General election of 1967

In addition to the domestic political activism that preceded the elections of 1967, the PLP was successful in exploiting the specter of corruption and conflicts of interest by the UBP government which arose out of several Wall St. Journal articles late in 1966 which alleged the involvement of underworld figures in the casinos in Freeport. Lynden Pindling and Paul Adderley called for a Royal Commission to investigate these allegations and Sir Roland Symonette, the premier, responded by calling a snap general election for January 10, 1967, over 10 months before an election was due.

When the votes were counted, there was a tie: 18 seats for the incumbent UBP and 18 for the PLP with two additional seats: one for an independent, Alvin Braynen, and one for the Labour Party’s Randol Fawkes.  The stage was set for both parties to invite the two individuals to break the tie.  Randol Fawkes, who was more closely aligned with the PLP, threw his support behind the PLP. The story is told that Mr. Braynen had wanted to be the speaker of the House of Assembly but was snubbed by the UBP in 1962, just five years earlier. So when Pindling called Braynen to offer him the speakership, Pindling began the conversation with “Hello, Mr. Speaker,” to which Braynen responded: “Hello, Mr. Premier”.  And the rest is history.  The PLP, now with 20 seats in its voting block, formed the first majority rule government, with Pindling as the nation’s premier, going on to be prime minister for the next 25 years. Fawkes became the minister of labour and Braynen served his remaining years in Parliament as speaker of the House of Assembly.

Conclusion

The long march to Majority Rule in The Bahamas was a sustained struggle that started with Pompey and culminated with Pindling.  Six years later, the Colony of the Bahama Islands joined the community of nations and became the independent Commonwealth of The Bahamas.  The sustained struggle that marked the way to a majority-ruled, independent nation still continues as Bahamians now engage in a journey towards the economic empowerment and freedom that Pindling identified as the final struggle in the centuries-long voyage from enslavement to full freedom for generations to come.

 

• Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis & Co., Chartered Accountants, Forensic & Litigation Support Services. He served 15 years in Parliament. Please send your comments to pgalanis@gmail.com.

January 27, 2014

thenassauguardian

- The march to Majority Rule, Part 3

- The march to Majority Rule, Part 2

- The march to Majority Rule, Part 1

The modern Quiet Revolution in The Bahamas must find root in the development of a cosmopolitan society ...that has no boundaries, no barricades, no social or economic discrimination or segregation ...and no lofty height that could not be attained by the hard work, sustained commitment and discipline of the masses ...It must be a pedestal for the souls of the liberators of the 1967 revolution

A reset of the Quiet Revolution: Towards a new path

RAYNARD RIGBY

We have just marked (and for some, celebrated) the first national Majority Rule Day. Due to the lackluster treatment of the holiday, the significance of the journey to 1967 and the bravery of the faces of the Quiet Revolution must be understood and shared so as to gain a national understanding of why we should pause and reflect on that path in our nation’s struggle.

Much can be said about the successes and failures of our nation in the post-Majority Rule era. There is no denying  that we have made tremendous progress. Since then, the majority has maintained control and has dominated the national political landscape.

This is a singular success of 1967. However, for many, 1967 was (correctly) more than just about the darts and arrows of party politics, or about Pindling for that matter. It marked the culmination of a revolution. Like most revolutions which generally focus on the overhaul of a system or the removal of dictatorial regimes or practices, the Quiet Revolution was grounded in a movement towards the upliftment of a people; of the institutionalization of equal rights and the charting of a national course for the collective advancement of a people, without boundaries, borders, fear or favor.

The truth too is that 1967 was not a struggle to attain black-power-like dominance. This may be startling in light of the fact that there was a prevalent culture of class and race inequality.

The Bay Street oligarchy — the minority — was the reservoir of both economic and political power. They “ran things” and in so doing they held the keys to the future of the majority. However, one glaring and compelling evidence of the cross-race movement that gripped the march to 1967 is the fact that the founders of the Progressive Liberal Party — Henry Taylor, William Cartwright and Cyril Stevenson — were not men of the negro race (arguably they were mulattoes). However, given the class-race culture in the islands at that time they would have enjoyed a pass to enter the socio-economic sub-middle-class.

Understanding 1967 and the magic of the revolution perhaps requires us to be in the bodies and minds of the Exumians and their heroic leader, Pompey. It is to be on the Burma Road revolt at the height of the fight for social justice. It is to join the marches with the suffragists. It is to stand with Clifford Darling and the taxi union in their push for fair standards and practices. It is to hear the voice of Milo Butler as he bellowed out the unfair and discriminatory treatment of working Bahamians. It perhaps is also to stand with Etienne Dupuch and Gerald Cash in their fight in the legislature for the passage of an anti-discrimination resolution. And it requires us to think of what led young minds like Lynden Pindling, Arthur Hanna, Orville Turnquest, Paul Adderley, Arthur Foulkes, Spurgeon Bethell, Oscar Johnson and Warren Levarity, and many others, to organize and join the “people’s struggle” to take on a system that held political power for decades by standing as candidates in the 1962 general election.

The fight of the “majority” was not simply a mission for the further “emancipation” of the former slaves. It was a movement deeply embedded in the spirit of the uniqueness, talent, industriousness and sheer discipline of our history, culture and people. Its central focus was the “final” liberation of the Bahamian soul.

The truth therefore is that 1967 and the ushering in of the first black Bahamian government was a victory for the creation of a more fair and just society.  The myth that must be dispelled is the simplistic notion that the revolution was for the majority, being limited to the blacks.

The revolution was larger than that. It did not have a singular or non-representational agenda or concentration. It was a fight to usher in a sacred sanctity for the natural evolution of the Bahamian spirit. Its embodiment of a communal vision was expressed in the early days of the Citizens Committee which recognized that those blessed to live on these shores were not ordinary but were destined to be a great people, no matter one’s color, creed, religious and political persuasions, abilities and gender.

Simply put, it was a broad social “movement” that saw its constituents as all Bahamians, blacks and whites. It was not discriminatory (whether direct or reverse), but rather progressive and inclusive. It was not class or race conscious. It was liberal and forward thinking.

In today’s analysis of the events that lead to 1967, we must broaden our appreciation for its purpose and value to the development of The Bahamas. It freed a once dormant spirit and it ushered in a push towards a new socio-economic platform that saw the advancement of many Bahamians of the post-1967 generation. It is therefore undeniable that it has its singularly success in the many thousands of faces of Bahamians who advanced far beyond the boundaries of poverty.

The revolution was also transformative, yet in some areas of national life, we have lost our way. We appear (now) to place less emphasis on ensuring the creation of a nation that trends towards common goals and aspirations. We sometimes give the “air” of being a people without direction and focus, and with little national priorities. In areas of our national lives mediocrity is the order of the day. We are devoid of the old values that cemented our “village”. There is an absence of a “collective” national vision. The nation appears to be stagnant and there is a growing sense of hopelessness. Our national leadership seem to enjoy a deficiency of nationalism and we appear to be lost, lacking an agenda towards the further modernization of this nation state. We have lost our progressive edge.

We need to press the reset button to recreate that sense of national purpose, unity and singular call to arms. Our nation’s detour of that purist path must cease and we must restore that once compelling national psyche housed within us.

We must also abandon that elitist attitude that we have achieved all that abounds. We must embrace a new political dispensation that restores us to the paths trod by the revolution. This begs for a recognition that the revolution’s message is relevant and necessary in today’s “modern” Bahamas.

It appeals for a national recommitment to the core and sacred principles of that glorious era so that the new and growing “minority” can be freed from the chains that enslave them. These are the “new” chains of institutionalized poverty, rampant social dislocation and disorder, a glass ceiling that deprives them of social promotion, a system that appears to be ignorant of their plight, struggles and way of life and a society which is shrinking in intellectualism and dynamism.

There is no denying the reality that the tenets of the 1967 revolution can find much space in the modern Bahamas. We have not outgrown her core principles. We should still cry out for bold and progressive leadership which is glued to the idealism of social justice, equality and economic liberation.

We must fill the vacuum for an agenda and plan that is holistic and nationalistic and that has at its core the creation of a society grounded on the foundational pillars of shared prosperity and community. That sense of community though is not restricted to an egotistical definition of national heritage and identity. It is an all-embracing journey that ties together the virtues of productivity, industry, integrity, knowledge, love and peace transcending a narrow interpretation of who is Bahamian.

The modern revolution must find root in the development of a cosmopolitan society that has no boundaries, no barricades, no social or economic discrimination or segregation, and no lofty height that could not be attained by the hard work, sustained commitment and discipline of the masses. It must be a pedestal for the souls of the liberators of the 1967 revolution.

Our work is not yet complete. We must find our voices and courage to stand firm to secure the dreams of the future generations of Bahamians. Our country must be restored to that nobler path of prosperity, peace and love.

 

• Raynard Rigby is an attorney-at-law and former chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party.

January 22, 2014

thenassauguardian

The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) on the Christie administration's deal with Bahamas Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTC) and Cable and Wireless

Bahamians are NO Fools!

The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) is incredulouslydisappointed in the Christie administration, which, as failed negotiations withCable and Wireless further proves, continues to show no real plan forgovernance.

Many Bahamians voted for the Progressive Liberal Party onthe premise that Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) ownership would bereturned to them. They deserve an apology—one from the former Prime Ministerfor selling the corporation in the first place and one from the current PrimeMinister for selling such a far-fetched dream.

“Bahamians are no fools. They are no longer comforted bypromises that lack projection or feasible solutions. We deserve better. Wedeserve more. We deserve a government that can close the deal,” said Mr.McCartney.

Since the deal with BTC and Cable and Wireless took effect,Prime Minister Perry Christie blindly assured Bahamians that his Party could returnto them majority stake. However, according to a recent announcement, that didnot happen. “This is not surprising news” says DNA party leader BranvilleMcCartney “as, like many of their other initiatives, ending in complete andutter failure. Whether it’s the promiseof 10,000 jobs; the mortgage relief plan that provided no relief to anyone; thegaming referendum debacle or the proposed economy destroying VAT plan, thisgovernment string of failures in less than two years is the only recordbreaking thing they’ve done, unmatched by any government in our past.”

The past government sold BTC under such clauses that wereindefinitely irreversible. However, theChristie government has proved that they and the former Ingraham Administrationare two sides of the same coin. Theyboth seem to believe that government ownership of 49% equates to majorityownership.

“While we appreciate that BTC has pledged to give a littlemore in charitable donations, 2% is not a huge break considering that BTC isalready a major sponsor of most national events and initiatives,” said Mr.McCartney.

The DNA is demanding that the government, or BTC, share withthe public the value of what has been given to charitable organizations in 2013and the value of the 2% promised.

The Government is searching for answers in the darkness,wasting time and taxpayer dollars on schemes that result in no wins for theBahamian people. Crime worsens, unemployment rises and regrets soar, asadmitted by Mr. Christie, himself.

Perhaps now Mr. Christie can use his time and resources toplot rational plans to combat crime, create jobs, relieve homeowners andbusiness owners, and explore reasonable tax alternatives. He owes taxpayersthat much. As of this day, the Christie administration is known as the governmentthat makes promises that they can not keep.

January 23, 2014

Democratic National Alliance (DNA)

What were some of the major milestones that contributed to the centuries-long march to Majority Rule in The Bahamas?

The march to Majority Rule, Part III

Consider This...

By PHILIP C. GALANIS

History cannot give us a program for the future, but it can give us a fuller understanding of ourselves, and of our common humanity, so that we can better face the future. - Robert Penn Warren

As we noted in parts I and II of this series, the march to Majority Rule in The Bahamas can be characterized by two words: sustained struggle.

On January 10, we quietly celebrated the first public holiday to commemorate the day that Majority Rule came to The Bahamas in 1967.  It was a life-changing event that catapulted the lives of many thousands to unimaginable heights.  Last week we reviewed three important milestones in the march to Majority Rule that helped to create the framework for the attainment of that achievement: the by-election of 1938, the Burma Road Riot of 1942, and the Contract beginning in 1943.  This week and in the final week in January, we will continue to Consider This…what were some of the major milestones that contributed to the centuries-long march to Majority Rule?

The 1950s were decisively transformative on the march to Majority Rule. It was a decade that witnessed the formation of the PLP in 1953, the 1956 Resolution on Racial Discrimination in the House of Assembly and the 1958 General Strike.

The formation of the PLP

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) was established in 1953, following an attempt by the Citizens’ Committee to actively address some of the rampant discriminatory practices by the white Nassau elite.  The Citizens’ Committee, formed in December 1950 initially protested the government’s refusal to let Bahamians view three films: “No Way Out” (starring Bahamian actor Sidney Poitier), “Lost Boundaries” and “Pinky” all of which addressed societal injustices. Many of the members of the Citizens’ Committee, which was led by Maxwell Thompson, Cleveland Eneas, and A. E. Hutchinson and whose members included Jackson Burnside, Randol Fawkes, Gerald Cash, Kendal Isaacs, Marcus Bethel and other prominent personalities, suffered brutal discrimination and many of its members were deprived of the ability to earn a living by the Bay Street oligarchy as a result of their social activism.

In October, 1953 the PLP was formed by Henry Taylor (who would become the third Bahamian governor general in an Independent Bahamas from June 26, 1988 to January 1, 1992), William Cartwright and Cyril Stevenson with a platform that responded to the challenge by Rev. H. H. Brown that: “The Progressive Liberal Party hopes to show that your big man and your little man, your black, brown and white man of all classes, creed and religions in this country can combine and work together in supplying sound and successful political leadership which has been lacking in The Bahamas.”

The PLP made bold progressive promises for a more equitable social structure including equal opportunities for all Bahamians, better education, universal suffrage, stronger immigration policies, lower-cost housing and the development of agriculture and the Out Islands.

In the early days of the PLP, its members were subjected to abject ostracism and victimization by the white elite, including the loss of jobs and bank credit, as well as canceled contracts.  In 1955, Lynden Pindling and Milo Butler emerged as the leaders of the party, appealing to the black masses to mobilize in advance of the general elections of 1956.  The party also attracted Randol Fawkes, the founder of the Bahamas Federation of Labour in May 1955.

The general election of May 1956 was the first to be fought by an organized political party.  The PLP won six seats in the House of Assembly, four in Nassau and two in Andros. That election significantly accelerated the march to Majority Rule.  In March 1958 the white oligarchy formed themselves into the second organized political unit, the United Bahamian Party (UBP). The UBP would later disband and its members would join forces with the Free National Movement (FNM) in 1972.

The 1956 Resolution on Racial Discrimination in the House of Assembly

In the wake of rampant racial discrimination that prevented access for black people to hotels, movie theatres, restaurants, and other public places, H. M. Taylor, the chairman of the PLP, whose platform vowed to eliminate racial discrimination in the colony, tabled a number of questions to the leader of the government.

Moved by this and in light of his own disgust with racially motivated practices, in January 1956, Etienne Dupuch, the editor of the Nassau Tribune and a member of the House of Assembly for the eastern district, tabled an Anti-Discrimination Resolution in the House of Assembly. During his passionately eloquent speech on the resolution, the speaker of the House of Assembly ordered Dupuch to take his seat, threatening, if he refused to do so, that he would be removed from the chamber by the police.  Dupuch responded: “You may call the whole Police Force, you may call the whole British Army…I will go to [jail] tonight, but I refuse to sit down, and I am ready to resign and go back to the people.”  The speaker abruptly suspended the House proceedings.

Although the resolution was supported by H. M. Taylor, Bert Cambridge, Eugene Dupuch, C.R. Walker, Marcus Bethel, and Gerald Cash, it was referred to a select committee, effectively killing it.  However, the following day, most of the Nassau hotels informed the public that they would open their doors to all, regardless of their race.

The 1958 General Strike

The General Strike began in January 1958 after several months of tension that arose because of the government’s plans to allow hotels and tour buses that were owned by the established white tour operators to provide transport for visitors to and from the airport, at the expense of predominantly black taxi drivers who made a large portion of their living transporting tourists between the new Windsor Field (Nassau International) Airport and downtown hotels.  To allow the hotels and tour companies to supplant the taxi drivers would severely curtail the ability of black taxi drivers to earn a decent living.

The government learned that the taxi drivers would vehemently protest this arrangement when they blockaded the new airport on the day it opened.  On that day, nearly 200 union taxi drivers stopped all business at the airport for 36 hours, showing their determination to protest the government’s plans. Negotiations on 20 points ensued between the union, represented by Lynden Pindling and Clifford Darling, the union’s president, and the government for the following eight weeks, but broke off after they could not agree on one final point.

On January 11, 1958 the taxi union voted for a general strike and the next day the General Strike commenced with the cessation of work at hotels, which was supported by hotel and construction workers, garbage collectors, bakers, airport porters and employees of the electricity corporation.  The strike lasted until January 31 and prompted a visit to the colony by the secretary of state for the colonies who recommended constitutional and political and electoral reforms which were incorporated into the General Election Act of 1959. Following the General Strike, male suffrage was introduced for all males over 21 years of age and the company vote was abolished.

Undoubtedly, the General Strike accentuated the ability of effective reform that could be achieved by the peaceful mobilization of the black majority.

Conclusion

Next week, we will review the decade of the 1960s and discuss how the Women’s Suffrage Movement, the 1962 general elections and Black Tuesday culminated in the eventual attainment of Majority Rule with the general elections of 1967.

 

• Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis & Co., Chartered Accountants, Forensic & Litigation Support Services. He served 15 years in Parliament. Please send your comments to pgalanis@gmail.com.

January 20, 2014

thenassauguardian

- The march to majority rule, pt. 1

- The march to majority rule, pt. 2

- The march to majority rule, pt. 4