IT'S ALL STUPID!

There is a level of discussion that is needed in Anguilla politics. A level only a few of our politicians or political pundits are capable of attaining, however none have made the effort to achieve this level. There is the possibility that certain issues that need to be discussed will be unpopular with the masses and might render those who participate in the discussion unelectable, however these things must be discussed and understood before Anguillians are ready to take the next step.

If politicians know better they have to do better, they cannot fail to make economic decisions because it’s an election year; they cannot turn a blind eye to the unethical practices of friends. They cannot be soft on crime and condone stupidity just because the criminal and the stupid are their friends or supporters. They cannot become a supporter of independence just because the people object to their political style or because they hate the British or the British Governor of the day. Anguilla cannot become independent to satisfy the egotistical needs of any politician, preacher, fisherman or hotel worker.

In order to build a new Anguilla, Anguillians have to follow processes and have standards that are fair to all. Anguillians must respect and preserve the rule of law. A criminal is a criminal, and criminals destroy lives and property. It matters little if the criminal is local or foreign. Anguillians cannot socially ostracize the police or the magistrate because they are too tough on crime. Anguillians cannot continue to know who the local thugs are but refuse to identify them. The blind cannot continue to lead the blind, whether it a political party or a radio talk show.

By: Statchel Warner

HOW TO OCCUPY THE MORAL AND POLITICAL HIGH GROUND

As UK citizens are being told once again to "trust" the gatekeepers of the global banking system and as US citizens are realising that, despite a first amendment that guarantees freedom of speech and assembly, they are facing potentially lethal rubber bullets in Oakland and police brutality ranging from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to the streets of Manhattan, what is becoming clear is that a game-changing global shift is taking place. The conflict is no longer between right and left, but between the "one per cent" – a corporatocracy that, without transparency or accountability, is claiming the lion's share of the planet's resources and capital, while disregarding democratic processes – and, well, the rest of us.'

This single global family, transcending national boundaries, just wants a peaceful life, a sustainable future, economic justice and basic democracy. On the other side, the global corporatocracy, also transcending national boundaries, has purchased governments and legislative processes, developed its own military, mercenary or quasi-military enforcers, engaged in systemic economic fraud and plundered treasuries and ecosystems.

What should global protest movements learn from what's happening around the world and what lessons should they draw from their own experiences? My study of successful protest movements leads me to suggest the following:

■ Democracy is disruptive. Around the world, peaceful protesters are being demonised for this, but there is no right in a democratic civil society to be free of disruption. Protesters ideally should read Gandhi and King and dedicate themselves to disciplined, long-term, non-violent disruption of business as usual – especially disruption of traffic. If they are peaceful, they can't be infiltrated by provocateurs as easily, while the unjust militarisation of the police response is more transparent. Also, the winning protest movements of the past were a matter of months or years, not days or hours; they involved sitting down or "occupying" areas for the long haul.

■ Protesters need to raise their own money and use it to hire their own lawyers. The corporatocracy is terrified that citizens will get their hands on the mechanism of the law.

■ Protesters should make their own media and not rely on mainstream media to cover them. They should learn to write opinion pieces and press releases, blog about and document their experiences and create web platforms where cases of police abuse (and the abusers) are logged and documented. Protesters should use their cameras and video cameras religiously. There are, unfortunately, many documented cases of violent provocateurs in demonstrations. This is why it is so important not to cover one's face in a protest: provocateurs need to be photographed and logged.

■ Protesters in democracies should create email lists locally, sync the email lists nationally and start registering voters. They need to email their representatives the list of Occupy-registered voters in each district and commit to getting out the vote in congressional or parliamentary elections for Occupy-supporting candidates – while working to defeat Occupy-bashing candidates.

In Oakland, California, the right has started a recall effort to force the mayor from office for being "soft on the protesters". Protest groups need to organise to oust politicians who are brutal to or suppressive of protesters. This tips the scale: in Albany, New York, for instance, police and the district attorney refused to crack down on protesters and chose to support their first amendment rights.

■ The movement has been shy of identifying leaders, but I believe this is a mistake. A leader does not have to be a top-down hierarchist: a leader can be a simple representative. Protesters should elect representatives – for a given term just like in any democracy – and train them to talk to the press and to negotiate with politicians. These should span the spectrum: young people and grandparents, truckers and teachers and businesspeople. It is hard to cover the protest effectively if there are no spokespeople.

■ Protests should be scenes not of clashes but instead should model the kind of civil society this emerging human family wants to live in. In Zuccotti Park, in Manhattan, for instance, there is a kitchen, food is donated for free, kids are invited to sleep over and there are teach-ins organised. Musicians should bring instruments, the vibe should be joyful and positive. If there is mess, protesters should clean it up themselves. The idea is to build a new city within the corrupt city and show that this is a reflection of the majority of society, not a marginal destructive element.

■ Finally, we should understand that it is not a "list of demands" that is so profound about any of these protest movements; it is the very infrastructure of a common humanity that is being created. For decades, the global family has been told to keep its head down and leave leadership to the elites; in wealthy countries, to zone out in front of TV or at the mall; in the rest of the world, to submit to poverty and drudgery. What is transformative about the protest movement is that people are emerging and encountering one another face to face and remembering the habits of freedom: face to face, they build new institutions, new relationships and new organisations.

And, I hope, pass laws sooner rather than later to demilitarise the police; ban Tasers and rubber bullets; criminalise police and politician violence against free speech activities; demand prosecutions for financial fraud; compel the corporate books that unaccountably swallow billions in tax revenue to be audited; investigate torturers; bring home soldiers from corporate wars of choice – and rebuild society, this time from the grassroots up, accountably, lawfully and democratically.

By: Naomi Wolf

Naomi Wolf is the author, among other books, of The Beauty Myth and Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries. She is a graduate of Yale University and New College, Oxford.

"TIME FOR SOME GOOD NEWS!"

Over the past week culminating on Sunday, I had the opportunity to participate in a number of evangelical services on Anguilla at the Bethel Methodist Church as well as a dedication service for the newly built Good News Baptist Church in St Maarten. All of these events were to say the least inspiring. And the messages that emanated from the various pulpits were both uplifting and edifying. Among several others, there seemed to be a common theme in all these events, that is, the role of the Christian Church in the community and need for believers to grow in Christ and use their special talents to bring others into the fold to make a positive difference in their communities and the world. For those who came with an open heart and mind the messages were very personal indeed. And I am certain that every heart was touched in some measure by the worship experience as a whole.

The dedication service in St Maarten, however, had an additional dimension that transcended the “spoken word” and the worship and fellowship experience. It was the physical manifestation of what can be achieved by Leaders with a strong faith motivating “god fearing” people to do great things. I am certain that every single Anguillian (and there were over a hundred strong) who made the decision to travel to St. Maarten to attend the dedication service for the Good News Baptist Church in St. Peters were exceedingly proud. That pride comes from the fact that a young Anguillian Pastor and his family decided to move to St. Maarten seven years and seven months ago and led a congregation of believers to do great things. It was not in a “strange land” given our historical, social, familial and economic connections, but it was certainly not the country of his birth and infant nurture. Pastor Roderick Webster as a new Pastor assigned to a church already established for thirty-five years, convinced his congregation to tear down the old church building and construct a new one from the ground up.

The new Good News Baptist Church dedicated on Sunday October 30th, 2011 is a magnificent edifice in the heart of the St. Peters Community. It is an imposing structure without and awesome sanctuary within. Its beauty and splendour is befitting the purpose for which it was built --- to worship and glorify God. And only strong faith, perseverance and sound leadership could have led to its completion.

It is also very obvious that Pastor Webster is well loved and respected by his congregation, which is a clear indication of caring and understanding leadership. We salute Pastor Webster for this demonstration of how good Leadership constrained by a love of God can move people to do exceedingly greater things than they even imagined. Not only his colleagues in the Priesthood Ministry --- but those in the Political Ministry who were invited to the service as well, liberally heaped such salutations and kudos on the Pastor and his family. One could not but reflect on the biblical observation that “ a prophet is not without honour but in his own country.”

Speaking of caring and understanding leadership the cries of many people in our beloved country Anguilla ring out as they try to make sense of what has actually befallen them. Everyday we stumble from one crisis to another as if to remind us of the predictions of Rev. John A. Gumbs that “we would be punished”. Unhappily though, that punishment was not predicted to apply to persons who voted for the AUM, but to the Anguilla United Front supporters who in their loyalty to a government that gave them several years of prosperity and decisive leadership voted for the AUF. According to the AUM cleric, in so doing they “committed an act against God”. As lesser mortals, and like “the publican standing afar off” many of us must have said: “God be merciful to me a sinner!” The reality is that the AUM and the AUF supporters as well as the APP and other independents in between may be suffering from that apparent “act of blasphemy” that was committed by a “self-proclaimed intermediary” professing to relay a missive from God. On the other hand without claiming to received any revelation from the most high, I had predicted during the election campaign that the AUM could “fly an election campaign but could not land a government!” Just in last week’s Anguillian alone there were two contributions that give support to my point view, namely, a “Letter to the Editor” by Mr. Sheridan Smith and an “Open Letter to Honourable Walcott Richardson” by the Honourable Edison Baird, the Minister of Social Development. I will discuss them briefly to elucidate my point.

Mr. Sheridan Smith’s Letter. In his letter to the editor Mr. Smith was for the most part commenting on a discussion of a letter that he sent to the Chief Minister as the Minister also responsible for Finance and Economic Development on July 1, 2011 and copied to the Anguillian for public information/education. The letter presents a clear proposal worthy of discussion on how the Government might develop some new revenue streams. Mr. Smith’s proposal became the subject of discussion on the well-known “ Mayor’s Show” between three Anguillian panelists living in the United States. According to Mr. Smith as usual Mr. Haydn Hughes, the Parliamentary Secretary called in with an intervention that exposed a concession for the Viceroy based on the full waiver of alien landholding licence fees for a period of five years. Mr. Smith’s view is that though his proposal suggested a reduction in alien landholding licence fees, it was based on an industry wide concession to stimulate the economy rather than an individual property.

Obviously, Mr. Smith’s proposal could take some fine-tuning but it is not far removed from the concession that the Anguilla United Front granted in the early period of the recession to stimulate the sale of high priced real estate for a period of twelve months in the first instance. The concession was made known in a release from the Ministry of Finance on July 1, 2009, which in part read as follows:

“During this period of financial constraints it is important that we make every effort to revitalize the real estate sector as well as the construction activity, which flows from it. This does not mean a relaxation of the policy on land alienation as it relates to undeveloped land but assisting properties that are already developed to be disposed of when required. It is apparent that when times are tough every penny counts and real estate agents and property owners have been complaining that the high alien land holding licence fee is a disincentive to buyers from outside of Anguilla. In these times of tight liquidity it is important to attract financial resources from outside of Anguilla. This can be achieved without embarking on a program of massive land alienation. That would not be a good thing in the long term.

To address these needs the Government of Anguilla (GOA) as a part of its Fiscal and Economic Recovery Plan (FERP) will be putting in place an incentive to generate economic activity in this area. In this context, the Government, effective today July 1, 2009, will reduce the Alien Land Holding Licence Fees on real estate transactions on built development. On such transactions the applicable fees which are set at twelve and a half percent (12.5 %) will now be reduced by fifty percent (50%) for real estate transactions valued at less than Five Million U.S. Dollars (> US$ 5,000,000) --- and by sixty percent (60%) for real estate transactions valued over Five Million U.S. Dollars (< US$5,000,000). This means that the applicable fees for these categories will now be six and a quarter percent (6.25 %) and five percent (5%), respectively. This incentive will be for a period of twelve months ending June 30, 2010.”

While I am not acquainted with the details of Haydn Hughes’s stated concessions I am surprised that as one of the “campaign pilots” of the AUM that criticized the Anguilla United Front for excessive concessions --- he seems to be boasting about specific concessions to one property exclusively. The point that Mr. Smith so eloquently makes is that such a concession must be for the general real estate sector rather than for any particular project --- which is exactly what the Anguilla United Front did. The general AUM behaviour continues to demonstrate that the same policies which they condemned are the ones they are forced to adopt --- but without a sense of balance and careful analysis.

Mr. Smith in his letter also makes a point worthy of repetition as he analyzes our present predicament when he wrote: “The one thing this government has achieved is that it has squandered the people’s trust. …. “Just imagine that these cowards would go Into the House of Assembly just to be able to curse each other. And if anyone disagrees with them they go to the extremes to annihilate the character of hardworking honest citizens.” … “Who left Anguilla in a will just for them?” Four of my “oft repeated” points are included in that quote from Mr. Smith: 1) They have deceived Anguillians. 2) They are cowards. 3) They cannot take criticism. 4) They believe that the rules do not apply to them.

Mr. Baird’s Letter to Mr. Walcott R’dson. In his open letter to Mr. Richardson the Minister of Education laments his inability to get consensus from his own colleagues in Government to pass the Education Bill 2011. All this despite the fact that it was agreed in Executive Council after a period of wide consultations; later taken to the House of Assembly where its second reading was postponed by the Speaker of the House acting in her own discretion; brought back to Executive Council for further amendments; it was re-gazetted for further public consultations; the Bill was then openly opposed by the Minister’s colleagues on public talk shows; and the Minister has now decided that after eight times it would be futile to take the Bill back to Executive Council unless he receives his colleagues’ objections in writing. This whole issue is shameful example of the inability of the Chief Minister to manage and control his own Government. It is a national political fiasco. It reinforces my point that the AUM cannot “land a government”. There is opposition from without and within and the Chief Minister is helpless to do anything about it. He cannot control his own Ministers! And it brings back the question raised by the same Mr. Baird in “His Confessions” in his other statement to the Press entitled: “Who Runs Anguilla?”

Mr. Baird points out that the purpose of the Bill is to “provide for the orderly and coordinated development of a relevant, varied and comprehensive educational system in Anguilla characterized by excellence.” He indicates that his colleagues’ opposition to the Bill after such extensive discussion and consultations is “unfathomable and unreasonable”. And he emphasizes the fact that “it is unfair to the Anguillian children, through inaction, to allow other islands to run furiously ahead of us.”

This entire issue raises serious questions! In this challenging period when it is necessary to have stability in Government why are Ministers bickering among themselves on national media? Is the Chief Minister capable of resolving this matter with his Ministers? Is Mr. Baird satisfied with the relationship he has with his Ministerial Colleagues? Is Mr. Baird the problem or is it the other Ministers? If Mr. Baird is the problem why does the Chief Minister not dismiss him? If Mr. Baird is having problems with the Chief Minister and his colleagues on the other hand why does he not resign? This is a real dilemma which points to deeply rooted dysfunctions in the Government. And must have a serious effect on achieving good governance. Unlike the Good News Baptist Church there is no caring and understanding leadership in the GOA providing positive motivation for our people in these challenging times.

Finally, I have intentionally decided not to comment at this time on the present situation at Cap Juluca --- even though the blogs are filled with the usual “smoke screens” seeking to divert attention and spread lies. We recognize our responsibility to allow the principals involved at the ownership level, to resolve their issues within the legal framework of their agreement without any real or perceived interference from our party. Even though we remain concerned about the number of “loose statements” which the Chief Minister continues to make without regard for the delicate nature of the issues involved. Everyone is hurting! It is time for some Good News!

By: Victor F. Banks

Victor Banks is a former Finance, Economics, Commerce and Tourism Minister on Anguilla. He is presently the leader of the Oposition Anguilla United Front Party, writer and author of a weekly political article for the Anguillian News Paper, lyricist, and a self-employed entrepreneur.

DISENCHANTMENT!!!

Some accepted the new Government of 2010 without hesitation! Reasons were disillusionment, the rapid change in the economic situation together with heightened uncertainty hovered over the country during that period, it brought much anxiety and no one seemed able to explain why things changed that quickly, the elections were timely, which results brought new promise. We are now close to two years into the governing term of this administration and observers now say that the people have lost the enthusiasm and have slipped into a very somber mood. Things have only gotten worse; consequently, present conditions are bearing heavily on the individual condition, the island is experiencing a turbulent period. The premise of a “plan” that would immediately reverse the trend and return the island to prosperity has not materialized and the level of confidence which emanated from the campaign has now simmered down to mere speculation. The notion that dismissed anything to do with a world-wide recession claiming that the people of Anguilla were victims of “bad government” under AUF, unattended by the British Government has proven not sustainable therefore, it now exposes the depth of unpreparedness of this team in anticipating of the reins of government..

It is unusual for a new government this far in their term not to have any clarity into the direction of the country, having not laid out a program with clear positions people are losing hope. Considering that a change of government usually, and most likely comes with a framework to succeed, there is a narrow window to analyze and make the necessary reviews for a reset. The People of Anguilla have come to love their politics and embrace the process which has evolved over many years; we love to engage each other in political debate, and even though some are well entertained by the protracted stalemate between the Governor and a faction of this government lead by Chief Minister Hughes it is now reflecting the impotence impacting the government. People like to ride the momentum but that window quickly closes with the lack of optimism and results. In general, people are now lowering expectations and the many pundits that were strongly defending the campaign and applauding the new government are slowly retracting and walking back their talk, in fact many of those voices have been silenced, the mood of the country has in effect changed, and people are now looking at very gloomy prospects, having concluded that this government indeed is without a clue how to fix things.

We must focus our attention on real matter that would make a difference; instead, our elected representatives use their esteem positions to insult and denigrate each in the “House” while to be considering honorable. If this kind of energy were exploited in reviving the Anguilla economy and creating jobs our people would have hope and homes and property may be preserved. To uphold this festooned honor, our representatives must themselves show respect for the country, the people and our honorable House. What disseminates from these sessions are much less than honorable, and more so, for member to be addressed as honorable with such state of mind is ironic. Our Representatives must respectfully discharge their responsibility to this society with respect, upholding the character of the House of Representatives, show respect for their associates and respect all positions associated with government. There is little respect shown to the position of Governor, The Deputy or the Attorney General, a posture seemed to be promoted in particular by this government, with such a low threshold of regard the same is meted in the most dishonorable form; we have no respect Minister to Minister, no respect Chief Minister to Governor, no respect Elected Representative to each other and therefore no respect from the people to the government.

This government has chosen to expend its time preoccupied with the role and function of the Governor which bears no immediate consequence for the people of Anguilla, if it’s a matter of policy to disregard this function aliened with our constitution, then such must be declared and the people must be clearly informed where this government is taking the country. If there is no such policy government must operate in absolute coherence with the constitution and conform to its directives. This matter should be put to rest and calm must be restored for the good of the country. Even if this Governor is recalled today, his replacement would be much of the same, which is to carry out the policies of the British Government in the governance of its Dependent Territories. Our government should get on with its agenda of setting policy and governing to shape the future and bring a spirit of optimism to the country, recompose its self with a full ministerial body and put an end to the factional dysfunction.

The political process we know must make the difference we aspire, and at some point our representatives must come to understand the consequence of their actions knowing that the work they do affects the country on a whole. Our politicians must be able to eloquently entertain opposing views, not respond with treats and insults, carry on debate in the House with integrity and respect for themselves and those they refer to as honorable. It is time that our elected representatives take a civil approach to the business of the people and learn to utilize the consultative process within our constitution for the greater good. Our Elected Representatives must utilize the appropriate tool for effective governing. Use the tools of dialogue, be tough, but respectful; the strength of a well formed opinion, a well articulated opposing view and well constructed thought process which is geared at producing results, all of which works in the advancing of our country and to bring hope to the people , “a people that is now disenchanted.”

By: Elliot J. Harrigan