The Challenges of Nation Building

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

The Bahamas has reached a very important and challenging point in its history and Bahamians at every level of the society are wondering where it is we want to take the country from here.

Most of the time, we use the words “country” and “nation” interchangeably. Without always making the distinction, many Bahamians are in fact talking about the development of the country and the impact that development is having not only on the environment but on the nation, meaning the people.

The stark possibility confronting us is that we can continue to develop the country and leave the nation behind. In this context the nation is, of course, the people who are culturally Bahamian and constitutionally citizens of this archipelagic Commonwealth.

We are all the descendants of immigrants – mostly settlers and slaves -- going back hundreds of years, but we have become a distinct nation. Even so, the vast majority of Bahamian families have been touched in the last three or four generations by later immigrants.

Nearly half a century ago, the late Sir Etienne Dupuch gave a public lecture to a white Bahamian politician who had been boasting about how far back his “Bahamian blood” went.

The politician, who is happily still alive today, had an old “Bahamian name”, but Sir Etienne knew his history and reminded him that each succeeding generation of the family had married foreigners. He concluded that the “Bahamian blood” must now be running quite thin in the family’s veins.

Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a Bahamian name since our family names have their origins in Europe (mostly English, some Scottish, Irish, French, Greek, and there used to be a family in Kemp’s Bay with a Russian name). There are other names originating in the Far East and Africa.

Neither is there any such thing as “Bahamian blood”. There are some Bahamians – supposedly educated people -- who still indulge in the kind of racist claptrap which was the cause of embarrassment to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently. The Governor made a foolish remark about how people with “black blood” and “Latino blood” are naturally volatile.

Through a process of social evolution and assimilation, and historical and geographical circumstances, we have all become Bahamians. Black Bahamians are far removed from Africa but elements of our culture are still recognizably African. Our national street festival, Junkanoo, although considerably evolved, is of African origin.

White Bahamians have perhaps retained more of their European connection but even that is tenuous. Years ago the segregated Presbyterians used to fly in haggis from Scotland for their St. Andrew’s Day celebration, but that has changed and the taste for haggis has apparently disappeared.

Before majority rule there was a commonality of interests between white Bahamians and the British colonial masters, but it was an uneasy relationship. British civil servants looked down on the local whites and there was considerable tension between the two groups.

Sir Stafford Sands was not reluctant to express his disdain for the British overlords to whom he probably felt superior; and on one occasion in the House of Assembly Sir Alvin Braynen was downright rebellious on the occasion of the arrival of another British governor.

In his inimitable style, Sir Alvin commented on the arrival at Rawson Square of the new representative of Her Majesty the Queen. He described the governor’s imperious manner, his white uniform and plumed helmet and added:

“And did you notice the spurs on his heels? Did you see a horse anywhere? So who do you suppose he has come to ride? Why us, of course!”

Both Sir Stafford and Sir Alvin were Bahamians. So are the rest of us, whether we came here directly from Europe or Africa, India or China, or by way of Louisiana or South Carolina, Jamaica or Haiti.

But having evolved that identity, Bahamians are quite jealous of it. As a matter of fact, this nation of immigrant descendants has a pronounced streak of xenophobia running straight through.

Some resent the white foreigner as representative of those who used to hold black Bahamians in cruel servitude then second-class citizenship; and others are perversely gratified that at long last they have somebody to look down on and to abuse: the poor Haitian.

So a development model for The Bahamas that encourages a huge white foreign settler society at the top and an even larger black expatriate worker population at the lower economic levels will be highly provocative and almost certainly explosive. But it seems that is exactly the direction in which we are now headed.

For the time being the Bahamian professional and business classes have been protected from the open-door policy that would have been a part of the CSME package and would have added to the problem.

Spectacular development of the country can easily be achieved. Just open everything up. Let the investors come in droves to do exactly what they want to do. Sell or give away all the best Bahamian land for lots to be put on the international market. Let the oil and gas industry rip up the ocean floor and the reefs to look for oil and to lay pipes to Florida.

We will be the richest little country in the world. Some Bahamians, especially connected law firms and real estate agencies, will make bundles of money. But we will be a dispossessed and troubled nation.

Perhaps one day when the civilization movement is more advanced, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, culture and language, will all cease to be reasons for conflict but, rather, causes for universal celebration. Then, perhaps, the artificial boundaries of states, trading blocs and empires will come down and humans will move freely across the globe.

But for now we must recognize just what point we are at in history and what the realities are. This is not the time for reckless abandon and a laissez-faire attitude toward development and immigration.

We must make sure that the country is developed in an orderly fashion and that the best interests of the Bahamian people are the primary focus of development policies.

The great challenge facing us today is that the development of the nation is lagging too far behind the development of the country. Too many Bahamians are unable, for one reason or another, to take full advantage, or any advantage at all, of the opportunities created by development. That is a recipe for disaster.

Bahamians are a talented people and we have demonstrated throughout our history that we are capable of rising to world class heights in a multitude of disciplines and pursuits.

But there are some serious flaws in our society which are exacerbated by a dumbing down and excessive permissiveness in Western society. The result is that too many of our young people are ill-equipped and lack the motivation to participate in the development taking place all around them.

That is our challenge. It is a challenge that demands an acknowledgement of the structural weaknesses in our society and a summoning of intellect and will to deal with them. It is a challenge of education and training, of socialization and cultural development in its broadest sense. It is a challenge of nation-building.

Perhaps we will always need foreigners to come and help us develop our country – investors, residents, professionals and workers – and maybe the best of them will stay with us and become Bahamians. But this process must be carefully and intelligently managed.

And when we will have become the nation we can be, perhaps we will have more confidence to exorcise the demons of racism and xenophobia -- the demons of self-hatred -- which still haunt us.

Comments

[Etienne Christen]

Dear Sir Arthur:

Your article was outstanding. I wish this kind of reasoned and well thought out talk and not the simplistic and crude language of the current government's 'Bahamianisation' program was the dominant message being sent out. I am fully agreed with your position.

[Arthur Foulkes]

Dear Mr. Christen

Your comments are much appreciated. Thanks. I just hope that we can start in earnest to deal with our societal problems before they become irreversible.