Bahama Pundit

The Aromas of Christmas - in Guyana and the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

My house reeks of garlic and vinegar.

It always does at this time of year. That's because the wife has an almost religious compulsion to make Carne de Vinagre e Alhos, a traditional Portuguese Christmas dish.

Not that she's Portuguese, I hasten to add. Actually she's from Guyana - and mostly Amerindian, with admixtures of African, Dutch and Welsh.

In Guyana, Carne de Vinagre e Alhos is better known as garlic pork. It involves pickling for several days a few pounds of chops in vinegar spiced with salt, hot peppers, garlic and thyme, and then frying the meat on Christmas morning. Served with pink gin it's better than bacon, I have to say.

The Future of US Foreign Policy

by Larry Smith

"The United States invariably does the right thing, after having exhausted every other alternative." -- Winston Churchill.

A collection of elder statesmen in the US have concluded that the "grave and deteriorating" situation in Iraq requires a radical new approach. And that could lead to a big rethink of how America behaves in the world, especially following the Republican defeat in the recent mid-term elections.

There is little doubt that the aggressive unilateralism of President George W Bush has alienated allies and damaged American interests around the world. Some have described Dubya as "arguably the worst president since the US became a world power" - an opinion borne out by his plummeting popularity. Question is, what happens now in terms of America's relations with the rest of the world?

Any attempt to answer that must take a long view. This administration's Iraq policy is the most muscular expression of American strategic power since the end of the Vietnam War. And that tragic conflict marked the limits of American power at the height of the East-West conflict.

Compton's Election and the Relevance of Age in Politics

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

Sir John Compton was sworn in as prime minister of St. Lucia last week at the age of 81. He had come out of 10 years of retirement to confront the incumbent, 56-year-old Dr. Kenny Anthony.

His triumphant return generated speculation in the Caribbean about his intentions as well as a lively discussion on the relevance of age in the political arena.

In politics, as in other fields, there are early bloomers and late bloomers, some who never bloom and some, like Sir John, who seem to bloom for a lifetime.

On Abolition

by Nicolette Bethel

In 2007, we in the British New World will observe a bicentenary of great significance. The anniversary I'm talking about is the Abolition of the slave trade by Great Britain. That is a different thing from the Abolition of slavery, which made it illegal for anyone throughout the British Empire to own other human beings. Rather, it was the abolition of the practice of sailing to other people's countries and enslaving their people to provide free labour on land appropriated from yet another set of people.

In 1807, the British Parliament made it illegal to enslave human beings afresh. The Abolition Act didn't grant immediate freedom to those people who were already slaves; but it put an end to the profiteering that came from capturing new people.

We know slavery was bad. We know it's an indelible part of our history. But it's over, and it has been in our country for almost two hundred years. So why should we commemorate Abolition, when it didn't actually erase the institution of slavery or free the slaves?

A Perspective on Bahamian Social Security

by Larry Smith

With all the fussing and fighting about government's proposed national health scheme, we thought a four-dimensional view might be useful.

Our existing social security system was created in 1974, when earlier welfare measures like workman's compensation and old age pensions were pulled together under a new scheme called National Insurance.

Similar programmes had been introduced by Jamaica in 1966, Barbados in 1967, Guyana in 1969 and Trinidad in 1971. And they trace back to the post-war social consensus in Britain, when politicians from all parties in "the mother country" began building a cradle to grave welfare state.

The centrepiece of the British consensus in the late 1940s was a state-run system of social security funded by payroll taxes, together with a national health service funded by general taxes.

Currently, the British NHS spends about $200 billion a year, and ended 2005 a billion dollars in the red. Although it retains wide support, successive governments have tried to inject more choice and competition in an effort to improve patient care and efficiency. In fact, more and more medical services are being outsourced to the growing private health sector in Britain.

Bahamians Must Look to Themselves to Fight Crime in The Bahamas

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

The new commandant of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, Commodore Clifford Scavella, sent shivers down the nation’s spine last week when he declared that some 250 members of the Force are corrupt and needed to be removed while another 250 “can go either way depending on which way the pressure comes from”.

As if to underline the Commodore’s comments, there were reports in the media about an ugly incident which inflamed passions at Mathew Town, Inagua. It is alleged that some members of the Force stationed at that island brutally assaulted a resident and threatened others who tried to intervene.

Notwithstanding the Commodore’s confidence that the other half of the Force is a dedicated and committed lot, we need to be seriously concerned. We are already aware that there is an unacceptably high level of corruption in the Royal Bahamas Police Force and in at Her Majesty’s Prison Service.

Slavery and the Struggle to End It

by Larry Smith

Old pirates, yes, they rob I;
Sold I to the merchant ships,
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit.

--Redemption Song by Bob Marley

Question is - just who were those robbing pirates, and what impact did they have on the the way we live today?

Turns out, the pirates were most often Africans, under whose authority the Atlantic slave trade was conducted.

According to Syracuse University historian Zayde Antrim, "Not only was slavery an established institution in West Africa before European traders arrived, but Africans were also involved in a trans-Saharan trade in slaves."

Last week's article on the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade drew three interesting comments. And since one of the declared aims of the abolition bicentenary is to generate a discussion on slavery and race relations, we thought that republishing them here would be a good way to get the ball rolling.

Ulterior Motives in the Bahamas Debate on National Health

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

Attributing ulterior motives to others is a risky business but nevertheless a favourite pastime with many people, especially in the political arena. The first element of risk is that when you attribute bad motives to others they can easily do the same to you, with interest. The second is that you can be wrong about another person’s motives even though circumstances may indicate otherwise.

In the current debate about National Health Insurance, the attribution of motives has added a dimension of resentment and even anger that confounds rational dialogue. The PLP has accused those who criticize and question the Government’s proposals of having the worst possible motives.

The Opposition, the trade union leaders, the business people and the doctors do not care about the poor, they say, or are simply greedy and selfish. This malicious form of attack is calculated to cut the ground from under the critics and expose them to public contempt and ridicule. But all it does is stir up resentment and rage.

An outstanding Bahamian cardiologist who is a great credit to his profession and to his country, and who counts both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition among his patients, gave voice to that rage last week. Said Dr. Conville Brown: