Bahama Pundit

The Very Mixed Track Record of Out Island Resort Projects in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

The so-called 'anchor project' model of development is a hot-button topic these days - critics say we are selling our birthright to foreign speculators for a mess of pottage.

But this model is not new. It dates back to the early years of the 20th century. And over the past hundred years, most examples in the out islands have failed, often leaving derelict buildings and environmental havoc in their wake.

Although the 'anchor project' policy was codified by the Pindling government in the late 1970s, the idea actually originated in response to the new-found prosperity generated by bootlegging in the 1920s.

During prohibition, liquor was profitably smuggled in huge quantities from the Bahamas to the United States, and since West End and Bimini were nearest to the American mainland - that's where the first out island resorts were conceived.

Role of the Clergy in Bahamian Politics

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

Someone once said that there is no one more to be despised than an inconstant saviour, and there is no more intense hatred than between comrades turned foes. In the political arena, it seems, there is no one to be more vilified than a defector.

Some politicians tend to see things in an erstwhile colleague to which they were previously blind. That may be so because the defector is seen as a more dangerous threat than the regular opponent because he has inside knowledge of the weaknesses and bad habits of his former friends.

So in the face of a defection from a political party the assassins are likely to pounce with all the savagery they can command. The PLP is very good at this, perhaps because they have had a long history of dealing with defectors.

Tourism & Anchor Projects in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

There's been a lot of of caterwauling lately about big foreign resort investments on the out islands. Most of us know them as anchor projects.

Some argue that the hotel industry is just an updated version of the master/slave "plantation economy". Others say our birthright is being sold out. And still others worry about the thoughtless destruction of islands that will never be the same again.

Here are some representative comments gathered from Bahamian news and discussion sites recently:

Pindling, Anchor Projects & the Bahamian General Election

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

Prime Minister Perry Christie predicted that this election campaign would be dirty and it appears that he knew what he was talking about. Mr. Christie and his colleagues are faced with a long list of issues that defy convincing response.

For the last five years and from the very beginning this administration has stunned the public with one scandal after another and has limped from crisis to crisis. From the Korean boats fiasco right up to the Anna Nicole Smith scandal, Mr. Christie and his colleagues have repeatedly shot themselves in the foot.

Every government faces challenges of one sort or another, but what is important is how the leadership deals with them. Mr. Christie, “as prime minister”, has been anything but forthright and resolute in confronting a long list of crises.

On top of all this Mr. Christie and his colleagues have with great glee pursued their “new model” of development for the country. The centrepiece of that model is the giveaway of thousands of acres of public land to foreigners to develop as residential property for sale to other foreigners.

Religion & Apartheid in the Middle East

by Larry Smith

The dramatic loss of American credibility and prestige after four years of failure in Iraq has forced the once arrogant Bush Administration to take a more pragmatic approach to world affairs.

The adjustment includes improved relations with the United Nations; efforts to deal realistically with enemies like Iran, North Korea and Syria; and the beginnings of a shift on climate change policy.

Most recently, it has included a presidential tour of Latin America - a region that has been neglected since the early days of the Bush government, when Dubyah's first overseas trip was to meet with his Mexican counterpart.

But perhaps the most important element of this shift is a renewed diplomatic effort to settle the festering Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East, which experts say is much worse off now than it was when Bush took office six years ago.

A new bestseller by Jimmy Carter - the president who helped negotiate the Camp David Accords 30 years ago - insists that the only effective approach to the Palestinian problem is the two-state solution first proposed almost a century ago - partition of the Holy Land between Arabs and Jews.

The Great Bahamian Land Rush: Part 2

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

A few weeks ago a real estate company in North Carolina, Infinity Partners, posted on its website a “Grand Bahama Island Update” purporting to be a status report on a proposal presented to The Bahamas Government for the development of east Grand Bahama.

The report, dated 7 February 2007, was quickly circulated over the internet and mentioned in several news stories in the local press; but there were no screaming headlines about it in the newspapers.

Perhaps reporters and editors did not give it much credence or maybe they thought it was a hoax since it quickly disappeared from the Infinity Partners website. Prime Minister Perry Christie had been hinting at something big about to happen in Grand Bahama but this was bigger than big.

Government Incompetence Damaging Abaco's Environment

by Larry Smith

On a crisp winter morning recently, three birdmen were making their way carefully through the virgin pine forest on remote Little Abaco when they came across an amazing find.

Tony White and Bruce Hallett, who have both published authoritative field guides on Bahamian widlife, were joined for the early morning hike by Elwood Bracey, a retired Marsh Harbour doctor who is an ardent amateur ornithologist.

All three are longtime members of the Bahamas National Trust and Abaco Friends of the Environment. They were horrified at what greeted them in the forest less than a mile from historic 19th century ruins and half a mile from a pristine blue hole.

Unlike the rest of the Bahamian pinelands, this piece of forest on Little Abaco has never been cut. In fact, it is considered the only virgin stand of Caribbean pine in the entire region - about 4,000 acres in all, providing good habitat for warblers, woodpeckers, ducks, kingbirds, pewees, swallows and other widllife.

What the birdmen stumbled upon that morning were two huge clearings, with a big D-8 dozer noisily mining fill from one of them. Acres of virgin forest had been totally demolished in just a few hours to make way for the North Abaco waste transfer facility - although there was an existing dump only a mile or so away.

"What are we doing using the most unspoiled land for garbage when there's an existing dumpsite nearby?" Dr Bracey asked incredulously.

A Short History of the PLP's Long Lie about Race

by Sir Arthur Foulkes

When the PLP came to power in 1967 many in the hierarchy of the party looked forward to exorcizing the demon of race from Bahamian politics once and for all.

The leader of the party, Sir Lynden Pindling, seemed at first to be more strongly in favour of that than some of his colleagues.

Miriam Makeba, the celebrated black South African singer, was among a number of prominent blacks in America who wanted to do business in the new Bahamas. But Sir Lynden stopped her when he heard she was romantically linked with black power firebrand Stokely Carmichael.

She left Sir Lynden’s office in tears and never came back. The new Bahamas was having nothing to do with that.