Bahama Pundit

A Random Review of Bahamian Books

by Larry Smith

Garth Buckner recently sent me an advance copy of his new novel (Thine is the Kingdom, Ravenna Press, 2008). But since part of Tough Call's day job is the distribution of Bahamian books (or more accurately, books on Bahamian-related subjects), I did not feel able to offer an exclusive review in this space. So I picked a selection of books at random to give readers a few ideas for holiday reading (a complete list can be found at www.bahamasmedia.com).

Buckner's 235-page novel opens with a real slice of island life - this particular island, in fact, and this particular life. A comical traffic confrontation with a boat trailer at the infamous Montagu ramp, where our hero is regarded as an undesirable interloper by white and black Bahamians alike.

We soon learn precisely why he deserved such derision. His father was an American expat who married a white Bahamian. Ergo, our hero was never afforded the luxuries of Bahamian citizenship.

As he explains: "I fancy people of the government ilk got great satisfaction in seeing families like mine broken up. They liked to whittle down the numbers of those they fancied did not belong, those who opposed them politically. They saw no distinction between nationality and their nationalist party. Everyone else was suspect."

Moving Beyond the 'Static' Quo

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

In his seminal speech on race in Philadelphia in March, while expressing gratitude for the ministry of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama lamented his now former pastor’s static vision of America, particularly his views on race.

But it wasn’t only Wright who may have held a partially, but determinedly static view of America, including the possibility of electing a black man as president. 

Beginning with the pre-primary season a year ago, regular viewers of MSNBC heard the vehement and stock conclusions of pundit Pat Buchanan that there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Barack Obama could win the Democratic nomination, much less the presidency.

An Update on Two Key Items for the National Agenda

by Larry Smith

"As for your list of 'unfinished business', good job. Now lets see how much (the FNM) accomplish. Pleaseeee come back in 12 months with a column grading them on how much of what you listed is achieved." -- Observer

Just over a year ago, this anonymous commentator responded to a Tough Call column headed: "Bahamian Politicos Should Work on National Agenda". If you recall, back then we were engaging in  partisan political warfare, with both sides lobbing aggressive and irresponsible remarks about election fraud and questioning each other's  legitimacy.

These antics flew in the face of a consensus among thinking Bahamians that our leaders were simply avoiding all the hard choices and as a result the chickens were coming home to roost and we would soon be reaping what we had sowed - to use a mixed agricultural metaphor.

That harvest includes thousands of illiterate and unemployable high school graduates, violent crime that is spiraling out of control, an increasingly chaotic urban environment, a nationwide refusal to follow rules or set examples, an unassimilated immigrant underclass, and a massive, unproductive and expanding public sector.

"Rather than wasting our limited time and energies on these nasty and unproductive political exercises," we wrote at the time, "both parties should get down to the unfinished business of their national agendas. Here's a partial refresher list:

The Sensitive Issue of Censorship

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

One clue that the decision to prevent the musician Mavado from performing -- by denying him entry into the country -- was on shaky policy and logical grounds was a 22-word head scratcher by the Minister of State for Immigration.

As reported in The Tribune, Minister McCartney misdirected: “I don’t see it as censorship; I hope we start looking at things more seriously in terms of what we do tolerate.”

This was an example of the doublespeak of which author George Orwell warned.  Just as he was effectively helping to censor what concert participants could see, the Minister was baldly claiming that he was not engaging in censorship. 

Turning the Screws on Tax Havens

by Larry Smith

Bahamians tend not to think about taxes - preferring instead to complain about the high prices of dutiable imports.

But taxation - or the lack of it - is at the heart of a multibillion dollar business that contributes a big chunk of our GDP. And this key business sector is about to face another attack on its legitimacy - just as our economy is tanking.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is preparing a new blacklist of tax havens around the world. That's because experts say that 400 banks, two-thirds of hedge funds and two million top corporations have stashed some 10 trillion dollars in secret offshore accounts away from the prying eyes of tax inspectors.

"This issue has become a question of the highest political importance," the OECD said recently following a meeting to discuss the crackdown on tax havens. "We cannot resolve the financial crisis by introducing more regulation and leaving pockets of non-regulation to prosper."

There are about 40 low-tax jurisdictions around the world. But only three - Andorra, Liechtenstein and Monaco - are currently on an OECD blacklist for refusing to share financial information. A new blacklist could contain about a dozen countries - including the Bahamas - according to European officials.

The US Election and the Bahamas

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

America has elected as its 44th president a man who partially grew up in Asia and who traces his ethnic heritage to Africa and Europe.  

At one level Barack Obama’s election fulfills the collective dream of Robert F. Kennedy who in 1968 foresaw the possibility of a black President in 40 years, and Martin Luther King Jr. who demanded that all people should be judged by the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin.

While there is enormous pride and celebration regarding America’s election of a black man as President just 40 years after the passage of landmark legislation to end formal segregation, Bahamians will have to judge President Obama by the content of his policies and his conduct in office.

The initial and fairly surface analysis that Mr. Obama’s election will be bad for The Bahamas ignores the broader domestic situation in the U.S. and a broader international context.

It focusses primarily on Mr. Obama’s comments on offshore tax havens while mostly ignoring his other economic and foreign policy positions on a host of matters that will also significantly impact The Bahamas.  If Mr. Obama is elected, Front Porch will explore some of these issues.

A Historical Perspective on the US Election

 by Larry Smith

This commentary was written a day before the US presidential election, but we can confidently predict that one of two things will have happened by the time you read this.

Either Barack Obama will be the first presidential candidate to be elected without a northern European name, in a landslide reminiscent of Lyndon B Johnson's in 1964. Or, an underestimated John McCain will have scored an upset victory on a scale with Harry S Truman's in 1948.

In case you are not familiar with those two pivotal elections in the middle of the American century, a brief historical review might be useful.

Civil Service Holds Bahamas to Ransom

by Simon

•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.

Pushing an important initiative through the Bahamian civil service usually comes fairly easily.  Take, for example, the highly complex issue of the refurbishment of the bathrooms at the then Nassau International Airport.

It only took many years and frequent flyer miles, ceaseless complaining and inconvenience, corroding plumbing and foul odors, broken sinks and tiles, negative press reports, national outrage and international embarrassment to get authorities to clean up their act regarding these lavatories.

In the meantime the airport was renamed and successive governments came and went before the country eventually figured out who had the authority and responsibility to purchase new tiles and change the commodes. 

Now for the easy part: reforming the civil service.