By: Real Patriot
This is a question that I have thought long and hard about, even before the British invaded our country and took our rights. We can all blame the British for what they have done to hurt our country, our economy and our individual lives. But that's just passing the buck and a game that we as Islanders do. Why do we do that? Because we are lazy and vain. Yes, I said. People who know me know I talk real. I want to talk real now.
The reason we are in the horrific condition we are in with the British has some to do with our mentality. We have missed the boat and we need to confront our mistakes. We are lazy and roll with the tide and waves instead of swimming to safe land, because it's easier and we don't want to help each other. We fail ourselves by drawing conclusions instead of doing the work to find out for ourselves what we need to do. We let someone else do the work and then complain when the outcomes stinks. I was proud of us with the constitutional talks because at the last minute some of our leaders decided that they would take up the cause and put their objections in writing. But how long did it take for us flailing around rolling in the tide without an anchor? There was no working together.
Look at what it has taken for us to realise that we are being extorted and taken advantage of by the British. It took us so long because we were rolling with the tide lulled by the retched stories of Michael Misick instead of paying attention to what was really going on by the British. Nobody could reach us in our mental block. We allowed people like Shaun Malcolm to control the water and we just floated in it. We didn't do the work.
When we finally got our heads right and realized that we had a monumental, life changing political catastrophe with the British occupation, what did we do? We went our separate ways trying to distance ourselves from that group or this group because it wasn't an advantage for us personally. I heard so many people say that they wouldn't attend a constitutional meeting planned by our own because there wouldn't be enough in attendance and they would look foolish attending. Then you have websites bringing awareness and political transparency like TCI POST but you have the same 20 people commenting and participating. This is the only website that will reach readers beyond our islands that calls attention to our plight and only 20 people are participating. Nobody from other parts of the world are going to read our Facebook pages that shows how we feel. For all we know the world thinks we like the British rule and that only 20 freaks are complaining. Turks and Caicos Informers have a Google Group forum saying the same things as TCI POST, but it's not public. Why haven't TCI POST and Informers joined forces to get better exposure? See what I'm talking about? We are too vain not wanting to share resources or ideas, everyone wans it to be there own idea and control it.
That is why we were paralized when the British got here because we had no cohesion, we were lazy and vain. I just read a Wikileaks cable from December 22, 2010, only a few short months ago. The Bahamas questioned why CARICOM was not more forceful in stopping the British invasion to Turks and Caicos. Do you know what CARICOM said? I will quote, "TCI [was] too 'fractured' to launch a credible opposition to UK rule". The political parties and their constituents would not come together to launch a credible opposition. OUCH! That hurts but doens't it really say it all. We don't joining together and we keep ideas and resources to ourselves because we are vain. We have paid the ultimate price for our mistakes.
So who's to blame for where we are today? I think we should take some blame for being too lazy and vain. I heard someone say once that we are too passive as a people. No, we are not passive. We are passive aggressive and we feel it is our right to disconnect when our vanity is at stake. That is what is causing us to lose the battle for our rights and freedoms. We have a few groups discussing the plight taken up here or there, some radio shows, on Facebook, on Informers, sometimes in our newspapers, sometimes in an individual political thesis that is only for exclusive reading by email. But how will that get anything done? It took us two years to get our heads right to see that the British government here means us no good. What will it take for us to do the work to oppose this?
Look at our employment problems. I say we are lazy thinkers. We want something for nothing and when it came to our past employment issues we let it tear us apart and create divisions. We spend so much time worrying about which foreigner going to hire Belongers and fighting about it that we didn't see a creative way to compromise so that everyone can win. We are still talking about it to this day. How many hear Expressions and Robert Hall give his opinion about hiring non Belongers. I like what Robert said. He said that it's not always about job qualification that gets someone hired, it's an attitude and compatibility. We think that because someone other than a Belonger gets a job that we should be angry at the employer, the person who got the job and the system. We let positive solutions escape us by focusing on petty things. We are lazy, we had no ideas. I think if we passed around a piece of paper every one of us could think of five ways to solve the old employment problem. But no, we dwelled on it and we dwell on it to this day. You know, we can blame whomever we want but we also created a division with the expats, yes the same expats that nearly triple us in population and now want to run our government. We need to be more marketable as workers and allow businesses to succeed the way they needed to for our own economic growth and we can take advantage of that by creating products and services from the extra visitors. That's how our local economy can thrive. We can offer incentives for foreign employers to hire Belongers but we shoud not hurt relationships with bitterness and laziness to find a better way. But now look at what happened, we are not just competing with foreign workers, we are being axed from our jobs and replaced by British nationals. I blame us to some of that because we didn't focus on where we needed to be. That's what my mother use to call "Penny wise but pound foolish."
We are keeping our own selves down. We have the same 20 people staying consistent with their public message when there should be thousands of us. Our leaders are doing their own things and should be joining the public debate not keeping their opinions guarded and sacred, it's not the time. Other people have opinions but won't join together for one reason or another and we are being foolish.
Have we not learned from any of our past? We are sinking. We are riding the tides and waves of others doing and nobody is swimming for their lives or for our lives. We are drowining and it is our fault. Where are the other people joining in the debate, putting their opinions out there, taking a chance to show their solidarity? If there was ever a time to have courage and put our laziness and vanity aside, it's right now. 20 people cannot fight for all of us, if the saying is that there's unity in numbers then the numbers are against us.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Turks and Caicos Islands on the Agenda for UN Convention Eradicating Colonialism, May 31 - June 2, a plea to Francisco Carrión-Mena of Ecuador
By: Chris Burke
The United Nations has a long-standing history of advocating to end world colonialism. In so doing, decades ago, the UN general assembly created a special committee for decolonization to work specifically to eradicate colonization in the world. We learn that the UN special committee will meet in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, from May 31 to June 2 in its annual convention.
Turks and Caicos Islands is scheduled on the agenda for discussion, along with the other remaining 15 non-self-governing territories.
The United Nations General Assembly has declared all forms of colonialism incompatible with the principles of international law, and as such supports the colonies' ability to preserve the cultural identity and national unity of Territories under their administration, encouraging the full development of indigenous cultures so as to facilitate “the unfettered exercise of the right of self-determination”. The UN has unrelentingly reaffirmed its committment calling for an end to colonialism and calling for the governing powers to grant colonies the right to achieve genuine self-government and economic self-reliance.
The call for self determination is particularly important for one of the last remaining 16 colonies, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) in the Caribbean. TCI was a self governing territory of the United Kingdom whose government fell to the UK powers on August 14, 2009 amidst allegations of local government corruption.
Shortly thereafter, the United Nations specifically addressed the matter of Turks and Caicos on September 23, 2009, condemning UK’s actions in Turks and Caicos. In Section X (4) of the UN report, the United Nations addresses Turks and Caicos Islands’ direct rule by Great Britain and specifically calls for, “restoration of constitutional arrangements providing for representative democracy through elected territorial Government as soon as possible.” The UN also declared UK’s actions in Turks and Caicos is a "clear step in the wrong direction."
The UN should know and understand when discussing the UK’s seizing of Turks and Caicos, that the TCI citizens’ have suffered a complete loss of democracy, right to trial by jury and right to vote on any matter or for their own local leader.
Since the UK takeover of Turks and Caicos, the entire populace has been governed under a literal dictatorial political system, ongoing now for two years. In these two years, the special corruption team installed by the UK has discovered no proof of corruption, issued no indictments, scheduled no trials. Yet, the entire populace has been victims of democracy injustice and other abuses by the UK, merely predicated on the alleged wrong doing of just a handful of people. Nonetheless, the UK maintains that the people must wait until after it imposes its own constitution on the islands, a new constitution that will forcefully replace the constitution created by the TCI people in 2006 which demonstrated no constitutional failings of any kind.
It is every democracy-loving citizen’s hope that the UN’s Chairman of the Special Committee, Ambassador Francisco Carrión-Mena of Ecuador, will intervene on behalf of the citizens of TCI who have had their democracy forcibly taken. The UN is urged to make an inquiry and its own findings as to the new UK constitution, findings show that it will permanently take democracy and self determination from the TCI people giving UK ultimate power there, as it has been enjoying for the last two years. An UN inquiry is even more important because the UK refuses to allow a referendum on the new constitution and is relying solely on collecting “suggestions” from the citizens instead of using a democratic method of weighing the will of the people.
The over-reaching political system that the UK has established in Turks and Caicos has many trickle down affects, such as the disappearance of the local treasury, the firing of local citizens from their jobs (replaced by British nationals) and certainly not least the forcible eviction of average citizens from their lands. The British have also allegedly been engaging in special interest contracts in the Turks and Caicos including government health care contracts as well as land development, which is suspected to have contributed to this government takeover zeal.
Every world citizen should uphold the Turks and Caicos citizens’ right to democracy and self determination. We hold the UN to a higher standard and specifically call for it to be incumbent on the UN to investigate the political failings by the UK and taking of rights and freedoms from the Turks and Caicos people.
The United Nations has a long-standing history of advocating to end world colonialism. In so doing, decades ago, the UN general assembly created a special committee for decolonization to work specifically to eradicate colonization in the world. We learn that the UN special committee will meet in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, from May 31 to June 2 in its annual convention.
Turks and Caicos Islands is scheduled on the agenda for discussion, along with the other remaining 15 non-self-governing territories.
The United Nations General Assembly has declared all forms of colonialism incompatible with the principles of international law, and as such supports the colonies' ability to preserve the cultural identity and national unity of Territories under their administration, encouraging the full development of indigenous cultures so as to facilitate “the unfettered exercise of the right of self-determination”. The UN has unrelentingly reaffirmed its committment calling for an end to colonialism and calling for the governing powers to grant colonies the right to achieve genuine self-government and economic self-reliance.
The call for self determination is particularly important for one of the last remaining 16 colonies, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) in the Caribbean. TCI was a self governing territory of the United Kingdom whose government fell to the UK powers on August 14, 2009 amidst allegations of local government corruption.
Shortly thereafter, the United Nations specifically addressed the matter of Turks and Caicos on September 23, 2009, condemning UK’s actions in Turks and Caicos. In Section X (4) of the UN report, the United Nations addresses Turks and Caicos Islands’ direct rule by Great Britain and specifically calls for, “restoration of constitutional arrangements providing for representative democracy through elected territorial Government as soon as possible.” The UN also declared UK’s actions in Turks and Caicos is a "clear step in the wrong direction."
The UN should know and understand when discussing the UK’s seizing of Turks and Caicos, that the TCI citizens’ have suffered a complete loss of democracy, right to trial by jury and right to vote on any matter or for their own local leader.
Since the UK takeover of Turks and Caicos, the entire populace has been governed under a literal dictatorial political system, ongoing now for two years. In these two years, the special corruption team installed by the UK has discovered no proof of corruption, issued no indictments, scheduled no trials. Yet, the entire populace has been victims of democracy injustice and other abuses by the UK, merely predicated on the alleged wrong doing of just a handful of people. Nonetheless, the UK maintains that the people must wait until after it imposes its own constitution on the islands, a new constitution that will forcefully replace the constitution created by the TCI people in 2006 which demonstrated no constitutional failings of any kind.
It is every democracy-loving citizen’s hope that the UN’s Chairman of the Special Committee, Ambassador Francisco Carrión-Mena of Ecuador, will intervene on behalf of the citizens of TCI who have had their democracy forcibly taken. The UN is urged to make an inquiry and its own findings as to the new UK constitution, findings show that it will permanently take democracy and self determination from the TCI people giving UK ultimate power there, as it has been enjoying for the last two years. An UN inquiry is even more important because the UK refuses to allow a referendum on the new constitution and is relying solely on collecting “suggestions” from the citizens instead of using a democratic method of weighing the will of the people.
The over-reaching political system that the UK has established in Turks and Caicos has many trickle down affects, such as the disappearance of the local treasury, the firing of local citizens from their jobs (replaced by British nationals) and certainly not least the forcible eviction of average citizens from their lands. The British have also allegedly been engaging in special interest contracts in the Turks and Caicos including government health care contracts as well as land development, which is suspected to have contributed to this government takeover zeal.
Every world citizen should uphold the Turks and Caicos citizens’ right to democracy and self determination. We hold the UN to a higher standard and specifically call for it to be incumbent on the UN to investigate the political failings by the UK and taking of rights and freedoms from the Turks and Caicos people.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Local Leader Calls UK's Lack of Financial Assistance to Turks and Caicos, "Disrespectful"
By: The Turks and Caicos Sun News
Local businessman Albray Butterfield Jnr. Is strongly criticising Britain’s involvement in an economic bailout package for Portugal that has been approved by European Union (EU) finance ministers and which includes a £4.2 billion contribution from Britain.
“As a proud Turks and Caicos Islander, I find this latest revelation very offensive, prejudice and disrespectful,” Albray said in a short commentary to the SUN.
“The issue that I have found so offensive... is the outright blatant hypocrisy and prejudice displayed internationally by the UK Government towards the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI),” Albray said. “Since taking control of the TCI by the UK Government in 2009 (which at the time, was a long overdue and necessary intervention that I undeniably supported), the UK Government has allowed the citizens and the economy of the TCI to further suffer and fall deeper into bankruptcy by announcing to the world within days of taking over that: "...the UK Government will not be taking the British Tax Payers Money to bail-out the Turks and Caicos Islands..." -Mr. Colin Roberts of the UK FCO. (Which I might add is a UK Territory and a situation in which the OVERSEER’S /UK Government is part responsible for the social and economic state-of-affair the TCI found itself in 2009).”
Butterfield continued: “Fast forwarding to 2011, to now have exposed to the world that while the UK Government was saying NO to bailing-out the TCI (their own territory) for a measly and up to $400 million (if you include the prevention of TCI Bank Limited from collapsing, and a few much need infrastructure projects such as the construction of new public school buildings, etc), the UK Government was simultaneously negotiating with the IMF a £67.5 billion bail-out package for the country of Portugal (a non UK territory) of which the UK is contributing £4.2 billion towards Portugal's bail-out.”
The £67.75 billion package, subject to strict austerity measures agreed by Lisbon, is the second to commit the UK to financial guarantees which will only be called upon if Portugal defaults on the loans it raises thanks to the EU-IMF combined bailout deal.
Local businessman Albray Butterfield Jnr. Is strongly criticising Britain’s involvement in an economic bailout package for Portugal that has been approved by European Union (EU) finance ministers and which includes a £4.2 billion contribution from Britain.
“As a proud Turks and Caicos Islander, I find this latest revelation very offensive, prejudice and disrespectful,” Albray said in a short commentary to the SUN.
“The issue that I have found so offensive... is the outright blatant hypocrisy and prejudice displayed internationally by the UK Government towards the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI),” Albray said. “Since taking control of the TCI by the UK Government in 2009 (which at the time, was a long overdue and necessary intervention that I undeniably supported), the UK Government has allowed the citizens and the economy of the TCI to further suffer and fall deeper into bankruptcy by announcing to the world within days of taking over that: "...the UK Government will not be taking the British Tax Payers Money to bail-out the Turks and Caicos Islands..." -Mr. Colin Roberts of the UK FCO. (Which I might add is a UK Territory and a situation in which the OVERSEER’S /UK Government is part responsible for the social and economic state-of-affair the TCI found itself in 2009).”
Butterfield continued: “Fast forwarding to 2011, to now have exposed to the world that while the UK Government was saying NO to bailing-out the TCI (their own territory) for a measly and up to $400 million (if you include the prevention of TCI Bank Limited from collapsing, and a few much need infrastructure projects such as the construction of new public school buildings, etc), the UK Government was simultaneously negotiating with the IMF a £67.5 billion bail-out package for the country of Portugal (a non UK territory) of which the UK is contributing £4.2 billion towards Portugal's bail-out.”
The £67.75 billion package, subject to strict austerity measures agreed by Lisbon, is the second to commit the UK to financial guarantees which will only be called upon if Portugal defaults on the loans it raises thanks to the EU-IMF combined bailout deal.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
United Kingdom is Nation Building in the British West Indies - Turks and Caicos, a Cautionary Tale
By: AG Karn
Most of the world is caught in a quagmire of political ignorance when it comes to British dealings in the West Indies [Caribbean]. The lines have been confused with well publicized stories of political corruption in these nation's governments contrasted with a new movement of British saviourship.
In the case of Turks and Caicos, we have such a case of confusion. Bridging the gap of national solidarity between the local people is a difficult task when there remains a disconnect concerning national solidarity and the British governance system. The British passport system for example catches one off guard, and travel is not the problem. Atop the passport of British Nationals are the words inscribed, "Nationals of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the purposes of Community Law". This inscription is unique to British National's passports, it distinguishes rights and benefits from the passports belonging to those of the British Overseas Territories. Though both passports are issued by the British government, there are clear distinctions of partiality and lack of rights to those with British Overseas Territory passports. Citizenship, rights and benefits are clearly not awarded by a passport issued by the British government.
The long-lived historic intention of the colonial relationship between the British and the West Indies was trade and nothing more. Under British colonial economic policies after 1870 the British government did not extend any imperial credit or loans to their colonies. Very little credit was extended at all barring exceptional circumstances such as hurricanes. This policy was enacted by the British to distance their duties and obligations to their overseas territories and has only changed in very recent history.
In the past, the economics of the overseas territories was left to the ambition of the local governments whose success was defined by the movers and shakers in a sink or swim contest. The territories were largely abandoned by Westminster who scolded the territories to "figure it out" with requests of financial needs or services. These days, there is no real trade relationship with the British. Many overseas territories rely very little on trade and much on creating foreign business relationships for tourism to generate revenue. Since the territories were on their own financially, the mentality “if you got, use it” worked. The Turks and Caicos Islands was quite successful with that plan, they had tourism potential and they used it to earn an almost unheard of revenue that eventually caught the eye of the British government. The movers and shakers making these deals were exposed to unknown pitfalls of inherent grey areas as prescribed but not defined by the British government. Ultimately, Westminster at its whim accused Turks and Caicos government of corruption involving business deals with foreign resort developers.
Because of the blurry boundaries and evolving relationships between Westminster and the British Overseas Territories, the risk of political turmoil in these regions became great as nations in the region were unaware of Westminster's new "devotion" to them.
Since 2006, nation building has become the new political charge of the British in the Overseas Territories. What was once a trade exploitation relationship with the colonies has recently evolved into true imperialism with empire ambition to take back its territories as the British see advantageous. At the nucleus of this ambition is British desire for wealth and world power.
Such political instability and uncertainty in the West Indies caused by the British is no accident. Keeping the British Overseas Territories in a state of uncertainty as to their citizenship, allegiance and financial security has assisted the new British empire ambition. This confusion caused British Overseas Territories to fail to bond as nations and has left the door wide open for the British to interfere and create political rivalries as needed for political goals.
We now find that the British are nation building in Turks and Caicos Islands after they seized the islands back in 2009. The British excuse their encroachment on the Turks and Caicos islands as correcting poor governance and punishing local corruption. Turning a blind eye to true government abuse is wrong when there is a dire necessity to intervene when cruelty or brutality is involved. The Turks and Caicos government had no such circumstance when the British unilaterally decided to burden their will there. The British will have a difficult time overcoming their legacy of colonialism.
One might say that the movers and shakers of the Turks and Caicos government were mistaken in their assumption that they had authority to make business deals even when Westminster was half-heartedly supervising. The British established no policies to keep British overseas governments from crossing British policies, as artificial as they might have been. In fact, local laws supporting Turks and Caicos government actions that the British now call corrupt were in place.
The fact that Westminster had the authority to warn, counsel or enact a “no confidence ruling” against the Turks and Caicos government has no bearing on its explanation to bypass all remedies and forge head-on in appropriating the Turks and Caicos government. In fact, there was little need for any kind of impedance by the British at all, yet they took the dramatic and unnecessary leap of seizing and misappropriating government powers from the people of the islands.
I earlier expressed my views that the British re-presence in the West Indies and Turks and Caicos is based on greed, power and empire building. Now that the British are less concerned with trade in the West Indies they have shifted their focus to benefiting from foreign developers with enormous wealth. In this way the British have in a sense created an extortion relationship with the foreign investors of Turks and Caicos by forcing them to be shackled in punitive financial and legal obligations to the British government. In turn, this has opened the door for British developers who share a close political relationship with the British government. British developers are almost an extension of the British government enjoying multitudes of shared foreign contracts, subsidies and tax breaks; the British government can now profit from development in their own territories instead of handing over the spoils to foreign developers.
The final nail in the coffin is the new constitution in Turks and Caicos which will solidify Westminster's motives. I suspect that other British Overseas Territories are next on the list. Entities such as CARICOM were created to act as a proxy representative of the nations in the region. British Overseas Territories would be well advised to form a coalition either separately or with CARICOM to assist one another in these modern colonial times.
Most of the world is caught in a quagmire of political ignorance when it comes to British dealings in the West Indies [Caribbean]. The lines have been confused with well publicized stories of political corruption in these nation's governments contrasted with a new movement of British saviourship.
In the case of Turks and Caicos, we have such a case of confusion. Bridging the gap of national solidarity between the local people is a difficult task when there remains a disconnect concerning national solidarity and the British governance system. The British passport system for example catches one off guard, and travel is not the problem. Atop the passport of British Nationals are the words inscribed, "Nationals of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland for the purposes of Community Law". This inscription is unique to British National's passports, it distinguishes rights and benefits from the passports belonging to those of the British Overseas Territories. Though both passports are issued by the British government, there are clear distinctions of partiality and lack of rights to those with British Overseas Territory passports. Citizenship, rights and benefits are clearly not awarded by a passport issued by the British government.
The long-lived historic intention of the colonial relationship between the British and the West Indies was trade and nothing more. Under British colonial economic policies after 1870 the British government did not extend any imperial credit or loans to their colonies. Very little credit was extended at all barring exceptional circumstances such as hurricanes. This policy was enacted by the British to distance their duties and obligations to their overseas territories and has only changed in very recent history.
In the past, the economics of the overseas territories was left to the ambition of the local governments whose success was defined by the movers and shakers in a sink or swim contest. The territories were largely abandoned by Westminster who scolded the territories to "figure it out" with requests of financial needs or services. These days, there is no real trade relationship with the British. Many overseas territories rely very little on trade and much on creating foreign business relationships for tourism to generate revenue. Since the territories were on their own financially, the mentality “if you got, use it” worked. The Turks and Caicos Islands was quite successful with that plan, they had tourism potential and they used it to earn an almost unheard of revenue that eventually caught the eye of the British government. The movers and shakers making these deals were exposed to unknown pitfalls of inherent grey areas as prescribed but not defined by the British government. Ultimately, Westminster at its whim accused Turks and Caicos government of corruption involving business deals with foreign resort developers.
Because of the blurry boundaries and evolving relationships between Westminster and the British Overseas Territories, the risk of political turmoil in these regions became great as nations in the region were unaware of Westminster's new "devotion" to them.
Since 2006, nation building has become the new political charge of the British in the Overseas Territories. What was once a trade exploitation relationship with the colonies has recently evolved into true imperialism with empire ambition to take back its territories as the British see advantageous. At the nucleus of this ambition is British desire for wealth and world power.
Such political instability and uncertainty in the West Indies caused by the British is no accident. Keeping the British Overseas Territories in a state of uncertainty as to their citizenship, allegiance and financial security has assisted the new British empire ambition. This confusion caused British Overseas Territories to fail to bond as nations and has left the door wide open for the British to interfere and create political rivalries as needed for political goals.
We now find that the British are nation building in Turks and Caicos Islands after they seized the islands back in 2009. The British excuse their encroachment on the Turks and Caicos islands as correcting poor governance and punishing local corruption. Turning a blind eye to true government abuse is wrong when there is a dire necessity to intervene when cruelty or brutality is involved. The Turks and Caicos government had no such circumstance when the British unilaterally decided to burden their will there. The British will have a difficult time overcoming their legacy of colonialism.
One might say that the movers and shakers of the Turks and Caicos government were mistaken in their assumption that they had authority to make business deals even when Westminster was half-heartedly supervising. The British established no policies to keep British overseas governments from crossing British policies, as artificial as they might have been. In fact, local laws supporting Turks and Caicos government actions that the British now call corrupt were in place.
The fact that Westminster had the authority to warn, counsel or enact a “no confidence ruling” against the Turks and Caicos government has no bearing on its explanation to bypass all remedies and forge head-on in appropriating the Turks and Caicos government. In fact, there was little need for any kind of impedance by the British at all, yet they took the dramatic and unnecessary leap of seizing and misappropriating government powers from the people of the islands.
I earlier expressed my views that the British re-presence in the West Indies and Turks and Caicos is based on greed, power and empire building. Now that the British are less concerned with trade in the West Indies they have shifted their focus to benefiting from foreign developers with enormous wealth. In this way the British have in a sense created an extortion relationship with the foreign investors of Turks and Caicos by forcing them to be shackled in punitive financial and legal obligations to the British government. In turn, this has opened the door for British developers who share a close political relationship with the British government. British developers are almost an extension of the British government enjoying multitudes of shared foreign contracts, subsidies and tax breaks; the British government can now profit from development in their own territories instead of handing over the spoils to foreign developers.
The final nail in the coffin is the new constitution in Turks and Caicos which will solidify Westminster's motives. I suspect that other British Overseas Territories are next on the list. Entities such as CARICOM were created to act as a proxy representative of the nations in the region. British Overseas Territories would be well advised to form a coalition either separately or with CARICOM to assist one another in these modern colonial times.
Past Supporters of British Intervention in Turks and Caicos now have deep "regrets" and Want British to Leave
Published By The Turks and Caicos Sun News
Some Turks and Caicos Islanders who confessed to have agitated for the British to temporarily take over the running of the country, but now are sorrowful that they did, are calling for the UK-administration to have a change of heart also and pull-up stumps.
A number of persons at different levels of the social strata had advocated for the United Kingdom Government to step in and take over the reins of the country, if only temporarily, after coming to the conclusion that the Michael Misick administration was not acting it their interest.
They believed it was a good thing for the British to step in and regulate the governance of the country so as to plug the holes of corruption for future administrations. They however said they were saddened at the way things were going, and believe it was high time that the UK direct rule curtains be drawn.
At least one of those confessions came out during the Providenciales leg of the Constitutional and Electoral Reform town hall meeting at the Community Fellowship Centre Assemblies of God Church located along the Leeward Highway, on Monday (May 17).
One of the speakers - noted attorney-at-law Beryn Duncanson - admitted to being one of those supporting UK intervention, being convinced that the country was headed down the wrong path.
Duncanson, a member of the All Party Commission, which drafted an alternative Constitution, noted that the time had elapsed for direct rule to end since it has so far been a dismal failure and proved counterproductive to the forward movement of the country.
“Those of us, sober-minded Belongers, who were in favour of British intervention and the suspension of the Constitution – I am one of those – and I regret it. I regret supporting the British suspension of the Constitution, because of what we have been experiencing and have been seeing happening,” Duncanson revealed.
Similar utterances of initial support for British intervention into Turks and the Caicos Islands affairs by successful businessman Albray Butterfield Jr., caused him to resign from his deputy leader posts, after movers and shakers within the party pressured leader Clayton Greene to have him axed.
Butterfield, during a news conference, said he advocated for the British to intervene in the operations of the country but said that he felt they had used up their goodwill capital and it was time for them go. Nonetheless, party rank and file members mounted a relentless campaign to push him from the position.
Meanwhile, Duncanson stressed that whatever goodwill that was drummed up for the suspension of the Constitution has been squandered by the British Government. Duncanson declared that the British Government was barking up the wrong tree, when it moved to overhaul the Constitution, saying that the problem was with certain areas of legislation which needed to be tweaked.
“There was no constitutional crisis that brought us to the mess that we are in,” Duncanson pointed out. He bemoaned the fact that Governor Wetherell now wields absolute power where he does not have to listen to anyone to make decisions, which the attorney said was not a good thing.
When it was announced sometime ago that it was recommended by Commissioner Sir Robin Auld that the TCI Constitution be suspended and the UK institute direct rule, PNP high ranking member Don-Hue Gardiner publicly declared that he would take a PDM government any day over British rule.
Some Turks and Caicos Islanders who confessed to have agitated for the British to temporarily take over the running of the country, but now are sorrowful that they did, are calling for the UK-administration to have a change of heart also and pull-up stumps.
A number of persons at different levels of the social strata had advocated for the United Kingdom Government to step in and take over the reins of the country, if only temporarily, after coming to the conclusion that the Michael Misick administration was not acting it their interest.
They believed it was a good thing for the British to step in and regulate the governance of the country so as to plug the holes of corruption for future administrations. They however said they were saddened at the way things were going, and believe it was high time that the UK direct rule curtains be drawn.
At least one of those confessions came out during the Providenciales leg of the Constitutional and Electoral Reform town hall meeting at the Community Fellowship Centre Assemblies of God Church located along the Leeward Highway, on Monday (May 17).
One of the speakers - noted attorney-at-law Beryn Duncanson - admitted to being one of those supporting UK intervention, being convinced that the country was headed down the wrong path.
Duncanson, a member of the All Party Commission, which drafted an alternative Constitution, noted that the time had elapsed for direct rule to end since it has so far been a dismal failure and proved counterproductive to the forward movement of the country.
“Those of us, sober-minded Belongers, who were in favour of British intervention and the suspension of the Constitution – I am one of those – and I regret it. I regret supporting the British suspension of the Constitution, because of what we have been experiencing and have been seeing happening,” Duncanson revealed.
Similar utterances of initial support for British intervention into Turks and the Caicos Islands affairs by successful businessman Albray Butterfield Jr., caused him to resign from his deputy leader posts, after movers and shakers within the party pressured leader Clayton Greene to have him axed.
Butterfield, during a news conference, said he advocated for the British to intervene in the operations of the country but said that he felt they had used up their goodwill capital and it was time for them go. Nonetheless, party rank and file members mounted a relentless campaign to push him from the position.
Meanwhile, Duncanson stressed that whatever goodwill that was drummed up for the suspension of the Constitution has been squandered by the British Government. Duncanson declared that the British Government was barking up the wrong tree, when it moved to overhaul the Constitution, saying that the problem was with certain areas of legislation which needed to be tweaked.
“There was no constitutional crisis that brought us to the mess that we are in,” Duncanson pointed out. He bemoaned the fact that Governor Wetherell now wields absolute power where he does not have to listen to anyone to make decisions, which the attorney said was not a good thing.
When it was announced sometime ago that it was recommended by Commissioner Sir Robin Auld that the TCI Constitution be suspended and the UK institute direct rule, PNP high ranking member Don-Hue Gardiner publicly declared that he would take a PDM government any day over British rule.
Friday, May 20, 2011
"We are hurting" Citizen of Turks and Caicos Explains Conditions Under UK Occupation
Everybody talking about the new British constitution we all reject. We talk about the corruption investigation that has kept us locked up in British occupation for two years [no arrests have been made after 2 years]. We talk about referendum is needed to pass British constitution and all we get are town hall meetings. We talk about our loss of democracy and intimidation against anyone who speak against the British.
I want to talk about a different problem. What about our financial hurting? We are locked in our country and forced the pay the high price of living that we are all familiar with because it is a tourist destination. No lie, a gallon of milk costs $10.00. How much does it cost in the US about $4.00? Everything is like that our gas, our food, housing. It is out of control. The high cost of living is hurting us. I know people in my own family who had to have utilities cut off to pay for food.
The British are doing nothing to help us. If we were UK citizens so many of us would have welfare by now, food stamps or any assistance. But the British ignoring us in our own country that they took from us. Where are we going to go? Nowhere. We are stuck.
Why they need to give us our country back because when we were running our own affairs we had a great economy. Our local business was doing good. The UK is now laying off our civil service, closing out business and it's hurting our economy. My family run a store and nobody has money to buy. This has been hurting us. Who can afford to spend when everyone job is on notice and they want to buy things that help them survive.
The British have locked is in our country without any aid, took our government and programmes, force us to buy the items we need at three times the inflated costs and top of it giving us the ax at our jobs. They are raising taxes and fees, health costs. Then we see that they bringing in their own people from the United Kingdom to take our jobs.
They will be some big political blow up coming soon. We are disrespected by the British treated so much lesser than there real citizens in the UK. We are hurting here and they killing us. Why do we have no help after they ransacked our country?
(lightly edited for fluency)
I want to talk about a different problem. What about our financial hurting? We are locked in our country and forced the pay the high price of living that we are all familiar with because it is a tourist destination. No lie, a gallon of milk costs $10.00. How much does it cost in the US about $4.00? Everything is like that our gas, our food, housing. It is out of control. The high cost of living is hurting us. I know people in my own family who had to have utilities cut off to pay for food.
The British are doing nothing to help us. If we were UK citizens so many of us would have welfare by now, food stamps or any assistance. But the British ignoring us in our own country that they took from us. Where are we going to go? Nowhere. We are stuck.
Why they need to give us our country back because when we were running our own affairs we had a great economy. Our local business was doing good. The UK is now laying off our civil service, closing out business and it's hurting our economy. My family run a store and nobody has money to buy. This has been hurting us. Who can afford to spend when everyone job is on notice and they want to buy things that help them survive.
The British have locked is in our country without any aid, took our government and programmes, force us to buy the items we need at three times the inflated costs and top of it giving us the ax at our jobs. They are raising taxes and fees, health costs. Then we see that they bringing in their own people from the United Kingdom to take our jobs.
They will be some big political blow up coming soon. We are disrespected by the British treated so much lesser than there real citizens in the UK. We are hurting here and they killing us. Why do we have no help after they ransacked our country?
(lightly edited for fluency)
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Turks and Caicos Watch: John Glasgow, Editor of TCIPost, Explains Why His ...
Turks and Caicos Watch: John Glasgow, Editor of TCIPost, Explains Why His ...: "To all readers and followers of the TCI POST, the site has been under constant attacks since yesterday and it continues today. There are des..."
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