Go Lean…Caribbean – Page 20 – Live, work, and play in the Caribbean? Let's make it better…together!

‘Free Market’ Versus … Cooperatives – Simple Solution

Posted on June 22, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Government, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

Can we all just get along?! – Rodney King 1993; on the occasion of L.A. Riots after the acquittal of police officers who beat him.

This should be more than just a complaint, it should be a prescription. A prescription for economic empowerment as well as social harmony. In fact, one of the original motivations for communism was a supposed camaraderie and fraternity among its adherents. In fact, this expression for Brotherhood is usually interchangeable for “fellow communists”:

Com·rade, noun

a person who shares in one’s activities, occupation, etc.; companion, associate, or friend.

a fellow member of a fraternal group, political party, etc.

a member of the Communist Party or someone with strongly leftist views.

Source: Retrieved June 22, 2019 from: Dictionary.com

Is it possible to “get along” and have camaraderie without the communism? Yes, indeed! At the heart of the word communism is the verb “commune”, this means “to converse or talk together, usually with profound intensity, intimacy, etc.; interchange thoughts or feelings”. There is also a substitutable concept and simple solution: a cooperative:

Cooperative, Adjective – working or acting together willingly for a common purpose or benefit.

Cooperative, Noun – a jointly owned enterprise engaging in the production or distribution of goods or the supplying of services, operated by its members for their mutual benefit, typically organized by consumers or farmers.

See VIDEO here:

———–

VIDEO – What is a Co-operative? – https://youtu.be/90FL_bBE4mw

Co-operatives UK
Published on Jun 20, 2015 – Co-operatives give people control over things that matter to them. There are nearly 7,000 independent co-operatives working across the economy. They contribute £37 billion to the British economy and are owned by 15 million people across the country.

Category: Nonprofits & Activism

License: Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)

The 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean – a roadmap for the implementation for the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – presented a comprehensive view of Cooperatives. These were presented as necessary organizational expressions that the Caribbean must adopt. See this definition here (Page 25):

Governing Principles – Cooperatives
As a governing entity the CU will structure many cooperative endeavors to marshal economic and homeland security benefits for the region. (While cooperatives advocate the practice of sharing, this roadmap is not proposing any redistribution of existing Caribbean wealth). For example, the CU will aggregate business incubators into networks, similar to cooperatives, as this is a successful practice in Europe. These networks share best practices and can spread new methodologies and systems across a regional footprint. The CU will task utility cooperatives with the delivery of some public utilities, even a proposed regional power grid will operate as a cooperative. This strategy shares the cost of the installation across the full co-op membership (in this case, the 30 member-states).

So the Caribbean can abide by Free Market economic principles and still have cooperatives. With this strategy, we “can all get along”, come together and work towards common goals.

Yes, we can …

There is wisdom to this strategy of coming together and working towards a common goal. This is the continuation of series on Free Markets Versus…; this submission is entry 4-of-6 of the full series cataloged as follows:

Free Market Versus: Communism – Can they both co-exist?
Free Market Versus: China – Two systems at play in ‘Words and Actions’
Free Market Versus: Socialism – Prevalent in the Caribbean
Free Market Versus: Cooperatives
Free Market Versus: Labor Unions – Junior Communists?
Free Market Versus: Common Pool Resources – Simpler Cooperation

In this series, reference is made to the need for a comprehensive roadmap for elevating the societal engines of the Caribbean member-states. We have many role models of communities around the world embracing formal cooperatives so as to leverage the high costs of societal investments; we can look, listen and learn from these accomplishments. This is the focus of this commentary, and for the Go Lean book; the book presents one advocacy (Page 176) specifically focused on cooperatives, entitled: “10 Ways to Foster Cooperatives“. These “10 Ways” include the following highlights, headlines and excerpts:

1	*Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market* – Ratify treaty for the CU.** The CU in effect represents a cooperative with the unification of the region into a single market of 42 million people across 30 member-states with a GDP of $800 Billion (2010 figures). Following the Rochdale principles, the CU will structure other cooperative endeavors to marshal the economic and homeland security interest of the region.
2	Consumer Cooperatives
3	Worker Cooperatives
4	Purchasing Cooperatives The CU will function as a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO), an entity created to leverage the purchasing power of a group of institutions to obtain discounts from vendors based on the collective buying power of the members. In effect, the CU will aggregate the unified market to minimize costs of necessary purchases – an efficient use of supply and demand.
5	Cooperative Banking The Caribbean Central Bank (CCB) is a cooperative among the region’s Central Banks. The CCB will be the sole controlling agent of the monetary policies for the Caribbean Dollar and aggregate currency printing and coin-pressing.
6	Housing Cooperatives These legal entities rents out the real estate they own to their own members, allowing for the pooling of the members’ resources so that their buying power is leveraged, thus lowering the cost per member in all the services and products associated with home ownership. The members, through their elected representatives, can also screen and select who may live in the cooperative. The CU endorses this scheme for adult housing (60+ years) for repatriation of the Diaspora.
7	Agricultural Cooperatives
8	Utility Cooperatives
9	Mutual Education
10	Mutual Insurance and Risk Management

The Go Lean book doubles-down on the concept of cooperatives for societal deliveries in the region. For example, there is the recommendation for fomenting and strengthening the non-government organization (NGO) referred to as the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association. See this except from an anecdote in the book (Page 60):

By: Caribbean News Now – (excerpt) – Published on August 31, 2010
MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica — Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association President Josef Forstmayr has called for urgent action by all Caribbean governments for a sustainable cooperative marketing and promotion fund and regional integration and removal of barriers for intra-Caribbean travel.

This theme – fostering cooperatives for the economic, security and governing empowerments in the region – aligns with previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16172	Bad example for failed Agricultural Cooperative – Jonestown, Guyana
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858	A Media Network and Cooperative Vision for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15662	Urban Cooperatives – Manifesting High-Tech Neighborhoods
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15521	Caribbean Disunity and for the Need Tourism Cooperatives
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11544	Forging Change: Collective Bargaining & Cooperatives
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7991	Transformations: Caribbean Postal Union, actually a Cooperative
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7384	Oil Refineries – A Model of a Purchasing and Utility Cooperative
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7034	Caribbean Central Bank Cooperative – The Future of Money
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6016	A Refigeration Cooperative – Yes, we can … ‘Stay Cool’

The stewards for a new Caribbean, the movement behind the Go Lean book, want to pronounce the significance of the alphabet letter ‘C‘ to all Caribbean stakeholders.

This episode is brought to you by the Letter ‘C‘ – Familiar promotion from the TV Show Sesame Street.

This discussion on Free Market alternatives started with a consideration of Communism; now we are considering Cooperatives. The assertion is that we can have the needed Community and Camaraderie without the perils of communism. This strategy will also bring these other benefits:

Collaboration.

Confederation.

Cooperation.

Collusion.

See the Appendix VIDEO for further elaborations on the merits of Cooperatives.

Yes, the letter ‘C‘, and the adoption of these C-word concepts is the Way Forward for the Caribbean; this is how we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————-

Appendix VIDEO – How to stop poverty: start a worker-owned cooperative | Jim Brown | TEDxTuscaloosa – https://youtu.be/LFyl0zz2yqs

TEDx Talks
Published on Jul 7, 2015 – Why is chronic poverty tolerated in America? Is our economic system flawed? Through personal stories and insights, University of Alabama professor J. Palmer (Jim) Brown explores the problem of poverty and advocates a solution in worker ownership and cooperation.

Jim Brown is a social entrepreneur and clinical professor at the University of Alabama. His research focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship. He studied at Cal Poly and MIT prior to a long career in industry. In addition to teaching, Mr. Brown has an extensive consulting background in business startups and operations improvement. His work with non-profit companies and people in poverty led him to co-found The Moses Project, an organization dedicated to the promotion of worker-owned cooperatives in Alabama.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Category: Nonprofits & Activism

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‘Free Market’ Versus … Socialism – Very Prevalent in the Caribbean – Encore

Posted on June 21, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Government

Socialism and dependency seems to go hand-in-hand.

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money. – Margaret Thatcher

There are 18 dependent member-states in the Caribbean region.

Then when it comes to Charity Management, we seem to not be able to grow-up and manage our own affairs.

Do you see the trend?

No self-sufficiency … and we have now ran out … of other people’s money.

We need to talk; this is not working; we need to start seeing other people.

I know you love me, but I want, need and deserve better.

It would be such a humorous story, if this boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl anecdote was only fictional. But, it is real, and it is us in the Caribbean losing the love and livelihood of our Diaspora, those that have emigrated away. 🙁

So we must contemplate the economic stewardship that exists in our Caribbean region; we must look at the attributes of the competing homelands that have lured away our people and we must do better / be better. That competing attribute is not the Democratic Socialism precepts where we are counting on Other People’s Money. No, it is the full embrace of Free Market economic principles.

This is the purpose and scope of this current series for the month of June 2019; see the catalog here of our submissions:

Free Market Versus: Communism – Can they both co-exist?
Free Market Versus: China – Two systems at play in ‘Words and Actions’
Free Market Versus: Socialism – Prevalent in the Caribbean
Free Market Versus: Cooperatives
Free Market Versus: Labor Unions – Junior Communists?
Free Market Versus: Common Pool Resources – Simpler Cooperation

In this series, reference is made to the need for a comprehensive roadmap for elevating the societal engines of the Caribbean member-states. The book Go Lean…Caribbean – a roadmap for the implementation for the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – asserts that we must reform and transform to have any hope of retaining our young people in the region; the book states (Page 3):

Our youth, the next generation, may not be inspired to participate in the future workings of their country; they may measure success only by their exodus from their Caribbean homeland.

This is entry 3-of-6 for this academic-yet-energetic series. In the first submission, the history of Free Market versus Communism was traced. It was concluded that:

After some debate – 100 years – the judgment is that Free Market economies are more prosperous than centrally controlled economies, think Communist states. Even Russia, the former Head of the communist-bloc Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has transformed and is now a Free Market country.

We lament that so many of the 30 Caribbean member-states have married themselves to left-leaning economic-political systems or worse have not even tried to exert economic independence at all. See these details here:

Left-Leaning Socialist Extremes	Colonial Dependencies
Antigua & Barbuda – does not even allow private property ownership on the island of Barbuda.	British Overseas Territories (6)
Grenada – Flirted with Marxism that lead to an invasion by Eastern Caribbean & American forces to quell a military coup in 1983	Dutch Overseas Territories (6)
Guyana – doubled-down on extreme socialism to where they invited the People Temple to commune there in 1978. The resulting atrocities of over 900 deaths remain a “black-eye” on Caribbean governance.	French Overseas territories (4)
Cuba – After 60 years of a failed communist revolution, the country’s infrastructure is still stuck on 1959. Half of the natural citizens have fled in that time.	2 US Territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands

This is not our first close-examination of Caribbean socialism. In fact, now is a good time to Encore the blog-commentary from October 12, 2017 lamenting a new round of Caribbean leaders begging colonial masters for undeserved bail-outs and hand-outs. See that Encore here as follows:

====================================

Go Lean Commentary – Caribbean proposes new US-Caribbean trade initiative

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other peoples’ money. – Margaret Thatcher

Many Caribbean member-states feature a governmental structure of democratic socialism; (see Appendix below).

In some places, socialism is a bad word – think Venezuela – but other states feature an advanced prosperous country despite the socialism tag – think Canada. In general, socialism can be depicted as a scale with leftist communism on one end and right-wing capitalism on the other end. The observation and analysis of these varying states during good times and bad times is that the left-leaning socialism countries tend to suffer from a lot of societal abandonment, especially when things go bad, for the reason as described by Margaret Thatcher above. (Consider for example, the Caribbean island of Barbuda, before their recent disaster, there was no private land-ownership).

So many Caribbean member-states have “run out of other people’s money”, thus ensuring a crisis. Alas, this …

… crisis is a terrible thing to waste – American Economist Paul Romer

The crisis in the Caribbean region right now is in response to Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017 that have devastated many islands – think Puerto Rico, Barbuda and Dominica. It is a good time to re-think the affinity for democratic socialism. These natural disasters are forcing our region to re-think one of the hallmarks of capitalism; our policies on …

… Trade; American Trade to be exact.

Yet still, it becomes obvious what the problem is for so many Caribbean member-states, they seem to “just” want to spend other people’s money rather than do the heavy-lifting – Big Deal – of growing their own economy/wealth. Notice this theme in the news article here from the St. Lucia Times daily newspaper regarding the urgings of their Prime Minister Allen Chastanet:

Title: Prime Minister Chastanet proposes new US-Caribbean trade initiative

On the side-lines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Allen Chastanet has been speaking to the American business network CNBC.

Prime Minister Chastanet discussed the recent hurricanes that have devastated parts of the Caribbean, rebuilding the Caribbean and Caribbean – US relations.

He said recent events have showed that the Caribbean needs to diversify in terms of its sources of food, pointing to a shutdown of the American hub for several days.

“The support has had to come from the south because while we were going through this, you had two hurricanes heading up north. And literally Miami was on a shutdown. So unfortunately the American hub got shutdown almost for ten days out of Miami. And so it really has shown us that we need to diversify ourselves a bit and maybe look a bit more to Panama in terms of supplies of food,” Chastanet.

Chastanet said the resilience of the Caribbean is very strong and the region will band together to recover from the disasters.

Chastanet proposed the establishment of a new private sector led initiative what would allow US companies to invest in St Lucia tax free and have their resources sent back home without facing heavy US government taxes.

He said there are great investment opportunities in the Caribbean for American companies.

“Can we not get an incentive, and that’s what we’re in discussions with the US about, that if US companies invest into the Caribbean, that those investments in our books are always tax free that the US allow those funds to be repatriated back into the US tax-free, only on those investments. So 1, it accomplishes getting the funds back into the United States of America. It creates an avenue for the private sector to participate in this growth and brings a lot of money to the table, Chastanet said.

Prime Minister Chastanet is expected to address the UN General Assembly today.

Source: Posted September 21, 2017; retrieved October 11, 2017 from: https://stluciatimes.com/2017/09/21/prime-minister-chastanet-proposes-new-us-caribbean-trade-initiative

As related, the Prime Minister of St. Lucia – also Chairman of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States and a governing stakeholder of CariCom – wants to “count America’s money”! He is lobbying for a law – in the US – in which American investors will have tax concessions on their tax obligations to the US Treasury. (There would be no benefit to the US in this scheme).

He is the Chief Executive of a Caribbean member-state urging the US government to skip on their revenue collections so as to benefit the Caribbean; in effect he is “counting” America’s government revenues. See the full interview in the Appendix VIDEO below.

It should be noted that there is no such bill in the US Congress proposing these measures; so this is not lobbying. Rather the imagery of this whole appeal is just that of a foreign Head of Government begging for money with a sign that reads:

“Will NOT work for food”.

No, this is not the branding or image we should want to project to the watching world. But rather, the Honorable Prime Minister’s earlier words reflect the ethos we really need to portray:

Chastanet said the resilience of the Caribbean is very strong and the region will band together to recover from the disasters.

Rather than looking to the US to solve our problems, we want to band together – an interdependence – and work for our own remediation. This is the theme of the book Go Lean…Caribbean and the accompanying blog-commentaries. “Band together” should have been the only appeal at the United Nations. These words should have been echoed in public forums and private discussions with other Caribbean leaders. The Go Lean movement describes this “banding” as a confederation of the 30 Caribbean member-states, including the 2 US Territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. This formation of a Single Market and accompanying Security Pact would usher in the economic empowerments and security/emergency optimization that the region needs.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of this confederation, the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This complex organization structure is designed for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies. This includes Self-Governing Entities, bordered campuses that practice pure capitalism.

The book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines can be successful, but only if it is a regional pursuit – all the member-states band together. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

i. Whereas the earth’s climate has undeniably changed resulting in more severe tropical weather storms, it is necessary to prepare to insure the safety and security of life, property and systems of commerce in our geographical region. As nature recognizes no borders in the target of its destruction, we also must set aside border considerations in the preparation and response to these weather challenges.

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Our appeal to the PM of St. Lucia and to the leaders of all the other member-states:

This is not our first hurricane nor will it be our last. We must recover from these ones and be prepared for others, a lot more of them. “Begging” should not be our recovery plan!

On the other hand, the Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

The branding of the CU is a Trade federation, so there is emphasis for optimizing trade for the Caribbean region. Yes, there is tactical plan to establish trade routes beyond Miami-to-the-Caribbean. The Go Lean roadmap posits that with the close proximity of Trinidad to the South American country of Venezuela (7 miles), there could be an elaborate network of transportation options to facilitate the shipment of goods (and passengers) into the Singe Market.

This roadmap is a Big Deal / Big Idea for the Caribbean region; in many ways, the community commitment for the Caribbean may be similar to the American commitment in the 1960’s to Go to the Moon. The Go Lean book relates this on Page 127:

The Bottom Line on Kennedy’s Quest for the Moon
On 25 May 1961, US President John F. Kennedy announced his support for the American Space program’s “Apollo” missions and redefined the ultimate goal of the Space Race in an address to a special joint session of Congress:

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth”.

His justification for the Moon Race was both that it was vital to national security and that it would focus the nation’s energies in other scientific and social fields.

This quest was succeeded. At 10:56 pm EDT, on 20 July 1969, the first human (American Astronaut Neil Armstrong) ventured out of the Apollo 11 landing craft and set foot on the Moon declaring: “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind“.

Other countries have had subsequent moon landings.

Can we get the support of the Prime Minister of St. Lucia and the other Heads of Government throughout the whole region for our “Moon Shot” equivalent, our Big Deal / Big Idea? This is the actual title of one advocacy in the Go Lean book. Consider the specific plans, excerpts and headlines here from Page 127, entitled:

10 Big Ideas … in the Caribbean Region

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market The CU is a big idea for the Caribbean, our parallel of the American “moon quest”, allowing for the unification of theregion into one market of 42 million people. This creates the world’s 29th largest economy, based on 2010 figures.The pre-ascension GDP figures are actually less that $800 Billion, but the aggregation into a Single Market willmanifest the economic “catch-up” principle, in 5 years. Further, after 10 years the CU’s GDP should double andrank among the Top 20 or G20 nations.
2	Currency Union / Single Currency
3	Defense / Homeland Security Pact
4	Confederation Without Sovereignty
5	Four Languages in Unison
6	Self-Governing Entities (SGE)
7	*Virtual “Union Atlantic Turnpike” Operations* Ferries, Causeways/Bridges, Pipelines, Tunnels, Railways and limited access highways will function as “blood vessels to connect all the organs” within the region, thus allowing easier transport of goods and people among the islands and the mainland states (Belize, Guyana or Suriname) – See Appendix IC Alaska Marine Highway [on Page 280].
8	Cyber Caribbean Forge electronic commerce industries so that the Internet Communications Technology (ICT) can be a great equalizer in economic battles of global trade. This includes e-Government (outsourcing and in-sourcing for member-states systems) and e-Delivery, Postal Electronic Last Leg mail, e-Learning and wireline/wireless/satellite initiatives.
9	e-Learning – Versus – Studying Abroad
10	Cuba & Haiti

There have been a number of blog-commentaries by the Go Lean movement that highlighted the art and science of optimizing our eco-system for “Trade and Transport”. See a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13140	Region-wide Industrial Reboot of Caribbean Pipelines
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12322	Ferries 101 – Launch of a Region-wide Inter-Island Ferry System
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9179	The Vision of Ferries for Snowbirds to Head South
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4897	Plan for Natural Gas Distribution for Caribbean Consumption
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3225	Caribbean is Less Competitive Due to Increasing Aviation Taxes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=829	Facilitating Trade with Trucks and Trains
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=673	Future Model: Ghost Ships – Autonomous Cargo Vessels

In summary, it is only logical to expect any stewards of society to “corral” the resources, assets and people of the community to effect change, to elevate. On the other hand, it is not logical to expect others to do it for us. This is a child’s expectation for his/her parents. This is inappropriate for independent Caribbean member-states. The aforementioned Economist, Paul Romer, asserted the appropriate strategic plan:

“Economic growth occurs whenever people take resources and re-arrange them in ways that are more valuable”.

Obviously, this economist was advocating a capitalist agenda, in contrast to the democratic socialism practice in the region.

There is only a 7-mile strait between the Caribbean island Trinidad of and its southern neighbor. It is only logical to consider that trade route when the northern route – Miami – is impeded. Such a tactical plan will allow for resiliency for post-disaster scenarios. A potpourri of transportation options – Union Atlantic Turnpike – to facilitate interstate commerce among the islands and coastal states is a better plan than begging for other people’s money.

To all you Caribbean leaders: Do not be surprised when a hurricane hits. Count on it! There will be more … such scenario’s. Climate Change is undeniable! Destructive storms will manifest! Bad actors will emerge. There is a need for security empowerments along with economic empowerments. The economic solution for the Caribbean cannot be: Counting other people’s money.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean – the leaders and the people – to lean-in for the empowerments described here in the book Go Lean…Caribbean. It is conceivable, believable and achievable to prosper ourselves where planted here in the region; to reform and transform and make our own homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

———–

Appendix VIDEO – Saint Lucia PM Allen Chastanet: Caribbean Needs To Diversify Search For Relief | CNBC – https://youtu.be/asg87s29c4E

Published on Sep 20, 2017 – Allen Chastanet, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, talks about rebuilding the hard-hit Caribbean after recent storms left the islands devastated. Also Prime Minister Chastanet addresses insurance coverage.

Category: News & Politics
License: Standard YouTube License

———–

Appendix – Democratic Socialism

Democratic socialism is a political ideology that advocates political democracy alongside social ownership of the means of production, often with an emphasis on democratic management of enterprises within a socialist economic system.

Democratic socialists see capitalism as inherently incompatible with the democratic values of liberty, equality and solidarity; and believe that the issues inherent to capitalism can only be solved by superseding private ownership with some form of social ownership. Ultimately, democratic socialists believe that reforms aimed at addressing the economic contradictions of capitalism will only cause more problems to emerge elsewhere in the economy, that capitalism can never be sufficiently “humanized” and that it must therefore ultimately be replaced with socialism.^[1][2]

Democratic socialism is distinguished from both the Soviet model of centralized socialism and from social democracy, where “social democracy” refers to support for political democracy; the nationalization and public ownership of key industries but otherwise preserving and strongly regulating, private ownership of the means of production; regulated markets in a mixed economy; and a robust welfare state.^[3] The distinction with the former is made on the basis of the authoritarian form of government and centralized economic system that emerged in the Soviet Union during the 20th century,^[4] while the distinction with the latter is made on the basis that democratic socialism is committed to systemic transformation of the economy while social democracy is not.^[5]

The term “democratic socialism” is sometimes used synonymously with “socialism” and the adjective “democratic” is often added to distinguish it from the Leninist, Stalinist and Maoist types of socialism, which are widely viewed as being non-democratic in practice.^[6]

Democratic socialism is not specifically revolutionary or reformist, as many types of democratic socialism can fall into either category, with some forms overlapping with social democracy, supporting reforms within capitalism as a prelude to the establishment of socialism.^[7] Some forms of democratic socialism accept social democratic reformism to gradually convert the capitalist economy to a socialist one using pre-existing democratic institutions, while other forms are revolutionary in their political orientation and advocate for the overthrow of the bourgeoisie and the transformation of the capitalist economy to a socialist economy.^[8]

…

Relation to economics

Democratic socialists have espoused a variety of different socialist economic models. Some democratic socialists advocate forms of market socialism where socially-owned enterprises operate in competitive markets and in some cases are self-managed by their workforce. On the other hand, other democratic socialists advocate for a non-market participatory economy based on decentralized economic planning.^[38]

Democratic socialism has historically been committed to a decentralized form of economic planning opposed to Stalinist-style command planning, where productive units are integrated into a single organization and organized on the basis of self-management.^[39]

Contemporary proponents of market socialism have argued that the major reasons for the failure (economic shortcomings) of Soviet-type planned economies was the totalitarian nature of the political systems they were combined with, lack of democracy and their failure to create rules for the efficient operation of state enterprises.^[40]

Source: Retrieved October 11, 2017 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_socialism

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‘Free Market’ Versus … China – Two Systems at Play

Posted on June 20, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Government

Go Lean Commentary

China is on the verge of overtaking the US as the Number 1 Single Market economy in the world…

Wait, isn’t China a communist state?

Hasn’t communism failed to deliver on its promises to elevate societies that abide by its principles?

Yes, and yes …

But China demonstrates that there is a difference between principles and practices.

China abides by communist principles, but their practice is more aligned with Free Market concepts, especially with their doubling-down in trade, World Trade.

Do we truly consider Hong Kong as a communist state? Far from it; yet it is China; it is part of the “One country, two systems” practice. This means:

… a constitutional principle formulated by Deng Xiaoping, the Paramount Leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), for the reunification of China during the early 1980s. He suggested that there would be only one China, but distinct Chinese regions such as Hong Kong and Macau could retain their own economic and administrative systems, while the rest of the PRC (or simply “China”) uses the socialism with Chinese characteristics system. Under the principle, each of the two regions could continue to have its own governmental system, legal, economic and financial affairs, including trade relations with foreign countries. – Source: Wikipedia

This is “two systems at play”. This Hong Kong/Macau reality is the most pointed Lesson from China for a new Caribbean. We can employ the Two Systems-One Country approach so as to introduce Self-Governing Entities with their “own governmental system, legal, economic and financial affairs, including trade relations with foreign countries”.

There is wisdom to this strategy. China elevated itself from poverty to prosperity for 1.3 Billion people in just 40 years. Well done. See VIDEO here:

VIDEO – How China became the world’s second largest economy – https://youtu.be/_sV5P_F3frY

CNN Business
Published on Oct 6, 2015 – More than 500 million people have been lifted out of poverty since China’s economic reforms began in 1978.

Category: News & Politics

——–

See additional VIDEO in the Appendix below.

We must do the same … for a new Caribbean.

This is the continuation of series on Free Markets Versus…; this submission is entry 2-of-6 of the full series cataloged as follows:

Free Market Versus: Communism – Can they both co-exist?
Free Market Versus: China – Two systems at play in ‘Words and Actions’
Free Market Versus: Socialism – Prevalent in the Caribbean
Free Market Versus: Cooperatives
Free Market Versus: Labor Unions – Junior Communists?
Free Market Versus: Common Pool Resources – Simpler Cooperation

In this series, reference is made to the need for a comprehensive roadmap for elevating the societal engines of the Caribbean member-states. We do have a role model in China, to look, listen and learn. The 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean – a roadmap for the implementation for the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – made references (Page 64) to China with this explanation of the technocratic process:

Fostering a Technocracy
# 2 – Economists & Engineers – not Lawyers nor Politicians
The concept of a technocracy remains mostly hypothetical, though some nations have been considered as such in the sense of being governed primarily by technical experts in various fields of governmental decision-making. A technocrat has come to mean either ‘a member of a powerful technical elite’, or ‘someone who advocates the supremacy of technical experts’. Scientists, engineers, economists, and technologists, who have knowledge, expertise, or skills, would compose the governing body, instead of politicians and business people. In a technocracy, decision makers would be selected based upon how knowledgeable and skillful they are in their fields. Even the leaders of the Communist Party of China are mostly professional engineers. The Five-Year plans of the People’s Republic of China have enabled them to plan ahead in a technocratic fashion to build projects such as the National Trunk Highway System, the High-speed rail system, and the Three Gorges Dam.

China uses technocratic practices.

This is the biggest take-away in studying China.

There is so much more for us to learn by studying the Chinese reality of their brand of Free Markets and their brand of Communism, or their hybrid reality in between. In a previous blog-commentary, this lesson was detailed:

No doubt, there is the need to grow the Caribbean economy; we need jobs, entrepreneurial opportunities, better educational and healthcare options, a safer homeland and more efficient governmental services. Since trade policies (chattel goods and intellectual property) affect all of these deliveries, we need to pay more than the usual attention to these discussions. Trade has also been prominent in the news as of late, with the current American Federal government’s (under President Donald Trump) new penchant for tariffs and the UK negotiating a new trade deal as they leave the European Union (Brexit).

So there is the need for a 360 degree view of trade: the good; the bad; and the ugly. The Caribbean status quo is ugly, in terms of trade, there is the need to reform and transform, so as to reboot our society. But we are not the first, (and will not be the last). Let’s see the lessons we can learn from the trade strategies, tactics and implementations of others. We can all benefit!

Let’s start with China; there are parallels to consider. They need to provide for 1.3 Billion people, and so they are embracing market-based economics. In the Caribbean we only need to provide for 42 million, but we are like a fish in the pond; it does not matter how big the ocean is, we are limited to our pond. This is the definition of scope; our time, talents and treasuries must be designed to impact just these 30 island-nations and coastal states. Despite the size, there is the need for efficiency and effectiveness with market-based economic concepts. This is defined in the Go Lean book as technocratic/technocracy:

The term technocracy was originally used to designate the application of the scientific method to solving social & economic problems, in counter distinction to the traditional political or philosophic approaches. – Go Lean book Page 64.

Is the “One country, two systems” truly effective for Hong Kong, Macau and China? They do have problems. There have outstanding and ongoing political discrepancies between the 2 entities. These all seem to tie to issues of culture and governance, rather than economics or security. See these encyclopedic details:

Title: Hong Kong

Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, is a special administrative region on the eastern side of the Pearl River estuary in southern China. With over 7.4 million people of various nationalities^[d] in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is the world’s fourth-most densely populated region.

Hong Kong became a colony of the British Empire after Qing China ceded Hong Kong Island at the end of the First Opium War in 1842.^[17] The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 after the Second Opium War, and was further extended when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898.^[18][19] The territory was transferred to China in 1997.^[20] As a special administrative region, Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China,^[21] and its people overwhelmingly identify as Hongkongers rather than Chinese.^[22]

Originally a sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages,^[17] the territory has become one of the world’s most significant financial centres and commercial ports.^[23] It was estimated to be the world’s tenth-largest exporter and ninth-largest importer,^[24][25]and its legal tender (the Hong Kong dollar) is the world’s 13th-most traded currency.^[26] Hong Kong hosts the largest concentration of ultra high-net-worth individuals of any city in the world.^[27][28] Although the city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, there is severe income inequality.^[29]

Hong Kong is classified as an alpha+ world city, indicating its influence throughout the world.^[30] The city has the largest number of skyscrapers in the world, most surrounding Victoria Harbour.^[31] Hong Kong consistently ranks high on the Human Development Index, and has one of the highest life expectancies in the world.^[32] Over 90 per cent of its population uses public transportation.^[33]Air pollution from neighbouring industrial areas of mainland China has caused a high level of atmospheric particulates in the region.^[34] …

Source: Retrieved June 20, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong

———

Title: Special administrative regions of China
The special administrative regions (SAR) are one type of provincial-level administrative divisions of China directly under Central People’s Government. They possess the highest degree of autonomy.

The legal basis for the establishment of SARs, unlike the administrative divisions of Mainland China, is provided for by Article 31, rather than Article 30, of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China of 1982. Article 31 reads: “The state may establish special administrative regions when necessary. The systems to be instituted in special administrative regions shall be prescribed by law enacted by the National People’s Congress in the light of the specific conditions”.^[3][4][5][6]

At present, there are two SARs established according to the Constitution, namely the Hong Kong SAR and the Macau SAR, former British and Portuguese dependencies respectively,^[7] transferred to China in 1997 and 1999 respectively pursuant to the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 and the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration of 1987. Pursuant to their Joint Declarations, which are binding inter-state treaties registered with the United Nations, and their Basic laws, the Chinese SARs “shall enjoy a high degree of autonomy“.^[8] Generally, the two SARs are not considered to constitute a part of Mainland China, by both Chinese and SAR authorities.

There is additionally the Wolong Special Administrative Region in Sichuan province, which is however not established according to Article 31 of the Constitution.

The provision to establish special administrative regions appeared in the constitution in 1982, in anticipation of the talks with the United Kingdom over the question of the sovereignty over Hong Kong. It was envisioned as the model for the eventual reunificationwith Taiwan and other islands, where the Republic of China has resided since 1949. Special administrative regions should not be confused with special economic zones, which are areas in which special economic laws apply to promote trade and investments.

Under the One country, two systems principle, the two SARs continue to possess their own governments, multi-party legislatures, legal systems, police forces, monetary systems, separate customs territory, immigration policies, national sports teams, official languages, postal systems, academic and educational systems, and substantial competence in external relations that are different or independent from the People’s Republic of China.

Special administrative regions should be distinguished from the constituent countries system in the United Kingdom or Kingdom of the Netherlands. …

Source: Retrieved June 20, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_administrative_regions_of_China

———-

Title: Hong Kong–Mainland China conflict
Relations between people in Hong Kong and mainland China have been relatively tense in the early 2000s. Various factors have contributed, including different interpretations of the “One country, two systems” principle; policies of the Hong Kong and central governments to encourage mainland visitors to Hong Kong; and the changing economic environment.

These tensions are expressed as hostility toward mainlanders by radical political actors and ordinary citizens alike. More broadly, it is expressed in a sense of superiority of Hong Kongers over mainlanders, resentment toward mainland-Hong Kong convergence or assimilation, interference from the mainland in Hong Kong’s internal affairs and disappointment over Hong Kong’s declining economic influences. While some mainlanders view Hong Kongers as arrogant, ungrateful, and disloyal, Hong Kongers see mainlanders as rude, ill-mannered, poorly-educated, and dirty.^[1][2]

1.0 Background

The sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China in 1997. The terms agreed between the governments for the transfer included a series of guarantees for the maintenance of Hong Kong’s differing economic, political and legal systems after the transfer, and the further development of Hong Kong’s political system with a goal of democratic government. …

Hong Kong has more international cultural values from its past as a British colony and international city, and at the same time has retained many traditional Chinese cultural values, putting it in stark contrast to the culture of many parts of mainland China, where many international cultural values have never taken root and where many traditional cultural values have evolved.^[8] Hong Kong is also a multi-ethnic society with different cultural values in relation to race, languages and cultures to those held by the Chinese government and many mainland residents. As a highly developed economy with a high standard of living, Hong Kong culture has different values in relation to hygiene and social propriety compared to mainland China. Hong Kong-mainland conflict is mainly attributed to the cultural differences^[9] between Hong Kong people and mainlanders, such as languages,^[10] as well as the significant growth in number of mainland visitors. …

2.0 Incidents

Tour guide Lee Qiaozhen verbally abused mainland tourist

Dolce & Gabbana controversy

Kong Qingdong calling Hong Kongers “old dogs”

Parallel trading in Hong Kong

Anchor babies in Hong Kong

Racial abuse of Hong Kong football team

Siu Yau-wai case

Anti-mainlandisation motion

CUHK democracy wall tensions

Source: Retrieved June 20, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong%E2%80%93Mainland_China_conflict

For our efforts of stewardship in the Caribbean, we look at China and declare the Lesson learned. We know we must optimize culture and governance simultaneously as we elevate the economic engines.

We do want the China kind of growth here in the Caribbean; we do want Free Market-based trade with the rest of the world; we also want a harmonious society. See how this theme – carefully directing societal defects – aligns with many previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17515	Changing the Culture & Currency of Commerce
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17464	Bad Ethos Retarding ‘New Commerce’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17284	Way Forward – ‘Whatever it takes’: Life Imitating Art
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16907	Societal Empowerment – Thoughts. Feelings. Speech. Action.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14718	A more Perfect Union – ‘At the Table’ Rather than ‘On the Menu’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10216	Waging a Successful War on Orthodoxy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13321	Making a ‘Pluralistic Democracy’ – Multilingual Realities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695	Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past

Yes, we can … do the heavy-lifting to reform and transform.

The underlying motivation of the Go Lean book is to reform and transform the Caribbean member-states. Therefore we need to embrace market-based economics, the way China has. As stated in that previous blog-commentary:

… they [China] only shifted to a market-based economy since the 1970’s, and now they have the 2nd largest single market economy … in the world. While America – the champion of market-based economies – is the largest trading partner for Caribbean member-states, we cannot just be parasites, we must be protégées.

The growth that China has shown is remarkable and repeatable. We can model their successes here in our region; the foregoing article conveyed this:

China, having raised hundreds of millions from poverty to middle-class status since it embraced a market-based economy.

The CU roadmap is designed to drive change among the economic, security and governing engines. The Go Lean book – see below – describes how and when a new Caribbean can emerge using Free Market economic principles and operate Self-Governing Entities along side legacy systems. This approach calls for new community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocates to grow the regional economy and make a homeland a better place to live, work and play.

Everyone in the Caribbean is urged to lean-in to this roadmap to make the Caribbean member-states can offer the prospect to our young people that “Yes, they can” prosper where planted here. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

—————-

Appendix VIDEO – China’s Economic Miracle | The RISE of CHINA Mini-Documentary | Episode 1 – KJ Vids – https://youtu.be/MJLpGiHhr8E

KJ Vids
Published on Sep 11, 2017 – The Rise of China Mini-Documentary | Episode 1 | China’s Economic Miracle

Two centuries ago, Napoleon warned, “Let China sleep: when she wakes, she will shake the world.”

The rise of China will undoubtedly be one of the great dramas of the twenty-first century. China’s extraordinary economic growth and active diplomacy are already transforming East Asia, and future decades will see even greater increases in Chinese power and influence. In this episode we will look only at the sheer size of China today.

We will then look at it’s threats, challenges and confrontations with America in future episodes.

Watch other episodes of our Rise of China Mini-Documentary:

Episode 2 – China’s Risks and Challenges https://youtu.be/73k3v-AxJvM

Episode 3 – What Does the Chinese President XI JINPING Want? https://youtu.be/nvm0V95yjeA

Episode 4 – The SOUTH CHINA Sea Dispute https://youtu.be/Ea_9CxpF79E

Would you like to support our channel? If you enjoyed or learnt something from this video, you may kindly support our crowdfunding campaign on www.fundmyvideo.com/kjvids

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Category: News & Politics

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‘Free Market’ Versus … Communism – Lessons from History

Posted on June 19, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Government

Go Lean Commentary

The member-states of the Caribbean are “in a pickle”.

We are “bleeding”; we are losing our populations more and more. Our people are emigrating away in search of greater prosperity. Many times, our people leave for lands that promote Free Market economic principles, as opposed to what we are currently promoting here in our region.

Every society needs to continuously grow; so population “bleeding” is a bad thing. We need to better compete. What systems are we promoting … officially or unofficially? Let’s discuss …

First, let’s talk about Free Market as an economic principle. This is the system in which the prices for goods and services are only determined by the open market and by consumers and not forcibly determined by local governments – centrally controlled – see the encyclopedic references in the Appendices below.

After some debate – 100 years – the judgment is that Free Market economies are more prosperous than centrally controlled economies, think Communist states. Even Russia, the former Head of the communist-bloc Union of Soviet Socialist Republics has transformed and is now a Free Market country. See the list here of “Countries by their GDP Rankings”:

In fact, few communist (pure socialist) states remain; think Laos, Vietnam, China and Cuba.

(China is a special consideration for this commentary – see below).

Cuba is not a Free Market economy, right now. But it might be soon. Cuba sera Libre!

Think back to 1959 in Cuba; truth be told, the United States of America really did not and does not care that much whether a society embraces central-controlled versus Free Market, Communism versus Capitalism. Just as long as governments do not take (nationalize) the assets that belong to Americans. (The US does huge business – Trade – with China, Vietnam and Laos; but Cuba alone remains in a trade embargo).

Truly, the problem in Cuba was the subsequent seizing of assets rather than the political – leftist – ideology. The seizing of American businesses was in effect a de facto Act of War. (The US never engaged official warfare on Cuba because of the geo-political wrangling with the Soviet Union; the island remained a protectorate of that nuclear-armed Super Power; think Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962).

So as we contemplate the economic stewardship that exists in our Caribbean region now, this history should be front-and-center in our minds. (Cuba was not the first nor the last country to embrace leftist ideologies in the Caribbean; think Guyana, Antigua and Grenada. All these countries flirted with far extremes away from Free Market economies. Yet the US still maintained a status quo in terms of diplomatic relations with them. (Leftist Grenada was invaded by the US in 1982 at the behest of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to rectify a military coup and for violating human and civil rights).

There is so much that the Caribbean can benefit from with a discussion on this history of Free Markets in this region; this is not just a dry lecture in economics, rather this is an energetic debate on the form of economic governance that the new Caribbean should be pursuing. In a recent blog-commentary regarding the American Big Box retailer Wal-Mart, the question was asked of a reader:

“Should the Caribbean economic stewards welcome Wal-Mart in the region?”.

The reader’s default answer was:

“No, they would imperil Main Street retailers”.

Such an innocent declaration is actually anti-Free Market. This scenario demonstrates why there is the need for this discussion – to better understand the economics and the history – in the following series of commentaries on the distinct differences of Free Market Versus … – see the related Music VIDEO in the Appendix below. This submission is entry 1-of-6 in a full series cataloged as follows:

Free Market Versus: Communism – Can they both co-exist?
Free Market Versus: China – Two systems at play in ‘Words and Actions’
Free Market Versus: Socialism – Prevalent in the Caribbean
Free Market Versus: Cooperatives
Free Market Versus: Labor Unions – Junior Communists?
Free Market Versus: Common Pool Resources – Simpler Cooperation

In this series, reference is made to the need for a comprehensive roadmap for elevating the societal engines of the Caribbean member-states. The book Go Lean…Caribbean – a roadmap for the implementation for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – introduced a new roadmap by which Free Market exercises can exist and thrive right next door to alternative economic systems (i.e. central-controlled).

There is a lot for us to unwrap here.

This Go Lean strategy to consider is that of Self-Governing Entities (SGE). The book (Page 7) defines SGE’s as follows:

Bordered areas managed only under CU jurisdiction. These include Enterprise Zones, Industrial Parks, Technology Campuses, Medical Labs and others.

To better understand the co-existence of Self-Governing Entities, think of the military base that has been installed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 1898; referred to as GITMO. Even though it is located physically in the Caribbean nation, it is 100% sovereign territory of the United States, legally established by a treaty – the 1903 Cuban–American Treaty of Relations. The Go Lean book (Page 177), in discussing the Justice requirements for a new Caribbean regime, details this background of this GITMO venue as follows:

The Bottom Line on Guantánamo Bay
Guantánamo Bay is a natural harbor, with superior attributes, south of the city of Guantánamo, in Eastern Cuba.

The harbor has been controlled by the United States as the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base since 1902, following the Platt Amendment decree. It is the site of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Control over the naval base was granted to the US in partial compensation for the sacrifices made by US military in obtaining Cuba’s independence from Spain, something which the Cuban people had been unable to do for themselves. The detention camp is a detainment and interrogation (with torture tactics) complex established in January 2002 by the Bush Administration to hold detainees that have been connected with opponents in the Global War on Terror. The military prison relevance is in itself controversial, as the February 1903 lease states that the US is allowed “generally to do any and all things necessary to fit the premises for use as coaling or naval stations only, and for no other purpose”. In 2007, Camp Justice was the informal name granted to the complex where Guantánamo captives would face charges before the Guantanamo military commissions.

So while one justice standard exists along-side another justice standard (US Military versus Cuba), can we truly expect a parallel structure with economics?

Absolutely! This is the very strategy of SGE’s for economic empowerment in the region.

Also, we have “it” now … already in place. (The “it” refers to alternating yet parallel economic systems).

Consider cruise ship commerce …

… while food and beverage is free for cruise ship passengers, hard alcohol is a premium charge. While cruise ships are in port in the different Caribbean member-states, they are not required to abide by local alcohol sales policies and regulations: drinking age, excessive drinking guidelines, no sales tax or VAT compliance. The cruise ships, operating under Maritime Laws can operate on the ship autonomously of local governments. The cruise ship, under this scenario, is a Self-Governing Entity.

Cruise ships do service the port cities in Cuba.

So yes, SGE’s can promote Free Market schemes, right along side communist regimes.

Are we encouraging communism? Are we tolerating societal defects and dysfunctions?

No … and No!

We simply realize that changing governing policies is not so easy and straight forward. Cuba has continued voluntarily with their communist priorities despite failures for 60 years. (It will take a Marshall Plan-type effort to reform their societal engines). The Go Lean book states (Page 4) that …

… the CU is a loose confederation, identified as a Trade Federation. There is no expectation of sovereignty with this entity, so a commitment to the goals and aspirations of this Federation must be voluntary.

Plus, if we are insinuating that communism is bad, truth be told, capitalism has a lot of defects too. For example, the crony-capitalism and institutional racism in American and Western European societies have been duly documented and lamented; (remember the derisive term: Plutocracy and references to “Foreign Investors as Dragons“).

There is no one perfect society.

The “co-exist strategy of SGE’s” may be ideal.

This theme – carefully balancing capitalism – aligns with many previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16000	Getting ‘Out of the Way’ of Local Economic Empowerment Good Governance must reflect shepherding and oversight with an eye towards local needs, not just some distant economic controller. Growing the economy must include local economic empowerment as well, a reflection on the supply and demand of the marketplace.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2338	Welcoming the Dreaded ‘Plutocracy’ A mono-industrial economy creates a reality for industrial-corporate titans can have abusive effect on the societal engines in a community.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11057	Managing the ‘Strong versus the Weak’ – Book Review: Sold-Out! Wealthy business interests try to control everything and make all the important decisions, so that they can get ‘more for themselves and less for everybody else’.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7372	Media Fantasies versus Weather Realities There is some “bad intent” in the American media eco-system. Many believe that media hype over weather forecasts spurs retail spending (surplus food, gasoline, generators, and firewood) to benefit companies that contract media purchases (advertising) with the media outlets.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6819	The … Downside of ‘Western’ Diets American food standards (Standard American Diet = SAD) is notorious for many physical-medical and mental repercussions. Many times the motivation is crony-capitalistic. We want to do better in our homeland.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5993	Carnival Cruise Lines to ban carry-on bottled beverages Cruise lines rarely conform to labor, anti-trust and competition laws. Mandating bottled beverages to be exclusively delivered by the merchant ship is just one more example of their crony-capitalism.

Free Market capitalism versus …

(See Music VIDEO in the Appendix below).

The Caribbean region is urged to simply do better, to not just lean left (towards communism) or right (towards pure capitalism), but rather to pursue what is best for the Greater Good. This is defined as:

“It is the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong”. – Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832)

All in all, our economic, security and political structures are defective and deficient, we must reboot and reform our society. There are role models to the left – think China – and to the right – think Iceland – where communities have succeeded in elevating their societal engines. Despite initial appearances, the “grass is not necessarily greener on the other side”, on these foreign shores; they should not be considered the panacea of our ills; nor should emigrating there be considered the destination of our hopes and dreams.

We must work on our Caribbean Dreams right here at home. We must study and observe these ‘other communities’. We can then deploy the best-practices we glean. Much is at stake; we must dissuade our young people from abandoning our beautiful homeland, as they are our most precious resource.

This is the quest of the Go Lean roadmap. We want to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play.

We hereby urge the people and governing institutions in the region to lean-in for the empowerments described here in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

—————

Appendix – Reference: Free Market
In economics, a free market is a system in which the prices for goods and services are determined by the open market and by consumers. In a free market, the laws and forces of supply and demand are free from any intervention by a government or other authority and from all forms of economic privilege, monopolies and artificial scarcities.^[1] Proponents of the concept of free market contrast it with a regulated market in which a government intervenes in supply and demand through various methods such as tariffs used to restrict trade and to protect the local economy. In an idealized free-market economy, prices for goods and services are set freely by the forces of supply and demand and are allowed to reach their point of equilibrium without intervention by government policy. [Consider images here of Equilibrium curves for coffee and for gasoline].

Scholars contrast the concept of a free market with the concept of a coordinated market in fields of study such as political economy, new institutional economics, economic sociology and political science. All of these fields emphasize the importance in currently existing market systems of rule-making institutions external to the simple forces of supply and demand which create space for those forces to operate to control productive output and distribution. Although free markets are commonly associated with capitalism within a market economy in contemporary usage and popular culture, free markets have also been advocated by anarchists, socialists and some proponents of cooperatives and advocates of profit sharing.^[2] Criticism of the theoretical concept may regard systems with significant market power, inequality of bargaining power, or information asymmetry as less than free, with regulation being necessary to control those imbalances in order to allow markets to function more efficiently as well as produce more desirable social outcomes.

Contents

Source: Retrieved June 11, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market

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Appendix VIDEO – CAPITALISM VS. SOCIALISM SONG | Economics & Politics Music Video – https://youtu.be/23p1AYq8jBA

Jam Campus

Premiered Mar 4, 2019 – Excerpts of Lyrics:

“Systems with different ideas, opposite of each other
Both argue they manage production and resources better
But most modern countries use both systems blended together
Mixed economies, mixed economies …”

Lyrics and performance by Jam Campus
Instrumental composition by: https://www.fiverr.com/napbak

Category: Education

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Crony-Capitalism, Cruise, Cuba, History, Model, Power, SGE

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Is the US a ‘Just’ Society? Hardly! – ENCORE

Posted on June 14, 2019 in Ethos, Government, Social

People want to live in a just society.

So many Caribbean people have fled their ancestral homelands in search of refuge in foreign lands, like the US. If our expatriates are seeking a more just society, then they will be sadly disappointed with the American experience.

Ah, the American legal system! So many courts – County, Circuit, District, Appeals and Supreme – and yet justice is so elusive. One population groups gets too much mercy and one population group gets too much punishment.

Is there any doubt as to which population group gets what treatment? White people get the privilege, while the Black-and-Brown gets the shaft.

These are not just my words alone. Consider these anecdotes.

First, we have the sentencing – yesterday June 13, 2019 – of John Vandemoer, the Stanford sailing coach who confessed to racketeering charges in connection with the college entrance scam. He will serve no time in prison. He is White. See the full story here:

Title: Former Stanford sailing coach gets no prison time in the college admissions scam
By: Mark Morales, CNN
Former Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer will serve no time in prison in connection with the college entrance scam. He is the first among 50 people charged in connection with the scheme to be sentenced.

Vandemoer was sentenced to two years supervised release and a $10,000 fine. He must spend the first six months of the sentence in home detention with electronic monitoring, Massachusetts Judge Rya Zobel said.

Vandemoer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering for arranging bribes of $110,000 and $160,000 to the sailing program and then designating two applicants, who had no sailing experience, as sailing recruits, according to his criminal complaint.

Neither student completed the application process, university officials said.

The 50 people charged in the scam include coaches, parents, and members of mastermind William Rick Singer‘s inner circle, who were arrested in connection with the scandal in March.

“Mr Vandemoer is probably the least culpable,” Judge Zobel said during sentencing. “They (the others charged) took money for themselves. He did not do that. All the money he took went directly to the sailing program.”

Assistant US Attorney Eric Rosen had recommended a 13-month prison sentence for Vandemoer, arguing that it would help deter others in powerful university positions from similar crimes and that punishment would help restore confidence in the admission system.

“His actions not only deceived and defrauded the university that employed him, but also validated a national cynicism over college admissions by helping wealthy and unscrupulous applicants enjoy an unjust advantage over those who either lack deep pockets or are simply unwilling to cheat to get ahead,” Rosen wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed on June 7.

Vandemoer’s attorney, Robert Fisher, wrote to Judge Zobel in a memorandum on Friday that he should get probation and not a prison sentence, arguing that he didn’t pocket any of the money, didn’t take any money from the university and that this was his only instance of bad judgement.

“Mr. Vandemoer failed in one instance to live up to the high expectations he sets for himself,” Fisher wrote. “He fully accepts responsibility for his mistake. Mr. Vandemoer is determined to make amends for this mistake move on with his life and continue to provide for his family.”

Just two days before Vandemoer’s sentencing, Stanford University officials submitted a victim impact statement which details how Vandemoer, who traded his slots reserved for student-athletes for bribes, has damaged the university.

“Mr. Vandemoer’s actions in this matter are profoundly disappointing and especially so as he had a reputation of caring deeply for his student-athletes,” said Debra Zumwalt, vice president and general counsel for Stanford University in a statement.

The impact statement charged that Vandemoer and Singer not only undermined the public’s trust in the college admissions process, but also cost the university valuable time and money dealing with the fallout from the federal investigation.

Stanford fired Vandemoer the very same day he plead guilty.

“I spent my life trying to be a good, moral person and here, I made a mistake,” Vandemoer said when given a chance to address the court Wednesday.

The former coach apologized to the school, alumni, the sailing team and his family and friends.

“I deserve all of this. I caused it and for that I’m deeply ashamed.”

A third student was identified by the university as having worked with Singer and Vandemoer to get admitted into Stanford, university officials said. That student’s admission was rescinded and their credits were vacated, according to the impact statement.

Stanford officials previously said the Key Worldwide Foundation, Singer’s sham charity, contributed a total of $770,000 to the sailing program in the form of three separate gifts.

That money, Zumwalt said in the statement, was considered tainted, and university officials are working with the California Attorney General to donate that money for the public’s good.

“Stanford does not wish to benefit in any way from Mr. Vandemoer’s conduct,” Zumwalt said.

Twenty-seven letters of support for Vandemoer were sent to Judge Zobel, all pleading for leniency.

“I must say they are an extraordinary group of letters … that speak of the person they love and support,” Judge Zobel said during sentencing. “That is highly unusual in this setting.”

Vandemoer’s wife, Molly Vandemoer, wrote about how the former university sailing coach found a therapist shortly after his firing and is working toward his MBA as a way to put his life back together.

“I know he made a mistake,” Molly wrote. “I know it is extremely costly to his livelihood, to our family, etc. But I know he will never do something like this again.”

Clinton Hayes, once Vandemoer’s top assistant, became the interim head of the sailing team after the coach was fired by the university. Hayes wrote about how Vandemoer put student athletes first, letting them skip out on sailing meets for valuable internships or important trips, something he said spoke to the coach’s selflessness.

“John truly cared that everyone of our student athletes left Stanford a better person and productive member of society…” Hates wrote. “John always did what was right for each individual.”

Other letters came from former students, parents, and other family members.

———-

CNN’s Theresa Waldrop contributed to this report.
Source: Retrieved June 14, 2019 from: https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/11/us/college-admissions-scandal-john-vandemoer/index.html

Just 1 day in prison … Wow!

The defendant in this case gets 1 day in jail, time served, and a 13-month suspended sentence – a “slap on the wrist” for a crime that undermines the entire US college admissions integrity.

At the other end of the spectrum, there is the treatment of Black defendants in the court system. According to this previous blog-commentary by the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean, Black people are usually sentenced for longer jail-time by judges whose political affiliation is associated with the Republican Party.

See the Encore of that full blog-commentary here:

————

Go Lean Commentary – ‘Time to Go’ – Blacks get longer sentences from ‘Republican’ Judges

“Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are” – Old Adage

This Old Adage was drummed in me as a youth; I may have wanted to question its validity, but time has proven its accuracy. As humans, we are affected by the people we associate with; their values, principles, character, aspirations – or lack thereof – will have an effect on us. This statement even harmonizes with the Bible scripture at 1 Corinthians 15:33, which states:

“Bad companions ruin good character.” – Today’s English Version

This commentary highlights a disturbing trend in American jurisprudence; it turns out that among judges that associates with the conservative political parties or the liberal political parties, one group consistently sentences Black defendants to longer prison sentences. This is indicative of more than just the tolerance of criminality; this shows some hidden bias, that severely endangers the Black populations in America. These judges, despite claims of non-partisanship, are affected by their party.

Say it ain’t so!

The party with the harsher sentences is the Republican Party or GOP (for Grand Old Party).

Sometimes, we need to step back and look at the whole picture before we can notice trends and leanings. This is the common sense in the old expression: “One cannot see the forest for the trees”. This was the purpose of a study on judicial bias; it looked at a range of 500,000 cases to summarize its findings. Intelligence and wisdom can be gleaned from this data.

The numbers – and conclusions – must not be ignored. See the full story here:

Title: Black Defendants Get Longer Sentences From Republican-Appointed Judges, Study Finds
By: Adam Liptak

WASHINGTON — Judges appointed by Republican presidents gave longer sentences to black defendants and shorter ones to women than judges appointed by Democrats, according to a new study that analyzed data on more than half a million defendants.

“Republican-appointed judges sentence black defendants to three more months than similar nonblacks and female defendants to two fewer months than similar males compared with Democratic-appointed judges,” the study found, adding, “These differences cannot be explained by other judge characteristics and grow substantially larger when judges are granted more discretion.”

The study was conducted by two professors at Harvard Law School, Alma Cohen and Crystal S. Yang. They examined the sentencing practices of about 1,400 federal trial judges over more than 15 years, relying on information from the Federal Judicial Center, the United States Sentencing Commission and the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

Douglas A. Berman, an authority on sentencing law at Ohio State University, said the study contained “amazing new empirical research.”

“It’s an extraordinarily important contribution to our statistical understanding of sentencing decision making in federal courts over the last two decades,” he said.

It has long been known that there is an overall racial sentencing gap, with judges of all political affiliations meting out longer sentences to black offenders. The new study confirmed this, finding that black defendants are sentenced to 4.8 months more than similar offenders of other races.

It was also well known, and perhaps not terribly surprising, that Republican appointees are tougher on crime over all, imposing sentences an average of 2.4 months longer than Democratic appointees.

But the study’s findings on how judges’ partisan affiliations affected the racial and gender gaps were new and startling.

“The racial gap by political affiliation is three months, approximately 65 percent of the baseline racial sentence gap,” the authors wrote. “We also find that Republican-appointed judges give female defendants two months less in prison than similar male defendants compared to Democratic-appointed judges, 17 percent of the baseline gender sentence gap.”

The two kinds of gaps appear to have slightly different explanations. “We find evidence that gender disparities by political affiliation are largely driven by violent offenses and drug offenses,” the study said. “We also find that racial disparities by political affiliation are largely driven by drug offenses.”

The authors of the study sounded a note of caution. “The precise reasons why these disparities by political affiliation exist remain unknown and we caution that our results cannot speak to whether the sentences imposed by Republican- or Democratic-appointed judges are warranted or ‘right,’” the authors wrote. “Our results, however, do suggest that Republican- and Democratic-appointed judges treat defendants differently on the basis of their race and gender given that we observe robust disparities despite the random assignment of cases to judges within the same court.”

The study is studded with fascinating tidbits. Black judges treat male and female offenders more equally than white judges do. Black judges appointed by Republicans treat black offenders more leniently than do other Republican appointees.

More experienced judges are less apt to treat black and female defendants differently. Judges in states with higher levels of racism, as measured by popular support for laws against interracial marriage, are more likely to treat black defendants more harshly than white ones.

The Trump administration has been quite successful in stocking the federal bench with its appointees, and by some estimates the share of Republican appointees on the federal district courts could rise to 50 percent in 2020, from 34 percent in early 2017.

The study said these trends were likely to widen the sentencing gaps.

“Our estimates suggest that a 10 percentage point increase in the share of Republican-appointed judges in each court would increase the racial sentencing gap by approximately 5 percent and the gender sentencing gap by roughly 2 percent,” the authors wrote. “During an average four-year term, a Republican president has the potential to alter the partisan composition of the district courts by over 15 percentage points, potentially increasing the racial and gender sentencing gap by 7.5 and 3 percent, respectively.”

There are a couple of reasons to question that prediction. The Trump administration has been more energetic in appointing appeals court judges than trial judges. And in recent years many conservatives have started to shift positions on sentencing policy. The very scope of the study, which considered sentences imposed from 1999 to 2015, could mask trends in the later years.

Supreme Court justices like to say that partisan affiliation plays no role in judicial decision making.

“There’s no such thing as a Republican judge or a Democratic judge,” Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s Supreme Court appointee, said at his confirmation hearing last year. “We just have judges in this country.”

Political scientists have disagreed, finding that Republican appointees are markedly more likely to vote in a conservative direction than Democratic ones. Senate Republicans, by refusing to hold hearings for Judge Merrick B. Garland, President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, seemed to agree.

So has Mr. Trump. “We need more Republicans in 2018 and must ALWAYS hold the Supreme Court!” he tweeted in March.

But judicial ideology is one thing. The race and gender gaps identified by the new study present a different and difficult set of questions.

Professor Berman said the study should prompt both research and reflection. “It only begins a conversation,” he said, “about what sets of factors really influence judges at sentencing in modern times.”

Follow Adam Liptak on Twitter: @adamliptak.

Source: New York Times – published May 28, 2018; retrieved June 26, 2018 from: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/28/us/politics/black-defendants-women-prison-terms-study.html

This article alludes to a stereotype; one where women are sentenced lighter, but Blacks harsher. This stereotype transcends the entire history of the United States … right up to this day. The more things change, the more they remain the same!

This commentary continues the series on Time to Go, considering the reality for life of the Caribbean’s Black-and-Brown population in the US. This entry is Number 10 in this series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean which started in September 2016 with the first 6 issues. Now, this revisit, this commentary, examines a disturbing trend with the sentences of federal court judges; these ones are appointed by the President of the United States. Needless to say, Presidents appoint judges that reflect and respect their values – it’s a natural expectation that they would have the same (virtual) association. So “we” can tell a lot about federal judges, just by knowing which President appointed them.

These were the 2016 submissions in this series:

Now, we consider these 5 new entries along that same theme:

All of these commentaries relate to Caribbean people and their disposition in foreign lands – in this case in the US – and why they need to Go Back Home. Surely, it is obvious and evident that institutional racism is “Alive & Well” in the US. We can and must do better at home. The Go Lean book – available to download for free – serves as a roadmap for the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to assuage the societal defects in this region. It is “out of scope” for our movement to fix America; our efforts to reform and transform is limited to the Caribbean.

‘Republican’ Judges???

This is as opposed to Democratic Judges! Yes, this is a reference to specific political parties in the US. Yet, we are not making these assessments with any political leaning. Rather, this movement behind the Go Lean book and blogs, the SFE Foundation, is an apolitical organization with no favoritism for one political party over the other. In fact, the first 6 commentaries in this Time to Go series were published during the presidential administration of Barack Obama, a Democrat.

The subject of Optimized Criminal Justice is a failing for all previous presidential administrations – though Blacks lean more to the Democrats – see/listen to the AUDIO-Podcast in the Appendix below. This is a familiar theme for this Go Lean commentary. This movement have consistently related the lack of respect for those in America fitting the Black-and-Brown description; consider these prior submissions:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14627	Cop-on-Black Shootings – In America’s DNA
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14413	Repairing the Breach: Hurt People Hurt People
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8202	Lessons Learned from American Dysfunctional Minority Relations
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8200	Climate of Hate for American Minorities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7221	Street naming for Martin Luther King unveils the real America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5527	American Defects: Racism – Is It Over?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4863	Video of Police Shooting: Worth a Million Words
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4447	Probe of Ferguson, Missouri shows cops & court bias
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=546	Book Review – ‘The Divide’ – Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=341	Hypocritical US slams Caribbean human rights practices

It is a dangerous proposition to be Black in America. This is why this movement consistently urges the Black-and-Brown of the Caribbean to Stay Home! In fact, The Bahamas urged its majority Black population (and the young men) to exercise extreme caution when traveling to the US and dealing with police authorities. There is no doubt that the America of Old – would have been no place for Caribbean people to seek refuge. But now we are asserting that the disposition is still the same:

Our Black-and-Brown Diaspora should plan to repatriate back to the Caribbean
While our young people, in the homeland, who plan to prosper where planted rather than setting their sights on American shores.

Despite the fact that this society – modern America – is still no place for Black-and-Brown Caribbean people to seek refuge, all 30 member-states of the region continue to suffer from an abominable brain drain rate – one report proclaims 70 percent – in which so many Caribbean citizens have emigrated to the US (and other places). We must resist this bad trend! How?!

Good messaging
Heavy-lifting to reform and transform the societal engines

The Go Lean book identifies the reasons why people abandon their homeland as “push and pull”. While the “push” refers to the societal defects that people take refuge from, the “pull” is mostly due to messaging. Our people perceive that the US is better for them, and that landing in the US is the panacea – cure-all – for all societal short-comings. Good messaging will mitigate that trend. Yet, still, we must do the hard work for fixing our society.

The Go Lean book asserts that it is easier for the Black-and-Brown populations in the Caribbean to prosper where planted in the Caribbean, rather than in the United States. Plus, we need these people’s help to reform and transform our society. We need some to lead, and some just to follow. We need some to produce, and some just to consume. We need growth! So abandonment is counter-productive.

This is the quest of the Go Lean/CU roadmap. The book presents 370 pages of instructions for how to reform and transform our Caribbean member-states. It stresses the key community ethos that needs to be adopted, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to optimize the societal engines in a community. The CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives for optimizing our societal engines:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

As related in this blog series, it is Time to Go! We have a better chance of optimizing our society in the Caribbean for our Black-and-Brown majority populations than the US will do for our people; we can actually be better than America. Just look, their distinguished judges are still adjudicating like its 1868, and not 2018. America has gone “2 steps forward and 1 step backwards”.

Now is the Time to Go and now is the time to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap. This quest is conceivable, believable and achievable. Yes, we can … reform and transform our society. We can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————–

AUDIO Podcast – Why Did Black Voters Flee The Republican Party In The 1960s? – https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/07/14/331298996/why-did-black-voters-flee-the-republican-party-in-the-1960s

Posted July 14, 2014 – If you’d walked into a gathering of older black folks 100 years ago, you’d have found that most of them would have been Republican.

Wait… what?

Yep. Republican. Party of Lincoln. Party of the Emancipation. Party that pushed not only black votes but black politicians during that post-bellum period known as Reconstruction.

Today, it’s almost the exact opposite. That migration of black voters away from the GOP reached its last phase 50 years ago this week.

…

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Civil Rights, Diaspora, Justice, Model, Power

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A Lesson in History – 25 years after the “OJ Murders”

Posted on June 11, 2019 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Do you remember the O.J. Simpson case; where he was accused of killing 2 people including his ex-wife? Do you realize, that was 25 years ago now?

Yep! The deaths took place on June 12, 1994.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” – Martin Luther King, quoting Theodore Parker.

There is a lesson in history when we consider the OJ Murders from 1994: things always work itself out towards justice, fairness and freedom … eventually. Sometimes though, the milestones in the journey towards a more just society are reversed or negative; we may make 2 steps forward with 1 step back; or 1 step forward and 2 steps back.

This is just the reality of change in society.

Our lesson in history teaches us that there was a bad orthodoxy in modern society, regarding both race and gender. Many times, minorities – those of the Black-and-Brown races – and women had to endure a lot more abuse than would be any acceptable standard in a just society. Plus when it comes to women, intersectionality (race, age, religion, LGBT, etc.) also applies, so even when one group get more civil rights granted, progress for some other women’s groups may continue to trail. Yet, still …

… You’ve have come a long way, Baby!

The book Go Lean…Caribbean addresses this history as the actuality of Natural Law. The book states (Page 226):

The Bottom Line on Natural Law and Women’s Rights

17th century natural law philosophers in Britain and America, such as Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Locke, developed the theory of natural rights in reference to ancient philosophers such as Aristotle and the Christian theologist Aquinas. Like the ancient philosophers, 17th century natural law philosophers defended slavery and an inferior status of women in law.

Relying on ancient Greek philosophers, natural law philosophers argued that natural rights where not derived from god, but were “universal, self-evident, and intuitive”, a law that could be found in nature. They believed that natural rights were self-evident to “civilized man” who lives “in the highest form of society”. Natural rights derived from human nature, a concept first established by the ancient Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium in Concerning Human Nature. Zenon argued that each rational and civilized male Greek citizen had a “divine spark” or “soul” within him that existed independent of the body. Zeno founded the Stoic philosophy and the idea of a human nature was adopted by other Greek philosophers, and later natural law philosophers and western humanists. Aristotle developed the widely adopted idea of rationality, arguing that man was a “rational animal” and as such a natural power of reason.

Concepts of human nature in ancient Greece depended on gender, ethnic, and other qualifications and 17th century natural law philosophers came to regard women along with children, slaves and non-whites, as neither “rational” nor “civilized”. Natural law philosophers claimed the inferior status of women was “common sense” and a matter of “nature”. They believed that women could not be treated as equal due to their “inner nature”. The views of 17th century natural law philosophers were opposed in the 18th and 19th century by Evangelical natural theology philosophers such as William Wilberforce and Charles Spurgeon, who argued for the abolition of slavery and advocated for women to have rights equal to that of men. Modern natural law theorists, and advocates of natural rights, claimed that all people have a human nature, regardless of gender, ethnicity or other qualifications; therefore all people have natural rights [120].

These thoughts on Natural Law and Women’s Rights persist to this day, despite how archaic they may seem.

Before the OJ Murders, there was an obvious nonchalance about domestic violence in America.

“Mind your own business”

“You’re not in mortal danger”

OJ Simpson was not the first domestic abuser nor was he the last; but now, in the 25 years since, the country has been more forthright and responsive. They have listened to the outcries of victims and the needs of abusers. It is no longer acceptable for the rest of society to just “mind their own business”.

What changed?

Later that same year in 1994, Congress debated and passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)- see the summarized details in Appendix B below – and many mitigations were put in place as a result.

The actuality of the infamous OJ Simpson case propelled VAWA; and though “he” still walks the street without any murder conviction – see Appendix A – the country can still credit him, for perpetrating a crisis and forcing more sensible jurisprudence over the time, with the “long arc of the moral universe bending toward justice”.

This theme – mitigating domestic violence – aligns with many previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16408	Mitigating the Bad Ethos on Home Violence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13664	High Profile Sexual Harassment Accusers – Finally Believed
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7490	A Lesson in the History of Interpersonal Violence – Domestic
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=695	Abused Latina wives find help by going to ‘Dona Carmen’

To this day, 25 years later – the OJ Simpson Murder Prosecution is still considered the “Trial of the Century”.

This OJ Murder drama – arrest, criminal trial acquittal; civil trial culpability – facilitated a lot of dialogue and debate on American Justice. There was always an American penchant to protect “White Women from Black Men”; this was the premise for so many extra-judicial executions (think the 4,733 recognized cases of Lynchings) in the American past. So the 1995 acquittal in the OJ Simpson Criminal case drove a wedge between “Black America versus White America”. For many in the African-American community, they recognized that the double standard of Rich White Justice versus Poor Black Justice may have finally swung favorably for a Black defendant. A previous Go Lean commentary added this observation:

There it is, the United States, where there seems to be a Great Divide in justice, one set of standards for the rich, another set for the poor.

The grass is not greener on that (American) side!

The reasons for emigration are “push-and-pull”. This source book identifies and qualifies a “pull” factor, the issue of justice in America. The book informs the reader that America should not be considered alluring from a justice perspective, especially if the reader/audience is poor and of a minority ethnicity.

This leaves the “push” factors. The Caribbean must address its issues, as to why its population is so inclined to emigrate. This is the purpose of the Go Lean roadmap. It features the assessments, strategies, tactics and implementations to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

In contrast, back in the 1990’s, White America “dug in their heels” on this OJ Murder Case that despite any reasonable doubt in the court case, this Black Man had murdered the two White victims. They therefore yearned of the “Bad Old Days” of meting out immediate justice on presumed Black offenders. The defective landscape in American justice had left “an open sore to fester“.

This open sore has still not healed; think “Make America Great Again”; see Appendix C VIDEO below.

In many previous Go Lean commentaries, the dimensions of continuous racial inequities in the US mainland had been detailed and debated; see this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16944	Accepting Black Women ‘As Is’ – A Case for Women Empowerment
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16532	European Reckoning – Settlers -vs- Immigrants
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15123	Blacks get longer prison sentences from ‘Republican’ Judges
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14627	Nature or Nurture: Cop-on-Black Shootings embedded in America’s DNA
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9216	‘Time to Go’ – No Respect for our Hair
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9214	‘Time to Go’ – Spot-on for Protest

All in all, it remains the conclusion of this commentary:

“No Justice; No Peace”.

“The long arc of the moral universe bends toward justice”.

The OJ Murder drama demonstrated a lesson for us, that justice is not perfect in the US, and we as Caribbean immigrants cannot effect change there.

But we can effect change here in the Caribbean homeland … (one person can make a difference).

Yes, the heavy-lifting of reforming and transforming Caribbean justice institutions is conceivable, believable and achievable. We must ensure the proper response and protections for domestic violence here in our region. We must protect the victims and prosecute the abusers. We must ensure that the Strong Never Abuse the Weak with impunity.

This is how … and why we must act now. We must step-in, step-up and step forward to ensure our homeland is a better place to live, work and play for everyone: strong and weak, men and women, rich and poor. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, both domestic and foreign. The Federation must employ the latest advances and best practices of criminology and penology to assuage continuous threats against public safety. …

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————–

Appendix A – 25 years after murders, OJ says ‘Life is fine’

By: Linda Deutsch, Associated Press June 10, 2019

LOS ANGELES (AP) — After 25 years living under the shadow of one of the nation’s most notorious murder cases, O.J. Simpson says his life has entered a phase he calls the “no negative zone.”

In a telephone interview, the 71-year-old Simpson told The Associated Press he is healthy and happy living in Las Vegas. And neither he nor his children want to look back by talking about June 12, 1994 , when his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death and Simpson was transformed from Hall of Fame football hero to murder suspect.

“We don’t need to go back and relive the worst day of our lives,” he said. “The subject of the moment is the subject I will never revisit again. My family and I have moved on to what we call the ‘no negative zone.’ We focus on the positives.”

But the pain has not faded for Goldman’s family.

“Closure,” said Goldman’s sister Kim, “isn’t a word that resonates with me. I don’t think it’s applicable when it comes to tragedy and trauma and loss of life.”

“I don’t suffocate in my grief,” she said. “But every milestone that my kid hits, every milestone that I hit, you know, those are just reminders of what I’m not able to share with my brother and what he is missing out on.”

Ron Goldman, then 25, was returning a pair of sunglasses that Nicole Brown Simpson’s mother had left at a restaurant where he worked when he and Simpson’s ex-wife were stabbed and slashed dozens of times.

O.J. Simpson’s televised “Trial of the Century” lasted nearly a year and became a national obsession, fraught with issues of racism, police misconduct, celebrity and domestic violence.

Represented by a legal “Dream Team” that included Johnnie Cochran Jr. and F. Lee Bailey, he was acquitted by a jury in 1995 in a verdict that seemed to split the country along racial lines, with many white Americans believing he got away with murder and many black people considering him innocent.

He has continued to declare his innocence. The murder case is officially listed as unsolved.

The victims’ families subsequently filed a civil suit against him, and in 1997 he was ordered to pay $33.5 million for the wrongful deaths of his ex-wife and Goldman. Some of his property was seized and auctioned, but most of the judgment has not been paid.

For a man who once lived for the spotlight , Simpson has generally kept a low profile since his release from prison in October 2017 after serving nine years for a robbery and kidnapping conviction in Las Vegas. He insisted his conviction and sentence for trying to steal back his own memorabilia were unfair but said: “I believe in the legal system and I honored it. I served my time.”

After his release from prison in Nevada, many expected him to return to Florida, where he had lived for several years. But friends in Las Vegas persuaded him to stay there.

“The town has been good to me,” Simpson said. “Everybody I meet seems to be apologizing for what happened to me here.”

His time in the city hasn’t been without controversy. A month after his release, an outing to a steakhouse and lounge off the Las Vegas Strip ended in a dispute. Simpson was ordered off the property and barred from returning.

No such problems have occurred since, and Simpson is among the most sought-after figures in town for selfies with those who encounter him at restaurants or athletic events he attends occasionally.

He plays golf almost every day. The knees that helped him run to football glory at the University of Southern California and with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills have been replaced, and he recently had laser surgery on his eyes.

Simpson said he remains close to his children and other relatives. His parole officer has given him permission to take short trips, including to Florida, where his two younger children, Justin and Sydney, have built careers in real estate.

His older daughter, Arnelle, lives with him much of the time but also commutes to Los Angeles.

“I’ve been to Florida two or three times to see the kids and my old buddies in Miami. I even managed to play a game of golf with them,” he said. “But I live in a town I’ve learned to love. Life is fine.”

He also visited relatives in Louisiana, he said, and spoke to a group of black judges and prosecutors in New Orleans.

The glamor of his early life is just a memory.

After his football career, Simpson became a commercial pitchman, actor and football commentator. Once a multimillionaire, he says most of his fortune was spent defending himself from the murder charges.

Simpson declined to discuss his finances other than to say he lives on pensions.

To coincide with Wednesday’s anniversary, Kim Goldman will launch a 10-week podcast, “Confronting: O.J. Simpson,” in which she will interview her brother’s friends, the detective who investigated the killings, attorneys for the defense and prosecution, and two of the 12 jurors who acquitted Simpson. She will continue to make the case that Simpson was guilty.

___

Linda Deutsch is a retired special correspondent for The Associated Press. She covered all of Simpson’s legal cases during her 48-year career as a Los Angeles-based trial reporter.

Source: Posted and retrieved June 10, 2019 from: https://news.yahoo.com/ap-exclusive-25-years-murders-045033971.html?.tsrc=notification-brknews

————–

Appendix B – Violence Against Women Act

The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law (Title IV, sec. 40001-40703 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, H.R. 3355) signed as Pub.L. 103–322 by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994 (codified in part at 42 U.S.C. sections 13701 through 14040). The Act provided $1.6 billion toward investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave un-prosecuted. The Act also established the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.

VAWA was drafted by the office of Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and co-written by Democrat Louise Slaughter, the Representative from New York, with support from a broad coalition of advocacy groups.^[1] The Act passed through Congress with bipartisan support in 1994, clearing the United States House of Representatives by a vote of 235–195 and the Senate by a vote of 61–38, although the following year House Republicans attempted to cut the Act’s funding.^[2] In the 2000 Supreme Court case United States v. Morrison, a sharply divided Court struck down the VAWA provision allowing women the right to sue their attackers in federal court. By a 5–4 majority, the Court overturned the provision as exceeding the federal government’s powers under the Commerce Clause.^[3][4]

VAWA was reauthorized by bipartisan majorities in Congress in 2000 and again in December 2005. The Act’s 2012 renewal was opposed by conservative Republicans, who objected to extending the Act’s protections to same-sex couples and to provisions allowing battered undocumented immigrants to claim temporary visas, but it was reauthorized in 2013, after a long legislative battle. As a result of the United States federal government shutdown of 2018–2019, the Violence Against Women Act expired on December 21, 2018. It was temporarily reinstated via a short-term spending bill on January 25, 2019, but expired again on February 15, 2019. The House of Representatives passed a bill reauthorizing VAWA in April 2019; the bill, which includes new provisions protecting transgender victims and banning individuals convicted of domestic abuse from purchasing firearms, has yet to be considered by the Senate as of April 11[, 2019].^[5]

…

See the full article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_Against_Women_Act retrieved June 10, 2019.

————–

Appendix C VIDEO – Is ‘make America great again’ racist? – https://youtu.be/kIQdb-1Lxso

Fox News
Published on Sep 9, 2016

‘The O’Reilly Factor’ examines Bill Clinton’s criticism of the slogan.

Category: News & Politics

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Blog # 900 – 2020: Where Vision is Perfected

Posted on June 7, 2019 in Ethos, Planning, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Do “you” have 20/20 vision?

20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance. If you have 20/100 vision, it means that you must be as close as 20 feet to see what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet.

So do “you”?

I am not talking to you the reader, rather “you” the community; (with a focus on the Caribbean). Do we have clarity and sharpness in the execution of our societal deliveries? Unfortunately, for the 30 member-states of the Caribbean, the answer is an undisputed “No”. We have the greatest address on the planet and yet our societal engines (economics, security and governance) are so dysfunctional that our people are “beating down the doors” to get out. In a recent blog-commentary from the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean, this historic fact was enunciated:

“The Caribbean region has exported more of its people than any other region of the world since the abolition of slavery in 1834. While the largest Caribbean immigrant sources to the U.S. are Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Haiti, U.S. citizen migrants also come from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

The same as vision can be corrected with glasses and lenses, community vision or planning can also be perfected with reboots and turn-around activities. Our current vision is bad, we need correction. We cannot see (nor seem to care about) all of our citizens that are fleeing the homeland and looking for refuge elsewhere. Yes, we need to correct our vision; we need to get back to 20/20 …

… we need to see clearly. See this quest as messaged by a Caribbean musical artist in the VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Jimmy Cliff – I Can See Clearly Now (Video Version) – https://youtu.be/MrHxhQPOO2c

JimmyCliffVEVO
Published on May 3, 2014 – Watch the official music video for “I Can See Clearly Now” performed by Jimmy Cliff Music video by Jimmy Cliff performing I Can See Clearly Now. (C) 1993 Sony BMG Music Entertainment #JimmyCliff #ICanSeeClearlyNow #Vevo #Reggae #OfficialMusicVideo

Category: Music

Writers: Johnny Nash

Licensed to YouTube by: SME; PEDL, LatinAutor, LatinAutor – Warner Chappell, ASCAP, IMPEL, UBEM, Warner Chappell, Wixen Music Publishing, and 11 Music Rights Societies

2020 is not just a reference to vision; it is also the next year on our calendar. This intersection allows us to use the actuality of 2020 to perfect our vision for Caribbean planning. Perfecting our vision to 20/20 would mean executing better on the 3 C’s – conceiving, communicating and compelling – the plans, strategies, tactics and implementations.

We are already pursuing these activities! While we are planning for the new year – 2020 – we have already published this Go Lean book and distributed it widely in the Caribbean region for the quest of forging change-correction in the Caribbean vision. We have also promoted the book aggressively by publishing related blog-commentaries. While the book was published in November 2013, the commentaries started in February 2014. Now we are up to a new milestone:

This submission is blog-commentary # 900.

These prior entries are all categorized and tagged for different subject areas. A “Vision 2020” presentation is all associated with Planning activities. Of these 900 blogs, the number tagged with a Planning category is (as of this publication date): 125

The Go Lean movement, introducing the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), is bent on planning or presenting a new Vision for the year 2020. 2020 is a milestone in a lot of ways: new decade, new generation, even a new census (from an American perspective).

Many others are thinking New Vision for 2020.

Do a quick search for “2020 Vision Plan “on Google, and you will get some amazing results; see this sample here (retrieved June 6, 2019):

https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/plans/vision-2020-cwp/vision-2030-cwp.page	NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan: Vision 2020 – NYC.gov The NYC Comprehensive Waterfront Plan aims at making New York City’s 520 miles of waterfront accessible, active, and resilient. This plan provides a vision for the city’s waterfront for the next decade and beyond. The plan will be released by the end of 2020.
https://www.njit.edu/2020vision/plan-success/	2020 Vision: A Plan for Success New Jersey Institute of Technology strategic plan studies the college’s potential to achieve important goals for students, learning, & research.
https://www.charlottecentercity.org/center-city-initiatives-2/plans/2020-vision-plan/	Center City 2020 Vision Plan – Charlotte Center City Partners Center City 2020 Vision Plan Charlotte’s Center City has undergone dramatic growth and change over the past decade. From the development of new cultural ..
http://www.buffalo.edu/ub2020.html	UB 2020: University at Buffalo’s strategic plan UB 2020 is UB’s far-reaching vision for our continued growth as a world-class public research university.
https://www.sandiegounified.org/vision-2020-and-mission-statement	Vision 2020 & Mission Statement – San Diego Unified School District A community-based school reform plan that engages all parents, staff, students and community members. It will result in a high level of confidence in public schools to develop a world-class school system for all of students. It culminates with graduation of the Class of 2020.
https://www.who.int/blindness/partnerships/vision2020/en/	VISION 2020 for World Health Organization VISION 2020 is a global initiative that aims to eliminate avoidable blindness as a public health issue by the year 2020. VISION 2020 is a partnership that provides guidance, technical and resource support to countries that have formally adopted its agenda.

Reform and transform …

… seems to be a consistent theme among these preceding samples.

For this effort to reform and transform the Caribbean, we are in good company, for the act of planning is a noble pursuit; it is both an art and a science. See how the Go Lean book presented these 21 Advocacies under the category of Planning for a new Caribbean (Page 124):

10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region
10 Ways to Improve Trade
10 Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce
10 Ways to Model the EU
10 Ways to Make the Caribbean Better
10 Reasons Why the CU Will Succeed
10 Ways to Better Manage Image
10 Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices
10 Lessons Learned from the W.I. Federation
10 Lessons Learned from 2008
10 Lessons from New York City
10 Lessons from Omaha
10 Lessons from East Germany
10 Lessons from Detroit
10 Lessons from Indian Reservations
10 Lessons from the American West
10 Lessons from Egypt
10 Lessons from the Bible
10 Lessons from the US Constitution
10 Lessons from Canada’s History
10 Ways to Measure Progress

This is what planning is all about: learning from the past and preparing for the future; perfecting the vision. The Go Lean book opens the Planning section with the Biblical quotation from Proverbs 29:18:

“Where there is no vision, the people perish…”.

This theme – perfecting the planning process – aligns with many previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17358	Marshall Plan 4-Part Series – Ideal for Caribbean Application
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17135	Way Forward 6-Part Series – Hope for Change in the Homeland
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13952	Welcoming a Caribbean Intelligentsia for Planning the Plan
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10043	Integration Plan for Greater Caribbean Prosperity
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1470	COB Master Plan 2025 – Reach for the Lamp-Post

“Reach for the stars” – Old Saying reflecting a grandiose vision-plan.

Surely, planning is something that keeps us striving to be better. We want to do more for 2020.

But we do not have to wait until the Year 2020. We can do more now! We urge everyone to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap … now.

Vision is where it begins. This depicts a journey, which is appropriate for our consideration, because the destination of our roadmap is simple: a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxxiii. Whereas lessons can be learned and applied from the study of the recent history of other societies, the Federation must formalize statutes and organizational dimensions to avoid the pitfalls of [bad] communities … [and to] implement the good examples learned from [good] developments/
communities … .

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Caribbean Regiment – We were ‘there’ in World War II

Posted on June 6, 2019 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

75 years ago today – June 6, 1944 – was the Big One …

… the fight to end all fights.

It goes down in history as “D-Day“. See the encyclopedic details in the Appendix below, and this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – WWII veterans and world leaders gather in Normandy for D-Day anniversary – https://youtu.be/DK6-l1w6J_w

CBS This Morning
Published on Jun 5, 2019 – Leaders from around the world are starting two days of observances to remember the 75th anniversary of D-Day. President Trump and Queen Elizabeth are part of this morning’s ceremony in Portsmouth, England, one of the main departure points for the WWII invasion of German-occupied France. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is also there, along with representatives from all 16 allied nations that took part in D-Day. Anthony Mason reports from Normandy.

Category: News & Politics

History shows that this was the beginning of the end of World War II (WWII). The world has been forever changed since this war. This applies 100 percent for us in the Caribbean and we were ‘there’ in-person and “in spirit”. At the time of this war there were only 3 independent Caribbean member-states (Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Now today, in the 75 years since, there are 16 independent states. Those 3 independent nations did NOT participate in World War II. But the other countries – at that time colonies of the European powers at conflict (Britain, France, The Netherlands, USA) – did have to submit personnel to the war effort.

… submit personnel to the war effort – that’s a euphemism for risking their lives for King and Country. As related in a previous commentary, that required ethos – National Sacrifice – had normally been missing in Caribbean life. An excerpt from that commentary continues as follows:

The term National Sacrifice is defined here as the willingness to die for a greater cause; think “King/Queen and Country”. This spirit is currently missing in the recipe for “community” in the Caribbean homeland.

To be willing to die for a cause means that one is willing to live for the cause. Admittedly, “dying” is a bit extreme. The concept of “sacrifice” in general is the focus of this commentary.

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean wants to forge change in the Caribbean, we want to change the attitudes for an entire community, country and region. We have the track record of this type of commitment being exemplified in other communities. (Think: The US during WWII). Now we want to bring a National Sacrifice attitude to the Caribbean, as it is undoubtedly missing. This is evidenced by the fact the every Caribbean member-state suffers from alarming rates of societal abandonment: 70% of college educated population in the English states have left in a brain drain, while the US [dependent] territories have lost more than 50% of their populations).

So on D-Day, when all the sacrifices were spilled on those beaches in Normandy on the French coastline, Caribbean people were there, but not representing their Caribbean homeland; they represented their colonial masters. As a people, we did not have a “seat at the table”, but verily we were “on the menu”.

We need to further examine that day, D-Day; we need to look at the voluminous sacrifices of that day and take stock of where we are as a people today, still with no “seat at the table” … and still “on the menu”.

Why should we concern ourselves with this 75-year old historic sacrifice?

Because we need change and change only comes about as a result of sacrifice – someone’s sacrifice ensured that we have the changes-progress in society that we enjoy today. For most of the 42 million people in our region, the self-determination – think: majority rule, voters rights and civil rights – that is expected is a harvested by-product of the sacrifices of many people in World War II in general – 55 million people died – and on the French coastal beaches of Normandy on D-Day in particular – 19,000 people that day: 10,000 Allied troops & up to 9,000 Germans.

A previous blog-commentary with the title “‘At the Table’ or ‘On the Menu’” highlights this main point:

Change is hard! Reforming and transforming a community is heavy-lifting. A lot of societal reforms – human and civil rights – only come about as a result of advocates fighting for change … “at the top” or “from the bottom”. Changing “at the top” means conferring, convincing, consulting and cajoling leaders (political and business) to implement changes in policies and procedures; it means being “at the table”. Changing “from the bottom” means “taking to the streets” and rallying the masses to force governments and businesses – the establishment – to hear demands and make changes.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a confederation to bring change and empowerment to the Caribbean member-states; to make the region a better place to live, work and play for all stakeholders (residents, Diaspora, visitors, businesses and institutions). This Go Lean book posits that the permanent change we seek will only take root as a result of adjustments to the community attitudes, the national spirit that drives the character and identity of its people. This is identified in the book as “community ethos” (Page 20); and that one such character, National Sacrifice is sorely missing in this region.

Why missing? Perhaps this is due to the ignorance that Caribbean people actually also gave blood, sweat and tears to the WWII war effort in 1944. The best example of our heroism and sacrifice is the historicity of the All-Volunteer Caribbean Regiment in the British Army. See some details here:

Title: Caribbean Regiment
The Caribbean Regiment (also known as the Carib Regiment) was a unit of the British Army during World War II. The regiment went overseas in July 1944 and saw service in the Middle East and Italy.

There had been resistance from the War Office to form the West Indian regiment but those who made their own way to the UK were able to enlist in the British Army. Nearly 10,000 West Indians travelled and joined the army in Britain.

Following discussion between the Colonial Office and the War Office, the Caribbean Regiment was formed in April 1944 of 1,200 volunteers. The recruits were drawn from all over the British West Indies; most were members of local Volunteer Defence Forces. A few officers and non-commissioned Officers were also drafted in from British Army units.

A detachment of 104 officers and men from the Atlantic island of Bermuda, made up of volunteers (conscription had been introduced to Bermuda shortly after the declaration of war, but those who were drafted to the Caribbean Regiment volunteered to do so) from the Bermuda Militia Artillery and Bermuda Militia Infantry, arrived on two ships, on the 13 and 23 April 1944, to form the training cadre of the new regiment at Fort Eustis, a US Army base near Williamsburg, Virginia. Under the command of Lt. Colonel H. Wilkin, OBE, MC, they prepared for the arrival of detachments from the West Indian islands, each under its own officers. Newly recruited men were tested in Virginia for fitness. With more experience, and a generally higher degree of education, many of the Bermudian men were made non-commissioned officers and distributed around the regiment.

Some of the Caribbean soldiers had already trained for deployment to the Pacific. The Bermudians had previously trained for the war in Europe. The new regiment trained in Virginia, where the regiment was the first to celebrate the King’s birthday in the U.S. since the American Revolution.

The Regiment left the USA for Oran, in North Africa, in June 1944. Oran was handed over to Free French Forces before their arrival, and the Regiment went on to Italy in July 1944, where it was employed in general duties behind the front line. In October it escorted 4000 German prisoners of war from Italy to Egypt, where it was used in mine clearance work around the Suez Canal area.

The regiment never saw front line action. This was due partly to inadequate training (with only a single battalion, it had not trained as part of a larger brigade – the smallest unit the British Army normally fielded on its own) and partly because of the anticipated political impact in the British West Indies if heavy casualties had been incurred.

In 1946 it returned to the West Indies and was disbanded.

Source: Retrieved June 5, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_Regiment

The world is coming together to remember, mourn and celebrate the big sacrifices of D-Day 1944. We, the people of the Caribbean, need to pay more than the usual attention to these activities.

In that previous commentary, it related the community ethos that was associated with peoples who endured the sacrifices of WWII. This was National Sacrifice, a deferred gratification and priority on being future-focused. All the D-Day Fallen Soldiers should be mourned and remembered; their sacrifices must be duly acknowledged, appreciated and honored. This is how to create that proper community spirit and value system for public service and National Sacrifice.

Take note, you Caribbean people.

The former British colonies, though they contributed to the Caribbean Regiment, still have not adopted this National Sacrifice value system. Most of the Caribbean (outside the US Territories) member-states do not even have a (work-free) holiday to honor the sacrifices of those that fought, bled or died for their country’s previous war efforts.

No appreciation, no sacrifice; no sacrifice, no victory.

And we wonder why our people in the homeland are so quick to abandon their communities. We refuse to give honor to those that died for the homeland, and verily, we refuse to live for the homeland.

Time for a change.

The 5 L’s should be considered. We need to Look, Listen, Learn as the world commemorates D-Day. Then we need to Lend-a-hand ourselves to help our community. After which we must Lead, in forging the proper ethos-spirit-attitude in our young people going forward. This is why National Sacrifice matters.

We hereby urge every stakeholders – resident and Diaspora alike – that love the Caribbean to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap to elevate our societal engines. All the mitigations and empowerments in this roadmap require people to be in the homeland, to stay and sacrifice when it would seem so much easier to just leave, rather we need them to prosper where planted. That is courageous. We also urge those that have left to consider repatriation – returning home – that would be heroic.

Too many defects in the homeland?

We hear you; we see you! We are making the sacrifices to make the progress. We hereby pledge to devote the needed “blood, sweat and tears” – but no war – to make our homelands better places to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

————-

Appendix – D-Day (Normandy landings)
The Normandy landings were the landing operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as D-Day, it was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France (and later western Europe) from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.

Planning for the operation began in 1943. In the months leading up to the invasion, the Allies conducted a substantial military deception, codenamed Operation Bodyguard, to mislead the Germans as to the date and location of the main Allied landings. The weather on D-Day was far from ideal and the operation had to be delayed 24 hours; a further postponement would have meant a delay of at least two weeks as the invasion planners had requirements for the phase of the moon, the tides, and the time of day that meant only a few days each month were deemed suitable. Adolf Hitler placed German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in command of German forces and of developing fortifications along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion.

The amphibious landings were preceded by extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault—the landing of 24,000 US, British, and Canadian airborne troops shortly after midnight. Allied infantry and armoured divisions began landing on the coast of France at 06:30. The target 50-mile (80 km) stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions, particularly at Utah and Omaha. The men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements overlooking the beaches, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of the beach-clearing teams difficult and dangerous. Casualties were heaviest at Omaha, with its high cliffs. At Gold, Juno, and Sword, several fortified towns were cleared in house-to-house fighting, and two major gun emplacements at Gold were disabled, using specialised tanks.

The Allies failed to achieve any of their goals on the first day. Carentan, St. Lô, and Bayeux remained in German hands, and Caen, a major objective, was not captured until 21 July. Only two of the beaches (Juno and Gold) were linked on the first day, and all five beachheads were not connected until 12 June; however, the operation gained a foothold which the Allies gradually expanded over the coming months. German casualties on D-Day have been estimated at 4,000 to 9,000 men. Allied casualties were at least 10,000, with 4,414 confirmed dead.

Museums, memorials, and war cemeteries in the area now host many visitors each year.
…
See the full Wikipedia article (retrieved June 5, 2019) here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings

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Caribbean Roots: Grand Master Flash

Posted on June 4, 2019 in Ethos, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Welcome to June!

It’s Caribbean-American Heritage Month.

… unanimously adopted by the House of Representatives on June 27, 2005 in House Congressional Resolution 71, sponsored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, recognizing the significance of Caribbean people and their descendants in the history and culture of the United States.^[14]

LONDON – 1985: DJ Grandmaster Flash aka Joseph Saddler of the rap group “Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five” performs onstage at Wembley Arena in 1985 in London, England. (Photo by David Corio/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

It is also Black Music Month.

… initiated … by President Jimmy Carter who, on June 7, 1979, decreed that June would be the month of black music.

In 2009, the commemoration was given its current name by President Barack Obama.^[1] In his 2016 proclamation, Obama noted that African-American music and musicians have helped the country “to dance, to express our faith through song, to march against injustice, and to defend our country’s enduring promise of freedom and opportunity for all. “^[2]

This commentary is a fusion between these 2 observances.

Most emphatically, Caribbean-American Diaspora has contributed greatly to the Great American Songbook, even for Hip-Hop music. We are referring to one of the original heroes of this all-American musical genre: Joseph Saddler aka Grand Master Flash. Yes, he was born and raised in Barbados and emigrated to the New York metropolitan area at a young age.

Original hero? We are not the only one to conclude this; (plus, see the references in the Appendices below):

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first hip hop act to be honored.^[1]

VIDEO – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five accept and perform Rock Hall Inductions 2007 – https://youtu.be/7tuPWXPd4nI

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Published on Sep 23, 2011 – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five accept and perform Rock Hall Inductions 2007

Category: Music

Unfortunately, despite our Caribbean being the greatest address on the planet, a report relates that …

“The [Caribbean] region has exported more of its people than any other region of the world since the abolition of slavery in 1834.^[3] While the largest Caribbean immigrant sources to the U.S. are Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Haiti, U.S. citizen migrants also come from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

Wow, we got “it” bad, societal abandonment that is!

Imagine if we did a better job of holding on to our citizens. Imagine the world-class contributions and artistic productions. They would have done all that they have done here – maybe even more and better. Talent always finds a way to “break thru”; see photo here:

This theme – the Caribbean heritage of so many movers-and-shakers – aligns with previous commentaries from the movement behind the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16938	Caribbean Roots: Presidential Candidate – Kamala Harris
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11787	Caribbean Roots: Bruno Mars … and the Power of Endurance
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11442	Caribbean Roots: Al Roker – ‘Climate Change’ Defender
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10801	Caribbean Roots: John Carlos – The Man. The Moment. The Movement
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10609	Caribbean Roots: Cast of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10114	Caribbean Roots: Esther Rolle of ‘Good Times’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10015	Caribbean Roots: E. R. Braithwaite, Author of ‘To Sir, With Love’ – RIP
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9948	Caribbean Roots: Sammy Davis, Jr.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8724	Caribbean Roots: Pan-African Leader – Marcus Garvey
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2726	Caribbean Roots: Fashion Great – Oscar De La Renta – RIP

The Go Lean movement recognizes the Caribbean Roots and artistic contributions of artists like Joseph Saddler aka Grand Master Flash, even in non-traditional art forms like Hip-Hop. (This makes up the sound track of this writer’s life).

Truth be told, Hip-Hop is now the Number One consumed music genre in the US. Caribbean contributions are hereby acknowledged!

Yes, there is power to music; it can urge people to act … and feel … and move. Music can even “soothe the savage beast”.

Yes we can … impact our homeland and impact the world. With music, we can both reach people’s hearts and make them dance. This is one more way to forge change in society! This is why the promotion of music is vital in our quest to elevate Caribbean life and culture. This is one way that we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

xxxii. Whereas the cultural arts and music of the region are germane to the quality of Caribbean life, and the international appreciation of Caribbean life, the Federation must implement the support systems to teach, encourage, incentivize, monetize and promote the related industries for arts and music in domestic and foreign markets. These endeavors will make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

——————

Appendix A – Joseph Saddler aka Grandmaster Flash

Joseph Saddler’s family emigrated to the United States from Barbados, in the Caribbean. He grew up in the Bronx in New York City where he attended Samuel Gompers High School, a public vocational school. There, he learned how to repair electronic equipment.^[2] Saddler’s parents played an important role in his interest in music. His parents came from Barbados and his father was a big fan of Caribbean and African American records.^[3]

As a child, Saddler was fascinated by his father’s record collection. In an interview, he reflected: “My father was a very heavy record collector. He still thinks that he has the strongest collection. I used to open his closets and just watch all the records he had. I used to get into trouble for touching his records, but I’d go right back and bother them.”^[3] Saddler’s early interest in DJing came from this fascination with his father’s record collection as well as his mother’s desire for him to educate himself in electronics.^[4] After high school, he became involved in the earliest New York DJ scene, attending parties set up by early luminaries, like DJ Kool Herc.

…

Source: Retrieved June 4, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandmaster_Flash

——————

Appendix B – Induction: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five – 2007 | Category: Performers

Members:

Joseph “Grandmaster Flash” Saddler
Melvin “Mele Mel” Glover
Nathaniel “The Kidd Creole” Glover Jr.
Eddie “Scorpio aka Mr. Ness” Morris
Keith “Keef Cowboy” Wiggins
Guy “Rahiem” Williams

Summary:
Put simply, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were innovators. Sonically, their new techniques and equipment expanded the sound of hip-hop. Lyrically, their masterpiece “The Message” [see Appendix C below] exposed the dirty underside of a landscape known for partying—and no one saw it coming.

Biography
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five fomented the musical revolution known as hip-hop.

Theirs was a pioneering union between one DJ and five rapping MCs. Grandmaster Flash (born Joseph Saddler) not only devised various techniques but also designed turntable and mixing equipment. Formed in the South Bronx, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were one of the first rap posses, responsible for such masterpieces as “The Message,” “Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” and “White Lines.” The combination of Grandmaster Flash’s turntable mastery and the Furious Five’s raps, which ranged from socially conscious to frivolously fun, made for a series of 12-inch records that forever altered the musical landscape.

Flash, along with DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa, pioneered the art of break-beat deejaying—the process of remixing and thereby creating a new piece of music by playing vinyl records and turntables as if they were musical instruments. Disco-era deejays like Pete “DJ” Jones, an early influence on Grandmaster Flash, spun records so that people could dance. Turntablists took it a step further by scratching and cutting records, focusing on “breaks”—what Flash described as “the short, climactic parts of the records that really grabbed me”—as a way of heightening musical excitement and creating something new.

Flash’s days as a deejay date back to 1974, when he and other deejays who were too young to get into discos began playing at house parties and block parties in their South Bronx neighborhoods. Flash worked briefly with Kurtis Blow, but Cowboy became the first MC to officially join Grandmaster Flash in what would become the Furious Five. Cowboy’s rousing exhortations, including now-familiar calls to party, like “Throw your hands in the air and wave ‘em like you just don’t care!” became essential ingredients of the hip-hop experience.

Grandmaster’s squadron of MCs expanded to include Kidd Creole, Mele Mel, Mr. Ness (a.k.a. Scorpio) and Rahiem, in that order. Mele Mel, one of the most phonetically and rhythmically precise rappers in the genre—and the authoritatively deep voice who delivered the anti-cocaine rap “White Lines”—recalled the early days of hip-hop: “Disco was for adults, and they wouldn’t let the kids in. That forced us to go out on the streets and make our own entertainment.”

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five issued their first record, “Superrappin’,” on the Enjoy label in 1979. They then signed to Sylvia Robinson’s New Jersey-based Sugarhill label, where they made the R&B charts with a 12-inch single called “Freedom,” which ran for more than eight minutes. Various combinations of Grandmaster Flash, Mele Mel and the Furious Five placed ten records in the charts during a three-year span from 1980 to 1983. These included Grandmaster Flash’s dizzying turntable showcase, “Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel,” and the group’s acknowledged masterpiece, “The Message.” The latter offered a series of unflinchingly honest and discomfiting observations about life in the ghetto, with lead rapper Mele Mel returning to the same weary conclusion: “It’s like a jungle sometime, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.”

As Rolling Stone observed, “’The Message’ was [the first record] to prove that rap could become the inner city’s voice, as well as its choice.” This slice of unvarnished social realism sold half a million copies in a month, topped numerous critics’ and magazines’ lists of best singles for 1982 and cemented Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s place in hip-hop’s vanguard. “I ask myself to this day, ‘Why do people want to hear this?’” Grandmaster Flash wondered of “The Message” in 1988. “But it’s the only lyric-pictorial record that could be called ‘How Urban America Lived.’”

In 1984, disagreements over business matters, including a lawsuit with Sugarhill, caused the group to split into two factions, and their commercial momentum was lost. However, they reunited in 1987 for a charity concert hosted by Paul Simon at Madison Square Garden in New York. The result was another album, On the Strength, released in 1988. On the Strength contained another example of Grandmaster Flash’s turntable genius (“This Is Where You Got It From”) and a history lesson for those who didn’t understand hip-hop’s roots and longevity (“Back in the Old Days of Hip-Hop”). In the ensuing years, Grandmaster Flash and Mele Mel have made records under their own names, and numerous anthologies have been released, including Grandmaster Flash, Mele Mel and the Furious Five: The Definitive Groove Collection.

Inductees: Melvin Glover a.k.a. Mele Mel (vocals; born May 15, 1961), Nathaniel Glover Jr. a.k.a. Kidd Creole (vocals; born February 19, 1960), Eddie Morris a.k.a. Mr. Ness/Scorpio (vocals; born October 12, 1960), Joseph Saddler a.k.a. Grandmaster Flash (turntables; born January 1, 1958), Keith Wiggins a.k.a. Cowboy (vocals; born September 20, 1960, died September 8, 1989), Guy Williams a.k.a. Rahiem (vocals; born February 13, 1963)

Source: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; posted September 23, 2011; retrieved June 4, 2019 from: https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/grandmaster-flash-and-furious-five
————–
Appendix C VIDEO – Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – The Message (Official Video) – https://youtu.be/PobrSpMwKk4

Sugarhill Records

Published on Aug 24, 2015 –

Download The Message on iTunes – http://hyperurl.co/sgur7n
Stream The Message on Spotify – http://hyperurl.co/92hx5f
Buy The Message on Amazon – http://hyperurl.co/d1jnmy
Follow Grandmaster Flash Website: http://hyperurl.co/8bmdbs
Facebook: http://hyperurl.co/jn3yxq
Twitter: http://hyperurl.co/b31agz
Instagram: http://hyperurl.co/lzisge

Category: People & Blogs

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Dealing with Hurricane Season 2019 … and beyond

Posted on June 2, 2019 in Government, Planning, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Welcome to Hurricane Season 2019.

I wish I could say it will be uneventful. I can’t …

Just the opposite, scientists have told us that as the earth’s atmosphere heats more and more, that Climate Change-fueled events will only worsen and worsen. So far, Spring 2019 has been proof positive. We have seen floods, tornadoes, unusual wintry weather, etc. As reported in a previous blog-commentary, the planet must prepare to “rinse and repeat“.

June 1st is the official start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, so every year at this time we have to start dealing with the realities of hurricanes and Caribbean life. The 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean (Page 10) declares that we need “to provide new guards for our future security”. This is not our first year planning for and dealing with Hurricane Season; nor will it be our last. “This” is our new reality. The book relates on Page 11:

Whereas the earth’s climate has undeniably changed resulting in more severe tropical weather storms, it is necessary to prepare to insure the safety and security of life, property and systems of commerce in our geographical region. As nature recognizes no borders in the target of its destruction, we also must set aside border considerations in the preparation and response to these weather challenges.

This theme – planning for and dealing with Hurricane Season – aligns with many previous Go Lean commentaries; see here, this consideration from recent years:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15012	Hurricane Season 2018 and Puerto Rico continued sufferings
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12068	Hurricane Season 2017 and ‘Climate Change’ Abatement

Dealing with Hurricane Seasons must include more than just naming hurricanes or responding to the storms’ devastation; we must also mitigate the threat of Climate Change and do our share to reduce global warming. Yes, we must!

Why?

Because we are responsible for the causes of Climate Change; so says this recent report; consider the story here:

Title: 99.9999% chance humans are causing global warming, and other science-based facts on Climate Change for Earth Day
By: Doyle Rice and Elizabeth Weise

Climate change is real and increasingly a part of our daily lives. New research and studies out in just the past six months highlight the latest facts about the human-caused shift to our global weather systems and its effects on our planet.

First among them, there’s no longer any question that rising temperatures and increasingly chaotic weather are the work of humanity. There’s a 99.9999% chance that humans are the cause of global warming, a February study reported. That means we’ve reached the “gold standard” for certainty, a statistical measure typically used in particle physics.

The mechanism is well understood and has been for decades. Humans burn fossil fuels such as oil, coal and gas, which release carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and other gases into the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. CO2 is the greenhouse gas that’s most responsible for warming.

Study lead author Benjamin Santer of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, told Reuters that “the narrative out there that scientists don’t know the cause of climate change is wrong.”

Hottest on record
The past five years have been the five warmest since record-keeping began in the late 1800s. The Earth has experienced 42 straight years (since 1977) with an above-average global temperature, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Based on five separate data sets that keep track of the Earth’s climate, the global average temperature for the first 10 months of 2018 was about 1.8 degrees above what it was in the late 1800s. That was when industry started to emit large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Australia experienced record summer heat in January of this year. The town of Port Augusta reached the hottest day since record-keeping began in 1962 with a temperature of 121, according to the Guardian.

The heat was so intense it caused bats to fall from trees, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Carbon dioxide up 46%
Increasing amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases being released into the atmosphere by industry, transportation and energy production from burning fossil fuels are enhancing what’s known as the planet’s natural greenhouse effect.

Carbon dioxide is the most prevalent among all greenhouse gases produced by human activities, attributed to the burning of fossil fuels.

The atmospheric carbon dioxide level for March was 411.97 parts per million and continue to rise. It has now reached levels in the atmosphere not seen in 3 million years.

That’s an increase of 46% from just before the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, when CO2 levels were around 280 parts per million. Levels began to rise when humans began to burn large amounts of fossil fuels to run factories and heat homes, releasing CO2 and other greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

Scientists say to keep a livable planet, we need to cut the level to 350 parts per million.

Rising seas
A consequence of higher temperatures is the melting of the polar ice caps, which is causing sea levels to rise. The world’s oceans have risen about an inch in the past 50 years due to melting glaciers alone, a study published this month in the journal Nature found.

The Earth’s glaciers are now losing up to 390 billion tons of ice and snow per year, the study suggests.

Global warming has caused over 3 trillion tons of ice to melt from Antarctica in the past quarter-century and tripled ice loss there in the past decade, another study, released in June, said.

More: Life after solving climate change: Not mud huts and gruel but clean air and warm homes

Source: Posted for “Earth Day 2019” on April 22, 2019; retrieved June 1, 2019 from: https://www.yahoo.com/now/earth-day-2019-high-temperatures-131301815.html

99.9999% is a special number! It is near to Six Sigma – process which 99.9999998% of products manufactured are statistically expected to be free of defects (3.4 defects per million). So this near sign of operational perfection means that it is “on us”. If we accept that us humans are the cause of Climate Change, then that means that us humans can stop the bad actions and do good ones. As reported here previously, we only have until 2030 as a fix window to try to effect change; (after that, there is no hope for a turn-around):

[A report from the] UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) … asserts that if there are no mitigations [by 2030], then the catastrophic future that we all dread will be unavoidable. Life may continue on the planet, but the status quo would be no more. …

After [2030], there may not be any turning back from a Greenhouse planet. Once we accept this fact – the eventuality of the Climate Change Catastrophe – only then can we start to make efforts to address the truth: our “house is on fire”. …

Fixing Climate Change in the US or Canada is out-of-scope for this Go Lean movement; but we still need them to act. We also need Europe, China, India – all Big Polluters – and all countries of the world to act. We must stand on soap boxes, podiums and stages and tell the world – everyone must listen; we must make them listen. This is now everyone’s job, everyone’s responsibility. …

There is … a roadmap [for] reforming and transforming the Caribbean’s societal engines to abate Climate Change; [it] is possible; it is conceivable, believable and achievable.

The current US President, Donald Trump, is not a partner in the effort to abate Climate Change. He is a denier! He is also undermining legitimate scientific efforts – see Appendix VIDEO.

The start of Hurricane Season 2019 reminds us to recommit to the urgency to mitigate and remediate Climate Change. While we must Go Green here in the Caribbean, we must do more too. We must urge the rest of the world to Go Green. Otherwise, our small tropical islands will be the first to become extinct. It is that serious!

Let’s lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap to effect change here in the homeland and then lets urge the rest of the world to also do more. Yes, we can make a difference here in the homeland and around the world. 🙂

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

—————-

Appendix VIDEO – Climate Change: Why Trump’s panel on climate science is controversial – https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/2019/02/27/climate-change-why-trumps-panel-climate-science-controversial/2998078002/

Posted February 26, 2019 – President Trump’s pick for leading a climate change panel is notorious for denying the science behind human-caused global warming. We dive into the counter-arguments on climate change. USA TODAY.

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