Strategy – Page 27 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Category: Strategy

10 Things We Want from the UK and 10 Things We Do Not Want

Posted on October 17, 2016 in Government, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

There is a “give and take” relationship between the Caribbean and the United Kingdom (a reference to Britain or England).

18 of the current Caribbean 30 member-states have a British heritage. They (the UK) have given a lot to the Caribbean over the centuries: systems of commerce, systems of governance, education, language, art and culture. The UK was more than just a country, it was an Empire, with colonialism exploited to the maximum; Mother England.

In addition to giving, they have taken a lot as well; consider the centuries of British mercantilism. Plus, during the World Wars, the UK drafted this population to staff their Armed Forces; see the drama depicted in the classic cultural song in the Appendix B VIDEO below. After the Second World War, with their economy in tatters, the UK, took from the Caribbean again, this time the human capital of so many Caribbean territories; see the Caribbean experience related musically in the Appendix A VIDEO below.

This historicity was detailed in this previous blog-commentary …

“There was plenty of work in post-war Britain and industries such as British Rail, the National Health Service and public transport recruited almost exclusively from Jamaica and Barbados”. Retrieved July 10, 2014 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_African-Caribbean_people#The_.22Windrush_generation.22

This point is in consideration of the book Go Lean…Caribbean; it posits (Page 3) that “the Caribbean is the greatest address in the world”, but yet the region could not compete with the economic opportunities extended by England and the rest of Europe after World War II. The hope was always to glean some of the economic returns by venturing to England – for a short while – and then come back home. There was the definite plan to discourage any subsequent emigration by future generations of Caribbean citizens.

To our chagrin, that is not what happened. The situation went from bad to worse in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The Caribbean British territories created a pipeline to England for a cheap, low-skilled, labor force. As more and more residents left, the society declined more and more in their wake. Today, a large number of Caribbean people live abroad; in places like the UK, Europe, Canada and the US. This commentary is Part 3 of 4 in a series examining the destinations of the Caribbean Diaspora. The full series is as follows:

10 Things We Want from the US and 10 Things We Do Not Want
10 Things We Want from Canada and 10 Things We Do Not Want
10 Things We Want from the UK and 10 Things We Do Not Want
10 Things We Want from Europe and 10 Things We Do Not Want

So for the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales), we must ask the questions of our Diaspora there:

Why do they live in the UK and what can we learn from that experience?
What can we gather for the Pros and Cons of British life?

Overall, there continues to be “push and pull” reasons why Caribbean citizens have emigrated in the past – and continue to do so now. The extent of that societal abandonment is so acute that it is now at an atrocious 70% rate among the region’s college-educated classes. The Go Lean book makes the frank and earnest admission that the Caribbean has blatant societal defects … in the economic, security and governing engines of the communities.

The Go Lean movement (book and blog-commentaries) have looked inward and identified the defects of Caribbean life. Now we look at these refuge countries so as to glean the Good and Bad lessons of those destinations. This is also a competitive analysis, as the Caribbean region is competing with these foreign locales for the hearts and minds of the Caribbean youth. Like other submissions in this series, here is the laundry list of the Good and the Bad from the UK and the Go Lean roadmap describes the applications or mitigations of these lessons in the implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU):

CU Blog – UK Imports

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from the UK**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from the UK**
1	Leadership in International Commerce Up until 1876, the United Kingdom was the richest nation on earth. (After the California Gold Rush, the US took that mantle). The key to Britain riches was mercantilism in which they exploited the resources from their colonies, imported raw materials to England, engaged factories processes for finished goods, and exported goods back to the colonies (and the rest of the world) for huge profits. Despite decline over the past century, the UK is still the 5th strongest economy in the world (by GDP) and a permanent member of the United Nation Security Council. The Go Lean roadmap recognizes the strategic advantages for expanded trade; the book quotes the Economic Principle that “Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth”. The CU is branded a “Trade” Federation.	Brexit Mentality The UK is still one of the major economic and political powers. But the public approved a referendum on June 23, 2016 to exit the European Union within 2 years. The Brexit proponents want more autonomy and less subjection to EU authorities. The freedom of movement mandate in the EU made the “Brexiters” uncomfortable with recent Middle Eastern refugees. The UK can lose the “world leader” statue they current enjoy. The Go Lean roadmap advocates for interdependence more so that independence. The CU is modeled after the EU, so we want all that the UK is now trying to “throw away”. Our strategy for free movement of labor is more conditional than our EU counterparts. For jobs, priority go first to locals, then other CU members, then foreigners.
2	National Healthcare The UK’s National Health System is a great example of successful healthcare for all of its citizens. They ensure that everyone has access and quality delivery. They have coverage for indigent care, so there are no price shocks. The Go Lean roadmap calls for schemes to mandate healthcare insurance for every adult. With the leverage across the 30 member-states and 42 million people, the wholesale costs of products/services would be reduced.	Healthcare Egalitarianism The British Health delivery is a Single Payer and not an insurance program. So everyone gets the same level of treatment. The realities of personal healthcare is that there is no universality, “one size does not fit all”. Many times patients may have had to wait for specialized procedures.The Go Lean roadmap advocates for a mandated insurance solution. The key is that every adult will be required to select some insurance plan, of their choosing.
3	Tourists Tourism is still the primary economic driver for the Caribbean region. While there is a lot of competition for British tourists, the Caribbean continues to make the case that its region is the best tourism destination in the world. The region wants to continue to appeal to Britons of all demographic persuasions to come visit the islands for stay-overs (land-based hotels) and/or cruise ships. We want to forge vacation options and traffic for the upper, middle and lower classes of British society. The CU forges plans, advocacies and re-boots to further enhance the Caribbean tourism product array.	British Diaspora During the early days of nation-building, many British workers came to the English-speaking Caribbean to work jobs that many locals could have done. As many Caribbean states obtained independence, many Britons still remain. This practice led to the false ethos that White Britons were “better” capable than local personnel. The Go Lean roadmap dictates a labor standard where local workers get priority for jobs, then regional citizens, then and only then foreign workers (like Britons).The Single Market would have freedom of movement but with this labor-qualifying caveat.
4	Capital There are many FinancialCenters around the world (London, New York, Zurich, Hong Kong, etc.); London has huge liquidity, second only to New York’s Wall Street. So they have the capital the Caribbean wants and needs for Direct Foreign Investments. The Go Lean roadmap calls for the emergence of the Caribbean Dollar (C$) managed by a regional technocratic Caribbean Central Bank. This structure allows for more liquidity in the existing stock exchanges in the regions.	Re-valued Currency The British Pound is stronger than the US dollar and the Euro, so British products are more costly. When a UK- Caribbean financial transaction is executed in US dollars, a British trading partner have to endure higher prices. The C$ is not designed to be pegged to the US dollar, but rather a basket of currencies including the British Pound, Euro, and Japanese Yen. So Britons doing business in the Caribbean will not be vulnerable to US$ fluctuations. The C$ is modeled on the Euro dollar in that regards.
5	British Navy Great Britain has been a military powerhouse, with a rich history of naval dominance. The British Navy enforced the abolition of the Slave Trade in support of international treaties and accords. We are forever grateful. The CU roadmap provide for a complete Homeland Security apparatus to defend the Caribbean region and the Caribbean Sea. In addition, there is a comprehensive Intelligence Gathering and Analysis functionality.	Deportees The UK repatriates Caribbean citizens guilty of criminality on British soil. So these one become the concern for Caribbean authorities once deported. The Go Lean roadmap calls for proactive mitigations for “bad actors” that might bring a lawless ethos to the homeland. We seek a treaty with the UK for full intelligence sharing for those affiliated with organized crime (gangs) and low-level felons.

UK Imports (cont’d)

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from the US**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from the US**
6	Foreign Aid The UK designed the defunct West Indies Federation, with independence and societal elevation in mind. The regional construct was intended as mature democratic entity. Despite the rejection of this scheme, the British still do help out in the “time of our need” after natural disasters (earthquakes and hurricanes). But they prefer to help as a regional bloc rather than country by country. The CU is designed to be a new regional construct. The Go Lean roadmap corrects many of the defects from the original UK designed. We can finally get regionalism right! Then we can better manage foreign aid (financial and technical assistance) from the UK and other donors.	Condition for Philanthropic Support Many times foreign aid comes from NGO’s who skim too much for their administrative overhead – think Red Cross. The CU wants the aid, funding and philanthropy from the UK, but not the “bad actors” raising money on our behalf with little follow-up to the Caribbean / West Indies region. The Go Lean roadmap asserts that the region must “grow up” and handle its own development, philanthropic fund- raising, collection and distribution, with full accountability. The CU thusly features the regulatory oversight for governmental and NGO accountability. This is the maturity envisioned at the start of the West Indies regional construct and all subsequent integration movements.
7	Reconciliation after Colonialism The UK has a history of repression of the native colonized peoples in their homeland and those in the Diaspora in the UK; but this country has reconciled that bad history with positive empowerments; and human rights mandates. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for formal reconciliation commissions to settle a lot of bad treatment in the past.*	Virtual Segregation The UK has a bad history of racial divide in many cities (Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, etc). While not a legal segregation, there was a de facto segregation with many ethnic migrants living in urban pockets. The CU proposes repatriation back to the Caribbean homeland. There is nothing like being home.
8	Co-existence of the Diverse The UK has become a diverse society, with the immigration of so many people from so many corners of world, most representing the former the British Empire. These diverse groups co-exist well in the urban areas. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for Minority Equalization for different language groups; this includes multilingual media and government communications.*	Right-Wing Extremism The UK has been negatively impacted by the global Agents of Change: Globalization, Technology, etc.. Many Britons – on the “Right” – wrongly feel that declines in the economics of their society are due to the emergence of immigrants. The CU/Go Lean* roadmap calls for managing the country of Canada as a competitor for our hearts of our youth.*
9	Media Arts – Film, TV, Stage, Music The British Film, Television and Music industries thrive. They produce and distribute many movies (i.e. James Bond), television shows (i.e. Downton Abbey) and music artists (i.e. Beatles, Adele) to international markets. (Shakespeare is still “King”). Their quality contributes to a media trade surplus with the rest of the world. The CU roadmap posits that art and music can drive big economic returns as long as the complete eco-system is there to identify, foster & compensate stakeholders.	Cultural Neutralizations – Domination of airwaves If not abated, the English-speaking Caribbean media can be dominated by British programming. There is the need to promote local and regional media for both the cultural and economic expressions. The CU makes it a priority to foster a local-regional industry in the arts. Success in this area would increase trade in media and also tourism, as the performing arts make the cultural exchange better. One of the missing ingredients is the payment systems.
10	Sports Professionalism The English Premier League (Soccer/Football) is a great example for monetizing the interest in sports. This British league is appreciated and celebrated globally; consider that Manchester United is one of the most valuable sports franchises internationally. In addition, national teams (Cricket, Rugby, Field Hockey, etc.) foster professional occupations for participants. The Go Lean* roadmap places high priority on the business of sports; it includes a comprehensive promotion and administration apparatus within the CU Cabinet level State Department.*	Recruitment of Caribbean Athletes Due to a lack of professional opportunities in the Caribbean region, the British sports eco-system recruits Caribbean talent. Unfortunately, these athletes then “make a life” in the UK, exacerbating our “brain drain”. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to reboot the Caribbean societal engines, lowering the “push and pull” factors that cause citizens to flee to other countries, like the UK. For athletes with the “genius qualifiers”, there must be adequate opportunities in the Caribbean. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to implement a regional sports eco-system for amateur, collegiate and professional participation.

The UK has been a frequent topic for considerations from the Go Lean movement (book and blogs). The opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14) recognized that there is value in considering the Good and Bad examples of Canada, with this statement:

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 communities … On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from developments/ communities …

Not just life in Britain is addressed by the Go Lean book, but also life in the British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean. The CU treaty includes the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos and the Virgin Islands. Though the UK is one of the biggest/richest economies (#5 by GDP), British economic prosperity has not always extended to these islands; so many chose to just emigrate to the British mainland.

In addition, the book specifically addresses Britain, British Territories and the Caribbean Diaspora in Britain with these direct references of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocates:

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Minority Equalizations – Westminster Parliamentary Model of 2 Chambers	Page 24
Strategy – Invite empowering immigrants – Like British Intellectuals & Snowbirds	Page 46
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy – Case Study of British Invasions for Sovereign Debt Issues	Page 66
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security – Alliance for Defending British Territories	Page 75
Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives – Trade Mission Office: London	Page 117
Implementation – Reason to Repatriate – From the UK	Page 118
Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence – Autonomous Rule for Territories	Page 120
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade – Trade to Diaspora in the UK	Page 128
Planning – Lessons from the previous West Indies Federation – Designed for UK Independence	Page 135
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy – Encourage More Foreign Investment from the UK	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Entitlements – UK Model of Bad Austerity Policies	Page 158
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives – Models from British Origins	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora – England‘s Large Pockets	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact British Territories	Page 245
Appendix – Transportation Infrastructure Model: English Channel Tunnel	Page 281
Appendix – The Guianas Historic Timeline	Page 307

In addition, previous Go Lean blog/commentaries addressed many issues in regards to the UK, the British Overseas Territories and the interactions of Caribbean people that live there in the UK; see sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8351	‘Brexit’ Lesson in Economic Fallacies: No Such Independence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7682	American Abolitionist Frederick Douglass Success in the UK
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5123	The Legacy of Royal Charters from the UK: Good & Bad
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4840	Jamaican Poll: ‘Bring back the British!’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1933	Britain’s Neglected Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1683	British Public Sector Workers / Diaspora Strike Over Pay
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=732	UK’s Turks and Caicos Islands Drama with Autonomous Rule
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=451	CariCom Address Issue of Reparations from the UK
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=353	Nine Economic Policy Disasters: #1 British Mercantilism

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU. Our scope is to impact the Caribbean’s economic, security and governing engines, not British society. But we do hope to engage the Caribbean Diaspora living there. Perhaps even entice them to consider a Caribbean repatriation. 🙂

There are Good lessons and Bad lessons that we can learned from the UK. So let’s pay more than the usual attention to the lessons from “over there”. Everyone is urged to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation, to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

Appendix A VIDEO – Prince Malachi – Great Welcome [Official Video 2015] – https://youtu.be/6lr6VnE0AQM

Published on Sep 24, 2015 – http://www.REGGAEVILLE.com
Commenters: 1. “No Blacks, No Irish & No Dogs in England”
2. “Really big tune with meaningful lyrics. ‘The troubles we face are still not yet done but we’ll have to keep on pushing through’.

———–

Appendix B VIDEO – The Last Farewell ~ Roger Whittaker – https://youtu.be/sGWs1HK8iDU

Uploaded on Feb 13, 10 – Song Lyrics; a cultural phenomenon depicting the “love” of a British Expatriate in the Caribbean.

There’s a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbor
Tomorrow for old England she sails
Far away from your land of endless sunshine
To my land full of rainy skies and gales
And I shall be aboard that ship tomorrow
Though my heart is full of tears at this farewell

For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell

I’ve heard there’s a wicked war a-blazing
And the taste of war I know so very well
Even now I see the foreign flag a-raising
Their guns on fire as we sail into hell
I have no fear of death, it brings no sorrow
But how bitter will be this last farewell

For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell

Though death and darkness gather all about me
My ship be torn apart upon the seas
I shall smell again the fragrance of these islands
And the heaving waves that brought me once to thee
And should I return home safe again to England
I shall watch the English mist roll through the dell

For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell
For you are beautiful, I have loved you dearly
More dearly than the spoken word can tell

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10 Things We Want from Canada and 10 Things We Do Not Want

Posted on October 14, 2016 in Government, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“The Caribbean is the greatest address in the world”…

… so argues the book Go Lean…Caribbean in it’s opening (Page 3). Yet, a large number of Caribbean people live abroad. They live in places like the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. This commentary is Part 2 of 4 in a series examining the destinations of the Caribbean Diaspora. The full series is as follows:

10 Things We Want from the US and 10 Things We Do Not Want
10 Things We Want from Canada and 10 Things We Do Not Want
10 Things We Want from the UK and 10 Things We Do Not Want
10 Things We Want from Europe and 10 Things We Do Not Want

So for Canada, we must ask the questions of our Diaspora there:

Why do they live in Canada and what can we learn from that experience?
What can we gather for the Pros and Cons of Canadian life?

There are “push and pull” reasons why Caribbean citizens have emigrated in the past – and continue to do so now – to places like Canada.

“In the 2006 census, 578,695 Canadians reported that they originated from the Caribbean, and the overwhelming majority of these people have immigrated to Canada since the 1970s. … the largest populations of Canadians of Caribbean origin were from Jamaica (231,110), followed by those from Haiti (102,430), Guyana (61,085) and Trinidad and Tobago (58,415).” – Historica Canada

To our chagrin, the extent of that societal abandonment is so acute that it is now at an atrocious 70% rate among the region’s college-educated classes. Yes, this is bad! The frank admission, in the Go Lean book, is that the Caribbean has societal defects … in the economic, security and governing engines of society.

In the course of these Go Lean blog-commentaries, we have looked inward and identified the defects of our society. Now we need to look at these refuge countries and glean the Good and Bad of those destinations. This can be considered a “competitive analysis” as the Caribbean region is competing with these foreign locales for the hopes and dreams of our young people. (See the full immersion of Caribbean culture in Toronto in the Appendix-VIDEO below).

Here is a laundry list of the Good and the Bad of Canada; and how the roadmap to elevate Caribbean society, the Go Lean book, describes how the lessons should be applied in the implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU):

Canadian Imports

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from Canada**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from Canada**
1	Free Market Economy Canada has always embraced Free Market capitalism; today, their brand is more Liberal Socialism than Conservative Republicanism. Many social programs are offered to Canadian residents as a result, so the government plays a BIG role in the lives of most citizens. The Go Lean roadmap promotes Free Market principles for the region’s industrial development. The structure of Self-Governing Entities allows for further Free Market expressions without local government constraints.	Massive Tax Burdens Many Canadians complain of high taxes. The governments defend the policy as necessary to support the many social programs (healthcare, subsidized college education, advanced infrastructure, etc). The Go Lean roadmap advocates deploying balanced tax schemes that mostly “skim off the top”. The CU will deploy systems to help member-state governments do better at collecting their tax revenues. Overall the Caribbean tax burden will increase, but only marginally.
2	Universal Healthcare Canada is a great example of successful healthcare for all of its citizens. They ensure that everyone has access and quality delivery. This minimizes the expensive repercussions of indigent care. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for schemes to mandate healthcare insurance for every adult. With the leverage across the 30 member-states and 42 million people, the wholesale cost could be reduced.*	Healthcare Egalitarianism The Canadian Health delivery is a Single Payer and not an insurance program. So everyone gets the same level of treatment. The realities of healthcare is that different people have different needs, so a “one size fits all” approach is not preferred. The Go Lean* roadmap advocates for a mandated insurance solution. The key is that every adult will be required to select some insurance plan, of their choosing.*
3	Weather – Cool Summers Climate Change is a reality. So the warm seasons in Canada now last longer, 8 months instead of 6 months. Summertime in Canadian cities is pleasant, without air-conditioning. The Go Lean* roadmap promotes better infrastructure for Caribbean cities, developing refrigeration utilities for urban areas. This will leverage energy costs for cooling.*	Weather – Cold Winters Canadian winters are not preferred, especially the months of January and February. The Caribbean Diaspora dread life there for those months. The Go Lean* roadmap details the invitation to Canadian senior citizens to be Snowbirds in the Caribbean for the whole season. The economic returns of this strategy are too appealing to ignore.*
4	Tourists There is a lot of competition for Canadian tourists; the Caribbean continues to make the case that its region is the best tourist destination in the world. The region wants to continue to appeal to Canadians of all demographic persuasions to come visit the islands for stay-overs (land-based hotels) and/or cruise ships. We want to forge vacation options and traffic for the upper, middle and lower classes of Canadian society.The CU forges plans, advocacies and re-boots to further enhance the Caribbean tourism product array.	Expatriate Workers During the early days of nation-building, many Canadians workers came to the English-speaking Caribbean to work jobs (teachers, nurses, bankers, etc.) that many locals could have done. This practice led to the ethos that “White” Canadians were “better” than local personnel. The Go Lean roadmap dictates a labor standard where local workers get priority for jobs, then regional citizens, then and only then foreign workers (like Canadians).The Single Market would have freedom of movement but with this labor-qualifying caveat.
5	Capital There is a long history of Canadian banks in the Caribbean region. (Think Scotiabank, Royal Bank of Canada, and the First Caribbean-CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)). Despite recent losses for Canadian banks in the Caribbean region, there is still the need for these banks’ active participation in the region. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for strenuous oversight for the Caribbean Dollar (C$) and regional banks participating in transactions using this currency.*	Devalued Currency The Canadian dollar was 1-to-1 with the US dollar in the 1970’s. The currency has since been devalued, but only a little; between $.95 and $1.08. When a Caribbean financial transaction is executed in US dollars, a Canadian customer has to endure higher prices. The C$ is not designed to be pegged to the US dollar, rather a basket of foreign currencies including the Euro, British Pounds and Japanese Yen. So Canadians doing business in the Caribbean will not be as vulnerable to US$ fluctuations.

Canadian Imports (cont’d)

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from Canada**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from Canada**
6	Supportive Defense Canada is not a militarized state like their American neighbor, but they do feature a robust internationally respected Army, Navy, and Air Force in support of their homeland.The CU roadmap provide for a complete Homeland Security apparatus to defend the Caribbean region. In addition, there is a comprehensive Intelligence Gathering and Analysis functionality.	Deportees Canada repatriates Caribbean citizens guilty of criminality on Canadian soil. So these one become the concern for Caribbean authorities once deported.The Go Lean roadmap calls for proactive mitigations for “bad actors” that might bring a lawless ethos to the homeland. We seek a treaty with Canada for full intelligence sharing for those affiliated with organized crime (gangs) and low-level felons.
7	Foreign Aid Canada was one of the only foreign supporters for the defunct West Indies Federation; they have always shown our region “love”. Plus they always step up to aid the Caribbean in their “time of need” after natural disasters (earthquakes and hurricanes). But they prefer to help as a regional bloc rather than country by country.The CU/Go Lean roadmap is designed to process all foreign aid from Canada; from both the Canadian government and NGO’s.	Condition for Philanthropic Support Many Giving Organizations attach strings to their gifts. The burdens of compliance is so difficult that many times, public-private entities – think Red Cross – attach themselves to the gifts to ensure accountability. This adds an additional layer in administrative costs, and less funding goes to the beneficiaries.The CU envisions a federal agency for oversight of the NGO’s in the region. We must do the heavy-lifting ourselves, rather than submitting perils of “bad actors”.
8	‘First Nation’ Reconciliation Like other European settlers in the New World, Canada had a history of repression of the indigenous peoples, but this country has reconciled that bad history with many positive empowerments. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for formal reconciliation commissions to settle a lot of bad treatment in the past.*	Virtual Segregation Canada has the same history of racial divide as many other American Northern cities. While not a legal segregation, there is a de facto segregation with many ethnic migrants living in pockets. The CU proposes repatriation back to the Caribbean homeland. There is nothing like being home.
9	Bilingual Co-existence Canada is a bilingual society, with the majority French culture in Quebec Province. The English and French co-exist well and insist on bilingual media expressions. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for multilingual media and government communications. There is also the need for Minority Equalization for different language groups.*	Quebec Pull for French Caribbean Migrants Many French-speaking Caribbean people target Quebec as the destination for their emigration. In the 2006 Census, there were 102,430 people of Haitian descent living in Canada. The CU/Go Lean* roadmap calls for managing the country of Canada as a competitor for the hearts of our youth.*
10	Professional Sports Role Model Despite the regional domination of continental sports (baseball, football, basketball) by Americans, Canadians still dominate in their own rite – they are usually among the best hockey players in the world. They nurture the skills from youth participation up to the professional levels. The Go Lean roadmap calls for empowering the sports eco-system in the region, allowing for more opportunities for amateur, collegiate and professional participation. Other benefits of the regional focus will include better oversight of sports academies, agents and leagues.	Recruitment of Caribbean Athletes During the 2016 Rio Olympics, there were many Track and Field athletes representing Canada that were of Caribbean heritage. Canada extends a “welcome mat” to these ones, therefore encouraging more to naturalize and discouraging loyalty to the Caribbean homeland. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to reboot the Caribbean societal engines. This will lower the “push and pull” factors that cause citizens to flee to other countries and switch their allegiances. This will allow athletes to fully engage their professions without leaving home.

Canada has been a frequent topic for considerations from the Go Lean movement (book and blogs). The opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14) recognized that there is value in considering the Good and Bad examples of Canada, with this statement:

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 communities … On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from developments/ communities like … Canada….

The book specifically addresses Canada with these direct references of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocates:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification – Cold Weather Residents Must Wait Until Spring	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Minority Equalizations – Model of Canada’s Territories	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Strategy – Invite empowering immigrants – Like Canadians Snowbirds	Page 46
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Secretary of State – Trade Mission Offices	Page 80
Implementation – Reason to Repatriate – From Canada	Page 118
Planning – Lessons Learned from the previous West Indies Federation –Canada’s Support	Page 135
Planning – Lessons from Canada’s History	Page 146
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora – Toronto‘s Large Pocket	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Foundations – Many Canadians NGO’s	Page 219
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care – Snowbirds Invitations	Page 225
Advocacy – Ways to Empower Women – Canada‘s great example	Page 226

In addition, previous Go Lean blog/commentaries addressed many issues in regards to Canada and the interactions of Caribbean people and Canada; see sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9179	First Day of Autumn – Time for Canadians to Head South
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6937	Canada’s Great Example of Women in Politics
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3694	Economic Help: Jamaica-Canada Employment Program
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3582	For Canadian Banks: Caribbean is a ‘Bad Bet’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1014	A Canadian’s View: ‘All is not well in the sunny Caribbean’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=732	Turks and Caicos Drama with Canadian Healthcare Contract
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=214	Canada: The Best Address/Destination … per this Bahamian

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU. Our scope is to impact the Caribbean’s economic, security and governing engines, not Canada’s. But we do hope to engage the Caribbean Diaspora living there.

There are Good lessons and Bad lessons that we can learned from Canada. So let’s pay more than the usual attention to these insights. Everyone is urged to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation, to make our region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———

Appendix VIDEO – Caribbean West Indian Street Food｜Toronto – https://youtu.be/8ECKojESpOs

Published on Jun 18, 2016 – If you never had West Indian/Trini/Caribbean food, you are seriously missing out. They might not be the healthiest foods out there but it is definitely hot and delicious. Their foods are pretty much like their people, warm and welcoming. I’ve had doubles once before and it made me realize what I have been missing out my entire life. The aloo pie with tamarind sauce gave me the exact same shiver. No fancy complexity, just simple west Indian food.

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Fix ‘Climate Change’ – Yes, We Can

Posted on October 13, 2016 in Government, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“Here I am, send me*“.

This is the declaration of Advocates wanting to abate the global problem of Climate Change. They have examined the science and are confident that they can make a difference. They are thereby further declaring that:

“We can fix Climate Change. Yes, we can…”

This is conceivable, believable and achievable.

Why is this so important? Climate Change is causing more and more severe hurricanes in the Caribbean region. We have just had to “batten down the hatches” and endure the passage of Hurricane Matthew.

Endure?

Not all survived! The death toll in Haiti in the wake of this tumultuous storm has counted 473 (with 75 people missing) .. so far.

The advocacy to arrest greenhouse gases (GHG) is therefore a matter of life-and-death; it has a successful track record to consider and provide encouragement and hope:

Remember Acid Rain?

That was a big deal in the 1970’s and 1980’s. It was a big environmental problem; the stakeholders came together – many kicking and screaming – to put in the remediation and mitigation and now the problem is greatly abated. See the encyclopedia details of the problem in the Appendix A below, where it is reported that Acid Rain levels have dropped 65% since 1976.

Climate Change is another area of atmospheric pollution that can also be abated with a lot of the same strategies, tactics and implementations as was employed to abate Acid Rain. But instead of the smoke stacks of factories and power plants, the problematic culprit this time is fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels and carbon emission = Climate Change!

Unlike Acid Rain, the “bad actors” for Climate Change are not just industrial installations; this time it is “almost everybody”. Cars are one of the biggest contributors. There is no denying this cause-effect any more. The problem is now globally acknowledged! There are new international agreements – Paris Conference of the Parties (COP) or COP21 – to curb fossil fuels / carbon dioxide emissions. 195 countries have signed on to these accords, including big polluters China (#1) and the US (#2).

The overall goal of these international accords is to achieve significant environmental benefits through reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, the primary causes of Climate Change. The remediation and mitigations employ regulatory and market based approaches for controlling GHG elements. It should be noted that the COP21 accord is a non-binding agreement, but the biggest contribution is that the community will is now entrenched.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean uses an alternate technical term for “community will”; it identifies “community ethos”, as “the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a society” (Page 20). So, in everyday practical terms, it will now be politically incorrect to pursue policies in denial of Climate Change.

The Go Lean book presents a 370-page roadmap for re-booting, re-organizing and restructuring the economic, security and governmental institutions of the 30 member-states in the Caribbean region, especially in light of the realities of Climate Change. Though this is a global battle, the Caribbean is on the front lines. As related in a previous blog-commentary, no Caribbean member-state appears high of the list of greenhouse gases emitters and yet we must still participate in the mitigations. We must “Go Green” to arrest our own carbon footprint, so that we may be less hypocritical – have moral authority – in calling for reform from the big polluting nations.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The roadmap depicts how this CU federal government will take the lead in ensuring the Climate Change mitigation efforts are incentivized, executed and accounted for. There are economic (BIG dollar issues), security and governing implications to a lot of these measures. The CU/Go Lean roadmap allows for the leverage of a regional Single Market that would spread the burden across the 42 million people of the 30 member-states. Other Climate Change benefits were embedded in the motivation of the book, the opening Declaration of Interdependence stated these points (Pages 12-14):

xxvii. Whereas the region has endured a spectator status during the Industrial Revolution, we cannot stand on the sidelines of this new economy, the Information Revolution. Rather, the Federation must embrace all the tenets of Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The Federation must bridge the digital divide and promote the community ethos that research/development is valuable and must be promoted and incentivized for adoption.

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 communities like East Germany, Detroit, Indian (Native American) Reservations, Egypt and the previous West Indies Federation. On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from developments / communities like New York City, Germany, Japan, Canada, the old American West and tenants of the US Constitution.

The Go Lean book posits that the “whole is worth more than the sum of its parts”, that from this roadmap Caribbean economies will grow individually and even more collectively as a Single Market. The 3 CU prime directives of the roadmap include:

Optimization of the economic engines of the Caribbean to elevate the regional economy to grow to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean roadmap calls for the CU to serve as the regional administration to optimize the societal engines for the Caribbean, especially in light of our Climate Change battleground frontline status. This is the first pronouncement (Page 11) of the same opening Declaration of Interdependence:

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.

The following details from the Go Lean…Caribbean book highlights the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies necessary to elevate the regions stance in this global battle consequences on Climate Change:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices / Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 24
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating 30 Member-States into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Vision – Foster Local Economic Engines for Basic Needs	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Prepare for Natural Disasters	Page 45
Strategy – Agents of Change – Climate Change	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Separation of Powers – Emergency Management	Page 76
Separation of Powers – Interstate Commerce Administration	Page 79
Separation of Powers – Meteorological & Geological Service	Page 79
Separation of Powers – Fisheries Department – Regulator	Page 88
Anecdote – “Lean” in Government	Page 93
Implementation – Assemble Regional Organs into a Single Market Economy	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up – Unified Command & Control	Page 103
Implementation – Industrial Policy for CU Self Governing Entities	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid	Page 115
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters	Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Transportation	Page 205
Advocacy – Ways to Develop the Auto Industry	Page 206

The quest to Go Green has frequently been detailed in previous blog-commentaries since the publication of the Go Lean book:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7449	Due to Climate Change, ‘Crap Happens’ – So What Now?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7103	COP21 – ‘Climate Change’ Acknowledged
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7056	Electric Cars: ‘Necessity – Climate Change – is the Mother of Invention’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6893	A Meteorologist’s View On Climate Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6016	‘Hotter than July’ – Reality in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4673	‘Climate Change‘ Merchants of Doubt … to Preserve Profits!!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2465	Book Review: ‘This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2276	Climate Change May Affect Food Supply Within a Decade
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2119	Cooling Effect – Oceans and the Climate
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1883	Climate Change May Bring More Kidney Stones
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1817	Caribbean grapples with intense new cycles of flooding & drought
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1516	Floods in Minnesota, Drought in California – Why Not Share?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=926	Conservative heavyweights have solar industry in their sights
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=915	Go ‘Green’ … Caribbean

The quest of the CU/Go Lean roadmap is to make the Caribbean region a more self-reliant society; to act more proactively and reactively for our own emergencies and natural disaster events; and to be more efficient in our governance. Hurricane Matthew was a natural disaster; a Climate Change-induced hurricane, that was a Category 5 at one point … for 6 hours. No technocracy can dissuade such an event.

Climate Change causes the temperature of the oceans to be a little warmer, even 1 or 2 degrees can intensify storms: from Category 1 to Category 2, or from Category 2 to Category 3, or Category 3 to Category 4, or Category 4 to Category 5.

The solution for Climate Change-induced storms is a “long game”. Lowering the GHG in the atmosphere will reverse the previous bad trend: increasing GHG has raised the ocean temperatures.

To fix Climate Change, we need to support the mandates of COP21 … and other accords; (see Appendix – VIDEO). We also need to use peer pressure to convince other nations to comply with the accords. We can get them to capitulate by appealing to their “better nature”.

If Climate Change is not arrested, then even more devastating storms will come – more Category 5 storms. There is the need for the Caribbean region to establish a permanent union to provide efficient stewardship for our economic, security and governing engines; and to champion the region’s participation and fulfillment of COP21 mandates.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in to the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is the course we must pursue, how we can fix Climate Change; and how we make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———

Appendix VIDEO – Can We Fix Climate Change? – https://youtu.be/sIpr0SwJncs

Published on Oct 29, 2015 – Bill Nye [the Science Guy] speaks on the ways in which we can mitigate Climate Change – National Geographic.
➡ Subscribe: http://bit.ly/NatGeoSubscribe
➡ Get More Explorer: http://bit.ly/MoreExplorer

———–

Appendix A – Reference Title: Acid Rain

Acid Rain is a rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it possesses elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). It can have harmful effects on plants, aquatic animals and infrastructure. Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Some governments have made efforts since the 1970s to reduce the release of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere with positive results. Nitrogen oxides can also be produced naturally by lightning strikes, and sulfur dioxide is produced by volcanic eruptions. The chemicals in acid rain can cause paint to peel, corrosion of steel structures such as bridges, and weathering of stone buildings and statues.

Definition

Acid Rain is a popular term referring to the deposition of a mixture from wet (rain, snow, sleet, fog, cloudwater, and dew) and dry (acidifying particles and gases) acidic components. Distilled water, once carbon dioxide is removed, has a neutral pH of 7. Liquids with a pH less than 7 are acidic, and those with a pH greater than 7 are alkaline. “Clean” or unpolluted rain has an acidic pH, but usually no lower than 5.7, because carbon dioxide and water in the air react together to form the weak carbonic acid.

Carbonic acid then can ionize in water forming low concentrations of hydronium and carbonate ions.

[Water is H₂O ; Acid Rain is represented as H₂C O₃.] Acid deposition as an environmental issue would include additional acids to H₂C O₃

Adverse effects

Acid rain has been shown to have adverse impacts on forests, freshwaters and soils, killing insect and aquatic life-forms as well as causing damage to buildings and having impacts on human health.

Other adverse effects
Acid rain can damage buildings, historic monuments, and statues, especially those made of rocks, such as limestone and marble, that contain large amounts of calcium carbonate. Acids in the rain react with the calcium compounds in the stones to create gypsum, which then flakes off.

History

Since the Industrial Revolution, emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere have increased.^[3][4] In 1852, Robert Angus Smith was the first to show the relationship between acid rain and atmospheric pollution in Manchester, England.^[5]

Though acidic rain was discovered in 1853, it was not until the late 1960s that scientists began widely observing and studying the phenomenon.^[6] The term “acid rain” was coined in 1872 by Robert Angus Smith.^[7] Canadian Harold Harvey was among the first to research a “dead” lake. Public awareness of acid rain in the U.S increased in the 1970s after The New York Times published reports from the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire of the myriad deleterious environmental effects shown to result from it.^[8][9]

Occasional pH readings in rain and fog water of well below 2.4 have been reported in industrialized areas.^[3] Industrial acid rain is a substantial problem in China and Russia^[10][11]and areas downwind from them. These areas all burn sulfur-containing coal to generate heat and electricity.^[12]

The problem of acid rain has not only increased with population and industrial growth, but has become more widespread. The use of tall smokestacks to reduce local pollution has contributed to the spread of acid rain by releasing gases into regional atmospheric circulation.^[13][14] Often deposition occurs a considerable distance downwind of the emissions, with mountainous regions tending to receive the greatest deposition (simply because of their higher rainfall). An example of this effect is the low pH of rain which falls in Scandinavia.

History of acid rain in the United States
In 1980, the U.S. Congress passed an Acid Deposition Act.^[16] This Act established an 18-year assessment and research program under the direction of the National Acidic Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP). NAPAP looked at the entire problem from a scientific perspective. It enlarged a network of monitoring sites to determine how acidic the precipitation actually was, and to determine long-term trends, and established a network for dry deposition. It looked at the effects of acid rain and funded research on the effects of acid precipitation on freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems, historical buildings, monuments, and building materials. It also funded extensive studies on atmospheric processes and potential control programs.

From the start, policy advocates from all sides attempted to influence NAPAP activities to support their particular policy advocacy efforts, or to disparage those of their opponents.^[16] For the U.S. Government’s scientific enterprise, a significant impact of NAPAP were lessons learned in the assessment process and in environmental research management to a relatively large group of scientists, program managers and the public.^[17]

In 1991, DENR provided its first assessment of acid rain in the United States. It reported that 5% of New EnglandLakes were acidic, with sulfates being the most common problem. They noted that 2% of the lakes could no longer support Brook Trout, and 6% of the lakes were unsuitable for the survival of many species of minnow. Subsequent Reports to Congress have documented chemical changes in soil and freshwater ecosystems, nitrogen saturation, decreases in amounts of nutrients in soil, episodic acidification, regional haze, and damage to historical monuments.

Meanwhile, in 1989, the U.S. Congress passed a series of amendments to the Clean Air Act. Title IV of these amendments established the Acid Rain Program, a cap and trade system designed to control emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Title IV called for a total reduction of about 10 million tons of SO₂ emissions from power plants. It was implemented in two phases. Phase I began in 1995, and limited sulfur dioxide emissions from 110 of the largest power plants to a combined total of 8.7 million tons of sulfur dioxide. One power plant in New England (Merrimack) was in Phase I. Four other plants (Newington, MountTom, Brayton Point, and SalemHarbor) were added under other provisions of the program. Phase II began in 2000, and affects most of the power plants in the country.

During the 1990s, research continued. On March 10, 2005, EPA issued the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). This rule provides states with a solution to the problem of power plant pollution that drifts from one state to another. CAIR will permanently cap emissions of SO₂ and NO_x in the eastern United States. When fully implemented, CAIR will reduce SO₂ emissions in 28 eastern states and the District of Columbia by over 70% and NO_x emissions by over 60% from 2003 levels.^[18]

Overall, the program’s cap and trade program has been successful in achieving its goals. Since the 1990s, SO₂ emissions have dropped 40%, and according to the Pacific Research Institute, Acid Rain levels have dropped 65% since 1976.^[19][20] Conventional regulation was used in the European Union, which saw a decrease of over 70% in SO₂emissions during the same time period.^[21]

In 2007, total SO₂ emissions were 8.9 million tons, achieving the program’s long-term goal ahead of the 2010 statutory deadline.^[22]

Prevention methods
The overall goal of the Acid Rain [reduction] program is to achieve significant environmental and public health benefits through reductions in emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and nitrogen oxides (NO_x), the primary causes of acid rain^[39]. To achieve this goal at the lowest cost to society, the program employs both regulatory and market based approaches for controlling air pollution.

Technical solutions

1. Many coal-firing power stations use flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) to remove sulfur-containing gases from their stack gases. For a typical coal-fired power station, FGD will remove 95% or more of the SO₂ in the flue gases. An example of FGD is the wet scrubber which is commonly used. A wet scrubber is basically a reaction tower equipped with a fan that extracts hot smoke stack gases from a power plant into the tower. Lime or limestone in slurry form is also injected into the tower to mix with the stack gases and combine with the sulfur dioxide present. The calcium carbonate of the limestone produces pH-neutral calcium sulfate that is physically removed from the scrubber.

2. Fluidized bed combustion also reduces the amount of sulfur emitted by power production.

3. Vehicle emissions control reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides from motor vehicles.

International treaties

A number of international treaties on the long-range transport of atmospheric pollutants have been agreed for example, the 1985 Helsinki Protocol on the Reduction of Sulphur Emissions under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. Canada and the US signed the Air Quality Agreement in 1991. Most European countries and Canada have signed the treaties.

Emissions trading
This refers to a regulatory scheme where polluting facilities can purchase on an open market an emissions allowance for each unit of a designated pollutant it emits. Operators can then install pollution control equipment, and sell portions of their emissions allowances they no longer need for their own operations, thereby recovering some of the capital cost of their investment in such equipment. The intention is to give operators economic incentives to install pollution controls.
…

Source: Wikipedia.com Online Encyclopedia; retrieved October 12, 2016: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_rain

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Forging Change: Herd Mentality

Posted on October 11, 2016 in Ethos, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

This is an accepted fact about communities, taken from the science of Anthropology and Sociology: in any grouping, there are only a few leaders but a large number of followers. This is the principle of the Alpha Male or Female; see Appendix. It turns out that this fact is a key strategy for forging change:

“Everyone knows that we are sheep. It takes only the strong to break out from the herd mentality” – Published YouTube comment on the below VIDEO.

The movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean wants to forge change in the Caribbean. We have consider many different strategies, tactics and tools for forging change. Here’s another: skip the Alpha Male-Female and target the herd.

So is it that easy? We simply need to exploit the herd mentality and we can get hordes of people to conform, reform and transform. That is an exciting prospect, especially considering the positive value when leaders in a community want to pursue the Greater Good.

See as this is portrayed in this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Social experiment – most people are sheep – https://youtu.be/MEhSk71gUCQ

Published on Aug 31, 2016 – Hidden camera…

This experiment is very thought-provoking. Sheep, goats and other animals follow a herd mentality. Apparently, humans too!

The motives of the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean is to forge change in the Caribbean. Plain and simple! The strategies, tactics and implementations from the book is designed to elevate the Caribbean for all stakeholders, to make the homeland a better place to live, work and play. This is conceivable, believable and achievable if we bypass the Alpha Males and target the rest of the herd. These ones can be led and influenced to adopt new community ethos. This is defined as:

“the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society”.

The Go Lean book asserts that with strenuous efforts, new community ethos can be adopted. The book cites samples, examples and Role Models:

Smoking Cessation – Page 20 – At one point in the 1960’s, 67 percent of American adults smoked cigarettes. Today, smokers are a fringed segment of society, almost as “outlaws”. The cessation efforts are identified as an approach to forge change for an individual, “starting in the head (thoughts, visions), penetrating the heart (feelings, motivations) and then finally manifesting in the hands (actions). Role Model – Alpha Male-Female: Surgeon General.
Civil Rights – Page 122 – Even though the slaves were emancipated in America in 1865, the African-American population did not enjoy the freedom, justice and equality of full citizenship. The effort to bring Civil Rights to the Southern US succeeded only with millions of people protesting in a non-violent movement. Eventually the government leaders complied and made changes to laws guaranteeing equal protection. Role Model – Alpha Male: Martin Luther King.
Farm Migrant Labor – Page 122 – The Latino American farm workers’ struggle was presented as a moral cause with nationwide support by Labor and Civil Rights leaders. By the 1970’s, the strategies and tactics of this movement had forced agricultural businesses and growers to grant respect to migrant workers, which helped to improve conditions for 50,000 field workers in California & Florida. Role Model – Alpha Male: Cesar Chavez.
Drunk Driving – Page 122 – The values and attitudes of drunk-driving needed to change in America. Families endured heartache and pain because of the tragic loss of innocents due to negligence by inebriated drivers. Change was forged in this advocacy by challenging acceptance, laws and enforcement. Eventually the general attitudes – bars, passengers and drivers – changed for the good. Role Model – Alpha Female: Candice Lightner, Mothers Against Drunk Driving or MADD.

The Go Lean book presents a plan to reboot economic engines (jobs, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities), optimize the security apparatus (anti-crime and public safety) and accountable governance (regional alliances) for all citizens … including many minority factions. The majority of the population must acquiesce and accept the new ethos in order to allow the societal empowerments to take hold.

Caribbean society have traditionally featured a parasite disposition – to their European colonial masters, or the American SuperPower, in effect an Alpha Male. As a region, we have been drawn to the “shadows”, gleaning opportunities from the leftovers from the host countries, think tourism-hospitality, off-shore banking, and the business of vices: cigar and rum production. The quest now is a turn-around, to be a protégé, rather than just a parasite.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) to make the region a better place to live, work and play. This is a roadmap to forge a Single Market of the 30 member-states of 4 language groups and 42 million people. If the region is to “herd”, they should be led to this elevated destination.

The challenge and alternate strategies for forging change have been identified in a series; see these previous Go Lean blog-commentaries, published over the past 2 years:

Forging Change – The Fun Theory (September 9, 2014)
Forging Change – The Sales Process (December 22, 2014)
Forging Change – Music Moves People (December 30, 2014)
Forging Change – ‘Food’ for Thought (April 29, 2015)
Forging Change – ‘Something To Lose’ (November 18, 2015)
Forging Change – Herd Mentality (Today)

This commentary – Number 6 – is urging the herding the people of the Caribbean to a new protégé destination – that sounds unnerving. But there is nothing nefarious or malevolent about this Go Lean roadmap. As detailed in this previous blogs, the efforts to forge change in the region are not intended for any one person or organization to wrestle power or the elevation of any one leader. The roadmap features only one objective: the Greater Good. This is defined in the book (Page 37) by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), a British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer as …

… “the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong”.

The Go Lean book and accompanying blogs all accept that forging this change in the Caribbean will be hard, heavy-lifting. There may not be just one strategy; we may have to employ all 6. This would be worth it in the end, with these sought-after prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines, creating 2.2 million new jobs and growing the regional economy to $800 Billion GDP.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and ensure better public safety for stakeholders of the Caribbean.
Improvement of Caribbean governance – with a separation-of-powers between member-states and the CU federal agencies – to support these engines.

As depicted in the foregoing VIDEO, “most people are sheep”; they can be cajoled and persuaded to change, to improve their habits and practices. The act of cajoling and persuading implies messaging campaigns. With campaigns from the technocratic leadership of the CU, the Caribbean as a region can be reformed and transformed to becoming a new destination: a better place to live, work and play.

The Go Lean book presented the roadmap for reach the people, to herd them effectively and efficiently. The roadmap details the new community ethos to adopt, plus the execution of strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies to forge change in the region. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Minority Equalization	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development – Social Experiments	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Celebrate the Music, Sports, Art, People and Culture of the Caribbean	Page 46
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 136
Planning – Reasons Why the CU Will Succeed	Page 137
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications – Community Messaging	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Libraries	Page 187
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood – Mastery of Visual Arts & Storytelling	Page 202
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth – Impressionable Age for New Work Ethic	Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230

The quest to change the Caribbean will require convincing people through messaging campaigns. We have seen the effectiveness of this strategy with movies; we have influential actor – of Caribbean heritage (Bahamas) – Sidney Poitier as a fitting Role Model:

Movies are an amazing business model. People give money to spend a couple of hours watching someone else’s creation and then leave the theater with nothing to show for the investment; except perhaps a different perspective. That is all!

But no one wants to live in a world without this art-form, without movies. Those few hours can entertain, engage and transform; sometimes even “break new ground” and change the world. So movies and movie stars can be extremely influential in modern society. This is the power of the arts, and this art-form in particular. – Blog: How Sidney Poitier changed cinema by demanding and deserving a difference

The empowerments in the Go Lean book calls for permanent change. This is possible. The people of the Caribbean only want opportunities; they want to be able to provide for their families, and offer a future of modernity to their children. It is an “easy sell” to convince people that the best-practices in the roadmap will bring benefits. Especially with reporting of the success of the same best practices in other locations. This point was pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14) in the book with this statement:

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 communities like East Germany, Detroit, Indian (Native American) Reservations, Egypt and the previous West Indies Federation. On the other hand, the Federation must also implement the good examples learned from developments/communities like New York City, Germany, Japan, Canada, the old American West and tenants of the US Constitution.

In general, being called sheep is not “derisive”. It is a complement when the comparison is made to goats – (The Bible; Matthew 25: 31–46). While this is a reference to a grouping of benevolence versus malevolence, for this commentary, there is similarity in sheep and goats as they both display a herd mentality; they follow the lead and assimilate the habits, practices and ethos of the Alpha Male-Female.

The CU/Go Lean seeks to assume the role of the Alpha Male-Female. We encourage all Caribbean stakeholders – residents, institutions and governments – to lean-in now, to the Go Lean roadmap. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————-

Appendix – Alpha Males-Females

In studies of social animals, the highest ranking individual is sometimes designated as the alpha. Males, females, or both, can be alphas, depending on the species. Where one male and one female fulfill this role together, they are sometimes referred to as the alpha pair. Other animals in the same social group may exhibit deference or other species-specific subordinate behaviours towards the alpha or alphas.

Alpha animals usually gain preferential access to food and other desirable items or activities, though the extent of this varies widely between species. Male or female alphas may gain preferential access to sex or mates; in some species, only alphas or an alpha pair reproduce.

Alphas may achieve their status by superior physical strength and aggression, or through social efforts and building alliances within the group.^[1]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_(ethology) retrieved October 10, 2016.

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Courting Caribbean Votes – Cuban-Americans

Posted on October 10, 2016 in Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Dateline: Miami, Florida – There is a huge chasm in the Cuban-American community…

… not Black versus White … not rich versus poor … but rather old versus young.

The old wants Cuba on its knees and forced to conform, reform and transform to a model of “their” making, while the young just wants to “move on”, accept Cuba for “what it is” now and then just move forward together. This chasm is expressed in the numbers and the anecdotes.

For the Florida Presidential Primary this past March, the observation was made that supporters at a rally at a popular Cuban restaurant, Versailles, ranged in age from 49 and 93; they were both Cuban-born and U.S.-born. But none younger than 40 supporting any Republican candidate. According to the Pew Research Group, this is evidence of a ‘growing partisan gap’ between younger and older Cubans.

So in effect, the partisan gap for Cuban-Americans is a choice between the past versus the future; embargo versus re-approachment. The leader of this Cuba re-approachment movement?

The President of the United States: Barack Obama.

Passions run “hot” on both sides. Obama, a Democrat, has 4 more months left on his administration. His successor is being selected now:

Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

This is the question being debated. The election is November 8, 2016. Of the 22 million that compose the Caribbean Diaspora, (including foreign born and 1st generation US-born), Cuban-Americans are one of the largest sub-groups with 1,173,000 persons born in Cuba. These are being courted right now for their support and their vote.

Who will they vote for? Who should they vote for?
What if the criterion for the vote is benevolence to Caribbean causes?

This commentary is 3 of 3 of a series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in consideration of Courting the Caribbean Votes for the American federal elections – President, Vice-President and Congress (Senate & US House of Representatives). This and the other commentaries detail different ethnic communities within the Caribbean Diaspora and their voting trends; the series is as follows:

Courting the Caribbean Votes – Puerto Ricans
Courting the Caribbean Votes – ‘Jamericans’
Courting the Caribbean Votes – Cuban-Americans

The quest of the Go Lean book is to elevate the Caribbean’s societal engines – economics, security and governance. All of the commentaries in this series relate to governance, the election of the leaders of the American federal government. The Go Lean movement (book and blog-commentaries) asserts that Caribbean stakeholders need to take their own lead for the Caribbean destiny, but it does acknowledge that we have a dependency to the economic, security and governing eco-systems of the American SuperPower. This dependency is derisively called a parasite status, with the US as the host.

Cuban-Americans love Cuba … and America. For those Cuban-born, but living in exile, their quest is to impact the island nation to be better, one way or another. This year they are looking to impact their homeland with their vote. So they seek to support American candidates for federal offices that can help to transform the island of Cuba. See a related news article and VIDEO here:

Article Title: Millennial Cuban-Americans abandoning GOP to support Clinton, poll shows
By: Serafin Gómez and Mary Beth Loretta of Fox News Latino
Rafael Sanchez is a Cuban-American who lives in the predominately Cuban neighborhood of Westchester in Miami-DadeCounty. He works at a local health center and has voted for the Republican presidential nominee in previous elections.

But this November, for the first time, the 29-year-old plans to switch his political affiliation.

“I’m voting for Hillary Clinton,” Sanchez told Fox News Latino. “As much as I like to vote Republican as often as I can, the party itself has changed dramatically – to the point where I just vote Democrat.”

Sanchez is not alone.

According to a new poll by Florida International University, for the first time in decades the majority of South Florida’s Cuban-American voters – a dominant voting bloc in the region – are not supporting Republican nominee Donald J. Trump, despite him being a part-time local.

According to FIU, Trump is now in a dead heat with Clinton among Cuban-Americans in the area.

“As Trump struggles to garner the support of Latinos across the U.S., he may have lost the one group every Republican candidate has been able to count on for more than 30 years,” FIU spokeswoman Dianne Fernandez said in a statement.

She described the trend as GOP “voter erosion.”

Another new poll, conducted by Benixen & Amandi International with the Tarrance Group, shows Clinton with a 53 to 29 percent lead over Trump among all Hispanics in Florida.

Clinton’s 24-point lead, the Miami Herald points out, is still lower than the 60 percent support Barack Obama enjoyed among Florida Latinos when he won the state in 2012.

With the overall race for the SunshineState so close – the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows Clinton and Trump deadlocked at 44 percent – Latinos, especially Cuban-Americans who formerly backed GOP presidential candidates, could tip the state – along with its 29 Electoral College votes – to the former secretary of state.

Leading the trend toward Clinton among Cuban-American voters are younger millennials who are breaking away from their parents’ and grandparents’ voting habits.

“There is definitely a difference, generationally,” Melissa Pomares, a 25-year-old Cuban-American law student from Miami, told FNL in an interview.

Pomares voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 but is leaning toward Clinton this year. She says social issues are a big part of why.

“I was very pro-gay marriage,” she said. “I think that there is definitely a disconnect between me and [previous generations in her family] as far as social issues go. They’re definitely more traditionally conservative, and I think I’m more liberal.”
Serafin Gomez covers Special Events and Politics for FOX News Channel and is also a contributor to FOX News Latino. Fin formerly worked as the Miami Bureau Producer for Fox News Channel where he covered Latin America.
Source: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2016/09/14/millennial-cuban-americans-abandoning-gop-to-support-clinton-poll-shows/ Posted September 14, 2016; retrieved October 9, 2016
————–
VIDEO – Donald Trump’s town hall with South Florida Hispanics – http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/donald-trump/article104515586.html

Posted Sep 27, 2016 – Following the night of the first 2016 presidential debate, Donald Trump visited Miami Dade College to hear testimonials from South Florida Hispanics, who shared life experiences and their admiration for Trump. He was given a linen Cuban guayabera [(a shirt)] by Rep. Carlos Trujillo (R-FL 105th District), who served as the moderator at the meeting. – CBS Miami/ Alexa Ard/ McClatchy. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/election/donald-trump/article104515586.html#storylink=cpy

As related in the previous blog-commentaries in this series, the experience in the US is that the politicians do not always represent the majority of the people, but rather the majority of the passionate ones in their constituency – those who turn out to vote. According to the foregoing story, it is obvious that passion for Cuba is resulting in passion for the voting booth. Therefore, there is a jockeying to win these votes for the different parties this election year. The Cuban numbers are so impactful that they can swing the vote in this swing state of Florida.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). It advocates optimizing the societal engines of economics, security and governance in the Caribbean; This is not an elevation plan for Florida or any other jurisdiction in the US. Though the roadmap features strategies, tactics and implementations to better engage the Diaspora’s time, talent and treasuries, our focus is first and foremost the homeland.

We are not encouraging the Diaspora how to vote for the best American destiny; rather we are presenting the Diaspora with the urgency to chose candidates that can, by extension, impact the Caribbean for the better.

Better? That is the goal; to make the Caribbean – Cuba included – a better place to live, work and play.

Considering all 30 Caribbean member-states, the acknowledgement is that Cuba is different. It is what it is.

Cuba has suffered from censure and sanctions from the US and many Western Powers for more than 56 years. They have had a debilitating Trade Embargo since 1962. Only now is the abatement of some of those sanctions. Under Obama, he has re-instated diplomatic relations – by Executive action – with Havana and pleaded with the US Congress to lift the Trade Embargo. Change is taking place, in the US and in Cuba. What will be the next steps?

The next President will determine.

The Caribbean Diaspora, and Cuban exiles, can have an impact now. They can lend voice and vote to the cause for Cuba: entrenchment or re-approachment.

The CU/Go Lean roadmap seeks to reboot the Caribbean societal engines, the economics, security and governance. To be successful we need all-hands-on-deck: residents and Diaspora. To start, we need to lower the trend for expanding the Diaspora, we want to dissuade further migration and hopefully to facilitate a subsequent repatriation. Countries need to grow their populations in order to grow their economies.

People who leave their beloved homelands do so for a reason; the Go Lean movement (book and blogs) identified these reasons as “push and pull” factors. We must do better in lowering these factors than we have in the past. By doing so, we become an American protégé, rather than just an American parasite. This is the quest of the Go Lean/CU roadmap, to elevate the Caribbean’s economic-security-governing engines. The roadmap recognizes that the changes the region needs must start first with convening, collaborating, confederating the regional neighborhood, no matter the ethnicity, language or colonial legacy of the member-states. This means including Cuba, not censuring them; (if the US Congress refuses to end the Trade Embargo, that only affects Caribbean territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, we can still support interstate commerce with the remaining 28 member-states).

The need to confederate the region in a Single Market, including a reconciled Cuba, was pronounced early in the book, in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) with these statements:

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.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation … for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xiii. Whereas the legacy of dissensions in many member-states (for example: Haiti and Cuba) will require a concerted effort to integrate the exile community’s repatriation, the Federation must arrange for Reconciliation Commissions to satiate a demand for justice.

xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.

The Go Lean book, and previous blog/commentaries, stressed the key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies necessary to effect change in the region for all member-states – including Cuba – to improve the oversight of the governing process. They are detailed as follows:

Anecdote – Caribbean Single Market & Economy	Page 15
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – new Security Principles	Page 22
Community Ethos – new Governing Principles	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future – Give the Youth a Voice & Vote	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-around	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations – TRC Cuba	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategic – Vision – Integrated Region in a Single Market	Page 45
Strategic – Vision – Core Competence – Specialty Agriculture like Cigars	Page 58
Tactical – Confederating a Non-sovereign Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing to $800 Billion Regional Economy – Marshall Plan Models	Page 67
Tactical – Separation of Powers	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up	Page 102
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Elections	Page 116
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Planning – Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region – Marshall Plan for Cuba	Page 127
Planning – Reasons Why the CU Will Succeed – Lessons from Unifying Germany	Page 132
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 139
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Re-boot Cuba	Page 236

The points of effective, technocratic oversight and stewardship for Cuba were further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7689	Obama – Bad For Caribbean Status Quo
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7412	The Road to Restoring Cuba
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6664	Cuba to Expand Internet Access
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695	Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4551	US Territories – Between a ‘rock and a hard place’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4506	Colorism in Cuba … and Beyond
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3662	Migrant flow into US from Caribbean spikes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3455	Restoration of Diplomatic Relations with Cuba
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3354	CariCom Chairman calls for an end to US embargo on Cuba
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2330	‘Raul Castro reforms not enough’, Cuba’s bishops say
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1609	Cuba mulls economy in Parliament session
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=554	Cuban cancer medication registered in 28 countries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=436	Cuba Approves New “Law on Foreign Investment”

We want to make Cuba and other places in our Caribbean homeland, better places to live, work and play. So we must engage the political process in Washington, DC as the Trade Embargo is a major obstacle for Cuba. There is the need to put the island’s communism history “to bed”. Cuba had to adapt the strategy of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” when they previously aligned with communist Russia (the Soviet Union). But this is now 2016; the Soviet Union is “no more”. The Trade Embargo should also be “no more”.

(There is still the need for formal reconciliations).

The only way to impact Washington is through voting. This is why the Cuban-American vote is being courted. Which presidential candidate best extols the vision and values for a new Caribbean? This is the question being debated in places like Miami.

The Go Lean movement urges Cuban-Americans to decide based on one criterion, one Single Cause: a unified, forward-moving Caribbean, with Cuba included.

The Go Lean roadmap advocates being a protégé, not just a parasite. This is a turn-around plan for Cuba and all the Caribbean. We must now seek out solutions that encourage participation of all Caribbean member-states in nation-building. The goal is to stop any future societal abandonment. Rather than life abroad, like the Cubans living in exile, the Go Lean roadmap calls for the empowerments so that Caribbean people can prosper where planted in their homeland.

Its election time in America; and the candidates are courting voters … of Caribbean heritage. The Go Lean movement urges participation in this process, but not to change America; our only focus is to change/elevate the Caribbean; all of it. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Courting Caribbean Votes – ‘Jamericans’

Posted on October 9, 2016 in Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

What is Jamerican?

In a previous blog-commentary, the term was defined as the Jamaican – American sub-culture that now thrives in many American urban communities; think Brooklyn’s Flatbush in New York City, or Kingston Hill in the Broward County (Florida) community of Lauderhill. These communities feature a thriving Jamaican Diaspora with empowered business leaders, elected politicians and cultural expressions. That previous blog even introduced the musical artists-duo ‘Born Jamericans’; (see them here at http://youtu.be/t4iRnETnmtw). It concluded with the analogy of a “genie leaving a bottle”, that there is no returning. Now we see the ‘Jamericans’ doubling-down on this legacy, even trying to influence US federal elections for more liberal immigration policies – to bring in more Jamaicans and grow the Jamerican population even more.

This commentary from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean differs in strategies, tactics and implementation from the Jamerican movement. We want to build up Jamaica – in conjunction with the other Caribbean member-states – not some American population group.

Our motives are simple: we think the Caribbean is the greatest address on the planet!

We recognize and accept that there are many defects in the region – in the economic, security and governing engines – but assert that it is easier to remediate Caribbean defects than trying to fix America. Therefore, the Go Lean book posits that Jamaicans in particular, and Caribbean people in general, need to engage the democratic process to appoint leaders that will be more benevolent towards the Caribbean.

This commentary is 2 of 3 of a series from the Go Lean movement, in consideration of Courting the Caribbean Votes for the American federal elections – President (Donald Trump -vs- Hillary Clinton), Vice-President and Congress (Senate & US House of Representatives). This and the other commentaries detail different ethnic communities within the Caribbean Diaspora and their voting trends; the series is as follows:

Courting the Caribbean Votes – Puerto Ricans
Courting the Caribbean Votes – ‘Jamericans’
Courting the Caribbean Votes – Cuban-Americans

All of these commentaries relate to governance, the election of the leaders of the American federal government. The Go Lean movement (book and blog-commentaries) asserts that Caribbean stakeholders need to take their own lead for the Caribbean destiny, but it does acknowledge that we have a dependency to the economic, security and governing eco-systems of the American SuperPower. So the quest to elevate the Caribbean’s societal economics, governance and governing engines must consider the strategies of voting, and courting votes.

Most of the Jamaican Diaspora in the US – 61 percent – are American citizens; their tactic has always been to “naturalize” as soon as possible so that they can sponsor other family members. The number of the Jamaican Diaspora was estimated at 706,000 – an amazing statistic considering that the population in the Jamaican homeland is just 2.8 million (in 2010).

So many members of the Caribbean Diaspora living in the US are eligible to vote on November 8, 2016.

Who will they vote for? Who should they vote for?
What if the criterion for the vote is benevolence to Caribbean causes?

Hands-down, without a doubt, the Jamerican population – and other Caribbean groups (587K Haitians, 879K Dominicans & 500K Other*) – lean towards the Democratic Party – “they are with her: Hillary Clinton”. In fact, as prominent Jamerican personalities emerged in support of the opposing candidate, Donald Trump, they have received scorn and ridicule. See this drama here in these 2 VIDEO’s:

VIDEO # 1 – Etana Tells Anthony Miller – Yes, I am a Trump Supporter – https://youtu.be/I-413phYSjo

Published on Sep 24, 2016 – Reggae artist Etana is interviewed by Jamaican Media Personality Anthony Miller.

———————-

VIDEO # 2 – Dr Sexy-Ann talks about Etana – https://youtu.be/OlGKFMC7t9o

Published on Sep 24, 2016 – Reggae artist Etana says she will vote for Donald Trump, had some criticisms for Jamaican life and other things… Dr Sexy-Ann – Sex Educator and Media Personality Shelly-Ann Weeks – gives her thoughts on her comments.

These foregoing stories depict a consistent disposition for Jamaica; there are economic, security and governing defects there that are so acute that it is understandable if Jamaicans want to flee. Reference is made to Jamaica’s minimum wage of J$5000 per week; at today’s exchange rate of J$127.44 to US$1, that is less than US$40 a week; ($39.23 exactly). This menial amount is impossible to sustain life in the US, and not much better in Jamaica. Reference is also made to the lack of mitigations for crime and inadequate governing response. No wonder that many Jamaicans view a migration to the US as a measurement of success in their life – America is a refuge. These describe the “push and pull” factors contributing to Caribbean abandonment.

Fears of changes to the American “refuge” status are troubling. There have been times during this American election season when the polls showed some surging by Donald Trump, the Republican Anti-Immigration Candidate. The Jamerican community became nervous. See here in this editorial submission in a newspaper that appeals to the Jamaican Diaspora in South Florida:

Editorial Title: Fear of the unknown
Concern continues to mount in the Caribbean American community about the stance being taken on immigration by the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

Weston Immigration attorney, Caroly Pedersen believes Trump, is causing alarm within the Caribbean-American community.

“I’ve had a growing number of calls daily from immigrants in distress, scrambling to find any path to legal immigration status before a possible Trump Presidency,” she told the National Weekly.

Pedersen, who has a large Caribbean-American clientele, has urged

“those still on the fence” about voting in this presidential election to consider Trump’s words as a foreshadowing of what may occur in his administration.

“He speaks of an ideological test for admission to the U.S., admission of only those who love our country and our people and (the) extreme vetting of immigrants. These could virtually halt most legal immigration, for starters. Those of us who see the danger must vote to keep our country safe –by keeping Trump out of the Oval Office.”

Pedersen believes the Republican nominee is actually targeting innocent immigrants for political purposes by “fanning the flames of nativist ignorance and fear to turn against America’s immigrant communities.”

“His inflammatory comments go directly against American values and straight to the heart of what makes our country great –immigrants, diversity, new ideas, innovation and inspiration,” she said.

Pedersen’s sentiments have been endorsed by Florida Immigration Coalition advocate Norma Downer, who says Trump, unlike his rival Hilary Clinton, “continues to stoke fear in the Caribbean-American community”.

“Hillary Clinton has consistently assured Caribbean-American and other immigrant communities of efforts towards immigration reform if elected, she has been consistent in her support for a path to citizenship for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the US, citing,” said Downer via a posting on twitter.

He added that Clinton favors the “humane, targeted and effective” application of the nation laws against illegal immigration, but states that those who commit crimes while living in American illegally should be deported.

Throughout his presidential campaign Trump has adapted a strong anti-immigration stand especially against Mexicans and Muslims.

Clinton sees any proposals to ban Muslim immigration as offensive and counterproductive.

Clinton has been quoted as saying that “America is strongest when we all believe we have a stake in our country and our future,” adding that engaging in “inflammatory, anti-Muslim rhetoric” against immigrants made America less safe.

Since Trumps rise to relevance in the 2016 presidential elections, his anti-immigration stance has driven qualified immigrants to seek US citizenship, and increased voter registration in South Florida. “There’s a definite noticeable trend in voting Democrat by Haitian-Americans, other Caribbean-Americans, and Hispanic-Americans ever since January,” said Downer.

Gabby Fairweather, a 24 year-old Jamaican-American, is among several Caribbean-American volunteers involved in Clinton’s South Florida campaign. “My priority is to ensure young people turn out to vote. As an immigrant American I have genuine fears should Clinton not win in November.”
Source: http://www.caribbeannationalweekly.com/featured/fear-of-the-unknown/ Posted September 23, 2016; retrieved October 7, 2016

The experience in the US is that the politicians do not always represent the majority of the people, but rather the majority of the passionate – those who turn out to vote. According to the foregoing stories, there is a lot of passion in the Jamerican community for the American election this year. The Go Lean movement wants “to bottle that passion” and direct it towards the Caribbean.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). It advocates optimizing the societal engines of economics, security and governance in the Caribbean, not in the US. But the Jamaican Diaspora is here-now; (and we fear that they will not seek to return). So we must succeed in this Caribbean reboot to dissuade the next generation of any further migration. And then maybe, at retirement, we can hopefully incentivize the Jamericans to consider repatriation for their “golden years”.

To succeed at this quest, we must do better than our past. We must emerge as an American protégé, rather than just an American parasite – the status our region holds now. The Go Lean roadmap starts with the recognition that first we need to convene, collaborate and confederate the regional neighborhood into a Single Market despite differences in colonial heritage. This need was pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) in the book with these statements:

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.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation … for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.

xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to optimize the eco-systems for Jamaica and the entire Caribbean. The problems for Jamaica is bigger than just Jamaica alone; it’s a regional problem, requiring a regional solution. The book stresses new community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies necessary to transform and turn-around the eco-systems of the regional society. These points are detailed in the book as follows:

Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future – Give the Youth a Voice & Vote	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-around	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 member-states into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Build and foster local economic engines	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Repatriate the Diaspora	Page 46
Strategy – CU Stakeholders to Protect – Diaspora	Page 47
Tactical – Ways to Foster a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Growing the Economy to $800 Billion GDP	Page 68
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal -vs- Member-state governments	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Impact Elections	Page 116
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean	Page 118
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Confederate a Single Market of 4 language groups	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance – For All Citizens	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract – Security against “Bad Actors”	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Remediate and Mitigate Crime – Better 911 Response	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism – Consider Bullying as Junior Terrorism	Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth – Collaborating with Foundations	Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Reboot Jamaica	Page 239

The points of effective, technocratic oversight and stewardship for Jamaica were further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8982	GraceKennedy: Profile of a Jamaican Transnational Corporation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8724	Remembering Jamaican Marcus Garvey: Still Relevant Today
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7866	Switching Allegiances: Jamaican sprinters representing other countries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5784	Jamaican “Push” Factor: Archaic Buggery Values
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5055	A Lesson in History – Empowering Jamaican Families
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4840	Jamaican Poll: ‘Bring back the British!’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3694	Jamaica-Canada employment program remits millions
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2830	Jamaica’s Public Pension Under-funded
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=392	Jamaica to receive World Bank funds to help in crime fight
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=313	What’s Holding Back Jamaica’s Reforms

Jamaica has a large Diaspora…

… most of this Diaspora that has abandoned the island now lives in the US, Canada or the UK. Their new homes, feature optimization of the societal engines. We want that in Jamaica …

… we want to make Jamaica and other places in our Caribbean homeland, better places to live, work and play. We must use cutting-edge delivery of best practices to execute the strategies, tactics and implementations to impact the Go Lean prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

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 protect public safety and assure the economic engines.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

So we must engage the political process in Washington, DC (and Ottawa and London) as the disposition of the Diaspora – the Jamericans et al, is important for exporting progress back to the homeland. As Jamaicans in their homeland, these ones had no “voice nor vote” in Washington. Now they do. They can impact Washington through voting. This is why the Jamerican vote is being courted. Which presidential candidate best extols the vision and values to help forge a new Caribbean?

Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

This is the question being debated.

The Go Lean movement advocates this turn-around for the Caribbean, being a protégé, not just a parasite. We want to stop the abandonment – a quest of the Go Lean roadmap – we want our citizens to prosper where planted in their homelands.

This is the purpose of the Go Lean roadmap, to provide a turn-by-turn direction to accomplish the needed turn-round. Despite urging the Jamericans to vote, we are not seeking to change America; we seek to change the Caribbean. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————–

Reference Footnote * – Other Caribbean includes Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, the former country of Guadeloupe (including St. Barthélemy and Saint-Martin), Martinique, Montserrat, the former country of the Netherlands Antilles (including Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten), St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands. – http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acsbr10-15.pdf posted September 2011; retrieved June 12, 2016.

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Courting Caribbean Votes – Puerto Ricans

Posted on October 8, 2016 in Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Dateline: Miami, Florida – Voting is a hallmark of democracy!

Every Caribbean member-state is a democracy; (Even Cuba, but with only the one Communist Party).

So any quest to elevate the Caribbean’s societal engines – economics, security and governance – must consider the strategies of voting, and courting votes.

Right now, it is election season in the United States. There are many members of the Caribbean Diaspora living in the US – some figures project up to 22 million; many of them are eligible to vote on November 8, 2016.

Who will they vote for? Who should they vote for?
What if the criterion for the vote is benevolence to Caribbean causes?

This commentary is 1 of 3 of a series from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in consideration of Courting the Caribbean Votes for the American federal elections – President (Donald Trump -vs- Hillary Clinton), Vice-President and Congress (Senate & US House of Representatives). This and the other commentaries detail different ethnic communities within the Caribbean Diaspora and their voting trends; the series is as follows:

Courting the Caribbean Votes – Puerto Ricans
Courting the Caribbean Votes – ‘Jamericans’
Courting the Caribbean Votes – Cuban-Americans

All of these commentaries relate to governance, the election of the leaders of the American federal government. The Go Lean movement (book and blog-commentaries) asserts that Caribbean stakeholders need to take their own lead for their Caribbean destiny, but it does acknowledge that we have a dependency to the economic, security and governing eco-systems of the American SuperPower. This dependency is derisively called a parasite status, with the US as the host.

This accurately describes Puerto Rico.

Not only is the island of Puerto Rico a parasite of the US, but a near-Failed-State as well. While this has been a consistent theme of the Go Lean movement, it is no secret. Washington and Puerto Rico readily admit to this disposition. In fact this failing condition has driven many Puerto Ricans out of Puerto Rico. This has been within that consistent Go Lean theme, that “push-and-pull” factors drive Caribbean citizens away from their beloved homeland. Greater Orlando has become a new destination.

They are gone from Puerto Rico, but have not forgotten home. This year they are looking to impact their homeland with their vote. They seek to support candidates for federal offices that can help to reform and transform the island. See the AUDIO Podcast here and related news article:

AUDIO – Puerto Ricans Could Sway Florida for Trump or Clinton – http://www.marketplace.org/2016/09/29/world/puerto-ricans-could-sway-florida-trump-or-clinton/

———————–

News Article Title: Puerto Ricans, in Florida, could be a political catch
By: Andy Uhler

There’s a new, growing population of American citizens in Florida who might be able to vote for president for the first time – Puerto Ricans. And a lot of those leaving the island’s broken economy end up in Central Florida. Thousands of Puerto Ricans have settled over the past couple of decades in a town south of Orlando, near Disney World, called Kissimmee.

One of the main Puerto Rican hubs in the town is Melao Bakery. Wilfredo Ramirez stood outside most of the day asking people in Spanish if they’re registered to vote. It’s not normally the first thing a new acquaintance asks, but Wilfredo’s on a mission. He moved here from Puerto Rico a few months ago and has a job registering people. He said the electoral system on the mainland is tough for some new arrivals to figure out.

“It’s a bit confusing. Puerto Ricans are considered U.S. citizens, but it’s not the same as being born in the U.S.” mainland, he said. “And that is the ultimate motive, for Puerto Ricans to register and give their vote.”

Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but because of its territory status, those on the island can’t vote for president. Puerto Rico holds a presidential primary, but that’s where it ends. If they come to Florida and establish residency, though, Puerto Ricans can vote in November.

Wilfredo had been at the bakery for a couple of hours and had talked to more than 150 people. His contract will have him in Central Florida through November. The group he’s with, Hispanic Federation, isn’t affiliated with any party but has been vocal about Donald Trump’s immigration statements – calling them “misleading, demeaning and unfounded.”

But unlike in Florida, the island’s dominant parties aren’t Democrats and Republicans, and the main issue is whether Puerto Rico should stay a territory, become a state, or assert independence.

Carlos Vargas-Ramos is a researcher at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at HunterCollege. He said the Puerto Rican migration to Florida wouldn’t affect the election if groups weren’t out there explaining what’s happening.

“In general, were it anywhere else, where there’s not a mobilization effort, those Puerto Ricans would be less likely to turn out to vote,” he said. “But because, precisely, they’re going to be targets, they will be in play.”

The presidential campaigns know that. Florida is a battleground state, and apart from spending on TV, the Clinton campaign has been focused on trying to get people registered to vote. What they’re finding is that recent migrants aren’t necessarily as Democratic as once assumed.

Mark Oxner, Republican chairman in OsceolaCounty, where 60 percent of the Hispanic population identify as Puerto Rican, said he’s pleasantly surprised that they’re seeing the same thing

“The big thing is, they’re not coming all Democrats, most of them come over and sign as no party affiliation,” he said. “So they’re not, specifically tied to the Democratic party.”

That could make it a little more difficult for Democrats and Republicans to directly identify supporters. Which means it’ll probably be more expensive to get those independent voters to pick a side.

But in this part of Central Florida the community’s biggest concerns are extremely local. Newly arrived Puerto Ricans need teachers in the schools who can help their children transition to living on the mainland. That means, teachers who are bilingual.

Pablo Caceres, director of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration, a Puerto Rican governmental arm with an office in Kissimmee, said that’s what he hears all the time.

“The issues that are most important for us, the Puerto Rican community, that we need to obviously start talking about is having good quality education for our kids,” he said. “And there are also other big issues like immigration.”

At the same time, a lot of Puerto Ricans left the island and came to Florida because things were so bad. Unemployment is twice that of the mainland, almost half the population is living under the poverty line, hospitals have to limit hours because they can’t pay for electricity and schools are closing because teachers aren’t getting paid.

Now some migrants feel like they might have an impact on what Washington does about their home’s crippling debt crisis.

Jose Rivera moved here from the island in 1994. He’s an engineer in favor of independence.

“It’s about time we own our own destiny,” he said. “We are the 32-year-old guy that still lives with mom and dad and we’re expecting mom and dad to fix all our broken plates.”

Independence would come with a complete financial break from the federal government and a complete rethinking of the economy of the island.
Source: http://www.marketplace.org/2016/09/29/world/puerto-ricans-could-sway-florida-trump-or-clinton Posted September 30, 2016; retrieved October 4, 2016

The experience in the US is that the politicians do not always represent the majority of the people, but rather the majority of the passionate ones in their constituency – those who turn out to vote. According to the foregoing story, it is obvious that passion for the Caribbean homeland is resulting in passion for the voting booth. Therefore, there is a jockeying to win these votes for the different parties this election year. The Puerto Rican numbers are so impactful that they can swing the vote in this swing state of Florida. (Legally, Puerto Ricans need only establish legal residence for 6 months in a US state – Florida in this case – and then they can vote).

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). It advocates optimizing the societal engines of economics, security and governance in the Caribbean, not in Florida or any other jurisdiction in the US. But it is what it is. The Diaspora is here-now. We must succeed in this Caribbean reboot to dissuade further migration and hopefully to facilitate a subsequent repatriation.

We must do better than our past. We must be an American protégé, rather than just an American parasite. This is the quest of the Go Lean/CU roadmap, to elevate the Caribbean’s economic-security-governing engines. The roadmap recognizes that the changes the region needs must start first with convening, collaborating, confederating the regional neighborhood into a Single Market, no matter the ethnicity, language or colonial legacy of the member-states. This need was pronounced early in the book, in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) with these statements:

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.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation … for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent OverseasTerritory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.

The Go Lean book, and previous blog/commentaries, stressed the key community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies necessary to effect change in the region, to improve the oversight of the governing process. They are detailed as follows:

Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Security Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future – Give the Youth a Voice & Vote	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-around	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate all 30 Member-states into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – CU Stakeholders to Protect – Diaspora	Page 47
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal -vs- Member-state governments	Page 71
Anecdote – Turning Around CARICOM – Regional oversight	Page 92
Implementation – Assemble Caribbean Election Oversight as Cooperative	Page 96
Implementation – Assemble Constitutional Convention – Start of federal elections	Page 97
Implementation – Ways to Impact Elections	Page 116
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean	Page 118
Planning – 10 Big Ideas – Confederate a Single Market of 4 language groups	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Election Outsourcing	Page 134
Planning – Lessons Learned from US Constitution – Progress over generations	Page 145
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact US Territories	Page 244
Appendix – Interstate Compacts for Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands	Page 278
Appendix – Nuyorican Movement	Page 303
Appendix – Puerto Rican Population in the US (2010 Census)	Page 304

The points of effective, technocratic oversight and stewardship for Puerto Rico were further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7963	‘Like a Good Neighbor’ – Being there for Puerto Rico
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6693	Ten Puerto Rico Police Accused of Criminal Network
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6260	Puerto Rico Bondholders Coalition Launches Ad Campaign
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4551	US Territories – Between a ‘rock and a hard place’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4185	Caribbean Ghost Towns: It Could Happen … in Puerto Rico
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1325	Puerto Rico Governor Signs Bill on SME’s
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=599	Ailing Puerto Rico open to radical economic fixes

We want to make Puerto Rico and other places in our Caribbean homeland, better places to live, work and play. So we must engage the political process in Washington, DC as they are a major stakeholder for Puerto Rico. The island is bankrupt, it depends on federal bailouts just to execute even the basic functions in the Social Contract. Personally, many residents on the island depend on federal subsidies to survive: benefits like veterans, social security (disability & pension) and welfare. Many Puerto Ricans have understandably abandoned the island – this is both “push” and “pull”.

The Go Lean movement advocates being a protégé of America, not just a parasite. This is a turn-around from the status quo. We must now seek out solutions that encourage participation of Puerto Ricans in the nation-building process, as a territory, a new US State or an independent nation; (as alluded to in the foregoing story). If we want to stop the abandonment – a quest of the Go Lean roadmap – then we have no other choice; we must present the opportunities for citizens to prosper where planted in the Caribbean.

The choice for president should consider these needs.

We need Washington’s help. But the only way to impact Washington is through voting. This is why the Puerto Rican vote – for those in the Diaspora – is being courted. Which presidential candidate best extols the vision and values for a new Caribbean?

Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

This is the question being considered. These two camps are the ones courting Puerto Ricans in the Diaspora.

The purpose of the Go Lean roadmap is to provide the turn-by-turn directions to accomplish the needed turn-round. The Go Lean roadmap does not seek to change America; our only focus is to change the Caribbean, to make it better to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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‘Time to Go’ – Logic of Senior Emigration

Posted on September 28, 2016 in Implementation, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“Twenty million American Negroes unpacked.” – Comedian and Activist Dick Gregory, on November 27, 1963 when President Lyndon Johnson announced at a Joint-Session of Congress that he would continue with the recently assassinated John Kennedy’s Civil Rights agenda.

Embed from Getty Images

This was 1963, 100 years after President’s Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the subsequent Civil War. Finally after 350 years of the African Slave Trade, African-American people could start to think of America as “home”. Wow, they could unpack. There was no need to consider any other destination.

It didn’t end there!

This was also the start of other African-ethnic people – in Africa and in the Americas – to start the thinking that America may be OK to emigrate to. They started to pack, while African-Americans unpacked.

One step forward for American civilization, but two steps backwards for Caribbean society.

Our brain-drain and societal abandonment to the US began there-then, and continued unabated down to this day.

Where we are now is a shame-and-a-disgrace – 70 percent of out tertiary-educated – gone! Now we have the report of a 104-year old woman who just naturalized to become a US citizen. Just as much as this is a good story for her and America, this is an indictment for us – the Caribbean – and our failures as individual states.

See the news story here:

Title: Woman at 104 proves it’s never too late to become an American citizen
By: David J. Neal

May Garcia, 104, center, sings “America the Beautiful” after she took the Oath of Allegiance and was sworn in as a U.S. citizen on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. Garcia attended the ceremony with her daughter, Faye Rochester, right, and son-in-law Denis Rochester. Garcia lives with them in Lauderhill. She passed her citizenship exam early Friday, then was sworn in as a United States citizen at the USCIS Oakland Park Field Office in Oakland Park. Garcia was born on July 15, 1912 in Kingston, Jamaica. She moved to the U.S. in 1993 to be closer to her family and take care of her grandchildren. Garcia has four children, 12 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren.
Photo Credit: Marsha Halper.

Jamaica-born May Garcia decided to become a U.S. citizen after 23 years in this country and 104 years on this Earth for the most bedrock element of democracy.

“She had been watching the election coverage and said, ‘I’d love to vote,’ ” Garcia’s daughter Fay Rochester said.

So Garcia, born in Kingston in 1912, 50 years before Jamaica’s independence from Great Britain, started the naturalization process. That path ended Friday for Garcia and more than 100 others from 36 nations who took their oath of citizenship at a naturalization ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in west Broward.

Afterward, she waved her arm back and forth in celebration as Pharrell’s “Happy” played in the Ceremony Room. Several other new U.S. citizens or their relatives stopped by Garcia’s chair to shake her hand.

Garcia, who lives in Lauderhill with Rochester and son-in-law Denis Rochester, said she had no problem with studying for the citizenship exam or taking the exam itself. Then again, activity keeps the mind sharp and as Garcia said, “I’m a busy person. I’m not a lazy one.”

She raised her four children in Jamaica by doing others’ laundry by hand. She came to the U.S. in 1993 at 81 to help take care of some of her 12 grandchildren (who gave her 18 great grandchildren, who gave her eight great-great grandchildren). Now, with her family spread all around the United States, she spends her days at the Sadkin Senior Community Center, where she does Zumba classes.

Saturday, she still does laundry by hand.

“We’re so happy and proud of her,” Rochester said. “At her age, she’s still going strong. She does everything for herself.”

Asked how she has extended her life so long, Garcia said, “I wasn’t a wild person. I like everything that’s nice. I don’t do things that aren’t right. I don’t like anything that’s out of the way.”
Source: Posted August 23, 2016; retrieved September 26, 2016 from: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article98197142.html

Congratulations May Garcia! May you have all that you desire.

This commentary is 3 of 3 from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in consideration of the reasons to consider repatriation back to the Caribbean homeland. The other commentaries detailed in this series are as follows:

Time to Go: Spot-on for Protest
Time to Go: No Respect for our Hair
Time to Go: Logic of Senior Emigration

The Go Lean book was composed with people like May Garcia in mind. In its epilogue, the book makes valedictions to people like Ms. Garcia, on Page 252:

To the Caribbean Resident: Count your blessings, while you work for improvement.
To the Caribbean Diaspora: Come in from the cold.
…
To the Caribbean Senior Citizen: Thank you for your service. We’ll take it from here.

No one expects a 104-year woman to contribute to her society, to be a mover-and-a-shaker, to forge change in her community and set the path for new advocacies, technologies or systems of commerce. But Ms. Garcia is an inspiration. She plainly demonstrates to the planners of a new Caribbean how acute our failures are. This celebration should have been in her Caribbean homeland, Jamaica. This is our quest!

She should have been like a tree …

… planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers. – The Bible; Psalms 1:3 – New International Version

A “planted tree” analogy relates that she would be firmly established … and others – her children and grandchildren – would come to her.

This scenario paints the picture of “prospering where planted“. This is the underlying vision of the Go Lean book. Emotionally, this is in direct contrast to the psychological trauma of “Longing for Home“. This is a real problem for people in exile communities; normally this scarring bears on a subject’s emotional and physical well-being. The experiences of the subject in the foregoing article is very unique, Ms. Garcia seems to have all of her 4 children, 12 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 8 great-great grandchildren all in the same country. Assuredly, in most other cases, some of the offspring are in the home country and some are in the exile country. There tends to be two moving targets, itinerant children with an iterant parent. This is the opposite of planted.

This lack of planting can create a sense of urgency to reform and transform. Many Diaspora find that urgency expressed in the statement:

“Time to Go … home”.

To satisfy the wishes of a special person like Ms. Garcia could be motivation enough to forge change in the Caribbean, to allow these seniors the opportunity to prosper where they were planted all their lives. This is the quest of the Go Lean book.

The Go Lean book and movement serves as a roadmap for the introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is set to optimize Caribbean society through economic elevation, security empowerment and governing engagements. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

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 economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean book presents a plan of hope for the senior citizens of the Caribbean.

But this is not just an altruistic dream; it accepts the reality that the economic, security and governing optimizations must be enabled, not just hoped for. It is Time to Go; our aging parents and grandparents are waiting on us to execute; they may not have as much time to wait, to see this quest fulfilled. The book (Page 225) described the urgent commitment to the Caribbean Seniors as follows in this advocacy: 10 Ways to Improve Elder-Care:

1. Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME) initiative: Caribbean Union Trade Federation.	The Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) will allow for the unification of the region into one market, thereby creating an entity (42 million) big and consequential enough to negotiate Treaties with the US, Canada, and Europe for more consideration for the needs of the Caribbean’s baby boomers in the Diaspora. In addition, while the US enjoyed its Baby Boom during the 2nd half of the 20th century, the Caribbean region kept pace. So now there will be an enlarged single market needing CU elder-care and support services, plus public-private initiatives as the pool of contributors/benefactors will now be maximized. The end result is a reversing of the “brain and capital drain” that plagued the Caribbean recently. There are no labor issues for this age group, as they are in retirement and not competing for jobs in the local market.
2. Tax Benefit of Dependents in Family Trusts	Many Caribbean ex-patriots emigrate to earn more money to send back for their aging parents. Yet the foreign taxing authorities (i.e. IRS) do not give dependent tax credit if the dependents are still in the Caribbean. Therefore, many Caribbean ex-patriots try to relocate their aging parents back to their new home – this further exacerbates the “brain and capital drain”. The CU will lobby to grant a dependent care credit for up to 4 living parents per couple with a Tax ID Number in an organized Family Trust “vehicle”. The CU will disclose all death certificates back to the Sourcing Countries, much like the Social Security Administration does in the US today.
3. Repatriate Retirement Benefits	The CU wants their former citizens to return “home” and many senior “baby boomer” ex-patriots want to spend their golden years “back home”. The CU Banking system will allow for (free) direct deposit of retirement and pension benefit payments to the repatriated Caribbean residents. Social Workers will be trained to advocate and engage the “Source Countries” bureaucracies to remediate disputes and optimize services on behalf of the participants.
4. Repatriate MediCare Benefits	The decision to return/repatriate “home” is more complicated for those with health issues as they fear the lost of medical benefits from their National Health plans in their emigrated countries. With licensed and accredited Caribbean doctors and facilities meeting the standards of the Sourcing Countries, repatriated Caribbean [seniors] will have access to their medical benefits even though they are abroad. This will increase the revenue base of the medical establishments and advance the standard of care for all.
5. Medical Training, Accreditation, Advocacy and Quality Assurance of Gerontology Support Services	Promote and incentivize medical careers for doctors, nurses, therapists and CNA’s (Certified Nurse Assistants) with scholarships, grants and forgive-able student loans. Plus the CU will license, accredit and facilitate the Continuous Education requirement for the industry participants. For ongoing operations, patient advocacy, Quality Assurance programs and mediation/ arbitration/dispute resolution will facilitate world-class service delivery.
6. Deploy Disease Management Programs for Gerontology Afflictions	Disease management programs can be implemented specifically for gerontology ailments like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Degenerative Eye Diseases and other chronic afflictions. The goal is to identify, educate, and treat patients with ailments that tend to have no cure, but the afflicted could prosper with proper management.
7. Caribbeans with Disabilities	Many times seniors become challenged in their mobility or disabled requiring aid and transportation services. Most Caribbean public buses (Jitney) do not allow for wheelchair/scooter access. The CU will overseer the Taxi Commissions, to include Para-transit services for non-ambulance transport. The Caribbean [persons] with Disabilities Act, modeled after Americans with Disability Act, will allow CU residents (and seniors) with physical and mental disabilities to have equal access rights/provisions of “reasonable accommodations” by CU institutions and establishments.
8. Public Health Extension	The CU will prioritize vaccinations (flu shots) for seniors, and regulate easy access at clinics, and pharmacies. One strategy is to grant credits and discounts for senior participants. The data associated with flu shots and vaccinations will be collected and mined, then aggregately published by the CU.
9. Wellness, Nutrition, and Fitness Programs	A successful deployment of a Government Wellness program calls for a reboot of cultural habits in terms of nutrition, physical therapies and exercise in Senior Centers, Rehabilitation facilities and Nursing Homes. Programs like “Silver Sneakers” (walking clubs) and bicycle paths to encourage more exercise will be implemented at the CU level. Where air-conditioned shopping malls may be minimal, the ideal island climate allow for tree-lined walking paths to be identified, developed, maintained and policed-enforced by CU institutions.
10. First Responders *Regulated by the CU*	Emergency Management operations will factor in the needs of Seniors during Disaster Response (Hurricanes) and normal day-to-day operations. Hurricane Shelters will prioritize seniors first. Medical Alert Notifications via bracelets or home monitoring equipment require a monitoring industry on the “other end of the line” and physical First Responders.

Fixing the Caribbean eco-system has always been a mission of the Go Lean/CU roadmap, to dissuade the propensity for so many Caribbean people who flee from their Caribbean homelands to foreign destinations like the US. In addition, there is a mission to invite many Diaspora members to repatriate, to declare that it is Time to Go . The book contends that the Caribbean must prepare for the eventual return of these native sons and daughters back to our shores. This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) that claims:

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.

xiii. Whereas the legacy of dissensions in many member-states … will require a concerted effort to integrate the exile community’s repatriation, the Federation must arrange for Reconciliation Commissions to satiate a demand for justice.

xviii. Whereas all citizens in the Federation member-states may not have the same physical abilities, reasonable accommodations must be made so that individuals with physical and mental disabilities can still access public and governmental services so as to foster a satisfactory pursuit of life’s liberties and opportunities for happiness.

xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.

xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.

Preparing the Caribbean region for the return of the aging Diaspora, means fixing the regional defects to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play for everyone. This quest must first be in our hearts – the seats of motivation. The book explains (Page 20):

… the approach to forge change for an individual is defined as “starting in the head (thoughts, visions), penetrating the heart (feelings, motivations) and then finally manifesting in the hands (actions). This same body analogy is what is purported in this [Go Lean] book for how the Caribbean is to embrace change – following this systematic flow:

o Head – Plans, models and constitutions
o Heart – Community Ethos
o Hands – Actions, Reboots, and Turn-arounds

The book details that first, there must be the adoption of new community ethos – fundamental spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a society. In addition to these new ethos below, the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies are needed to impact the region’s elevation hopes:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economics Influence Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy versus Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 24
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Reform our Health Care Response	Page 47
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora	Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Separation of Powers – Department of Health	Page 86
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – Ways to Model the EU	Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Measure Progress	Page 148
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare	Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cancer	Page 157
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management	Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care	Page 225
Advocacy – Ways to Empower Women – Aging Population	Page 226

This Go Lean book asserts that family dynamics will always be placed ahead of any nationalistic objectives. It is simply the fact that people’s priorities are consistent: self, family, and then community. Any societal elevation plan, must consider this reality. This viewpoint – re-uniting the family with a return of the aging Diaspora – has been previously detailed in Go Lean blog/commentaries, as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7659	Pre-Fab Housing and Elder-Care Conjunction
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6175	Lesson from Japan: Aging Populations
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5901	Socio-Economic Change: The Demographic Theory of Elderly Suicide
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4278	Businesses Try to Stave-off Brain Drain as Boomers Retire
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4222	Getting Rich Slowly … in the Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2830	Jamaica’s Public Pension Under-funded
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2522	Public Health Economics – The Cost of Cancer Drugs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2105	Recessions and Public Health in the Caribbean Region
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=949	Managing Inflation for the “Golden Years” of Retirement
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Don’t Want from the US – #8 Family Abandonment

The Caribbean has a lot to work with now! It is arguably the best address on the planet. So we are NOT discussing repatriating to places like the Middle-Eastern desert (Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc) or Siberia. We have the best terrain, fauna & flora; just think of our beaches. Culturally, we have the best cuisine, rums, cigars and festivals (think Carnival, Junkanoo, Crop-Over, etc.). We also have the best in hospitality, just think of our luxurious hotel-resorts and cruise ships. Longing for any these features of Caribbean life is perfectly healthy. It is Time to Go.

But we are defective and deficient … in economics (high costs of living, investments, jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities); in security (crime and emergency preparation & response); and in governance (education, healthcare and government financing). We need to reform and transform. So underlying to the Go Lean/CU prime directive of elevating the economics, security and governing engines of the Caribbean, is the desire to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work and play for all, young and old.

Without a doubt, there is value to keeping senior citizens in their communities for these “golden years”; their “grey hair” – poetic for wisdom – is greatly valued for the next generations. There is value for the community and value for the senior citizens. And as related in the introduction, their time-urgency can be an inspiration for change.

We need to spend time with our aging parents and they need to spend time with their children and grandchildren. Fulfilling this simple mission should not be location agnostic, it should be at home, in the Caribbean. As related in the old Calypso song by Harry Belafonte – Island in the Sun:

Oh, island in the sun
Willed to me by my father’s hand
All my days I will sing in praise
Of your forest, waters,
Your shining sand …

This theme synchronizes with the Bible’s precept – Psalms 137: 1 – 4 – of refugees longing for their homeland while in exile:

¹ By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion.
² Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our harps.
³ For there our captors demanded of us songs, And our tormentors mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.”
⁴ How can we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land?

This Bible verse is better appreciated as a song. See the VIDEO in the Appendix below.

This commentary posits that it is a psychological torture for elderly people to “ride out” their days in exile. They will constantly long for their homeland; there is the old adage:

When a man longs for the town of his boyhood, it is not the town alone that he longs for; it’s also his boyhood.

Yet still, the longing for home – homesickness – is reason enough to declare: It’s Time to Go.

For this reason, all Caribbean stakeholders – governmental leaders, citizens, residents and Diaspora – are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap to elevate the Caribbean to dissuade emigration and encourage repatriation. Our senior Caribbean citizens have suffered enough; let’s make their golden years … golden. 🙂

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

———

Appendix VIDEO – By the Rivers of Babylon ( with lyrics) – https://youtu.be/vYK9iCRb7S4

Published on Jul 27, 2012 – By the rivers of Babylon by Boney M.

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‘Time to Go’ – No Respect for our Hair

Posted on September 27, 2016 in Implementation, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“You cannot beg people to love you, if you are successful, it will not be love that you get, it will be pity; being pitied is pathetic” – Wise counsel.

Who wants to be pitied? Not so welcoming, is it?!

This commentary asserts that when you are being pitied, when that is how people tolerate you, then it is time to go home – where people love you.

This is a hot issue for the topic of hair: Black Hair, for men and women.

The truth about Black Hair is both “art and science”. Science-wise, it is different than the hair of other cultures. All these other cultures, feature natural texture that is straight; but for ethnicities descending from an African heritage, their natural texture is coarse-curly; derisively called nappy, peasy or kinky. The encyclopedic definition relates …

“Because many black people have hair that is thick with tighter and smaller curls than people of other races, unique hair styles have developed. In addition to this, many Black Hair styles have historical connections to African cultures.”

That is the science; all the rest of this discussion is the “art”; the options and choices on Black Hair, that some perceive to force assimilation and devalue culture. This is a heavy issue.

This commentary is 2 of 3 from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in consideration of the reasons to consider repatriation back to the Caribbean homeland. The other commentaries detailed in this series are as follows:

All of these commentaries relate to the Caribbean image and disposition as a region with a majority Black population. The Go Lean book asserts that our demographics is what it is. There is no need to excuse, hide or assimilate to any other cultural influence. No racial supremacy is advocated – for this race or any other race – in the book or by this movement. We have a beautiful diversity, period. Despite any ethnic differences, the region has the same needs, to optimize the economic, security and economic engines in the Caribbean homeland.

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 economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean book posits that investment and entrepreneurial opportunities can be created in the region, to the extent of creating 2.2 million new jobs. There will need to be an open, fair and level “playing field” for all these jobs. Assimilating to an alternate hairstyle, to placate some majority view will simply be irrelevant. Diversity will dominate in the business eco-system from the beginning; it will not have to be remediated or retrofitted.

This retrofit is challenging in the US right now. There have been legal challenges and court cases as to discrimination in the workplace regarding Black Hair styles. See a related news article here of a recent federal court ruling:

Title #1: Federal Court Rules It’s Legal Not to Hire Black Woman Applicant Because of Her Locs

Natural Black Hair styles are still seen as deviant and unprofessional in many settings,
and a recent court ruling might make it even harder to fight back against discrimination.

The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that banning employees from wearing locs is not racial discrimination. In a 3-0 decision the Federal Appeals court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Commission which argued that, “prohibition of dreadlocks in the workplace constitutes race discrimination because dreadlocks are a manner of wearing the hair that is physiologically and culturally associated with people of African descent.”

In 2010, Castastrophe Management Solutions, an insurance claims processing company in Mobile, Alabama offered Chastity Jones a job but told her that she would have to cut her locs before beginning work. When she refused, they withdrew the offer.

The HR managed claimed her locs violated the company’s grooming policy, which they say is race-neutral, and employees are required to keep their appearance “in a manner that projects a professional and businesslike image.” Jones was told locs “tend to get messy.”

Judge Adalberto Jordan expressed a hesitancy to expand the legal definition of racial discrimination via judicial action. He wrote in his opinion, “As far as we can tell, every court to have considered the issue has rejected the argument that Title VII protects hairstyles culturally associated with race,” he stated.”

Other related articles: http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/06/steve-perry-black-boys-hair-tweet/ posted June 15, 2016.
Summary: The notion that traditionally Black Hair styles are synonymous with being unsuccessful speaks directly to the pathologizing of blackness that this country is known to do — and our “leaders” are too often the ones elevated to do it.

So according to this foregoing news article, American companies do not have to remediate or retrofit to accept their diverse workforce; they are allowed to assimilate them, to force them to conform to a uniform vision that they conceive … or prefer.

The Borg: Strength is irrelevant. Resistance is futile. We wish to improve ourselves. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service ours. – Movie Quote: Star Trek – The Next Generation (TV Series).

When “they” force you into their mold, it is Time to Go.

The subject of Black Hair has been a frequent topic for this Go Lean movement. Previous submissions describes this topic as related to image and economics. Consider these summaries:

1. ‘Good Hair’ and the Strong Black Woman

Black kinky hair is considered worthless in the global marketplace. But the market for mitigating, treating (chemicals) and covering the hair (wigs & extensions) is worth $9 Billion annually. This seems like such a dichotomy for the Black community, especially among women. This ethnic group prides itself on a proud heritage of Strong Black Women, and yet there is this unspoken rejection of natural Black Hair. This is sad!

The Go Lean book presents strategies, tactics and implementations to elevate the Caribbean’s image and the region’s economic, security and governing engines. The end-goal is so that our people do not feel “Less Than” in their home countries. But if our Diaspora are among those spending the $9 Billion to treat/cover their Black Hair, then truly it is time to consider going home, back to people that love us just the way we are, rather than putting on “false airs”.

The CU will serve as a sentinel for Caribbean “image”. The US is the military and economic Super Power in this hemisphere. Their consumerism dictates the trends in the Caribbean as well; this is the North-South pressure. But the Caribbean has been successful in forging style-taste-trends in a South-North manner. Just consider the life work of these Caribbean role models:

o Sidney Poitier
o Bob Marley
o Oscar De La Renta

2. Caribbean Image: Dreadlocks

Dreadlocks are tied to Caribbean image; many view those with this headwear as inferior or “Less Than“. Many people in the Caribbean, though not a majority in the region, wear dreadlocks, despite their occupation. These “locs” can be an expression of deep religious or spiritual convictions, ethnic pride, a political statement, or simply be a fashion preference. Yet, their wear can be detrimental in job placement and advancement. This was “spot-on” for the issue in the foregoing federal court ruling.

Other ethnic groups also groom their headwear in a way germane to their culture and/or religion – Sikh Indian turban, Jewish yarmulke, or an taqiyah – but their wear is not associated with a “less than” disposition. This is a matter of image. The Go Lean/CU roadmap seeks to optimize the Caribbean economy, culture and image.

The ruling from the US federal court in the foregoing news article is another indicator that it is “Time to Go“. Trying to force acceptance of Caribbean hair traditions may be likened to begging people to love us. We may only get pity.

But the alternative is not easy. This means fixing the broken systems of commerce and the societal defects in the Caribbean. The Go Lean book describes this effort as heavy-lifting. This will address the “push and pull” reasons why people leave the Caribbean in the first place. Once we can fix the defects, there will be no excuse for our people, the Diaspora, to remain in an environment where they are forced to assimilate to a look and style more comfortable for their white neighbors and co-workers.

There is no freedom in this dreaded scenario.

Fixing the Caribbean eco-system has always been a mission of the Go Lean/CU roadmap, to dissuade the propensity for so many Caribbean people who flee from their Caribbean homelands to foreign destinations like the US. In addition, there is a mission to invite many Diaspora members to repatriate. The book contends that the Caribbean must prepare for the eventual return of these native sons and daughter back to our shores. This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) that claims:

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.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. …

xiii. Whereas the legacy of dissensions in many member-states … will require a concerted effort to integrate the exile community’s repatriation, the Federation must arrange for Reconciliation Commissions to satiate a demand for justice.

xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. …

Fixing the Caribbean defects do not only prepare the region for the return of the Diaspora, it also elevates the region to just simply be a better place to live, work and play. There truly is the need. Our region is not so settled on the issue of Black Hair. We still mandate a “white assimilation” on our people. Consider the story here in the following news article:

Title #2: Prep School in Jamaica Refuses Entry to Boy Because of His Hairstyle

According to a story in the Jamaica Observer, Hopefield Preparatory School in St Andrew has refused entry to Zavier Assam, 3, because of the way his hair is groomed.

Zavier was registered at the school, but his mother Dr. Penelope Amritt, reported that the vice-principal there decided not to admit her son for classes because she refused to cut his hair. The Observer contacted the school about the matter but received no comment. Dr. Amritt said that she submitted an application in June 2016 for her three children to attend Hopefield and included a photo of the three-year-old boy. She was then told by the vice-principal that Zavier could not come to school unless his hair was cut. After thinking about it over the summer, Dr. Amritt decided that she should not be forced into something she didn’t want to do and felt that the school was discriminating against Zavier because of his gender. She said that her five-year-old daughter Zina and her son Zavier have almost the exact, same hair length, which is just below their ears.

According the Dr. Amritt, when the vice-principal saw Zavier she said that she wanted the boy’s hair cut because it was “untidy and dirty,” a description Dr. Amritt strongly denies. The vice-principal also said that Zina’s hair should be tied back. Dr. Amritt challenged the vice-principal about requiring boys to have short hair and was given a lecture about head lice in school. When she brought Zavier for orientation, she was confronted again about the length of his hair and said it was her right to choose how her child’s hair is groomed.

Discussions between Dr. Amritt and the vice-principal have grown increasingly contentious, and ultimately, the vice-principal returned the check she had written to the school for her son’s entry and said she would not admit Zavier regardless of whether his hair is cut or not. Zavier must remain at Fundaciones, his old school, and his mother is unsure if she will pursue legal action on the basis of discrimination. Additionally, Dr. Amritt noted that Zina is having problems with the other children because of her “puffy hair” and that she no longer wants the afro style she has had her whole life because no one will play with her with her hair like that. Dr. Amritt believes the vice-principal is treating her children differently than the Caucasian children at the school.

In response to those who wonder why she would want to send her children to a school with such attitudes, Dr. Amritt said “discrimination is wrong and someone has to stand up and talk about it.”
Source: Posted September 6, 2016; retrieved September 26, 2016 from: http://jamaicans.com/prep-school-in-jamaica-refuses-entry-to-boy-because-of-his-hairstyle/

What are the motives of the school policies in this foregoing article? Perhaps to prepare the students for work and life abroad in the Diaspora. This is not the direction of the Go Lean roadmap: we want/need our citizens to be themselves, to be home, just the way they are:

Long hair? Short hair? Straighten/treated hair? Nappy/Kinky hair?

Its all good! See VIDEO in the Appendix below. These should all be promoted for the Caribbean image.

The art-and-science of image management is among the community ethos, strategy, implementations and advocacies the CU must master to elevate the Caribbean community. These individual roles-and-responsibilities are detailed in the book; see this sample listing here:

Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Caribbean Core Competence	Page 58
Tactical – Forging an $800 Billion Economy – Good leverage for Trade and Globalization	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Tourism and Film Promotion	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Communications and Media	Page 79
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Truth & Reconciliation Commissions	Page 90
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media – Managing Image Online	Page 111
Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives – World Outreach for Repatriation Dialogue	Page 116
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization – Exporting Media Productions	Page 119
Anatomy of Advocacies – Models of Individuals Making an Impact to their Community	Page 122
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Image	Page 133
Advocacy – Improve Failed-State Indices – Assuaging the Negatives	Page 134
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Leadership	Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism – Creating a Demand, Not Dread of Caribbean Culture	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Market Southern California – A Critical Market for Image	Page 194
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Ways to Protect Human Rights – Weeding-out Prejudices	Page 220
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts – Humanities Affect the Heart	Page 230

This subject of image management has been frequently blogged on in other Go Lean commentaries; as sampled here with these entries relating American “push and pull” factors:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9038	Caribbean Charity Management: Not Viewed as Grown Up
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9017	Improve Global Image: Proclaim August 1st as the ‘International Caribbean Day’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8431	Bahamas Issued US Travel Advisory Citing Police Violence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8099	Caribbean Image: ‘Less Than’?
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=5333	Racial Legacies: Cause and Effect
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2025	Caribbean Jobs – Attitudes & Images of the Diaspora

When we succeed on the vision and missions of this roadmap, we must manage the image and communicate to the world, our elevated disposition. The book details how this is to be pursued. See the quotation here from the Go Lean book (Page 133):

Lean in for the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME) Initiative: Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU).
This will allow for the unification of the region into one market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, with a GDP of $800 Billion (according to 2010 figures). In addition, the treaty calls for collective bargaining with foreign countries and industry representatives for causes of significance to the Caribbean community. There are many times when the media portray a “negative” depiction of Caribbean life, culture and people. The CU will have the scale to effectuate negotiations to better manage the region’s image, and the means by which to enforce the tenets.

This is all part-and-parcel of the underlying Go Lean community ethos: Greater Good for all peoples, all hairstyles. Equal opportunity, equal employment and equal empowerment.

Black-and-Brown hairstyles? Yes, indeed!

All Caribbean stakeholders are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap to elevate the Caribbean; to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———

Appendix VIDEO – 30 Beautiful Black Hairstyles for Natural Hair 2016 – https://youtu.be/wBSL71dU-OE

Published on Oct 29, 2015 – 30 Beautiful Black Hairstyles for Natural Hair 2016

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‘Time to Go’ – Spot-on for Protest

Posted on September 26, 2016 in Implementation, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Here’s an interesting little-known tidbit about Abraham Lincoln – the liberator and emancipator of the American slaves:

Initially, he felt that the freed slaves needed to leave America. He felt that they would never be treated as equals in the land that had previously held them as slaves for 250 years. He advocated for places like the Caribbean (Haiti & British colonies), Central America (Belize & Panama), South America (Guyana) or Africa (Liberia).
Source Book: Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement.

Now, 150 years later, perhaps his thinking was “spot-on”.

These 150 years since the formal emancipation has seen a continuous suppression, repression and oppression of the Black race in America. Could they have had a better disposition in the Caribbean, with its Black majority rule?

This commentary asserts that it is easier for the Black-and-Brown populations in the Caribbean to prosper where planted in the Caribbean, rather than emigrating to foreign countries, like the United States.

We agree with Abraham Lincoln’s gut instinct; he was “spot on”.

This point aligns with the book Go Lean…Caribbean, which states that while the blatant racist attitudes and actions may now be considered politically incorrect, the foundations of institutional racism in the US have become even more entrenched. The book supports the notion that the Caribbean can be an even better place to live for the Caribbean’s Black-and-Brown populations, once we make the homeland a better place to live, work and play.

There is the need to optimize the economic, security and governing engines in the Caribbean region. This commentary is 1 of 3 from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in consideration of the rhymes-and-reasons to repatriate back to the Caribbean homeland. The other commentaries detailed in this series are as follows:

All of these commentaries relate to the Caribbean image and disposition as a majority Black region. No racial supremacy is advocated in this book nor by this movement. The motivation is simply for the Greater Good. This is defined as …

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

The Go Lean book and movement serves as a roadmap for the introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is set to optimize Caribbean society through economic empowerment, yes, but there are security and governing dynamics as well. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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, justice assurances and protect the economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean roadmap posits that the Caribbean region is in crisis now, and so many are quick to flee for refuge in foreign countries. But the “grass is not necessarily greener on the other side”; life in the US, for example, is definitely not optimized for the Caribbean’s Black-and-Brown. It is “spot-on” that there is need for protest, anguish and outright fear for the interactions of Black men and the American police/law enforcement establishment.

The Go Lean book asserts that every community has bad actors. The Caribbean has bad actors; and the US has bad actors. But because of the obvious need for reform and to transform the region, it may be easier to effect change at home, than in the foreign country of the US.

Besides, many (non-Black) people in the US, don’t even think they need to change anything. They think there is no problem – everything is fine – notwithstanding the proliferation of Cop-On-Black killings. See a related news article here regarding legendary NFL Head Coach Mike Ditka; (despite these developments, Mr. Ditka continues to be honored and esteemed in the Caribbean):

Title: Mike Ditka to Colin Kaepernick: ‘Get the hell out’ if you don’t like America
By: Bryan Armen Graham
Sub-title: Mike Ditka spared no criticism of Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest.

Hall of Fame coach Mike Ditka has leveled blistering criticism at Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem, saying he has “no respect” for the San Francisco 49ers quarterback whose protest has sparked a national discussion over racial injustice, inspired dozens of NFL players to follow suit and landed him on the cover of Time magazine.

“I think it’s a problem, anybody who disrespects this country and the flag,” the longtime NFL coach said in a radio interview on KRLD-FM in Dallas. “If they don’t like the country, if they don’t like our flag, get the hell out. That’s what I think.

“I have no respect for Colin Kaepernick. He probably has no respect for me, that’s his choice. My choice is that I like this country, I respect our flag, and I don’t see all the atrocities going on in this country that people say are going on.

“I see opportunities if people want to look for opportunity. Now if they don’t want to look for them, then you can find problems with anything, but this is the land of opportunity because you can be anything you want to be if you work. Now if you don’t work, that’s a different problem.”

The 76-year-old Ditka, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1988, is one of two people in NFL history to win a league title as a player, an assistant coach and a head coach. He graduated from local hero to Chicago icon during an 11-year coaching stint with the Bears that included the team’s only Super Bowl win during the 1985 season, then retired permanently after a failed comeback with the New Orleans Saints in 1999.

A well-known conservative, Ditka publicly flirted with running against Democratic candidate Barack Obama, then a state senator, for the open seat in the US Senate vacated by Illinois senator Peter Fitzgerald in 2004. No one then could have imagined how the election would ultimately propel Obama to the presidency in four years’ time.

“Biggest mistake I’ve ever made,” he told the Dickinson Press in 2013. “Not that I would have won, but I probably would have and he wouldn’t be in the White House.”

In March, Ditka called Obama “the worst president we’ve ever had”.

“Barack Obama is a fine man,” he added. “He’s pleasant, he’d be great to play golf with. He’s not a leader.”
Source: The Guardian Daily Newspaper Online Site; Posted September 23, 2016; retrieved September 25, 2016:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/23/mike-ditka-colin-kaepernick-get-the-hell-out-anthem-protest

Photograph: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

The protagonist in this drama is NFL Quarterback Colin Kaepernick; he has started a protest against the treatment of African-Americans in the US. He asserts that too many unarmed Black Men has died, as of recent, by the hands of White Police Officers. While others share this view, including the African-American President of the US Barack Obama, Mr. Kaepernick is voicing his protest by refusing to stand during the singing of the national anthem at the start of his NFL football games. This protest has fostered a lot of attention … and discord to this issue.

The underlying injustice of Cop-on-Black killings is acute. There is a need for community outrage; it is “spot-on” that anyone would protest. Kudos to Colin Kaepernick! Since he started his protest stance on August 26, 2016, at least 15 more “Black men have been killed by law enforcement officers” as of September 20, 2016; (but there has been 2 more highly publicized killings since this posting: Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma).

The foregoing article gives the instruction for people to leave who do not agree with the American status quo. But can they really? Could the liberated slaves in Lincoln’s day leave for elsewhere? How about the countless cries over the centuries and decades for Black American Nationalism; (as in Marcus Garvey)? Was there an alternative homeland for their consideration? This reminds us of the movie dialogue from the 1982 movie An Officer and a Gentlemen. Remember this exchange:

Foley: You can forget it! You’re out!

Mayo: Don’t you do it! Don’t! You… I got nowhere else to go! I got nowhere else to g… I got nothin’ else.

Seriously, for the majority of Black America, they have no where else to go. The Caribbean Diaspora who represent 1 in 11 Blacks in the US, on the other hand, have the option of repatriating home.

We welcome them! We declare that it is “Time to Go“. We are hereby preparing for their return – fixing our defects – monitoring our “bad actors”.

We have to consider that police officers can also be “bad actors”. The book contends that the Caribbean must better prepare for bad actors, that we will see more of them. With the plan for economic success, comes the eventuality of even more bad actors, just as a result of economic success. This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12) that claims:

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. The Federation must allow for facilitations of detention for [domestic and foreign] convicted felons of federal crimes, and should over-build prisons to house trustees from other jurisdictions.

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, including piracy and other forms of terrorism, 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.

The Caribbean appointing “new guards”, or a security pact to ensure public safety and justice assurance is a comprehensive endeavor, that will encapsulate the needs of all Caribbean stakeholders: governments, institutions and residents.

An important mission of the Go Lean roadmap is to dissuade the high emigration rates of Caribbean citizens to the American homeland. Secondly, there is a mission to encourage the repatriation of the Caribbean Diaspora back to their ancestral homeland.

This means being conscious of why people flee – “push” and “pull” reasons – and monitoring the societal engines to ensure improvement – optimization. (“Push” refers to the societal defects in the Caribbean that moves people to want to get way; and “pull” factors refer to the impressions and perceptions that America is better).

An increased perception that “one would be shoot by a White police officer” should lower the “pull” factor. We would think …
See VIDEO here:

VIDEO – I Am Afraid I Will Be Killed By Police – https://youtu.be/9DD64urEx28

Published on Jul 7, 2016 by Kevin OnStage. See more from this commentator here:
http://kevonstage.com/store
http://kevonstage.com/booking

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to better optimize our Caribbean life (economic and security concerns):

Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Whistleblower Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Minority Equalization	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Tactical – Confederating a non-sovereign union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – CU Federal Agencies -vs- Member-states	Page 75
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Foreign Policy Initiatives	Page 102
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives	Page 103
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Planning – Big Ideas – Regional Single Market	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Ways to Better Manage the Caribbean Image	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 168
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Leadership	Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Reduce Crime	Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering/Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters – Many flee after disasters	Page 184
Advocacy – Ways to Impact the Diaspora	Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights	Page 220
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living	Page 234
Advocacy – Ways to Impact US Territories	Page 244

This subject of “push and pull” has been frequently blogged on in other Go Lean commentaries; as sampled here with these entries relating American “pull” factors:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8431	Bahamas Issued US Travel Advisory Citing Police Violence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8202	Respect for Minorities: Lessons Learned from American Dysfunction
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8200	Respect for Minorities: Climate of Hate
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8099	Caribbean Image: ‘Less Than’?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7221	Street naming for Martin Luther King unveils the real America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7204	‘The Covenant with Black America’ – Ten Years Later
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6189	A Lesson in History – Hurricane ‘Katrina’ exposed a “Climate of Hate”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5733	Better than America? Yes, We Can!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5527	American Defects: Racism – Is It Over?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5333	Racial Legacies: Cause and Effect
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1020	Also a European Sports Problem
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=546	American Model: 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
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We Don’t Want from the US: Racism against minorities

Underlying to the Go Lean/CU prime directive of elevating the economics, security and governing engines of the Caribbean, is the desire to make the Caribbean homeland, a better place to live, work and play. We know “bad actors” will emerge – even as law enforcement officers – so we need to be “on guard”.

We want proactive and reactive mitigations for abuse of power. We want to ensure our Caribbean communities are safe for our stakeholders (residents and visitors). We entreat the American forces to work towards remediating their own defects. But fixing the US is not within our scope; fixing the Caribbean is our only mission.

Saying that it is “Time to Go“, must mean that we are ready to receive our oft-scattered Caribbean Diaspora. Are we ready, now?

Frankly, no …

… but were are ready, willing and able to start the change process, to reform and transform. This was the intent of the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The book contends that the Caribbean must prepare for the return of all of our people, back to these shores. This means people in a good disposition and bad (sick, aged, unemployed, destitute, imprisoned, etc.). This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) that claims:

xiii. Whereas the legacy of dissensions in many member-states … will require a concerted effort to integrate the exile community’s repatriation, the Federation must arrange for Reconciliation Commissions to satiate a demand for justice.

xviii. Whereas all citizens in the Federation member-states may not have the same physical abilities, reasonable accommodations must be made so that individuals with physical and mental disabilities can still access public and governmental services so as to foster a satisfactory pursuit of life’s liberties and opportunities for happiness.

xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.

xxvi. Whereas the Caribbean region must have new jobs to empower the engines of the economy and create the income sources for prosperity, and encourage the next generation to forge their dreams right at home, the Federation must therefore foster the development of new industries, like that of ship-building, automobile manufacturing, prefabricated housing, frozen foods, pipelines, call centers, and the prison industrial complex. In addition, the Federation must invigorate the enterprises related to existing industries like tourism, fisheries and lotteries – impacting the region with more jobs.

The book details the needed security provisions that need to be put in place to optimize Caribbean life. See this quotation here (Page 118):

“New Guards” for Public Safety
The CU implements the anti-crime measures and provides special protections for classes of repatriates and retirees. Crimes against these special classes are marshaled by the CU, superseding local police. Since the CU will also install a penal system, with probation and parole, the region can institute prisoner exchange programs and in-source detention for foreign governments, especially for detainees of Caribbean heritage.

This subject of improving the conditions for successful Caribbean repatriation has been blogged in previous Go Lean commentaries; as sampled here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5304	Mitigating the Eventual Abuse of Power
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5002	Managing a ‘Clear and Present Danger’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4360	Dreading the American: ‘CaribbeanBasin Security Initiative’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4308	911 – Emergency Response: System in Crisis

The Go Lean roadmap was composed with the community ethos of the Greater Good foremost; for all peoples – Black, Brown, White, Yellow, Red. We advocate for a color-blind society …

… and justice for all.

This is an American concept … in words only. In practice, America has always fallen short in its delivery of justice and opportunities for its Black-and-Brown populations. There is so much that America does right, that we want to model; there is so much that America does poorly, that we want to mitigate. The “grass is not greener on the other side”. Effort is needed anywhere, everywhere, to improve society. But for the Black-and-Brown of the Caribbean, more success from less effort can be expected in the Caribbean than in the US; the underlying foundation of racism in America may be just too hard to unseat.

All Caribbean stakeholders are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap to elevate the Caribbean; to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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