Month: April 2019

Barbados Diaspora – Not the Panacea

Posted on April 30, 2019 in Ethos, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“Come home Bajans …”
“… in 2020”?

This is the campaign challenge to all Barbadian (Bajan) Disapora, to consider coming back to Barbados. For good! (See the story of a sample repatriate/re-patriot in the VIDEO in the Appendix below).

Is this the vision? Yes, this is the hope that is expressed by the island-nation’s Prime Minister:

During her address, the Prime Minister highlighted some of the struggles this country faced in the past and stressed that democracy was a precious gift that must be nurtured and protected, so persons would always have a voice.

She noted that all Barbadians, not only the 300,000 living here but those overseas, must all work together to build the best Barbados.
(See full article below).

But wait, is the Honorable Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley openly admitting that the country is NOT yet at that destination? But still, she is calling for Bajans to come home.

In all due respect, Madam Prime Minister, “they” are not listening. The Diaspora – of all Caribbean countries – never listens to the appeals of their former homelands. Alas, Barbados is not the first to waste time, talent and treasuries to engage their Diaspora and urge them to come back and/or to invest in the homeland.

This quest had been pursued throughout the Caribbean. Yet the failures has been loud.

Why? Because they – the Diaspora – are gone!

Yes, there is this preponderance for governments (and citizenry alike) in the region to pursue this same Diaspora strategy. During the calendar year of 2017, we published a number of commentaries on this Caribbean pre-occupation, with these entries relating these homelands:

The Diaspora is not the panacea, or cure-all, for the Caribbean ills. This is the assertion of the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean – available to download for free. Why are we so emphatic in this assertion? The troubling flaw for the Diaspora strategy is that the expectation is that these people who have left ‘here” will now turnaround and fix what is broken here. This is a fallacy! This mistake was committed by these previous governments and unfortunately is being pursued anew in Barbados. See the full news article here:

Title: Come Home Bajans In 2020
By: Sharon Austin

Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has urged Barbadians living across the world to come home for 2020.

Ms. Mottley made the appeal tonight at the launch of We Gatherin’ Barbados 2020 in Parliament’s Courtyard before a large crowd, including those “watch parties” of Barbadians and friends in Geneva, New York, Beijing, Canada, Washington and Australia.

The Prime Minister told her audience: “Coming together in 2020 isn’t about a single moment in time, but it is about a process. It is about the building of a nation from St. Lucy to St. Philip, from the west coast to the east coast….  2020 must be about defining who we are as that one people, in this one space….

“2020 is that point, ironically, where vision is perfected, but we have a bigger vision ahead of us…. We, as Barbadians, will play that role because we…live in a world that we see changing around us, and by 2030 we want to be that country in the world that…will no longer contribute to the destruction of mother earth,  but that will work to make our placement on this earth carbon neutral.”

Ms. Mottley noted that Barbados was accustomed to excellence and highlighted the island’s lead in cane breeding in the 19th century.  She asked how did the country reach such levels of excellence in so many fields, but failed to tell the story to citizens to inspire them to greater heights, not just here, but in the world.

“So 2020, my friends, is about that conversation…telling our story, sharing our passions, coming home for that inspiration…. 2020 is about making that difference to your old primary school or making that difference to the church that helped nurture you in your parish.  2020 is about families recognizing that time on this earth is way too short and we need to get together a little more,” she explained.

She added that Barbados must be that place where global business must be transacted.

During her address, the Prime Minister highlighted some of the struggles this country faced in the past and stressed that democracy was a precious gift that must be nurtured and protected, so persons would always have a voice.

She noted that all Barbadians, not only the 300,000 living here but those overseas, must all work together to build the best Barbados.

We Gatherin’ is a 12-month global celebration of Barbadian excellence, and a recommitment to this country’s successful future and core values that have defined us as a people.  2020 has been designated as the year for Barbadians and those who love this country to come home, reconnect with family and friends, and invest in the rebuilding and development of Barbados.

The initiative will begin in the north of the island in January 2020, and move southward every month, allowing each designated parish to showcase its icons, social life and the food for which it is renowned.  The parish celebrations will culminate in St. Michael in November, and We Gatherin’ will climax in December in Barbados.

[Author Sharon Austin can be reached at:] sharon.austingill-moore@barbados.gov.bb

Source: Posted February 22, 2019; retrieved April 30, 2019 from: http://gisbarbados.gov.bb/blog/come-home-bajans-in-2020/?fbclid=IwAR1toA1bQXh0epcWWvxGYh2KNdWXjIrCt5-uPHLOZRAa-_csRF9zaIb844Q

This seems so innocent, so practical, yet as a strategy to elevate the Barbadian society, it is so flawed. This was eloquently explained in a previous blog-commentary, as follows:

The premise for the criticism of this Diaspora strategy is that the ones that have fled the region have done so for a reason; they have been “pushed” or “pulled” away from their homeland. They may still love their “past” country, but can only do so much from abroad. Plus, history documents that they are less inclined to invest back in their country; they are burdened with the concerns of today and the future, that it is illogical to think that they are concerned about their yesterdays. Thusly, all efforts to outreach the Diaspora are usually futile. All of these prior commentaries relate this basic truth about catering to the Diaspora:

The subtle [Diaspora outreach] message to the Caribbean population is that they need to leave their homeland, go get success and then please remember to invest in us afterwards.

… It is so unfortunate that the people in the Caribbean are beating down the doors to get out of their Caribbean homeland, to seek refuge in these places like the US, Canada and Western Europe. … As a result, we have such a sad state of affairs for our Caribbean eco-system as we are suffering from a bad record of societal abandonment.

Thank you, all Diaspora members that have looked back and lent a hand, but the heavy-lifting of reforming and transforming our society must really come from the people who are in the homeland and in the region. For starters, we must try to dissuade people from leaving in the first place and help them to prosper where planted. The record shows that those who do leave, tend to be the ones that we can least afford to lose. These include the professional classes and highly educated ones; one report presents an abandonment rate of 70 percent of the college-educated populations.

Picture a family with limited food supply, serving dinner and “making extra plates” for family members who have left or passed. This would be illogical. We need to be more pragmatic and work a different strategy to assuage our crisis. We need a strategy that embraces those who are still here, not those that “used to be”.

So the problem of a Diaspora-outreach strategy is that it double-downs on the failure of why the Diaspora left in the first place. We need to employ new strategies for the underlying failures. When we look at our Caribbean homeland and see the many failures, we realize that the people on some islands … and the people in their Diaspora cannot solve the problems in the homeland … alone. No, something bigger and better is needed.

So rather than the strategy to “Invite the Diaspora to Remember Us”, there needs to be a Way Forward with strategies, tactics and implementations to elevate the societal engines of Barbados. This Way Forward has just been exhausted in a series of 9 commentaries for the month of April 2019. The Way Forward is presented in the Go Lean book, as it serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This will benefit Barbados and the rest of the 30 Caribbean member-states.

The foregoing article asserted that Barbados has been home to excellence in the past. This is so true. A lot of the Diaspora that have left – and/or their children – have excelled in their foreign abodes. Look here at this list:

Reference: Prominent Bajans Around the World

Actors

Musicians (sample)

Source: Retrieved April 30, 2019 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Eastern_Caribbean_people#Barbados

An elevated society, allows for accomplished people to accomplish right at home.

The goal of the Go Lean roadmap is to facilitate the Caribbean to be a better place to live, work and play. We would do the heavy-lifting, not expecting some Diaspora member to “swing in and save all of society”. No, the Diaspora is not coming to the rescue. Rather a Caribbean confederacy, constituted by all 30 member-states, is the Way Forward; it is our best option.

By us pointing focus on the Diaspora, it encourages more and more people to abandon the homeland and join the Diaspora. Any country growing their Diaspora is bad for that country and bad for the Diaspora members. Despite the foregoing list of accomplished Bajans, most Diaspora members, only barely survive in the foreign lands, especially the first generation. So any official policy to encourage emigration and living-working-abroad – on a permanent basis – is a flawed policy, not a panacea.

So policies that double-down on the Diaspora is actually doubling-down on failure. There should be no need “to leave and remember”. We should never want people to have to leave. We strongly urge every stakeholder of Barbados, and all of the Caribbean member-states, to lean-in to this roadmap to elevate our homeland.

Yes, we can make our homelands better places to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

—————-

Appendix VIDEO – Moving to Barbados? –  https://youtu.be/zpiNbrk7qXo



Liz Neptune
Published on Sep 1, 2016 – So this is the start of my month-long stay in Barbados, my first attempt at living there. A small intro of things to come. A “vacation” that turned in a self-discovering retreat, an amazing adventure and a 2nd chance at love!!

Rate, comment and Subscribe!

If you enjoy my videos please consider a: 1 Time Donation to Paypal: https://bit.ly/2C3rGyT
or Subscribe to Me: https://www.subscribestar.com/liz-nep…

Check out my MERCHANDISE STORE! https://www.lizneptune.com/shop-1

For photography and film/video services, email liznikols@gmail.com

Connect with me!! IG:
@lizzzneptune
http://www.lizneptune.com
https://www.facebook.com/Neptune-Medi…

SC: tracylorde
TW: @lizzzneptune

Share this post:
, ,

Way Forward – ‘Whatever it takes’: Life Imitating Art

Posted on April 24, 2019 in Ethos, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

First, we planned the plan …
Now, we must work the plan.

We must pursue the end goals of this plan, ‘whatever it takes’. This is the closing message for our April 2019 series on the Way Forward for the Caribbean. This Way Forward is the plan that was planned, that now needs to be worked.

Why is this plan so important? It might be the best hope for our failing Caribbean homeland.

This Way Forward plan is embedded in the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean; this book presents the strategies, tactics and implementations to impact Caribbean society. But first, the book assesses that the 30 member-states of the region are in a crisis – at the precipice of Failed-State status.

The book asserts that all Caribbean islands and coastal states have failed to adapt to these undeniable Agents of Change impacting our society, as well as the whole world:

Globalization, Climate Change, Technology and an Aging Diaspora.

These Agents of Change are devastating Caribbean life … for all people, in all communities. But, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste – according to the Go Lean book (Page 8). The Go Lean book therefore asserts that since we are “all in the same boat” we need to work together – to form the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – to seek solutions to our problems. This is the Way Forward; this is the plan that we have planned and must now work. But this is more than just a plan; this is a movement.

The movement behind the Go Lean book posits that one identifying symptom is the high societal abandonment rate. The countries of the Caribbean region are experiencing high abandonment rates. Some communities have lost 50 percent of their populations; (think Puerto Rico, USVI, French Antilles, Dutch Antilles); while others have lost 70 percent – on the average – of their college-educated populations – this constitutes a brain drain.

Think that through: 50 percent or half of the population … gone over time.

This reminds us of a recent movie: 2018 “Marvel Studio’s: Avengers Infinity War”. In that plot-line, a villain came along and “snapped his fingers” and wiped out half of the population – see this review here of last year’s movie. At one point that movie was called Avengers Infinity War Part I, to be followed in 2019 by the sequel with the working title Avengers Infinity War Part II. But in the recent months, the formal title was revealed for this movie:

Avengers Endgame.

One of the advertising taglines for this movie is ‘whatever it takes’.

Considering the “Art imitating Life and Life imitating Art” mantra, the reference to this Avengers Endgame movie is spot on for the Caribbean today: Our “life needs to imitate the Art” of Marvel movie-making. We need to work the plan, our Way Forward to bring back our people – the 50 percent – who had left. We must facilitate their return, “whatever it takes”.

See the movie trailer here:

VIDEO – Avengers Endgame | Whatever It Takes – https://youtu.be/Znvv-lUNx8U



Mr. Krepshus
Published on Mar 15, 2019 –

Instagram: @mrkrepshus
Facebook: Mr. Krepshus
Twitter: @MrKrepshus
Become a Patreon today: https://www.patreon.com/mrkrepshus

This is an “Fan-Made” edit for “Avengers: Endgame”
Trailer Music: Really Slow Motion & Giantapes Music – The Last Watch
Outro Music: Lil Pump – Drug Addicts (Instrumental)

Patreon Shoutouts: Shiva, Kaiser Marrero, Daxtyn P Cook, Manny Arriaga, Justin, Chase Minden, Christopher Yee, Ali Paterson, Ana Maria Bobirnea, Andrew B Dahl, George Terrell, Jacob Rowe, Joep Rijsman, John Leffler, Justin, Maison Gamble, NicxMeister, Terence Tuhina.

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended.

#Avengers #Endgame #Marvel #FanEdit

So for the Caribbean, we need to adopt the required community ethos, drop the bad ethos, execute the strategies, tactics and implementations … to elevate our society. We need to do the heavy-lifting,  ‘whatever it takes’; we must succeed.

Lives, livelihoods, identities and cultures are at stake.

This commentary completes this series on the Way Forward for the full Caribbean and the individual member-states. This submission here reminds us that we are losing large numbers of our population – sometimes half – and we need to do the heavy-lifting to bring them back – repatriation. There is a Way Forward for repatriating our Diaspora. This entry 9-of-9 for this April 2019 compilation of commentaries is advocating for heroic team-ups, just like the movie. The full series of commentaries related to the Way Forward is presented as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: Bahamas – “Solutions White Paper” – An Inadequate Plan
  4. Way Forward: Jamaica: The need to reconcile the Past
  5. Way Forward: Caribbean Media Strategy & Deliveries
  6. Way Forward: Strategy for Justice: Special Prosecutors et al
  7. Way Forward: Strategy for Energy – ‘Trade’ Winds
  8. Way Forward: Strategy for Independence – Territory Realities
    ———
  9. Way Forward: “Whatever it takes” – Life Imitating Art

This series had asserted that yes, “no man is an island”, and actually “no island is an island” either. No one Caribbean member-state is able to make an impact in the quest to turn-around our failing dispositions. We need the full team of neighbors. We need a collaborative and heroic team-up; we need to do ‘whatever it takes’.

Super-hero movies is a frequent theme for this Go Lean movement. There is a parallel for the stakeholders of our community planning the plan and working the plan. We have published a lot of commentaries reviewing superhero films and depicting their relevance; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16940 Film: Captain Marvel
Women Empowerment: We need “Sheroes” in Facts and Fiction
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14911 Film: Avengers Infinity War
Art Imitating Life – Was ‘Thanos’ Right?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14359 Film: Black Panther
Wakanda Forever – Conceive, Believe and Achieve
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13579 Film: Thor Ragnarok
Colonialism’s Bloody History Revisited
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12035 Film: Wonder Woman
Lean-in for ‘Wonder Woman Day’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7151 Film: Star Wars – The Force Awakens
The Caribbean is Looking for Heroes … ‘to Return’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5964 Film: Tomorrowland
Feed the right wolf

It is now time for Caribbean people to be heroic. ‘Whatever it takes’, one person can make a difference …

This was related in a previous Go Lean commentary, as follows:

… one man (or woman) can make a difference! Such a person can impact their community, country … and the whole world.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund Burke; 1729 – 1797; an Irish statesman, member of British Parliament and supporter of the American Revolution.

…

The Go Lean roadmap posits that the CU should foster the genius potential in Caribbean citizens and incubate their potential to maximum production. We should let “heroes be heroes” in their fields of endeavor here at home, no matter how diverse. Many Caribbean Diaspora has done this exactly, abroad in benefiting other communities, while their homelands languish.

We want and need our people back. These ones have joined the Diaspora, whose meaning is “they are scattered about”. These Diaspora members may have left recently for better opportunities or education; (Push & Pull reasons). We can now create the opportunities here in the home region with the emergence of a Single Market as opposed to the local-only status quo they left. We are now prepared to do ‘whatever it takes’; look here, we have now planned these many industrial reboots:

Ferries Prefab Housing Lottery Navy Piers
Prisons Trauma Culture Payment Cards
Pipeline Auto-making Tourism 2.0
Frozen Foods Shipbuilding Cruise Tourism 2.0
Call Centers Fisheries Reinsurance Sidecars

Or perhaps, the Diaspora who left 50, 40, 30 years ago may now be primed to return as retirees. In many cases, their original plan was always to come back home; but “home” was not better, not good, and not even safe. Now, however, we are prepared to do ‘whatever it takes’ to make our communities ready. This was an original motivation for the Go Lean roadmap; the book identified the Agents of Change (Page 57) that imperil our communities:

Aging Diaspora
The demographics of the world we inhabit were shaped by the events in the aftermath of World War II. Many members of the Diaspora avail themselves of opportunities in Europe and North America during their rebuilding effort. So those that repatriated in the 1950’s and 1960’s now comprise an aging Diaspora – with the desire to return to the “town of their boyhood”. They should be welcomed back and incentivized to repatriate.

The “Welcome Mat” comes with challenges; of which the CU is prepared to accommodate: health care, disabilities, elder-care, entitlements, etc. These are all missions for the CU.

Yes, to all of those from this homeland who have fled: We want you back and we will do ‘whatever it takes’.

We are hereby presenting ourselves to do the heroic work, the heavy-lifting of preparing our society to better accommodate these repatriates, in all phases of life, young, mature adults and senior citizens. The Go Lean book therefore provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot the region’s societal engines. Consider the details and headlines here on how the region can better prepare to accommodate the repatriation of the Diaspora to the Caribbean (Page 118):

10 Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean

1 Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market
This treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market, hereby expanding to an economy of 30 countries, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion (according to 2010 figures). This accedence creates a “new” land of opportunity for so many ventures, and so many protections – the Caribbean will be a better place to live, work and play. The economic engines of the CU should therefore “flash the signs of opportunity” to come back home. The CU will not ignore the reasons why a lot of people emigrated in the first place, in some cases there were political and human rights refugees. Therefore, integral to the repatriation plan is a mission for formal Reconciliation Commissions that will allow many issues to be settled and set aside – punishing the past short circuits the future.
2 “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.
3 “New Guards” for Economic Stability
A Single Market and currency union, with non-political, technocratic Caribbean Central Bank leadership, will allow for the long-term adoption of monetary and economic best practices. Plus, with a strong currency, viable capital markets, and consumer finance options, a prosperous life for the middle class would be easily sustainable.
4 Citizenship at the CU/Federal Level
Over the decades, many Caribbean expatriates renounced their indigenous citizenship. The CU would extend new citizenship rights to this group, and their children (legacies) which will entitle them to infinite residency, equal civil rights but conditional employment, requiring labor certification or self-owned businesses. They would be issued CU passports.
5 Gerontology Initiatives
The Diaspora is aging! They therefore have special needs germane to senior citizens. The CU will facilitate the needs of the aging repatriates and ensure that the proper institutions are in place and appropriately managed. This includes medical, housing, economic and social areas of responsibility. This issue will be coupled with the CU’s efforts for the host countries to extend entitlement benefits to this region, including medical and Social/National Insurance pensions.
6 US, Canada and EU Closing Doors
7 “No Child Left Behind” Lessons
8 Quick Recovery from Natural Disasters
9 Educational Inducements in the Region
The CU will facilitate e-Learning schemes for institution in the US, Canada and the EU. The repatriates will have an array of educational choices for themselves and their offspring (legacies). This will counter the previous bad experience of students emigrating for advanced educational opportunities and then never returning, resulting in a brain drain.
10 Import US, Canada and EU Cultural Institutions

There have been a number of blog-commentaries by the Go Lean promoters that have detailed the prospects for Caribbean repatriation, the Way Forward. See a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15093 ‘Time to Go’ – Windrush: 70th Anniversary of UK Migration
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13604 ‘I Want You Back’: Caribbean to the Diaspora
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11314 Forging Change: Home Addiction
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10566 Funding the Caribbean Security Pact to Better Protect Repatriates
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9214 Time to Go: Spot-on for Protest
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9219 Time to Go: Logic of Senior Immigration
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9646 Time to Go: American Vices; Don’t Follow
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7151 The Caribbean is Looking for Heroes … ‘to Return’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695 Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past

The foregoing addressed “Pull” factors. Alas, we are also prepared to do ‘whatever it takes’ to address the Push factors …

Many people have fled the Caribbean homeland in search of refuge. While the expansion of the Caribbean Diaspora is a real tragedy, it is not so improbable. Our region has societal defects and dysfunctions that have to be assuaged. We cannot be alarmed when people choose to leave for their prospects and rights for life, liberty and/or property. We must not be surprised when/if these ones turn their back on any interest to even help their former homelands. (This is why the Go Lean movement has consistently urged regional leaders not to invest valuable resources in trying to solicit investment from the Diaspora). There is no excuse for inaction or complacency of the status quo; we need the heavy-lifting to assuage our societal defects.

So yes, the Way Forward means fixing the bad orthodoxies that imperiled our citizens or ignore the needy; think minorities like LGBT, Disability, Domestic-abuse, etc.. We cannot change the past; but we can change the future. We must do ‘whatever it takes’.

This is easier said than done. This is why the effort to reform and transform society is considered heroic!

Yes, we can…

Everyone in the Caribbean – residents and Diaspora – are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap; to be heroic. We can succeed to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book

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

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

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

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

Who We Are

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

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

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

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.

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

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

 

Share this post:
, ,
[Top]

Way Forward – For Independence: Territory Realities

Posted on April 23, 2019 in Government, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Notwithstanding indigenous Amerindian cultures, the Caribbean represents the oldest civilizations in the New World. Columbus made his New World discovery here in the Caribbean:

The island of San Salvador in the Bahamas in 1492 …

… and established the first European settlement here:

Santo Domingo, in today’s Dominican Republic in 1496.

So, being the oldest civilization, the expectation should be that we would be the most matured in the hemisphere.

We would be Grown Up … by now?!

Far from it! For many of our Caribbean territories, “grown-up maturity” is far from the truth; they are still dependent colonies. In fact, there are 30 member-states – grouping the Netherland Antilles (N.A.) as 1 member-state – that identify as the political Caribbean. Of that number, 18 of them are considered Dependent Territories without full autonomy to determine their economic, security and governing deliveries for their communities; (this 18 counts each N.A. island).

See this list of “Dependent” territories in the Caribbean:

Member-State Legal Status
Anguilla British Overseas Territory = BOT
Bermuda BOT
British Virgin Islands BOT
Cayman Islands BOT
Guadeloupe French Department
Martinique French Department
Montserrat BOT
Netherlands Antilles
Aruba Netherlands Constituent
Bonaire Netherlands Constituent
Curaçao Netherlands Constituent
Saba Netherlands Constituent
Sint Eustatius Netherlands Constituent
Sint Maarten Netherlands Constituent
Puerto Rico US Territory
Saint Barthélemy French Department
Saint Martin French Department
Turks and Caicos Islands BOT
US Virgin Islands US Territory

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Caribbean#Independence

It is because of this legal status for almost half of the member-states that there is definitely the need for this region to finally grow up and be mature!

The 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean asserted that the needed maturity can still manifest without changing the legal status from Dependent to Independent territories!

For a long time, right after World War II – 1948 and later, independence was all the rage. People in many communities actually thought that independence was the panacea for their ills in Caribbean communities; (there are even some who want independence for Puerto Rico). But after 70 years and 16 individual independence movements, it is a fallacy to think the independence is the solution. No, it is our conclusion that the best practice for Caribbean prosperity, the Way Forward, is Interdependence … not Independence.

Yes, there is the need for these dependent territories to align with a “bigger organization” structure for better deliveries of the Social Contract – where citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights. But the Go Lean book presents the roadmap that this “bigger organization” should be tied to the geographical neighborhood, as opposed to some colonial legacy with an “overseas master” up to 8,000 miles away. The book details this (Page 96) as the Step One (Year 1) of a 5-Year Plan:

Assemble
… this roadmap pursues an assembly of these different institutions and then to supplement them with the creation of new super-national organizations. This approach allows the CU to “stand on the shoulders” of previous efforts and then reach greater heights.

This initial phase entails incorporating all the existing regional organizations – like the ACS and Caribbean Community (CariCom) into the umbrella organizations of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). These organizations include, (but are not limited to):

  • CariCom Secretariat – 22 Agencies – Appendix BA (Page 256)
  • French Overseas Territory
  • CariCom Office of Trade Negotiations
  • US Overseas Territory (Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands) – See Appendix IA (Page 278)
  • British Commonwealth / Overseas Territory
  • Netherlands Overseas Territory
  • Association of Caribbean States (ACS)
  • Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)

As related in a previous blog-commentary …

… it is the assessment of this commentary that Independence is so overrated; rather than the independence, the call is for interdependence. A model of this desired interdependence is the inter-state cooperation in the European Union (EU).

Yes, the Europeans did it; they appointed “new guards“. The EU does not possess any sovereignty; that remains with the member-states. The EU is simply a confederacy; a deputized technocracy chartered for the purpose of delivering many of the Social Contract obligations better … than what used to be the norm of the individual states.

The Committee for the Nobel Prize for Peace agreed with this assessment in 2012 … and awarded the Nobel Prize to the EU for that year.

“They” did it; we can too!

For all the Overseas Territories in the Caribbean to embark on a course of action in emulation of the EU, we would be declaring that we too need to “appoint new guards” to make our homelands better places to live, work and play. The Go Lean book opens with the call for all of these 30 Caribbean member-states to make that declaration … for interdependence. This is pronounced early in the book, in the Declaration of Interdependence on Pages 10 thru 12:

Preamble: As the colonial history of our region was initiated to create economic expansion opportunities for our previous imperial masters, the structures of government instituted in their wake have not fostered the best systems for prosperity … . Despite this past, we thrust our energies only to the future, in adapting the best practices and successes of the societies of these previous imperial masters and recognizing the positive spirit of their intent and vow to learn from their past accomplishments and mistakes so as to optimize the opportunities for our own citizenry to create a more perfect bond of union.

… we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends … it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. …
…
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.

This need for “new guards” have been detailed in many previous Go Lean blog-commentaries. Consider this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16668 New Guards for Justice and Economics
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16364 New Guards for Technology Deployments
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16210 New Guards for Currency Management
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16002 New Guards for Corporate Governance
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15996 New Guards for Emergencies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15075 New Guards for e-Government
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14825 New Guards for Jobs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14480 New Guards for Mental Health
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13472 New Guards for Tertiary Education
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13321 New Guards for a “Pluralistic Democracy”
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13063 New Guards for Civil and Gender Rights
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7789 New Guards for Global Trade
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7601 New Guards for Caribbean Sovereign Debt
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6341 New Guards for Tourism Stewardship
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6103 New Guards Against Deadly Threats

In summary, despite all these many words, the Way Forward for stewardship for the many European-and-American Overseas Territories in the Caribbean is simple: Interdependence among the regional neighbors, despite any language or colonial legacies. (This is the same that they did in Europe … and America; we must now do “it” here).

This is easier said than done. This is why there is the need for a detailed roadmap to provide the guidance – turn-by-turn directions – for this Way Forward. The 370 pages of the book Go Lean … Caribbean present the community ethos that must first be adopted to be successful in this endeavor; plus the many strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies that must be executed to forge collaboration and interdependence in this region. See the specific details from the book in these pages:

Implementation – Ways to Promote Independence Page 120
Planning – Ways to Model the EU Page 130
Planning – Lessons Learned from the West Indies Federation – Previous Interdependence Effort Page 135
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact US Territories Page 244
Advocacy – Ways to Impact British Territories Page 245
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Dutch Territories Page 246
Advocacy – Ways to Impact French Territories Page 247

This commentary continues the consideration on the Way Forward for the full Caribbean and the individual member-states. This submission here focuses on the 18 member-states that are considered overseas territories. While their needs are the same as everyone, their organizational and governmental structures are different – they have only limited autonomy. Yet, there is a Way Forward. This is entry 8-of-9 for this April 2019 compilation of commentaries; (the list started as 3, grew dynamically to 6 and will finalized with 9). The full series of commentaries related to the Way Forward is presented as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: Bahamas – “Solutions White Paper” – An Inadequate Plan
  4. Way Forward: Jamaica: The need to reconcile the Past
  5. Way Forward: Caribbean Media Strategy & Deliveries
  6. Way Forward: Strategy for Justice: Special Prosecutors et al
  7. Way Forward: Strategy for Energy – ‘Trade’ Winds
    ———
  8. Way Forward: Strategy for Independence – Territory Realities
  9. Way Forward: “Whatever it takes” – Life Imitating Art

This series posits that “no man is an island” and further that “no island is an island”; this is the epitome of interdependence. The benefits of a leveraged confederacy in the Caribbean region is a win-win for the people of the Caribbean and their overseas masters burdened with their care.

The Caribbean now wants to grow up and take care of our own affairs. Besides, we can do it better with local oversight to local problems. The label of Overseas Territory is still just a different name for the old practice of:

colonialism.

That is still a flawed concept  – assuming White racial supremacy – with flawed prospects for future success; this is true if its colonialism in the Caribbean, Asia and/or Africa. We reap what we sow; we cannot expect to plant weeds and harvest wheat. See this analysis addresses in this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Colonialism’s Impact on Africa – https://youtu.be/xhnG8JbBegA

Big Think
Published on Apr 23, 2012 – The journalist says colonialism was “short enough to destroy leadership in Africa but not long enough to replace it with anything else.”

Notice his hint as to how Internet & Communications Technologies bring New Hope…

Notice his hint on how a repatriated Diaspora brings New Hope …

Everyone in the Caribbean – citizens, institutions and dependent member-states and  independent member-states – are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. The end-result is conceivable, believable and achievable: a better homeland to live, work and play. 🙂

About the Book

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

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

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

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

Who We Are

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

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

xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent Overseas Territories 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.

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

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

 

Share this post:
, , , , ,
[Top]

Way Forward – For Energy: ‘Trade’ Winds

Posted on April 21, 2019 in Implementation, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

While the Caribbean is among the best addresses on the planet, it is among the most expensive energy-wise.

So what is the Way Forward for optimizing our energy infrastructure?

While we need to look forward, we also need to look backwards. This was the assertion of the 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean, which advocates for the installation and deployment of a regional power grid heavily dependent on wind energy. The book states (Page 113):

The Bottom Line on Alternative Energy
The economic history of the Caribbean featured wind power on the merchant sail ships to and from Europe and the African continent during the Slave Trade. Now 250 years later, wind is a source of economic energy once again – this time to power wind turbines to generate electricity for power grids. The winds are so consistent for portions of the Caribbean that the eastern island chain is branded the Windward Islands.

The region also has two other sources for alternative energy: solar and tidal. There is no plan to build or use nuclear energy, beyond any existing facilities. After the Fukushima incident in Japan, March 2011, the economic impact of nuclear is too negative – tourism may be impacted.

The Go Lean book relates a vision of transforming to 100% renewable energy in the Caribbean, asserting that this could bring the energy cost down from one of the highest in the world to one of the lowest. The book continues:

The … installation of a multi-national/regional power grid [will mean] power-sharing between member-states. The end result being lower costs (from $.35/kWh to $.088), lower pollution and less imports of foreign oil – granting energy independence.

This is not just a theoretical plan. No, there are glimpses of this strategy already in motion – for wind – in the Caribbean and the results-successes are undeniable. See this actuality in this sample news article here:

Title: Wind Farm Saves Jamaica $54M on Oil Imports, Energy Minister Says
By: Oswald T. Brown 

April 17, 2019 – Jamaican Energy Minister Fayval Williams said Wigton Windfarm Limited has saved the country’s government over $54 million on oil imports.

The energy minister, speaking Friday at Wigton Windfarm’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) investor briefing at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St. James, said the production of clean energy from the facility has enabled the country to avoid the purchase of 800,000 barrels of oil, and the emission of one million tons of carbon dioxide, thereby reducing the country’s carbon footprint, the Jamaica Gleaner reported.

Wigton, located in Rose Hill, South Manchester, is the largest wind energy facility in the English-speaking Caribbean.

The company, which is a subsidiary of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), began operating in 2004 with the commissioning of a 20.7 megawatt-generating plant, Wigton I.

This was followed by the development of Wigton II in 2010, which generates 18 megawatts of energy. Wigton III, the 24-megawatt expansion of the facility, was officially commissioned into service in June 2016 by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Williams commended the company for the progress made since its inception and lauded the IPO as a “bold strategy.”

“I can say that I am truly pleased with the strides that Wigton has made over these years,” she said. “The growth in [renewable energy] globally will undoubtedly bring greater investment opportunities in the future for a company like Wigton and we want Jamaica to be a part of this growing global movement in an even greater way. I believe we have the will and the capacity, and as a government, we are putting the plans in place to ensure that we maximize our renewable energy potential.”

Jamaicans will have the opportunity to purchase shares in Wigton from when the IPO opened on April 17 to its closure on May 1.

Source: Retrieved April 19, 2019 from: https://washingtoninformer.com/wind-farm-saves-jamaica-54m-on-oil-imports-energy-minister-says/

This news article depicts the manifestation of wisdom and best practices – a delivery from the Go Lean book. This is the Way Forward for Energy for the Caribbean region.

This commentary continues the consideration on the Way Forward for the full Caribbean and the individual member-states. This submission here focuses on energy while many others in the series contemplated how the member-states can reform and transform their societies. This is entry 7-of-9 for this April 2019 compilation of commentaries; (the list started as 3, grew dynamically to 6 and will finalized with 9). The full series of commentaries related to the Way Forward is presented as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: Bahamas – “Solutions White Paper” – An Inadequate Plan
  4. Way Forward: Jamaica: The need to reconcile the Past
  5. Way Forward: Caribbean Media Strategy & Deliveries
  6. Way Forward: Strategy for Justice: Special Prosecutors et al
    ———
  7. Way Forward: Strategy for Energy – ‘Trade’ Winds
  8. Way Forward: Strategy for Independence – Territory Realities
  9. Way Forward: “Whatever it takes” – Life Imitating Art

This series posits that “no man is an island” and further that “no island is an island”; so the technocratic deployments for energy – as for other strategies – need the benefits of a leveraged confederacy, as in the Caribbean Union ‘Trade‘ Federation (CU). It is the assertion here that the political Caribbean can elevate society with implementations to harness the trade winds, on the land, at  the coast, and in the territorial waters:

Cape Cod Wind Farm, Massachusetts, USA

Trade winds; how ironic!?

Yellow = Westerly Trade Winds

This is the same natural phenomena – Westerlies – that propelled commercial interest in the Caribbean / New World region; with the ease of westerly winds, this actuality can now contribute to sustainable energy deliveries. We need to pay attention to the “colors of the wind” – see Appendix B VIDEO below.

As related in a previous blog-commentary, wind is not the only option for our alternative energy Way Forward. The full universe of alternative options may include hydro-electric – at waterfalls – and geo-thermal at hot-springs and/or geysers – in volcano zones. Coupled with the implementation of a regional grid, these benefits are too attractive to ignore: environmental (no fossil fuels) and economic (affording conveniences of modern life). While only some Caribbean member-states have the natural features to pursue these foregoing options, all of the 30 member states, on the other hand, can ideally take advantage of these options here:

  • Wind – The wind always blows in the Caribbean – i.e. Trade Winds – and its free.
  • Solar – The sun always shines in the Caribbean and its free. Some member-states are implementing this option now to great fanfare and great results. See the news story in the Appendix A below.
  • Tidal – The tides always rise and fall in the Caribbean and its free..

This theme – environmental and economic benefits of alternative energy – aligns with many previous commentaries from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean; see this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14832 Counter-culture: Manifesting Change – Environmentalism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13985 EU Assists Barbados in Renewable Energy Self-Sufficiency
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10367 Science of Sustenance – Green Batteries
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7056 Electric Cars – Better energy deliveries solves transportation as well
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5155 Tesla unveils super-battery to power homes from wind & solar options
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4587 Model: Burlington, Vermont, USA – City powered 100% by renewables
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=915 Go ‘Green’ … Caribbean

Basic needs are not just limited to food, clothing and shelter in our modern times. No, energy deliveries must be counted as a basic need too. This is why our Caribbean communities spend so much of their family, community and national budgets on electricity supplies (or oil imports); this accounts to a lot of the economic pie. But the consideration for energy in our region goes beyond economics, there is also the consideration for “standards of care”. Our reality in the Summer heat – think: ‘Hotter than July‘ – is that we need air-conditioning solutions. Otherwise life in the homeland is unbearable.

So our Way Forward for Green Energy solution is for the motivation for economic optimization and environmental impact.

Environmental considerations also include combating Climate Change; this is important for Caribbean stakeholders, as Climate Change is one of the great threats that imperil our lives and livelihoods. Our status quo is that we must be prepared in our disaster planning to ‘Rinse and Repeat’ every hurricane season.

Wind energy is therefore a win-win for the Caribbean; solar too – see Appendix A below. The Caribbean energy needs are undeniable. The effects of fossil-fueled-driven Climate Change are undeniable. Lastly, the need for alternate energy, to lower the costs of living in the Caribbean, is undeniable. We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders – citizens, businesses and government leaders – to lean-in to this Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap.

This is how we can make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play.  🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

————

Appendix A – Historic Day on Union Island with electricity produced solely from solar

April 16, 2019 – For the very first time during the day, electricity on Union Island was produced using solely solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage.

“Today’s historic event is possible after the successful completion of the Union Island Solar PV and Battery Energy Storage project last month. Over the past weeks, we have been testing the system to ensure the process runs smoothly. The Company is pleased with the outcome in this noteworthy project,” a post on VINLEC’s Facebook page said on Tuesday.

“In the near future, the solar PV farm will generate electricity on the island during the day to supply to the grid. We anticipate that on sunny days, the solar plant will generate excess electricity than is required to supply the average daytime load on the island. The excess electricity will be stored in batteries. The expected annual energy output is approximately 32 per cent of the electricity generated in Union Island in 2018.

“VINLEC wishes to express sincerest thanks to the residents of Union Island for their support and understanding during this process,” the post said.

The UAE-CREF Union Island 600KW Solar PV Battery Hybrid Power Plant was officially opened on March 25, 2019. The project was funded under the UAE Caribbean Renewable Energy Fund at a cost of US$3 million and developed in collaboration with VINLEC on behalf of the Government of SVG.

The Solar Power Plant displaces 320,000 litres of diesel fuel per year at savings of EC$500,000.00.

Source: Retrieved April 20, 2019 from: https://searchlight.vc/searchlight/press-release/2019/04/16/historic-day-on-union-island-with-electricity-produced-solely-from-solar/?fbclid=IwAR3E4tyrnqKbveKKZAF0R1bPlglav2rWCkyOZTL1zxv_O9xZfdEOd2tQB9Y

————

Appendix B VIDEO – Pocahontas | Colors of the Wind | Disney Sing-Along – https://youtu.be/O9MvdMqKvpU

Disney
Published on Jul 9, 2016 – Paint with all the colors of the wind for this sing along.

More Disney!
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/Disney
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/Disney
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/Disney
Tumblr: http://disney.tumblr.com/

A Little Disney History: From humble beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920s to its preeminent name in the entertainment industry today, Disney proudly continues its legacy of creating world-class stories and experiences for every member of the family.

Share this post:
, , ,
[Top]

Way Forward – For Justice: Special Prosecutors – Encore

Posted on April 18, 2019 in Ethos, Government, Strategy

The talk of Special Prosecutors is all the rage today, April 18, 2019:

In the US, the Special Prosecutor looking into the Russian Interference of the 2016 Election, Robert Mueller, has released the Official Report showing the key findings of his two-year investigation; (the 400-page document can be found here). Much of this investigation looked “under the covers” of the current President of the US, Donald J. Trump, his close associates, campaign, corporate and charitable organizations; in total 35 people were indicted, found guilty and/or confessed to federal crimes. (Many state prosecutions are still pending).

This is American justice at work. Will this be satisfying? Will there be accountability and consequences for any wrongdoing?

This is the quest and the process – American Style.

Many in the Caribbean long for this aspect of life from the American system. They want to see justice in the Caribbean homeland. They perceive injustice, corruption and inefficiency in the regional institutions for law-and-order. If only we had those deliveries “here” at home.

We do …

The planners for a new Caribbean detailed the Way Forward for Justice in the Caribbean homeland. This was embedded in a roadmap to elevate the societal engines of the region. That roadmap is described in the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean – available for download now. A previous blog-commentary from November 18, 2014 detailed the justice strategies that are designed in the roadmap for this new Caribbean regime.

On the heels of Robert Mueller in the US, it is a good time to Encore that previous blog – see below.

This commentary continues the consideration on the Way Forward for the full Caribbean region and the individual member-states. The movement behind the Go Lean book queried many stakeholders in and around the Caribbean with the question:

Somebody, anybody … please tell me:
What is the ‘Way Forward‘ for ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________ <<< Entered Country Name here >>>?
We cannot continue like this.

(This question was asked on several social media platforms, that cater to populations and Diaspora of Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados, Saint Vincent & Grenadines, St Lucia, the Turks & Caicos Islands, and just the Caribbean people in general).

The responses all conveyed a similar theme – the need for justice, the complaint of corruption, the lack of law-and-order. So this commentary here addresses all of these concerns by doubling-down on this series for the Way Forward. Each entry in the series depicted how the Caribbean member-states can reform and transform their society. This is entry 6-of-6 for this April 2019 compilation of commentaries; (thus far, subsequent entries may follow). The full series of commentaries related to the Way Forward is presented as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: Bahamas – “Solutions White Paper” – An Inadequate Plan
  4. Way Forward: Jamaica: The need to reconcile the Past
  5. Way Forward: Caribbean Media Strategy & Deliveries
    ———
  6. Way Forward: Strategy for Justice: Special Prosecutors et al

This series posits that “no man is an island” and that “no island is an island”; so with the technocratic deployment of a leveraged  confederacy, the political Caribbean can elevate all their societal engines: economics, security and governance.

See that previous blog-commentary entitled “Justice Strategy: Special Prosecutors … et al” here-now:

———-

Go Lean Commentary – Justice Strategy: Special Prosecutors … et al

(Dateline: November 18, 2014) – The quest to elevate Caribbean society is a three-prong approach: economics, security and governance.

Economic optimizations are easiest to introduce; show up with investments (money) and jobs and almost any community will acquiesce. But to introduce empowerments for security and/or governing engines is more complicated, as changes in these categories normally require a political process; implying consensus-building and compromise. (Think: Iraq – “A military solution to a political problem?”; see Footnote 1)

This is what the book Go Lean…Caribbean calls “heavy-lifting”.

This Go Lean book posits that “bad actors” will always emerge in times of economic optimizations to exploit opportunities, with bad or evil intent. In support of this argument, the book relates a number of law-and-order episodes from world history: Pirates of the Caribbean (Page 181) and the Old American West (Page 142). In addition to the direct book references, there are a number previously published blogs/commentaries that covered subjects and dimensions for Caribbean justice institutions:

Role Model for Justice – The Pinkertons
Economic Crime Enforcement – The Criminalization of American Business
America’s Navy – 100 Percent – Model for Caribbean
A Lesson in History: 100 Years Ago – World War I
Here come the Drones … and the Concerns
Caribbean “Terrorists” travel to Venezuela for jihadist training
Jamaica to receive World Bank funds to help in crime fight
US slams Caribbean human rights practices
10 Things We Want from the US and 10 Things We Don’t Want: Pax Americana

It is evident that justice is very important to this roadmap for societal elevation. We do not want to only react (after the fact) to episodes undermining public security or the integrity of law-and-order in the homeland. We want to have a constant sentinel. This will be accomplished with two regional agencies (defined later): Justice Department and Homeland Security Department.

The Caribbean governance structures were developed under the tutelage of 4 European legacies (British, Dutch, French, Spanish) and the United States of America (territories of Puerto Rico & US Virgin Islands and the dominant cultural influence in the region). We now have fitting role models of their societies for the management of justice institutions. This commentary urges their best-practices.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). Normally, when there are questions of integrity in the due-process in executive, legislative or judicial branches of government, the curative measure is a Special Prosecutor (American) or a Commission of Inquiry (European and United Nations).

As defined in the following encyclopedia source reference, these measures are normally reactive, but for the CU, the strategy is proactive…from Day One:

1. UNITED STATES

A Special Prosecutor generally is a lawyer from outside the government appointed by an Attorney General or, in the United States, by Congress to investigate a government official for misconduct while in office. A reasoning for such an appointment is that the governmental branch or agency may have political connections to those it might be asked to investigate. Inherently, this creates a conflict of interest and a solution is to have someone from outside the department lead the investigation. The term “Special Prosecutor” may have a variety of meanings from one country to the next, from one government branch to the next within the same country, and within different agencies within each government branch. Critics of the use of Special Prosecutors argue that these investigators act as a “fourth branch” to the government because they are not subject to limitations in spending or have deadlines to meet.

STARR

Federal government
Attorneys in the United States may be appointed/hired particularly or employed generally by different branches of the government to investigate. When appointed/hired particularly by the judicial branch to investigate and, if justified, seek indictments in a particular judicial branch case, the attorney is called Special Prosecutor. When appointed/hired particularly by a governmental branch or agency to investigate alleged misconduct within that branch or agency, the attorney is called Independent Counsel.

State government
Special Prosecutors may also be used in a state prosecution case when the prosecutor for the local jurisdiction has a conflict of interest in a case or otherwise may desire another attorney handle a case.
Source: Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia (Retrieved November 17, 2014) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_prosecutor

2. BRITISH DOMINION

A Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Bahrain, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. A Royal Commission is similar in function to a Commission of Enquiry (or Inquiry) found in other countries such as Ireland, South Africa, and Hong Kong; (all examples here are from the British Dominion).

CU Blog - Justice Strategy - Special Prosecutors - Photo 1

A Royal Commissioner has considerable powers, generally greater even than those of a judge but restricted to the Terms of Reference of the Commission. The Commission is created by the Head of State (the Sovereign, or his/her representative in the form of a Governor-General or Governor) on the advice of the Government and formally appointed by Letters Patent. In practice—unlike lesser forms of inquiry—once a Commission has started the government cannot stop it. Consequently governments are usually very careful about framing the Terms of Reference and generally include in them a date by which the commission must finish.

Royal Commissions are called to look into matters of great importance and usually controversy. These can be matters such as government structure, the treatment of minorities, events of considerable public concern or economic questions.

Many Royal Commissions last many years and, often, a different government is left to respond to the findings. In Australia—and particularly New South Wales—Royal Commissions have been investigations into police and government corruption and organised crime using the very broad coercive powers of the Royal Commissioner to defeat the protective systems that powerful, but corrupt, public officials had used to shield themselves from conventional investigation.

Royal Commissions usually involve research into an issue, consultations with experts both within and outside of government and public consultations as well. The Warrant may grant immense investigatory powers, including summoning witnesses under oath, offering of indemnities, seizing of documents and other evidence (sometimes including those normally protected, such as classified information), holding hearings in camera if necessary and—in a few cases—compelling all government officials to aid in the execution of the Commission.

The results of Royal Commissions are published in reports, often massive, of findings containing policy recommendations. These reports are often quite influential, with the government enacting some or all recommendations into law.
Source: Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia (Retrieved November 17, 2014) –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Commission

3. NETHERLANDS

Though never a member of British Dominion, the Kingdom of the Netherlands has a similar process. An example of a Commission of Inquiry in the Netherlands include this case study:

  • From mid-2010 to December 2011 the Commission of Inquiry carried out an independent study of the sexual abuse of minors in the Roman Catholic Church from 1945 to 2010.

Source: Investigation of Roman Catholic Church Online Site (Retrieved Nov. 17, 2014) –
http://www.onderzoekrk.nl/english-summery.html

4. UNITED NATIONS

a. Commissions and Investigative Bodies

The UN Security Council has established a wide-variety of Commissions to handle a variety of tasks related to the maintenance of international peace and security. Commissions have been created with different structures and a wide variety of mandates including investigation, mediation, or administering compensation. Below is a list of all commissions established by the Security Council, with a short description prepared on the basis of the Repertoire, as well as links to the sections covering them in the Repertoire (Public Relations Publication). They are organized by region, and then under relevant areas or sub-regions, placed chronologically starting with those established most recently:

1946-1951 1952-1955 1956-1958 1959-1963 1964-1965 1966-1968 1969-1971 1972-1974 1975-1980 1981-1984 1985-1988 1989-1992 1993-1995 1996-1999 2000-2003 2004-2007 2008-2009 2010-2011

U.N. peacekeepers drive tank as they patrol past deserted Kibati village

For more information on the investigative and fact-finding powers of the Security Council, see this section on Article 34:

  • Article 34 – Investigation of disputes & fact-finding.
    Article 34 of the UN Charter empowers the Security Council to investigate any dispute, or any situation that is likely to endanger international peace and security. The provision covers investigations and fact-finding missions mandated by the Security Council or by the Secretary-General to which the Council expressed its support or of which it took note. Furthermore, this section has also looked at instances in which Member-States demanded or suggested to the Council that an investigation be carried out or a fact-finding mission be dispatched.

b. UN Commission for Conventional Armaments

The Commission for Conventional Armaments was established on 13 February 1947 to formulate proposals for carrying out General Assembly resolution 41 (I) of 14 December 1946 concerning the general regulation and reduction of armaments. This was a standing Commission, but it was formally dissolved on 30 January 1952.

Source: United Nations Online Archive – Retrieved Nov. 17, 2014 – http://www.un.org/en/sc/repertoire/subsidiary_organs/commissions_and_investigations.shtml

Normally a Special Prosecutor assignment has a limited time expiration. Also a Commission of Inquiry refers to individuals employed, during conciliation (Footnote 2), to investigate the facts of a particular dispute and to submit a report stating the facts and proposing terms for the resolution of the differences. Such a commission is one of many bodies available to governments to inquire/investigate into various issues. The commissions may report findings, give advice and make recommendations; and while their findings may not be legally binding, they can be highly influential.

The declared assignment documents for Special Prosecutors and/or Commissions of Inquiries are called “Warrants”.

The foregoing encyclopedic source explains that “Warrants” may grant immense investigatory powers, including summoning witnesses under oath, offering of indemnities, seizing of documents and other evidence, holding hearings, and compelling aid from government officials. This description provides the role-model for the CU‘s effort in justice and security. The Trade Federation will feature a federal Justice Department, with a separation-of-powers, a ‘Divide’, with the regional member-states. On the CU side of the ‘Divide’ is the jurisdiction for economic crimes, systemic threats, regional escalations and marshaling of any offenses on the federally-regulated grounds, Self-Governing Entities.

This separation-of-powers mandate also dictates that the CU‘s Homeland Security apparatus is the local manifestation of the United Nations Security (Peacekeeping) Forces , except for a regional scope only. This specific federal department will handle a variety of tasks related to the maintenance of regional peace and security.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that the region must prepare its own security apparatus for its own security needs. So the vision is that all Caribbean member-states will authorize the CU as Special Prosecutors and Commissions of Inquiries. These warrants would legally authorize the regional “Justice Institutions”, covering law enforcement and regional defense, all encompassed in the book’s Homeland Security roadmap.

The CU would thusly be set to optimize Caribbean society through economic empowerment, and the aligning security dynamics. In fact, 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 protect the resultant economic engines.
  • Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

There is the need to ensure the economic engines in all 30 Caribbean member-states; plus extractions (mining, drilling) in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Caribbean Sea. 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 … to assuage continuous threats against public safety.

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

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. 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.

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 treaty to establish the “new guards”, the Homeland Security Force and Federal Justice Department within the Caribbean Union Trade Federation gets legal authorization from the provisions of Special Prosecutors and Commissions of Inquiries, therefore enacting a Status of Forces Agreement with the initiation of the confederation. This elaborate process would be “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap. The Go Lean book also details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to provide increased public accountability and security in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Economic Principle – Consequences of Choices Lie in Future Page 21
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Privacy –vs- Public Protection Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Whistleblower Protection Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Witness Security & Protection Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation Page 23
Community Ethos – Security Principle – Intelligence Gathering Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Minority Equalization Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – Lean Operations Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principle – 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
Strategy – Vision – Trade Federation with Proxy Powers of a Confederacy Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Defense Pact to Defend against Systemic Threats Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Protect Stakeholders   with Vigorous Law-and-Order measures Page 45
Tactical – Confederating a Non-Sovereign Union Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy Page 64
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department – District Attorneys as Special Prosecutors Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department – CariPol: Marshals & Investigations Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Justice Department – Witness Protection Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Trade Anti-Trust Regulatory Commission Page 77
Implementation – Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up Page 102
Implementation – Start-up Security Initiatives Page 103
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ – Security – Interdictions & Piracy Page 104
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities – Security and Justice Page 105
Implementation – Ways to Foster International Aid – Military Aid Page 115
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better – Safety Measures for the Rich and Poor Page 131
Planning – Ways to Improve Failed-State Indices – Law Enforcement Oversight Page 134
Planning – Lessons Learned from the West Indies (WI)   Federation – Regiment on the Ready Page 135
Planning – Lessons from the American West – Law & Order Needed Enforcements Page 142
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 Mitigate Terrorism Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights Page 220
Appendix – Art of War Chapters – Chapter 7 – Engaging The Security Force Page 327

Everyone in the Caribbean, the people and institutions, are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap for elevation of Caribbean society. The roadmap calls for the heavy-lifting so that the justice institutions (permanent Special Prosecutors/Commissions of Inquiries) of the CU can execute their role in a just manner, thus impacting the Greater Good; see VIDEO below of South Africa’s example. This produces the output of a technocratic system bent on efficiency and effectiveness. In practice, this would mean accountability, transparency, and checks-and-balances in the execution of the rule-of-law.

This is the change for the Caribbean: elevated Public Safety, Law Enforcement and Homeland Security, all necessary to make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play.

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

————–

Footnote:
1 – Iraq: A military solution to a political problem?

2 – Conciliation: The process of adjusting or settling disputes in a friendly manner through extra judicial means.

————–

Video: Marikana Commission of Inquiry has concluded its hearings – http://youtu.be/k0XAfRzjSXc


The Marikana Commission of Inquiry in South Africa has concluded its hearings after two years of attempting to establish what happened during the violent Wage Strike at Lonmin Platinum Mine in August 2012. 34 people were shot and killed in a confrontation with the police. 10 others including 2 police officers and 2 Mine Guards were also killed in the days preceding the August 16th tragedy.

Share this post:
, ,
[Top]

Way Forward – Caribbean ‘Single Market’ for Media

Posted on April 17, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

The host asked American media icon Oprah Winfrey this BIG Question at the promotional event for Apple on March 25, 2019:

“Why are you here?”
Ms. Winfrey: “They are in a Billion pockets …”

———
VIDEO – Oprah to return to TV as part of Apple TV+ – https://youtu.be/8PdJvXfw76k

CNBC Television
Published on Mar 25, 2019 – Oprah Winfrey takes the stage at Apple’s Steve Jobs Theater to announce her inclusion in the company’s new streaming service, Apple TV+.

» Subscribe to CNBC: http://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC
About CNBC: From ‘Wall Street’ to ‘Main Street’ to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.
Connect with CNBC News Online
Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/
Find CNBC News on Facebook: http://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Twitter: http://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Google+: http://cnb.cx/PlusCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Instagram: http://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC #CNBC

This is the reality of the Apple eco-system: 1 billion is 1 billion. The Way Forward for the television-media-video industry is this simple undeniable fact:

Numbers matter.

Numbers matter and size matters … when it comes to media!

This theme has been exhaustingly covered in many previous commentaries by the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean. Consider this sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858 Network Mandates for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14224 How the Youth are Consuming Media Today
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13474 Future Focused – Radio is Dead … Almost
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8813 Lessons from China – Size Does Matter … for Hollywood
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8328 YouTube Millionaire: ‘Tipsy Bartender’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6464 Sports Role Model – ‘WWE Network’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4381 Net Neutrality: It Matters in the Caribbean too
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3244 Sports Role Model – espnW.

The Caribbean media markets (TV, radio and newspaper) should expect this same change in our region. The devices – computers, tablets, smartphones – will supplant traditional media: TV, radio, newspapers, books, etc..

This eventuality was anticipated in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The roadmap is designed to elevate Caribbean society and the book relates that media – Internet Communications Technologies (ICT) actually – is a BIG element in this elevation quest.

Apple’s devices also proliferate in the Caribbean; (though no where close to 1 billion units). We therefore have the opportunity to prepare our media offerings for direct-to-consumers via their devices. This is already the Go Lean strategy for the new social media site: www.myCaribbean.gov. As related in a previous blog-commentary:

Change has come to the world and to the Caribbean region. The advent of Internet Communications Technologies (ICT) now has voluminous options for media to be delivered without the large footprint … or investment. Now anyone can easily publish VIDEO’s and Music files to the internet and sell them to the public – models abounds: i.e. pay-per-play, or subscription.

Apple – see their strategies and options in the Appendix below – is not the only game in town…

… there is also Google, and sometimes Amazon.

All in all, devices abound; no need for expensive satellites and broadcast towers.

This is the Way Forward for Caribbean media. We must be ready for this New Media eco-system.

This commentary continues this recent series – April 2019 – for the Way Forward for our Caribbean region and individual member-states. In fact, we just recently completed a 4-part series as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: Bahamas – “Solutions White Paper” – An Inadequate Plan
  4. Way Forward: Jamaica: The need to reconcile the Past
    ——–
  5. Way Forward: Caribbean Media Strategy & Deliveries

This entire series asserts that “no man is an island” and that “no island is an island”, therefore the full Caribbean region – all 30 member-states and 42 million people – need to combine, collaborate and confederate to form a Single Market for media and other economic activities. Our failure to do so in the past have imperiled our economic, security and governmental engines.

(With no viable Single Market, our people fled and left in exile to other Single Market destinations: US, Canada and EU countries).

We should now be ready for the challenge and change in our Caribbean society; we must be ready to reform and transform, despite the heavy-lifting. We should be up to the task, because the rest of the world is counting the devices – 1 billion for Apple.

We must also count … and be counted. Otherwise our Caribbean people will just be Less Than.

This quest – of the Go Lean/CU roadmap – for the Caribbean Way Forward is conceivable, believable and achievable. We must do the heavy-lifting ourselves to forge our Single Media Market and thereafter make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 14):

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

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

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

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.

xxviii. Whereas intellectual property can easily traverse national borders, the rights and privileges of intellectual property must be respected at home and abroad. The Federation must install protections to ensure that no abuse of these rights go with impunity, and to ensure that foreign authorities enforce the rights of the intellectual property registered in our region.

xxx. Whereas the effects of globalization can be felt in every aspect of Caribbean life, from the acquisition of food and clothing, to the ubiquity of ICT, the region cannot only consume, it is imperative that our lands also produce and add to the international community, even if doing so requires some sacrifice and subsidy.

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

—————

Appendix –  Apple TV app vs. Apple TV Channels vs. Apple TV Plus: What’s the difference?

Apple has three new ways to get you watching more TV shows and movies. Unfortunately they all have very similar names, and all start with “Apple TV.”

On March 25 in Cupertino, Apple CEO Tim Cook finally took the wraps off his company’s latest “service” ambitions. It was an Apple event without any new gadgets. Instead we saw a news and magazine aggregation app, a subscription gaming play and an Apple credit card.

Most of the event focused on streaming TV shows and movies, however, culminating in Apple’s new television service with original shows from stars like Jenifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Kumail Nanjiani and producers like J.J. Abrams and Oprah Winfrey. It’s called Apple TV Plus.

But Apple also talked about updates to its new TV app, which includes a new Channels option. So what’s actually new and what do we know? Here’s a cheat sheet.

Apple TV app

Introduced in 2016, this app for the Apple TV streamer as well as iPhones and iPadsprovides a single place to browse, discover and resume watching TV shows and movies from apps like Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, ESPN, PlayStation Vue and many more. It shows individual episodes and movies but doesn’t let you watch them from within the Apple TV app itself. Instead you’ll select one and get bounced out to the app in question (such as Hulu for The Handmaid’s Tale) to begin or resume watching.

An updated version of the app, coming in May 2019, will integrate purchases from iTunes TV shows and movies, as well as provide suggestions for more TV shows and movies to watch. Apple says the app will also come to smart TVs from Samsung this spring, as well as Sony, LG and Vizio TVs and Roku and Amazon Fire TV streamers and TVs in the future. It would also be available to MacOS computers this fall.

More: Apple TV app coming to Macs, smart TVs in 2019

Apple TV Channels

This is an all-new addition to the Apple TV app that allows subscribers to add content from a variety of partners, including HBO, Showtime, Epix, Starz, Britbox and more. You subscribe within the TV app, with no additional apps, accounts or passwords required. The same goes for watching content: Instead of being bounced out to the HBO Now app, for example, you can watch your Game of Thrones episode within the Apple TV app itself. Users can also share Apple TV channels subscriptions via Apple’s Family Sharing feature.

The service sounds similar to Amazon’s Prime Channels service, available now. Apple didn’t announce pricing, but one report says services like HBO will be discounted.

More: Apple TV Channel’s streaming service is here and wants to run the show

Apple TV Plus

Coming this fall, this is a separate TV streaming service that will be home to original TV shows, movies and documentaries exclusive to Apple. Apple has a multiyear partnership deal with Oprah and deals with Reese Witherspoon, J.J. Abrams and dozens of others. The company has spent more than $1 billion budget and has committed to 30 shows and a handful of movies. They include Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories series, The Morning Show starring Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell about workplace relationships and Little America, which features stories that center around immigrants. Pricing for an Apple TV Plus subscription was not announced.

More: Apple introduces Apple TV Plus for its original shows

Source: Posted March 29, 2019; retrieved April 8 2019 from: https://www.cnet.com/news/apple-tv-app-vs-apple-tv-channels-vs-apple-tv-plus-whats-the-difference/

Share this post:
,
[Top]

Way Forward – Jamaica: Must reconcile the Past

Posted on April 9, 2019 in Ethos, Locations, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“Sometimes we have to reach back to the past before we can launch forward into the future.”

We have all heard this “slingshot analogy” in different variations; like this one:

We have to know where we came from in order to know where we are going.

Any similar theme rings true!

Even in God’s word the Bible, the concept is presented that while a man reaps what he sows, he can be punished for the sins of his father – Exodus 34:7 – because chances are very great that he will commit the same infractions, as his father did; (and see Appendix VIDEO below):

An apple does not fall far from the tree

We are a product of our environment

Our nurture can override our nature

This is a consideration for Jamaica … and how this community can foster a Way Forward, away from its near-Failed-State status quo to a different destination of a prosperous homeland.

This commentary asserts that Jamaica must first reconcile its bad past before it can have a good future.

Why? Because of this premise here:

“If an empire is destroyed by its enemies, it will rise up again.
But if destroyed internally, it will be gone forever”. – Source.

This is the historicity of Jamaica and the sullied past that must be reconciled. This refers to the original plan for integration for the British Caribbean, the West Indies Federation.

Jamaica used to be a colony of the British Empire (United Kingdom); the quest for independence and autonomy was set forth as a long journey; the planners for stewardship of the British Caribbean conceived this West Indies Federation for 10 British territories to have the scale and leverage to be effective and efficient for regional economics, security and governance.

There was a West Indies Dollar, West Indies Regiment (today’s Jamaica Defense Force), University of the West Indies, and the West Indies Cricket Federation just to name a few of the institutions that were formed for this integration purpose – some remain today. But this Federation only lasted 4 years (1958 – 1962). This entity was not destroyed by its enemies, rather it was destroyed internally, by its own people, starting first and foremost with Jamaica. The 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean – a roadmap for a new integration movement: Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – related this historic summary:

Jamaican Dynamic Appendix (Page 302)
Jamaica’s nationalistic ideals doomed the Federation; they were the largest population base and felt trivialized by the Federation. They believed that the smaller islands were draining Jamaica’s wealth; their share of the seats in the federal parliament was smaller than its share of the total Federation population. Jamaica was also remote to most of the other islands in the Federation, lying several hundred miles to the west. And many in Jamaica were upset that Kingston had not been chosen as the federal capital.

10 Lessons Learned from the West Indies Federation – #3: Jamaican Dynamic (Page 135)
Among the Caribbean nations, Haiti is highest on the 2012 Failed State Index (#7), Jamaica is among the next set of Caribbean countries at #119, just slightly behind South Africa (#115) and Albania (#118). Obviously, the nation-building needs of Jamaica has been truncated, plus the country’s brain drain is worst in the region with almost a matching population living abroad in a Diaspora as opposed to residing in and contributing to the local economy. The CU will ensure better representation of larger populated states by employing a bicameral legislative branch: while the Senate is “one-man-one-vote” (2 Senators per state), the lower house has balanced representation based on population.

Geographically, Jamaica is not the furthest west (Belize), nor south (Aruba) in the region. The Capitol for the CU is slated for a Federal District on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. …

The Way Forward for Jamaica is that this country must now reconcile their bad behavior in the “regional sandbox” and learn how to play nice with others. Only then can the benefits of collaboration, cooperation and confederation come home … finally.

Only then can this country have a good future. (Since 1962, Jamaica has played in the “sandbox” alone, to its own peril). This theme – this Way Forward – aligns with previous commentaries from the Go Lean movement; see this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16408 Bad Community Ethos on Violence; Start at Home, spills out to Streets
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15521 Caribbean Unity? What a Joke – Tourism Missteps in Jamaica et al
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14242 Money Matters – Jamaicans follow the jobs, right out of the country
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13040 Jamaican Diaspora – Not the ‘Panacea’; Rather need Region Partners
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4840 Jamaican Poll: ‘Bring back the British!’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=313 What’s Holding Back Jamaica’s Reforms? – They must reboot!

Jamaica needs to reach back into their past, learn what it was that they did wrong – their fathers did wrong (see Appendix VIDEO below) – accept the learned-lessons, turn a new leaf and then march forward into the future with a determination and devotion to think, feel and act differently and better. This sounds so much like the Serenity Prayer that Alcoholics and Addicts are urged to enchant everyday:

Lord, give me the courage to change the things I can change
The serenity to accept the things I cannot change
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Today, this Way Forward is the courage, serenity and wisdom at work for Jamaica.

This commentary continues this recent series for the Way Forward for many other Caribbean member-states. Just recently, we completed a 3-part series categorized as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: Bahamas – “Solutions White Paper” – An Inadequate Plan
    ——–
  4. Way Forward: Jamaica: The need to reconcile the Past

This entire series asserts that “no man is an island” and that in fact “no island is an island”. Jamaica have always needed to collaborate and confederate with its regional neighbors. Their failure to do so, only imperiled their economic, security and governmental engines. Then their people fled; they left and joined communities abroad where the needed integration, cooperation and harmony existed.

This must now be reconciled. The stakeholders in Jamaica and from Jamaica are hereby urged to lean-in to this integration plan, this Go Lean roadmap, to make Jamaica a better homeland to live, work and play. Finally …

🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————–

Appendix VIDEO – Does God Punish Children for the Sins of Their Parents? – https://youtu.be/C3OGrGAxqGE

Dr. Sean McDowell
Published on Oct 31, 2018 –  Does God hold children accountable for when their parents do bad things? Is culpability for sin passed on from one generation to the next? Sean briefly answers these questions.

Share this post:
,
[Top]

Way Forward – Common ‘Solutions’ for the Bahamas – An Inadequate Plan

Posted on April 5, 2019 in Ethos, Locations, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Flash back to 1958 …

The planners for stewardship of the British Caribbean conceived the West Indies Federation, and they left-off, left-out …

… the Bahamas. – (See Appendix B below).

Wow! This country was reported to have a population between 88,000 (1955) and 113,000 (1960) and yet the planners made no provision for their Way Forward. They assumed that their fate would be tied to the neighboring United States of America.

So while the instincts and wisdom of these planners were that the common lands of the British Caribbean needed to integrate to deploy common solutions, these ones felt that the poor Bahamas could just be satisfied with a Way Forward of being “parasites” of a larger more prosperous host, the USA.

The more things changed, the more they have remained the same!

In the 60 years since, the Bahamas has made progress; sometimes 2 steps forward, 1 step back; sometimes 1 step forward, 2 steps back. All the governmental developments in those 60 years (i.e.: women’s suffrage, majority rule populist party, independence, opposition party emergence, flip-flop of power between parties, etc.) have only resulted in a realignment of the stakeholders within the same regime – like “reshuffling the decks on the Titanic”. The “parasite” status remains.

Thusly, there is the need for a Way Forward for this country, for the Bahamas. A call had gone out for such a Way Forward plan; one that finally considers integration with its neighbors and strategic alliances and partnerships.

The call has been heeded. One national commentator composed and published a White Paper to address this quest for a Way Forward. This publication identified some viable solutions, but still under the overall strategy of being tied to the American hegemony – depending on American trade and security. That White Paper – see the full publication here – is presented with these following 5 parts:

White Paper Title: A Nation in Chaos – The Solution Series – EXCERPT
By: Stephen McQueen

Part 1: Scope of The Problem

Part 2: Simple but Multifaceted

Part 3: The Re-education Process

Part 4: Self-Economic Empowerment

Part 5: The Need for Strategic Alliances

    … those that have a common enemy might well find that they also have shared interests and can therefore be of benefit to each other in a common cause. Therein lies the concept of being allies.

    For small island nations like The Bahamas, one wonders for what common cause if any should we ally ourselves with other nations? And, do we not already have allies in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM), The Commonwealth, the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS)? Notwithstanding the fact that I am largely unaware of the benefits of being involved with the above-mentioned communities, as a lay person, it appears that we may not be deriving the kind of benefit that The Bahamas truly needs for economic protection from much larger and far more economically and otherwise powerful nations. The UN provides peace-keeping forces, CARICOM is an economic body for the Caribbean, and the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) is a regional agreement signed on by some Caribbean nations and is intended to strengthen member states’ economic power and stability. Dr. Christopher Curry of the University of The Bahamas believes that CSME will strengthen The Bahamas’ hand against the WTO. (Curry, 2019)

    Isn’t it time that we as a people look within and collectively raise ourselves to a better standing upon the world’s stage?
    …
    The position of “First World” nations toward small island nations like The Bahamas and the Caribbean wreaks of containment – a philosophy designed and intentionally carried out to prevent the growth, development and advancement of developing nations even after we have been pillaged for hundreds of years. According to Curry, “First, Second, Third World are social constructs devised by global north states to designate other states in a subordinate role to the ‘more advanced states’.” (Curry, 2019) It is a philosophy intended to prevent our nations from becoming global leaders and masters of our own destinies by subjugating our nations to rules designed for and by “First World” nations for their greater benefit and the furtherance of their economies. For instance, and without any justification, and merely because it had the wherewithal so to do, “the Netherlands adds Bahamas to Tax Havens blacklist.” (Robards, 2019)

See the full White Paper here: https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17118

This published plan, despite the best intentions, is inadequate!

The Bahamas needs more! See the Appendix VIDEO below depicting the current economic outlook from an external viewpoint.

It turns out that the Bahamas wants more than just a “parasite” status with the US; they want to be considered protégés. After 60 years of an ever-increasing brain-drain, in which the country has sat idle and watched 61 percent of its tertiary-educated citizens abandoned the homeland for life in the Diaspora abroad – mostly to the US homeland. This country now wants to be a homeland where its citizens can prosper where planted.

Is there a Way Forward for that?!

Way Forward
This commentary continues the consideration on the Way Forward – this one just for the Bahamas – for the rest of the Caribbean region. This member-state is in dire straits, near-Failed-State status with Push-and-Pull factors pressuring the youth to seek refuge elsewhere. Yet, the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that this crisis can be useful as an excuse to forge change in the Bahamian homeland. It is high time to reform and transform the Bahamas.

This is entry 3-of-3 for this April 2019 series of commentaries related to the Way Forward for Caribbean member-states. The full series is presented as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: “Solutions White Paper” – An Inadequate Plan for the Bahamas

While this series posits that “no man is an island”, this entry doubles down on the assertion that “no island is an island” either; that the Bahamas and all the tropical islands and coastal states of the political Caribbean need to come together, collaborate, cooperate, convene, and confederate for a better stewardship for their full homelands.

There is no longer any excusing, rationalizing or minimizing the reality of the Bahamian plight. One of their communities, the 2nd city of Freeport, has already been identified as falling into a Ghost Town status. A Way Forward for that city alone has already been published by this movement behind the Go Lean book. Consider this excerpt:

Excerpt from: Blog # 400 – A Vision of Freeport as a Self-Governing Entity

Freeport is beautiful! “It has great potential” …

… unfortunately, this has been the descriptor for over 60 years: “Great Potential”. In actuality, this town is the epitome of a failing community as it has been “rocked” by one crisis after another: hurricanes, financial crisis, abandonment by Direct Foreign Investors, abandonment by residents, and the eventual manifestation of deficient planning; bringing the age-old lesson to the fore: “when you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.

The complaint there of the everyday man, everyday, is that the oversight of the city’s affairs by the central government in Nassau is deficient, flawed and shortsighted for Freeport. The critics are demanding a referendum to consider different secession options from Nassau. But the options being considered are not “all of nothing from Nassau”, but rather, Freeport is seeking some degree of autonomy and then becoming a Self-Governing Entity (SGE) … .

There is a lot of history associated with the issues of SGE’s and Freeport.

The closest, most successful SGE is in the Orlando, Florida area: Walt Disney World Resort. This resort is administered as a SGE, empowered by the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special government district created in 1965 that essentially gave the Walt Disney Company the standard powers and autonomy of an incorporated city. Today, the resort hosts 52.5 million visitors as the most popular vacation destination in the world. But early in the site selection process (1959), Walt Disney’s team toured Freeport for consideration for his planned resort[a]. Today tourism is the primary economic driver for Freeport, but declining, with only less than 280,000[b] annual visitors. (Freeport’s economic history has been likened to the Concorde Supersonic jet airplane; considered advanced for a time and then … the cutting-edge had an expiration date, so it became stagnant and stale in its appeal).

It is time now for empowerments like this in all of the Bahamas, and all of the Caribbean! It is time now to build a foundation on the unified society that was once envisioned for the British West Indies. But now we have the hindsight to realize that we need to go even deeper for a more sound foundation. We need and want all of the West Indies: American, British, Dutch, French and Spanish. We want such a firmer foundation. We want:

Bedrock, Baby!

Yes, we can. These strategies, tactics and implementations proposed here in the Go Lean roadmap are conceivable, believable and achievable. We must do this now! We must make our homeland a better place to live, work and play.

We encourage everyone in the Bahamas in particular and the Caribbean in general to lean-in for this Go Lean roadmap.  🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

————–

Appendix A VIDEO – Discussing The Bahamian Economy – https://youtu.be/Hx0XPWYp0zQ

World Investment News
Published on Jul 19, 2016 – World Investment News Editor-in-Chief Stan Aron and Project Director Simone Goldsmith discuss the different facets and the potential of the economy of The Bahamas, published in the 2016 July and August edition of Harvard Business Review.

World Investment News Online sites:
https://twitter.com/WINNENews
https://www.facebook.com/worldinvestm… 
https://www.linkedin.com/company/worl…

———–
MORE: See an additional VIDEO here on the Bahamas economic landscape – Financial Sector:
Chapter 1: What will drive growth in the Bahamas? – https://youtu.be/do4VmKgA10c

————–

Appendix B – 10 Territories in the British West Indies – Go Lean Book (Page 301)

West Indies Federation Population Distribution as of 1958
Province Capital Population Area (km²) Pop. %
Antigua and Barbuda St. John’s 57,000 440 1.75%
Barbados Bridgetown 234,000 431 7.17%
Cayman Islands (attached to Jamaica) George Town 9,000 264 0.28%
Dominica Roseau 61,000 750 1.87%
Grenada St. George’s 91,000 344 2.79%
Jamaica Kingston 1,660,000 10,991 50.85%
Montserrat Plymouth 13,000 102 0.40%
Saint Christopher (St. Kitts) – Nevis – Anguilla Basseterre 55,600 351 1.70%
Saint Lucia Castries 95,000 616 2.91%
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Kingstown 83,000 389 2.54%
Trinidad and Tobago Port-of-Spain 900,000 5,131 27.57%
Turks and Caicos Islands (attached to Jamaica) Cockburn Town 6,000 430 0.18%
Federation of the West Indies Chaguaramas 3,264,600 20,239 km2 100.00%
Share this post:
,
[Top]

Way Forward – Virgin Islands: America’s Youngest Colony

Posted on April 4, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Locations, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

The US Virgin Islands – St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. Johns – are 80 miles east of Puerto Rico. Their small population only peaks at about 110,000; they have a lot of challenges sustaining and elevating their society. If only their economy was bigger.

Wait, wait … next door Puerto Rico has a population of over 3 million people. Bigger economy! Bigger problems!

Obviously, size … of the economy is not the predictor for success.

Nor is age…

… the US Virgin Islands, as an entity, is in fact the youngest US Territory in North America; having been acquired from Denmark only in 1917 – see VIDEO below.

There must be something more?!

Maybe race! Maybe, if we have a population of homogeneous people who can form a brotherhood and work hand-in-hand without any concern for racial differences – “Power to the People”. Well, this land has a majority Black population – unique for any domicile (State or Territory) in the United States. It is a 76% majority! Here is the actual demographic breakdown from the last census (2010):

There are many people in America – especially in the Black community – that have theorized that if they had a “majority Black land in America” they could really be a more prosperous society.

Well, they have the US Virgin Islands, and what is the disposition? See summaries here:

U.S. Virgin Islands GDP Decreases in 2017 [by 2%]
Tourism spending declines following Hurricanes Irma and Maria
Today, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is releasing estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) for the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) for 2017, in addition to estimates of GDP by industry and compensation by industry for 2016. These estimates were developed under the Statistical Improvement Program funded by the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA) of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The U.S. Virgin Islands suffered extensive damage from two major hurricanes in September 2017. These hurricanes affected the availability of various source data used in the estimation of USVI GDP, including financial statements for the territorial government and its independent agencies.
…

Source: US Government Bureau of Economic Analysis – Posted December 17, 2018; retrieved April 3, 2019 from: https://www.bea.gov/news/2018/us-virgin-islands-gdp-decreases-2017

————–

Welcome to the Virgin Islands, One of the Most Indebted Places in the U.S.
The U.S. territory is running out of options as it faces rising debt and pension obligations, a declining population and tepid response to proposed new bond offerings

By: Heather Gillers

A U.S. territory famed for its white-sand beaches and azure waters is in a precarious financial position. This time, it isn’t just Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Virgin Islands shares many of the same fiscal problems as its Caribbean neighbor 80 miles to the west: high levels of debt, mounting pension obligations and a declining population.

…

Source: Wall Street Journal – posted January 26, 2017; retrieved April 3, 2019 from: https://www.wsj.com/articles/welcome-to-the-virgin-islands-one-of-the-most-indebted-places-in-the-u-s-1485426604

Obviously, race … of the demography is not the predictor for success. (Let this be the last word on this unnerving subject!)

The problems facing small Caribbean islands, or young Caribbean islands or Black Caribbean islands, are the same problems facing all Caribbean islands … it is failure to adapt to these undeniable Agents of Change:

It is Globalization, Climate Change, Technology and an Aging Diaspora.

These Agents of Change are devastating Caribbean life … for all people, in all the islands and coastal states. The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that we are “all in the same boat” and need to work together – to confederate – to seek solutions to our problems.

A crisis is a terrible thing to waste – Go Lean book (Page 8)

The Way Forward is a roadmap to actually consolidate, collaborate, and confederate the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region into a technocratic confederation. These USVI islands are among the “best addresses on the planet” …

… and yet, the residents, leaders and stakeholders cannot seem to provide proper stewardship for managing the affairs of these islands.

This theme – remediating and mitigating the failures in Caribbean island life – aligns with previous commentaries from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean; see this sample list here as it relates to the US Virgin Islands; (but truth be told, there is application for the British Virgin Islands as well):

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13995 Island life is hard – The need for Congressional Interstate Compacts
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12959 Island life is hard – America Should Scrap the ‘Jones Act’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10771 Island life is hard – The need for Logical Addresses
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6867 Island life is hard – How to address high consumer prices
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4551 Island life is hard – Between a ‘rock and a hard place’

The Virgin Islands, the youngest American colony, are among the most beautiful places on the planet – it is paradise. See the VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Almanac: The U.S. Virgin Islands – https://cbsn.ws/2JSVJi7

CBS News – Posted March 31, 2019 – On March 31, 1917 the U.S. took possession of St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix and about 50 other smaller Caribbean islands, which they purchased from Denmark for $25 million. Jane Pauley reports.

But this paradise is the flora and fauna; the societal engines, on the other hand, need some work.  As related in the previous blog-commentary in this series, Puerto Rico suffers from the same fate as the Virgin Islands – “island life is hard”. So there needs to be a roadmap to reform and transform all “island life”.

Way Forward
This commentary continues the consideration on the Way Forward for Caribbean islands – for the Virgin Islands – and the rest of the Caribbean. This territory here is in dire straits, near-Failed-State status. Yet, the movement behind the Go Lean book asserts that any crisis can be useful, as an excuse to forge change. It is high time to change/elevate the societal engines of the Virgin Islands. This is entry 2-of-3 for this April 2019 series of commentaries related to the Way Forward for Caribbean member-states. The full series is presented as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: ‘Solutions White Paper’ – An Inadequate Plan for the Bahamas

This series posits that “no man is an island”; or that “no island is an island”; that these Caribbean island-states need to come together, collaborate, cooperate, convene, and confederate for a better stewardship for the full region.

Yes, we can…

The Go Lean movement presents the strategies, tactics and implementations to make the US Virgin Islands – as part of the full US Territories – a better homeland to live, work and play. The book identify these main points, as follows (Page 244):

10 Ways to Impact US Territories

  1. Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME) initiative: Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU).
  2. Trading Partners based on Nature not Politics
  3. Disaster Preparation & Response
  4. Dual Currency
  5. Emigration Circuit Breaker
  6. Homeland Security Pact – NATO style
  7. Intelligence Gathering
  8. Cruise Line Collective Bargaining
  9. Transportation / Turnpike Hub & Spokes
  10. Spanish Integration – Reversal of European Imperialistic Maneuvers

Yes, it is conceivable, believable and achievable that with the proper guidance, “blood, sweat and tears”, this island chain can in fact actualize to be one of the greatest addresses on the planet.

Enough already! This is the Way Forward! It is now past time to lean-in to this roadmap to reform and transform our homeland. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Share this post:
,
[Top]

Way Forward – Puerto Rico: Learns its status with America

Posted on April 3, 2019 in Ethos, Locations, Planning, Social

Go Lean Commentary

You love America.
But does “she” love you back?

This is the reality of unrequited love. The people of the island of Puerto Rico love America – they give blood, sweat and tears. But America does not always love the island back. This has always been evident and obvious, but now even more so after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017 and the US Federal Government lackluster response. Puerto Ricans, on the island and in the Diaspora, must accept that they are treated as the “ugly step-child”.

Today, we learn that the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, is now vocalizing that there is a fast approaching limit for gratitude towards Puerto Rico. See that story here:

VIDEO – Puerto Rico’s governor sending warning to Trump – https://news.yahoo.com/puerto-ricos-governor-sending-warning-175145864.html

CNN – Posted March 28, 2019 – “If the bully gets close, I’ll punch the bully in the mouth,” Rosselló said when asked about a tense meeting Wednesday between members of the Trump administration and Puerto Rican officials. “It would be a mistake to confuse courtesy with [lack of] courage.”

———–

Title: Puerto Rico’s governor warns Trump: ‘If the bully gets close, I’ll punch the bully in the mouth’
By: David Knowles
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is through playing nice with President Trump.

After months of soft-pedaling his criticism of the president as Puerto Rico struggles to recover from Hurricane Maria in 2017, Rosselló voiced his frustration with the White House in a Thursday interview with CNN.

    “If the bully gets close, I’ll punch the bully in the mouth,” Rosselló said when asked about a tense meeting Wednesday between members of the Trump administration and Puerto Rican officials. “It would be a mistake to confuse courtesy with [lack of] courage.”

The Washington meeting — which was attended by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and members of Rosselló’s government — was requested after reports that Trump was considering halting further disaster relief to the beleaguered U.S. territory.

In a Wednesday meeting with Senate Republicans, Trump said the amount of aid Puerto Rico had so far received “is way out of proportion to what Texas and Florida and others have gotten,” according to Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who attended the meeting.

Though it has already slashed benefits, Puerto Rico faces a $600 million shortfall to administer food stamps. So far the U.S. government has spent more than $6 billion on disaster relief to Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which was blamed for killing more than 3,000 people. In June, Texas received $5 billion in federal aid for housing and infrastructure repairs stemming from Hurricane Harvey, which left 103 people dead.

Rosselló, who avoided criticizing Trump in a 2018 interview with Yahoo News, lashed out at the president over his latest reported comments.

“He treats us as second-class citizens, that’s for sure,” Rosselló told CNN. “And my consideration is I just want the opportunity to explain to him why the data and information he’s getting is wrong. I don’t think getting into a kicking and screaming match with the president does any good. I don’t think anyone can beat the president in a kicking and screaming match. What I am aiming to do is make sure reason prevails, that empathy prevails, that equality prevails and that we can have a discussion.”

Trump, whose administration’s response to Maria was criticized as inadequate, has long been seen as reluctant to offer aid to Puerto Rico. In October the president again signaled his disapproval of giving aid that might be used to help alleviate the financial distress the island was experiencing even before Maria hit.

Source: Posted March 28, 2019; retrieved March 29, 2019 from: https://news.yahoo.com/puerto-ricos-governor-warns-trump-if-the-bully-gets-close-ill-punch-the-bully-in-the-mouth-162447705.html?.tsrc=notification-brknews

There is no love for Puerto Rico … within their American eco-system.

This theme aligns with previous commentaries from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15012 In Life or Death: No Love for Puerto Rico
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14101 ‘We Are The World’ Style Campaign to Help Puerto Rico
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13391 After Maria, Failed-State Indicators: Destruction and Defection for PR
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11647 Righting a Wrong: Puerto Rico’s Bankruptcy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7963 ‘Like a Good Neighbor’ – Being there for Puerto Rico
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6260 Puerto Rico Bondholders Coalition Launches Ad Campaign
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=599 Ailing Puerto Rico open to radical economic fixes

As related in this previous blog-commentary, Puerto Rico devotes more human capital – and sacrifice – to US military endeavors than any other state or territories per capita.

Never kill yourself for people who are willing to watch you die.

Way Forward
This consideration brings to mind, an overall discussion of the Way Forward for this country – Puerto Rico – and all Caribbean countries. Our current disposition is dire, a crisis, near-Failed-State status. Yet, the movement behind the Go Lean book posits that a “crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. Here for April 2019, we present a full series of commentaries related to the Way Forward for these 30 Caribbean member-states. The full series is presented as follows:

  1. Way Forward: Puerto Rico learns its “status” with America.
  2. Way Forward: Virgin Islands – America’s youngest colony
  3. Way Forward: ‘Solutions White Paper’ – An Inadequate Plan for the Bahamas

In this series – incomplete as of this date, many other national plans will follow – reference is made to the need for a more comprehensive roadmap for elevating the societal engines of Caribbean communities. Of all the plans out there, this – roadmap presented in Go Lean…Caribbean – is the only one that double-downs on the prospect of regional interdependence.

No man is an island; no island is an island.

Considering entry 1 of 3 of this series for April, what should be the Way Forward for Puerto Rico?

There are 3 options that have been detailed by this Go Lean movement. Here, again, with references to updated information:

Whatever the selection by the people of Puerto Rico – it should be their choice alone – the Go Lean movement still presents the strategies, tactics and implementations to make this island a better homeland to live, work and play. But, it is hardwork …

Actually, it is overdue work. It is the same “Growing Up“, “Managing Your Affairs“, “Taking Care of Business” that was always needed for this island nation.

Others (countries) have done “it” well – we can learn from them; i.e. consider the Iceland experience.

Some have done “it” bad – we must learn from that too; i.e. consider Republic of Venezuela.

With the proper guidance, blood, sweat and tears, it is conceivable, believable and achievable for this island to actualize and be recognized as one of the greatest address on the planet – not just some “ugly step-child”.  🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

————–

Appendix A – Florida lawmaker introduces bill to make Puerto Rico 51st State

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A Florida congressman and Puerto Rico’s non-voting representative in Congress have introduced a bill that seeks to make the U.S. territory the 51st state.

The Puerto Rico Admission Act of 2019, which is sponsored by Rep. Darren Soto, D-Florida, and Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González-Colón, would give the island statehood within 90 days of passage.

Our historic legislation will finally end over 120 years of colonialism and provide full rights and representation to over 3.2 million Americans.”

The legislation is partly in response to the Trump administration’s handling of Hurricane Maria relief efforts. According to reports, President Trump complained to Senate Republicans about the amount of disaster aid designated for Puerto Rico. He also asked why the island was given more money than some states affected by hurricanes.

“We have seen time and time again that colonial status is simply not working. Look no further than the abysmal Hurricane Maria recovery efforts and the draconian PROMESA law to prove this point all too well,” Soto added. “The Puerto Rican people have spoken. It’s time for Congress to finally make Puerto Rico a state!”

“From the day I was sworn in as Puerto Rico’s sole representative in Congress, and filed the Puerto Rico Admission Act, I stated very clearly that I would work different strategies, across all platforms to achieve the full equality for Puerto Rico, which can only be achieved through statehood, For more than a century the people of Puerto Rico have been U.S. citizens, but has been denied the right to vote for the President and members of Congress, leaving us without representation in the federal government, which enact the laws that rule the land. Democracy and equality for American citizens is an issue of justice and civil rights. Us, as American citizens, want to have the same benefits and duties, as all American citizens have in the states,” she continued.

Governor Ricardo Rossello was also in attendance and called on members of Congress to support the bill and “join in our quest to achieve equal treatment for the over 3 million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico.”

Source: Posted March 30, 2019; retrieved April 2, 2019 from: https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/florida-lawmaker-introduces-bill-to-make-puerto-rico-51st-state/1888575456

Share this post:
,
[Top]