Model – Page 41 – Go Lean…Caribbean

Tag: Model

Fake News? Welcome to America

Posted on December 19, 2016 in Ethos, Government, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

American media lives in a land of fantasy.

Consider these Fake News instances:

This is probably true of their news output because so many of the corporate structures that own non-fiction news operations also own fiction-based media operations. Consider these examples of same ownership:

Fox News	21st Century Fox Movie Studio
NBC News / CNBC / MSNBC	Universal Pictures
CBS News	Simon-Shuster Book Publishing
ABC News	Disney Studios; Pixar; Marvel Studios; LucasFilms; Touchstone Pictures
Cable News Network (CNN)	Warner Brothers Movie Studio

No doubt, this fact – knowing where the bread is buttered – contributes to the duality and duplicity of these corporate citizens.

Now there is a new phenomenon in the world of media duality and duplicity: Fake News.

This is more malicious than initial appearances. See/hear the full story here in this Podcast and the subsequent VIDEO:

Title: How Fake News Spreads & Why People Believe It

Published December 14, 2016 – Buzzfeed News’ media editor, Craig Silverman, dissects how false stories during the presidential campaign were spread on Facebook and monetized by Google Ad Sense. Also, critic at-large John Powers shares six things he loved this year that he didn’t get around to reviewing.

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VIDEO – The onslaught of fake news – http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-onslaught-of-fake-news/

Posted December 18, 2016 (9:53 minutes) – In these partisan, high-tech times, are the news stories we Americans read, see, and hear fact or fiction? Senior correspondent Ted Koppel examines the landscape of lies and slander disguised as news stories, spread via social media, that bear little relation to facts. (VIDEO plays best in Internet Explorer).

Fake News appear to just be another example of American Crony-Capitalism where they exploit the public good for private gain. Media has frequently been used to exploit the people. This commentary previously detailed the focus on fantasy as opposed to the vital facts of weather reporting.

Weather information is vital in different situations; think hurricanes. But news and information is vital everyday, rain or shine. So a situation where Fake News may thrive would be counterproductive to society. Many Americans — 62 percent to be exact — get some news from social media, according to the Pew Research Center. Of that group, 18 percent say they do so “often”.

This consideration aligns with the book Go Lean…Caribbean; this book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This empowerment effort represents a change for the region, calling on all 30 member-states in the region to confederate and provide their own solutions in the areas of economics, security and governance. News and information relates to all three areas. The CU/Go Lean roadmap has these prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion GDP and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to enhance public safety and protect the resultant economic engines against “bad actors”.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The new emergence of Fake News seems apropos for the American eco-system, where fame seems more important than facts and style more important than substance:

Fame or infamy, either one is preferable to being forgotten – Hollywood Actress Lauren Bacall – Go Lean book Page 194.

This is a time when the American eco-system appears to be dysfunctional and filled with bad intent. No wonder the American eco-system is transforming from industrial to consumer, with trade deficits with all the industrial giants in the world; think Germany, Japan, South Korea and China.

The Caribbean is looking, listening and learning from the American model. We do NOT want to follow suit!

Yes, we want to develop our own social media – site: www.myCaribbean.gov – but with better rules for minimizing Fake News compared to the current American examples. Notice the mitigation now been deployed by Facebook & Google in the link here:

http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-google-crack-down-fake-news-advertising-n684101

The book Go Lean…Caribbean asserts that the Caribbean region must not allow the US to take the lead for our own nation-building, that American capitalistic interest tends to highjack policies intended for the Greater Good. This assessment is logical considering that the 2016 Presidential Election may have been a victim of this systemic disinformation. This is an issue of security.

This broken system in America does not have to be modeled in the Caribbean. Change has now come. The driver of this change is technology and globalization. The Go Lean roadmap provides turn-by-turn directions on how to forge this change in the region for a reboot of these Caribbean societal systems, including media institutions. This roadmap is thusly viewed as more than just a planning tool, pronouncing this point early in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 13) with this statement:

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.

The Go Lean book purports that the Caribbean can – and must – do better. The vision of the CU is a confederation of the 30 member-states of the Caribbean to do the heavy-lifting of optimizing economic-security-governing engines. The Go Lean book details the policies and other community ethos to adopt, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to elevate Caribbean society, and mandate a society based on truth:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy versus Public Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Whistleblower Protection	Page 23
Community Ethos – Light Up the Dark Places	Page 23
Community Ethos – Anti-Bullying and Mitigation	Page 23
Community Ethos – Intelligence Gathering	Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing	Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Agents of Change – Technology	Page 57
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Emergency Management – Notifications	Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Communications and Media Authority	Page 79
Implementation – Security Initiatives at Start-up	Page 103
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Impact Elections	Page 116
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008 – Lax Regulations	Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Governance	Page 169
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis	Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street	Page 201
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood – Media Industrial Complex	Page 220

The foregoing Audio-Podcast and VIDEO relate the serious concern for Caribbean planners. While the US is the world’s largest Single Market economy, we want to only model some of the American example. We would rather foster a business climate to benefit the Greater Good, not just some special interest group.

There are many Go Lean blog commentaries that have echoed this point, addressing the subject of the Caribbean avoiding American consequences. See sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9648	Bad American Model – Public Schools for Black-and-Brown
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9646	Bad American Model – American Vices. Don’t Follow!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9626	Bad American Model – Marginalizing Our Vote
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9038	Charity Management: The Need for Self-Rule
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6893	American Meteorologists Views On Climate Change
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5482	American For-Profit Education: Plenty of Profit; Little Education
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4076	American Media Fantasies -vs- Weather Realities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2338	How Caribbean can Mitigate the Dreaded ‘Plutocracy’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2259	The Criminalization of American Business
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1143	Health-care fraud in America; Criminals take $272 billion a year
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=273	10 Things We *Don’t* Want from the US – American Self-Interest Policies

The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that many problems of the region are too big for any one member-state to solve alone, but that we do not need American leadership, rather instead, we need the technocracy of the CU Trade Federation. The purpose this roadmap is to make our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work, and play. Fake News does not fit into that vision, though it is inevitable if we allow online media to be molded by the American example. We do not want to be America; we want to be better.

We also do not want China’s internet policing models; this is too restrictive and too little regard for the freedom of the press. We want the provisions and benefits as described in the Go Lean book. This posits that to succeed as a society, and to succeed in our regional deployment of social media, the Caribbean must not only consume, but must also create, produce, and distribute intellectual property products and services. We need to be motivated for the Greater Good.

We do need regional oversight and regulation … for our airwaves and broadband networks, but not too heavy and not too light.

May this bad history of Fake News in America in 2016 be a cautionary tale for the Caribbean. A tale of how not to proceed.

Lesson learned! 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Crony-Capitalism, Model, New Media, Power, Transform

Caribbean Roots: Sammy Davis, Jr.

Posted on December 8, 2016 in Ethos, Industries, Social

Go Lean Commentary

The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean recognizes the significance of this day, December 8th as the 91st birthday of the late great American entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr..

The Go Lean book identifies that music and the arts can greatly impact society; in addition to the entertainment value, there is also image, impression and advocacy – music can move people to change. People can override many false precepts with excellent deliveries and contributions of great role models, despite any handicaps.

“Talk about handicap. I’m a one-eyed Negro Jew.” – Sammy Davis Jr. Quote

Here’s a little known Black History fact:

The mother of Sammy Davis Jr., Elvera Sanchez, was an Afro-Cuban tap dancer.^[A]

So this great American entertainer actually had Caribbean roots. Wow! See the encyclopedic details here:

Title: Elvera Sanchez
Elvera Sanchez (September 1, 1905 – September 2, 2000) was an American dancer and the mother of Sammy Davis Jr..

During his lifetime, Davis Jr. stated that his mother was Puerto Rican and born in San Juan; however, in the 2003 biography In Black and White, author Wil Haygood wrote that Davis’ mother was born in New York City, of Afro-Cuban descent, and that Davis claimed she was Puerto Rican because he feared anti-Cuban backlash would hurt his record sales.
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Title: Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George “Sammy” Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American entertainer. Primarily a dancer and singer, he was also an actor of stage and screen, comedian, musician, and impressionist, noted for his impersonations of actors, musicians and other celebrities. At the age of 3, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father and Will Mastin as the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally. After military service, Davis returned to the trio. Davis became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro’s (in West Hollywood) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, he lost his left eye in a car accident, and several years later, he converted to Judaism.

Davis’s film career began as a child in 1933. In 1960, he appeared in the Rat Pack film Ocean’s 11. After a starring role on Broadway in 1956’s Mr Wonderful, he returned to the stage in 1964’s Golden Boy. In 1966 he had his own TV variety show, titled The Sammy Davis Jr. Show. Davis’s career slowed in the late 1960s, but he had a hit record with “The Candy Man” in 1972 and became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the nickname “Mister Show Business”.

Davis was a victim of racism throughout his life, particularly during the pre-Civil Rights era, and was a large financial supporter of the Civil Rights movement. Davis had a complex relationship with the black community, and drew criticism after physically embracing President Richard Nixon in 1972. One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. “Handicap?” he asked. “Talk about handicap. I’m a one-eyed Negro Jew.” This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography, and in countless articles.

After reuniting with Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally, before he died of throat cancer in 1990. He died in debt to the Internal Revenue Service,[9] and his estate was the subject of legal battles.

Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his television performances. He was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 1987, and in 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Source: Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia – Retrieved December 6, 2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Davis_Jr.

Though he died over 26 years ago, we still feel his impact. Sammy Davis Jr. was one of the most iconic characters in the American 20th Century. But his shadow spread across the entire African-descended world, not just America. He fomented and fostered a great image for African-descended entertainers. For this reason, the annual Soul Train Award for Best Entertainer of the Year has been renamed the Sammy Davis Jr. Award. (Soul Train refers to the weekly 1-hour TV program showcasing African-American Musicians and Dancers).

Since its inception in 1915, the American Civil Rights agency, the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP), campaigned to elevate the status and image of Black people in America and beyond. This “image” precept is also an important factor in the roadmap to elevate Caribbean society. So the Go Lean book details a plan to monitor for defamations against the Caribbean image; this includes recognition and appreciation for Caribbean achievement as well. As follows, this excerpt (Page 133) from Go Lean book highlights this “Image Quest”:

The majority of the Caribbean population descends from an African ancestry – a legacy of slavery from previous centuries. Despite the differences in nationality, culture and language, the image of the African Diaspora is all linked hand-in-hand. And thus, when Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali and Bob Marley impacted the world with their contributions, the reverberations were felt globally, not just in their homelands. It is hard for one segment of the black world to advance when other segments have a negative global image. This is exemplified with the election of Barack Obama as US President; his election was viewed as an ascent for the entire Black race.

Over 100 years ago, the NAACP came to understand the power and influence of the then new medium of film and added the mandate to their charter to confront the misuse of media to influence negative public attitudes toward race. … Today, the NAACP Hollywood Bureau continues to monitor the industry for offensive and defamatory images in film and television. It also sponsors the Image Awards Show to honor outstanding people of color in film, television, music, and literature, as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors.

Sammy Davis, Jr. was awarded the NAACP Image Award in 1989.

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This CU strives to advance Caribbean image and culture with these 3 prime directives:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance.

This roadmap recognizes that a prerequisite for advancing society is a change in the Caribbean community ethos. Early in the book, the contributions that culture (music, film, theater, dance and artistic expressions) can make is pronounced as an ethos for the entire region to embrace, (opening Declaration of Interdependence – DOI – Pages 15) with these statements:

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

Sammy Davis Jr. – an American of Caribbean descent – was the embodiment of all of these above values. He impacted the music, culture and image of African American in his country, and thusly impacted the Black image for the rest of the world. Like Caribbean musical icon, Bob Marley, Sammy Davis Jr. set a pathway for success for other generations of talented, inspirational and influential artists to follow. Other artists of Caribbean heritage are sure to emerge and “impact the world”. We are preparing for it, as specified in the same DOI – Page 13:

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

The CU represents the change that has come to the Caribbean. The people, institutions and governance of region are all urged to “lean-in” to this roadmap for change. We know it is important to highlight the positive contributions of Caribbean people, even their descendants and legacies.

We salute those ones from our past, people like Elvera Sanchez who left Cuba as a youth for opportunities in the world of entertainment. We know there are “new” Elvera Sanchez-types and “new” Sammy Davis-types throughout Caribbean member-states, waiting to be fostered. We salute them as our future.

The following list details the community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster future entertainers in the Caribbean:

Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Caribbean Vision	Page 45
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Patents & Copyrights	Page 78
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Culture Administration	Page 81
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Advocacy – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage Image	Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Hollywood	Page 203
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231

Sammy Davis, Jr. also impacted the world of politics and civil rights. See here:

Davis was a registered Democrat – [as most African Americans] – and supported John F. Kennedy’s 1960 election campaign as well as Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 campaign.^[43]

However, he became a close friend to President Richard Nixon and publicly endorsed him at the 1972 Republican National Convention.^[43]Davis also made a USO tour to South Vietnam – during the Vietnam War – at Nixon’s request. Previously, Davis had won Nixon’s respect with his participation in the Civil Rights Movement. Nixon invited Davis and his wife, Altovise, to sleep in the White House in 1973, the first time African Americans were invited to do so. The Davises spent the night in the Queens’ Bedroom.^[44]

Davis was a long-time donor to the Reverend Jesse Jackson‘s Operation PUSH organization. Jackson also performed Davis’s wedding.^[45]

Sammy Davis Jr. came, saw and conquered! He fit the definition of a role model, where he overcame obstacles and made an impact to benefit more than just himself.

“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.”^[B] – Booker T Washington.

Previously, this blog-commentary identified other role models in these submissions:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8724	Remembering Marcus Garvey: A Role Model; Still Relevant Today
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8495	NBA Greatness and Caribbean Roots: Tim Duncan Retires
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8328	YouTube Role Model with Caribbean Roots: ‘Tipsy Bartender’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7682	Frederick Douglass: Role Model for a Single Cause
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6593	Dr. Mobley – Role Model as a Business School Dean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2726	Caribbean Role Model – Oscar De La Renta – RIP
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2297	Role Models in Contrast: Booker T Washington versus W.E.B. Du Bois
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1037	Role Model and Humanities Advocate – Maya Angelou – R.I.P.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=866	Caribbean Musical Icon and Role Model: Bob Marley

The world is a better place because of Sammy Davis Jr. being born on this day in 1925. Thank you “Candy Man” for all the love you showed for your craft, your country and your people. See the VIDEO here of his 1987 Kennedy Center Induction:

VIDEO – Sammy Davis, JR. “Honoree” – 10th Kennedy Center Honors, 1987 – https://youtu.be/ii3XpjCOlXo

Published on Jan 20, 2015 – LUCILLE BALL introduces honoree SAMMY DAVIS, JR. Excellent performances for Sammy by RAY CHARLES “Birth Of The Blues” & tap dancers, in order of appearance onto stage: 1 & 2) The NICOLAS BROTHERS (HAROLD & FAYARD), 3) CHUCK GREEN, 4) JIMMY SLYDE, and 5) ‘SANDMAN’ SIMS.

We carry on without Sammy Davis Jr., but we are better off for his role model and forever impacted by his legacy. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Appendix Reference A

“Elvera Sanchez Davis, obituary, September 8, 2000”. The New York Times. September 8, 2000. Retrieved September 18, 2009.

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Appendix Reference B

Harlan, Louis R (1972), Booker T. Washington: volume 1: The Making of a Black Leader, 1856–1901. The major scholarly biography.

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Arts, Civil Rights, Diaspora, Model, Music, Obituary

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Art Walk – Its a ‘Real Thing’ in Wynwood

Posted on December 4, 2016 in Economics, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Forget the theory, this is real …

… the arts are empowering the economy in the Miami District of Wynwood. This can be measured … by “boots on the ground” and in dollars and cents.

Though we have been reporting that “the community rallies around the arts creating a unique energy; and art ‘dynamises’ the community, in a very unique way”, this was hard to visualize in practice. And then … we made a visit to Wynwood during Art Basel Art Week 2016 and wow! We felt the energy; see here in the following VIDEO:

VIDEO – CU Blog – Art Walk – It’s a Real Thing in Wynwood – https://youtu.be/iwuMUUFuXvs

Published on Dec 4, 2016 – Art Week 2016: “The community rallies around the arts creating a unique energy; and art ‘dynamises’ the community, in a very unique way”.

This commentary completes the 3-part series on the power of the visual arts. The series depicts how the arts can forge change in a community, where it can be an effective messaging tool to convey many important points. In the Caribbean, we need the type of transformation that can come from this power. The full entries in the series are as follows:

Forging Change: Arts & Artists
ENCORE: Art Basel 2016 – A Testament to the Business of the Arts
Art Walk – Its a Real Thing in Wynwood

This commentary goes further, conveying that there is also a good business model in the arts. This blog considers the model of a Miami-based company, branded WynwoodArtWalk.com. They promote the arts in this one district, and transact in the aligning tourism trade:

Website Title: Wynwood Art Walk
About WynwoodArtWalk.com

“Wynwood Art Walk” is a tour company providing art tours in the Wynwood Art District. We advertise tours for groups but also provide customized private tours per request. Furthermore, we seek to support the Wynwood art community through our art directory and through banner advertisement space, our blog, and our community page.

WynwoodArtWalk.com has also an online directory showcasing art institutions operating within Wynwood. Wynwood is a section of Miami just north of Downtown, south of the Design District, east of I-95, and west of Biscayne Boulevard. There are currently over 60 art galleries, art complexes and art collection in Wynwood. Wynwood Art Guide provides advertising to institutions that exhibit/promote contemporary visual art (paintings, sculptures, installations, photography, multimedia, ceramics, etc.) in Wynwood. Advertising is available through the use of banners. Companies servicing the arts (eg. art dealers, framing companies, art supply sellers, etc.) are welcome to advertise through the use of banners exclusively.
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General Area

The main area of the Wynwood Art Walk is between 20 St & 36 St and from NW 2nd Ave to NE 2nd Ave. Prime hours are between 7pm and 11pm. Parking is best before 7pm.

The food trucks are located in a field on the corner of NW 23 St & NW 2nd Ave. Great food and drinks!
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History
Wynwood – originally spelled Wyndwood – is an old inner city neighborhood of Miami surrounded by Edgewater, Overtown, Liberty City… Wynwood was built as a working class residential neighborhood, connected to the Garment District just south of it. It attracted manufacturers from New York and elsewhere and retained some jobs, fueled by immigrant labor, but struggled against competition from cheap labor overseas. According to a different source, in the fifties, it was a white neighborhood of professionals, but a remembrance on History Miami’s website indicates that Cuban immigrants were moving into the neighborhood in the early sixties.
Source: Tour Company Website – Retrieved 12-03-2016 from: http://wynwoodartwalk.com/wynwood-art/

This commentary – from the publishers of the book Go Lean … Caribbean – is trying to forge change in the Caribbean region and advocate that the arts can be a great tool-tactic for societal elevation. As previously related “…there’s a transformative power to the arts”.

This commentary is urging Caribbean stakeholders to explore the production of artists and the effect their art can have on society. Considering that tourism is the primary industry in the entire Caribbean, there are a lot of benefits to examining the business model of the Wynwood Art District. Imagine an array of murals in Caribbean port cities – for our Cruise tourism. Imagine too, the “Walking Tours”, Art Galleries and Art Sales. Notice the manifestation of this plan in the photos here from the Art Walk (Tour) in Wynwood:

Feel the energy! Excitement enough?

Local media has often reported on the huge economic impact of Art Basel and Wynwood; see the links here to full stories:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article45702225.html – Art Basel has been great for Miami, CEOs agree (Miami Herald Newspaper; November 20, 2015).

http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2015/06/22/tristar-capital-turns-huge-profit-on-13m-sale.html – TriStar Capital turns huge profit on $13M sale in Miami’s Wynwood (South Florida Business Journal; Jun 22, 2015).

https://theculturetrip.com/north-america/usa/florida/articles/miami-culture-guide-wynwood-s-10-must-visit-art-galleries/ – Culture Trip Web Portal (Retrieved Dec 4, 2016).

Count the profits! Commerce enough?

This commentary confirms that there is energy and money in the visual arts, whether it is murals or graffiti, (commissioned street art). While the messaging of the visual arts can be impactful, visual expressions can depict imagery and tales – fact or fiction; artists often “use fiction to tell the truth” – the business elements of the arts can be even more impactful. The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is set to elevate Caribbean society through empowerments for the economic, security and governing engines in society. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

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

The Go Lean book posits that the genius qualifier to excel in the arts should be identified early in Caribbean youth and then their development should be fostered up to adulthood. The book thereafter details the mechanics of incubating a business climate for this and all areas of culture. This quest is detailed as an advocacy in the book (Page 230) as:

10 Ways to Improve the Arts

1. Emergence of the Caribbean Union	Embrace the advent of the CariCom Single Market Initiative and the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. This will allow for the unification of the region into a single market of 42 million people. This size supports the proliferation of ‘art’ (visual/fine, music, performance & film) as an industry. The CU will promote the art exhibition eco-system – allowing marketplaces for artists to congregate and monetize their talents. Structures will also be deployed for media companies to monetize film & performance art. The CU will facilitate the marketing of travelling exhibitions, and touring companies of stage productions. For the region, art can be a business enabler, and expressions for civic pride and national identity.
2. CU Administered Museums	Modeled after the Smithsonian, the CU “mother” (first-tier) museums will be placed in the Capital District. There will also be “child” museums scattered through out the regions with touring exhibitions.
3. Art, Music & Film Festival Tourism	CU promoted events, utilizing the CU-owned fairgrounds, to encourage the development and advancement in artistic expressions. These events will be aimed at the foreign markets (US, Canada, Europe, Central and South America) so as to generate tourism traffic. The artists may be domestic but also foreign and world class performers. (Event examples include New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Art Deco in Miami, Cannes Film Festival, and Taos, New Mexico).
4. Fairgrounds as Arena and Theater Districts	The CU Fairgrounds will fund, build and maintain civic arenas and theaters in local market Enterprise Zones. The designated areas fomented under the CU will qualify for tax (sales, property and income tax rebates) and economic incentives (low interest loans and grants) and stimuli (advertising and event promotions), empowering event tourism.
5. Electronic Payment Models	The CU Central Bank will arrange for settlement of electronic payments transactions allowing electronic commerce to flourish in the region. Then music, film and other media can be paid for and downloaded legally from the internet.
6. Respect for Intellectual Property	Any institutional disregard for the intellectual property of books, music, films and media will be severely prosecuted. The CU will also recognized and enforce the copyrights of other countries and work to have international markets respects the intellectual property rights of Caribbean artists. (This is a feature the of the Trade SHIELD principles defined in Appendix D (Page 264)). This effort requires close collaboration with criminal (Interpol) and civic enforcement agencies (ASCAP/BMI, MPAA). The end result would be that local/regional artists can make a “living” from their recorded works.
7. Art in Public Places	The CU will spur initiatives to incentivize and directly commission artist to exhibit their creations (paintings, murals, sculptures, etc.) in public edifices. This will encourage national-state public-private deployments of themed sculptures like Bahamian Conch Shells, Barbados Flying Fish and Puerto Rico Tree Frogs. These can be modeled after US city examples, like “Painted” Bulls in Chicago, Mustangs in Denver, and Guitars in Nashville.
8. Performing & Fine Arts Schools	A hybrid “Charter” school concept promotes the development and advancement in specific performing and fine arts while not forsaking the basic educational requirements. Similar to the secondary school (NYC Performing Arts) featured in the movie “Fame”. On the tertiary level, the CU will provide scholarships and endowments for programs in the Arts.
9. Agency for Public Broadcasting and National Touring Companies	These public-private agencies will be chartered to produce and promote world class artistic companies (adult and youth) for Opera, Ballet, Modern Dance, Symphonic and Philharmonic Orchestras, despite whether they are popular or highly rated. The Arts must always be promoted as a necessary expression of a civilized society, despite profit or public acceptance. Likewise, a CU agency for Public Broadcasting will manage the region’s media efforts to bring world class art to the people, (with SAP-style options for all four languages) without considering popularity.
10. Professional Agents and Artists Management Oversight	The CU will regulate, at the Cabinet level, and license the industry of Artists Agents/Managers, even though the artists can elect their own Agents & Managers. This management oversight is to be modeled after State Bars for lawyers. (This model is used for Sports Agents also).

While the Go Lean book relates (Page 291) the historicity of the pro-artist community in Taos, New Mexico, we now see a similar local model in Miami’s Wynwood District – a location with more Caribbean infusion. This Wynwood experience in particular and Art Basel Art Week in general is reinforcing that “art can drive” the economics, security and governance of a community.

While not everyone will be gifted artists, everyone can benefit from the accentuation of the arts and artists. So we should all work to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play by fostering the genius ability in Caribbean citizens. This is presented in the book as a “community ethos”:

“the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a society; dominant assumptions of a people”. – (Page 20)

The Go Lean book presented the roadmap to imbrue the Caribbean region with new community ethos, plus new strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies to foster the business climate for the arts. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Minority Equalization	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds – Covering Urban Decay with Art	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Celebrate the Music, Sports, Art and Culture of the Caribbean	Page 46
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Agencies versus Member-State Governments	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – National/Federal Museum in the Capital District	Page 110
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events	Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cruise Tourism	Page 193
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage – The business of fostering local culture	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231
Appendix D – Trade SHIELD Principles	Page 264
Appendix M – Taos Art Colony – New Mexico‘s Landmark	Page 291
Appendix W – Mediating as French Culture and Economics Collide	Page 311

The empowerments in the Go Lean book calls for the elevation of the arts as a permanent change. We want our youth to put their hopes and dreams in a Caribbean future, especially our youth who prove to be gifted in the arts. From the outset, the book recognized the significance of successfully fostering the arts with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 14):

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

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

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to foster the eco-system for the business of the arts. This quest has been addressed in many previous Go Lean commentaries; see sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9151	The New Smithsonian African-American Museum
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4145	The African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal, Africa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3292	Art Basel Miami – a Testament to the Spread of Art & Culture
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2415	How ‘The Lion King’ roared into Show-Business history

We can do our own “Wynwood” in the Caribbean. We have the artists and the talent waiting to be fostered. Let’s develop the business environment locally to fully explore the opportunities from the arts – the region should commission artists to paint murals.

We can do this; we can forge change here at home. This Go Lean roadmap is conceivable, believable and achievable. We can make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Forging Change: Arts & Artists

Posted on December 1, 2016 in Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Hell on Earth.

There are a few destinations that can be assigned that designation right now; the country of South Sudan is perhaps one of the most prominent. (Other candidates include ISIS-controlled Syria and the hurricane-ravaged Caribbean member-state of Haiti).

So what’s happening in South Sudan?

South Sudan became the world’s newest nation in July 2011. But in December 2013, fighting between rebel militia and the government escalated into a civil war.

With several thousand killed and over a million people displaced by violence, South Sudan is facing a looming famine and is at high risk of genocide and mass atrocities. – United to End Genocide

How to forge change in an environment like South Sudan? Ouch!

Will it be a military solution, diplomatic, humanitarian, religious campaign? So many approaches and yet the failures persist.

This is heavy-lifting! One approach being considered is through the arts.

This commentary is part 1 of 3 in a series on the power of the visual arts. The series depicts how the arts can forge change in a community, where it can be an effective messaging tool to convey many important points. Africa needs this power; so too the Caribbean. Both regions need the type of transformation that can come from the power of the arts. The full entries in the series are as follows:

Forging Change: Arts & Artists
ENCORE: Art Basel 2016 – A Testament to the Business of the Arts
Art Walk – Its a Real Thing in Wynwood

Consider the details of the effort in South Sudan in the VIDEO and news story here:

VIDEO – South Sudanese artists call for end to violence through art – https://youtu.be/YMYPitDuayU

Published on Mar 15, 2016 – South Sudanese artists are calling for an end to violence in the world’s youngest nation, through works of art. Painters, designers and poets have been holding an exhibition in Juba aiming to remind leaders of South Sudan of the suffering in the country. The artists also call on their leaders to empower women and young people in society and ensure their active participation in the peace process.
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Title: South Sudan Artists Protest Civil War With Peace Campaign
JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN — Musicians played lively tunes in South Sudan’s capital, and pedestrians and market shoppers watched the impromptu concert with curiosity. A soldier in desert camouflage walked around, surveying the scene.

As the drumming grew more insistent, the audience stood silent and motionless seemingly afraid to join the fun. Then the soldier started to breakdance.

That broke the ice and women swayed to the beat. Soon children and adults were dancing, enjoying a rare respite from South Sudan’s festering conflict.

For many in South Sudan, the arts have become a rare haven of peace in a young country that has known little but civil war. A group of artists are campaigning for peace, with pop-up street performances and murals across the capital, Juba. The activists have taken the name Ana Taban, or “I am tired,” in Arabic.

“We are tired of this, the constant fear, the war,” said Manas Mathiang, 32, a musician and artist who leads the movement.

Recently Mathiang met with nearly 30 artists who are part of Ana Taban. Members come from many of South Sudan’s main tribes. They say ethnicity has never been an issue, and they invite other artists “regardless of where they come from.”

The group has painted vibrant murals in Juba like one near the airport, a sky-blue wall depicting athletes, religious leaders and doctors under the slogan “Let us all do our part.” The artists also stage skits in street markets to promote reconciliation.

Ana Taban was started after fighting in Juba killed hundreds of people in July. A group of South Sudanese artists who had taken refuge in Kenya came together to create the movement. When it was safe to return to the capital, they brought home the campaign for peace.

Transcending tribe and politics, the artists use their work to try to unify South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, which won independence from Sudan in 2011. But then civil war broke out two years later, and tens of thousands have been killed amid concerns of ethnic violence.

A longing for an end to the fighting can be found in the country’s art and music. Some of the most popular songs on the radio are reggae because their lyrics of peace can be easily understood, said a local DJ, Daniel Danis.

Another member of Ana Taban, Deng Forbes, proudly held up his favorite work, a drawing of a child crying in the shape of a map of South Sudan.

“My people are diverse, 64 tribes,” Forbes said. “Art is a universal language, it’s a simple language.”

In some ways, South Sudan’s arts scene is like that in other countries, clustered in an offbeat section of the capital. Good equipment is rare. Artists say it is difficult to make money from their work. Feuds are common.

But much of South Sudan’s art is focused on the country’s political tensions.

Lual D’Awol, a popular rapper who appeared in an Ana Taban music video, said his songs about the lack of electricity and running water are banned from the radio by the government.

“It’s telling the truth that citizens of South Sudan feel, and I feel like I have to paint that picture and give a message that is genuinely happening,” D’Awol said.

Elsewhere in the capital, a nighttime concert a few weeks ago brought a rare feeling of ease. On a soccer field, roughly 1,000 South Sudanese danced and sang into the night, some climbing onto brick barriers for a better view.

On a makeshift stage, young women danced with men wearing the colors of South Sudan’s flag, members of the dancing troupe Sonzwgi, which roughly translates to “storytelling.”

The dance is a mashup of elements from different tribes across the country, said the group’s leader, Emmanuel Aban, saying it was choreographed to foster togetherness.

As Sonzwgi performed, women ran to the stage and danced, and men laughed freely. Aban smiled, saying: “It’s a way to send a message to the people.”
Source: Associated Press / Voice of America – Posted November 25, 2016; retrieved 12-01-2016 from: http://www.voanews.com/a/south-sudan-artists-protest-civil-war-with-peace-campaign/3611357.html

This commentary – from the publishers of the book Go Lean … Caribbean – is NOT trying to forge change in South Sudan, nor Africa for that matter; (though we would be elated to see peace there). This commentary is trying to forge change in the Caribbean.

We have Failed and Failing-States too!

How will we forge this change? How will we transform our society? Perhaps that same “arts & artists” approach can work here. Accordingly …

“… the transformative power of art” – see VIDEO in Appendix B below.

The challenges and strategies for forging change have been identified in a series of previous Go Lean blog-commentaries over the past 2 years, this is the eighth submission. These were presented as follows, in reverse chronological order:

Forging Change – Arts & Artists (Today)
Forging Change – Panem et Circenses (November 15, 2016)
Forging Change – Herd Mentality (October 11, 2016)
Forging Change – ‘Something To Lose’ (November 18, 2015)
Forging Change – ‘Food’ for Thought (April 29, 2015)
Forging Change – Music Moves People (December 30, 2014)
Forging Change – The Sales Process (December 22, 2014)
Forging Change – The Fun Theory (September 9, 2014)

This commentary is urging Caribbean stakeholders to allow the production of artists and their art to work on society. (Artists should be identified early and their development fostered up to adulthood). While the actual participants may only be a handful of artists, those with genius qualifiers in the arts, the impact can be great on the whole community. This is an expression of the Greater Good. This is defined in the Go Lean book (Page 37) by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832, a British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer) as …

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

While music is an art form, it is not the consideration in this commentary. Rather the focus is on the visual arts. Think murals and graffiti, rather make that commissioned street art. These visual expressions can depict imagery and tales – fact or fiction. At times the fiction may just be portraying the ideal … the preferred landscape that would benefit the people. Artists often “use fiction to tell the truth”; see this point portrayed in the VIDEO in Appendix C. This is “art imitating life”!

The mechanics of “arts & artists” being used as a Change-Agent are already in place; there is an eco-system for the arts in the Caribbean, other than music or festivals, it is downplayed and subliminal, but there nonetheless. The quest in the Go Lean roadmap is to do more than just subliminal. This was detailed as an advocacy in the book (Page 230) as:

10 Ways to Improve the Arts

That advocacy detailed the Business Model of Art Galleries, as follows here:

A contemporary art gallery, where contemporary art is shown for exhibition and/or for sale, is commercial or privately funded and usually has a second-tier status positioned between the first-tier status of a national, state-run or corporate museum, and the third-tier of minor galleries which include artist-run galleries, retail galleries, and artist’s co-operatives.

Commercial galleries are for-profit, privately owned businesses dealing in artworks by contemporary artists. Galleries run for the public good by cities, churches, art collectives, not-for-profit organizations, and local or national governments are usually termed Non-Profit Galleries. Many of these are arranged around a Trust or estate. Lastly, galleries run directly by artists may be temporary or otherwise different from the traditional gallery format. Contemporary art galleries are usually free and open to the public, however some are semi-private, more exclusive, and by appointment only. – sourced from Wikipedia.org.

Contemporary art galleries are often established together in urban centers, clustering for economic and practical reasons, mainly for the general public/buyers to view more art travelling by foot. This is the model of the Chelsea district in New York City, the center of the American contemporary art world. Other large urban areas have several art galleries, and most towns will be home to at least one. There are also successful models of small/remote locales attracting artist colonies [as in Taos, New Mexico].

In addition to the foregoing, the Go Lean book relates (Page 291) the historicity of Taos, New Mexico in the Southwest USA. This community is the most renown artist colony in the country. Art drives the economics, security and governance of that town.

The Go Lean book and movement presents this roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is set to optimize Caribbean society through economic, security and governing empowerments. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap has 3 prime directives:

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

The Go Lean/CU roadmap asserts that forging change in the Caribbean will be a hard, heavy-lift task and many alternate strategies – the 8 from above – may have to be engaged. Any one person – think artists – can make a difference and positively impact society; such a person can be a champion for our Caribbean cause. We can all work to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. Fostering the genius ability in Caribbean citizens is presented in the book (Page 27) as a community ethos.

The Go Lean book presented the roadmap to imbrue the Caribbean region with new community ethos, plus new strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies to execute to forge change in the region. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Minority Equalization	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds – Mitigating Urban Decay with Art	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Celebrate the Music, Sports, Art and Culture of the Caribbean	Page 46
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Agencies versus Member-State Governments	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – National/Federal Museum in the Capital District	Page 110
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Reasons Why the CU Will Succeed	Page 132
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security	Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications – Community Messaging	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231
Appendix – Taos Art Colony – New Mexico‘s Landmark	Page 291

The empowerments in the Go Lean book call for permanent change. This is possible. The people of the Caribbean want opportunities; they want peace & security and to be able to provide for their families. This is the expectation of anybody in any modern society.

The Go Lean roadmap offers the technocratic execution of these deliverables. Imagine identifying and fostering the genius abilities of artists and entertainers (singers, dancers, musicians, performers, etc.). The end-product of their genius may be a good time, and good impressions for all Caribbean stakeholders – residents and tourists alike. Art should not only mitigate ugly visuals (eye-sores), it can be a successful business model as well. From the outset, the book recognized the significance of successful models for the arts in this roadmap with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 13 & 14):

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

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

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to foster the eco-system for the business of the arts. The more lucrative the industry, the more participation from artists, the more impact the arts can have on society. This is a simple mission:

Forge change through the arts.

This quest – fostering the economic opportunities from artistic endeavors – has been addressed in many previous Go Lean commentaries; see sample here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9151	The New Smithsonian African-American Museum
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4145	The African Renaissance Monument in Dakar, Senegal, Africa
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3999	Sidney Poitier – ‘Breaking New Ground’ in the Art of Movie-making
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3292	Art Basel Miami – a Testament to the Spread of Art & Culture
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2726	Caribbean Role Model for the Arts/Fashion – Oscar De La Renta: RIP
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=866	Caribbean Musical Artist & Businessman: Bob Marley – The legend lives on!

Good luck to South Sudan and the rest of Africa for transforming their communities for peace. But let’s be successful in the Caribbean.

We can do this; we can forge change here. Our roadmap is conceivable, believable and achievable. We can make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Appendix VIDEO A – South Sudan – http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/12/ethnic-cleansing-south-sudan-161201042114805.html

Aljazeera December 1, 2016 – UN says South Sedan is on brink of catastrophe as ethnic violence rises.

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Appendix VIDEO B – Painting the town: Philly’s artful murals – https://youtu.be/OKemJytfNS0

Published on Jul 24, 2016 – Philadelphia has an iconic art museum but some of the city’s most impressive art is out on the street, thanks to the city’s mural program. Anthony Mason reports on how splashing some color on city streets has lifted the spirits of the community.
More info: Why Murals? | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios – https://youtu.be/TS1oPqP2qyY

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Appendix VIDEO C – V for Vendetta – Artists Use Lies (Fiction) to Reveal the Truth – https://youtu.be/oncINP0OORQ

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Alibaba Cloud stretches global reach with four new facilities

Posted on November 30, 2016 in Economics, Implementation, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

For hundreds of years, empires expanded their reach by establishing colonies on foreign shores. The book Go Lean … Caribbean chronicles (Page 307) the pushing-and-shoving between European powers in the development of the Caribbean. But in 1960, after the atrocities of World War II were inventoried – credited to the complexities of colonialism in World War I and the period between the wars, the United Nations made a declaration that colonialism needed to be disbanded:

The “Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples” was adopted by the UN General Assembly by resolution on 14 December 1960. Though some countries had already started their independence process (i.e. Ireland, Australia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, etc.), this resolution established the standard for all dependent countries – even small ones – to become autonomous. – Source: UN-Wikisource

This is now the 21st Century. While colonialism is not dead … entirely, there is a new brand of colonies for trade. Colonies have gone from the physical world to the virtual world, referring to cyber-space or online communities. Chinese trading market-place Alibaba is providing us a model of colonizing their digital footprint in foreign countries. See the story here of Alibaba’s deployment of 4 new data centers in a potpourri of countries:

BEIJING (Reuters) – Alibaba Cloud plans to open four new data facilities outside China, the cloud unit of Alibaba Holdings Ltd said on Monday, as it seeks to grab global market share from leading players Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft.

The data facilities in Dubai, Germany, Japan and Australia will extend the reach of China’s leading cloud computing service provider to every major continent, and marks the latest step in the unit’s $1 billion infrastructure investment drive.

Also known as Aliyun, the unit has flourished domestically thanks to Beijing’s strategic emphasis on building homegrown cloud technology, while foreign firms have grappled with stringent licensing restrictions in the country.

However, it accounts for a much smaller slice of the global market for cloud computing, defined as the storage of data on remote networks rather than local servers, which is expected to reach $135 billion by 2020, according to research firm Canalys.

Alibaba Cloud is forecast to take 7.8 percent of that market, while leading players Amazon.com Inc, Microsoft, International Business Machines Corp and Alphabet Inc are expected to account for 69.1 percent.

Yu Sicheng, general manager of Alibaba Cloud’s international business, said the unit’s strength in China was a significant advantage and a lynchpin in the company’s globalization plans.

“We have the U.S., Europe plus China, which is quite difficult,” he told Reuters in an interview.

The new additions bring Alibaba Cloud’s total number of foreign cloud facilities to eight, surpassing the six within China, though the majority of the company’s data volume remains squarely within China.

It will launch the data facilities through partnerships with Vodafone in Europe, Softbank Group Corp in Japan and YVOLV in Dubai, a joint venture between Alibaba Cloud and Meraas Holdings LLC.

Yu, however, declined to comment on when the unit will likely post a profit, even as it has seen six quarters of consecutive triple-digit growth, to become Alibaba’s fastest growing business sector.

“Our focus is to keep expanding our market leadership and presence and this is our priority for now,” he said.

(Corrects title of Alibaba Cloud executive Yu Sicheng)
(Reporting by Catherine Cadell; Editing by Stephen Coates)
Source: Yahoo News Source. Posted 11-21-2016; retrieved 11-28-2016 from: https://www.yahoo.com/news/alibaba-cloud-stretches-global-reach-four-facilities-061614009–finance.html?ref=gs

This commentary takes another look at colonialism; there is the need for a cyber footprint in countries where “you” may want to conduct online business – this is a feature of globalization. In the effort to deploy the Caribbean Postal Union (CPU) as a logistics solution for delivering modern commerce, this commentary takes another look at the Alibaba Group; a company that had previously been identified as an excellent role model for the CPU. (American company Amazon was also identified as a fitting role model).

The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) and the CPU. The book describes a business model for the CPU in facilitating electronic commerce in the region. But it presents this business model as heavy-lifting; there is the need for data centers to power the cyber-functions and applications for online & mobile commerce. The Go Lean roadmap describes the need for 6 data centers strategically placed across the Caribbean region; we want to colonize our own region, following a similar business model to Alibaba’s plans to deploy its colonies throughout the world – in these 4 foreign countries.

More dynamic data centers deployed in a foreign country would mean more business-to-business commerce, including features like web portals, online retail, mobile functionality, payment services, a shopping search engine and data-centric cloud computing services.

As detailed in the previous blog-commentary, Alibaba is not just a China focused company. They also have a Caribbean footprint. In September 2014, the company held an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the United States on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) – Ticker symbol “BABA.N” – looking to raise US$25 billion. The NYSE corporate entity is actually a shell corporation based in the Cayman Islands. So Alibaba extending their global business operations is actually benefiting a Caribbean corporate citizen.

The Go Lean roadmap (Page 106) presented an advocacy that described the trends in data center design and functionality; they are needed for the Cyber-Caribbean strategy. A trend depicted in the book is the Case Study of Hydrogen Fuel Cells as a reliable back-up power-battery source. This Case Study sets the stage for understanding Data Center trends:

Case Study – Bottom Line on Hydrogen Fuel Cells: A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity thru a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel. Hydrogen is not in and of itself an energy source, because it is not naturally occurring as a fuel. It is, however widely regarded as an ideal energy storage medium, due to the ease with which electric power can convert water into its hydrogen and oxygen components through electrolysis. Hydrogen technologies relate to the production and use of hydrogen. Hydrogen technologies are applicable for many uses. Some hydrogen technologies are carbon neutral and could have a role in preventing climate change and a possible future hydrogen economy. Fuel cells are different from batteries in that they require a constant source of fuel and oxygen/air to sustain the chemical reaction, they can however produce electricity continually for as long as these inputs are supplied.

There are a handful of US data center facilities that are powered either partially or fully by hydrogen fuel cells; see Appendix IG on Page 285.

The advocacy, branded 10 Trends in Implementing Data Centers, is detailed here:

1. Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME) initiative: Caribbean Union Trade Federation.	The CU treaty unifies the Caribbean region into one single market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, thereby empowering the economic engines in and on behalf of the region. The CU embraces the cutting, “bleeding” edge concepts, systems and methodologies for data centers and computer server farms, as in high density computing, facilitating the maximum computing power with the least about of space and power. The prerequisite for any serious data center deployment is power…stable, reliable electricity, with primary, secondary and tertiary solutions. The CU roadmap calls for deployment of a regional power grid, with above ground, underground & underwater cabling. Though data centers must launch now, power costs will be expected to decline with the grid; hydrogen fuel cells will fill the void..
2. Fiber-Optics / Pipeline	Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of communication. Fibers are used instead of metal wires because signals travel along them with less loss and are also immune to electromagnetic interference. The transparent fiber are made of high quality extruded glass, silica or plastic. The CU as a new Federation can apply a leap-frog approach to implement communication networks without having to contend with older methods or investments. Further the CU will embrace the strategy of installing elaborate pipelines thru out the region, enabling fiber-optics to traverse the network.
3. IP Convergence	Internet Protocol (IP) is now ubiquitous for data, voice, and video communications – they all operate on the same type of fiber. This indicates that data centers also function as telecom hubs – central switching offices are now bygones.
4. Cloud Computing	The CU will embrace cloud computing for many operational systems, thereby requiring optimal continuous processing. The roadmap calls for citizens to interact with their federal government via web portals, kiosks or phone contact centers.
5. High Availability (HA)	HA is a system design approach (hardware, software and networking) that ensures operational performance will be met, like parallel processing or mirroring. There are systems (i.e. hospitals, banking, electrical grid) that must maximize availability and minimize downtime. Recovery time or estimated time of repair is closely related to availability, optimizing the time to recover from planned or unplanned outages. A CU mission is to facilitate quick recoveries after hurricanes.
6. Colocation Data Centers	A colocation center (colo, or coloc) is a type of data center where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers. Colocation facilities provide space, power, cooling, and physical security for the server, storage, and networking equipment of other firms—and connect them to a variety of telecommunications and network service providers—with a minimum of cost and complexity. Colocation has become a popular option for companies as it allows the company to focus its IT staff on the actual work being done, instead of the logistical. Significant benefits of scale (large power and mechanical systems) result in large colocation facilities, typically 50,000 to 100,000 square feet.
7. Caves as Data Centers	There is a growing trend of building underground data bunkers. A market leader placed a coloc data center in a huge facility 220 feet underground in a limestone cave outside Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania. There are other limestone cave installations in places like Mammoth, Kentucky and Lenexa, Kansas. The advantage is cost savings, driven by cooling dynamics of an underground facility, where cooler temperature allows for saving money on air conditioning. The CU will identify limestone caverns, plentiful in the region, appropriate to construct data centers – the region needs 6 centers.
8. Storage Solutions – No need for humans	Old data center models needed people to load/unload data storage devices (tapes, disk drives). Now with the low costs of storage, the CU can implement storage libraries for primary and back-up purposes. Plus with tools/techniques like Deep Store archive systems [51], it allows for cost-efficient solutions for data/records that are rarely retrieved.
9. Security Issues	Modern data centers require minimal human interaction, therefore physical security tend to be very restrictive. In some firms, even the CEO is not allowed access. The CU will implement biometric systems like fingerprints and iris scanning.
10. Unified Command & Control	The data center may be void of humans, but there is still the need for many professional analysis, programmers and engineers. These are normally stationed in command centers to facilitate monitoring and cyber-security functions.

Is a discussion of data center trends appropriate for a societal elevation plan for the Caribbean? Absolutely! How the world has changed! The Go Lean book posits that this technology-tinged eco-system is a winning strategy for creating jobs here in the 21st Century. The book explains that Internet & Communications Technologies (ICT) can serve as an equalizing element in competition with the rest of the world. The roadmap projects that 64,000 new jobs – 20,000 Direct & 44,000 Indirect – can be created with this strategy. This strategy is among the keys for elevating Caribbean society. In fact the prime directives of the roadmap is identified with the following 3 statements:

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

The foregoing article and the quotation from the Go Lean book depicts a vision of a new Caribbean industrial landscape. This vision was defined early in the book (Page 14) in the opening Declaration of Interdependence:

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

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.

Beyond data centers, “where are the new jobs for the 21st Century”? This is a familiar question for the Go Lean movement (book and blogs). This question was examined in these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9751	Where the Jobs Are – Animation and Game Design
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9203	Where the Jobs Are – Employer Models in the United States
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6089	Where the Jobs Are – Futility of Minimum Wage
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2857	Where the Jobs Are – Entrepreneurism in Junk
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2126	Where the Jobs Are – Computers Reshaping Global Job Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2003	Where the Jobs Are – One Scenario: Ship-breaking
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1698	Where the Jobs Are – STEM Jobs Are Filling Slowly

ICT is a prominent feature of the Caribbean empowerment plan; creating a Caribbean Cloud is “Step One, Day One” in the Go Lean roadmap. This will facilitate electronic commerce and allow modern day colonies – data centers – in foreign countries.

The Go Lean book details a series of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to foster the best practices for Data Centers in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequence of Choice Lie in Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship – Incubators	Page 28
Community Ethos – Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide – e-Government Services	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing – e-Government Scheme	Page 35
Strategy – Mission – Embrace the Advances of Technology	Page 46
Strategy – Competitors – Governments – Shared Systems –vs- Premise-based	Page 51
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – How to Grow the Economy to $800 Billion – Trade and Globalization	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Union Revenue Administration – e-Government for Revenue Systems	Page 74
Implementation – Year 1 / Assemble Phase – Deploy Data Centers	Page 96
Implementation – 10 Trends in Implementing Data Centers	Page 106
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Ways to Impact Social Media	Page 111
Implementation – Ways to Benefit from Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade – Electronic Commerce	Page 128
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Ways to Foster Cooperatives – Co-located Data Centers for e-Government	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology – Incubators Strategy	Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Foster e-Commerce	Page 198
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Main Street – e-Commerce as competition for Big-Box	Page 201

This VIDEO here – Google’s Data Center – demonstrates a theme from the Go Lean book, that data center trends will influence the ICT eco-system; also see the VIDEO tour for Facebook and Microsoft in the Appendix below:

VIDEO – Inside a Google data center – https://youtu.be/XZmGGAbHqa0

Published on Dec 16, 2014 – Joe Kava, VP of Google’s Data Center Operations, gives a tour inside a Google data center, and shares details about the security, sustainability and the core architecture of Google’s infrastructure.

According to the foregoing article and VIDEOs, data centers are important business infrastructure for the new economy. As demonstrated by Alibaba’s example, these data centers are colonies in the virtual world. The CU/Go Lean plan is to foster and incubate such key industrial installations for the goal of elevating the region economic engines.

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the changes in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is a Big Idea for the region, that of a Cyber Caribbean effort (Page 127), in which data centers play a major role. Welcome to 21st Century colonies. This is how we build a better future: a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

————-

Appendix VIDEOs:

Facebook Data Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8Rgje94iI0
Microsoft Data Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uRR72b_qvc

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Model of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade – By The Numbers

Posted on November 25, 2016 in Economics, Government, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

“We are giving this for free as a gift to America” – CNBC Newscast: Amy Kule, Executive Producer, 2014 Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade^*.

Free?

Hardly! There is nothing free about American Thanksgiving. This is just another example of American Crony-Capitalism. Consider the facts in this VIDEO here of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, by the numbers:

VIDEO – Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade by the Numbers – http://www.aol.com/video/channel/news/582e4599134aa15f420ded1a/

Click on the Photo to Play VIDEO

This discussion is promoting the idea of the Caribbean modeling the best-practices of American commerce – there are a lot of economic returns from events. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, in the foregoing, is an event – one of the biggest on the calendar for New York City. So the focus of this commentary is the impact that one event can have on the societal engines of a community: economics, security and governance.

One person – or company – can make a difference.

Notice how this parade is mostly administered by one private company: Macy’s Department Stores.

Reference Title: Macy’s Department Store
Macy’s, originally R. H. Macy & Co., is a department store owned by Macy’s, Inc. It is one of two divisions owned by the company, with the other being Bloomingdale’s. As of January 2014, the Macy’s division operates 789 department store locations in the continental United States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Guam, including the prominent Herald Square flagship location in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.^[2]:35

Macy’s has conducted the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City since 1924 and has sponsored the city’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display since 1976. Macy’s Herald Square is the largest department store in the world. The flagship store covers almost an entire New York City block, features about 1.1 million square feet of retail space, includes additional space for offices and storage, and serves as the endpoint for Macy’s annual Thanksgiving Day parade. It is estimated that the value of Herald Square is under $3 billion to more than $4 billion.^[3]

As of 2015, Macy’s is the largest U.S. department store company by retail sales and is the 15th-largest retailer in the United States for 2014 in terms of revenue.^[4][5]Source: Retrieved November 25, 2016 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macy%27s

The focus of the book Go Lean…Caribbean is to elevate the Caribbean economic disposition, based on the existing infrastructure and new implementations. So we would want to look-listen-learn from this American model and then apply the lessons here in the Caribbean. Events are integral to the touristic experience; this is why the Go Lean book, serving as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), details so many dimensions of eco-system for events. The book prominently highlights that even small towns can get in on the economic buoyancy of events by detailing the role model of the City of Sturgis (population 6,600) in the US State of South Dakota – Page 191. Their annual event – Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August – generates about $800 million in community revenues.

Successful management of events is a mission of Go Lean roadmap. The region needs the jobs. These events – think Carnival or Junkanoo in the Bahamas – create permanent and temporary jobs. This is part-and-parcel of the Go Lean/CU prime directives, as identified with the following 3 statements:

Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million overall new jobs; 9,000 jobs are attributed to Events.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.

The Go Lean book presented the roadmap to imbrue the Caribbean region with new community ethos, plus new strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies to improve event-job creation in the region. The following is a sample of these specific details from the book:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Foster Genius – Consider Artists, Musicians and Performers	Page 27
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Celebrate the Music, Sports, Art and Culture of the Caribbean	Page 46
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Agencies versus Member-State Governments	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Lessons from New York City	Page 137
Planning – Lessons from Omaha – College World Series Model	Page 138
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events	Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds	Page 192
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Sports – Fairgrounds as Sport Venues	Page 229
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231

The empowerments in the Go Lean book calls for permanent change to ensure that Caribbean people have opportunities; they only want to be able to provide for their families and preserve their unique Caribbean culture.

The Go Lean roadmap offers the technocratic execution of these deliverables. Imagine the expansion of the existing events in the region. Plus, imagine the artistic expressions and entertainment (singers, dancers, musicians, performers, etc.). Just like for the Macy’s Parade in the foregoing, economic gains await. This is the business model of “events”. From the outset, the Go Lean book recognized the significance of events and festivities in the roadmap with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 14):

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must … recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

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

There are many other communities that have flourished in this strategy – business model of fun and festivities – as depicted with the example of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Success is possible; we need only to look, listen and learn.

Many previous Go Lean blog-commentaries have focused on the business of events. See samples-examples detailed in these previous blogs:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9712	Forging Change: Panem et Circenses
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5251	Post-Mortem of Inaugural Junkanoo Carnival
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4879	Model of a Sports Event: Martinique Surfing
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3292	Model of an Artistic Event: Art Basel Miami
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2152	Model of a Sports Event: Little League World Series
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1341	College World Series Time – Lessons from Omaha
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=1214	Landlord of Temporary Stadiums
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=535	Event Security: Remembering and learning from Boston
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=318	Collegiate Sports in the Caribbean

Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. This is a Big Idea for the region; that of expanding Caribbean events for greater economic throughput. We have the foundations in place already, the many artistic, cultural and sporting events for locals and visitors.

We can employ the strategies, tactics and implementations from models like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade to make our Caribbean region a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———

Appendix * – Source References:

https://youtu.be/61kyIsEBuUA posted Published on Nov 26, 2014; (retrieved November 25, 2016).

Executive producer of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Amy Kule, provides insight to the numbers behind tomorrow’s big parade and reveals some new characters.

———

Appendix VIDEO – 7 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Facts You Never Knew! – https://youtu.be/zOtWeyh1aRs

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Rwanda’s Catholic bishops apologize for genocide

Posted on November 22, 2016 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

Is mainstream religion a force for moral good in modern society … in the Caribbean? In Africa? Anywhere?

This is a timely discussion right now as there are a lot of threats and dissension in the world, mostly spurred on by religious extremism; think: Islamic terrorists, Shia – Shiite conflicts, Hindu-India versus Muslim Pakistan, Anglicanism versus Catholicism in Northern Ireland. Many samples and examples abound. The case in point for this consideration is the religious-fueled genocide in Rwanda in 1994; see the country’s flag here.

The religious institutions have a tarnished record; not always being a force for moral good in society. They have betrayed the vows and values they are supposed to be committed to. Instead, they have become “drunk with the blood of so many innocent people”.

This reality and cautionary tale from Rwanda provides us a deep lesson, though of a religious nature. See this core scripture:

A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.”
I could see that she was drunk–drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement. – Revelation 17:5 – 6; New Living Translation

Who/What is Babylon the Great? (See Appendix A below).

For one religious group founded in the Caribbean – Rastafarians – they assign the identity to the country of the United States of America. But most religious scholars assign the identity to the world’s orthodox religions.

Some theologians make a narrow accusation and declare that “there can be only one conclusion: The Vatican [(Roman Catholic Headquarters)] is the Mystery Babylon of Revelation; they relate that this false religious system that has deceived the people of the world that will be destroyed at the time of Armageddon”.

Whatever your faith, being associated with Babylon the Great is not a good thing. “She” has a vengeful reckoning in store.

As depicted in a previous blog-commentary, the religions of Christendom have a sullied past! Unfortunately that “past” is not only centuries ago, as chronicled in the recent experiences in 1994 with the Rwandan Ethnic Cleansing. This sad drama is in the news again, as the Roman Catholic Church has now just issued a formal apology for its actions and in-actions in those atrocities.

Considering the real history, they are guilty as charged; see the news story here:

Title: Rwanda: Catholic bishops apologize for role in genocide
By: Ignatius Ssuuna
KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — The Catholic Church in Rwanda apologized on Sunday for the church’s role in the 1994 genocide, saying it regretted the actions of those who participated in the massacres.

“We apologize for all the wrongs the church committed. We apologize on behalf of all Christians for all forms of wrongs we committed. We regret that church members violated (their) oath of allegiance to God’s commandments,” said the statement by the Conference of Catholic Bishops, which was read out in parishes across the country.

The statement acknowledged that church members planned, aided and executed the genocide, in which over 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists.

In the years since the genocide — which was sparked by a contentious plane crash that killed the then-president, a Hutu — the local church had resisted efforts by the government and groups of survivors to acknowledge the church’s complicity in mass murder, saying those church officials who committed crimes acted individually.

Many of the victims died at the hands of priests, clergymen and nuns, according to some accounts by survivors, and the Rwandan government says many died in the churches where they had sought refuge.

The bishops’ statement is seen as a positive development in Rwanda’s efforts at reconciliation.

“Forgive us for the crime of hate in the country to the extent of also hating our colleagues because of their ethnicity. We didn’t show that we are one family but instead killed each other,” the statement said.

The statement was timed to coincide with the formal end Sunday of the Holy Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis to encourage greater reconciliation and forgiveness in his church and in the world, said Bishop Phillipe Rukamba, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Rwanda.

Tom Ndahiro, a Rwandan genocide researcher, said he hoped the church’s statement will encourage unity among Rwandans.

“I am also happy to learn that in their statement, bishops apologize for not having been able to avert the genocide,” he said.

========

Photo Caption – In this Sunday, April 6, 2014 file photo, Rwandan children listen and pray during a Sunday morning service at the Saint-Famille Catholic church, the scene of many killings during the 1994 genocide, in the capital Kigali, Rwanda. The Catholic Church in Rwanda apologized on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016, for the church’s role in the 1994 genocide, saying it regretted the actions of those who participated in the massacres. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

The recap: “800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu extremists” during the Rwanda Holocaust in 1994. (This history was dramatized in the movie Hotel Rwanda; see Appendix B VIDEO below).

How does a community – like Rwanda in the foregoing – repent, forgive and reconcile from such a bad legacy?

“Confession is good for the soul”!

This commentary is part-and-parcel of the effort to reform and transform the Caribbean. We too, have some atrocities to reconcile. Plus we have many recent bad actions to reckon with. Think:

Haiti
Cuba
Guyana
Belize

The book Go Lean…Caribbean posits that any success in reforming and transforming the Caribbean must include a unified region – we need to be a Single Market – despite the 30 different member-states, 5 different colonial legacies and 4 different languages. We have a lot of differences – just like the differences of Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda – and a history of dysfunction. We must consider the ancient and modern conflicts some member-states have had with others.

The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). A mission of the roadmap is to reverse the prior “human flight” and invite the Diaspora back to the homeland. Accepting that many people fled the Caribbean seeking refuge, means that we must mitigate these causes of prior distress; and reconcile them. “Old parties” returning to their communities can open a lot of “old wounds” – Rwanda never reconciled their Hutu-Tutsi conflicts before 1994. Therefore an additional mission is to facilitate formal reconciliations, much like the model in South Africa with the Truth & Reconciliation Commissions (TRC). This mission will assuage these Failed-State indicators and threats (Page 272):

“Revenge seeking” groups
Group Grievances

The foregoing article depicts a bad episode in history of Rwanda and the Catholic Church’s complexities. The best-practice is to repent, forgive and reconcile. Repentance would include desisting in the bad behavior, confession and making amends. Religious orthodoxy is responsible for a lot of harm in the world. To finally answer the opening question: Is mainstream religion a force for moral good in modern society … in the Caribbean?

The answer is: No!

The Go Lean movement (book and blogs) have identified many bad community ethos – fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; the dominant assumptions of a people or period – that the Caribbean region needs to desist, confess and make amends. Many of these are based on religious orthodoxy; consider:

Patriarchy – Assigning more status and privileges to men, effectuates repression of women and girls.
Racial Prejudice & Dissension – The justification of African Slave Trade in the New World was religious expansionism.
Homosexual Persecution – Regulating the private affairs against homosexuality – i.e. British Buggery – has now been defined as a human rights violation.

The Go Lean movement (book and blogs) also details good-positive community ethos that the people of the region need to adopt. The motivating ethos underlying the Go Lean roadmap is the Greater Good. This is defined as “the greatest good to the greatest number of people which is the measure of right and wrong” – Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), a British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer. What is ironic is the fact that the Greater Good ethos aligns with the true values of most of the orthodox religions identified above; such as this scripture:

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. – James 1:27; New Living Translation

This CU/Go Lean mission is to elevate society for Caribbean people in the Caribbean. There is the need to monitor the enforcement of human rights and stand “on guard” against movements towards Failed-State status. The Go Lean roadmap calls for the CU to assume that role. Using cutting edge delivery of best practices, the CU will employ strategies, tactics and implementations to impact its prime directives; identified with the following 3 statements:

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

The Go Lean book speaks of the Caribbean as in crisis and posits that this crisis can be averted, that it is a “terrible thing to waste”. The Go Lean roadmap seeks to optimize the entire Caribbean economic/security/governance eco-system. This vision is defined early in the book (Page 12) in the following pronouncements in the Declaration of Interdependence:

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.

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

The Go Lean book details a lot more, a series of assessments, community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to ensure a safe and just society in the Caribbean region:

Community Ethos – Economic Systems Influence Choices & Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – People Respond to Incentives	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Manage Reconciliations	Page 34
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederating a Non-Sovereign Union of 30 Member-states	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Keep the next generation at home; Repatriate Diaspora	Page 46
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Truth & Reconciliation Courts	Page 78
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate	Page 118
Anatomy of Advocacies	Page 122
Planning – Ways to Improve Image	Page 133
Planning – Improve Failed-State Indices	Page 134
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice – Truth & Reconciliation Commissions	Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Appendix – Failed State Indicators & Definitions	Page 271
Appendix – Dominican Republic’s Trujillo Regime – Ethnic Cleansing	Page 306

The foregoing article conveys that the country of Rwanda is making efforts to come to grips with their atrocious past. This was not a Black-White conflict, but rather a Black-on-Black drama. This drama therefore relates to the Caribbean as we have majority Black populations in almost every Caribbean member-state. Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. There is reason to believe that we too can reform and transform our bad community ethos, as causes, advocacies and campaigns have shown success in previous societies. The Go Lean roadmap relates the experiences of how these single causes/advocacies have been forged throughout the world (Page 122 – Anatomy of Advocacies):

Frederick Douglass	Abolition of African-American Slavery
Mohandas Gandhi	Indian Independence
Dr. Martin Luther King	African-American Civil Rights Movement
Nelson Mandela	South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid
Cesar Chavez	Migrant Farm Workers in the US
Candice Lightner	Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)

The Caribbean can succeed too, in our efforts to improve the Caribbean community ethos. Consider this sample of previous blog-commentaries that delve into aspects of forging change in the Caribbean community ethos:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9428	Forging Change: Herd Mentality
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9017	Proclaim ‘International Caribbean Day’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8200	Respect for Minorities: Climate of Hate
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7628	‘A Change Is Gonna Come’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695	Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=4971	A Lesson in History – Royal Charter: Truth & Consequence
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3929	Success Recipe: Add Bacon to Eggs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3915	‘Change the way you see the world; you change the world you see’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3780	Forging a ‘National Sacrifice‘ Ethos
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623	‘Only at the precipice, do they change’

The Go Lean movement wants to help reform and transform the Caribbean. We see the crisis; we recognize that status quo, including the root causes and influences. We perceive the harmful effects of the religious orthodoxy. Yet we do not want to ban religion! Just the opposite, we know that religion can be a force for moral good in society, when practiced right. But we also know that religion can give birth to extremist passions and foster the worst sentiments in the human psyche. This too is presented in the Bible:

¹ “I have told you these things so that you won’t abandon your faith. ² For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing a holy service for God. ³ This is because they have never known the Father or me. ⁴ Yes, I’m telling you these things now, so that when they happen, you will remember my warning…

A “Separation of Church and State” is the standard in the advanced democracies; this is now embedded in the implied Social Contract. Unfortunately this is not the norm in the Caribbean. Just consider these continued practices that demonstrate a highly charged religiosity in the region:

School uniforms forbidding girls from wearing pants
Carnival festivities banned for Sundays
Domestic violence toleration

The Go Lean book defines the Social Contract as follows:

“Citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights” – Page 170.

The Caribbean Social Contract specifies that governments must protect their citizens, those in Christendom or not. Human rights assume a religious neutrality; even those who are “Spiritual But Not Religious” – see Appendix C below – must be respected and protected.

The vision for a new religiously neutral Caribbean specifies new community ethos for the homeland, one being the practice of reconciling conflicts from the past; to make an accounting (lay bare), repent, forgive and then hopefully forget the long history of human rights abuses. All of this heavy-lifting will contribute towards the effort to make the region a better homeland to live, work and play. We urge all to lean-in to this roadmap.

Closing exhortation about Babylon the Great:

Then I heard another voice calling from heaven, “Come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins, or you will be punished with her. – Revelation 18:4 – New Living Translation

Let him with ears, hear…

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———-

Appendix A – Cultural importance of “Babylon”

Due to Babylon’s historical significance as well as references to it in the Bible, the word “Babylon” in various languages has acquired a generic meaning of a large, bustling diverse city. Examples include:

Babilonas (Lithuanian name for “Babylon”)—a real estate development in Lithuania.
Babylon is used in reggae music as a concept in the Rastafari belief system, denoting the materialistic capitalist world.
Babylon 5—a science fiction series about a multi-racial futuristic space station.
Babylon A.D. takes place in New York City, decades in the future.

———-

Appendix B VIDEO – Hotel Rwanda (2004) – Official Movie Trailer – https://youtu.be/qZzfxL90100

Uploaded on Jun 18, 2011
Director: Terry George
Starring: Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte and Joaquin Phoenix.

———-

Appendix C – AUDIO Podcast – Spiritual But Not Religious – http://www.humanmedia.org/catalog/excerpts/141_spiritual_not_religious.mp3

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Forging Change: Panem et Circenses

Posted on November 15, 2016 in Government, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

The dead language of Latin is alive-and-well for conveying some of the most intense perplexities.

Consider:

Habeas Corpus* = “There is a body…”
Carpe Diem = “Seize the Day”
Panem et Circenses = …

That last one is unfamiliar; the rough translation is “Bread and Circuses”. In all of these Latin expressions, there is more to the meaning than just the simple word-for-word translation. There is a deep thought-process underlying.

Bread and circuses or (more generally) food and entertainment, is regarded as typically satisfying the desires of the masses of people; hence used allusively of anything which pleases and pacifies the people, thus helping a government to further its political ends.

In other words, to some bad actors, they seek the opportunity to manipulate the public by first satisfying the shallow requirements of the populace – sustenance and amusement – while the actors pursue a more nefarious agenda; capitalizing on people’s selfishness that may ultimately provide for their own wider neglect.

That’s malevolence…

… there is also a benevolent strategy: First suffice the basic needs, a few social needs (amusement) and the approval of the people can be sought for heavy-lifting – to elevate all of society to a greater cause. (This alludes to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in which society’s needs are classified as elevating levels starting with #1-Biological, #2-Social/Security, #3-Belonging/Love … #8-Transcendence; see Appendix B below).

This is a recommended strategy by the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean to forge change in Caribbean society: to satisfy the people’s needs for sustenance and amusement then urge the masses to adopt a new vision and new values.

So sustenance first. How do we ensure that the people have their means of survival – bread, food or sustenance – so that we can engage them further for higher level needs? This is a mission described in the Go Lean book (Page 162); there is an advocacy for food, its sourcing, supply and consumption:

10 Ways to Better Manage Food Consumption

The mechanics for this Change-Agent are already in place, with the Caribbean tradition of Carnival. In a previous blog-commentary, it was related that festivals/events are important; they empower economics – see VIDEO here – and fortify cultural pride. See a full encyclopedic reference to Carnival in Appendix A below. All in all, they make the Caribbean a better place to live, work, and play. This is also a mission described in the Go Lean book (Page 191) in this advocacy for events:

10 Ways to Impact Events

VIDEO – The Business of Carnival – https://youtu.be/H90AfmQoRI4

Published on Mar 3, 2014 – Rio de Janeiro’s Samba Schools Parade is billed as the greatest show on earth, but Carnival is also a multimillion dollar business that generates thousands of jobs and injects big money into the local economy. CCTV’s Lucrecia Franco has more.

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

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

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

All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy. All play and no work makes Jack a dumb boy – Old Adage

Caribbean society have traditionally featured a preoccupation with fun and amusement: “Fun in the Sun”; have a great time; party!

No Problem, Mon
Don’t Worry, Be Happy – (Song has an island beat and rhythm).
Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot
Come to Jamaica and feel alright

The Go Lean roadmap seeks to forge change, to elevate the Caribbean’s societal engines, with a proper balance of work and play. We want to provide great options for meaningful and prosperous work (jobs); plus we want to have fun. The Go Lean quest is to make the region a better place to live, work and play. How do we forge this change?

The challenges and strategies for forging change have been identified in a series of previous Go Lean blog-commentaries over the past 2 years, this is the seventh submission. These were presented as follows, in reverse chronological order:

Forging Change – Panem et Circenses (Today)
Forging Change – Herd Mentality (October 11, 2016)
Forging Change – ‘Something To Lose’ (November 18, 2015)
Forging Change – ‘Food’ for Thought (April 29, 2015)
Forging Change – Music Moves People (December 30, 2014)
Forging Change – The Sales Process (December 22, 2014)
Forging Change – The Fun Theory (September 9, 2014)

This commentary is urging Caribbean stakeholders to work to please and pacify their people, then work – behind the scenes – to further the societal elevation goals. This strategy to forge change is not presented to be nefarious or malevolent, but rather to pursue the Greater Good. This is defined in the Go Lean book (Page 37) by Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832, a British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer) as …

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

Why “behind the scenes”?

There must be the hard and heavy-lifting process of identifying and fostering those in the community with “genius” capability. A genius is different from everyone else, although they maybe fairly easy to spot, defining exactly what makes one person a genius is a little trickier.

Everyone who loves sausage, should not look at it being made; the process is ugly; but the end result is delicious. – Old Adage.

The Go Lean/CU roadmap asserts that forging change in the Caribbean will be a hard, heavy-lift of a process; many alternate strategies – the 7 from above – may have to be engaged. Any one person can make a difference and positively impact society; such a person can be a champion for any Caribbean cause, though the cause may be different from one champion to another. There are many different strengths among different people, many which may even be considered genius capability. While not everyone can be a genius in terms of mathematics or the sciences, many more do possess genius qualifiers in different endeavors. According to the Go Lean book (Page 27), some researchers & theorists argue that the concept of genius may be too limiting and doesn’t really give a full view of intelligence; they assert that intelligence is a combination of many factors; thereby concluding that genius can be found in many different abilities and endeavors.

This is the community ethos – fundamental character/spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of society – of fostering genius. The Go Lean book explains (Page 20) that this and other community ethos are not easy to imbrue on a society. It likens the process to an individual attempting to quit smoking. Not only are there physiological challenges, but psychological ones as well, to the extent that it can be stated with no uncertainty that “change begins in the head”. In psycho-therapy the approach to forge change for an individual is defined as “starting in the head (thoughts, visions), penetrating the heart (feelings, motivations) and then finally manifesting in the hands (actions). This same body analogy is what is purported in this Go Lean book for how the Caribbean is to forge change – following this systematic flow:

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

The Go Lean/CU roadmap involves doing this heavy-lifting “behind the scenes” with identifying and fostering genius, while the masses enjoy Panem et Circenses.

Employing – all of these 7 – strategies to forge change in the Caribbean will be worth it in the end. This is not nefarious nor malevolent. This only makes our homeland a better place to live, work and play.

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Choose	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – People Respond to Incentives in Predictable Ways	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Minority Equalization	Page 23
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship	Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Intellectual Property	Page 29
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development – Social Experiments	Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Bridge the Digital Divide	Page 31
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds	Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness	Page 36
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Celebrate the Music, Sports, Art and Culture of the Caribbean	Page 46
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – CU Federal Agencies versus Member-State Governments	Page 71
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Planning – 10 Big Ideas for the Caribbean Region	Page 127
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better	Page 131
Planning – Reasons Why the CU Will Succeed	Page 132
Planning – Lessons from Omaha – College World Series Model	Page 138
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy	Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs	Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract	Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Communications – Community Messaging	Page 186
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Libraries	Page 187
Advocacy – Ways to Enhance Tourism	Page 190
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Events	Page 191
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Fairgrounds	Page 192
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage	Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve the Arts	Page 230
Advocacy – Ways to Promote Music	Page 231

The empowerments in the Go Lean book calls for permanent change. This is possible. The people of the Caribbean only want opportunities; they want to be able to provide for their families, and offer a future of modernity to their children. Plus they want amusement, entertainment, happiness and fun. They want Panem et Circenses. This is a feature of Caribbean culture.

The Go Lean roadmap offers the technocratic execution of these deliverables. Imagine all the great cuisine and food options in the region. Imagine the rum options. Plus, imagine identifying and fostering the genius abilities of entertainers (singers, dancers, artists, musicians, performers, etc.). The end-product of their genius is good times, an elevation of Caribbean culture … to be consumed by all of the Caribbean stakeholders – residents and tourists alike. This is not a distraction; this is a business model. From the outset, the book recognized the significance of fun and festivities in this roadmap with these statements in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 12 & 14):

Preamble: 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 …

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

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

Success from the Go Lean roadmap on the Caribbean will not make it unique in the business model of fun and festivities. There are many other communities that have flourished in this strategy; think Carnival/Mardi Gras in Rio De Janeiro, New Orleans even the Caribbean member-state of Trinidad. By extension, the Caribbean Carnival tradition have been exported to Diaspora cities: the largest examples being Caribana in Toronto and Notting Hill in London. The Go Lean roadmap wants to extend these initiatives and harvest even more economic benefits from events; we welcome the new Carnival tradition in the Bahamas – see photo here – and long for a resurgence of the Cuban tradition; see Appendix A below.

These Carnival-“Circenses” events are not presented as distractions, rather they are among the business model for a new Caribbean. The Go Lean book details that 9,000 jobs can be created from this strategy. There is even a role model for the Caribbean to emulate, that of the City of Sturgis in the US State of South Dakota. See Bottom Line details in the Appendix C below.

The movement behind the Go Lean book asks and answers the question: How to forge change in the Caribbean? There are many options; one is Panem et Circenses. The whole Caribbean region is urged to lean-in to this roadmap. Success in this regard is conceivable, believable and achievable. We can make the Caribbean a better place to live, work and play through “food and amusement”. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———

* Citation Reference – What is Habeas Corpus

https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/tools-resources/fact-sheets-and-faqs/faqs-what-habeas-corpus

———

Appendix A – Carnival

Carnival is a Western Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent.^[1] The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival typically involves a public celebration and/or parade combining some elements of a circus, masks, and a public street party. People wear masks and costumes during many such celebrations, allowing them to lose their everyday individuality and experience a heightened sense of social unity.^[2] Excessive consumption of alcohol,^[3] meat, and other foods proscribed during Lent is extremely common. Other common features of carnival include mock battles such as food fights; social satire and mockery of authorities; the grotesque body displaying exaggerated features especially large noses, bellies, mouths, and phalli or elements of animal bodies; abusive language and degrading acts; depictions of disease and gleeful death; and a general reversal of everyday rules and norms.^[4][5]

The term Carnival is traditionally used in areas with a large Catholic presence. …

Rio de Janeiro‘s carnival is considered the world’s largest, hosting approximately two million participants per day. In 2004, Rio’s carnival attracted a record 400,000 foreign visitors.^[10]

Caribbean
Most Caribbean islands celebrate Carnival. The largest and most well-known is in Trinidad and Tobago. The Dominican republic, Guyana, Antigua, Aruba, Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curaçao, Barbados, Dominica, Haiti, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Saba, Sint Eustatius (Statia), Sint Maarten, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts, Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines hold lengthy carnival seasons and large celebrations.

Carnival is an important cultural event in the Dutch Antilles. Festivities include “jump-up” parades with beautifully colored costumes, floats, and live bands as well as beauty contests and other competitions. Celebrations include a middle-of-the-night j’ouvert (juvé) parade that ends at sunrise with the burning of a straw King Momo, cleansing sins and bad luck. On Statia, he is called Prince Stupid.

Carnival has been celebrated in Cuba since the 18th century. Participants don costumes from the island’s cultural and ethnic variety. After Fidel Castro’s Communist Revolution, Carnival’s religious overtones were suppressed. The events remained, albeit frowned upon by the state. Carnival celebrations have been in decline throughout Cuba since then.
Source: Retrieved 11-15-16 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival#Caribbean

———

Appendix B – Quotation: Bottom Line on the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Models of human behavior have been undisputedly cataloged by Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The hierarchy, shown as a pyramid, is a visual representation of the order in which humans are innately drawn towards fulfilling personal needs. At the bottom, or base level, are basic, survival elements (food, water, shelter and security/safety). As these are obtained, there are natural urges for emotional stability (belongingness, self-esteem, social acceptance) and, according to Maslow’s 1943 version, the top level of the pyramid was defined as complex understanding (beauty, justice, realizing one’s full potential). Maslow later revised his original work (1967) and subsequently added “transcendence” to the pyramid’s peak, which is to help others to achieve self-actualization. – Book: Go Lean … Caribbean, Page 231.

The full list is as follows:

Level 1 – Biological and Physiological needs
Level 2 – Security/Safety needs
Level 3 – Belongingness and Love needs
Level 4 – Esteem needs
Level 5 – Cognitive needs
Level 6 – Aesthetic needs
Level 7 – Self-Actualization needs
Level 8 – Transcendence needs

———

Appendix C – Quotation: Bottom Line on the Sturgis, South Dakota
Sturgis is a city in Meade County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 6,627 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Meade County and is named after General Samuel D. Sturgis. Sturgis is famous for being the location of one of the largest annual motorcycle events in the world, which [started in 1938 and] is held annually on the first full week of August. Motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world flock to this usually sleepy town during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The focus of a motorcycle rally was originally racing and stunts. Then in 1961, the rally was expanded to include the “Hill Climb” and Motocross races.^[145]

The attendance was tallied in excess of 600,000 visitors in the year 2000. The City of Sturgis has calculated that the Rally brings over $800 million to South Dakota annually. (The City of Sturgis earned almost $270,000 in 2011 from just selling event guides and sponsorships). Rally-goers are a mix of white-collar and blue-collar workers and are generally welcomed as an important source of income for Sturgis and surrounding areas. The rally turns local roads into “parking lots”, and draws local law enforcement away from routine patrols. [The City frequently contracts with law enforcement officers from near-and-far for supplemental support-enforcements during the rally]. (See Appendix J of Sturgis City Rally Department’s Statistics [in the Go Lean book on Page 288]).

[Sturgis generates a lot of media attention]. Annual television coverage of the festival by the [cable TV network] VH1 Classic includes interviews and performances as well as rock music videos. Also, the Travel Channel repeatedly shows two one-hour documentaries about Sturgis.

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

Posted on October 31, 2016 in Government, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

The publishers of the book Go Lean…Caribbean truly believe that the Caribbean is the “greatest address in the world”. But where there is a reference to “greatest or greater”, there must be “lesser” too. The unfortunate reality is that Caribbean people have fled their homeland with all the greater attributes to relocate to lesser destinations.

🙁

Why? While the beauty is here in the Caribbean region, so much more is missing and/or defective in our homeland.

Where are these lesser destinations that have teased the Caribbean citizens away? As previously depicted in a full series of blog-commentaries, the following locales were detailed as follows:

There are other “lesser” destinations, that despite this status are doing better than the Caribbean at progressing their societal engines (economics and security). We can benefit by considering these other countries, take the examples of India and China. These ones are doing so much better at economic growth and homeland security. Already, we have considered …

What Things We Want from China and What Things We Do Not Want.

Now we need to examine:

What Things We Want from India and What Things We Do Not Want

The Caribbean has a unique relationship with India. While Caribbean people are not fleeing their homeland to relocate to India, there is a historic Diaspora issue associated with Caribbean-India relations: Indentured Servitude. At the end of the era of Caribbean slavery (1830’s to 1840’s), the plantation system required a replacement labor source; many Indian nationals were thusly “recruited” as Indentured Servants to the region (British, Dutch, and French colonies). This history is detailed in the Go Lean book as relating to one British colony, Guyana; see the reference here:

The Bottom Line on Guyana’s Indentured Indians
The British Empire abolished slavery effective August 1, 1834. But to appease the plantation/slave owners’ need for labor in the Caribbean colonies, Parliament allowed them to continue extracting more labor from these victims for 4 more years. As 1838 approached, there was a need for a new source of cheap labor. The solution was the introduction of indentured servants from India – the first 396 arrived on May 5, 1838 – thus starting a flow of immigrants to the British West Indies that resulted in such large numbers that the populations of Guyana and Trinidad are near 50% for those countries today.

The majority of Indian immigrants were drawn from North India with smaller batches coming from the Tamil and Telugu districts of South India. They were recruited, very often on spurious promises, by professional recruiters, largely assisted by paid local agents. Intimidation, coercion and deception were very often used to recruit Indian laborers. Women, in particular, were very vulnerable. When laborers were difficult to enlist, the recruiters resorted to such illegal practices as kidnapping and forced detention. This program continued from 1838 until 1917 with over 500 ship voyages for 238,909 indentured Indian immigrants coming to Guyana; while 75,898 of them or their children returned to India.

Today, the population of Guyana is over 772,000, of which 90% reside on the narrow coastal strip of approximately 10% of the total land area of Guyana. The largest ethnic group is the Indo-Guyanese (known as East Indians), descendants of the indentured laborers from India; they now make up 43.5% of the population, according to the 2002 census. They are followed by the Afro-Guyanese, the descendants of slaves from Africa, who constitute 30.2%. Guyanese of mixed heritage make up 16.7%, while the indigenous peoples (Amerindians) make up 9.1%.

The descendants of this Indian Diaspora have grown in numbers and power (economic and political) in the region; they form a large demographic in Guyana, Trinidad, Jamaica, Suriname and other islands; see Appendix. They are part of the fabric of our society. They are home in the Caribbean; and we are at home with them. These ones, as a Indian Diaspora, want a connection with their Indian ancestral homeland. They have to remain conscious of the Good, Bad and Ugly from India. They desire the Good and want to be on alert for the Bad – influences that they do not want.

We can truly benefit from a place like India … if we apply these 5 L’s in this competitive analysis:

Look
Listen
Learn
Lend-a-hand
Lead

After centuries of sub-standard living, India is on the move – on the rise – even emerging as an Economic Power. We can look, listen and learn from the Indian eco-system; their mainland (the Republic of India) and Diaspora. We can lend-a-hand in reforming and transforming our own Caribbean region – as India has had to do – and we can eventually lead a reboot and turn-around of Caribbean society; again as India has done.

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

Indian Imports

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from India**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from India**
1	Market of 1.2 billion “Size does matter” and India is the 2nd largest in the world, with their 1.2 billion people; China is the largest population with 1.3 Billion. This massive consumer market has basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, energy, telecommunication and media) to satisfy, so profit and jobs are at stake in these needs fulfillment. But more jobs are needed, so export of services is vital for India. The Go Lean roadmap directs solutions to satiate the needs of the 42 million people of a Caribbean Single Market; it then assumes that once we fulfill our own basic needs, more profit is to be gained in exporting the excess provisions to the rest of the world.	Hordes of Immigrants India’s colonial heritage allows for English language proficiency throughout the country. With telecom advances, call centers and technology developments are perfect fits for export services and job creation. Many of the technological savvy personnel are able to emigrate to foreign markets to provide these services. Now throughout the English world, Indians are omnipresent in STEM fields. The Go Lean roadmap incubates Call Centers and STEM careers, starting early in the education process. Following the Indian model, there are call center opportunities in 4 languages: English, Dutch, French and Spanish. The roadmap anticipates 12,000 new jobs for Call Centers.
2	Trade in Services India executes a model of Business Process Outsourcing that allows their residents to live in India and work for foreign companies. They get to export their talents without abandoning their homeland. This is win-win for globalism. The Go Lean roadmap calls for strenuous oversight for the region’s industrial policies, especially with the structure of Self-Governing Entities, creating 2.2 million jobs.	Illicit Trade Many times Indian factories manufacture and export products (pharmaceuticals & chemicals) that are illegal in other countries, due to environmentally harmful. Being a Global Citizen should accept the precept that what is bad in one country should be respected as bad every where. The Go Lean* plan stresses environmental protection & the policies to solicit adherence from foreign partners.*
3	Trade in Media – Bollywood India’s 1.2 Billion people make a great media market. Their production industry – Bollywood – fully exploit their domestic, regional and Diaspora markets. The CU/Go Lean roadmap seeks to model Bollywood in the Caribbean region. We have the full Caribbean market (42 million) plus the Diaspora (20 million) and tourists (80 million/year) to cater to.	Vengeful Labor Laws Whenever India conflicts with Pakistan (often occurrence), they impose restrictions on Bollywood stakeholders of Pakistan/Muslim descent. This vengeful-ness undermines the film industry. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for labor policies to be embedded in the CU treaty – bilaterally ratified – so no political episodes would undermine industrial labor commitments.*
4	Infrastructure Build India is embarking on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. This is a ribbon of development that traverses 6 states along a route from the city of Delhi to Mumbai. This infrastructure will allow for new industrial implementations (ports, highways, bridges, etc) to create jobs and startups. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for new strategies to facilitate infrastructure projects. This will result in attracting Direct Foreign Investors, entrepreneurial startups; so more jobs.*	Rural Abandonment India industrial development had previously focused on the urban areas, abandoning the rural areas to pervasive poverty. The new Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is designed to integrate rural, suburban and urban areas but it will be costly and may endanger public finances. The CU structure calls for autonomous Self-Governing Entities that do not depend on member-states finances. The SGE’s themselves are responsible for their finances.
5	Multi-Language India has 22 languages to contend with, plus English, from their colonial legacy. Their society has been successful with integrating multi-languages and still maintain social cohesion. The CU/Go Lean* roadmap strategizes confederating 30 member-states of 4 languages and 5 colonial heritage. There is the need for social cohesion in this Single Market.*	Religious Orthodoxy – Caste While Hindu is the most popular religion in India, there are winners and losers of this faith, especially with their concept of the Caste system – though now legally outlawed. This is an orthodoxy for class oppression. Despite separation of Church and State, the CU/Go Lean* roadmap features minority equalization and protections despite any religious orthodoxy; human rights supersedes.*

Indian Imports (cont’d)

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from India**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from India**
6	Security Assurance – International Respect India has Nuclear Capability, so their enemies must respect their borders and treaties. They are not treated inconsequentially on the world scene. The CU does not desire Nuclear Capability, but we do want international respect and regard for the rule of our laws. The planned security apparatus uses alliances with Nuclear Powers (US, Britain & France) plus our own strong Standby Force for defense of our homeland.	Disunity => Secession The country (Photo) that sought independence from the UK constitutes 8 countries today. The disunity amongst 19th century India resulted in many secessions. If these states had formed a Single Market, more prosperity would have resulted. The CU/Go Lean* roadmap strategizes a Single Market despite different sovereignties. The leverage of 30 member-states into 1 confederation is win-win for all.*
7	Settled History India has recorded history for at least 5000 years; during this millennia, many (domestic and foreign) groups have been victims and victimizers. India has settled this history finally, in that there is no manifested “Revenge-Seeking” threats – a Failed-State attribute. The CU/Go Lean roadmap measures Failed-State metrics for encroachments that may jeopardize public safety and justice assurance. There is also a plan for Truth and Reconciliation Commissions to settle unresolved issues.	Hatred of Neighbors The entrench differences between Hindus and Muslims could not be settled within the same borders, so therefore India’s independence from the British Empire mandated Pakistan as a separate (Muslim) state. The animosity of these two states have not been settled – there is no status of “live and let live”. The Go Lean* roadmap stresses the need for strong defenses so as to demand respect of sworn enemies, but first seeks reconciliation and diplomacy to settle conflicts.*
8	Diaspora Outreach Emigration has been a practice of Indian society for centuries, so they have a far-flung Diaspora. Indian business and government officials work hard in reaching out to this Diaspora for trade and tourism. The Go Lean roadmap includes a comprehensive trade strategy to better engage the Caribbean Diaspora. They should be able to acquire products, services and media from the Caribbean and repatriate funds and people more readily.	Encouraging Emigration Indian seems to encourage their STEM professionals emigrating to foreign shores and then repatriating funds to the home country. While not de jure, this encouragement seem “de facto”. This constant brain drain cannot be good for Indian society and economy., short or long term. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for official government policies to dissuade emigration. We need the STEM resources in our homeland and will thusly foster their development and maturation.*
9	Religious Toleration India is a medley of ethnic societies; despite Hindi being the primary language, there are many other language (22) and religious groups. They co-exist. The CU/Go Lean roadmap recognizes the significance of religion, but favors no one religion over another. So European religions are on par with Eastern religions (Hindu, Buddha, etc.) and Animist sects (Voodoo, Santeria, Amerindian spiritualism).	Patriarchy All religions on the Indian Sub-Continent feature a patriarchy, where men not only headed their households, but exerted a suppression of women folk; they were treated as property. For example, Hindu widows were not allowed to remarry, because their legacies were “owned” by their now-dead husbands. The Go Lean* roadmap promotes human rights despite any religious orthodoxy.*
10	Family Unity Back in the homeland, it is common for many generations of Indian families to live together; this allows for automatic elder care and childcare arrangements. This status quo continues despite rural-to-urban migrations. The Go Lean roadmap encourages family unity, with the emphasis on repatriation; keeping families together in the Caribbean is a win-win. An additional benefit is the encouragement to the youth to plan for a future at home.	Family Planning – Size / Infanticide 1.2 Billion is over-population; ; India thusly started a small family initiative. So infanticide threats are high as couples may not get the sex they want with 1/2 children. This low respect for infant life, brings a disrespect for human rights. The Caribbean has no threat of excessive population, our population is declining because of the excessive brain drain/societal abandonment. Our region is able to allow individual family planning: large or small families.

Like it or not, the Caribbean has to be constantly aware of our competitive analysis with the rest of the world; we are currently losing in any “race to the top”; this is the peril of globalization. Economically we are Third World; many of our people live a sub-standard life. Then we lose even more when our people flee to go to more prosperous countries – brain drain – at the expense of societal abandonment to our communities. This abandonment rate is 70% for our college-educated classes. Communities cannot thrive with such a disposition; the “race to the top” becomes even more imperiled.

The premise of the Go Lean book is that the Caribbean does have a fighting chance for the globalization “race to the top”. We have one huge advantage:

We have the “greatest address in the world” in terms of terrain, fauna/flora, hospitality, culture, food, drink (rum) and tobacco (cigars).

This is the quest of the Go Lean movement, to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. It urges us to study the good, bad and ugly of our society and that of other places and then to apply lessons-learned in our efforts to transform the Caribbean. India has been a frequent topic for considerations from the Go Lean movement (book and blogs). The opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14) recognized that there is value in considering the Good and Bad examples of places like India, with this statement:

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

In addition, the book specifically addresses the disposition of India – and other similar emerging economies – with these direct references of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocates:

Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles: People Choose because Resources are Limited	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles: All Choices Involve Costs	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles: Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles: Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Money Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Lean Operations	Page 24
Community Ethos – Return on Investments	Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Future	Page 26
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Integrate and Consolidate into a Single Market	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Facilitating Currency Union, Caribbean Dollar	Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Collaborate for the Caribbean Central Bank	Page 45
Anecdote – Caribbean Currencies	Page 64
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – $800 Billion Economy – How and When – Trade	Page 67
Tactical – Recovering from Economic Bubbles	Page 69
Tactical – Separation-of-Powers – Caribbean Central Bank	Page 73
Implementation – Assemble Caribbean Central Bank	Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Start-up Benefits from the EEZ	Page 104
Implementation – Steps to Implement Self-Governing Entities	Page 105
Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives	Page 117
Implementation – Ways to Benefit Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
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 Foster Cooperatives	Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Urban Living	Page 234
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Rural Living	Page 235

In addition, this subject of India and our Caribbean trade empowerment has been directly addressed and further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8602	Build It and They Will Come – India’s $90 Billion Investment
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3028	India is doing better than many Emerging Market countries.

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU. India is out-of-scope for the CU/Go Lean roadmap. Our scope is to impact the Caribbean’s economic, security and governing engines, not Indian society.

All in all, there are Good lessons and Bad lessons that we can learned from India. As a region, we can also be an emerging economy as India is designated. Yes, we can!

So let’s pay more than the usual attention to the developments of India. Everyone is urged to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation, to make our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

Appendix VIDEO – The Caribbean East Indians (Part 1 of 2) – https://youtu.be/oxFrQd6lVzA

Published on Apr 29, 2015 – The “East Indians” of the Caribbean and Caribbean rim countries are the descendants of immigrants from the Indian sub-continent. Despite their name they are no relation to the indigenous aboriginal “Indians” who inhabit or formerly inhabited the area. The East Indians are, along with Black Afro-Caribbeans (“West Indians”), one of the two major ethnic groups in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname. There are also East Indian communities in Jamaica (one estimate for 1980 gives the East Indian population as 50,000), Grenada and the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Indians were first brought to the Caribbean from the mid-1840s to work on white-owned sugar plantations as indentured labour to replace newly freed African slaves. The majority of immigrants were young men; later disturbances on the plantations forced the authorities to try and correct the imbalance. Indenture was usually for five years and the labourer was subject to restricting and paternalistic regulations which were sometimes described as “a new system of slavery”. After an initial number of years it was possible for the labourer to return to India but since many were offered land in order to entice them to stay near the estates, most stayed in their new country.

The racial tensions and stereotypes of later years were formed during the colonial period. Indians worked for less than Africans and were regarded as cheap and malleable labour. There were differences of culture between the Hindu and Muslim Indians and the Christian Africans. While the Africans, who were more likely to be literate in English, filled the jobs in the urban and commercial sectors, Indians were most likely to remain labourers and small farmers.

See Part 2 of 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qeM2BecjNI

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

Posted on October 30, 2016 in Government, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Like it or not, the Caribbean is in competition with the rest of the world – and we are losing!

Economically we are Third World. So we lose even more when our people flee to go to more prosperous countries, at the expense of societal abandonment to our communities.

It is what it is – we lose 70% of our college-educated to the brain drain – no community can thrive with such a disposition. So we are losing in the modern battles of trade and globalization. It is a crisis.

Alas, a crisis is a terrible thing to waste!

This is the premise of the book Go Lean…Caribbean; it posits (Page 3) that the Caribbean has a fighting chance for survival in the modern world because we have one huge advantage:

We have the “greatest address in the world”…

… this is in terms of terrain, fauna/flora, hospitality, culture, food, drink (rum) and tobacco (cigars).

It seems so illogical, to have this advantage and yet to lose in the global war for prosperity.

Again, it is what it is! People leave … a large number of Caribbean people have fled and now live abroad. They live in places like the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. There is so much for us to learn from these foreign destinations, as this commentary has considered. We have asked (and answered) the questions, poised as follows:

Why do our Diaspora leave – this greatest address in the world – and what can we learn from their experiences?
What can we gather for the Pros and Cons of life in those foreign abodes?

This consideration was completed in a series detailing the destinations for our fleeing countrymen. The full series was detailed as follows:

Now we must consider other countries, not ones that our Diaspora has fled to, but rather ones that compete with us and are doing MUCH BETTER jobs of contending in this competitive environment. We must consider China and India:

What Things Do We Want from China and Things We Do Not Want

What Things Do We Want from India and Things We Do Not Want

The stakeholders of this Go Lean…Caribbean movement truly believe that the Caribbean is the “greatest address in the world”. Yet so much is missing and/or defective in our region. We can truly benefit from places like China and India if we apply these 5 L’s in this competitive analysis:

Look
Listen
Learn
Lend-a-hand
Lead

Let’s start with China. They went from “zero to hero”, emerging as an economic Super Power in short order. We can look, listen and learn from the Chinese eco-system; their mainland (the Peoples Republic of China), the special territories of Hong Kong and Taiwan (the Republic of China). We can lend-a-hand in reforming and transforming our own Caribbean region – as China has had to do – and we can eventually lead a reboot and turn-around of Caribbean society; again as China has done.

This is the quest of the Go Lean movement, to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. Previously, these Go Lean blog-commentaries have considered the competitive analysis of the US, Canada, the UK and Europe to discern how we compete with these foreign locales. The competition is for our young people; we want them to set their sights – their hopes and dreams – on a viable future, right here in the Caribbean homeland and not to have to consider fleeing – like so many of their previous generations – to have the measures of success that the modern world conveys.

This Go Lean book makes an honest assessment of the Caribbean, our failing and our advantages. It urges us to study the good, bad and ugly of our society and that of other places and then to apply lessons-learned in our efforts to transform the Caribbean. China has been a frequent topic for considerations from the Go Lean movement (book and blogs). The opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 14) recognized that there is value in considering the Good and Bad examples of places like China, with this statement:

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

So there are things that the Caribbean want and things that we do not want from places like China. Here is a laundry list of the Good and the Bad and how the roadmap to elevate Caribbean society, the book Go Lean…Caribbean, describes how the lessons should be applied in the implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU):

Chinese Imports

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from China**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from China**
1	Market of 1.3 billion If “size does matter” then China is ‘King of Kings’; their 1.3 billion population cannot be ignored for trade. Considering modernity, this massive consumer market have basic needs (food, clothing, shelter, energy, telecommunication and media) that must be satisfied. So much profit (jobs) is to be gained by trying to provide for these needs. The Go Lean roadmap is based on the premise that Caribbean member-states need a bigger population, and so seeks the leverage of 42 million people in the region. The roadmap also seeks to explore all profit-seeking opportunities to first satiate the basic needs of those 42 million people. Profit-seeking – not greed – is not a bad ethos; there must be growth in a community, otherwise people leave to seek profit elsewhere. The CU seeks to grow the regional GDP to US$800 Billion over 5 years, by facilitating the regional market and also trade with China.	Bullying China realizes that “size does matter” and with its 1.3 billion population, they can “throw their weight around”. The current conflict in the South China Sea is a manifestation of that bullying ethos. China can be a “bad actor” at times; and they are a nuclear power. Though China has not displayed any military aggression towards the Caribbean, our security apparatus must be “on guard”. The Go Lean roadmap anticipates the emergence of “bad actors”, so mitigations need to be proactive and reactive. The roadmap therefore stresses economics and security measures equally. We are not in the “nuclear club” and do not seek that status, so we must continue our alliance with nuclear powers. Our current alliance are based on proximity and colonial status, as the United States, the United Kingdom and France are all nuclear capable and have active Caribbean territories.
2	Capital China is now starting to exert its economic muscles in the Caribbean – they bring the wallets of their State-run entities, i.e. Export-Import Bank (China Exim Bank). The Caribbean region needs these foreign investments. They put the “money where the mouth is” as many China funded infrastructure projects in the Caribbean are managed by State-run engineering and construction firms. The CU/Go Lean* roadmap calls for strenuous oversight for the regions monetary policy (Caribbean Dollar), thereby fostering better accountability and transparency.*	Exploitation of Environment Chinese cities are notoriously bad for pollution; many residents wear surgical masks daily. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, many foreign athletes had to mitigate by going to venues only on participation days. The government’s “anything goes” ethos also apply in the rural areas, with an overall lack of environmental protection. The CU/Go Lean stresses environmental protection in the Exclusive Economic Zone and the Self-Governing Entities, plus the ratings-&-rankings of the member-states delivery for the Social Contract forces adherence and compliance.
3	Trade & Economic Growth China has grown tremendously in the past few decades by “opening up” and adopting the tenants of this one economic principle: “Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth”. The lesson for the Caribbean is that even with a much smaller 42 million population base, we can still grow our economy and trade outreach – plus we have the destination and culture the world wants. So we have a lot to trade on. The CU is a Trade federation so the emphasis is on all aspects of trade. See the book’s Trade SHIELD* principles.*	Trade Barrier China imposes restrictions on its trade imports to block too much foreign imports, even for intellectual property. But this is a product of negotiation. China could be better exposed to the beauty of Caribbean culture and related products, but first there must be effective messaging to correct their fallacies about Afro-Caribbean image. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for a Sentinel for Caribbean image. A lot of the fallacies in China stem from false white supremacy precepts. The CU will “message this out”.*
4	Infrastructure Build China has been active in the Caribbean region regarding infrastructure projects; they have built stadia, hotels, airports, bridges and other projects. The engineering skills are greatly appreciated, especially when accompanied with Chinese funding options. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for new strategies to facilitate infrastructure projects. We need partners like China’s State-run engineering and construction firms.*	Shoddy Workmanship Even China itself questions the workmanship of its State-run engineering and construction firms. For the 2008 Beijing Olympics the primary stadium – Bird Nest – was engineered by a German firm. Also, the recent Baha Mar project in the Bahamas, is plagued with quality concerns. The CU structure calls for advancing the engineering competence in the region, over time, so that Caribbean stakeholders can facilitate these projects ourselves.
5	Progressive Technocracy The Chinese government is headed mostly by technocrats as opposed to lawyers and politicians; (Go Lean book Page 64). Their steady societal growth of the recent decades is reflective of a technocratic ethos. The Go Lean* roadmap details community ethos that reflect technocratic principles, like: Lean Operations, Return on Investments, Cooperatives, Incubators, NGO’s and R&D.*	Religious Orthodoxy While atheistic communism is the official principle of China’s government, religious institutions are still thriving, along with many negative orthodoxy: human rights abuses for minority groups, superstitions of ingredients from endangered animals (elephant & rhino tusks, shark fins, etc.). The CU/Go Lean* roadmap features minority equalization and protections despite any religious orthodoxy.*

Chinese Imports (cont’d)

*10 GOOD* Things We Want from China**		*10 BAD* Things We Don’t Want from China**
6	Protected economy China is a good example of economic stewards protecting their economy for domestic stakeholders first. Consider the mandate for movies; only a minimum is allowed from foreign producers, thereby fostering a domestic industry. The CU, while encouraging foreign participation, sees the value of incentivizing (subsidies) domestic participants for greater colloquialism; this will create more local jobs.	Restricted economy China’s protective motives go too far; it is now considered restrictive; consider the blocking of outside internet and e-commerce. A bilateral approach should allow for more give-and-take. The CU/Go Lean* roadmap calls for negotiated bilateral trade permissiveness. We must give-and-take; this is the only way to “win” with globalization.*
7	Justice Principles China has multi-layers of governance: national, provincial and municipal. Yet, still there are justice accords that the country ensures. In addition, there are treaties that China has ratified. This compliance ensures some accountability. The CU/Go Lean roadmap prioritizes justice among its community values. Even though local and national governance exist, there is accountability to regional justice institutions; with the deployment of the CariPol and Caribbean Court.	International Justice Adherence China often plays the role of “bad actor” for enforcement of international accords. Take the case of “Legal High” for example. This drama involves legal drugs used to mix narcotics for sale in Black Markets, think “Meth”. In most cases, the drugs come from factories in China; see this BBC story and the Appendix VIDEO. The Go Lean* roadmap prepares the region for mitigations against “bad actors”, domestic and foreign. The security apparatus will work lock-step with CU Trade efforts.*
8	Commitment to Sports The Chinese legacies for soccer/football , basketball and even their Olympic models (Track & Field) inspire athletes that they can earn a living based on their talents, disciplines and abilities. The governments attempt to identify those with genius qualifiers as early as possible and then foster the skills progressively as they mature. The Go Lean roadmap includes a comprehensive sport promotion and administration apparatus to facilitate amateur, collegiate and professional sports careers.	Unsportsmanlike Competition Chinese athletes push themselves to the full limits, many times beyond unreasonableness. During recent Olympics, many Chinese female gymnasts were much younger than required for their psychological development. Plus with the threat of performance enhancing drugs, many bad sportsmanship have been expressed. The Go Lean* roadmap calls for rebooting sports eco-system to include an Anti-Doping agency within the CU Trade Federation to elevate regulation and enforcement.*
9	Commitment to Progressive Healthcare With 1.3 Billion people, there will be classes of rich, poor and middle class. But with the communistic structure, a safety net is supposed to be there for all; but with that market size, the “least common denominator” will be low. Ancient Chinese medicine is fully supported by the government, but, the best example of the country’s health progression is available to Armed Forces personnel. The CU/Go Lean* roadmap prioritizes advances in health care for all citizens in the region. There are deliverables for cancer treatments, mental health and universal plans.*	Organ Transplants According to a previous blog, China has a lot of mileage in the medical history of organ transplantation and the impact on social values. This is a recent history anywhere, as the medical capability only became viable since the 1970′s. With the billions of people living in the rural areas, it is not inconceivable that “bad actors” view the masses as prime harvesting grounds for organ transplantation. The Go Lean* roadmap allows for a regional registry and protections for organ transplantation across the 42 million population, as bad actors will appear here too.*
10	Family Cohesion It is common for multiple generations of Chinese families to live in the same house; this allows for automatic elder care and childcare arrangements. The Go Lean* roadmap encourages repatriation; family reunification is one additional benefit. This will also encourage the Caribbean youth to plan for a future at home.*	Family Planning – Size Decades ago, China started its One Child policy to mitigate population explosion. The threat of infanticide is high as couples may not get the One Child sex they want. Rather than excessive population, the Caribbean population is declining because of the excessive brain drain/societal abandonment. We can encourage any family planning preference for our region.

In addition, the book specifically addresses China and Taiwan with these direct references of community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocates:

Community Ethos – Voluntary Trade Creates Wealth	Page 21
Community Ethos – Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future	Page 21
Community Ethos – Money Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Job Multiplier	Page 22
Community Ethos – Cooperatives	Page 25
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good	Page 37
Strategy – CU Vision and Mission	Page 45
Strategy – Customers – Foreign Direct Investors	Page 48
Strategy – Agents of Change – Globalization	Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union	Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy	Page 64
Tactical – $800 Billion Economy – How and When – Trade	Page 67
Tactical – $800 Billion Economy – How? Example of WWII Rebuild in China/Taiwan	Page 69
Tactical – Growth Approach – Trade and Globalization	Page 70
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Cari-Pol – Marshalls & Investigations	Page 77
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Caribbean Court of Justice	Page 90
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change	Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Deliver	Page 109
Implementation – Trade Mission Objectives	Page 117
Implementation – Ways to Benefit Globalization	Page 119
Planning – Ways to Improve Trade	Page 128
Planning – Ways to Improve Interstate Commerce	Page 129
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 Impact Justice	Page 177
Appendix – Trade S.H.I.E.L.D. Principles	Page 264

In addition, this subject of China and our Caribbean trade empowerment has been directly addressed and further elaborated upon in these previous blog/commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8823	Lessons from China – WeChat: Model for Caribbean Social Media
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8819	Lessons from China – South China Seas: Exclusive Economic Zones
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8817	Lessons from China – Mobile Games Apps: The new Playground
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8815	Lessons from China – Organ Transplantation: Facts and Fiction
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8813	Lessons from China – Why China will soon be Hollywood’s #1 market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8799	Lessons from China – Too Big To Ignore
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6231	China’s Caribbean Playbook: America’s Script
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5435	China Internet Policing – Model for Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=2488	Role Model Jack Ma brings Trade Marketplace Alibaba to America
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=294	Bahamas and China’s New Visa Agreement

The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the CU. Our scope is to impact the Caribbean’s economic, security and governing engines, not Chinese society. While Caribbean people are not fleeing their homeland to relocate to China. there is a Diaspora issue associated with Caribbean-China relations: Indentured Servitude. At the end of the era of Caribbean slavery (1830’s to 1840’s), the plantation system required a replacement labor source; many Chinese nationals were thusly “recruited” as Indentured Servants to the region – British, French and Spanish lands – see here:

There were two main waves of Chinese migration to the Caribbean region. The first wave of Chinese consisted of indentured labourers who were brought to the Caribbean predominantly Trinidad, British Guiana and Cuba, to work on sugar plantations during the post-Emancipation period. The second wave was comprised of free voluntary migrants, consisting of either small groups (usually relatives) to British Guiana, Jamaica and Trinidad from the 1890’s to the 1940’s. In fact the most modern Caribbean Chinese are descended from this second group. – Caribbean-Atlas.com

Derivatives of the 18,000-plus Chinese immigrants are still here in the Caribbean today. These descendents have grown in numbers and power (economic and political) in the region. They are part of the fabric of our society. They are home in the Caribbean; and we are at home with them; see the profile of the Lee-Chen families in this previous blog-commentary. This is our Chino-Caribbean heritage. These ones, as a Chinese Diaspora, desire these imports from China and are on alert for influences they do not want.

All in all, there are Good lessons and Bad lessons that we can learned from China. We can also advance “from zero to hero”, as China has done. Yes, we can!

So let’s pay more than the usual attention to the developments of China, to China and from China. Everyone is urged to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation, to make our Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

———–

Appendix VIDEO – What goes on inside a Chinese ‘legal high’ factory? BBC News – https://youtu.be/BnhgWG-cp5w

Published on Sep 6, 2016 – The BBC has been shown footage filmed inside a laboratory in China that makes so-called “legal highs”. The sale, distribution and manufacture of the drugs was banned in the UK in 2016 as many of them were found to have lethal side effects.

But Radio 4’s File on Four programme managed to order a small sample of a legal high from an online supplier in China.
The drug was posted to the UK concealed inside a plastic container designed to hold a water softener.
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