EU – Go Lean…Caribbean

Tag: EU

Brexit Manifestation: Not So Good

Posted on December 31, 2020 in Economics, Ethos, Government, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Brexit is hereby ratified as of today; the new “rules of the road” go into effect tomorrow – January 1, 2021. (Brexit = British Exit from the European Union).

It will be a scary time, as the manifestation of Brexit is “Not So Good”.

Britain wanted their freedom to choose – done. See the historicity in the Appendix VIDEO below.

But there is no freedom from the consequences of that choice. See the manifestation of the Brexit Trade and Inter-European relations as defined in this New York Times article here:

Title: Brexit, finalized
More than four years after Britain voted to leave the European Union, new travel and trade rules will go into effect tomorrow, concluding a saga that has divided Britons and dominated British politics.

The two sides reached an agreement last week, after nearly a year of trade negotiations. Yesterday, Britain’s Parliament approved the deal. Tomorrow brings the end of free movement of people between Britain and the E.U.

I talked to Mark Landler, The Times’s London bureau chief, about what it all means and what comes next. (Our conversation has been edited for brevity.)

CLAIRE: How will the new relationship between Britain and the E.U. affect people’s everyday lives?
MARK: The purpose of the 1,200-page trade deal between Britain and the E.U. was to avoid very disruptive changes, such as tariffs and quotas. But there will be an array of other bureaucratic requirements that did not exist before Jan. 1.

People won’t see a sudden shift in the price of fresh fruit and vegetables in London supermarkets. But it’ll have an impact on Britons who, for example, want to bring their dog on vacation to the continent or who want to get a job somewhere in the E.U.

Trade. Travel. Anything else?
Britain withdrew from the Erasmus exchange program, which allowed British students to study in E.U. countries and vice versa. It’s one highly visible example of things that will change in the post-Brexit era.

Something else, which may take a little bit longer to play out, is this idea of separatism and independence. Scotland, for example, was against Brexit, and it could fuel a new push to break off from the rest of Britain.

What will this mean for Britain’s economy?
A lot of stuff still needs to be negotiated. A major driving force of the British economy is the services sector, including legal, financial, consulting and other services. Virtually none of that is covered yet in the trade agreement.

How did the pandemic affect the process?
Without it, the negotiations for the trade deal would have been the biggest story in the country. But Brexit was almost completely overshadowed by the coronavirus. Britain is preoccupied with this health crisis, which will muffle the immediate effects of Brexit. But over time those will become more visible. Which means that the debate over Brexit may not be finished in the country.

Will this deliver the “global Britain” that pro-Brexit campaigners hoped for?
One of the driving arguments in favor of Brexit was throwing off the shackles of the E.U., so that Britain would become this agile, dynamic, independent economy that could strike deals with everyone in the world. But rising protectionism and populism have made making free-trade agreements harder. The “global Britain” arguments looked more valid in May 2016 than in January 2021. In a way, the Brexit vision is four and a half years too late.

Source: Retrieved December 31, 2020 from: https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20201231&instance_id=25533&nl=the-morning&productCode=NN&regi_id=69450329&segment_id=48102&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2Fa44d74cb-100d-5436-887d-e9c6aa325dbf&user_id=de9db917120d820078919cfacc03d8b3

So according to this foregoing, Brexit was the UK’s quest for agility. 🙁

The words and feelings of a known African proverb is ringing so loud right now; (this was related in a previous Go Lean commentary from July 6, 2016):

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

The thing about being agile and nimble is that not everyone in society is fast. Some people are slow … and old, and disabled. Yes, society has a greater responsibility than just getting to a destination quickly, it must ensure that everyone gets “there” … eventually.

This sounds eerily familiar; this sounds like a violation of the Code of Hammurabi; we addressed this in another previous Go Lean commentary from March 22, 2017; see this except here:

[The] Code of Hammurabi was enacted within the Babylonian Empire, a Super Power in the ancient world. … Despite the passage of 3,800 years, there is a lesson to glean from this ancient legal precept for us today. Despite the irrelevance of so many of the 282 statutes, there in the preface of the codified Law is this statement:

“So that the strong should not harm the weak”

Despite how much advances we have made in the millennia since King Hammurabi of Babylon reigned, this concept seems to be void in so many societies; this concept …

… is not in the Caribbean.

… is not in the United States.

… is not in the New World.

There is an obvious “ignorance or negligence of this concept” in the New World. Consider the experience in the United States, where the American DNA seems to be based on a consistent pattern of the “strong abusing the weak” and the long civil rights struggle to overcome the abuse. This is American History and the American Experience. …

A detail analysis of the root causes of Brexit presented that there was a loud minority in the United Kingdom that objected to the freedom of movements of people, goods and capital in the integrated European Union. The British contingent wanted to Exit the regional responsibility of hospitality towards the poor, sick and huddled masses of the European continent. The Brexiters wanted Independence from their neighbors in fulfilling any Social Contract to their citizens.

This is an important consideration for Caribbean stakeholders as we are calling for the same interdependence that the EU enjoy. This desired interdependence is the needed inter-state cooperation that is the only hope for Caribbean member-states to finally reform and transform. Any such cooperation for Britain is now in jeopardy or unlikely. 18 Caribbean member-states are current or former territories of the British Commonwealth. So this Brexit discussion – unitary independence – is relevant for our consideration as it is turning out to be more hype than hope.

The roadmap presented in the 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean introduces the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic federal government – modeled after the EU – to administer and optimize the economic, security, and governing engines of all 30 member Caribbean states – legacies from British, Dutch, French and Spanish imperial expressions. We need the hope of regional interdependence movement, not the hype of nationalistic independence. That previous July 6, 2016 commentary stated:

A philosophical attack on the EU is an attack on the Caribbean’s future. We must be aware … and be on guard.

In truth, the EU has prospered; it has been a win-win for all of its members. It has endured hardships (consider for example, the sovereign debt crisis in Greece) that under previous European regime’s would have resulted in wars; on two occasions, World Wars. Now so much of the rest of the world – especially Africa and the MiddleEast – wants what the EU has. This is why one of the greatest challenges for the EU as a whole and for each individual member-state is immigration. A basic requirement of the economic integration of the EU is the free movement of labor. So anytime, a refugee find their way inside EU borders, they can travel to any member-state. The only way to prevent this free movement is to exit the EU. This is the British decision.

The foregoing New York Times article reported that the UK has started to experience the dreaded economic stagnation that was feared by anti-Brexiters.

In addition, the issue of disunity remains; the Brexit vote showed that some elements in the United Kingdom are not so “united”. Just two years earlier, a referendum in Scotland to secede from the United Kingdom – and join the EU as a full member including the Eurozone Monetary Union – was narrowly defeated. There may still be a call to renew the quest for Scottish Independence, and maybe even spur a similar campaign for Northern Ireland, thereby eliminating the new Customs border between the Republic of Ireland and the UK country of Northern Ireland. << Photo 2 >>

The Go Lean roadmap prepared the Caribbean for Agents of Change; one of them is globalization, which produces 2 classes of people: producers and consumers. There is always a Comparative Analysis as to which locale is better suited to procure raw materials and then which locale is best to produce finished goods. Such a Comparative Analysis results in winners and losers from the consideration. The UK’s complaint about the EU was actually a complaint about globalization; the UK was losing out in the Globalization battles and becoming consumers more and more then producing less and less. Those who cling to nationalism tend to be among the losing classes from Globalization battles.

The lesson for the Caribbean Union, if we do not want to lose our own battles, is to be lucky in our Comparative Analysis. Luck is defined as the intersection of preparation and opportunity.

The Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has taught the Caribbean the important lesson that we are not prepared for the threats that come from one aspect of Globalization, the free and frequent movement of people across borders and continents. This pandemic started as a flare-up of a contagious respiratory disease in Wuhan, China; then in short order, the infections traversed the planet: to Europe and North America, then onto our Caribbean communities. We were not prepared and suffered accordingly, both medically and economically.

The Go Lean book trumpets that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. In the Caribbean, we want our homeland to be a better place to live, work and play. So we must enable our infrastructure so that we can produce more and consume less. This is the quest of our regional economic empowerments. Then we need to better protect our communities with a robust Security Apparatus to defend across economic crimes, natural disasters and epidemics/pandemics.

This is the lesson we can learn here in the Caribbean homeland from the crisis in the UK and the EU, that we must be prepared for the challenges of globalization in order to get lucky. It just does not happen naturally; the opportunities for profit nor the protection from dangers.

In 2013, the Go Lean book scanned the landscape in the Caribbean and found a lot of deficiencies in the planning, preparations and infrastructure related to the societal engines for economics, security and governance. We too would only be losers in the battles of globalization. So the strategies, tactics and implementations were published that would mitigate and remediate these challenges. These are present in the 370-book, as described below.

In addition, there have been 6 years of continuous blogging on how to apply the strategies, tactics and implementations of the roadmap to better prepare the Caribbean against the pangs of distress from globalization. This theme – empowerments and protections in the battle of globalization – has been frequently detailed in many previous Go Lean blog-commentaries. Consider this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18834	A Lesson in History: Free Trade Agreement of the Americas
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16341	The Caribbean is ready for a regional Post Office solution
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16208	In Defense of Trade – Bilateral Tariffs: No one wins
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16192	In Defense of Trade – China Realities
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15875	Amazon: ‘What We Should Want To Be When We Grow Up’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11358	Retail Apocalypse – Preparing for the Inevitable
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7789	New Guards for Global Trade
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7601	New Guards for Caribbean Sovereign Debt
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7327	New Guards for Disease Control
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6867	How to address high consumer prices
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6341	New Guards for Tourism Stewardship
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6103	New Guards Against Deadly Threats
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5597	Dire Straits of Labor Unions (Collective Bargaining) during Globalization
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=833	European Model: One currency, divergent economies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=242	Effects of Globalization: The Erosion of the Middle Class

The events related to UK, EU and Brexit are important for us in the Caribbean to consider … and learn from. In fact, we are in competition with the European world in terms of trade, and losing. We lose in the movement of people, products and capital as they all move out to these countries … with only a little coming back in.

As a region and a society we need to go farther than we have previously accomplished – not necessarily faster – so we need to go together. We need to get united and stay united. We need interdependence, not independence. This is the quest, a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, but still conceivable, believable and achievable.

Everyone in the Caribbean – citizens and institutions alike – are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap. This is how we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—————–

Appendix VIDEO – Brexit explained: Boris Johnson’s new trade deal with the EU – https://youtu.be/mFCKLBsmF_w

Channel 4 News
Posted December 30, 2020 – Brexit is finally over. The UK has finally agreed a trade deal with the European Union – which will start on 1 January, 2021.

But what’s in the deal? And what will change as a result?
(Subscribe: https://bit.ly/C4_News_Subscribe)

The Brexit saga has seen off two British prime ministers – Theresa May and David Cameron. But now Boris Johnson has reached a deal with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU Commission.

After years of debate over the single market, the customs union, tariffs, and the border in Northern Ireland, the two sides have finally found a compromise.

The Brexit referendum in 2016 caused a huge division in UK politics, with MPs split between Leave and Remain. The issue has also divided the Conservative and Labour parties. Some wanted Brexit to be overturned and called for a second referendum. Others said the UK should have a “hard” Brexit, with a more divisive split from Europe.

You can watch our full series of Brexit explainers here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…

——-

Watch more of our explainer series here – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list…
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Long Train of Abuses: Dutch Hypocrisy – Liberal Amsterdam vs Conservative Antilles

Posted on December 12, 2020 in Ethos, Locations, Social

Go Lean Commentary

There continues to be a Long Train of Abuses in the Caribbean countries. There are 30 member-states – all with European legacies – some independent countries and some dependent territories, but the assessment is the same:

We have many societal defects; we do not always treat our neighbors as neighborly as we should; at times we have been toxic and hostile towards certain minority groups and we have chased many people away, causing them to flee for refuge abroad.

We need to reform and transform Human Rights protections in our homeland. If only we can be more like the countries our emigrants seek refuge in! Destinations like the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union. If only we can be more liberal – live and let live – compared to our conservative or intolerant nature. Why the difference?

The European Union (EU), in its short history, has been very good for regulating Human Rights through out the EU member-states and the whole world for that matter. In fact, after the actuality of World War I and World War II being fought within Europe and by opposing European factions, the EU was recognized as the new dampening force that held the 27 member-states together in peaceful harmony. For this grandiose accomplishment, they were awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. The 2013 book Go Lean … Caribbean relates (Page 130):

Nobel Peace Prize
The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the EU “for over six decades having contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe” by unanimous decision of the committee in Norway.

That page in the book goes on to relate another benefit of the EU, the day-to-day enforcement of Human Rights:

Human Rights Declaration
Values like human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, and the rule of law and respect for human rights have been embedded in the EU treaties right from the start.

There are Caribbean territories that are actually members of the European Union … kinda. That would be the French Antillean islands (Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Bartholomew and St. Martin) and the Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten). The Netherlands Antilles have gone through some upheavals, with integration and secession events. At this moment, the 6 islands have the status of either constituent states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands or direct parts of the Netherlands proper, governed by the capitol in Amsterdam as “special municipalities”. At this juncture the Netherlands Antilles have this status in the EU, according to Wikipedia:

Status in the European Union
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a member of the European Union. However, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten have the status of overseas countries and territories (OCTs) and are not part of the EU. Nevertheless, only one type of citizenship exists within the Kingdom (Dutch), and all Dutch citizens are EU citizens (including those in the OCTs).

All of this history helps to explain why there is a difference in the European Netherlands versus the Caribbean ( Antillean) Netherlands. Why the difference?

For one, religiosity is a driving force for the Community Ethos of Caribbean society. “Community Ethos”, that is defined as a noun, as:

the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period.
the character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc.

This is a continuation of the monthly Teaching Series from the movement behind the Go Lean book on the Long Train of Abuses that have molded our people and our society. We do indeed have societal defects that were embedded in our colonial past but didn’t evolve as our Host Colonizers (i.e. The Netherlands, Holland or Amsterdam) evolved. We are stuck in time …

We are partying like its 1869 …

Remember the bad religious orthodoxy that was discussed in the previous entries in this blog series; how these “hatreds” were embedded in national edicts (Law-and-Order) over the centuries: Slavery, Colonialism , Patriarchy / Gender Rights, White Supremacy, Buggery / LGBT Rights, Child Abuse.

This monthly Go Lean Teaching Series always presents issues that are germane to Caribbean life and culture and how to address them. For this month of December 2020, we are looking at the Long Train of Abuses that have pushed our people away from the homeland. This is entry 5-of-6; which illustrates that embedded intolerance in Caribbean society has had the bad consequences of chasing good people away from the Antillean Netherlands to go to the European Netherlands. This is the “Dutch” all around; yet the clear assessment of toxicity and dysfunction in the tropical islands is a clear contrast to the progressive liberalism in the European homeland. We feature a Long Train of Abuses that we have to endure, while Amsterdam features a laissez-faire attitude that has been more inviting and appealing.

The full catalog of the series this month is as follows:

Long Train of Abuses: Enough Already – Colonialism Be Gone!
Long Train of Abuses: Overseas Masters – Cannot See Overseas
Long Train of Abuses: Religious Leadership in Politics – Reconciling Trump
Long Train of Abuses: Religious Character in Society – Human Rights
Long Train of Abuses: Dutch Hypocrisy – Liberal Amsterdam vs Conservative Antilles
Long Train of Abuses: Puerto Rico – “Take the Heat” or “Get out of the Kitchen”

The Netherlands Antilles is in crisis; they continue to suffer from a Long Train of Abuses … they cannot hold on to their young people or any of their highly educated citizens – Brain Drain. People are fleeing to … the European Netherlands – rated as one of the best places to live, work and play.

See this previous Go Lean commentary on Aruba, the biggest Dutch Caribbean community. Consider this excerpt:

The State of Aruba’s Economy – February 19, 2015
The largest of the Dutch Caribbean is Aruba.

Aruba called for secession from the Netherlands Antilles from as early as the 1930s, becoming a separate state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1986. After many other organizational developments, by 2010, Aruba is dispositioned as one of the four constituent countries that form the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Netherlands (European homeland), Curaçao and Sint Maarten.

What is the status of Aruba today?

How has it fared as an autonomous state?

The Go Lean book posits that Aruba is in crisis; (along with the rest of the Caribbean). This is also the assessment by the International Monetary Fund, as related in this news article:

By: The Caribbean Journal staff

Aruba’s economy is “recovering gradually” from a “severe double-dip recession,” according to the International Monetary Fund, which recently concluded its 2015 Article IV Mission to the Dutch Caribbean island.

The recession was [exacerbated] by a pair of factors: the global financial crisis and the shutdown of the oil refinery in Aruba. …

Aruba fails to keep its young people at home. In fact, the anecdotal experience (one story after another) is that young people abandon this island as soon as they finish high school; many never to return again, except for occasional visits. (Aruban natives – plus all Netherland Antilles states – have Dutch citizenship, sharing the same Dutch passport as the Kingdom of the Netherlands).
…
As for the Dutch Caribbean territories, even though they are no longer considered colonies, but rather constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, they are effectively just welfare states dependent on Amsterdam; and a feeder for low-cost labor in Holland. They are inconsequential within the Dutch sphere of influence. There are parasites not protégés!

We must do better!

On the other hand, there is Amsterdam, the capital and principal city for the Kingdom of the Netherlands; see Appendices.

Amsterdam is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands with a population of 872,680^[12] within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban area^[5] and 2,480,394 in the metropolitan area.^[9] Found within the province of North Holland,^[13][14] Amsterdam is colloquially referred to as the “Venice of the North“, attributed by the large number of canals which form a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Amsterdam was founded at the Amstel, that was dammed to control flooding, and the city’s name derives from the Amstel dam.^[15] Originating as a small fishing village in the late 12th century, Amsterdam became one of the most important ports in the world during the Dutch Golden Age of the 17th century, and became the leading centre for finance and trade.^[16] In the 19th and 20th centuries, the city expanded and many new neighbourhoods and suburbs were planned and built.

Amsterdam’s main attractions include its historic canals, the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, Hermitage Amsterdam, the Concertgebouw, the Anne Frank House, the Scheepvaartmuseum, the Amsterdam Museum, the Heineken Experience, the Royal Palace of Amsterdam, Natura Artis Magistra, Hortus Botanicus Amsterdam, NEMO, the red-light district and many cannabis coffee shops. It drew more than 5 million international visitors in 2014.^[17] The city is also well known for its nightlife and festival activity; with several of its nightclubs (Melkweg, Paradiso) among the world’s most famous. Primarily known for its artistic heritage, elaborate canal system and narrow houses with gabled façades; well-preserved legacies of the city’s 17th-century Golden Age. These characteristics are arguably responsible for attracting millions of Amsterdam’s visitors annually. Cycling is key to the city’s character, and there are numerous bike paths.

The Amsterdam Stock Exchange is considered the oldest “modern” securities market stock exchange in the world. As the commercial capital of the Netherlands and one of the top financial centres in Europe, Amsterdam is considered an alpha world city by the Globalization and World Cities (GaWC) study group. The city is also the cultural capital of the Netherlands.^[18] Many large Dutch institutions have their headquarters in the city, including: the Philips conglomerate, AkzoNobel, Booking.com, TomTom, and ING.^[19] Moreover, many of the world’s largest companies are based in Amsterdam or have established their European headquarters in the city, such as leading technology companies Uber, Netflix and Tesla.^[20] In 2012, Amsterdam was ranked the second best city to live in by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)^[21] and 12th globally on quality of living for environment and infrastructure by Mercer.^[22] The city was ranked 4th place globally as top tech hub in the Savills Tech Cities 2019 report (2nd in Europe),^[23] and 3rd in innovation by Australian innovation agency 2thinknow in their Innovation Cities Index 2009.^[24] The Port of Amsterdam is the fifth largest in Europe.^[25] The KLM hub and Amsterdam’s main airport: Schiphol, is the Netherlands’ busiest airport as well as the third busiest in Europe and 11th busiest airport in the world.^[26] The Dutch capital is considered one of the most multicultural cities in the world, with at least 177 nationalities represented.^[27]

…

Diversity and immigration
Amsterdam experienced an influx of religions and cultures after the Second World War. With 180 different nationalities,^[138] Amsterdam is home to one of the widest varieties of nationalities of any city in the world.^[139] The proportion of the population of immigrant origin in the city proper is about 50%^[140] and 88% of the population are Dutch citizens.^[141]

Amsterdam has been one of the municipalities in the Netherlands which provided immigrants with extensive and free Dutch-language courses, which have benefited many immigrants.^[142]

Economy – Tourism
Amsterdam is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe, receiving more than 5.34 million international visitors annually, this is excluding the 16 million day-trippers visiting the city every year.^[171] The number of visitors has been growing steadily over the past decade. This can be attributed to an increasing number of European visitors. Two-thirds of the hotels are located in the city’s centre.^[172] Hotels with 4 or 5 stars contribute 42% of the total beds available and 41% of the overnight stays in Amsterdam. The room occupation rate was 85% in 2017, up from 78% in 2006.^[173][174] The majority of tourists (74%) originate from Europe. The largest group of non-European visitors come from the United States, accounting for 14% of the total.^[174] Certain years have a theme in Amsterdam to attract extra tourists.
…
Source: Retrieved December 12, 2020 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam

Why such a sharp difference between the actuality of Aruba and that of Amsterdam?

Aruba appears in crisis; Amsterdam is thriving – one of the best cities in the world.
People cannot wait to get out of one, while people are striving (lining up, begging & petitioning) to get in to the other.

So exactly what is the difference? Heart.

The Go Lean book associates the “heart” with Community Ethos, defined above. The fact is that no one, individual or community can forge change without first changing the hear of community ethos. This was vividly explained in the same Page 10 of the Go Lean book. See this excerpt:

Change is not easy …

Just ask anyone 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 book for how the Caribbean is to embrace change – following this systematic flow:

Head Plans, models and constitutions

Heart Community Ethos

Hands Actions, Reboots, and Turn-arounds

What is the community ethos of Amsterdam … that allows them to strive despite internal and external challenges?

Liberalism – a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before the law.^[1][2][3] Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but they generally support free markets, free trade, limited government, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights), capitalism, democracy, secularism, gender equality, racial equality, internationalism, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]}

Liberalism in the Netherlands started as an anti-monarchical effort spearheaded by the Dutch statesman Thorbecke, who almost single-handedly wrote the 1848 Constitution of the Netherlands that turned the country into a constitutional monarchy.

In contemporary politics, there are both left and right-wing parties that refer to themselves as “liberal“, with the former more often espousing social liberalism and the latter more often espousing classical liberalism. A common characteristic of these parties that they are nominally irreligious, in contrast to the traditionally dominant and still popular Christian democracy.^[1]

That is it!

Liberalism or “live and let live”. (Note: This commentary is not advocating for free-for-all sex or drugs).

Amsterdam is known for its liberal views toward social issues (recreational drugs, prostitution, same-sex marriage and euthanasia) while the Caribbean member-states are known for its dogmatic, judgmental and intolerant society. Yet we wonder why people are fleeing one place and seeking refuge in the other. There is no need to wonder.

Notice that one of the attributes of Amsterdam liberalism is their tendency towards being irreligious. That refers to:

The absence, indifference to, or rejection of religion.^[1]

Considering the full theme of this blog-commentary series, we see that religious indifference is the challenge. It was religious expansion – Christianity Christendom – that motivated the exploration, conquest and colonization of the New World, and apparently that initial indoctrination never subsided. That Christian Community Ethos that was embedded then was dogmatic, judgmental and intolerant, thusly uninviting, where as the irreligious attribute was/is indifference.

So we ask these questions to those of you in the Netherlands Antilles, and by extension, to all of the Caribbean:

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Do you want to be successful and progressive and prosperous like Amsterdam?
Do you want to compete with Amsterdam to provide those with a choice the option to prosper here where they are planted?
Or do you want to continue with the status quo and continue to watch the decline in your society?

To even approach the position of answering these questions, our Caribbean member-states must be prepared to work together – in a more perfect union – to foster a better homeland. We must serve and protect. Human Rights should only be the floor; we must be prepared to build upon a strong foundation and reach great heights. Reform and transform …

We have addressed this theme before.

This Go Lean movement has previously detailed many related issues and advocacies for reforming and transforming the Caribbean member-states; consider this sample of previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=20573	Remembering and Remediating Our History – The Need to Reform
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=20567	Transforming our Toxic Environments to Make the Caribbean Great
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=20561	Embracing ‘Diversity & Inclusion’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=20292	Advocating for Empathy – How? Conscientizing on VIDEO
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=20072	Rise from the Ashes – We now know Liberalism is Better than Fascism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19833	The Need to Reform – Hypocrisy cancels out Law-and-Order
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19572	Master Class – How to reform and transform the Economy & Society
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19051	Forging Change – By Building Momentum
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11224	‘Loose Lips Sink Ships’ – Fanatical Theologians Undermine Progress
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10513	Transforming ‘Money’ Countrywide – A Model for the new Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7991	Transformations: Caribbean Postal Union – Delivering the Future
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5695	Reforming, Repenting, Forgiving and Reconciling the Past

If we know where the destination is and we have the urgent need to get there, why wait and waste time proceeding there?

The European Netherlands have always been ahead of us in the Caribbean, but eventually everyone else catches up. Consider the example of universal suffrage: One Man / One Woman / One Vote.

The US reached that destination in 1920 (with racial caveats that weren’t corrected until the Voting Rights Act of 1964):

The British granted that right in 1918.
Many Caribbean member-states waited and wasted valuable time, capital and people and didn’t reach the same destination until 1961.
When did the Netherlands grant this right? 1919; yet they did not allow the same right to their Caribbean colonies until 1949.

Surely, we do not still wonder why the Caribbean territories of the Netherlands – and other colonial legacies – linger influx when it comes to progress and development compared to their First World counterparts?

The Long Train of Abuses ... continues to ride.

Why wait and endure more unnecessary misery? The answer is a progressive liberalism that the European colonial host already enjoy – live and let live; think Amsterdam. This goal is within view; we should reach out and grab it. The Bible provides the guidance to:

⁹ Strip off the old personality^b with its practices, ¹⁰ and clothe yourselves with the new personality^c , which through* accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it.- Colossians 3:9, 10 NWT

We know what the “garment of truth” looks like.

We hereby urge all stakeholders – in the Caribbean and the Diaspora or decision-makers in the Host Countries – to lean-in to this Way Forward for societal progress in the Caribbean; this is the quest of the Go Lean roadmap. This is our plan to make our regional homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

————————–

Appendix A VIDEO – What’s the deal with Amsterdam’s “liberal culture”? – https://vimeo.com/189429665

What’s the deal with Amsterdam’s “liberal culture”? from Eric Maddox on Vimeo.

Posted October 29, 2016 – In September 2016 students in Amsterdam and Beirut shared a Virtual Dinner together, discussed politics, the refugee crisis, Amsterdam’s reputation as a live-and-let-live city, and the delicate coexistence of different groups and ideologies in Lebanon. At the end of the discussion each group asked their partners on the other end of the virtual table a question to take to the streets of their communities an pose to everyday people.

This film presents the results of the Amsterdam team’s effort to address the question given to them from Lebanon. It is the 3rd of the three short films (2 from Lebanon and one from Amsterdam) completed by our teams in both countries. The project was sponsored by The Embassy of The Netherlands in Lebanon, and completed in collaboration with Unite Lebanon Youth Project.

This film focusses on Amsterdam. Our co-participants in The Netherlands walked around the city asking people of all backgrounds, a question that had been given to us by our co-participants in Lebanon:

“What does Amsterdam’s liberal culture mean to you?”

The Virtual Dinner Guest Project is a production of Open Roads Media, an Amsterdam based nonprofit with a global focus on putting the media narrative in the hands of the people and transforming conflict through direct engagement and creative collaboration that educates a global audience:

openroadsmedia.org/

You can also follow our progress and our snapshots, for this and previous projects, on social media:

Facebook: Open Roads Media
Twitter: @VirtualDinner
Instagram: Virtual Dinner

————————–

Appendix B VIDEO – Amsterdam, the Liberal City – https://youtu.be/R5mFxBkMorQ

Club Travel
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==================================

See related VIDEO: https://youtu.be/Ufm1GP77bL4

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Long Train of Abuses: Enough Already … from Colonialism

Posted on December 5, 2020 in Ethos, Government, Social

Go Lean Commentary

For anyone in an abusive relationship, here is what your family, friends … and the world expects of you:

Get Out!

It is easier said than done – see the tongue-in-cheek song in the Appendix VIDEO below – but getting out is the quest, the goal and the end destination. This applies to all victims: individuals … and countries.

In fact, this was the actuality of the 1776 Declaration of Independence for the original 13 colonies that became the United States of America. Here is a powerful excerpt from that text, as recorded on Page 10 in the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean:

… Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these [former] colonies [of European imperialism]; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government.

This was modus operandi for the Americans to establish New Guards. This was also the assertion of the Go Lean book. The 30 member-states of the Caribbean region has also endured a long train of abuses from its historicity, actuality and colonial heritage.

It’s enough already!

The same as it was the right time for the 13 original American Colonies to usurp their status quo, demand independence and appoint New Guards, it is past time for the Caribbean to take this stand. In 2013, the Go Lean book presented this:

Declaration of Interdependence
We, the people of Caribbean democracies find it necessary to accede and form a confederated Union, the Caribbean Union Trade Federation, with our geographic neighbors of common interest.

In addition, that Declaration “submitted facts”, detailing the shift in governance that must occur in the region. (Page 12):

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.

Every month, the movement behind the Go Lean book presents a Teaching Series to address issues germane to Caribbean life and culture. For this month of December 2020, we are looking at the Long Train of Abuses that could-would-should move our people to change, to reform and transform. This is entry 1-of-6, the first one; it introduces the thesis that “enough already”; we are past the time when we should have made these changes. Consider here, the full catalog of the series this month:

Long Train of Abuses: Enough Already – Colonialism Be Gone!
Long Train of Abuses: Overseas Masters – Cannot See Overseas
Long Train of Abuses: Religious Leadership in Government – Reconciling Trump
Long Train of Abuses: Religious Character in Society – Human Rights
Long Train of Abuses: Dutch Hypocrisy – Liberal Amsterdam vs Conservative Antilles
Long Train of Abuses: Puerto Rico – “Take the Heat” or “Get out of the Kitchen”

The Go Lean book, serving as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), asserts that Caribbean stakeholders must do the heavy-lifting to mitigate the societal defects, of which there are many. Our focus for Forging Change must consider both Top-Down and Bottoms-Up approaches. The purpose of the Go Lean roadmap is to optimize the economic, security and governing engines of Caribbean society, so there is a lot to consider.

There is not just One Stumbling Block that we must overcome; there are many. The purpose of this month’s Teaching Series is to focus on those Stumbling Blocks that have been aged for centuries here in our region. This is why we say, it is past time to reform and transform.

Enough already …

We must learn, as depicted in the opening of this commentary, that the structures of colonialism were not designed for our best interests, but rather the best interests of our colonizing host empires. So if we still maintain the same colonial structure that was instituted centuries ago, we are already behind in the race for the needed protection and prosperity in modern life.

Yes, we must finally Get Out of the abusive relationships that we have endured for such long times.

To the 18 (of 30) member-states that have a heritage of British colonialism – just 1 of the 5 – we have repeatedly warned to remove all vestiges of the Westminster ecosystem. It does not work! See this theme as it was presented in these previous blog-commentaries:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=21138	Brexit Manifestation: Not So Good for Britain or Colonies
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16317	When Queen ‘Elizabeth’ Dies … what’s next?
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13993	First Steps – Following the ‘Dignified and Efficient’ British Model
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13579	Colonialism’s Bloody History Revisited – ‘Thor’ Movie
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12447	State of the Union: Deficient ‘Westminster System’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11420	‘Black British’ and still ‘Less Than’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9485	10 Things We Want from the UK and 10 Things We Do Not Want

Life imitating art …

… the Netflix TV Series “The Crown Season 4” featured the storyline of British Prime Minister (PM) Margaret Thatcher’s rise and fall.

Three episodes from the fourth season — “Favourites,” “Fagan” and “48:1” — strongly imply that [Queen] Elizabeth objected to Thatcher’s harsh government spending cuts and refusal to impose economic sanctions on South Africa’s apartheid regime. The show depicts the queen politely but firmly confronting the prime minister over these matters during private meetings and “audiences” at Buckingham Palace.

The drama from this TV Show dramatizes that PM Thatcher had a clear conflict of interest regarding South Africa, in that “her son was an investor in projects promoted and supported by the Apartheid South African government“. When the UK government (and many other international governments) were called on to impose economic sanctions against South Africa, the UK PM was the sole hold-out. See the series; consume it at your leisure. The performances are awe-inspiring; see this summary of one key character’s performances in this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Best of Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher | The Crown – https://youtu.be/gZgqQsFvyMM

Netflix UK & Ireland
Posted Nov 25, 2020 – Best known for her sensational performances in The X Files, The Fall and Sex Education, Gillian Anderson plays Britain’s first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in The Crown Season 4. Here are her best moments from the series. That voice though…

➡️SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE: http://bit.ly/29kBByr

About Netflix:
Netflix is the world’s leading streaming entertainment service with over 195 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without adverts or commitments.

Find Netflix UK on:
➡️TWITTER: http://bit.ly/29lYvcs
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Or visit the Netflix WEBSITE: http://nflx.it/29BcWb5

Best of Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher | The Crown https://youtube.com/NetflixUK

In the 1980s, Elizabeth clashes with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher while Prince Charles enters a tumultuous marriage with Lady Diana Spencer.

This foregoing show is set in London. This city is the cradle of the British brand of democracy around the world, with the seat of government for Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II, the Head of State of the UK and the Head of the Commonwealth of Nations. So we in the Caribbean – whose population reflect a majority Black-and-Brown demographic, just like South Africa – need to add this historicity to the “Long Train of Abuses” in our orthodoxy. Thatcher’s refusal to endorse the tougher program of economic sanctions against Apartheid, as originally laid out by other Commonwealth leaders, is a direct “slap in the face” to our race of people.

Colonialism has been the source of many of our toxic environments. Enough already!

We can do bad all by ourselves; we do not need a toxic hegemony to impede our societal progress. We should never “love people that do not love us back”; nor sacrifice for people that will not sacrifice for us.

This is why we say: Enough already!

At one point, South Africa said “Enough Already”, as they shed their colonial shackles; they migrated to a Republic with a more representative constitution.

This is our urging for all Caribbean member-states of British heritage. But don’t get it twisted …

… the same issue is applicable for the other colonial legacies: American, Dutch, French and Spanish. While we cannot change the past, we do not have to be chained to it. This goal, as depicted in the Go Lean book, is to learn from the past, value our culture, but adapt our society for the challenges of the future. See this excerpt from the first page of the book:

Though a lot of the options the CU advocates were available to Caribbean member-states in the past, the reasons and rationales as to why they were not pursued is now of no consequence. We cannot ignore the past, as it defines who we are, but we do not wish to be shackled to the past either, for then, we miss the future. So we must learn from the past, our experiences and that of other states in similar situations, mount our feet solidly to the ground and then lean-in, to reach for new heights; forward, upward and onward.

Lean-in or adapt? A better way to state the action is to “reform and transform”.

This is how we change our world, after a long train of abuses, by feeling-saying-doing: “No; Stop; and Get Out”.

We hereby urge all stakeholders to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap; this is our plan to make our regional homeland a better place to live, work and play.

Yes, we can … 🙂

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

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

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

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

xxii. Whereas the heritage of our lands share the distinction of cultural tutelage from European and American imperialists that forged their tongues upon our consciousness, it is imperative to form a society that is neutral and tolerant of the mother tongue influences of our people to foster efficient and effective communications among our citizens.

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

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

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

—————

Appendix VIDEO – 50 Years to Leave Your Lover – https://youtu.be/K4xoHjNjxus

Simon & Garfunkel
Posted August 25, 2015 – “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” by Simon & Garfunkel from The Concert in Central Park

Lyrics:
“The problem is all inside your head”
She said to me
“The answer is easy if you
Take it logically
I’d like to help you in your struggle
To be free
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover”

She said, “It’s really not my habit to intrude
Furthermore, I hope my meaning
Won’t be lost or misconstrued
But I’ll repeat myself
At the risk of being crude
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover”

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee

And get yourself free

Ooh, slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just listen to me
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

She said, “It grieves me so
To see you in such pain
I wish there was something I could do
To make you smile again”
I said, “I appreciate that
And would you please explain
About the fifty ways?”
She said, “Why don’t we both
Just sleep on it tonight
And I believe in the morning
You’ll begin to see the light”
And then she kissed me
And I realized she probably was right
There must be fifty ways
To leave your lover
Fifty ways to leave your lover

You just slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just get yourself free
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free
Slip out the back, Jack
Make a new plan, Stan
You don’t need to be coy, Roy
Just listen to me
Hop on the bus, Gus
You don’t need to discuss much
Just drop off the key, Lee
And get yourself free

#SimonAndGarfunkel #50WaystoLeaveYourLover #TheConcertInCentralPark

Music in this video

Song: 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Live at Central Park, New York, NY – September 19, 1981)
Artist: Simon & Garfunkel
Writers: Paul Simon
Licensed to YouTube by: SME (on behalf of Columbia); CMRRA, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA – UBEM, UMPG Publishing, BMI – Broadcast Music Inc., LatinAutorPerf, UMPI, LatinAutor – UMPG, and 9 Music Rights Societies

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Rise from the Ashes – Phoenix Mythology

Posted on June 22, 2020 in Ethos, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

Creating a new society on the ashes of the old.

It is that simple …

… this is what “we” are trying to do.

This reminds us of the Phoenix mythology; which many ancient cultures depicted – Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Oriental, etc.:

Reference Title: Phoenix (mythology)
In Ancient Greek folklore, a phoenix is a long-lived bird that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, others that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again.^[1] Most accounts say that it lived for 500 years before rebirth.^[2] Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, Ovid, and Isidore of Seville are among those who have contributed to the retelling and transmission of the phoenix motif. The phoenix symbolized renewal in general, as well as entities and concepts such as the Sun, time, the Roman Empire, Christ, Mary, and virginity.^[3]
…
Analogues
Scholars have observed analogues to the phoenix in a variety of cultures. These analogues include the Hindu garuda and bherunda, the Russian firebird, the Persian simorgh, the Georgian paskunji, the Arabian anqa, the Turkic Konrul, also called Zümrüdü Anka (“emerald anqa”), the Tibetan Me byi karmo, the Chinese Fenghuang and zhu que, and the Japanese hō-ō.^[23]

Source: Retrieved June 21, 2020 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(mythology)

Rather than trying to repair, sometimes we just need to just let it burn … and then re-build from the ashes.

Art Imitating Life # 1 – Song: “The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire; we don’t need no water, let the mo****-fu**** burn”.

Art Imitating Life # 2 – TV Series: “Little Fires Everywhere” – See Appendix VIDEO below for a summary.

Though the word Phoenix is not used in the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean – a roadmap to introduce and implement the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) – the descriptive concept is definitely presented. Early on, the book urges Caribbean stakeholders to … “do away with the Old and start anew”. See this excerpt from Page 10:

… whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. … When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

There is demand and there is supply. Just because a market does a poor job of delivering the supply does not mean that the demand has altered. No, for the 30 member-states of the political Caribbean, we still have the same demand:

A more perfect bond of union. We need a better fulfillment of the implied Social Contract. That is where …
… citizens surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority of the State in exchange for protection of remaining natural and legal rights.

The Caribbean has a demand for a better eco-system for all the societal engines: economics, security and governance. We need to “rise up from the ashes” of the failed-and-failing eco-systems and build a new system from scratch.

This is not just theoretical! Consider how the world is enduring the Coronavirus COVID-19 crisis right now; people are dying and economies are being wrecked. The expectation is that global travel will re-emerge only slowly; so our tourist-based economies will soon suffer dire consequences. Thus, the clarion call to “rise from the ashes” is hard to ignore.

There is a lot of the Caribbean status quo that needs to “die” or “burn down”, to allow for a re-birth, re-generation and re-creation of a better version. These are the “ashes” … as related in this example from the Go Lean book (Page 33):

The economics of housing can be impacted with the over-supply of abandoned buildings, as it brings the value down for other properties, and sends out the false vision, like Detroit’s abandoned structures, that just a “little rehab” and their new manifestations will be readily available. Learning from Detroit, it is more beneficial to raze abandoned buildings and build anew – turn-around, rather than considering restoration or preservation.

Here too, is another example of the “ashes” in our societal economic engine:

The vision of the CU entails re-booting the economic engines of the region and the member-states; this cannot be accomplished without addressing the monetary issues, and the history of inflation and currency devaluation of the past. Many times a country’s failing currency moves it closer to Failed State status. A prime directive of the CU roadmap is to facilitate repatriation of the far-flung Diaspora. Many times the Currency crisis of the past directly contributed to major exodus of the country’s professional and middle classes. This was the case for Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Trinidad and others. – Go Lean book Page 73.

The Go Lean book invited the stakeholders in the Caribbean to (1) reboot and (2) turn-around; positing that it is essential now if there is to be any hope for a future for our society. The book asserted that the CU must elevate the priority on these two important action-verbs; doing so this many times:

Reboot – 90 times
Turn-around – 17 times

These urgings need to be heeded for our region to “rise from the ashes”.

Every month, the Go Lean movement presents a Teaching Series on a subject germane to Caribbean life. For this June 2020, our focus is on Rising from the Ashes. This is timely, as the whole world have been on Shutdown these past months due to the Coronavirus-COVID-19 pandemic and only now starting to re-open – Ashes abound. This is entry 1 of 6 for this series, which details the path and process of a Phoenix concept – rebooting and turning-around – so as to foster a new society.

The full catalog for this month’s series is listed as follows:

Rising from the Ashes – The Phoenix rises from the Pandemic
Rising from the Ashes – One person can make a difference – Dead or Alive
Rising from the Ashes – Natural Disasters – The Price of Paradise
Rising from the Ashes – Political Revolutions – Calling Balls and Strikes
Rising from the Ashes – War – “What is it good for?”
Rising from the Ashes – Wrong Ethos could also rise – Cautionary tale of patriotic German Jews

There are no Ands, Ifs or Buts; we need to turn-around and reboot to mitigate this COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly a half-a-million lives have died; so this is not just an academic discussion.

The Go Lean book presents an actual advocacy that addresses the Art, the Science of formal Turn-arounds. See here some of the specific plans, excerpts and headlines from Page 33, entitled:

10 Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds

1	Lean-in for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU treaty facilitates a reboot of the region’s economic engines, security apparatus and emergency management (preparation/response) for the 30 member-states, 42 million people and $800 Billion GDP. The treaty allows for the establishment of Self Governing Entities where the CU will be the municipal administrator – this allows for civic planning, zoning, demolitions and imminent domain decision-making separate from the member-states. While too, dispositions of abandoned buildings in the member-states still relate to CU missions, as in the protection of image (“psychological trauma” is inflicted daily on neighbors of abandoned structures) and the quest for beauty. While beauty, aesthetics and preservation may be paramount for communities, these should only be a concern after basic needs are satisfied – housing is a basic need. The economics of housing can be impacted with the over-supply of abandoned buildings, as it brings the value down for other properties, and sends out the false vision, like Detroit’s abandoned structures, that just a “little rehab” and their new manifestations will be readily available. Learning from Detroit, it is more beneficial to raze abandoned buildings and build anew – turn-around, rather than considering restoration or preservation.
2	Bankruptcy Processing
3	Homeland Security Concerns
4	Property Tax Revenue and Services
5	Clean Slate / Blank Canvas By razing abandoned buildings, the community can truly engage a turn-around strategy. The property now becomes a clean slate / blank canvas, ready for any new development or a return to a natural disposition of Caribbean flora/fauna.
6	Explosives Use – Art & Science
7	Demolition Jobs It takes real talent and skill to raze abandoned buildings – that translates into jobs, demolition jobs. So the CU mission to create regional jobs can be enhanced with this community ethos to turn-around the property of abandoned buildings.
8	Recycling Materials
9	Community Gardens and Fruit Trees – by Non-Government Organizations (NGO)
10	Common Grazing Rights Intercity agriculture has emerged as a community advocacy to reclaim abandoned properties – a handful of grazing goats or cattle can easily co-exist in a community without featuring a full agricultural atmosphere – no odors.

The points of fostering the best-practices in Turn-arounds and Reboots have been elaborated upon in many other previous blog-commentaries; consider this sample:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19741	Rebooting from the Mono-Industrial Economic Landscape in the Region
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19725	Rebooting to be ‘Basic’ about providing Basic Needs
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19669	Rebooting the Eco-System to ‘Work From Home’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19452	Rebooting the Regional Currencies for a Single Market
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18566	Lessons Learned – JPMorganChase Rebooting to make ‘Change’ happen
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18475	Way Forward for Direct Foreign Investors ‘Wind-Downs’ (Bankruptcies)
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18243	After Dorian, Regionalism – Need to Reboot Regionalism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17515	Turn-around: Changing the Culture & Currency of Commerce
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17358	Marshall Plan – A Lesson in History for Turn-Arounds
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17337	Industrial Reboots – Amusement Parks & 17 other industries

It is past time now for a Caribbean Phoenix.

But we do not need a mythical bird – this is not fantasy nor fiction – we need the heavy-lifting to actually reboot our communities. The Caribbean region is the best address on the planet, so we have a lot already to work with. We must simply lead, or follow (others who are trying to reboot) or lead-by-following – to make other people’s plans successful.

Yes, we can …

We can also learn much by studying other societies; those that have managed the crisis poorly and those who have rebooted and “turned it around” well. Take France for example …

They were also on a COVID-19 shutdown; their economy came to a halt; their bustling cultural center, Paris – which enjoys 25 million annual visitors – was locked down. They now have to rise from those ashes. Their plan is to do the heavy-lifting needed to thrive in a COVID-19 changed world. They plan to employ all the best-practices for Public Health management:

Test
Trace
Isolate

See this portrayed in the following news article:

Title: France rolls out tracing app, further eases anti-virus restrictions
Paris — France has rolled out its “StopCovid” contact tracing app as it continues easing restrictions on normal life aimed at curtailing the coronavirus disease in the country. Within a few hours of its release on Tuesday, the new app had been downloaded to smartphones more than 600,000 times, according to official figures.

The controversial app relies on Bluetooth to identify and build a list of other users that one comes in contact with. If any of them have identified themselves as having tested positive, the app will alert others that they may have been exposed to a risk, without ever identifying users to each other.

After initial privacy concerns, the government has stressed that using the app is entirely voluntary; data can be deleted from the server by the user at any point; and it can also be de-activated by the user.

“It’s simple, it’s easy, it complies with GDPR (European data protection law) etc., and you activate it only after you’ve gone through all the setup,” said Wendy Ann Smith, a psychologist in Paris who had COVID-19 symptoms in March but never got tested. She said she was comfortable using the app: “I have no worries, and I know this isn’t about me personally — it helps society as a whole.”

Fewer restrictions, with caveats
The tracing app was released the same day that another layer of restrictions was lifted across France. Restaurants and cafés across most of the country can now serve diners at well-spaced tables.

In the Paris region, where the virus is still circulating, tables are only allowed outdoors. To facilitate outdoor dining, the city has given blanket permission to bars and eateries to set up tables on sidewalks and public squares, as long as they don’t block pedestrian traffic. Many restaurants continue to offer takeout.

All elementary schools across the country are now open, but classroom sizes are limited and attendance is still voluntary.

Schools spent weeks leading up to Tuesday re-organizing desks, putting tape markers along hallways and planning how to combine online with in-class learning. All school cafeterias remain closed, and students’ lockers are off limits so children have to bring lunches and snacks in with them, and their schoolbooks home every day.

Middle schools are open across most of the country, but only partially in the Paris region. High schools have re-opened in two safer “green zones,” where there are fewer infections. Paris is still labelled orange, with some risk, so only vocational schools have been allowed to re-open in and around the capital.

Tuesday also saw museums and monuments permitted to re-open across the country, but many, including the Louvre museum, have opted to wait while they work out how to incorporate social distancing. Some tourist accommodation outside the Paris region has also been allowed to re-open.

Source: Posted June 3, 2020; retrieved June 21, 2020 from: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/france-coronavirus-restrictions-ease-restaurants-schools-covid-19-contract-tracing-app-rolled-out/?fbclid=IwAR3pl8xZ7VPh-EGNvRVYPasn9UiABqaqYBnU901jz078YkZKo1XQ3Zx8nb4

In summary, our Caribbean region needs to reboot and turn-around. We do not need to just put the fires out; no, we need to let it burn and start all over again with new (better) community ethos, strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies. Some 7 years ago, the Go Lean book identified these 4 Caribbean communities that need to completely reboot their societies:

10 Ways to Reboot Freeport – Page 112
10 Ways to Reboot Cuba – Page 236
10 Ways to Reboot Haiti – Page 238
10 Ways to Reboot Jamaica – Page 239

This was before this Coronavirus-COVID-19 crisis; that need to reboot is even more acute now.

We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders – government, citizens and trading partners – to lean-in to this Go Lean roadmap to reboot and turn-around the Caribbean homeland. We must simply ‘burn it down”, get rid of the old-bad, and then “rise up from the ashes” by starting anew: better, stronger, richer, healthier and wiser.

This is heavy-lifting, yes, but worth the effort. This is how we will make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

——————

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European Role Model: Not when ‘Push’ comes to ‘Shove’

Posted on April 18, 2020 in Government, Social, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

There are ordinary times … and there are extraordinary times.

When ’push comes to shove’, the ordinary becomes extraordinary. (The world enduring the pangs of distress of this Coronavirus crisis is definitely an extraordinary time).

The ordinary times of the Caribbean was forged by the long history of European colonialism; (the indigenous population is now mostly all extinct). The populations of the Caribbean member-states only emerged as a product of the imperial expansion and colonization from the Old World of Europe. The reference to Old World is in contrast to the New World of the Americas (North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean islands in between). The Old World of Europe, went through a lot of reformations, revisions and revolutions (even world wars); then a new disposition of cooperation, collaboration and confederation commenced. A better Europe emerged.

This reality had allowed Europe to emerge as a role model for the Caribbean …

… the Old Country has a new lesson for the New World: economic, security and governing integration of the European Union (EU). This structure is such an advancement in democracy that it is now presented as a model for the Caribbean region to explore.

This is the quest of the book Go Lean…Caribbean, to get the Caribbean region to model their society to incorporate the best practices of the EU. The book urges the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The book therefore serves as a roadmap for this goal, with turn-by-turn directions to integrate the 30 member-states of the region, forge an $800 Billion economy and create 2.2 million new jobs.
…
The continent of Europe has now “grown up”, organizationally. In fact, because of the success of this integration, the EU was awarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize for 2012. This fact was detailed in the Go Lean book (Page 130).
…
The biggest lesson for the Caribbean to glean from a consideration of the EU is the need for compromise in consensus-building. – Blog-commentary: Introduction to Europe – All Grown Up posted November 27, 2014.

The EU, on paper, is the epitome of 28 parties – European member-states – “playing well in the sandbox”, or nations behaving mannerly. They boasted Free Movement of people and universal protections of civil rights in every jurisdiction. But, now something has broken that European tranquility …

Now that the COVID-19 crisis is imperiling the world in general and Europe in particular, that once proud EU interdependence is now reverting to the dreaded state-only independent thinking and nationalism. Ouch! Be afraid; be very afraid!

Did the Coronavirus break Europe’s good manners … or was that appearance of societal maturity just a false façade covering over the true European character?

Remember this is the continent that forge the 1884 Berlin Conference and subsequently spawned World War I, World War II, the Nazi Holocaust, Balkan Ethnic Cleansing, and many more atrocities right up to the present day … almost – see the dissenting commentary below where it is asserted that European “beauty is really only skin deep, but their ugly goes to the bone”.

See the bad happenstance occurring in today’s Europe due to this COVID-19 threat as portrayed in this news article here:

Title: Coronavirus: The European Union Unravels
By: Soeren Kern

Faced with an existential threat, EU member states, far from joining together to confront the pandemic as a unified bloc, instinctively are returning to pursuing the national interest. After years of criticizing U.S. President Donald J. Trump for pushing an “America First” policy, European leaders are reverting to the very nationalism they have publicly claimed to despise.

Ever since the threat posed by coronavirus came into focus, Europeans have displayed precious little of the high-minded multilateral solidarity that for decades has been sold to the rest of the world as a bedrock of European unity. The EU’s unique brand of soft power, said to be a model for a post-national world order, has been shown to be an empty fiction.

In recent weeks, EU member states have closed their borders, banned exports of critical supplies and withheld humanitarian aid. The European Central Bank, the guarantor of the European single currency, has treated with unparalleled disdain the eurozone’s third-largest economy, Italy, in its singular hour of need. The member states worst affected by the pandemic — Italy and Spain — have been left by the other member states to fend for themselves.

The European Union, seven decades in the making, is now unravelling in real time — in weeks.

NICKELSDORF, AUSTRIA – MARCH 18: Trucks are parked on the motorway leading to the Austrian-Hungarian border crossing near Nickelsdorf on March 18, 2020 in Nickelsdorf, Austria. After negotiations between Austrian and Hungarian authorities, Hungary opened the border for Rumanian, Serbian and Bulgarian citizens. Prior to the measures the queues on Austrian side were up to 60kms long. (Photo by Thomas Kronsteiner/Getty Images)

As the coronavirus pandemic rages through Europe — where more than 250,000 people have now been diagnosed with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and 15,000 have died — the foundational pillars of the European Union are crumbling one by one.

Faced with an existential threat, EU member states, far from joining together to confront the pandemic as a unified bloc, instinctively are returning to pursuing the national interest. After years of criticizing U.S. President Donald J. Trump for pushing an “America First” policy, European leaders are reverting to the very nationalism they have publicly claimed to despise.

Ever since the threat posed by coronavirus came into focus, Europeans have displayed precious little of the high-minded multilateral solidarity that for decades has been sold to the rest of the world as a bedrock of European unity. The EU’s unique brand of soft power, said to be a model for a post-national world order, has been shown to be an empty fiction.

In recent weeks, EU member states have closed their borders, banned exports of critical supplies and withheld humanitarian aid. The European Central Bank, the guarantor of the European single currency, has treated with unparalleled disdain the eurozone’s third-largest economy, Italy, in its singular hour of need. The member states worst affected by the pandemic — Italy and Spain — have been left by the other member states to fend for themselves.

The seeds of the European Union were planted in the ashes of the Second World War. In May 1949, Robert Schuman, one of the EU’s founding fathers, boldly announced the creation of new world system:

“We are carrying out a great experiment, the fulfillment of the same recurrent dream that for ten centuries has revisited the peoples of Europe: creating between them an organization putting an end to war and guaranteeing an eternal peace.”

The European Union, seven decades in the making, is now unravelling in real time — in weeks. After the dust of the coronavirus pandemic settles, the EU’s institutions will almost certainly continue to operate as before. Too much political and economic capital has been invested in the European project for European elites to do otherwise. However, the EU’s attraction as a post-national model for its own citizens, much less for the rest of the world, will have passed.

Recent examples of the unilateral pursuit of the national interest by European leaders, many of whom publicly espouse globalism but in times of desperation embrace nationalism, include:

France. On March 3, France confiscated all protective masks made in the country. “We will distribute them to healthcare professionals and to French people affected by the coronavirus,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter. On March 6, the French government forced Valmy SAS, a face mask manufacturer near Lyon, to cancel an order for millions of masks placed by the UK’s National Health Service.

Germany, March 4. Germany banned the export of medical protective equipment such as safety glasses, respiratory masks, protective coats, protective suits and gloves. On March 7, the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported that German customs authorities were preventing a Swiss truck carrying 240,000 protective masks from returning to Switzerland, which is not a member of the EU. The Swiss government summoned the German ambassador to protest against the export ban. “In these contacts, the German authorities were urged immediately to release the blocked products,” a Swiss government spokesperson was quoted as saying. After facing a backlash from other EU member states, Germany on March 19 reversed course and lifted the export ban.

Austria, March 10. Austria became the first EU country to close its borders to another EU country. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced controls along the border with Italy and a ban on the entry of most travelers from there. “The utmost priority,” Kurz said, “is to prevent the spread and thus importing the illness into our society. There is therefore a ban on entry for people from Italy into Austria, with the exception of people who have a doctor’s note certifying that they are healthy.” The government also announced a ban on all air or rail travel to Italy. Austria’s decision threatened to undo the so-called Schengen Area, which entered into effect in 1995 and abolishes the need for passports and other types of control at the mutual borders of 26 European countries.

Slovenia, March 11. The government closed some border crossings with Italy and at those remaining open, had started making health checks to combat the spread of the virus.

Czech Republic, March 12. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš closed the country’s borders with Germany and Austria and also banned the entry of foreigners coming from other risky countries. On March 22, the government said that the border restrictions may last for up to two years.

Switzerland, March 13. The Swiss government imposed border controls with other European countries. Switzerland, although not a member of the European Union, is part of the Schengen zone.

Italy, March 13. European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde dismissed calls by Italy for financial assistance to help it cope with the pandemic. After her comments rattled financial markets, Lagarde said that the ECB was “fully committed to avoid any fragmentation in a difficult moment for the euro area.” Italian President Sergio Mattarella replied that Italy had a right to expect solidarity rather than obstacles from beyond its borders.

Denmark, March 14. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen imposed border controls on all traffic by land, sea and air until at least April 13.

Poland, March 15. The government closed the country’s borders to everyone except Polish citizens or people with a Polish residence permit.

Germany, March 16. Germany, the largest and most powerful country in the European Union, introduced controls on its borders with Austria, Denmark, France, Luxembourg and Switzerland. The move came after Germany registered 1,000 new cases of COVID-19 in just one day.

Hungary, March 16. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán halted all passenger traffic into Hungary would be halted and only Hungarian citizens allowed to enter the country.

Spain, March 16. Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska decreed the establishment of controls at all land borders.

Serbia, March 16. President Aleksandar Vučić declared a state of emergency due to coronavirus. He condemned the EU for restricting exports of medical equipment and appealed for help from his “friend and brother,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “European solidarity does not exist,” Vučić said. “That was a fairy tale on paper. I have sent a special letter to the only ones who can help, and that is China.” Serbia applied to become a member of the EU in 2009. Accession talks began in January 2014.

Czech Republic, March 17. Czech authorities seized 110,000 face masks that China had sent to Italy. On March 23, the Czech Republic delivered the confiscated material to Italy. “There are 110,000 masks on board the bus as a gift to Italy, which is supposed to replace the material that was probably a Chinese gift for Italian compatriots,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Stichova.

Germany, March 18. Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a rare televised speech, urged all Germans to obey rules aimed at reducing direct social contact and avoiding as many new infections as possible. “It is serious,” she said. “Take it seriously. Since German reunification, actually, since World War Two, there has never been a challenge for our country in which acting in solidarity was so very crucial.” Merkel’s address to the nation was the first time in nearly 15 years in office that she had spoken to the country other than in her annual New Year’s address. She did not mention the European Union or other EU member states.

Belgium, March 22. The coronavirus has fueled tensions between Belgium, which is on lockdown, and the Netherlands, which is not. “In the Netherlands, shops are still open and meetings of 100 people are still allowed — these are breeding grounds for the virus,” said Marino Keulen, mayor of the Belgian border town Lanaken. Belgian authorities have set up barricades along the border and are ordering cars with Dutch license plates to turn around and return home. Keulen called the border checks a “signal to The Hague” to “quickly scale-up” its response and align with neighboring countries. “The Dutch government is incompetent and ridiculous in its response to the coronavirus crisis,” said Leopold Lippens, the mayor of Belgian seacoast town Knokke-Heist. “The Netherlands is doing nothing, so we have to protect ourselves.”

Spain, March 25. After failing to obtain assistance from the European Union, the Spanish government asked NATO for help in acquiring 1.5 million face masks and 450,000 respirators. NATO lacks this material and is limited to passing the Spanish request on to the remaining 29 allies, many of which are also members of the EU.

Poland, March 25. Polish authorities prevented hundreds of thousands of bottles of hand sanitizer from being exported to Norway, which is not a member of the EU. The Norwegian company Norenco manufactures and packages hand sanitizer for the Scandinavian market at a factory it owns in Poland. Norenco’s chief executive, Arne Haukland, said that after he applied for an export license, five men arrived at the factory, and demanded to be shown its stock of hand sanitizer. He said the company then received a letter ordering it to sell any hand sanitizer it had produced to the local city authorities in Lubin at a fixed price, under emergency coronavirus laws passed in Poland at the start of March. The seizure will exacerbate the supply problem faced by Norwegian hospitals.

France, March 25. President Emmanuel Macron, in an address to the nation at a military hospital in the eastern city of Mulhouse, which has been especially hard hit by the coronavirus, called for national, as opposed to European, unity: “When we engage in war, we engage fully, we mobilize united. I see in our country factors of division, doubts, all those who want to fracture the country when it is necessary to have only one obsession: to be united to fight against the virus. I call for this unity and this commitment.”

Meanwhile, in Italy, a nationwide survey published on March 18 found that 88% of Italians believe that the EU is not helping their country. Only 4% thought the opposite while 8% did not have an opinion. More than two-thirds (67%) of Italians said that they believe that being part of the European Union is a disadvantage for their country.

In an article titled, “Coronavirus Threatens European Unity,” Bill Wirtz, a political commentator based in Luxembourg, observed:

“As the coronavirus unfolds, Schengen countries are shutting their own borders. Whether or not they do so because they believe that a coordinated European response would be inefficient, or whether they believe that their own voters wouldn’t buy it — at this stage it’s irrelevant. The mere fact that borders have resurfaced in Europe is a failure for the integrity of the Schengen open borders agreement….

“A coordinated EU response to this crisis does not exist, and as the recommendations fall on deaf ears, Brussels is dealing with a crisis of confidence. There is no union-wide crisis response, coordinated testing or research. Worse than that, the EU institutions are bystanders to a war between countries, which are trying to limit exports of medical supplies in order to keep them for themselves. In times of crisis, the true influence and capacity of the EU has shown, and it is very little.

“As it stands, countries are dealing with a crisis of missing hospital beds, medical equipment, and overall resources. If the virus ever happens to lay lower than it does now, and the conclusion is drawn that the European Union was a powerless bystander in the eye of the storm (which it is), then the Schengen Agreement and open borders in Europe could be dealing with a difficult recovery.”

Darren McCaffrey, the political editor of the France-based news channel Euronews, wrote:

“In the past couple of weeks, solidarity has collapsed in the bloc. Countries have started imposing border controls on neighboring EU countries, and even Germany has taken steps to manage the flow of people entering and leaving its territory.

“On Tuesday, a 35-kilometer-long queue formed at the Polish-German border, where hundreds of Europeans — Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians — were stuck in trucks, cars and buses.

“As the EU must take measures to prevent the spread of the disease, many are worrying about the essence of the European Union and its four freedoms [the free movement of goods, services, capital and people].

“What is the EU if its own citizens can’t move freely? What is the single market if goods can’t cross Europe’s borders without hindrance?”

In an article titled, “Nations First: The EU Struggles for Relevance in the Fight against Coronavirus,” the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel noted:

“As the pandemic takes hold in Europe, the decades-old union is showing its weaknesses. While the EU managed to survive Brexit and the euro crisis, the corona crisis may yet prove to be an insurmountable challenge.

“Instead of trying to come up with joint solutions, the Continent is becoming balkanized and is reverting to national solutions. Instead of helping each other out, EU countries are hoarding face masks like panicked Europeans are hoarding toilet paper. The early decisions made by some EU member states to refrain from exporting medical equipment to Italy — the EU country that has thus far been hit hardest by the pandemic — has even overshadowed the lack of European solidarity displayed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the refugee crisis.

“Europeans are even divided on the question as to how to combat the virus. Whereas Germany is eager to prevent as many people as possible from encountering the virus and becoming infected, the Netherlands wants to see as many healthy people as possible fight off COVID-19, thus becoming immune. The signal is clear: When things get serious, every member state still looks out for itself first — even 60 years after the founding of the community.”
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
Source: Posted March 27, 2020; retrieved March 31, 2020 from: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15803/coronavirus-european-union-unravels

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Posted Mar 16, 2020 – FRANCE 24 English

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Category: News & Politics

No homeland is perfect.

The European continent has made great progress; but is still plagued with many societal defects. Yet still, the Caribbean member-states, though modeled and structured from their European legacy, have even more defects. These tropical territories lose many of its young people to abandonment and defection to the homelands of their European masters. In truth, in the Dutch Antillean islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Martin) and in the French Antillean islands (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin) all share the same experience of raising children, just to watch them leave after high school graduation; (same for the UK and American territories). See how this was reported in a previous Go Lean commentary:

All of the Caribbean, despite the languages, have had societal failures. Large swaths of the population has fled to foreign shores for refuge. In the French (and Dutch) Caribbean, it is not uncommon for high school graduates to leave soon after graduation. No society can thrive with this disposition. Communities need its people, young and old. But the people need opportunities for prosperity. – Blog-commentary: Welcoming the French posted February 20, 2017.

What is the experience for those emigrants, mostly Black-and-Brown, when they arrive to live, work and play in their new European lands of refuge? This question was answered in another previous Go Lean commentary:

Latent Racism – For societies to promote the exploitation of slaves, there must have been an underlying creed of racism, or racial supremacy. This emerges from time to time, as reflected recently with the Middle East Refugee crisis. People with this mindset may not have a problem with coming to a Black majority Caribbean destination for leisure travel; it may be fun for them to be pampered by “servants”, but not so much for those facilitating the service. – Blog-commentary: 10 Things We Want from Europe and 10 Things We Do Not Want posted from October 19, 2019.

So is it advisable for Caribbean people to live, work and play in Europe? Nah! While no homeland is perfect – there is the need for societies everywhere to reform and transform – but it is easier for the Black-and-Brown of the Caribbean to succeed right here in the Caribbean, rather than in some foreign location; (with appropriate mitigations that is).

See how this assertion is made by this one political commentator – Mike Larry, a Social Justice Advocate and Pro-African Pundit – in the Caribbean member-state of the Bahamas:

I look at MSM (Mainstream Media) as a propaganda tool where those that control it announce their next move or provide enough disinformation to set those not in their clique running in the wrong direction. On the first reading Europe has long practiced socialism and nationalism especially with respect to any natural resource they find at home and abroad; Norway and its sovereign wealth fund being a perfect example.

The U.S. is another example where she practices socialism and nationalism in the most egregious ways as she stomps about the earth imposing her brutish brand of imperialism on other sovereign states so that her citizens can maintain a certain standard of living at the expense of others. Isn’t that what the Berlin Conference of 1884 was really about with consensus among those of Eurocentric descent to collaborate rather than fight over non-Eurocentric nations and resources.

(In case you missed it, this has always been about resources to the detriment of resource-rich Afrocentric lands in particular).

On a deeper reading of the article, I see this as disinformation that Europe has put out into the mainstream to neutralize any effort or bright ideas that Africa and the African Diaspora might have regarding a United Africa and by extension CSME or any other non-Eurocentric trading bloc. Yet while this might cause non-Eurocentric states to abandon unity, this doesn’t mean that Europe has abandoned her common objective, as laid out in the Berlin Conference, such policies that remain alive and well. Even though Africans in the continent and the Diaspora are only now waking up to history of this barbaric treaty to which Africans were not seated at the table in Berlin. Again this has always been about resources and who gets to share in them in pursuance of their Eurocentric social and national agendas.

In summary, the push to open borders to neoliberal agendas was designed to destabilize sovereign states economically, gain control of their resources and economic arteries, in pursuit of a global system of socialism and nationalism with multiple layers of underclasses and white supremacy representing the capstone of the pyramid. I also believe the US and Europe will use the “engineered coronavirus” scare to gain better control over immigration issues, which too is based in racism and discrimination; this is what we do here in the Bahamas, not understanding that even in a so-called Black-led nation, such as ours, our immigration laws and policies criminalize primarily people of African descent.

When the smoke clears, we will appreciate that Europe, and its allies, have abided by the obligations of that horrible Berlin Treaty from over a century ago. [The goals and practices remain]. It doesn’t need a European Union for there to be business-as-usual in the exploitation of African people. That colonial spirit is embedded in their DNA [still], as evidenced by their avoidance of any Reparation Discourse, aside from empty apologies.

I don’t buy their story, as presented, as they will always be united against us in furthering their nationalistic and socialistic agendas which they have taught us to condemn in Africa and the Diaspora.
Posted: March 31, 2020.

The European Union had emerged as a role model for the Caribbean, but as portrayed in the foregoing news reports, they reverted to independent-minded “me first” nationalism, instead of the best-practice of interdependence, now that ‘push has come to shove’. We want to do better than this in the Caribbean; we do not want to structure our regional society just for the sunshine; no we want to prepare for the rain as well. We want the same rights, responsibilities and deliveries during “push” as during “shove”.

“Can’t we all just get along”?!

This is not just our question-opinion alone.

“When we grow up, we want to be like the European Union” – the Go Lean book proclaimed back in 2013; see this excerpt:

The EU region has quite an ignoble history of contending with differences, spurning 2 World Wars in the last century. Yet they came together to unite and integrate to make Europe a better place to live, work and play. Just like the EU, the CU will not possess sovereignty; this feature remains with each member-state. – 10 Ways to Model the EU (Page 130).

Yes, we want our Caribbean Community (CariCom) to become the Caribbean Union (CU). Except that the EU has NOT provided us with a good role model as of late. Rather than collaborating and confederating for solutions for this COVID-19 threat, they have reverted to their bad roots of nationalism and self-interest.

Europe is not all good.
Europe is not all bad.

Their duplicity gives lessons for us here in the Caribbean to look, listen and learn. But we must not stop there; we must also lend-a-hand and lead. Any society can come back from the brink; then reform and transform; then actuate a great community to live, work, heal and play. We have seen this done, even in Europe – therefore, we are convinced it can happen here. This theme has been highlighted in many previous Go Lean blog/commentaries; see this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=19217	Reducing Brain Drain: Introducing Localism to ‘Live and Let Live’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17915	What Went Wrong in the Caribbean? ‘We’ never had our own war!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17284	Way Forward – ‘Whatever it takes’: Life Imitating Art
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16153	100 Years of Armistice Day – Lessons Learned from World War I
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15796	Lessons Learned from 2008 Financial Crisis: Righting The Wrong
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15521	Caribbean Unity from one European Legacy to Another? What a Joke!
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8943	Lessons from Zika’s Drug Breakthrough – Solutions at the precipice
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8132	Venezuela: Watching a ‘Train Wreck in Slow Motion’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6563	Lessons from Iceland’s Model of Recovery: Burn it down; Build it up
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5964	‘Feed the right wolf’ in a crisis – Lessons from Movie ‘Tomorrowland’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3780	National Sacrifice – The Missing Ingredient for Caribbean Recovery
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=623	Harsh Reality: ‘Only at the precipice, do they change’

The movement behind the Go Lean book has consistently monitored and messaged about this fight against the Coronavirus threat; we have even presented a musical accompaniment with the 1970 song “Lean On Me” by Singer-Songwriter Bill Withers. There is a lyrical line in the song that is spot-on for today:

If there is a load you have to bear
That you can’t carry
I’m right up the road
I’ll share your load
If you just call me

For the 30 member-states of the political Caribbean, take these words to heart: “I’m right up the road” This is literally true, as some Caribbean member-states share the same island (think: St. Martin, Haiti, Dominican Republic), and other member-states are only 7 to 60 miles apart; (think USVI and BVI).

As related previously, today’s reality is the manifestation of this song (lyrics); it is time for the Caribbean neighborhood to “lean on” each other, rather than look to foreign masters thousands of miles away – who are otherwise occupied and disinterested.

Due to this Coronavirus reality, the ordinary times are no more; they may never return; this is the new normal, or a new abnormal. By all of us working together – a first time manifestation – we can have a fighting chance to make our regional homeland a better place to live, work, heal and play in good times and bad. 🙂

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

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

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

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

xxii. Whereas the heritage of our lands share the distinction of cultural tutelage from European and American imperialists that forged their tongues upon our consciousness, it is imperative to form a society that is neutral and tolerant of the mother tongue influences of our people to foster efficient and effective communications among our citizens.

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

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

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

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Disaster, EU, Foreign Policy, Model

[Top]

BHAG – One Voice: Foreign Policy and Diplomatic Stance

Posted on March 27, 2020 in Government, Planning, Strategy

Go Lean Commentary

Face the truth, the “little one” is often invisible and ignored …

… but a Bible prophecy gives hope that the small inconsequential one can someday become significant and actually have a voice that is heard by the “powers that be”. Here is that prophecy from the Bible, from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament); it is a great inspiration:

A little one shall become a thousand, And a small one a strong nation.- Isaiah 60:22 New King James Version

Here is another great directive from The Bible – this time from the Christian Greek Scriptures (New Testament), from Act 8:6:

And the people with one accord ^G3661 gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

“One Accord”, in this case, does not refer to the vehicle from the Japanese Auto Company Honda …

… rather, it refers to the Art & Science of speaking in unison. This harmonizes with the source Greek word that is used in the above scripture: Homothumadon, which means “with one mind, with one accord, with one passion”.

This is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) of the planners for a new Caribbean. This was enunciated in the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean as a necessary engagement for the 30 member-states of the Caribbean region. Now more than ever, we – all 42 million people in the region – need to speak with one accord, one voice and one passion.

The average population for these territories is not the arithmetic formula of 1.4 million people or (42,198,874 divided by 30). No, the truth is, there are 4 Big Islands, the Greater Antilles of Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti & Dominican Republic), Puerto Rico and Jamaica that have the majority of the population (11.2, 9.0 + 9.5, 4.0 and 2.8 million respectively). While the remaining 26 member-states only total 10 million people; some member-states (15) are so small that they only have 100,000 people or less. (All these figures are as of 2010 and published in the Go Lean book, Page 66).

So the small one can become a strong nation by speaking in unison, with One Voice One Accord.

This is entry 4-of-6 for the March 2020 monthly series from the movement behind the Go Lean book. This submission asserts that there is the need to reform the Foreign Policy of the Caribbean member-states, and further that the voices emanating from 30 different member-states now only sounds like noise. What we need instead is one melodious sound. This is why it is important for the region to speak with One Voice One Accord.

How is this possible, considering that there are 4 different languages and 5 different colonial legacies? The answer is heavy-lifting; but alas, we have the sample-example of a successful execution by the European Union with 28 countries and 15 languages. See how the Go Lean book related this:

The Bottom Line on EU Foreign & Security Policy
The European Union (EU) has its own foreign and security policy, which has developed gradually over many years and which enables it to speak – and act – as one in world affairs. Acting together the 28 member countries have greater weight and influence than if they act individually, following 28 different policies. The EU’s common foreign and security policy has been further strengthened by the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, which created the post of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. At the same time, it created a European Diplomatic Service – the European External Action Service (EEAS).

How about a Caribbean Diplomatic Service? Yes, we can.

Where as the Europeans developed their unified voice “gradually over many years”, our Caribbean must have our unified voice immediately. We must not settle for the luxury of “gradually over many years”. No, we have an urgent-emergent situation transpiring in the region where we need to be One Voice One Accord now. This urgency-emergency relates to the Coronavirus that is rocking our region and the whole world. See this chart of Coronavirus incidences in the region:

Title – Coronavirus cases in the Caribbean as of March 21 at 1 pm

Confirmed Caribbean coronavirus cases as of today, March 21:

Source: Retrieved March 23, 2020 from: http://www.loopnewsbarbados.com/content/coronavirus-cases-caribbean-date-11

China, South Korea, Iran, Italy have individually engaged in unifying their voice for consistent leadership in this Coronavirus battle. Now, we have many Caribbean nations that have been afflicted – people have died – but we need the rest of the world to respect our policies and decision-making. There need not be any guessing as to whether Caribbean nations are open or closed. We need the full region to “shelter-in-place” everywhere and close our borders. We need to allow this crisis to pass, with minimal contagions, so that we can quickly re-open to a disease free environment.

Remember, the Cruise ships in our waters as well.

There is much for us to learn by studying the success and failure of other peoples. Right now today, there is a lesson for us to contemplate from the American metropolitan area of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, where the population is 7,690,420 (according to the U.S. Census Bureau‘s 2018 population estimates,^[4]) across a 13-county region. The 10 urban-suburban counties, despite having their own economic, security and governing engines, now need One Voice One Accord, in their management of the Coronavirus crisis; see this news article here:

Title: Dallas County judge to Collin County: Keep people at home
Sub-title: Clay Jenkins’ admonition comes on a day when North Texas tallies 100 more coronavirus cases. Dallas County had a seventh death, and Denton County recorded its first fatality.

On a day when more than 100 coronavirus cases were reported in North Texas, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins gave a blunt message Thursday night to counties that haven’t enacted shelter-in-place orders, singling out Collin County, which has told residents to stay home but told businesses to stay open.

“We need those in our region who have not moved to heed the scientific advice to do it now,” Jenkins said. “Every day we wait costs lives.”

Dallas County was the first in the state to announce a shelter-in-place order, which went into effect Monday night.

Jenkins said he and his counterparts in the 10-county area took part in a call Thursday with Jim Hinton, the chief executive of Baylor Scott & White Health System. Collin County was the only county that didn’t participate, he said.

Hinton told the county judges that “the only way we can keep people safe and not overrun our hospitals is [to] shelter in place,” Jenkins said at a news conference Thursday evening.

…

Jenkins said he’s taking on the issue of regional cooperation more bluntly “because every day gets us closer to that day when we don’t have enough hospital beds.”

“I don’t want us to get there,” he said.

Asked about the call with the hospital executive, Hill said it was accurate that he didn’t participate but that he had participated in two other calls with county judges Thursday that Jenkins didn’t take part in.

“We need regional cooperation right now in North Texas,” Hill said. “And I urge Judge Clay Jenkins to reconsider his position.”

…

See the full news article here: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public-health/2020/03/26/dallas-county-reports-56-new-coronavirus-cases-7th-death/ retrieved March 26, 2020.

This commentary details the Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) for the Caribbean, that of having a unified voice on the world scene. This is only possible if we were a unified Single Market; then we will have the size – 42 million people – and leverage the whole region as a single entity; this is much better than any one small member-state “making noise alone”. There is an actual advocacy for this purpose in the Go Lean book; see here some of the specific plans, excerpts and headlines from Page 102, entitled:

10 Foreign Policy Initiatives at Start-up

1	*Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market* Confederation Treaty: Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU)** The CU is modeled after the EU and will allow for the unification of the Caribbean region into one market of 42 million people across 30 member-states, thereby creating an economic zone to promote and protect the interest of the participant trading partners. The CU’s Office of Trade Negotiation currently liaisons with foreign entities to secure better trade deals for the region; under the CU the first goal is to secure the Exclusive Economic Zone status, from the United Nations, for the territory between the islands. In addition, the CU treaty will allow for a collective security agreement of the Caribbean nations so as to ensure homeland security and negotiate better foreign relations with neighboring powers.
2	Speaking with one voice Acting together as the CU, the 30 member countries will have far greater weight and influence than if they act individually, following 30 different policies. The CU, in speaking for 42 million people, brings huge cost savings to the member-states by providing economies-of-scale for representative personnel and offices in foreign countries. The CU will not only perform diplomatic services, but economic ones as well. There is the need for collective bargaining with the Cruise Line industry. Then extending beyond the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN), the CU will function as a Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) to garner savings for the member-states; and also create a revenue stream for the CU.
3	CU Security Pact
4	US Relationship The CU’s biggest neighbor is the United States, plus two member-states are US Territories. Plus, many of the Caribbean Diaspora live in the US. Therefore any serious foreign policy initiative must start with Washington, DC. The CU will staff an office in Washington to act as its legislative liaison (lobbyist) arm. The US also grants foreign aid to many CU member-states. The goal is to aggregate and streamline US aid to the region through the CU.
5	US Immigration Policy and ICE Policy-wise, the CU advocates repatriation and “drying up the brain drain”. But there are factions in the US that want to liberalize immigration and allow more foreigners to relocate to the US. On the other hand, there are factions that want to tighten US policy and secure the borders. The US agency Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) do exert some efforts to patrol the Caribbean region, as many illegal immigrants to the US use Caribbean pathways. The CU will advocate for more collaboration and intelligence sharing with ICE and embed CU personnel in tactical engagements.
6	Canada Relationship
7	EU Relationship
8	Mexico Relationship
9	South American Relationship
10	Intelligence Gathering and Analysis

This quest for One Voice One Accord for the 30 Caribbean member-states is one of our Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG). The full catalog of the series for this month – under the BHAG theme – is listed as follows:

BHAG – The Audacity of Hope – Yes, we can!
BHAG – Regional Currency – In God We Trust
BHAG – Infrastructure Spending … finally funding Toll Roads
BHAG – One Voice – Foreign Policy and Diplomatic stance
BHAG – Outreach to the World – Why Not a Profit Center
BHAG – Netflix, Hulu, CBS, Peacock ==> Caribbean Media

The subject of One Voice One Accord is familiar for this movement behind the Go Lean book. In addition to the direct references in the 2013 book, there have a number of previous Go Lean commentaries that elaborated on this theme; consider this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=18243	After Hurricane Dorian, “Regionalism” new appreciation
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=17250	Way Forward – Caribbean ‘Single Market’ for Voice & Media
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15858	Network Mandates – One Voice – for a New Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15521	A Plan for Caribbean Unity – Finally for Tourism
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15245	Righting a Wrong: Re-thinking CSME
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14718	‘At the Table’ or ‘On the Menu’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3090	Introduction to Europe – All Grown Up and Unified

The goal of this Go Lean roadmap is to reform and transform the 30 member-states of the Caribbean, individually and collectively as One Single Market – One Voice One Accord. This is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, but this is conceivable, believable and achievable.

The Coronavirus crisis is not the first challenge to the global, regional, national or local well-being. We guarantee you that this will not be the last; we must simply be prepared or On Guard for any threats to our society. This is the quest of the Go Lean roadmap; this CU effort may be our best solution for protecting and promoting our society. We therefore urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this roadmap. The CU Trade Federation is not the first attempt to unify the Caribbean region for a regional Public Health stance; no, there is CariCom and their related agencies; see the Appendix VIDEO below. The Go Lean movement have always maintained that CariCom is inadequate for Caribbean integration; it does not even include Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Island, the French or Dutch Caribbean territories. In fact, CariCom only includes 15 million of the 42 million in the region; this is truly inadequate, so we recognize it only as a First Step for regional integration.

The Go Lean roadmap for the CU Trade Federation and all its embedded agencies is better … and timely for what we need right now and for the future.

Despite the challenges to our status quo, due to this COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, this 2013 published plan is the Way Forward for Caribbean society. This is how we will make our homeland a better place to live, work, heal and play. 🙂

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

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

ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, mental health, obesity and smoking cessation programs. The Federation must proactively anticipate the demand and supply of organ transplantation as developing countries are often exploited by richer neighbors for illicit organ trade.

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

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

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

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

————————–

Appendix VIDEO – CARICOM One on One – Interview with CARPHA’s Dr James Hospedales – https://youtu.be/865DWo7OKp0

CARICOM: Caribbean Community

Dr James Hospedales of the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) speaks with the CARICOM Secretariat’s Jascene Dunkley-Malcolm on Measles and Immunization

Category: Travel & Events

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EU, Foreign Policy, Model, Transform

[Top]

Changing the Culture & Currency of Commerce

Posted on May 27, 2019 in Economics, Ethos, Industries

Go Lean Commentary

Change is hard!

It does not just happen – in the positive direction – by itself. Someone (or some group) has to make it happen; they inspire it, communicate it and compel it to manifest. This is especially true of “commerce”.

commerce
noun 2. the exchange or buying and selling of commodities on a large scale involving transportation from place to place.
Usage example: a major center of commerce; interstate commerce

We want to change Caribbean commerce. We want to make it Bigger, Better and Faster.

Bigger – Yes, we want to go from local markets to a regional Single Market. Imagine all 30 Caribbean member-states with 42 million people and the potential to produce $800 Billion in GDP.
Better – Free Market would be better for Caribbean economics as opposed to the restricted controls of extreme socialism; think Cuba. Yet, many other member-states have policies and practices that are socialistic in their priorities; i.e. Antigua & Barbuda does NOT allow for private property ownership on Barbuda. (This smells like communism).
Faster – We want more and more electronic commerce options. This means a comprehensive Marketplace & Social Media (www.myCaribbean.gov) plus the delivery-logistics options of the optimized Caribbean Postal Union (CPU), a subset of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU).

Forging change in Caribbean commerce will require a change in culture … and currency.

Culture
The current Caribbean culture for “commerce” is bad! A previous blog-commentary vividly described this definition of culture:

This definition of culture refers to community ethos; this is defined in the book Go Lean … Caribbean (Page 20) as …

… the fundamental character or spirit of a culture [group or community], the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; the dominant assumptions of a people or period.

Culture allows “you” to overcome obstacles; endure the heavy-lifting of a turn-around; invest in future success based on promising talents; stay the course of a roadmap, rather than “giving up” and fleeing for the appearance of greener pastures elsewhere. Culture dictates devoting “blood, sweat and tears” to a community cause, to give a full measure of devotion. We can learn so much by examining organizations and communities of great accomplishments.

In another previous blog-commentary, it was detailed how one Caribbean member-state, the US Virgin Islands, suffers from higher consumer prices due to the challenging logistics of island life … plus the bad community ethos of rent-seeking. So implementing an e-Commerce eco-system should have a positive impact on reducing the cost of living for all citizens.

Currency
The Caribbean currency also needs attention. For the 30 member-states in the region, there are many different currencies: local dollars (i.e. Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad), sub-regional dollars (Eastern Caribbean) and International Reserve monies (Euros and US dollars). The attention that the new Caribbean needs is a new currency for its commercial activities, especially e-Commerce.

Welcome to the Caribbean Dollar (C$).

As related in yet another previous blog-commentary…

… the book Go Lean … Caribbean proposed a monetary-currency (Caribbean Dollar or C$) solution involving a cooperative of the Central Banks already in the region, dubbed the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB). …. There is already currency interdependence for many member-states [with the sub-regional currency and the International Reserve currencies]. …

Now, we can launch our own crypto-currency and electronic payments, clearing and settlements from this strong foundation. The missing ingredient, Trust, would be fulfilled.

Rolling out a regional currency will be a Big Idea and Big Undertaking. The book states (Page 127):

Currency Union / Single Currency
Apolitical technocratic monetary control, by the Caribbean Central Bank (CCB), and foreign trade with a globally respected currency allows for the methodical growth of the Caribbean economy without the risk of hyper-inflation and/or currency devaluations. The CU/CCB trades in Caribbean Dollars (C$) of which the currency’s reserves are a mixed-basket of strong foreign currencies: US Dollars, Euro, British Pound and Japanese Yen.

For us in the Caribbean to transform to a digital currency will require country-wide implementations. Fortunately, other countries have done this already … successfully. We would need to study (look, listen and learn) their experiences, good and bad. Consider the experience of the European country of Italy and their autonomous region/island of Sardinia:

VIDEO – Sardinia’s virtual currency – https://youtu.be/6qqKvctFZt0

CBS Sunday Morning
Published on Aug 6, 2017 – On the island of Sardinia, thousands of firms are not using traditional money to buy, sell, or pay salaries. They use Sardex, a virtual currency that allows businesses to earn and spend without relying on the Euro, or on banks that wouldn’t lend. Seth Doane reports on how the Mediterranean island is creating a new kind of wealth.

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Category: News & Politics

———

Title: Italy’s B2B cashless Sardex currency set to take on the world

Directors of Sardex, a regional mutual credit network encompassing several thousand small and medium-sized businesses on the Italian island of Sardinia, are thinking big — even globally — but moving cautiously.

By: Nils Zimmermann

The basic idea behind Sardinia’s business-to-business (B2B) electronic credit system is a simple one, even if its execution is somewhat more complex.

The country’s first regional currency, Sardex, gives several thousand participating small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the opportunity to participate in a system of mutual credit and do business with other local companies.

Sardex’s business development team recruits a balanced portfolio of carefully screened Sardinian SMEs, such as electricians, plumbers, glaziers, carpenters, retailers, café owners, farmers, or small manufacturing businesses, to participate in the Sardex business network. Participating SMEs pay a flat annual fee to join. Once members, they gain access to new prospective customers and suppliers.

See the remaining of the article in the Appendix below.

The lessons-learned from the experiences of Sardinia are concise: currency and credit can be fostered regardless of the support of Big Banks or existing capital. This theme also aligns with previous Go Lean commentaries; see a sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16848	Two Pies: Economic Plan for a new Caribbean
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16530	International efforts to de-Americanize the world’s economy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16210	Mitigating the Real Threat of Currency Assassins
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15923	Industrial Reboot – Payment Cards 101
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14248	Leading with Money Matters – Almighty Dollar vs Caribbean Dollars
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13744	Rebooting Caribbean Economics: The Quest for a ‘Single Currency’
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8704	Lessons from MetroCard – Model for the Caribbean Dollar
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=7034	The Future of Mobile Money Payment Systems

These previous commentaries all depict that it is conceivable, believable and achievable for the banking stakeholders in the Caribbean to deploy a new currency regime. In order to consider an e-Commerce culture, we must have the banking products in place … first. These innovations will bring so many benefits that we must embark on the roadmap to manifest these changes. We have already started … with the planning. Just notice these last 4 blog-commentaries published by the Go Lean movement:

Continuity of Business: Learning from Instagram’s system failures	e-Commerce sites require good management to maintain systems up-time and to minimize downtime.
Wal-Mart now doing ‘Next Day’ deliveries	Optimal logistics allow e-Commerce merchants to optimize the shopping experience.
Bad Ethos Retarding ‘New Commerce’	Bad government policy can curtail e-Commerce progress. For restaurants, a mandatory gratuity policy on take-out orders is just plain rent-seeking, a bad ethos.
Moving Forward with Transportation Solutions	The Caribbean does not have the highway networks to facilitate cheap shipping options, but we can deploy a network of ferries in our Union Atlantic Turnpike scheme.

This commentary now – Culture and Currency – completes this series on the preparation for e-Commerce in the Caribbean. This whole collection depicts the heavy-lifting that regional stakeholders must do. Let’s lean-in for this effort. This is how we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

————–

Appendix – Italy‘s B2B cashless Sardex currency set to take on the world – Cont’d

…

Marketing help
All Sardex members have access to a searchable database of all the network’s members. They can post trade offers on Sardex’s web platform, and they’re encouraged to look for business opportunities within the network. Many join WhatsApp or Telegram groups comprising hundreds of members, to stay in touch and make each other aware of offers.

In addition, Sardex employs deal brokers whose job is to identify possible trading opportunities within the network. The brokers call up business owners to suggest deals, for example, by proposing plumbers, electricians, and builders they could cooperate with on a local construction project.

New business
“The point of Sardex is to facilitate new sales that would otherwise not occur, and make use of idle capacity,” said Giovanni Dini, who works on Sardex’s research and development team. “By joining Sardex, a participating SME should see growth in its transaction volume with other Sardinian businesses.”

Each new member’s annual fee is individually negotiated, and amounts to a small fraction of its estimated underutilized business capacity.

A mutual credit club
Members avoid paying each other for goods and services through normal financial channels. Instead of using cash, bank transfer, or standard credit cards to settle transactions, the euro-denominated amount (1 SRD equals €1, $1.16) can be recorded as a debt the buyer owes the Sardex network, not the seller. The seller, in turn, records a credit to their Sardex account. This credit is, in effect, a debt owed by Sardex to the seller.

In this way, Sardex members can buy and sell from each other even if they’re cash-strapped, or have difficulty gaining bank credit. As an added benefit, there is no interest charged or paid on Sardex account balances.

Participants are expected to keep their Sardex account level within individually agreed maximum credit or debt levels —usually a few thousand Euros. Members must buy as well as sell, and the net amount of credit or debt on purchases and sales made on their Sardex account should net to zero over the course of a year.

Limits on transaction volume
There are limits to the volume of trade a Sardex member can or should do, as a proportion of its total business volume. “We recommend no more than 30 percent of the total,” Dini told DW. “Most of that should be additional transactions, i.e., sales that would not have been made if the business hadn’t been a member of the Sardex network.”

A key reason for the 30 percent limit: Value-added taxes continue to be due on all transactions, and taxes are only payable in conventional bank Euros or in cash. If a business were to do 100 percent of its trade in Sardex credits, it would end up owing a lot of Euros to the Italian treasury, but would have no Euros in the bank to pay its taxes.

Tourism, construction and retail are among the sectors most active within the network.

Growing business volume
Dini said the total volume of business in Sardex credits transacted on Sardinia in 2016 was just over €67 million ($87 million). In 2017, it was nearly €81 million.

Those numbers don’t include transactions in 11 additional regions of Italy where Sardex has initiatied B2B credit clubs within the past couple of years, all of them using the same web- and app-based credit circuit technology platform Sardex developed for Sardinia, but each running its own separate regional B2B credit circuit. Veneto, Marche, and Lombardy are among the 11 regions.

“We’re looking at enabling interregional trade as well, i.e., transactions between credit circuit members from different regions,” Dini said.

“We have to be careful,” Dini added, “our top priority is increasing within-region trade. Sardex was founded as an instrument to stimulate jobs and trade within Sardinia, one of Italy’s economically depressed regions. If we open interregional trade too much, we’ll end up reproducing the same imbalances in trading relationships that already exist, with some regions being big net exporters and others running up debts as net importers.”

Is small beautiful?
In each region, Sardex has partnered with a local entrepreneur to run credit-club recruitment and operations. Transaction volumes outside Sardinia totalled €14 million in 2016; they nearly doubled to €26 million in 2017.

Given that Italy’s GDP in 2017 was about €1.72 trillion, these numbers are tiny in comparison. But members of one of these regional B2B credit clubs can see meaningful benefits at their own scale of activity, for example, a tradesman or tour operator might see an extra €30,000 a year in transactions.

Sardex had signed up a total of 3,896 SMEs as full members as of June 2018. The total SME membership for all 12 regional networks was 8,512. After Sardex, the top three regional networks at present are Marchex with 1,010 B2B members (2013 start), Linx with 894 (2015 start), and Venetex with 514 members (2016 start), respectively in the Marche, Lombardy and Veneto regions.

National and international interest
The Sardex model has been successful enough that it has attracted attention from all over Europe, and even beyond: “We’ve had non-government organisations, entrepreneurs, regional and municipal governments, and even one national government come to us and express interest in setting up a mutual credit network using our platform,” Dini said.

But Sardex’s founders and managers are moving carefully, to avoid over-extending their capacities, and to ensure that they have thoroughly worked out all aspects of the business on Sardinia first, the researcher and developer added.

The importance of the man on the ground
Some of the regional credit circuits Sardex has set up with partners in other regions are doing better than others. According to Dini, the most progress has been made in Italian regions which are already relatively prosperous, such as the Veneto and Marche regions.

Factors driving a regional network’s success, according to Dini, include, “the skill of the partner team on the ground, their dedication, and their luck. They need a good pitch for recruiting new members, they need to know their territory well, they need good salespeople.”

In addition, it makes a difference how big a region’s pool of SMEs is, Lombardy or Veneto have multiple times more businesses than Sardinia or other southern Italian regions, which makes member recruitment easier.

“The online credit circuit platform itself is only one element for building a successful mutual credit network,” Dini emphasised. “Going out and recruiting new members face-to-face, teaching them how to use the platform effectively, providing effective deal-brokerage services — these are essential too.”

Sardex has indicated it’s in touch with entrepreneurs in Germany and elsewhere to discuss the possibility of setting up a regional B2B credit circuit there as well, and the company hopes to be able to announce its first step beyond Italy sometime in early 2019.

“We’re seeing that our B2B credit circuit model is interesting to entrepreneurs in prosperous regions too, not only to businesses in economically depressed regions.”

Source: Deutsche Welle – German Business News Site – Posted September 5, 2018; retrieved May 25, 2019 from: https://www.dw.com/en/italys-b2b-cashless-sardex-currency-set-to-take-on-the-world/a-45300395

———

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Marshall Plan – A Lesson in History

Posted on May 9, 2019 in Economics, Government, Planning

Go Lean Commentary

Fix Cuba & Haiti and we fix the entire region.

This is the assertion, that despite the fact there are 30 member-states that constitute the political Caribbean, 2 of them – Cuba & Haiti – constitute almost the majority of the population, and will require strenuous efforts to reform and transform. See the distribution here, based on 2010 numbers; (retrieved from the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean Page 66):

	Population	% of Whole
Cuba	11,236,444	26.63%
Haiti	9,035,536	21.41%
Cuba + Haiti	20,271,980	48.04%
Caribbean	42,198,874	100.00%

Yes, these two countries are heavily populated, but they have something else in common: they are de facto Failed-States.

So to repeat, if we can fix Cuba & Haiti, we can fix the entire region. How?

By executing strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies proven to be effective in rebooting other societies, no better model than recovering Europe from their Bad Old Days – World War II (1939 – 1945); see Appendix VIDEO below.

Neither Cuba nor Haiti have experienced the required Turn-around from their Bad Old Days.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean, a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), identified one solution: a Caribbean version of the Marshall Plan – the European Recovery Program. It is important that we understand that “Plan” better, so that we can model it locally.

George Marshall,(1880-1959) pictured here as a General of the Army before he became the US Secretary of State. It was during his term as Secretary of State that he planned, campaigned for and carried out the Marshall Plan.

The Go Lean book (Page 68) introduces the Marshall Plan for Caribbean remediation. See this excerpt here (and the Appendix VIDEO below):

The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was the American program to aid Europe, in which the US gave economic support, amounting to $12.4 billion, to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II (1948-1952).

The ERP addressed each of the obstacles to post-war recovery. The plan looked to the future, and did not focus on the destruction caused by the war. Much more important were efforts to modernize European industrial and business practices using high-efficiency American models, reducing artificial trade barriers, and instilling a sense of hope and self-reliance. By 1952, as the funding ended, the economy of every participant surpassed pre-war levels, with output in 1951 reaching 35% higher levels than in 1938. Then over the next two decades, Western Europe enjoyed unprecedented growth and prosperity.

In addition to money, the Marshall Plan extended a Technical Assistance Program. By implementing technological literature surveys and organized plant visits, American economists, statisticians, and engineers were able to optimize European manufacturers, increasing productivity and efficiency in all industries.

The years 1948 to 1952 saw the fastest period of growth in European history. West Germany embarked upon an unprecedented two decades of growth that saw standards of living increase dramatically. In 1973, while this country was home to 1.26% of the world’s population, it featured the world’s fourth largest GDP of $944 Billion (5.9% of the world total).

There is some debate among economic historians over how much this should be credited to the Marshall Plan. Most reject the idea that it alone miraculously revived Europe shows that a general recovery was already underway. But most believe that the Marshall Plan sped this recovery, but did not initiate it, asserting that recovery was a result of eliminating central planning and restoring a market economy to Europe, especially in those countries which had adopted more fascist and corporatist economic policies. Former US Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank Alan Greenspan gives most credit to German Minister for Economy Ludwig Erhard for Europe’s economic recovery. Greenspan stated that it was Erhard’s economic policies and reductions in economic regulations that permitted Germany’s miraculous recovery. [Source: Cini, Michelle, in Schain, Martin, (ed.) “From the Marshall Plan to the EEC”, in The Marshall Plan: Fifty Years After, New York: Palgrave, 2001]

The Marshall Plan also played an important role in European integration. Many leaders felt that this was necessary to secure the peace and prosperity of Europe, and thus used the Marshall Plan guidelines to forge it. Institutions like the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community would eventually grow into the European Union.

The CU will implement a Caribbean-version Marshall Plan to reboot the economic engines of the region. These initiatives will entail funding (loans, grants, access to capital), technical assistance (coaching) and fostering a laissez-faire regulatory environment to institute pro-growth strategies.

There is so much that the Caribbean can benefit from in consideration of this historicity. This commentary commences a series on Lessons Learned from the Marshall Plan. Here for May 2019, we present a full series of commentaries related to Marshall Plans, the historic European one and the Caribbean versions. The full series is presented as follows:

Marshall Plan: A Lesson in History.
Marshall Plan: Cuba – An imminent need for ‘Free Market’ Emergence
Marshall Plan: Haiti – Past time for Mitigation
Marshall Plan: Funding – What Purse to Fund Our Plans?
Marshall Plan: Is $91 Billion a Redux for Puerto Rico?

In this series, reference is made to the need for a comprehensive roadmap for elevating the societal engines of Cuba & Haiti, and by extension, all of the Caribbean. Of all the plans out there, this – roadmap presented in Go Lean…Caribbean – is the only one that double-downs on the prospect of regional interdependence.

We are all in the same boat, the book states; we need to work together. This is the best way to recover, reboot and turnaround.

The theme of societal recoveries have been detailed in previous Go Lean commentaries; consider this sample list here:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16192	How did China Recover from Poverty? Trade, Trade, Trade
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15798	Lessons Learned from 2008: Still Recovering
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=12994	The Science of ‘Power Restoration’ After Hurricanes
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11647	Righting a Wrong: Puerto Rico’s Bankruptcy
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=8370	A Lesson in Economic Fallacies – Austerity: Dangerous Idea
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=6563	Lessons from Iceland – Model of Recovery
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=3028	Recovery – Why India is doing better than most emerging markets
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=631	The Pope as a ‘Turnaround CEO’ – The Francis effect

This movement – behind the Go Lean book – just published a month-long series on the Way Forward. Some individual member-states and institutions were identified and qualified. Cuba & Haiti were not singled-out for any Way Forward consideration. The Go Lean book asserts that these two member-states are Special; they therefore need a Special Plan; this is the Marshall Plan. (They are not better nor worse than other Caribbean people; they just have a different history).

The Marshall Plan for Cuba and Haiti must do what the Post-WW-II Marshall Plan did for Western Europe.

No pressure!

But it is good to have a proven track record. We do not have to “re-invent the wheel”, only follow the well-traveled path of Best Practices. This is still not easy though, in fact, all communications from the Go Lean movement have consistently asserted that the effort to recover, reboot and turn-around the Caribbean member-states is:

Heavy-lifting!

We need all hands on deck! We will need all Caribbean hands just to impact Cuba & Haiti. But once we complete that, we actually would have impacted the entire Caribbean. So yes we can … make our homelands better places to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

———

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

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

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

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

—————

Appendix VIDEO – The Cold War: The Marshall Plan (Episode 9) – https://youtu.be/ALcX2BlrxOE

I’m Stuck – GCSE and A-Level Revision
Published on Feb 20, 2018 – In this video, we look at the Marshall Plan which was implemented in Europe as a way of consolidating US power in the west. After a negative review of Europe by both Clayton and Acheson, the Marshall Plan was seen as an essential means of preventing communism in all of Europe.

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/ImStuckYoutube?la…

For information on the full “Cold War” series: http://imstuck.wix.com/imstuckgcserev…

Category: Education

——–

Other VIDEO‘s:

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Montserrat: No ‘Irish Luck’

Posted on March 17, 2019 in Locations, Social

Go Lean Commentary

We have an island in the Caribbean – Montserrat – that is coupled, compared and contrasted with Ireland in fact, fiction and folklore …

Montserrat is nicknamed “The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean” both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of many of its inhabitants.^[3][4] – Wikipedia

Maybe the coupling-comparison-contrast with Ireland can also apply to their luck:

Wherever the origin of the phrase ‘Luck of the Irish‘ stems from or what is was originally intended to mean, fact is that the Irish are indeed very fortunate people. They are proud of themselves, their country and culture, hardworking, funny and nowadays loved by nations all over the world. – Tour Ireland Blog Nov 26, 2015

But the reality of Irish Luck is only evident after all the hard-work and heavy-lifting; consider this historicity:

The Irish Luck = Bad Luck? During Ireland’s past, many Irish were forced to emigrate due to the potato famine for instance. Often, abroad, the Irish were treated badly and had to struggle to make a living. Some emigrants didn’t even survive the sea crossing, others grew ill and with no health care, suffered badly. Childhood disease saw many families lose their children, with that their reason for succeeding was not so great and depression followed in many cases by alcohol abuse. Many of the original Irish settlers in the US, the UK and Australia never saw their family again. Indeed on the night before a person emigrated a party was held, a sort of ‘funeral’ wake which is a traditional Irish custom when someone dies. Therefore, some believe that the expression is rather an ironic one, stating that the Irish are not lucky after all.

Montserrat “luck” is also fleeting – “not so lucky”:

On 18 July 1995, the previously dormant Soufrière Hills volcano, in the southern part of the island, became active. Eruptions destroyed Montserrat’s Georgian era capital city of Plymouth. Between 1995 and 2000, two-thirds of the island’s population was forced to flee, primarily to the United Kingdom, leaving fewer than 1,200 people on the island as of 1997 (rising to nearly 5,000 by 2016).^[5][6] – Wikipedia

As we approach St. Patrick’s Day 2019, we are reminded how we love Ireland and the Irish …

… we love Montserrat too.

Consider the previous treatments we gave to Ireland and the Irish people in these previous blog-commentaries from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean; see relevant summaries here:

The ‘Luck of the Irish’ – Past, Present and Future – March 17, 2015

Why do people wear green? It’s a move of solidarity for Irish people and culture.

This is a big deal considering the real history.

This subject also has relevance for the Caribbean as Saint Patrick’s Day is a public holiday in the British Caribbean Territory of Montserrat, in addition to the Republic of Ireland,^[10] Northern Ireland,^[11] and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. While not a holiday elsewhere, this day is venerated by the Irish Diaspora around the world, …

This subject also provides a case study for the Caribbean, as the Irish Diaspora is one of the most pronounced in the world. This is the model of what we, in the Caribbean, do not want to become. …

The Diaspora, broadly interpreted, contains all those known to have Irish ancestors, i.e., over 100 million people, which is more than fifteen times the population of the island of Ireland, which was about 6.4 million in 2011.

In July 2014, the Irish Government appointed Jimmy Deenihan as Minister of State for the Diaspora.^[3] …

Ireland has fared better since those dire days of the potato famine, but still its people, the Diaspora, endured a lot of misery, resistance and discrimination in their foreign homes. … The usual path for new immigrants is one of eventual celebration, but only after a “long train of abuses”: rejection, anger, protest, bargaining, toleration and eventual acceptance. Wearing green today – or any other March 17^th’s – is a statement of acceptance and celebration of the Irish; as a proud heritage for what they have endured and accomplished. …

Frederick Douglass [Irish Odyssey]: Role Model for Single Cause – Death or Diaspora – March 17, 2016

The Caribbean can learn an important lesson from a 150 year-old Role Model, Frederick Douglass. His is a powerful lesson for the advocacy of Single Cause. … Mr. Douglass remained steadfast and committed to one cause primarily: abolition of slavery and civil rights for African-Americans. …

The legacy of Frederick Douglass, is that if an oppressed population didn’t find refuge, the only outcome would be Death or Diaspora.

The Diaspora prophecy happened, then in Ireland and today, especially here in the Caribbean! (In [that] previous blog, it was revealed that after 1840, emigration from Ireland became a massive, relentless, and efficiently managed national enterprise. In 1890 40% of Irish-born people were living abroad. By the 21st century, an estimated 80 million people worldwide claimed some Irish descent; which includes more than 36 million Americans who claim Irish as their primary ethnicity).

Caribbean citizens are also pruned to emigrate … to foreign shores (North America and Europe) seeking refuge. In a previous blog-commentary it was asserted that the US – the homeland for Frederick Douglass – has experienced accelerated immigration in recent years. Published rates of societal abandonment among the college educated classes have reported an average of 70 percent in most member-states …. For this reason, there is solidarity for the Diaspora of Ireland and the Diaspora of the Caribbean.

Caribbean Ghost Towns [- i.e. Plymouth, Montserrat]: It Could Happen…Again – February 11, 2015

The Caribbean is in crisis today; but even more so, if left unchecked, the crisis gets worst tomorrow …. There is no guarantee of our survival. Communities and societies do fail; success is not assured; the work must be done, we must “sow if we want to reap”.

The reality of ghost towns, in the Caribbean and around the world, is a reminder to failing communities of where the road ends. …

A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed, or due to natural or human-caused disaster ….

There is a ghost town that is an incumbent de jure capital: Plymouth in the Caribbean island of Montserrat. This city was abandoned in 1997 due to volcanic eruptions and is now part of an Exclusion Zone ….

The Go Lean book posits that many Caribbean communities suffer from a mono-industrial complex (Page 3), therefore the risk is high for the same ghost town eventuality like so many other towns have experienced. Yes, ghost towns could happen in the Caribbean … again.

What is the Way Forward for Montserrat?

That previous Go Lean commentary about “Irish Luck” from March 17, 2015 also related the successful Way Forward pursued by modern day Ireland – we need solidarity with this Irish model:

The Republic of Ireland ranks among the wealthiest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita.^[11] After joining the European Union, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity from 1995 to 2007, during which it became known as the Celtic Tiger. This was halted by an unprecedented financial crisis that began in 2008, in conjunction with the concurrent global economic crash.^[12][13]
——-
See this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – Ireland is back in business – https://youtu.be/qg1cwyjDlHY

FRANCE 24 English
Published on Feb 11, 2016 – Ireland’s strong economic recovery will be the main backdrop to the country’s general elections on February 26. After five years in power, Prime Minister Enda Kenny’s conservative government are keen to highlight the fact that when they took the job, Ireland’s economy was close to collapse. Public finances are now back on track, and the brutal seven-year austerity programme and bailout plan are a thing of the past. However, opposition parties argue that many people have been left on the sidelines during these tough times. This report takes a closer look at one of the “ingredients” of Ireland’s economic recovery: an extremely low corporation tax. A programme prepared by Patrick Lovett and Laura Burloux.

Subscribe to France 24 now : http://f24.my/youtubeEN

FRANCE 24 live news stream: all the latest news 24/7 http://f24.my/YTliveEN

Visit our website : http://www.france24.com
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Like us on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.Eng…
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Category: News & Politics

——-
See this additional story – How did IRELAND step out of POVERTY? – in this VIDEO here:
https://youtu.be/sDzSIuW6uiM
——-

Montserrat now has the model by which to follow: regional integration in a EU-styled Single Market. This model will work for the rest of the Caribbean too. This is the quest of the Go Lean movement, to provide a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The book Go Lean … Caribbean addresses this model and prepares the regional institutions accordingly.

This remediation allows us to better appreciate what the Luck of the Irish really means – the end result of the required hard-work and heavy-lifting – as conveyed in this Classic Irish Blessing:

May you always have…
Walls for the winds
A roof for the rain
Tea beside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
Those you love near you
And all your heart might desire.

All in all, the Luck of the Irish “finally fulfilled” means a better homeland to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

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European Reckoning – Christianity’s Indictment

Posted on January 20, 2019 in Ethos, Locations, Social

Go Lean Commentary

So for many centuries, Europe and Europeans have wielded absolute power on the planet. And this has not always been good for the planet. 🙁

Slave Trade & Slavery
Colonialism
World Wars

Every one of these atrocities yielded millions and maybe even billions of victims.

If only there was a moral guide to lead European society on how they should behave and treat their fellow man.

Wait, wait … this was the job of the Church. So Christianity’s holds the greatest blame for the failures of Europe to be a Good Neighbor.

For her sins are piled as high as heaven, and God remembers her evil deeds. – Revelation 18:5 New Living Translation
(“Her” in this case refers to “Babylon the Great”, identified as the world’s Religious Order).

The book Go Lean…Caribbean highlights the history of European expansion that led to the Caribbean society of today; see Appendix below. This commentary from the movement behind the Go Lean book asserts that the conduct of the Church during the history of the New World (including the Caribbean) is an indictment against Christianity.

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian Independence Leader and renown Hindu cleric.

The Church felt justified with the Slave Trade, Slavery and Colonialism because of their distorted values to make new disciples at all costs. This was echoed in a previous Go Lean commentary:

There was an earlier Papal Bull that sealed the fate and would prejudice the African Diaspora for 500 years. The African Slave Trade and institution of “Slavery” was legally predicated on a Papal Bull from Pope Innocent VIII (Giovanni Battista Cybo) in 1491; just months before Christopher Columbus’s historic first voyage. Consider this encyclopedic reference:

“In his book “Black Africans in Renaissance Europe”, principal author N. H Minnich^*described how the position of Renaissance popes towards slavery, a common institution in contemporary cultures, varied. The book states that those who allowed the slave trade did so in the hope of gaining converts to Christianity.^[11] But in the case of Pope Innocent VIII, he permitted trade with Barbary^# merchants, in which foodstuffs would be given in exchange for slaves who could then be converted to Christianity.^[11]

This commentary continues this 5-part series on European Reckoning. This entry is 4 of 5 in this series from the movement behind the Go Lean book in consideration of the past, present and future of White-Christian European interactions. While this series is on reconciling the European experience, previous submissions addressed European economic leadership. This submission however asserts that the conduct of the Christian-side of White-Christian-European history has been worthy of indictment and the European institutions need to be held to account. Even though the New World and the Caribbean were established by European military power – see Appendix below – the Church was aligned and complicit. The other commentaries in the series are cataloged as follows:

European Reckoning: IMF Apologies
European Reckoning: China seeks to de-Americanize the world’s economy
European Reckoning: Settlers -vs- Immigrants
European Reckoning: Christianity’s Indictment
European Reckoning: Black “Greco-Roman” Wrestler victimized for his hair

The previous submissions in this series established that the US is an extension of the European New World experience. The European Great Powers are identified as the Western Alliance along with the North American countries of the US and Canada. While it is easy to accept the premise that the ancient European value system in the New World was flawed, surely today’s experiences are better, right?

Not so fast! (Notice the statements about White Christian Countries by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Appendix VIDEO below).

The current governing administration in the US, under President Donald Trump, has revealed the continuation of White-Christian-European religious hypocrisy. If not the rest of the world, Caribbean society at least should reckon with this actuality. See this news-opinion article here:

Title – Opinion: Conservative Christians Were The Political Pawns Of 2018
By: Brandi Miller, Columnist

To mark the end of 2018, we asked writers to revisit some of the year’s most noteworthy (for good or evil) events, people and ideas. See the other entries here between now and the new year.

This year, many have found themselves playing the role of political pawns, manipulated to perpetuate political agendas. And President Donald Trump has been the chess master.

From using asylum-seekers in the migrant caravans to push forward violent immigration policy to gathering Black pastors and people like Kanye West to appear sympathetic toward and popular in communities of color, the Trump administration seems to see all people as movable pieces on a game board serviceable to his political agendas.

While most have been forced into being pawns through circumstance and systemic oppression, conservative Christians have voluntarily chosen the role of being the most manipulatable people in the game. These Christians have been politically duped by Trump, who promised movement on their issues of deepest concern without actually following through in significantly measurable ways.

“Some Christians will go to any length to gain and maintain political power, sacrificing Jesus’ values of inclusion and justice.”

If 2017, the first year of Trump’s term, was a year of hype and of creating the illusion of a Christian nation, 2018 has been the year that Trump used his pawns to do his bidding, even at the expense of real Christian values. During his campaign, he promised to defund Planned Parenthood, and in doing so, solidified a conservative Christian base. “Every life is sacred, and . . . every child is a precious gift from God,” Trump declared. “We know that every life has meaning and that every life is totally worth protecting.”

Yet Trump’s administration has made it painfully clear that he doesn’t care about life at all; he simply cares about maintaining a base. He has put children in cages at the border, disregarded the value of Black lives, desecrated Native land with the Keystone XL pipeline, oppressed trans people in the military and regularly dehumanized people through his petulant Twitter tirades.

When Trump needed people to support militarization at the border, he manipulated the traditional values of protecting your family, when he needed to exclude people from predominantly Muslim countries, he leveraged Christian fear about freedom of all other religions. Culminating in the Religious Liberty Task Force introduced by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Trump administration has catered to its Christian constituency with a track record of either ignoring or demonizing other people of faith and simultaneously elevating and espousing (politicized) “Christian values.”

When he wanted to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court despite the sexual assault allegations the judge faced, Trump leaned on pro-life values that would appeal to his Christian base. And when he continuously violates all morals and ethics in his personal life, character and communication, he is able to rely on the notion of forgiveness, grace, or Christians choosing to put up with his lesser evils as long as their political motivations are legitimized and backed.

“Trump will continue to be a chess master, moving Christians toward the death of their integrity and the increase of his own power.”

This administration floats on hollow promises and grandiose rhetoric. Trump is a political siren, singing and swaying Christians away from the values of Jesus with the promise of single-issue victories on abortion, religious freedom and a seat at the political table. They seem plenty happy to go along with Trump, to the death of their integrity and the witness they so claim to desire.

It has become more and more clear that some Christians will go to any length to gain and maintain political power, sacrificing Jesus’ values of inclusion and justice in exchange for a front-row seat at this administration’s circus of oppressive activity. The sad irony is that members of Trump’s evangelical Christian base are the least powerful pieces on this political chessboard, mere pawns used to spread Trump’s message of hate and oppression.

Jesus warned against gaining the world and losing your soul, but some Christians have sold out the real Jesus in exchange for American political prestige and acclaim. Until they believe that Jesus himself is worth more than their ideas about him, Trump will continue to be a chess master, moving Christians toward the death of their integrity and the increase of his own power.

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Brandi Miller is a campus minister and justice program director from the Pacific Northwest.

Source: HuffingtonPost Online News – Posted December 29, 2018; retrieved January 20, 2018 from: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-trump-conservative-christians_us_5c267b7de4b08aaf7a9044e4?%20fbclid=IwAR39fH9McWvQGWd0mGs7lly7F8sj3JFAvuS5GzjbAcPscj7rRAhAaLw-60w

The movement behind the Go Lean book has addressed this issue – religious hypocrisy – in previous blog-commentaries. Consider these prior submissions:

https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16477	Transforming Hindus versus Women – What it means for us? Hinduism, Christianity, Islam and other religions have been guilty and failed to protect their congregants and adherents from the bad orthodoxies in their communities! The *new* Caribbean must do better.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=16172	A Lesson in History: Jonestown, Guyana 40 years ago – 1978 – a religious atrocity transpired on Caribbean soil; this was the mass-murder/suicides of over 900 people in Jonestown, Guyana.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15998	Good Governance: The Kind of Society We Want The kind of society we want to live in is even better than what was/is prescribed by Christian institutions; we want our vulnerable citizens to be protected from “Bad Actors” in our society. This must mean “Good Governance” at a standard beyond the status quo of what was provided by the nominal Christian standards left here by the Europeans.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=15580	Caribbean Unity? Religion’s Role: False Friend The Church has NOT been a uniting force … for good in the Caribbean region. All the European colonizers brought their own national religions that did not promote the Greater Good for the region.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=14633	Nature or Nurture: Women Have Nurtured Change Despite the religious orthodoxy and discouragement – “Natural Law” philosophy inherited from Imperial Europe – women have forged change in society; they have effectively applied pressure to all engines of society. The Caribbean needs to encourage and invite more women’s participation for change.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=13579	Colonialism’s Bloody History Revisited The bloody history of European (and American) colonialism have been revisited in modern times again and again. There must be a strenuous effort to dissuade societal defects and orthodoxies. (Colonialism is not dead with 18 Overseas Territories in the Caribbean region).
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11224	‘Loose Lips Sink Ships’ – Leaders Undermine Tourism Christian leaders in Caribbean communities are projecting “a Climate of Hate” towards certain minority groups. This is so bad that it undermines the tourism products and community economics.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=11048	Managing the ‘Strong versus the Weak’ – Model of Hammurabi The old “Code of Hammurabi” – “that the strong should not harm the weak” was not considered in the New World because of the assumption of Christian principles. But it turns out that our region went backwards instead of forward. Time to return to a protect-the-weak stance.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=10216	Waging a Successful War on Orthodoxy It takes a real battle to undo bad standards and orthodoxies in society – many of them religious.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9766	Rwanda’s Catholic bishops apologize for genocide The Church was not a force for moral good in modern society … in Africa nor the Caribbean. The Bishops in Rwanda owned up and apologized for their complicity in their 1990’s genocide.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=9038	Charity Management: Grow Up Already! The Caribbean is urged to mature and handle its own Charity Management rather than submitting to faith-based NGO’s with shady track records.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=5462	In Search Of The Red Cross’ $500 Million In Haiti Relief The Red Cross is a quasi-Christian organization; they abused their power by collecting $500 Million for Haiti’s Earthquake Relief/Recovery and misappropriating the funds.
https://goleancaribbean.com/blog/?p=809	Muslim officials condemn abductions of Nigerian girls The Islamic religious orders also have a bad track record for protecting their vulnerable populations.

For the Caribbean and the rest of the world, European-based Christian churches have not been a model for good behavior and character development that we needed to elevate and empower our society. For the Way Forward, our ideals must be Greater. The Go Lean book specified the required “Separation of Church and State” mantra that is embedded in the implied Social Contract. The Go Lean book defines (Page 170) 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”.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that the Greater Good community ethos – underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices – would be better to promote in the Caribbean region, rather than some hypocritical European religious creed. The formal Greater Good ethos can be pursued despite any religiosity. This book defines this Greater Good community ethos as follows (Page 37):

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

Reconciling and reckoning European history in the Caribbean leads us to the conclusion that there is the need to double-down in reforming and transforming the Caribbean homeland. Our efforts for the Way Forward must be better than the previous European models – based on Christian orthodoxy – and better than the American model – Donald Trump has revealed the true American priorities and it is not us. We must simply be better. The book Go Lean … Caribbean provides a full roadmap; one with empowerments, strategies and tactics to elevate the societal engines of the Caribbean homeland.

Yes, we can do better; we can make the Caribbean, our homeland, a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

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

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

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

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.

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

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Appendix – The Guianas Historic Timeline