22 May, 2007

Colonialism 2

The British Challenge. Persons more learned than I have explained that the major quandary we in the remaining colonies find ourselves is the need to balance self-government with collaboration with the administering power, Britain. The persons who represent Britain in upcoming constitutional discussions are the officials of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

In his article, Islands in Comparative Constitutional Perspective Ronald Watts commented, “The dual and seemingly contradictory pressures for both autonomous self-government on the one hand and for political partnership on the other are everywhere prevalent in the world today. But nowhere is the need to balance these two sets of perspectives more persuasive than in the situation of island entities.”

Roy Bodden in his The Cayman Islands in Transition adds that the major challenge facing us is the ability to balance our desired self-government with the UK’s version of political partnership. He views this balance as becoming more difficult to maintain since the administering power has been laying down strict dictates which preclude a full exploration of self-determination.

I believe that he is mistaken. The British have no interest in laying down strict dictates for the sake of laying down strict dictates. They have to protect their interests. We in Anguilla have our own interests. They do not relate to those of Britain. We have to gird up our loins and prepare to protect our interests.

Confrontation is inevitable. Are we getting ready to meet the FCO boys when they arrive in Anguilla in July for negotiations? As with most conflicts that are not fratricidal in nature, the outcome is usually to the benefit of all concerned. But, only if we are properly prepared!


8 comments:

  1. Confrontation? Preparation? Vernal Bryan conceals himself behind user names while claiming to have grabbed the torch of revolution from Ronald, and just this afternoon Hubert declared in the House of Assembly, "The revolution will come again. And it will not be bloodless."

    Are we lucky or what?

    ReplyDelete
  2. So, you're saying that the owner of AnguillaLNT is playing sock-puppets?

    I've heard worse, I suppose.

    There are, however, text analysis applications that can catch that kind of thing cold; running a word-concordance on two different "authors" writing, and so on. That's how forensic linguist Donald Foster outed Joe Klein, the "anonymous" author of the book "Primary Colors", if you recall.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Foster_%28professor%29

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concordance_%28publishing%29

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_Colors

    Doing this sock-puppet thing is pretty stupid these days with automated text analysis being as trivial as it is. If you put enough text on the net, just about *anybody* can figure out who you are.

    Biometrics doesn't mean fingerprints and eyeballs, anymore. Writing is behavior and thus biometric, as well.

    To paraphrase Grace Slick, you're only as anonymous as you feel, sometimes...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bryan has created the ultimate in pelting stones and hiding he han' -- an entire website, with hundreds of us participating or watching, all of it designed to promote heself as the new, heroic leader of a revolution that ended years ago but continues in his Great Mind.

    Claiming to walk in the footsteps of Ronald Webster, he creates demons and enemies that only he can see. If only he can see them, he can claim to be uniquely qualified to be our Savior. He thus walks not in Ronald's footsteps by those of Hubert, Boy George, Bush, Blair, Chavez and Hitler.

    Calling other people names is not a programme.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The following was posted on Small Islands Voice yesterday, and reflects the reality here in Anguilla, which is far from perfect but will not be improved by a power grab disguised as a "revolution":

    Today's colonies operate much closer to the idea of 'associated state' than they do to the old-fashioned idea of a colony, according to a writer from the Turks & Caicos Islands. The 'colonial yoke' of the old days is long gone. Modern British Caribbean territories are (by-and large) self-sustaining territories that appreciate the tie with the UK for a number of economic and security reasons. The economies of the remaining British 'colonies' in the Caribbean are the strongest in the West Indies. Bermuda, Cayman, Turks & Caicos, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla all have higher standards of living (and a lot less corruption and criminal activity) than any other Caribbean territory and better than some European countries. They are all attracting more investment and up-scale migration than any independent island state. Think it might be the stability and good reputation attached to that Union Jack symbol that's in the corner of each of these country's flags?

    As for most 'colonial citizens' of the UK, it's important to remember that the vast majority of them prefer the present status of their countries. After having witnessed the disastrous economic and political events of many Caribbean and African territories that went to independence in the 1960s and 70s, these small island states appreciate the economic and political stability that is afforded by their connection to the UK.

    The UN's anti-colony committee has got to come to realize that their original premise of freeing the 'poor benighted oppressed colonial serfs of their wicked colonial masters' is a fantasy in this era and the 'new colonials' just may be better off than their contemporaries in independent, but economically failing ex-colonial states. In fact, the Committee's premise might even be
    considered paternalistic and insulting. Do politicians from Mongolia and Ghana and Uruguay (or wherever they come from) really think they know something about the present day realities of life in a small island state?

    ReplyDelete
  5. It will be hard to prove vernal is masterminding the text since he is using his own servers. He can trace the geographic location of anyone who post on his servers. That's why I like the blog stuff because your post is not hosted and cannot be manipulated by locals. Of couse, you can use alternate IPs. I doubt if anyone would be asking google to look up my IP address. Many persons have stop posting on the website because of his rhetoric.

    With google you can use alternate IP address but atleast I feel pretty confident with blog postings.

    711, CAN and Rep all seem to be Vernal rantings. It appears most students who are educated in Canada adopts this radical attitude.

    Anguilla needs leaders not dictators and fear mongers.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good post by anon 1. Please note that in December, Bryan was promoting himself, thus descending to the level of the lousmouths Yanche and Yinka. Here's what he said:

    711
    Dec 20th, 2006 - 3:16 PM
    Re: Those against independence speak now

    Dot do see that that's the point. [corruption]
    Your fear has been the chief fear against Anguilla's modern independence drive.
    But its too late.
    Think of an independent Anguilla as being led by a younger, better educated, wiser, more agile and honest generation

    Eg. Mitch Lake, V. Bryan PHD, J Niles PHD
    etc etc
    Anguilla under the control of this generation has a real chance to STOP the robber-barrons now.
    Also can we truly trust ANTIL?
    Think
    711

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Innovative Development Strategies from Non-Sovereign Island Jurisdictions? A Global Review of Economic Policy and Governance Practices"
    by Prof. Godfrey Baldacchino, University of Prince Edward Island, 2005

    "Most of the current empirical economic literature agrees that sub-national dependencies tend to enjoy higher living standards than independent states (Betermier, 2004, pp. 63-64; Armstrong & Read, 2000, p. 303). Using 1998 GNP data for 108 territories (of which 75 are archipelagoes, islands, or on islands), Armstrong & Read (2003) infer the negative impact of sovereignty on per capita income. Using a Pacific data-set and ordinary least squares regression, Bertram & Karagedikli (2002) report sub-national jurisdictions enjoying per capita incomes (PPP) ten times greater than newly independent small states, and without evidence of any regional convergence. Bertram (2004, p. 353) also concludes that, in the Pacific, “… independence did not pay as well as continued political dependence”. Similar conclusions are presented from a Pacific and Caribbean data-set (McElroy & Sanborn, 2005)."

    And this morning Bryan announced that "we" [sic] want independence from "the treacherous British." Lucky us, he's speaking for us before we even vote for him.

    ReplyDelete
  8. By accident I came across my name on Google.com that pointed to a post on your blog, entitled Colonialism 2, started on May 22nd. I must tell you that each claim in reference to my name on that blog is completely ludicrous. While I do not discuss the identity of anyone who posts on the forum moderated by AnguillaLNT, I have never posted under the name 711, CAN or Rep. I have never posted a political thread in reference to Anguilla's revolution and I have never posted a thread that included my name as a future leader in Anguilla. I have no idea who started the blog on your website nor do I really care. I hope you can correct the false information being disseminated in reference to my name.

    If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

    Regards,
    Dr. Vernal J. Bryan

    ReplyDelete

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