SAVE OUR YOUTH FROM HYPOCRISY IN HIGH PLACES!

Two years ago, then Opposition Leader, David Thompson, along with then Prime Minister, Owen Arthur, and their two political parties, inundated Barbados with a flood of Jamaican dance hall and dub artistes! They did so in a calculated effort to pander to and to win the votes of our Barbadian young people in the 2008 General Elections.
Rather than seeking to encourage our youth to engage in serious thinking and discussion about the critical issues facing our nation during the General Election campaign, Messers Thompson and Arthur, and their two political parties, sought to distract and entertain our young people with imported dub singers from Jamaica! Indeed, in the days leading up to the January 2008 poll all we could hear about were DLP and BLP music based rallies for the young people of Barbados.
Just imagine, during the last General Elections, these two leaders and their two political parties, claimed that that they could not find the time or resources to arrange even one televised political debate, yet they had no difficulty finding time or resources to import numerous Jamaican and Trinidadian entertainers into Barbados for the titillation of our youth!
Now, two years later, Mr Thompson and other members of the political class are self-righteously getting up on their moralistic soap boxes and denouncing our youth for having made questionable Jamaican entertainers into their role models.
And in an exhibition of high class comedy these shallow national leaders permitted Mavado and Vybz Kartel to come to Barbados and performed during the period of time that these two artistes were involved in a violent feud and were releasing offensive, violence filled songs, but have chosen to ban them now that they have ended the feud and have allegedly committed themselves to promoting positive and peaceful messages!
How therefore can one quarrel with our young people when they contemptuously dismiss the adult leaders of our society as a bunch of hypocrites?
The Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) is sick and tired of all of this exaggerated and constant denunciation of the young people of Barbados! If you listen to the mainstream political, religious and social leaders of Barbados, one would think that the young people of Barbados are the most degraded and delinquent creatures on the face of the earth, and the most inferior generation of Barbadians!
Yet, there is so such evidence around us of positive, disciplined, talented and well behaved young Barbadians. Indeed, this generation of young Barbadians is achieving at the international level in phenomenal ways that previous generations could not even dream about! In a world that is infinitely more complicated and stress filled than the world of the 1950's and 60's, we witness numerous Barbadian teenagers and young adults routinely managing daily schedules made up of a multiplicity of activities and developing into well rounded, multi-skilled citizens.
Of course there are also many young people who have fallen short of the mark, but let us be balanced in our criticism, and acknowledge that the good among our youth significantly outweighs the bad.
Let us also recognise that the world is in an era in which degraded forms of culture are being foisted on societies all over the world. And in the face of this enormous challenge, our Barbadian young people have done and continue to do remarkably well.
And let us also not fail to recognise the many ways in which the adult society has failed and continues to fail out youth. For example, Barbadian politicians who buy votes in elections and who set out to systematically reduce our young people to insensible, materialistic beings who only respond to the bribery of money and entertainment!
So too the case with Barbadian pastors and priests who dilute the spirituality of the nation with their morally bankrupt, money based "Prosperity Gospel", or with their sterile, establishment oriented Christianity. And businessmen and women who view our youth as merely a captive commercial market to be exploited and plundered, and act in accordance with that vulgar conception.
Please let us stop the hypocrisy and this exaggerated denunciation of our youth.

THE P S V TRAGEDY

Mr Morris Lee, President of the ‘Association of Public Transport Operators’ (APTO) has declared that Barbados’ public service vehicle industry is in a state of "crisis", while Ms Judy Forde, Vice President of APTO is lamenting that the current governmental administration has shown no interest in even having a meeting to discuss the many critical issues facing the industry!
None of this surprises us in the ‘Peoples Empowerment Party’ (PEP)! The sad reality is that the established black political class of Barbados is dominated by persons who exhibit deeply rooted psychological deformities that have seemingly rendered them incapable of reaching out to and supporting and nurturing aspiring black Barbadian businesspeople.
The PEP states, without fear of contradiction, that no group of white, Indian or Syrian business people in Barbados would have any problem whatsoever in securing a meeting with Government to discuss their problems. But the vast majority of public service vehicle operators are native black Barbadians, and are therefore not so fortunate!
Our party invites Mr Lee, Ms Forde and the thousands of public service vehicle owners and operators to take careful note of the PEP’s policy on the public service vehicle industry, as expressed in our 2008 General Election Manifesto:-
"Rather than continuing to treat public service vehicle operators as renegades and criminals, we will work with them, and hold out the promise of bringing dignity, commercial success, professionalism and respectability to this largely black owned business sector. PSV drivers and conductors will be given special training and certification; their bus stands will be upgraded and transformed into places of dignity and comfort; and the punitive taxes and other impositions will be removed."
When the PEP published that policy in our Manifesto we were not engaging in facile electioneering; we were not making insincere promises for the purpose of attracting a few votes. On the contrary, we meant exactly what we said! Indeed, that policy is the natural product of a general philosophy of society and governance which we adhere to in the PEP!
As far as we are concerned, in a society that experienced 330 years of anti-black slavery and serfdom, and the associated use of the instruments of state power to restrict the development of blacks, a popularly elected, democratic government has a duty to use the power of government to secure the advancement and commercial success of legitimate aspiring small black entrepreneurs!
Historically, one of the few areas of the commercial life of Barbados that ‘blacks’ were able to take control of, was the sphere of public transportation. It should therefore have been clear to successive Barbados Labour Party (BLP) and Democratic Labour Party (DLP) governments that this was an ideal sector to target for development and upliftment.
Successive BLP and DLP administrations should have focussed on making the public transportation sector a towering and shining example of ‘black’ professionalism and business success!
They should have set about to "professionalize" the industry by putting in place compulsory state run training and certification programmes for the drivers and conductors of public service vehicles. On a daily basis, public service vehicle operators are responsible for the lives and well being of hundreds of human beings. These operators are therefore entrusted with extremely important and responsible functions, and should be trained appropriately. Furthermore, the professional certification they receive in Barbados should be of such a standard that it would be recognised and accepted internationally.
In addition, successive administrators should have virtually guaranteed the commercial success of these aspiring entrepreneurs by keeping taxes and duties to levels that are low enough to ensure commercial viability! Instead, our governments, have done the very opposite by punishing PSV owners with excessive taxes and duties!
Our political misleaders have taken a sector that had the potential to make an extremely positive and invaluable contribution to Barbadian society, and have turned it into an arena of decadence and outlawry. Truly, where there is no vision the people perish!

ADVICE FOR THE PRIME MINISTER

One year ago, Prime Minister Thompson produced a Budget which, according to him, was based on the fundamental premise that the world would come out of recession in 2010, and that the Barbadian economy would once again be lifted by a growing international economy.
The Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) responded almost immediately, and in our Nation Newspaper column of June 5, 2009 we stated as follows:-
"The PEP wishes to publicly let Mr Thompson know that he is living in a ‘fool’s paradise’! The harsh reality is that there will be no international recovery in the year 2010, or indeed for several years to come. The damage done to the international financial system and to structures of physical production all over the world is too massive for there to be any short term recovery. Thus, to base Barbados’ fiscal and developmental policies on the expectation that such a recovery will occur next year, is to be guilty of gross negligence in the management of our national affairs".
Well, we are now into the year 2010 and once again the PEP has been proven right! A couple weeks ago Mr Thompson’s Ministry of Finance issued a "Medium-Term Fiscal Strategy" report in which they were forced to admit that Government’s tax revenues had declined by a whopping 9.6 per cent during the first nine months of fiscal year 2009/10, producing a massive fiscal deficit of $480.9 million!
So, having based his fiscal policies on a false premise one year ago, Mr Thompson now finds himself in a serious crisis and is desperately thrashing around in search of a way out of the hole he has dug for himself.
We will have to wait on the Budget to hear precisely what new economic policies Mr Thompson is proposing, but one of the measures he has already taken is to bring three new Democratic Labour Party (DLP) journeymen into his Administration. Mr Thompson has now made history by putting together the largest conglomeration of Government ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries in the history of Barbados - up from 18 to a truly massive 21 in number!
But why does Mr Thompson need to burden the already hard pressed taxpayers of Barbados with the heavy load of salaries and "perks" for 21 Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries? The greatest and most productive DLP cabinet was Mr Errol Barrow’s cabinet of 1961 to 1966 - a cabinet of seven ministers. Mr Thompson now has three times that number!
But aside from the matter of quantity, the PEP is definitely not impressed with the quality of Mr Thompson’s Cabinet! With Barbados in one of its most desperate economic crises, how does it serve our country to pack the Administration with additional nondescript DLP foot soldiers?
Time and time again the PEP has warned that Barbados needs a genuine ‘politics of inclusion’ to steer us out of this crisis. We are convinced that our country does possess the intellectual resources required to meet the challenges that now confront us, but those resources reside, only to a limited degree, in the Democratic Labour Party! It is therefore imperative that we develop the political maturity and the sense of patriotism that will permit us to search for and pull together executive talent from outside the confines of our own narrow political tribe. This is a warning that Mr Thompson continues to ignore to his and Barbados’ peril!
The PEP also continues to advise that a new world economic order is going to emerge from the current crisis, and that the most appropriate long term strategy for Barbados is to assume the role of chief conceptualiser and architect of a Pan-Caribbean economy and system of production, inclusive of the large populations of the Caribbean Diaspora in North America and Europe.

The Caribbean nation and civilization is our future. It is, perhaps, the only acceptable future that is available to us. Once again, we advise Mr Thompson to take the first decisive steps now, on the journey to that future.

DAVID A. COMISSIONG

THE GREAT IMMIGRATION HOAX!

In this era of recession, economic contraction and deflation, what the Barbados economy most desperately needs is a concrete and practical strategy for economic growth. And it is clear that the most likely arena in which Barbados can pursue such a growth strategy is in relation to the pan-Caribbean market and economy. Yet, this is precisely the time that the myopic Government of Barbados has chosen to turn its back on the Caribbean, to engage in an anti-CARICOM immigration policy, and to evict hundreds of hard working and productive workers and consumers from Barbados!
At present, the Immigration Department of Barbados is pursuing the most rigid and heartless policy against undocumented CARICOM migrants, and is routinely rejecting the applications of virtually all CARICOM migrants who have applied for Immigrant Status.
Just last year, the Prime Minister gave undocumented CARICOM migrants who came to Barbados after the 1st of January 1998, the assurance that if they filed applications for Immigrant Status that they would be treated fairly and every application would be judged on its individual merit.
Well, it is said that "a promise is a comfort to a fool” and our Immigration Department is in the process of turning the hundreds of CARICOM citizens who took the Prime Minister at his word into fools. The harsh reality is that the applications are not being judged on merit, and that the Immigration Department is simply rejecting the applications out of hand.
This is resulting in persons who have been living in Barbados for as long as eleven years, and who are gainfully employed and have children who were born in Barbados, being ordered to pack up their children and leave this country! How any of this is helping Barbados only God knows!
It seems as though the members of the present Administration have some-how gotten it into their heads that they can alleviate Barbados’ economic woes by expelling the so-called undocumented Caribbean "foreigners" among us. They seem to believe that the best way to solve the unemployment problem and to deal with the fiscal dilemma is to evict Caribbean "foreigners" who work in Barbados and access education, health care and housing.
Indeed, they seem to be so enamoured of this anti-CARICOM migrant strategy that they have even drawn up a "Green Paper" on Immigration Reform, in which they are proposing to alter the Barbados Constitution in order to deny citizenship to the children of certain categories of migrants who are born in Barbados, and to the spouses of native born Barbadians.
All of this constitutes a foolish and unintellectual approach to economic management, and a tragic repudiation of Barbados’ shining and unrivalled reputation as a leader in the Caribbean integration movement
Economic development is not a ‘zero sum game’ in which in order for one person to gain a job, another person must necessarily lose a job! Indeed, the typical scenario is that migrants enter the work force and help to grow the economy, to increase the ‘Gross Domestic Product’, and to play a catalytic role in the multiplication of job opportunities.
It is not surprising therefore that the period of the greatest influx of CARICOM migrants to Barbados was the period of Barbados’ most robust economic growth, and the era in which unemployment sunk to its lowest level in the history of Barbados.
It is not surprising either that with the continuing departure of hundreds of CARICOM migrants that a large number of Barbadian shops, small supermarkets, landlords and private schools are beginning to feel the pinch and have started to suffer from a significant loss of business.
Simply put, our anti-CARICOM migrant policy is causing a further contraction or deflation in the Barbados economy, at a time when what we desperately need are anti-deflation, pro-growth policies! Thus, the Government is going in the wrong direction, and is doing far more harm than good to the Barbadian economy and society
Our anti-CARICOM immigration policies are also going to make it much more difficult for Barbados to reach out to and engage with other Caribbean countries in a pro-growth regional economic strategy from which Barbados will derive the lion’s share of benefits.
As our government continues to paint Barbados into a small, isolated anti-CARICOM corner, the government of Trinidad & Tobago continues to reach out to its Eastern Caribbean neighbours, and to pursue a pro-Caribbean migrant strategy that may eventually lead to a lock in of the Eastern Caribbean economies with Trinidad & Tobago. Barbados could very well find itself on the outside looking in.

Truly, where there is no vision the people perish!

DAVID A. COMISSIONG

Chile and Haiti after the earthquakes

Chile has again been hit by an earthquake of apocalyptic magnitude, like in the earthquakes of 1938, 1960 and 1985. With the precision of a Swiss watch, the centre and south of the country is hit every 25 years by a seismic movement that puts the country in a state of deep shock. The earthquake we saw on 27 February was one of the strongest recorded in history - 8.8 degrees on the Richter scale, 9 on the Mercalli scale.

The anguish of not knowing anything about our loved ones, of not being able to communicate with them, has followed the destruction, the isolation and death or disappearance of a great many people. Impotence is a shadow hanging over the heart. The death toll is now at about 700 - some are saying that they expect a final figure of about 2,000 when we eventually get the full picture of the devastation. Nothing is known yet about many in the affected provinces in the regions of Maule and Bío Bío. When people were still talking of about 300 killed, we learnt that the Constitución tsunami had swallowed up around 350 inhabitants, doubling the death toll. And we now know there were other places hit by tsunamis, though the extent of the damage is still unknown.

The consequences that this earthquake will have for the Chilean people are frightening. It is estimated that at present 2,000,0000 people have lost their homes and are literally on the streets. We're talking of more than 10% of the total population, which gives you an idea of the daunting task of reconstruction ahead.
more....http://www.anarkismo.net/article/15978

Cuba, the Corporate Media, and the Suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo

On February 23, 2010, Cuban inmate Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after 83 days on hunger strike. He was 42. This is the first such incident since inmate Pedro Luis Boitel died in 1972 under similar conditions. The corporate media put the tragic incident on the front page and emphasized the plight of Cuban prisoners.1
Zapata's dramatic exit sparked a global uproar. The Cuban prisoner's case undeniably fosters sympathy and a sense of solidarity with this person who expressed his despair and malaise in prison carrying out his hunger strike to the ultimate consequence. The heartfelt emotion aroused by his case deserves respect. In contrast, the manipulation of Tamayo's death and of the grief of his family and friends by the corporate media for political purposes violates the basic principles of journalistic ethics.
Zapata, Political Prisoner or Common Convict?
Since 2004, Amnesty International (AI) has considered him among Cuba's 55 "prisoner of conscience." In addition, it has noted that Zapata's hunger strike was launched not only to protest his conditions of detention, but also to demand the impossible: a television, a personal kitchen, and a cell phone to call his family.2 Zapata was not exactly a model prisoner. According to Cuban authorities, he was guilty of several acts of violence during his incarceration, especially against the guards, leading to his conviction being increased to 25 years.3
Curiously AI has never mentioned the alleged political activities that landed Zapata in prison. The reason is relatively simple: Zapata never carried out any anti-government activities prior to incarceration. Instead, the organization recognizes that he was convicted in May 2004 and sentenced to three years of imprisonment for "disrespect," "public disorder," and "résistance."4 This sentence is relatively minor compared to the sentences, ranging up to 28 years, that were handed down to the 75 opposition figures convicted in March 2003 of "having received funds or materials from the U.S. government to carry out activities that the authorities consider subversive and damaging to Cuba," as recognized by AI, which is a serious crime in Cuba and any country in the world.5 Here AI cannot escape an obvious contradiction: on the one hand AI characterizes them as "prisoners of conscience" and on the other it admits they committed the serious crime of accepting "money or materials from the U.S. government."
Unlike the 75, the Cuban government has never accused Zapata of accepting funds from a foreign power and has always considered him a common convict. Zapata had a serious criminal record. Since June 1990, he had been arrested and convicted several times for "disturbing the peace, two counts of fraud, public exhibitionism, injury and possession of non-firearm weapons." In 2000, he fractured the skull of Leonardo Simon using a machete. His criminal record does not involve any political actions. It was only after his imprisonment that his mother, Reyna Luisa Tamayo, approached government opposition groups, and she has never been bothered by the authorities.6
Double Standards?
The United States and the European Union declared their consternation and demanded the "release of political prisoners." "We are deeply distressed by his death," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who denounced the oppression of political prisoners in Cuba. Brussels followed suit and demanded the "unconditional release of all political prisoners." France's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero announced that "following his situation closely, we called for his release along with the other detainees whose health seemed particularly worrying."7
Cuban President Raúl Castro "regretted" the death and responded to the uproar from Washington and Brussels by stating that "in half a century, we have not murdered anyone here, no one has been tortured, and there have been no extrajudicial executions. Well, here in Cuba there have been people tortured, but at the Guantanamo Naval Base," in reference to the torture center under U.S. administration. "They say they want to hold talks with us and we are ready to discuss with the U.S. government all issues they want. I repeated it three times in Parliament, all, all, all. We will not accept discussions unless both parties enjoy absolute equality. They can investigate or ask any questions in Cuba, but we have the right to ask about all the problems of the United States."8
During a visit to Cuba, Brazilian President Lula da Silva also declared his sympathy, but wished to highlight the double standards of the corporate media of Washington and Brussels recalling a sad reality: "I know about virtually all the hunger strikes that have taken place over the past 25 years in the world and many people have died on hunger strikes in many countries."9 The media ignored the vast majority of those tragic cases and absolutely none received the media coverage that has been afforded this Cuban inmate.
By comparison, in France between January 1, 2010 and February24, 2010, there were 22 suicides in prison, including a 16-year-old boy. In 2009 there were 122 suicides in French prisons and 115 in 2008. State Secretary of Justice Jean-Marie Bockel declared his impotence in these situations: "When someone decides to commit suicide and is determined to do, whether they are free or in prison, [. . .] there is nothing you can do about it." The families of those victims were not entitled to the same media treatment as Zapata, nor even an official public statement from the French government.10
We must put the Zapata's case into perspective by looking at two much more serious situations deliberately ignored by the corporate media that clearly illustrate the politicization and manipulation of this ordinary incident that would pass unnoticed in most countries, except Cuba.
Since the coup in Honduras took place and the military dictatorship was established on June 27, 2009, led first by Roberto Micheletti and then since January 28, 2010 by Porfirio Lobo, there have been more than a hundred murders and countless cases of disappearances, torture, and violence. The abuses occur daily, but are carefully omitted by the corporate media. Thus, when Claudia Larissa Brizuela, a member of a group opposed to the coup, the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP), was murdered on February 24, 2010, just one day after the death of Zapata, there was not a single word about it in the corporate press.11
A similar case further illustrates the duplicity of the corporate media. In December 2009 in La Macarena, Colombia the largest mass grave in the history of Latin America was discovered with no fewer than 2,000 bodies. According to testimonies collected by British MEPs on the ground in La Macarena, these were the bodies of union and peasant leaders killed by the paramilitaries and the Colombian army's Special Forces. Jairo Ramirez, lawyer and secretary of the Standing Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Colombia, described the grisly scene: "What we saw was frightening. Countless corpses and hundreds of white wooden plaques inscribed with NN and with dates ranging from 2005 to the present. The army commander told us they were the bodies of guerrillas killed in combat, but the people of the region told us of the many community leaders, farmers, and community advocates who have disappeared without a trace." Despite the many testimonies and the presence of the MEPs, despite a visit by a Spanish parliamentary delegation to investigate, no corporate media has given even a little attention to this news.12
The suicide of Orlando Zapata Tamayo is a tragedy and his mother's pain must be respected. But there are unscrupulous people. The corporate media, Washington, and the European Union cares little about his death, just as they care little for the Hondurans and Colombians killed every day. Zapata is useful to them only in the media war against the Cuban government. When ideology is placed above objective information, truth and ethics are the first victims.

by Salim Lamrani

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/colinsedge.rss

PUBLIC MUST RALLY AROUND POLICE AND JOURNALISTS

Listening to Emmanuel Joseph on a program on the Peoples Business of the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation has so bravely articulating some of the adverse conditions reporters have to encounter when pursuing a story, it was somewhat irritating.
Mr. Joseph continued without fear of contradiction, given an example of what can be seen as a blatant attempt by a privilege few to muzzle reporters in this country, it is unbelievable to me in this day and age that Barbados has come to this.
Just imagine professionals that are well trained to be allowed to serve the public under the banner of "free speech", are subject to "hand off" situations to protect a special interest group in our society.
However, Mr. Joseph also made mention of an incident when a police officer was hindered by being required to sign a book to enter one of the controversial gated communities, this humiliation must have impacted heavily on our officers, reporters, and skillful citizens that are providing two separate services that are important in any civilized society; There were treated like boy scouts.
Having said that, it is understood that the police and news media have some things in common, example: serving the public.
Therefore it is only logical for them to embrace each other like they recently have and are now busy working together to mend fences with a view to impact there relationship, which is a positive one.
The public which is demanding investigative journalism and also expecting a reduction in crime, must now accept its responsibility and rally around our police officers and reporters in concrete solidarity.
The above accusation must be taken seriously and the public will always be entitled to an explanation from the authorities.

Neville Roach

REJECT ANTI-WORKING CLASS ECONOMIC ADVICE

PRESS RELEASE
Over the past two weeks, a concerted effort has been made by a number of ‘economic gurus’ - Dr David Estwick, Mr Owen Arthur, Professor Avinash Persaud and Mr Peter Boos - to foist their opinions on a Barbadian public that they seem to believe is relatively naive and bereft of a healthy sense of its own self interest.
We in the Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) make this observation because all of the views expressed conformed to an elitist class and ideological perspective, and yet these "gurus" seemed to expect that they would be uncritically accepted by the mass of poor and working-class Barbadians.
Dr David Estwick
Our neophyte Minister of Economic Development has proposed that the best way to tackle Barbados’ economic predicament is to impose what was initially described as a ‘national wage freeze’, and later modified to a ‘public sector wage freeze’. But how does one justify treating a maid who is barely surviving on $300.00 a week, in the same manner as a Permanent-Secretary or a top executive who is earning $90,000.00 or $200,000.00 a year respectively? Surely, any proposal for wage restraint in Barbados must be tied to an effort to restructure and ameliorate the extreme disparity between wages at the top and bottom ends of the ladder!
Furthermore, how can one talk about freezing wages without also proposing a companion price restraint policy for the big businesses of Barbados and the state enterprises that charge fees for their services? And what about wealthy corporate shareholders and professionals such as doctors, engineers, accountants and lawyers - how can one expect lower level public servants to carry the burden of restraint, but exempt wealthy professionals? Dr Estwick needs to ‘wheel and come again!’.
Mr Owen Arthur
Our former Prime Minister’s fourteen year reign was defined by his unreserved acceptance of such elitist North American and European orchestrated concepts as liberalisation, free market, free trade, neo-liberalism and globalisation. Indeed, he spent his years in office preparing Barbados to enter a so-called ‘Free Trade Area of the Americas’; reducing Caribbean integration to a narrow preoccupation with concepts of free trade and free market; and embracing such ‘globalizing’ mechanisms as the ‘World Trade Orgainsation and the ‘Economic Partnership Agreement’.
Well, the global economic crisis has forcefully demonstrated the folly of these liberalisation and globalisation nostrums, and perceptive analysts have recognised that the old order is mortally wounded and that a new world system is emerging. And yet Owen Arthur is still lecturing about "Transforming The Economy in the Age of Liberalisation", and urging that Barbados’ economic policy should be based upon accommodating another round of liberalisation! It is time for Arthur to wake up and smell the coffee! His economic prescriptions are outdated and dangerous. Our future has to hinge around the development of a regional economy based on new regional industries, programmes of import substitution, and engagement with new non-traditional development partners.
Professor Avinash Persaud
After Cave Hill’s Dr Michael Howard had advised that Government should deal with the fiscal problem by reducing the number of Barbadian students at the University of the West Indies, Professor Persaud latched upon this and recommended that we should curtail funding of university education and instead focus on primary school education! What a load of backward thinking rubbish! But we are not surprised. This, after all, is the same Persaud who, in an article published in the Barbados Business Authority of 27th October 2008, approved of job cuts as a "sensible" way for local firms to deal with the international recession. Some-one should inform this self appointed "guru" that we will not permit him to lead us back onto the old plantation!
Mr Peter Boos
When the private sector guru, Peter Boos, was Chairman of our Cricket World Cup Organising Committee, he used to speak as though he was the de facto Prime Minister of Barabdos. He fed us a load of grandiose ‘hogwash’ about the supposed tremendous future benefits of the World Cup to Barbados, and encouraged us to invest hundreds of millions of dollars. Virtually none of Mr Boos’ promised benefits have materialized! However a number of his private sector peers walked away from the World Cup as millionaires, while the government and people were left holding the bag of debt. Mr Boos has never apologised to the people of Barbados - yet he has the effrontery to suggest that the main encumbrance to Barbados’ future progress is our public sector!
Conclusion
The PEP rejects the so-called ‘advice’ of all of these supposed gurus. None of them has properly analysed our predicament, and they are therefore offering fundamentally flawed recommendations. Furthermore, they are offering self-interested prescriptions that conform to their class positions or to their preconceived ideological biases.
What Barbados desperately needs is a group of people oriented professional economists who are grounded in the science of ‘physical economy’, and who understand the need of a developing country to invest in physical infrastructure and new industries, and to unleash the initiative, energy and ability of the masses of people.

DAVID A. COMISSIONG
President