according to the economic squeeze article from friday Jan 12, us “real Bermudians” are feeling pressure from elites at the top & ‘new foreign workers’ (Indians, east Europeans, Africans, Latin Americans)on the bottom. burchall added that something drastic was gonna happen if the ‘real Bermudians’ kept getting squeezed like this......but what is to blame??? the onionpatch crew says globalization!
quick examples of what we mean by globalization, after the sept 11th bombings in the US, our tourism arrivals went down because them Americans weren’t flying like they used to…therefore A LOTTA people lost money....people like our hotels, taxis, tour guides, Bermuda souvenir salespersons, restaurant owners, nightclubs who cater to tourists, even BELCo (they count on them foreigners coming here and running up their hotel A/C to make the hotel electricity bills nice & high), etc.….this is an effect of globalization.
but globalization & economic pressure didnt start in 2001 that stuff AINT NUFFIN NEW!!! hold tight for an OPC history lesson -
During the 1770s & 1780s when the British colonies in North America were fighting to become independent from Britain, (funny how the Americans realized that it was GOOD to get rid of Britain but we lot still can’t see that???) Bermudians almost starved to death because the British & American naval ships weren’t allowing Bermudians to trade freely with the settlers on the New England and Carolina coasts. it got so dread that in august 1775 the white boys who were in charge, sent some of our enslaved ancestors to steal some gunpowder & had it smuggled it to the US in order to re-establish trade between bermy & the US (go read C.O. Packwood's 'Chained on the Rock'). even back then, our food supply was imported from foreign and we were dependent on outsiders, almost to the point of starvation if we couldn’t trade with the US…in other words, we lot were globalized!
globalization applied to labour as well & this bit of history directly relates to burchall’s article - in the 1850s the Portuguese were brought to Bermy from the Azores in order to work for the island’s whites as cheap labourers. The racist whites of that era didn’t want to pay the recently emancipated Bermudian blacks a fair wage. So, in order to avoid paying blacks, these whites imported Portuguese workers. These workers lived in crappy houses, they were mostly men without families, they didn’t spend much money apart from their necessities, they spoke Portuguese and didn’t get too culturally-involved in local Bermy customs …….does any of this sound familiar????? It should because haven’t we all heard the same thing recently about today’s Indian, African, and/or Latin American workers???
these Portuguese were not considered ‘white’ by the British colonizers & white Bermudians even though most of them were as pale-faced as the Brits who ran this colony!!! the reason for this was power. if the Portuguese were treated as British white people then the Brits would have to pay the Portuguese the higher wages that British whites were supposed to receive. BUT if the Portuguese guest worker was paid the same wages that a Brit or white Bermudian should have received then it would have defeated the whole point of bringing the guest worker into the island!!!
BUT don’t think that globalization just ‘happens’ all naturally, like gravity or rainfall.
In all of these historical examples, powerful individuals, groups, or governments shaped the way situations played out. In the 1850s the island was starting up an agricultural business of onions and easter lilies & other products, and the DIRT POOR farmers from the Madeiran and Azorean islands of Portugal was CHOSEN for this venture. add to this the racism of local whites against local blacks and you begin to understand why the Portuguese were encouraged and in some cases, contracted to come to Bermuda. Portuguese immigration was CONSCIOUS CHOICE that benefited certain wealthy white Bermudians.
Same deal today….these guest workers from “the East” were brought here INTENTIONALLY by wealthy elites (= exempt companies & the few 40 thieves who still own big business) because as burchall stated, these workers will usually labour for less money & live a lot cheaper than we Bermudians. It’s all about the economics on that one – point blank.
but which members of the community does this stuff typically affect?
Black people!
Why?
because we lot have remained the backbone of the workers/labouring classes in Bermy. it is us who have worked while others (typically whites) have supervised, managed & owned the businesses & other sources of production.
So our plan of attack SHOULD NOT be to fight the foreigner from ‘the East’ – he/she is a pawn in the game like you – we NEED to start fighting the ones who set this system up!
Some of u lot are saying, why bother??? Well if we look at history again we can see that we need to ACT FAST or SUFFER………..
The Future said...
Is there "a system": yes.
Is "the system" messed up: yes.
Is the solution to fix "the system":
NO!
Fixing the system would be like convincing a scorpion not to sting. Don't waste you time. Build your own system and get off the breast.
For example: Access to the bank's capital is not a solution but just another anchor on our shoes. Forget political independence - unless someone raises their hands and say I have a serious credibility management program to navigate this racist world - and think financial independence!
Do I favour political dependence? hell no. But I've yet to hear of any significant way in which we depend on the brits politically...I do see ENORMOUS ways we are on the breast financially....and no vote, referendum, change of flags and other distractions will change that.
There ain't no need for muscles without resistance to push against. And in developing our own financial thang, it appears we'll be developing enough metaphysical muscle to enter a world class bodybuilding contest.
Quiet as its kept, the real reason "others" have come to our shores and met with so much success is nothing to do with being "allowed" and more to do with having an intact cultural unity.
Black people on this island have cultural disunity unless shopping is some exemplary cultural framework now.
Without the humility required to take deliberate steps to develop cultural unity, get used to viewing others coming here and flyin past us. Your prediction with this new wave of guest workers is 100% right.
However, using terms like "allowed" implies child like impotence, awaiting a gift - and worse, forever having the threat of it all being taken away.
Or as that great philosopher once said:
God bless the child that's got his own!!
onionpatch said...
bermyonions@yahoo.com
now your comments, we used the term "allowed" in the discussion of portuguese immigration in order to bash that tired idea that the portuguese (or any other financially wealthy person in bermy) got their wealth simply because of "hard work". using the term "allow" highlights power deficiencies (as you noticed) & it exposes the fact that at critical moments along their development of institutionalized wealth, these lot were assisted by the ruling white bankers.
you are right in your assertion that they had to be culturally unified in order to be on that journey BUT it does not take away from the fact that if the white establishment did not want them to become shop owners, merchants, etc. then certain monies would not have been lent & their ascent to financial strength would have been much harder & longer....likewise if/when blacks do so under this same system, white elites (now transnational corporations like HSBC) will have to give us the green light at certain points in our own development of wealth. unless you know some brothers & sisters who are starting their own bank OR handling small business loans???
as for your other comments...we lot here at the patch DO NOT support the system that exists - so when we lot talk about changing it we mean 'producing a new one'...clearly our writing skills/word-choice did not convey this message....so we probably agree on that one.........
however, i question your desire to build financial-independence as an african people on this island without political independence...
we lot are convinced that the politial structure of this rock has contributed to all the cultural ignorance, self-hatred, and disharmony amongst african peoples in bermy (some of which you have mentioned in this & other posts). when one has a political system which subconsciously articulates a preference for leadership 'from without/outside' instead of 'leadership from within' it inevitably develops & reproduces a mentality amongst the masses which (as you so eloquently put it) keeps them 'on the breast' = totally dependent!!! hence our former political designation - British Dependent Territory (heavy emphasis on the DEPENDENT) -
if, as you advocate, bermy peoples develop more heightened cultural & racial consciousness that in turn encourages them to seek financial independence, how long do you think it will be before this same supposedly-lenient political system of ours will pull in the reins in order to re-inscribe the actual policies of colonialism which are still on the books???
history shows us this. in JA following emancipation 1830s, several blacks became members of the legislative assembly of JA and started to advocate for black land-ownership. some say these black assemblymen were doing it for selfish reasons but nonetheless land ownership would have helped the black masses get "off the breast" thru agricultural business - growing & selling plantation crops. anyways before the blacks could gain enough political OR financial control to enact their plans on a large scale, the Brits ordered a return to Crown Colony = direct rule from london.
this was done in order to stop blacks on that island from assuming 'too much' independence. so the legislative assembly - which worked kinda like bermy's parliament - was dissolved. this political shift happened in 1866, following the unsuccessful Morant-Bay Revolution lead by great ancestors like Bogle & Gordon. also, this shift back to Crown Colony status was in fact carried out by members of the jamaican legislative assembly & the governor.
my point is actually an honest question - how far can we get on the road of economic development as an african people in bermy before the UK system puts up the roadblocks???
all jokes aside, if u have a clear strategy show we lot 4 real!
funny enough, the thing that we both criticize - black bermudians' lack of cultural unity &/ consciousness as african peoples- is the same thing that enables the UK governorment to allow our elected leaders so much (allegedly) political latitude.
how i mean??? check this, the whiteman in charge knows that most of us black bermudians are so mentally-colonized & disunited that allowing a black premier to make decisions is tantamount to a white colonizer making them...because these so-called black leaders will make moves that benefit the interests & goals of white supremacy & babylon colonialism everytime.
we must concede that your issue of perceived "credibility" which is obtained from our association with britain is a strong one...an issue for which we have no quick solutions &/ sound-byte answers....we also admit that you constantly make us think & re-think our views on political independence.hopefully we can come up with some tighter plans/tactics for this independence thing....but still, for the reasons above, we lot must link the two struggles of financial and political independence together because we feel that one facilitates the other......
RAS-pect
onionpatch crew