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To mark the occasion, TALLAWAH “rang up a few Jamaican celeb moms to get responses to the day’s most pressing query: Is having a child the best thing you’ve ever done?” The responses are worth a read.

Compatriot Nadine, Unscripted referred to her mother as “the epitome of self-sacrifice”:

We’ve had our share of ups and downs, and butted heads on some occasions. Yet, at the forefront of my mind, despite all that we’ve been through, I always remember everything she has given to us, simply because she cares.

She also took time to acknowledge “all the mothers, mothers-to-be, grandmothers and greats, the fathers who have a double role as mothers, and the mothers whose children grew in their hearts instead of their wombs”:

Wherever you are on this planet, I give thanks for you and your bright legacy. Know that you are blessed, honoured, loved.

Guyanese-born Tastes Like Home echoed her sentiments:

Thank you for loving me.
Thank you for caring about me.
Thank you for listening to my rants.
Thank you for supporting me.
Thank you for encouraging me.

Parenting is such a huge responsibility and I admire the grace with which you balance your life, work and everything else in-between. I join in the chorus of applause and salute you on this your very special day.

Over at My big, fat, Cuban family, the blogger's kids apparently logged in and shared some of the most meaningful things their mom has taught them over the years - from “[having] great adventures” to “[being] fearless.” Cuban bloggers were by far the most vocal about the sacrifices mothers - and women on the whole - have to make. Havana Times published an account of “a Cuban mother's drive”…

When you have a child who looks up at you in desperation and says: ‘Mommy, I’m hungry,' and you know full well that two salaries aren’t enough to satisfy that basic request…then you’ll know where my strength comes from.

…but balanced the perspective in another post that explains why motherhood is so rewarding:

Most of all there are the kisses, the kisses and hearing ‘I love you, mommy.' Those are the things that make me remember that being a mother is no sacrifice. Motherhood is simply a blessing.

So why aren't Cubans having more babies? This post offered some insight. Pedazos de la Isla uploaded a video tribute to Cuban women, explaining:

On Mother’s Day 2012, a number of Cuban mothers- most of them members of the Ladies in White- have been arrested and beaten by the Cuban political police, and yet they continue carrying out their activities and RESISTING against the repression.

These face harassment, acts of repudiation, beatings, and arrests for demanding the rights of an entire nation. Regardless, they still find time to protect and educate their children and families. They are examples of courage and inspiration.

Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter reported on a march in honour of the memory of Laura Pollan:

Despite threats, harassment, and scores of women detained by State Security 68 Ladies in White following mass walked through Fifth Avenue in the west of Havana. They marched and chanted ‘Viva Laura Pollán!' and ‘Freedom for the political prisoners!'

The blogger (along with others) went on to describe several cases of women being detained and threatened, adding:

It is also important to remember that Cuban mothers are spending Mothers Day in prison for defending the human rights of the Cuban people.

Haiti Chery, meanwhile, spared a thought for Trayvon Martin's mom, explaining:

Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Matin, released a public service announcement…timed for Mother’s Day this [past] weekend, asking viewers to ‘call the governor of your state' and encourage them to reconsider ‘Stand Your Ground' laws like the one cited by the man who killed her son.

Trinidadian diaspora bloggers also marked the occasion, albeit in different ways. Fashion blogger Afrobella gave a few suggestions for the best Mother's Day gifts (hint: stay away from the irons!) and wished “anyone who's motherly” a wonderful day:

Whether you’re a mother with your own kids, or you’ve adopted a family, or if you’re a loving sister or aunt or grandma who really plays a motherly role in the lives of little ones, I wish you a very happy Mother’s Day. Thank you for all you have done to shape a child’s life! It ALL counts. Thank you for being part of someone’s village. You’re more appreciated than you may know.

Photoblogger chookooloonks meanwhile, confessed that:

I always feel just a tiny bit strange accepting gifts on Mother's Day…I don't ‘mother' so that I can get gifts once a year for my efforts. I mother for a lot of selfish reasons: because I wanted to be a mom. Because I get a hell of a lot out of my relationship with my kid. Because that's what I'm wired to do.

But you know what would be nice?​

If we moms could use Mother's Day as a day of focus to help support each other. It seems to me so strange that an experience that is so universal — raising a child — can also at times feel so solitary. And, frankly, so guilt-ridden: we get messages daily, from the media, from corporate culture, from our communities and even from other mothers saying you're doing it wrong. Judgments on issues like how you should become a parent — ‘natural' or C-section or adoption or surrogacy. Whether you should work outside of your home. Or not. Or breastfeed. Or Not. Or how long you should breastfeed. Or what to feed you kid. Or how to dress your kid. Or what organizations you should get your kid involved in. Or when you should send your kid to school. Or where. Or homeschool. Or … or … or ….

AAAAUUUUGGH.​

So this year, here's an idea: in addition to the moms in our families, let's take a moment out of our day to send a message to peers — moms who are neither our mothers nor our partners — and just say, ‘good job.' Send an email to someone (even someone you only know online) just to say, ‘You have great kids,' or ‘you're an inspiring parent,' or ‘your children are lucky to have you.' ​An unexpected note of encouragement letting a mother know to keep on keeping on.

​

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Denesia Venus, blogging at Outlish, says:

As adults, we sometimes neglect our parents. We get so caught up in our lives that we forget to look out for the same people who took care of us, without expecting too much in return.

When we were sick, who was the one person we wanted to take care of us? Our mummy, daddy, or a guardian who would dutifully be at our side, whether it was to rub us down with Vicks, feed us soup, or coax us to swallow some sort of ungodly concoction they conjured up, thinking it would make us better.

But, I often wonder about how many of us would be willing to reciprocate this, when our parents have aged, and they become ill (God forbid). When incontinence has set in, and they can no longer take care of themselves. What is it worth the life of a man, if, when he becomes ill, he is abandoned by his offspring, or his relatives?

Trini Like Salt, who lives in Boston, is aware that the geographical distance between him and his parents “doesn’t really allow one to observe their aging”:

I see that in intervals. I won’t see my mom for a year, my dad for longer than that (that’s a long story in and of itself), and when I do see them, I’m struck by what’s happening. My mom, especially, gives me pause. She was always the energetic one. She had to be, with 2 kids to raise pretty much on her own. But now, she’s definitely slowed, and slowing, down. She takes longer to get anywhere. She sometimes has to pause on steps.

I know it’s the order of things, but it’s still a helluva thing to watch your parents age - especially when you can see it clearly because you don’t see them for months at a time, and when you do, they’ve visibly changed.

Outlish, meanwhile, finds the number of elderly patients in hospitals to be a disturbing phenomenon:

I have realised that most of the warded patients are elderly persons, who have passed the designated three score and ten, and who have contributed what they could…until society casts them aside. They became ill, and their care quickly becomes the responsibility of someone else – especially if they live in homes. Not everyone has a spouse who is alive and well enough to take care of them, or children who can care for them.

There are the persons who live alone or with family, who are taken to the hospital, and are warded, and their relatives do not visit them. It is ironic, though, that when a warded patient’s pension cheque is received, relatives turn up for them to sign it.

She tells a sad story about “a lovely, yet severely ill, aged man [who] was hospitalized”:

His condition eventually improved steadily. Hospital staff even grew quite fond of him. A relative might visit him every other day or so – until, one day, he was discharged.

The patient was quite happy and excited to go home, after all he had been anticipating it for some time. The only thing is…no one ever came to pick him up. Calls to his relatives remained unanswered. The patient eventually realized what was taking place, grieved, and died a few days later. I was surprised to learn that this was not an unusual case in the hospital.

For the blogger, the story raises an important question:

Not that many aged people have relatives who are concerned enough to go the extra mile to care about them, and this got me thinking…Do we love and respect our elders the same way we did, as children? If your parents or grandparents were to become really ill, would you sacrifice your usual routine to take the time to care for them to the best of your ability?

I think that we do still love and respect our elders, but the relationship certainly is not the same. At times we are rude, disrespectful and impatient with our parents, but the reality is that – at times – when we are far from our parents, we tend to cherish and appreciate them more.

Trini Like Salt certainly seems to cherish his parents, especially his mother:

I think my mother is aging, but happily. I can’t know what it’s like to reach an age where the statistical fact of death is staring you in the face - but she has, and she doesn’t seem phased by it. I will someday, though, if I’m lucky.

Outlish ends by suggesting that distance - both physical and emotional - can be reduced by forging meaningful cross-generational relationships:

Sometimes if you take a little time to sit and have a chat with an elderly person, you will be amazed by how much they can tell you. Their stories may fascinate you, while bringing feelings of warmth, joy and nostalgia to them. Even if you heard the story a thousand times, let them have their moment. They have lived the very same lives we live, and they have struggled the same way we struggle. What makes me laugh is that sometimes we grow up to be almost just like them.

Taking care of your elderly loved ones is a serious responsibility, but I’m sure that when they pass on, you’d be much more comforted knowing that you did your best to help them, when they needed you the most.

In my humble opinion, just because we are young, and moving on, that doesn’t mean that we should turn our backs, and ignore the elderly. And we should be prepared for the day, when our parents need us to return the favour, and take care of them in their weakened years, just as they did for us.

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Journalist Lasana Liburd

Global Voices (GV): What exactly is Wired 868?

Lasana Liburd (LL): Wired868 is a smart and fully online newspaper that specializes, at the moment, in football news and features but also provides thoughtful blogs and a satirical news round-up. I say 'smart' because Wired868 distinguishes itself by the way it handles and articulates issues rather than by the topics it writes about. We plan to expand soon into other areas and we will cover them with the same professional, comprehensive, honest and sometimes fun way that we deal with sporting issues.

GV:  What was the impetus for starting Wired868?

LL: We believe there is a blind spot in the local information industry and we are here to fill that void. I have been a member of the traditional old media for a long time and have 15 years experience between the Trinidad Express and Guardian Newspapers as well as several British newspapers like the UK Guardian, Telegraph and Voice. The local press has generally done a good job of keeping the nation informed in an unbiased manner and continues to do so.

However, I believe that two particular areas could be improved upon. Wired868 tries to better utilize the power of the Internet in getting news to its readers in a quicker and more efficient manner; so you don’t have to wait for the Sunday paper to discover what happened on Friday night. Also, I think issues are often presented in a superficial and reactionary manner in the old media. John says ‘X’ on Monday but Jeremy insists it is ‘Y’ on Tuesday and this goes on as readers feel increasingly confused rather than informed.

Wired868 tries to get deeper into the respective issues and often we are ahead of the story because we are shining a light into cosy but questionable set-ups that operate outside the media’s gaze. I felt the local public would appreciate if someone could deliver those two main things and I think Wired868 is already showing that it is up to the job.

GV: How was the process of starting up (particularly in terms of building the infrastructure and the user base)?

LL: Wired868 has been in operation for roughly three months and has attracted 1.8 million hits based on a fairly gentle and free drive on Facebook and Twitter. Although we have a clear vision of where we want to go, there are always some limitations that a start-up company faces and patience is a virtue.
We have used our first three months as a testing period and are now upgrading the site to better serve our readers.

It would be easier if we had a few million dollars to immediately grab everyone’s attention but money does not guarantee success and the essence of Wired868, in any case, is be solution-oriented and clever. So, we have to live what we preach and find our own answers.

GV: In what ways has the project evolved since its launching?

LL: The Good Morning Neighbour or G’Mornin’ section is an addition to the site that informs readers with short, funny pieces. Each brief offers a satirical and fresh perspective on a news item carried in the mainstream media and we link to the relevant newspaper too. This section makes the news a bit easier to digest for many young readers who don’t have the same attachment to the old media but it is also a hit with older readers who enjoy having a refreshing, honest view of local affairs. The site responds to its users and there has not been any need for radical change yet but we do plan to grow and introduce new things.

GV:  What future plans/projects do you have in mind (that you can reveal of course)?

LL: For the Spanish football league derby between Barcelona and Real Madrid, David Nakhid and Terry Fenwick blogged on the importance of the match as well as on the eventual outcome. Nakhid is, of course, Trinidad and Tobago’s first international footballer to play in Europe and a former Caribbean Footballer of the Year and national captain, while Fenwick is a former England World Cup player and coached professionally in England and Trinidad.

We since had W Connection coach Stuart Charles-Fevrier also share his insight on local football and we aim to continue to give a voice to experts in various fields for the benefit of our readers. We also plan to expand into other areas like Community News and to make structural additions.

GV: What sort of business model have you adopted?

LL: Wired868 uses the free business model. That is, we give our content away to consumers and ask for nothing but their time and interaction with the site. However, we intend to sell advertising space to companies that wish to make their products and services visible to our professional audience and who identify with our fresh, clever and solution-oriented vision.

Trinidad and Tobago is a small country that has punched above its weight on the global scale due to our talent, flair and personality; Wired868 has those traits too in abundance and we expect to be successful here as a result.

GV: What local/regional online sites do you see serving the same niche as Wire868?

LL: There are other sites that offer valuable information, but none that shares both our analytic approach and our use of the Internet. For this reason, I anticipated that it would take some time before the local public understood our vision. Thus far, the results have been quite encouraging though.

GV: Do you have any thoughts about any past/current online projects (e.g. TNT Times)? Any lessons learnt?

LL: TNT Times maybe overshot the market. I was in charge of the editorial side of that paper and we created a great team with writers like Cedriann Martin, Fazeer Mohammed and Erline Andrews. I think the content was really good. After three months, we had a PAHO award and tens of thousands of visitors. We were all very sad that the finances were not there to keep it going but I think, on the business side of things, too much was expected too soon.

With Wired868, I am in control of the corporate vision; there has been a lot of preparation work. The TNT Times launched with some strong financial backing from its owner and that isn’t here now. But an infinitely smaller budget just encourages Wired868 to be smarter and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Also, the Internet penetration in Trinidad and Tobago stood at 18% when the TNT Times kicked off but it is closer to 50% now. So I expect that our experience, as well as the improved conditions for online projects, will make the difference.

GV:  What are the general observations you have about Internet usage in T&T (available data shows T&T with a usage rate of 48.5%; Barbados is at 70.2% and Antigua & Barbuda at 80%)?

LL: Internet usage has shot up over the last three years in Trinidad and Tobago and should go higher still as confidence returns to the economy. More people all over the world are getting their news online and the Caribbean is ripe for the same media evolution.

There is a difference too, between dumping a couple dozen stories on the Internet at 11 pm every night and being a true online newspaper. The best qualities of the Internet are speed, networking and responsiveness and, over the coming weeks, months and years, Wired868 intends to stake its claim as worthy guardians of the power of the new media.

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Of the Ian Alleyne arrest, The Eternal Pantomime says:

Ian Alleyne, Crime Watch and TV6 are Charged for the toro toro (aka bullshit) they did to that child last year on the programme.

…People’s champion or not (I really not getting into that argument) we have to agree that if Ian Alleyne breached the law, he shouldn’t be above it. To justify Alleyne’s abuse of the law is to set a bad precedent. Now, for all intents and purposes, what is clearly a legal matter has been made into a political issue…Alleyne, all of a sudden has become the PNM [the current opposition party] poster boy for Govt abuse…so many more scary instances of abuse occurring daily, and the issue that get PNM People riled up yesterday is Alleyne’s roughing up by the police? I seriously have to wonder where people’s heads are at.

The blogger is very clear about the television station's role in the debacle:

I am also happy to see that TV6 didn’t escape unschathed (sic). You were part of the broadcasting process…clean up your acts…both of you.

While the show highlights criminal activity in the country and certainly depicts Alleyne as doing a better job than police there are a few changes I’d like to see:

less gore and dead bodies during a time children watching tv.
less of Alleyne in the middle of the crime scene
better production and editing
less showcasing of specific police officers.
statistics on how many of Ian’s arrests actually led to convictions!

In another post, she writes:

Crime Watch continues in court today. All yuh can’t say Ian Alleyne don’t keep improving on the entertainment value of his programme. No doubt with the expected increased police presence, it’ll be even more of a pappy show! And to date the real issue still getting lost…a child’s image was shown on television in a sexually (sic) way….Ian aired the tape, the station broadcast it twice…This was a breach of law. Yet the issue that has held most of the population’s attention is how ‘Ian get rough up'. Note that Attorney Om Lalla never said the police’s behaviour was illegal…just abusive. Can we press on? There are far more abusive things happening daily in this society that never gets us this riled up.

Jumbie's Watch calls Alleyne a “publicity hound” and goes on to comment on “the circumstances leading up to and surrounding this event [the arrest of Ian Alleyne], and the law as it applies”:

I do not fault the police for arresting him. They are well within the law to do so. What could have been handled differently, is that Alleyne should not have been given any opportunity (whatsoever) to gallery for the cameras and public. His arrest should have been done quickly, put into a waiting vehicle, and taken along to the nearest police station. Instead, we see him in handcuffs, being given full opportunity to speak to supporters at the gate, and rolling on the ground and on car bonnets putting on an excellent show.

I am yet to see that the television station responsible for airing the video being sanctioned in any way. Ian Alleyne alone did not broadcast a video. It is a collective effort of many persons and the ultimate responsibility lies with the head of the station. Editors and producers may have some level of input, but final responsibility lies at the top. They had broadcasted news of the arrest prior to the actual arrest…once again, it shows the hound that is Ian Alleyne seeking to milk publicity. It’s good for the ratings, after all.

kid5rivers sums it up by saying:

The habitual inadvertence of the State to ensure that, twenty-four-oh-seven, all accoutrements are in place to have a person lawfully apprehended access to bail may yet prove its undoing in Ian Alleyne's case and thereafter, as a right frustrated is a right denied in the same way justice delayed is justice denied.

The Eternal Pantomime, in a post in which she uploads eerily similar photos of the country's first Prime Minister, Dr. Eric Williams, and Ian Alleyne, has the last word:

Since last week, I’ve been looking at Ian Alleyne be treated as the next messiah…all that was missing in his triumphant march through Port of Spain yesterday were palm branches and a jackass…ok…just palm branches. But as much as I find some aspects of Alleyne’s show and his public posturing crass and vulgar, I see quite plainly why he is so popular. He appears to be performing…Alleyne seems to be doing for members of the poorer classes, what the police and government seem unable to do…fight crime. If ever there was a poster boy for ‘perception is reality' Ian Alleyne is it!

And his success here just shows you how far we have fallen as a society. Alleyne sullies crime scenes, has no real conviction rate to speak off and breaks laws such as the Sexual Offences Act…and people are actually rallying to his side and asking that he be given a bligh because he solving crime and is the ‘voice of the poor man'.

His popularity has become extremely dangerous…so much so, that an arrest of Alleyne for an obvious infringement of the law is now made to be look like the suppression of a voice that speaks out against the government.

Bloggers are also being quite vociferous about the Dangerous Dogs Act. Jumbie's Watch, a diaspora blogger who lives in the United Kingdom, gives a bit of background by publishing the proposed legislation “in its entirety”:

Having read this Act, I now find myself baffled. Many dog owners and dog lovers are reported by daily newspapers…as being ‘flawed’.

I notice however, not one person so far has actually pointed out a flaw. Instead, they point to the fact that the DDA (UK) is repealed. That is a non-issue…the recommended changes is (sic) not merely to remove the 4 main listed breeds of dogs, but to be more encompassing to include any and all dogs that are deemed dangerous. So far from citing the UK DDA and its so-called faults, they should beware lest the T&T Government move into a Dog Control Act and put more responsibility on owners and handlers. At the moment, owners of the three listed breeds can claim to be treated with a large measure of leniency.

He goes on to list all the measures that owners of the dog breeds deemed “dangerous” will have to do, and ends his post by saying:

The fines and prison sentences are high, and rightly so. So far, I see nothing in this Act that is either draconian or unfair. Consider that the past 10 years, over 14 persons have been killed, including children, and many more injured, I think it is right that the onus of responsibility goes to the owners. If anything, I think this law is still too damn lenient.

Coffeewallah has a different perspective:

In 2000, after a spate of dog attacks, the then elected Government, in the usual third world knee jerk reaction, to appease the population cringing behind locked doors, declared that something must be done. The something consisted of a piece of legislation “borrowed” almost wholesale from the English. Nothing really new in the colonies. Except the legislation in question had been written specifically to deal with a situation in England in the 1990's, by 2000, it was already somewhat out of date and in any case, was ancillary to existing animal protection laws. In the Trinidad version, it singled out three breeds, the pitbulls and two others that weren't even present here. As per usual, instead of addressing the issues, we sought to put the usual band-aid on a festering sore.

She continues:

Pitbull terriers are a cross breed between terriers and bulldogs, bred for their tenacity and later, for their fighting ability. Man made dogs if you will. In truth, pitbulls, like humans, are products of their environment. If you condition any dog to be aggressive, whether a daschund or a russian wolfhound, that's what you'll get. And that's the point really.

Dog lovers in this country do not oppose legislation for the sake of opposition. In fact we would welcome any legislation that would get people to behave more responsibly towards their animals. Legislation that allows for the equitable humane treatment of the animal ensuring that they are properly secured, have access to shade and water during the long hot days, that they are micro-chipped and registered so that they can be traced to their owners when they are lost or worse, they attack someone. Instead, we have a craven piece of legislation being brought back from the legislation graveyard that singles out breeds and that is essentially punitive.

But Plain Talk finds “the rally planned by the Pit-bull owners to fight the law that has been passed to safeguard the public from these dangerous animals” rather “idiotic”:

One look at the group's event advertising and what jumps out is the capitalized ‘Do NOT bring your dogs'…it seemed like such a strange and bizarre admonition for a pro-pit-bull rally, I found myself asking why? Why leave out the star of the show in all his foaming, snarling glory? Is it because they know full well that the public associates any image of that animal with death? I asked (politely) if I could bring the survivors of pit-bull attacks and the families who lost loved ones…

I got to wondering as to how protests usually go, the things you chant (Our Right to Bite is just all right?), or what would their placards read - ‘You are infringing our rights to maul' or the ever popular ‘dangerous animals have rights too.' Are these people collectively right in their heads?

The best deflection of all is that there are no dangerous dogs, only bad owners. If this is indeed the case then what a remarkable coincidence that ALL the bad owners ended up choosing this one particular breed to mess with. Doesn't that strike you as just a tad strange?

He echoes Jumbie's Watch's support of the legislation:

I for one am very impressed with the testicular fortitude demonstrated by the Attorney General in bringing this legislation and making it law. I always say I will support anyone who is doing right by the people of this country, and this legislation, short of an outright ban on these rediculously (sic) ferocious animals is the absolute right thing to do.

Coffeewallah counters by going right back to the issue of Ian Alleyne:

Real change, real development takes place when we the people hold ourselves to higher standards. When we the people demand of our leaders that they think and act with integrity, that they practice governance by reason as opposed to photo op. That they construct rational legislation, they support equitable enforcement across the board. Perhaps like Don Quixote I am tilting my hat a windmills, but be that as it may, we must get to that point otherwise our country will continue its slide. Ian Alleyne's often vulgar, always self serving antics cannot be our only voice or form of action.

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Jamaica
Jamaican bloggers were understandably excited about the launch of the Bob Marley movie yesterday, which also happened to be International Weed Day. Cucumber Juice, who already “saw the new documentary about Bob Marley as part of the 2012 DC International Film Festival”, wrote:

The documentary is worth every second of its 145 minutes. On its 4/20 opening day Marley will also stream on Facebook. All of the reviews that I have read – and there are many, from the New York Times to local papers in Silicon Valley, California – are enthusiastic about the film. I agree with the seemingly widespread sentiment that Marley is a well-needed portrait of Bob Marley the man, not the superstar, not the celebrity, not the prophet…just a man. It was something that his granddaughter Donisha Prendergast urged us to have in mind as we watched – think of Bob the man not Bob the celeb – but the caution wasn’t necessary even as I saw footage and heard the famous songs; I couldn’t help but think about him outside of the context of superstar, maybe even the first Third World superstar.

I still believe as I did during and immediately after the film that every Jamaican must watch this film. And I still say that without any hesitation, reservation, or hyperbole. Why? Because Bob Marley is an important historical figure and he is Jamaica’s own. Even though he has touched millions – maybe he belongs to them too – he’s Jamaica’s own first. It is simply important to know our history, and this documentary is a good place to start.

Jamaica Woman Tongue, meanwhile, took issue with the “complete mockery of the national flag” that took place during a political swearing-in ceremony:

This juvenile act proves that we have sunk to a new low in national politics. Even the flag is no longer safe in the mindless colour war between orange and green fanatics.

The distasteful anti-green flag is forcing us to take a fresh look at the meaning of this national symbol. We can no longer assume that as a society we all accept the grand idea that national pride is wrapped up in what is really just a piece of cloth. It seems as it we are quite prepared to cut up the cloth to suit our rather limited political agendas.

The Bahamas
Politics were also top of mind with Bahamian bloggers this week, as the country's general elections draw closer. New blogs have been adding depth and dimension to the online debate: in response to one of its posts, Blogworld wrote:

I tend to fall into its camp with regard to the ways in which we view ourselves, our fundamental conservatism and fear of confrontation, our need of “brain-un-washing”. I particularly agree with the idea that 2012 and possibly years to come ‘may see the continuation of the unfinished revolution of the 1960/70s.' I’m not sure I share all of its cynicism, and while I am as unimpressed with the “achievements” of the past five years as the author is, I have not been convinced that a return to a PLP administration will be the magic bullet that solves all our problems.

Her compatriot, Rick Lowe, blogging at Weblog Bahamas, thought that it was time for him “to hit the off button” when it comes to election propaganda, while Political Bahamas Blog republished a mainstream media opinion piece which suggested that:

It is imperative to state that a leader will be judged by and for successive generations based on his/her ability to, among other things, manage the economy in a manner that balances economic prudence, socio-economic expectations and infrastructural development.

Haiti
Haitian bloggers were talking about the magnitude of the country's cholera epidemic. Dady Chery noted that
“Haitian health officials have approved a medical trial of the oral cholera vaccine Shanchol on poor women and children”, saying:

This trial is being presented as a vaccination campaign and will curiously be administered in two of Port-au-Prince’s slums by researchers from Gheskio (Center for Haitian Studies of Kaposi Syndrome and Opportunistic Infections) a group closely associated with Partners in Health (PIH) that studies AIDS and enjoys generous funding from USAID…

To avoid possible abuse it is essential that, in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, the medical trial be monitored by a panel of impartial observers.

We can help the Haitian poor by giving them correct information and the choice to make appropriate decisions for themselves and their children. If poor women and children get coerced into becoming the guinea pigs for western pharmaceuticals, Haiti will add yet another sordid story to its long list of abuses.

Cuba
Diaspora bloggers were looking at numbers this week - Uncommon Sense republished statistics from “the opposition Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation”, stating that there have been “almost 2,400 political arrests in first 3 months of 2012.” Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter took a longer view of what he called “the rising body count in Cuba.”

Pedazos de la Isla posted a recap of “another violent weekend in Cuba”, while Laritza Diversent blogged about the plight of “Sonia Garro Alfonso, a member of the Ladies in White and the Afro-Cuban Independent Foundation”, who was recently arrested. Crossing the Barbed Wire focused on another Lady in White, Yakelin Garcia Jaenz, whose husband is in prison:

She has been beaten and harassed by paramilitary Rapid Response Brigades and has been arrested arbitrarily for various hours, despite the fact that she is the mother of two small children.

Translating Cuba posted an article dealing with the case of El Ñaño, the imprisoned Rastafarian priest, while Havana-based Iván García was focused on the fact that Cubans are too busy “in search of their daily food” to notice “the flowers of the flamboyant on Havana’s Santa Catalina Avenue already [beginning] to change color”:

Increasingly, many Havana families find it difficult to put a decent meal on the table…The issue of food is a national headache. It takes about 90% of the money that a family receives. And so everyone may not always eat decently.

Trinidad and Tobago
Globewriter blogged about a group whose mission is to “empower youth to deal with difficulties regarding sexual orientation and gender identity/expression”:

Sitting in that first meeting held at a conference table at the University of the West Indies I looked at the young faces and listened to them emphatically stating that young people being driven to despair because they were lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or questioning was not acceptable and I can’t really describe how proud I felt and how full of hope for the future.

His post gave details about “a project that will be a first for T&T – a Day of Silence which will be observed on Friday”:

This might seem like a small act to achieve a very big change – and it is – but it is a start and it will mark a major turning point in the fight for LGBTQ kids to be given the dignity and respect that they deserve as equal human beings. This is also being done in a country in the English speaking Caribbean – not normally viewed as an especially tolerant environment for such vulnerable kids. In practice T&T is nowhere as unwelcoming as say Jamaica but there are still discriminatory (though rarely enforced) rules on the books and LGBT people face discrimination on a daily basis simply because of who they are.

In support of the cause, his blog was silent until midnight on April 20.

Other Trinidadian bloggers were focused on the arrest of Ian Alleyne, controversial host of a popular television show, “Crime Watch.” The Eternal Pantomine said:

The People’s Police Commissioner Ian Alleyne has been arrested and it was all done on national television!

I get confused…under which act? Dangerous Dogs? Mental Health? Both?

Bear in mind that Ian come like a saviour/messiah figure to many members of the society who feel they can’t get justice from the police and judicial services here…if nothing else shows you how decrepit a society we have become, Ian Alleyne’s rise from pastor’s son, to obscure television host….to Trinidad’s Batman is a metre gauge that we shouldn’t ignore.

Mere minutes after Alleyne’s arrest the meme generators was on fire and youtube was under pressure. There is a part of me that even wondering if the entire arrest was staged given how over the top this entire thing has been. Raids for rape tapes and now raids to arrest…. If there is a show today….it will be EPIC.

Kudos to TV6 who has successfully removed itself from culpability by insisting that Alleyne responsible for his own show…that way the station never have to get any flack for the filth aired on the programme while getting all the viewership, advertising and ratings.

In a follow-up post, she repeated her point about the television station's culpability and raised questions about Alleyne's track record:

Since Ian doesn’t own a television station, or broadcast rights…nor in fact pressed play on the tape button, doesn’t the TV station have some culpability in this matter? Didn’t the station allow the tape to be aired not once but TWICE…showing the face of a minor engaged questionable circumstances.

All yuh see why I asking if is the Mental Health Act or Dangerous Dogs Act? Because somebody in tv6 has to be liable too…because is the station broadcast the thing.

Another issue I have is this…ppl keep calling Ian the poor people’s champion and alleging he has done so much for this country…how many of Alleyne’s arrests have resulted in solid convictions? Because a crime is only solved when there is a conviction…so, how many solid convictions has Alleyne’s show really resulted in?

Could it be people have faith in Ian because he does put on a good (pappy) show

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Trinidad & Tobago

There was outrage in the blogosphere over the death of two-year-old Aliyah Johnson, a victim of child abuse. Guanaguanare was worried “that [it] will amount to nothing”:

The sort of callousness that did not recognise or respect her humanity/divinity is not something that was just one lifetime in the making. This sin is generational and it will also be generations before it is lifted…and only if we begin right away to work towards that future.

Government offices and officials can only do so much. We are the ones, however, who have actually heard the cries and have seen the bruises and other signs of abuse. We continue to be the silent witnesses in our neighbourhoods and maybe even in our own homes. We have to stop pretending that it will all go away…

In a follow-up post, the blogger linked to a video that could help “[address] the problem of child abuse and the wider problem of violence (and the connection between the two) in our country.”

The Eternal Pantomime added:

Remember Daniel Guerra? Remember he was picked up in a car a stone’s throw from his house, by a parlour, and days later his body was found in the Tarouba waterway system?

Remember the Prime Minister wrote a Letter to Daniel, that was really a letter promising to save all the children of Trinidad and Tobago promising that what happened to Daniel, Akiel, Sean Luke, Amy, Hope…would never happen again…

Well…crimes against children are on the rise, and the government has been quietly dismantling social work and welfare projects that can assist in these situations…So think about little Aaliyah now, who, according the forensic report was beaten to death… This is going to happen again and again partly because this society is very sick and partly because very few systems are properly enabled to deal with these issues…when last you hear about the trial against the two boys that killed Sean Luke? I done talk…

Bloggers in Trinidad and Tobago also focused on other issues this past week, including the Dangerous Dogs Act “as news of yet another innocent child being violently ripped and torn apart by yet another, dangerously-aggressive, unrestrained dog makes the rounds” and patients' rights, as cancer patients who were over-exposed to radiation at a national facility continue to seek justice.

The Bahamas

More north along the Caribbean archipelago, Bahamian netizens had elections on their mind. Blogworld, who recently posted her own voter's manifesto said:

So, in the parlance of the day: Papa has rung the bell.

I can talk the talk like any other Bahamian in 2012. Papa = the current prime minister, Hubert Ingraham. ‘The Bell' = the announcement of a date for the next general election. I know how to translate the statement.

I just don’t know what it means.

She went on to explain:

Some time ago, I wrote up my own manifesto (since the political parties vying for leadership of the country hadn’t seen fit to share any of their promises or policies for the next five years) as a voter, a participant in a process that is commonly called “democratic”. Since that time, others have joined me in making similar statements, and a few voices have called for our leaders and other politicians to have the balls to step out from behind their carefully crafted propaganda and open themselves up to discussions of issues with reasonable citizens.

But, disappointingly, and with one important exception (Branville McCartney of the DNA) they haven’t.

And this, to my mind, does not bode well for our future.

So my question is this. Given the passion and energy being expended in tearing down the other parties, or the other leaders—in dismissing reasonable questions and observations as ‘FNM' or ‘PLP' or even ‘DNA'—each of these being intended as insult, what happens the day after elections, when one party has won and the other(s) has/ve not? How do we work on building a nation of Bahamians?

So as we stare down the home stretch, as we slide into these last three weeks before Bahamians go to the polls and cast our votes, I would like at least one day to be dedicated to having the people who are contesting the elections to tell us what their vision is for this nation. Where do we go from here? How do we find our place in the twenty-first century?

Weblog Bahamas‘ Rick Lowe, meanwhile, hoped that “the level of discussion will be raised for the campaigns”:

If this is what we will get from the opposition it certainly seems to narrow the choice. It also makes me wonder why we must refer to some M.P.s as honourable.

Cuba

Cuban diaspora bloggers acknowledged the passing of Miami-based Catholic Bishop Agustin Roman. Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter said:

Cubans have lost the physical presence of one of the great leaders of the Cuban exile community who passed away yesterday night at the age of 83 but his spirit and his writings live on. Monsignor Agustín Román wrote and spoke about the challenges facing the Cuban people and…offered a profound analysis of the state of the Cuban dissident movement that remains extremely relevant.

Pedazos de la Isla said of a speech the late Bishop made “about the importance of the internal Cuban opposition, dissidence, or Resistance”:

As he explains in this heartfelt piece, no matter what you call those brave Cubans inside the island, they all fight for justice. And justice is what Roman also represented in his 84 years of life. Although he is now physically gone, he will always spiritually guide not just Cuban exiles, but all Cubans, into freedom. His example was one worth emulating- a true man of God, a true Catholic, and a true Cuban. He was not afraid to tell the world that his brothers and sisters were in need of freedom, he was not afraid to say that he was an exile, and he was not afraid to explain why he was exiled (he was sent out of the country at gunpoint by the Cuban regime). Agustin Roman did not live off of hate or bitterness, and yet, he was clear in explaining that fighting peacefully was not a sign of weakness, but instead a sign of great strength and courage.

babalu shared details about the funeral arrangements:

This afternoon, Father Agustin Roman will be laid to rest. At noon today, a funeral procession will leave La Ermita de la Caridad and make several stops throughout Miami.

Diaspora bloggers also expressed concern about the safety of the man who was arrested before the start of a Papal Mass in Santiago de Cuba for shouting “Down with communism!” and published a translation of an interview with the man's mother.

On island, bloggers were talking about the trial of El Ñaño, an imprisoned Rastafarian priest. (This post gives some background on the case). Even before yesterday's trial, bloggers were tweeting about his innocence; they also live-tweeted the court proceedings, ending with the following update:

The trail has ended but the judgment may be delayed for months.

Other Territories

Jamaica: Abeng News Magazine kept its readers au courant with the latest developments in the Trayvon Martin case.

Puerto Rico: Gil the Jenius likened the country's increasing violence to a cancer.

St. Vincent & the Grenadines: And Still I Rise marked the thirty third anniversary of the La Soufriere eruption.

Barbados: Contemporary artist Sheena Rose commented on the stereotypical image many people have of the Caribbean:

The more I travel, the more I realize that people do not know the Caribbean. I get the feeling that they thinking we live at the beach all day, have the steel pan playing and drinking coconuts all day, living in a paradise. Yes to me, my home is my paradise but it have more than the beach and coconuts.

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Jamaica

Concerns about the quality of education in the country were top of the list as Jamaica Woman Tongue wondered whether The Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) was a Ponzi scheme of sorts:

LET’S FACE It. The [test] isn’t just about measuring the academic accomplishments of primary school students. The test is a clear sign of the failure of our educational system to make adequate provisions for all children to access high-quality secondary education.

In a culture of scarce benefits and educational spoils, it’s not just the academically fit who survive. There are other factors that determine performance. In the war for places in ‘good’ schools, the wealthy usually beat the poor.

Ponzi schemes sell the illusion that everyone can get rich by ‘investing’ in a dubious enterprise. In the case of the GSAT, the Ministry of Education is selling the illusion that all students who achieve can get into ‘good’ secondary schools. The people who get in on the Ponzi scheme early in the game do get back their money. But those at the very bottom of the predatory feeding chain don’t stand a chance. Poor people’s children at the lowest levels of the GSAT pyramid have a very hard time collecting any benefits and spoils from the system. Most of them leave school barely literate and completely unprepared for the job market.

Cuba

Bloggers were still talking about the human rights situation on the island following the recent papal visit. As diaspora bloggers marveled at the sheer number of arrests (760 reported for the month of March), Iván García, who lives in Havana, wrote:

Today, Cuba is among the five countries with the highest prison population in the world. The future is a bad word. There are so many prostitutes it’s scary. And psychotropic drugs are as common among adolescents as drinking rum.

Benedict could not spend ten minutes taking a picture with the Ladies in White, who for nine years, since April 2003, have been attending Mass every Sunday in the Church of Santa Rita. Or five minutes to give a rosary to a representation of the opponents who have professed Catholicism their whole lives. But in his busy schedule he had half an hour with Fidel Castro. Perhaps, as Juan Juan Almeida wrote, the meeting between the Pope and the ex-leader, also served to give the last rites to the one responsible for the endless nightmare of the Cuban people.

The Archbishop should pressure the government to engage with the opposition. Sit down and negotiate inescapable rights such as freedom of expression and association, which allow independent groups in society, whether or not they are protesters. Jaime Ortega should have more tact in dealing with dissent. While in Cuba, by tradition, the Catholic hierarchy has always rubbed shoulders with the power, the Cardinal could rethink their strategies. Keeping the smiley face just for those in power, the Church of Christ will lose more members. Cubans continue to baptize their children at home and keep the images of the Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Charity. But prefer to bet on other religions. This is what is happening.

Cuban bloggers also covered the case of Jeovany Jimenez, who went on hunger strike demanding his right to return to his practice as a physician. Generation Y provided a bit of background:

He had been expelled from his profession in 2006 when he protested a miserable wage increase for public health personnel. Along with the administrative action applied to him, he was also expelled from the Communist Party in which he was active. In late 2010 and in the absence of any institutional response to his complaints, he opened the blog Citizen Zero on the Cuban Voices platform.

After sending the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) a score of letters over these last five years, the proscribed Dr. Jiménez resorted to a desperate strategy, to stop ingesting food until reinstated in his position. From March 5, he refused to eat and saw only two options: abandoning his strike without achieving his goals, or ending up in a coffin. The most unlikely scenario was his legal reinstatement as a doctor, given the stubbornness of our institutions when it comes time to rectify an injustice. And yet, the miracle happened.

This protest didn’t have a political slant, it was work, relying on the magnificent tool of the Internet to give it visibility, along with the microphones of journalists from foreign radio and television stations who shed light on such a disproportionate administrative punishment. But the final touch was his own body. That body that he was sworn to care for in others and that he put at risk in himself to return to the right to heal.

Of interest too was a conference held by the Cuba-American businessman and politician, Carlos Saladrigas. Without Evasion noted that:

Representatives from official sectors — such as academics, university professors, political scientists, etc. — as well as numerous representatives of independent civil society generally labeled as dissidents or opponents, shared the space and the microphone without our attacking or assaulting each other, and without dismissing or offending each other, evidence that a context of respectful debate is only possible in spaces not controlled by the government.

There was everything, from condemnations of U.S. government policy, to nostalgia for what was the revolutionary project, and there were also references to the families who emigrated…Perhaps that is why it was so refreshing to hear other proposals, such as that made by friend and colleague Reinaldo Escobar to demand the decriminalization of differences of opinion; or the contribution by the young man who put on the table, among other questions, the urgent need for all Cubans to have access to the Internet and to end government’s prohibitions on the free circulation of information and ideas on the Island.

Iván García, who also attended the event, concluded that:

Carlos Saladrigas sees it all very clearly. Too clearly. I noticed that he did not question the hundreds of detentions of dissidents for the visit of the German Pope, or the spontaneous blow to someone who shouted ‘Down with communism' in the Plaza Antonio Maceo in Santiago de Cuba. Nobody else asked, either.

Finally, at Translating Cuba, Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada made the point that:

The right not to be subjected to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or penalties should be addressed in several ways in the context of HIV in Cuba, for example in the treatment of prisoners who are sick.

Trinidad & Tobago

Of the country's new oil discovery, aka_lol said, tongue firmly in cheek:

Now that some oil was found after many years of not being found, the population can stop burning tires to fix roads…The showing off of the latest oil find with numerous ads in the press and on radio can be seen as a way to boost the local economy with misplaced confidence and without cement.

The new oil discoveries are being seen by both analysts and optimists as the tip of the iceberg of more oil discoveries that will help propel an idea-starved government back into the old ways of the country and in power.

Finally, still on the topic of the Cheryl Miller fiasco, The Eternal Pantomime quipped:

I get up this morning to read that Miller will be getting private tests done to find out if the drugs she has been given have harmed her in any way; and that Khan has called a Council of the Ministerial Suspects. If you ask me, that meeting isn’t going to be about finding out who is at the bottom of this, because something tells me Khan already knows, and has known since Holy Thursday. This meeting may well be to strategise on how to cover their asses, and find a way to placate a very angry public.

I’m glad that Cheryl’s colleagues and indeed many other citizens did make a fuss about this, and voiced their displeasure and kept questioning the authorities. At the bottom of it, this has…everything to do with how we as citizens are treated by people in positions of power.

Too often in matters like this the state authorities does wine on us…and wine hard too. I am hoping, that given the details of this case, and Cheryl Miller’s battery of lawyers that she ain't just get to wine back on the state, I want she tremble it and raise a leg too…because they damn well deserve it!

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco · comments (0)
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