Stories about Bahamas from August, 2006
Bahamas: The future in health
Sidney flashes forward to 2012, after the Bahamas’ government has implemented the National Health Plan towards which they are “proceeding with undue haste.”
Bahamas: Flat-earth policies
Riffing off of Thomas Friedman's bestseller, The Earth is Flat, Larry Smith discusses the Bahamas’ unpreparedness for participation in the current and future world order.
Cuba, Bahamas, USA: Moral authority
Rick Lowe takes issue with the Cuban ambassador to the Bahamas's declaration that the US lacks the moral authority to criticise Cuba.
Bahamas: Not so far from the Middle East
Nicolette Bethel's analysis of an African-American commentator's views on white guilt and anti-Semitism prompts her to think about Israel's position in the Middle East: “We Bahamians should take heed. After all, there is not a huge difference between the plight of the Palestinian Arab or the young men who identify...
Caribbean: Exporting Carnival
“. . . it's interesting how these festivals have echoed, in a small way, the evolution of their original model in Trinidad, as a vehicle of solidarity, an assertion of identity, a gesture of defiance in a hostile environment,” says Jeremy Taylor, writing about the Carnivals “exported” by the Caribbean...
Bahamas: Not press freedom
Lynn Sweeting gets at what may be the real issue behind an English editor's position at a Bahamian newspaper. As one commenter put it, the issue is “the hiring of Bahamian managers, not freedom of the press.”
Bahamas: Education upgrade
Bahamian educator Neil Sealey lays out the steps necessary to upgrade the Bahamian education system.
Bahamas: Civil service inertia
Nicolette Bethel calls for a full-scale re-thinking of the Bahamian civil service: “the civil service as designed is crippling the development of The Bahamas. . . . the version that we have in place was never intended to govern a free nation. . . “
Bahamas: Armageddon
Bahamian columnist Sir Arthur Foulkes wonders if the stage has been set for Armageddon.
Caribbean: Languages spoken here
Island Tips posts a list — by island — of the languages spoken in the Caribbean.
Caribbean: Brooklyn Labor Day Carnival
Carib World Radio releases a podcast of a panel discussion on the Labor Day Carnival in Brooklyn, New York, and its benefits to the Caribbean community.
Bahamas: Queen Victoria and other artifacts
Calling a member of parliament's call for a statue of Queen Victoria to be removed from a square in Nassau “lip service to freedom on a grand scale,” Bahamian Lynn Sweeting makes an eloquent defense for the retention of certain aspects of the past and for the recognition of genuine...
Bahamas: Freedom of Speech
Sidney Sweeting issues a warning to the Bahamian public: “Too many Bahamians take the attitude that unless Government passes a law prohibiting freedom of speech then we can presume that all is well. No, a country does not become autocratic overnight, their moves are subtle at first, then not so...
Caribbean: Colonial artifacts
Jeremy Taylor ponders the appropriate uses of colonial forms and artifacts in the Caribbean context.
Bahamas: After Castro
Larry Smith writes about the potential long-term effects of Fidel Castro's exit on the Bahamas, notably in the area of tourism.
Bahamas, Cuba: Reparations
Nicolette Bethel is normally a bit skeptical about calls for reparations for slavery, but if Miami Cubans can demand them — so can she.