Use Of Weapons

If the success of a blog is measured by the amount of discussion it generates then politics.bm has been doing particularly well recently. Two recent posts, which started out discussing the UBP's defeat at the last election and the death of Eugene Cox, rapidly turned into a furious argument about race, attracting 50 comments between them. Eventually some of the remarks got a bit unpleasant and the ability to comment was temporarily suspended to allow everyone time to cool off. When reinstated one participant allegedly continued to resort to personal attacks, which resulted in his comments being summarily deleted.

One thing this has demonstrated is just how incendiary a topic race is in Bermuda, and how difficult it is to have a reasoned debate about it. As Pondblogger Gavin Shorto pointed out in an excellent article written shortly after the general election last year

"Tony Brannon recently shut down a page on his website, Bermuda.com, that allowed people to comment anonymously on local affairs ... That page has now become a kind of refugee - pitching its tent among the newsgroups at Yahoo.com."

A salutary warning for Bermuda’s new political websites perhaps. What really got me vexed, however, was this comment from Renee Webb, current minister of Tourism, Telecommunications and eCommerce:

“Whether people like it or not, politics in Bermuda is based on race because of the history of the country.”

Well I don't like it Ms. Webb, and I think it's time things changed. As Gavin goes on to say,

"Has any kind of serious case ever been made that taking advantage of every resource available is not the best way of dealing with a challenge? In the context of race, that means racial diversity is the way forward."

Bermuda needs a new generation of politicians, untainted by the past or any association with either racial camp, with the vision and the desire to prove Ms. Webb wrong. They must have a clear moral compass and be perceived by all Bermudians as sincere. And they need to work together, publicly, to remove race from politics.

That means that those in the PLP who want Bermudian politics to remain about race, either as revenge for the injustices of the past or a way to maintain their grip on power, have to go. To his credit, Alex Scott has avoided playing the race card to the extent Jennifer Smith's government did, but his integrity has been called into question by the Berkeley scandal and the recent fuss over the appointment of the new Chief Justice.

Regrettably Grant Gibbons probably has to go too. Not because he's a bad man, or lacking in integrity, but because what he represents provokes such a hostile reaction in too many blacks. Although I believe him when he says he wants to remove race from politics, he’s too divisive a figure to be able to do it.

I’m not sure who these new leaders should be. But there is a model for them. They need to have the same fire, integrity and mass appeal that Tony Blair had when he first assumed leadership of the UK Labour Party. Despite his current travails, Blair’s arrival on the UK political scene was a blast a fresh air, the celebrations when the Labour Party assumed power unprecedented, and the honeymoon period enjoyed by his new government one of the longest ever by a UK political party.

Realistically, there seems little chance of these changes taking place in the PLP except after a crushing electoral defeat. After all, they have a vested interest in keeping political debate about race. Race is the most potent weapon in their armoury and some in both the party and the electorate are not afraid to use it.

The UBP needs to change their leadership to remove that weapon from them.

Comments

[graeme outerbridge on 16.01.04 at 18:47]

I do not agree--Grant does not provoke a hostile reaction from blacks---he does not provoke any reaction at all--accept among black coservatives and then their numbers are not large enough to float his political boat.

[Lizardfish on 26.01.04 at 13:09]

Dale Butler said on VSB news today, that the PLP does not play the race card.

Errrrrrrrr what planet is he on?

"Denial" or, that larger more destitute planet "Liar", where it is so hot that your plants catch fire!

[Lizardfish on 26.01.04 at 13:09]

Ooops typo - that was meant 2 say "pants!"