Disgraceful. That's the only way to describe the Premier's linking of an attack on a Portuguese football fan on Wednesday with Independence.
Are there no depths to which the Premier (and Derrick Burgess in this case) will stoop?
The Royal Gazette doesn't appear to have the story online, but on the motion to adjourn in Parliament last night the Premier called the attack on Mr. Madeiros 'despicable', 'unacceptable' and 'cowardly' before shifting gears and saying that unless we go independent we can't consider capital or corporal punishment as a deterrent.
"You can't talk about capital punishment or corporal punishment unless you're an independent country."If you think corporal punishement is in the best interests of this country, it's not available to you until we make this a country.
"If you think capital punishment might deter those who would take the lives of others it's not available to you. Until we are an independent country we can't take those sovereign decisions."
Linking the attack with independence is despicable.
If the motives for this attack were based on Mr. Madeiros's Portuguese heritage, as it appears they were, that has nothing to do with capital punishment - which is by no means accepted as having a deterrent effect.
There seems to be a rising tide of xenophobia in Bermuda, but the seeds of this were sown long ago with the PLP constantly attacking foreigners in Bermuda as the root of all of our problems.
The PLP made 'Bermudianization' a rallying cry, stirring up hatred at every opportunity. Take the Police for example.
The Police are drastically under-staffed, and the PLP acknowledged this yesterday saying that they are looking to import 60 foreign officers.
For those of us with longer memories, we know that the PLP as an Opposition used Bermudianisation to crucify the UBP at every turn; the UBP became so sensitive that they were petrified to make some of the decisions they should have in looking abroad.
It still goes on with the PLP as the Government. Despite the fact that there has been a dramatic increase in jobs for non-Bermudians and a decline in those for Bermudians, they persist in claims to being the party of Bermudianisation.
On the eve of the 2003 election we had the work permit terms limits rolled out to much-fanfare about moving those pesky foreigners along. Then Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons correctly but unwisely during an election campaign pointed out that this was a bad thing, for which then Labour Minister Terry Lister claimed with glee that the wolf had taken off the sheep's clothing and the UBP was revealed as the anti-Bermudian party.
And then, right on the heels of the 2003 election win, new PLP Labour Minister Randy Horton gutted the policy by adding a key worker exemption that is so broad that any permit can be extended indefinitely.
Renee Webb at a PLP election rally was talking about the PLP ensuring that Bermudians held the highest positions in Government (which they long have) and Dr. Brown prattled on in Parliament a few years ago about what a great job they were doing in Bermudianising key Government positions.
The anti-foreigner sentiment has been alive and well for many many years in Bermuda, and we all know who has been feeding it. Some may be afraid to say it. But I will
The PLP are responsible.
And that's before we even get into the code words of 'Bermudian' as 'black' and 'expat' as 'white'.
A little leadership from the Premier and his party would be helpful in the wake of the attack on Mr. Madeiros, not more manipulation.
I'm disgusted by both the attack and the Premier's response.
Posted by Christian S. Dunleavy