Part 6

Antigua and Barbuda Crisis: Social and Economic Dilemma

By Kwame Nkosi Romeo

We must be prepared to stand together and Defend our Country. 

Arthur Nibbs -1981

What Next?

In the continuation of Part V, the lingering question dawns: What next? Never allow the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) to control the Barbuda Council again! Barbuda is under the committed leadership of MP Trevor Walker of the Barbuda People's Movement (BPM). Despite that, Antigua and Barbuda's central government, the ALP, seizes enormous power that keeps the citizenry pauperized. The twin-island nation is not a democratic state. Do not allow the ALP government to quash your constitutional rights, so consider all possibilities as a plan to counter ALP terrorist politicians, suppress fundamental rights, and steal land. Be prepared to end this growing unchecked discrimination and Citizen by Investment Program (CIP) system before Apartheid becomes a reality. 

Or is it? 

This Jim Crowism references Barbuda, mainly Discovery Land Company (DLC), owned by developer Michael S. Meldman, an investor in Barbuda Ocean Club, and Peace Love and Happiness (PLH). A typical example is Hilary Mcgriff's PC racial discrimination case against Michael S. Meldman and his associated companies, DLC and The Madison Club, on behalf of the plaintiff, Lukas Lucas. (X (SPORTS) SPORTS ANNOUNCER JIM GRAY'S RACIST ANTI-OBAMA EMAIL LEAKS; CALLS OBAMA A SKUNK)

The Barbuda storyline continues with PM Gaston Browne's next unlawful strategy, mentioning populating Barbuda with CIP residents, overpowering the BPM, and controlling Barbuda as a colony, with PLH setting up its principality. This master plan of tyrannical former PM Lester Bird Sovereign Order of New Aragon (SONA) gave rise to Nibbs' opposition and people's resistance against ALP injustices. Most contrastingly, Nibbs Barbuda People's Movement for Change (BPMC) publicly supports the same subjugation under the Browne PLH scheme to overthrow the struggle.

Nibbs' highly conscious 1981 revolutionary pledge of struggle and commitment to Outlets Editor Tim Hector dealt with the problematic situation of Barbuda communal land rights under ALP and called on Barbudans to be in readiness to defend those rights:

"I would be grateful if all Barbudans would now realize the difficulty of our struggle. Our struggle is a hard and difficult one. We are now at a crossroads. The question now in everyone's mind is, 'how are we going to escape from the tyranny and oppression of Bird and his corrupt Regime? We are not dealing with party politics or personal differences, but we are dealing with a serious situation where our nationality, land rights, and freedoms are at stake. I am calling on all Barbudans to be prepared for anything. We must be prepared to stand together and Defend our Country." (Nibbs 1981:7)-TRANSNATIONAL SPACES AND COMMUNAL LAND TENURE IN A CARIBBEAN PLACE: "BARBUDA IS FOR BARBUDANS - Amy E Potter.

Nibbs betrayed that agreement by swiftly handing the land lease to Barret, who sold it to PLH, drawing attention to two favorite Western movies, For A Few Dollars More and A Fistful Of Dollars.  A memorable Clint Eastwood line from The Fistful of Dollars is, "I don't think it's nice, you laughing." (YouTube clip). What's the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of it all? Barbudans continue to fight government conspiracy, and the ugly is Nibbs' betrayal. Indigenous people became neo-servants under former PM Lester Bird and Browne's dependency theory in two different eras of ALP governance from 1976 to 2004 and from 2014 to the present. After being sanitized in ALP's inner sanctum, Nibbs forgets about decades of ALP oppression, sand mining, and ecological destruction.

A Call for Moral Courage - Rising Activism Brings About Change 

A call for moral courage now reverberates with urgency. John Mussington, a marine biologist and environmentalist activist, is leading the battle to protect Barbuda's critically important biodiversity and vital ecosystem compared to Peace, Love, and Happiness (PLH) owner Paul Dejoria's unsustainable activities destroying people's livelihood, health, and environment.

As well, Dejoria's pledge about conservation is a travesty: "....commitment to contributing to a sustainable planet through investing in people, protecting animals and conserving the environment." 

Dejoria's non-binding commitment adds to the decline of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians detailed in the World Wildlife Fund's (WWF) Living Planet Report 2020, which shows an average decline of 68% between 1970 and 2016. The average decrease in Latin America and the Caribbean is much worse, with an average reduction of 84%. Antigua and Barbuda is not heeding the emergency of climate change's swift acceleration throughout the Caribbean and looming hurricanes of brutal force, rising sea levels, drought, etc. 

Short-Term Financial Gain - Long-Term Consequence

ALP's short-term financial gain brings long-term losses of flooding emerging from environmental degradation, dredging, and mangrove removal. Both Dickenson Bay on the northwest coast and Jolly Harbour on the west coast are instances of ALP's unethical activities. There was no redressing the balance, but that soon changed with the events on Barbuda more than three decades later.

It continued with the wilful ecological destruction of the Ramsar sites' wetland protection to build multi-million dollar homes and a golf course. A severe violation that got the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) to verify the community's concern and publicize the wrongs committed by PLH. Specifically revealed on the GLAN website under the caption: Land Grab & Wetland Destruction Barbuda, including a recent follow-up - Call for an international mission over US developers' luxury residence and golf course on Barbuda Wetland. GLAN rooted its conclusion in an in-depth assessment of the environmental damage revealed in the article on species diversity loss. That PLH severely affected the Ramsar site's ecology, known as 'Codrington Lagoon,' which provides defense from severe weather events. 

Consequently, Independent senior climate correspondent Louise Boyle's insightful article encapsulates PLH violation and breach of the Ramsar Convention as damaging to the Palmetto Point's wetlands and low bay areas Codrington Lagoon National Park (CLNP) covering an area of 3,600 hectares and repeating GLAN call for global action "... into the destruction of a listed habitat" ('Vulnerable to climate change so the rich can play golf': An untouched island, a billionaire 'environmentalist' and a legal fight over a luxury resort- INDEPENDENT by Louise Boyle) 

Human Rights and the Environment

Again, the ALP government dictatorship of wealth supports PLH- Discovery Land Company developer of Barbuda Ocean Club, declaring war against Mussington and the community for upholding the Ramsar site Wetland protection signed by Antigua and Barbuda on October 02, 2005. 

In contrast to Ghana's president, Nana Akufo-Addo understood Non-Government Organization (NGO) activist Chibeze Ezekiel's human rights environmental concern and canceled a Chinese $1.5 billion 7,000-megawatt coal power plant on October 10, 2016. Chibeze is one of six global winners of the 2020 Goldman Environmental Foundation honor. (The Goldman Environmental Prize)

According to the UN environment program, enshrined in over 100 constitutions, human rights and the environment go hand in hand. To advance a sustainable environment and human rights, people must have access to a safe, clean, and healthy environment; sustainable environmental governance cannot exist without establishing and respecting human rights. Nonetheless, ALP continues to violate human rights and can be sanctioned under the UN Security Council Chapter VII of the UN Charter Sanctions measures under Article 41.

Browne's action is at odds with the 64 Leaders' affirmation spanning five continents to the Pledge for Nature to stop ecosystem degradation and pollution and embrace a sustainable economic system launched in New York on September 30, 2020. The leaders' undertaking includes four Caricom member countries: Barbados, St.Lucia, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines. Belize. Others demonstrate support, such as civil society, businesses, faith groups, and financial institutions, 

"The time has come for Barbudans to be in charge of their affairs and their own development. That time is now. Barbudans must seize the time. All power to the Barbudan people. Liberation Now!"

 -Afro-Caribbean Liberation Movement

To be continued.....