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Reflections on Independence
By Joseph Darville
May 10, 2022 - 2:58:49 PM

In little over one year, we will be celebration 50 years of Independence. In such a view, I am moved to state the following:

By Divine grace and a genetic transformation, the Israelites came to realize that no entry into the promised land was possible until every iota of mental slavery was exorcised from the very foundation of their being. It could have taken them but a mere sixty days by foot to reach their ultimate physical goal. But as long as forty years were necessary to wipe out the vestiges of enslavement. For many years too, we were enslaved. Almost two hundred years ago, the physical shackles tumbled from our ankles, and we began our wandering in the desert of human reconstruction, not really knowing who we were or where we wanted to go. But yet, like the Israelites, we know intuitively, and our souls cry out in desperation for our promise land.

But the sounds and sensation of those damn shackles keep us in mental bondage. Even now, and after forty plus years of political independence, the curse of enslavement still hangs around our necks. And if we listen very quietly, we can still hear the hammering and the clinging of those despicable physical shackles.

For fear of retribution, many, too many of us, cling to the old vestiges of the plantation. Our masters now, only having changed color, and having elevated themselves to the status of demi-gods, have so fine-tuned their capricious power and control over us, that mental enslavement has become their special art. Thus, our promise land is nowhere even on the horizon.

So, my lamentation is that we are more enslaved now under our own native leaders than we were under our white slave masters. Please excuse my expression, but the ‘black nigga” syndrome of slaving on the plantation, without any notion of our singular rights, is very much alive in this nation, both for poor blacks and whites.

We are an independent people, and as such should have the freedom, the right and ability, even obligation to structure and build one by one our beautiful communities. We can then become the envy of island nations, the glory of our own nation and the focus of the world. Our beauty, of both people, land, and sea with their natural and abundance of resources, are all we need to become all that the Good and Great Creator meant us to be.

But we will recognize and accept this reality only when we are REALLY independent, really free, relying on those wonderful gifts so bountifully bestowed upon us by our loving Creator.

The Good and Gracious Creator gives to each and every one of us all that is essential, not just for our survival, but enough to prosper and grow together as wonderful reflection of his glory and power.

First we have to recognized what we have been bountifully given, give thanks for it all, and them work to create a fruitful and enjoyable life for everyone else. Selfishness, greed, and false pride must be removed from our hearts, and replaced with joy, thanksgiving and the ultimate gift of unconditional sharing. Dreadfully, our political leaders and others in “high positions”, embracing wholeheartedly the colonial mentality, know not such an enlightened path.

Yet the most sad thing about this matter, in the present STATE OF THE NATION, is that for those who can excuse such behavior, mistakenly on our behalf, view even the expression of “human rights” with anger and vengeance. We, rights defenders, are seen as being anti-Bahamas, devious, infidels, subversive, carrying out treasonous acts against the state. That my sisters and brothers, spells out clearly the state of human rights in our nation. Thus, this legitimate arm of any civilized and democratic society has to be practiced mainly underground for fear of threats, ridicule and retribution.

One does not share in the daily decisions which fundamentally affect our lives. Our leaders play the secrecy game, making decisions which often create havoc, fear and apprehension in the nation. They take umbrage in the fact that there is no Freedom of Information Act yetfully enacted. We are thus subjected to the old colonial civil servant secrecy law, and thus in all matters, confidential or not, we only become aware of them and the consequences of these many decisions after the fact, when our lives have been seriously, and often irreparably, impacted.

This again, is in the order of the old plantation regime, keeping us ignorant, uninformed, and thus our masters can ride higher and higher on their thrones of pontification, in the name of “divine right of kings.” We are under the illusion that we live and operate in a participatory democracy; this is, in fact, a fallacy, and illusion. The system of democracy we exercise in this land remains one of psychological enslavement; we daily obey our maters for fear of retribution. As a matter of fact our leaders aim to become plutocrats (rich), and rule as if we were an oligarchy (ruled by the wealthy), and not a democracy. Whether they be ecclesiastical or political leaders, they are our servants and not demi-gods who rule with a condemning iron fist.

The Commission on the reform of our Constitution states the following in reference to freedom of information:

“ 15.11 A corollary of the right of free speech is the right to have access to public information. The right of free expression embraces the right to impart and receive information. Thus it is not surprising that some Constitutions link the right of freedom of information to that of free speech. Some provide for extensive rights of freedom of information, such as the South African model, which provides a right of access to information held by the state (art.32). Others do not elevate it to a constitutional right, but have adopted freedom of information laws. It would be difficult in a common law system, where legislation dealing with official secrets, breach of confidence legislation and the regulations governing the public service still pertain, to grant a constitutional right to government- held information. But the Commission is of the view that some form of statutory regime should provide the citizen with the access to information needed for the proper functioning of a democracy.”

One by one, our civic, human and natural rights are denied in so many ways, resulting in many of our brother and sisters suffering relentlessly. And according to my venerable friend, and veteran poetic prophet, Etienne Farquharson: we have been shackled with the 7D’s: disregard, disrespect, deceit, dishonesty, denial, disorder, and culminating with the seventh D: DAMNATION. You may wish to add more D’s.

These are the modern-day shackles inhibiting our way forward; aware of our fundamental freedom and rights under the constitution and international protocols, the frustration of enslavement becomes even more malicious.

The contravention of our basic human, civic and social rights, are mainly perpetrated by official agencies of the state, reaffirmed their continued power base of domination.

Oh, how our psyche loves to be ruled; it is indeed so much easier to be ruled, ordered and subjugated to the will of our masters. They are no longer our servants, but our indomitable plantation slave masters. And thus continues the regime of banana republic dominance.

My brothers and sisters, all the acts which undermine our fundamental rights are the basis of much of the malaise, crime in our nation. A people who have no sense of ownership, power or participation in the national life are easily led to feed on and destroy the nation. Thus, the level of murders, the rape and pillage of our women and children. As has been so truthfully stated, “society prepares the crimes and individuals commit them.”

The Freedom of Information movement is embedded in Universal Declaration of Human Rights developed by the United Nations in 1948. The guiding principle is based upon four freedoms: Freedom of speech; Freedom of religion, Freedom from want; and Freedom from fear.

In further expounding on freedom from fear, it states:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

If our people do not wake up soon, and very soon, we will continue to be doomed and sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. Your voices need to be heard and not simply on talk shows, but in practical, meaningful, and dynamic ways. If ever we needed a quiet, peaceful, non-violent revolution, it is NOW! Information is power, and we need to know every fundamental right we should enjoy as a human being, citizen of this Commonwealth, and actually citizen of the world.

We have by virtue of the ignorance of our fundamental rights, have inadvertently sold our freedom to the calloused, indifferent and corrupt demagogues. They tread upon us furiously, as if it were their legal prerogative.

As someone has so truthfully stated in historical perspective:
Apartheid was legal
The Holocaust was legal
Slavery was legal
Colonialism was legal
Legality is a matter of POWER, not justice

Thus, it is not righteousness or justice which governs our nation, but rather power and that unrighteous power breeds corruption without limitation.

I encourage more individuals, especially you, the young, to become educated, informed, committed and passionate about leading this Commonwealth into the promise land, “God’s Kingdom come on Earth”, as promised by Jesus Christ. According to His admonition, we are not independent until our spirits are free and all fear is removed from our hearts! Until then, we are nothing but slaves in our masters' vineyards. Fear not my sisters and brothers, fear not; do not even fear itself, for then that is still fear!

The Good and Gracious Creator gives to each and everyone of us all that is essential, not just for our survival, but enough to prosper and grow together as wonderful reflection of his glory and power.

In further expounding on freedom from fear, it states:

Thus, it is not righteousness or justice which governs our nation, but rather power and that unrighteous power breeds corruption without limitation.

The Good and Gracious Creator gives to each and everyone of us all that is essential, not just for our survival, but enough to prosper and grow together as wonderful reflection of his glory and power.

The urgent, necessary, critical and expected role of UB student union.

Fearlessly, but with due respect present your well deliberated case; remember that being afraid is not the same as being fearful; fearlessness demands courage even if your message is delivered while being afraid. Being afraid is temporary; fearfulness is a chronic condition.

In peace, love and clarity you are the masters of today, embedded in compassion and you are within the plan of this nation, in the plan of your own divine and angelic nature. Those are the attributes of the new and dynamic generation; incarnated to bring creative change to this land, and not only this nation but the entire earth; be mindful that your energy, your vibratory energetic force reaches across time and space; time and space actually move within you, rather than you moving through them and they bring you all the knowledge, wisdom, understanding and knowingness to spontaneously grasp the appropriate action and opportunity without any misstep.

You are the bringers of the light; it is your spark, your brilliance which will extinguish the darkness, thus moving this land, this nation, this planet to its most elevated and enlightened heights. So be courageous, be fearless, even in the midst of being afraid. Utilize the afraid energies to generate within you the dynamic force to achieve your ultimate goal. The best preparation is to simply breathe in the that primordial energy, given to us so abundantly by our creator and ourselves to activate the most profound results possible.

Be passionate, be compassionate; bring your sisters and brothers, even mothers and fathers to greater levels of deserving power; stamp out the vestiges of mental slavery and taste the voluptuousness of true freedom; the soul cries for it, the spirit demands it and the body cherishes it; become the good stewards of the marvelous creation that you are, and allow no one and no thing to ever diminish your profound and inalienable right to be here. Remain stable and dynamic.

To the young and young at heart, you must engineer a culture of transformation, the ideation of light and brilliance. This is predicated upon compassion, love and wisdom. The richness of your youthful hearts are fertile for this level of transformative leadership. You have arisen at this point not by accident, but by a purposefulness that is benevolent enough to win back the soul of our people. You will be guided no so much by old rules and regulations which have stolen the souls of our people. Your self-worth built on wisdom, knowledge and knowingness have ripped asunder the walls of fear and enslavement. Thus, you will see more from your level of enlightenment, you touch now the pure source of your divinely saturated angelic origin. I call you forth to operate then from your master and human heart. This combination will indeed be the invulnerable basis from which you will now operate. You will come from a level of fearlessness. Then, you will bargain from the basis of equality, freedom to express, associate at every level of society. All sides, entities and individuals must be granted the possibility of the best outcome for all. Thus each side coming from a level of mutual respect, none will assume the divine right which leads to the deficit of others. We are more and more gaining the aspects of a pluralistic society rather than an oligarchy.

As young and unadulterated hearts, you become the anchors of light, beautiful, magnificent, peaceful and grounded. You will have no excuse not to venture forth; you will put all darkness of inequality at bay; you are the sweet ones, the hope of the nation. The light is within you, just allow it to increase.

You are always to arrive with the sense of profound equality, not from any position of inferiority. Everybody, organization will have specific parameters for discussion. They can be based upon salaries to respect in the work place; in your specific instance, they can originate from class size to cafeteria hours, from quality and variety of food served to cleanliness of kitchen and dining room; from library hours to research materials available; from professional accommodations in the accounting, reception or registration offices to curriculum offerings; from sports facilities to text books and supplies availability; from the fundamental and inalienable rights of foreign students on campus to the living conditions in your dormitories

You indeed have a vested interest in all of these operations; you pay partially for them and the state, on your behalf pays the balance, from taxes you or your parents pay. Thus, from a distance and up close you stand firmly on every plank in an even field when negotiating. You are nothing less than universal! This is the bed rock, and when you stand firmly on this the wisdom, knowledge and knowingness spontaneously flow; fundamentally, you are watering the root to produce the fruit.

And I close with this quote from Swami Vivekanada

Explaining the meaning of association:

A rain drop from the sky: if it is caught by clean hands, is pure enough for drinking; If it falls in the gutter, its value drops so much that it can’t be used even for washing your feet. If it falls on a hot surface, it will evaporate…If it falls on a lotus leaf, it shines like a pearl, if it falls on an oyster, it becomes a pearl…the drop is the same, but its existence and worth depends on whom it is associated with. Always be associated with people who are good at heart…You will experience your own inner transformation.”

Joseph Darville

A Proud and Free Bahamian

9 May 2022

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his/her private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of TheBahamasWeekly.com