Videos, Photos & Report: Forum for Change

March 26, 2010

Scroll down for 3 videos, 21 photos and a report of the “Forum for Change”, which was held today [Mar 26] on the grounds of the Cabinet building at 12:15pm. In our estimation there were around 150* people in attendance through the entire event, with the affair being somewhat low key, with no interruptions. The speakers were introduced by Marti Chiappa, with each speaker tackling a separate topic.

There were three speakers;

  1. Mr. Gilbert Pitcher spoke first about “How Things Are”
  2. Ms. Pat Ferguson spoke second on “How Things Could Be”,
  3. Mr. Stuart Hayward spoke third on “How Do We Get There”

In a stroke of irony during Mr. Pitcher’s speech he mentioned Bermuda’s rising crime levels, and mere moments later he had to pause his speech due to three Police cars speeding past blaring their sirens. Mr. Pitcher wryly commented “how appropriate was that?

Click to enlarge:

Notable attendees included Graeme Outerbridge, UBP MP Patricia Gordon Pamplin, Bishop Ewen Ratteray, UBP Senator Suzanne Roberts-Holshouser, PLP spokesman Wentworth Christopher, with PLP Senator Walton Brown and UBP Senator Michael Dunkley both pausing for a few minutes after coming out of the senate.

We spoke with Senator Suzanne Roberts-Holshouser who said:

In a democratic society it’s healthy to be able to speak out without fear of retaliation. The reason I say this is if you are too busy defending your actions, you are not listening

Former NLP politician and political activist Graeme Outerbridge took a few minutes to speak with us saying:

I think it’s refreshing to see a collective group expressing concerns about problems in Bermuda as its being run presently. I think the concept is very idealistic, but it seems one of the biggest things is to educate people more, and more in depth about some of the challenges concerning Bermuda such as land use, prudent fiscal management, public safety and a host of other issues. It seems this group deeply wants to inspire Bermuda voters to move from being passive observers, to be engaged thinkers and doers.

We also spoke with one of the events speakers, Gilbert Pitcher, who told us he became involved as the budget was “the straw that broke the camels back – again”, and that “its not about getting the Government, it’s about making people aware and more involved”

Video of first speaker of the event Gilbert Pitcher:


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The second speaker of the event Pat Ferguson:


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Stuart Hayward was the final speaker:


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*We estimate 150 people, while other reports have it far lower at 50 – 70. We did a precise head count towards the end of the event [discounting media and police officers] and without being able to see all people got 117 heads within our vision. We asked others, and five people attending the event estimated an approximate total of 150 in attendance.

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  1. Bermuda protest Forum For Change March 26 Cabinet Office | Bernews.com | March 26, 2010