Kim Swan: No One Should Be Above The Law
In response to the Government’s confirmation that Customs Officers have been directed to only open the Premier’s mail in the presence of the Premier or his representative, the Leader of the Opposition Kim.Swan stated his disagreement with the policy and said that “No should be above the law. Give in on that and we are on our way to dictatorship.”
Mr Swan’s full statement follows below:
One of the foundations of democracy is the rule of law for all, no exceptions.
News the Premier has carved out a special exemption from Customs inspections of his mail runs counter to this vital principle and stands as one more example of why this Premier is so wrong for Bermuda.
But it is not just the fact that he browbeat Customs into giving him something akin to diplomatic status, but also that he intimidated Customs officials when he learned his mail had been inspected, as they had done for all his predecessors.
What is so different about Dr. Brown than any other Premier in our history? Why now the special treatment?
Our view of this totally unnecessary controversy is that we cannot have one set of rules for Dr. Brown and another set of rules for everyone else.
That’s not the way healthy societies work, though it is very much the way healthy dictatorships work.
No should be above the law. Give in on that and we are on our way to dictatorship.
This is why the U.B.P is null and void, how does giving the Office of the Premiere the respect it deserves equates to dictatorship. This is just a procedure to prevent vindictive people from sabotaging the leader and any leader for that sake. They are so impaired by the need to destroy this man, that they are totally incapable of thinking rational. The UBP is still bent set on pondering to the every wishes of this one set of people in our Colony, and by doing this they are by default, giving the P.L.P too much power, which is not a good thing for the development of this Colony.
You see, by continuing this type of politics, all you will accomplish is reinforcing the blind support of the P.L.P Government. That’s because every time you attack our leaders, we Afro-centric people sees it as a confirmation of what has been done for centuries, which is whenever a strong leader of the Afro-centric community emerges, the Euro-centric people either kill them (In the past) or more recently, destroy them politically. And the reason this is so effective is, a lot of Afro-centric folks are still not confident in their ability to select their leaders and still looks to the Euro-centric folks to legitimize their leaders, so if “the white man don’t like our leader” there has to be something wrong with him or “we may be better off without him, because he make’s the white man feel uncomfortable” So I am saying all this to say this, with the exception of a few, we no longer look to you for who we should have for a leader, because we are quite cognoscente of the fact, that “only a weak black leader will appease the white man”. So if you all want to see Bermuda move forward, then this is what you do, you disband the U.B.P, the P.L.P will split, then all you will have is two perceived “Black Parties” hopefully one of them Liberal, then you will have no choice but to vote on your ideological convictions.
Just look on the bright side, for once, Bermuda’s Euro-centric population will be “free at last” free from the mental slavery that entraps most from birth, that ” I can only vote U.B.P. Man, that must be an awful feeling. It would also fee up those “Black Bermudians” who will only vote P.L.P regardless of their ideological belief. And before someone responds and say, “well Black Bermudians only vote P.L.P” may I remind you, that the only folks that has been going back and forth between both parties are the “Black Bermudians” This is not rhetoric, this is fact.
Brilliant and well said. I agree Carlos.
I agree with Kim Swan. If the Premier wants the customs office to open his mail in his presence, then so do I. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. One rule should apply to ALL citizens, including the government of the day.
The customs officers work for the Bermuda Government. These are not individuals hell bent on bringing down the Premier so he ought not to be so paranoid unless he has something to worry about. The customs officers are doing the job in which they are well trained to do in an unbiased way – if they are incapable of doing that, then the wrong people are doing the job don’t you think?
Finally, how exactly does a comment made by the opposition leader about mail being opened in the presence of the Premier lend itself to Carlos’ Black and White comments above? Really? This is the legacy that our dear Premier is leaving behind – How sad indeed. The Premier is arguably more charismatic, articulate, intelligent and capable than any other leader in our history – he had the power to take Bermuda to new heights, unify and strengthen our great Island. Instead, he divided us, created civil unrest and social worries and actively contributed to Bermuda having reached new lows. But Carlos, you go ahead and defend him – it’s a free Island for now.. thank God.
Carlos: how did this become a black/white issue?
We are talking about all citizens being equal under the law.
“and still looks to the Euro-centric folks to legitimize their leaders, so if ‘the white man don’t like our leader’ there has to be something wrong with him”
Carlos, you are a drone in the desctructive army Dr. Brown has created to enforce this illusion of ‘progress’.
But enough for now, I’ve got some oppressing to do… I am ‘euro-centric’ after all.
Um… how does the Premier making thinly veiled threats against Customs officials equate to “giving the Office of the Premiere the respect it deserves”?
As I said in the other story, if this was about that, he should have gone through official channels and done it right, not just assumed the privilege of not having his mail checked.
That privilege is NOT part of protocol. I don’t have a problem with it BECOMING protocol, but, as always, it has to be done right. Dr. Brown seems incapable of using the correct channels in most things he does.
Carlos’ post exemplifies, to me, exactly what’s wrong with politics in Bermuda.
He attacks a black man for DARING to speak out against Dr. Brown’s heavy-handed and autocratic demands, using race, of all things, as a weapon. He propagates the myth that the PLP is the only party capable of representing black folks and, with the usual thin veiling, intimates that to vote any other way makes you a race traitor (cue: “Where did I say that?”).
It’s not only disgusting, it’s sad. Sad that this sort of hateful, racist talk works in this day and age.
And Carlos shows what a sad sad little island we have become.
But at least he admits that most PLP supporters are blind supporters that see nothing but color when hitting the polls. Finally some truth from this adminsitation’s blind zealots.
I mean anyone who blindly supports an administration that has:
a) increased our debt by approx $1bn in 4 years
b) increased taxes during a recession while seeking to increase their own salaries to offset their tax increases
c) provided untendered contracts to non-unionized as well as foreign businesses
d) led the AG to state that there is approx. $800mn in unaccounted for tax monies
e) intentionally “deceived” us
f) cut the education budget for a failing school system while purchasing $200k cars and jet setting all around the globe
g) experienced the worst tourism number in decades with the least number of hotel beds in decades
h) etc.
So Carlos do black people believe that any criticism of a black political person is automatically steeped in racism and thus should be duly ignored? Are none of the criticisms levied at Dr. Brown valid? Has he been infalliable during his tenure of leadership? So no PLP person is wrong and any criticisms are from inherent racist “euro-centric” or “Uncle Tom” individuals?
What a sad little piece of Rock we have become. It is time for BDA to grow up.
I did a bet with an individual whom I was having a debate on the subject of race and Dr. Brown, and the bet was this, If someone makes an objective comment having anything to do with race, the only thing that people will take from it is “race this and race that” and ignore everything else. My case was proven by the first “no name respondent” So I won on that point.
The next part of the bet was if I directed my comment in referring to the “Office of the Premiere”, the only thing that will be taken from it is, I am defending Dr. Brown, so I won on all points and thanks to you all, I proved my point. Only an objective individual who is also a critical thinker would be able to see and understand what I was saying. It is not that you all that responded are not critical thinkers, it’s just that you are impaired by your hate for Dr. Brown. And since hate is a deep rooted emotion, It prevents you from being objective and it takes you right back to your primordial consciousness. So that’s the reason why you vote only one way, regardless of your ideological beliefs. So this is what I meant by mental slavery, oops! I almost forgot, you all didn’t see that part of my missive.
Any way, for you all information, I don’t support any of the political parties here, in fact I don’t even believe in the Party system, I think it is very divisive and intensely counter productive, especially in a small jurisdiction like Bermuda. I am too objective of an individual and a critical thinker, to allow myself to be affiliated with any political party or religion for that sake. I can only support good policies and ideas, regardless of where it is cumming from. Religious and political alliance only serves to restrict the free mind, so you are dead wrong, if you thing I am a PLP supporter. Notice I am not afraid of putting my name, and those who know me, know how I speak and that I am not afraid to say it like it is, and their isn’t a lot of black Carlos out there.
Any way, the ideal system for Bermuda, would be where the representatives for each constituency are selected by the people in that constituency, and have a system of recall to kick their butts out, if they don’t perform, this would them loyal only to the people who put them in office and not to any party. So if you all think a little now, you will all see that the parties you all are so obsessed with, and to the point where, you all can’t have a rational conversation about some of the things that are wrong with Bermuda are, is destroying this Colony, both PLP and UBP supporters.
So you all can see now, that the only way you all will be able to move this Colony forward, is to have people in government who cooperate for the betterment of Bermuda, instead of this destructive Westminster system. So you all need to let go of this Party Political ignorance. And if you do, then it would become apparent, that what you are seeing now, is a result of the seeds that have been planted decades ago, instead of casting blame along party lines. And if you did, you will see that the decay in society will eventually reach every door step. (Yes, even the euro-centric door step) And if you did, you would be able to demand the changes that will make Bermuda better, instead of rejecting anyone who dares to criticize your Government. And Finally, everyone would be able to be critical thinkers, and alas, free from mental political captivity. Oh! I forgot, we would still have religions folks, who will want to crucify everyone else that are not part of their religious convection. Damn, i can’t have it all my way.
Well back to square one, none of this will ever happen, because it takes to much effort and hard work to realize any of this. It is way to easy to ignore the content of a conversation and end it with “Race, race, race, I am tired of hearing about race” or “why are you plying the race card”. Now lets see what you all will take from this.
“And since hate is a deep rooted emotion, It prevents you from being objective and it takes you right back to your primordial consciousness”. I think you should look in the mirror Carlos… You are blindly making assumptions and accusations based solely on what you believe will be somebody’s skin colour and political affiliation strictly because they cared to disagree with your support of giving the Premier even more “Power” than he already has. Your comment “only a weak black leader will appease the white man” is offensive. Nelson Mandella is probably at the top of the list in terms of the most admired leaders and arguably the greatest leader of our lifetime – are you going to call him weak because most white people love him? Please don’t make assumptions about me that I can’t see good leadership from bad because I’m some sort of ‘mental slave’. But know this – I will not be silenced in my critizism of bad policy, nor will I choose to not support opposition to certain policies while i wait for the PLP to split in two. That may indeed happen, and it will be a good thing, but i think Bermuda will be in a worse place long before that happens if we continue on this road of divisive, racially charged political conversations every time there is opposition to actions by our government.
“Now lets see what you all will take from this.”
What I take from this is that you’re in the mood to lecture everyone and not listen to what anyone has to say… all the while deriding them for not listening to you… even though they are.
You’re projecting motives and motivations that just aren’t there and debating arguments that haven’t been made.
You bring up race, then denounce people for commenting on it.
You make outrageous comments then play the “What did I say?” card.
You’re not debating, you’re ranting.
Is this the objective comment you refer to?
“That’s because every time you attack our leaders, we Afro-centric people sees it as a confirmation of what has been done for centuries, which is whenever a strong leader of the Afro-centric community emerges, the Euro-centric people either kill them (In the past) or more recently, destroy them politically.”
Or maybe this one?
“Just look on the bright side, for once, Bermuda’s Euro-centric population will be “free at last” free from the mental slavery that entraps most from birth, that ” I can only vote U.B.P.”
I don’t see much that is objective in either of your posts. A critical thinker would see that Kim Swan’s comments are not an attack on the premier, they are simply questioning how, in a democracy, the law can be applied unequally to the citizens of that country.
And don’t forget, “huh?”, that he then goes on to contradict himself, saying that when white folks say something bad about black folks, other black folks believe it…
weird…
then again, racists don’t make much sense at the best of times…