November 13, 2009

Deporting Dobbs


By Nezua, Media Consortium
After 30 years, commentator Lou Dobbs—infamous for his tirades against undocumented immigrants—has left CNN, as TPM reports. Dobbs employed disturbing, dangerous, and dated language to slur immigrants, often equating them with disease and infection.

Read full article here.

OUR CARIBBEAN: Civil society and government partnership

Published on: 11/13/2009.


by RICKEY SINGH

WHILE WE AWAIT the results of last month's two-day Convocation on CARICOM's Single Market and Economy (CSME) and, more specifically how its implementation is to be pursued following expected endorsement by the Community's Heads of Government, there are now growing concerns by civil society over perceived lack of enthusiasm to involve them in improving good governance and strengthening democracy.

Read full article here.

November 12, 2009

Detention centre opens in Aripo, Trinidad - Minister Joseph: Illegal immigrants to be kept until sent back home


Thursday, November 12th 2009


Containing illegals: National Security Minister Martin Joseph, centre, shares a light moment with, from left, Keith Renaud, director of the Office of Law Enforcement, security officer Gisela Grant, permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security Jennifer Boucaud-Blake, and Curtis Belford, from the Office of Law Enforcement, National Security Ministry, following their tour of the Immigration Detention Centre at Eastern Main Road, Aripo yesterday. -Photo: ROBERTO CODALLO

ILLEGAL immigrants, beware.

This country’s first Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) was formally opened along the Eastern Main Road in Aripo, Arima, yesterday.

Read full article here.

6-week amnesty for immigrants in the Netherlands Antilles


Published on: 11/12/2009.


WILLEMSTAD - The news that the Netherlands Antilles has begun a six-week immigration amnesty has cast the spotlight back on intra-Caribbean migration.

As many as 70 000 immigrants - mostly Haitian, Guyanese and Jamaican - are estimated to be living on the five Dutch Caribbean islands without valid residency or work permits.

They are being given an opportunity to prove they have lived in the Antilles since December 31, 2006, or can show a valid contract from an employer.

Read full article here.

November 10, 2009

'Good response' to Govt's amnesty




by TRACY MOORE

THERE HAS been a "good response" to Government's amnesty regarding illegal immigrants.

Senator Arni Walters, Minister responsible for Labour and Immigration, made the comments on Sunday at the Democratic Labour Party's (DLP) St Michael joint meeting at Springer Memorial School.

He added that there was a Green Paper in the pipeline where the public would be able to comment on it, from as early as next month.

Read full article here.

Another Guyanese convicted, fined and deported


(Antigua Sun) – Guyanese Latchman “Ricky” Bhola was convicted, fined and ordered deported from Antigua and Barbuda after he pleaded guilty to presenting forged documents to immigration officials.

Bhola appeared in the All Saints Magistrate Court before Senior Magistrate Asquith Reviere and was fined $1,000.

Read full article here

Guyanese ordered deported from Antigua


(Antigua Sun) A 21-year-old Guyanese man was ordered deported from Antigua after he was convicted for remaining in the country after the expiration of his permit.

Lawrence Alfred was fined EC$1,000 forthwith when he appeared before Magistrate Keith Thom in the St. John’s Magistrates’ Court.

Alfred pleaded guilty to the charge.

Read full article here.

November 9, 2009

Global Forum on Migration

From November 2-3 and 4-5 2009, organisations from around the world met in Athens, Greece to speak to one of the most complex issues of our time...the movement of nearly one billion people around the world. To learn more about that international conference coordinated by the Global Forum on Migration & Development check out http://www.gfmd2009.org/

November 6, 2009

Athens, Greece, 4 November 2009 - Remarks to the Third Meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (as delivered)

On behalf of the United Nations and all of its Member States here, I would like to thank the Government of Greece for hosting this third Global Forum on Migration and Development.

What a fitting place for us to meet. Greece is a crossroads. One of the most beautiful words in the Greek lexicon is philoxenia -- friendship towards strangers. For thousands of years, the sons and daughters of Greece have been venturing to all reaches of our planet. Today, Hellenes can be found almost everywhere in the world contributing in countless ways to the societies of which they are now an integral part.


Read full article

Smart ID card coming

Published on: 11/5/2009.


by TREVOR YEARWOOD

A single, multi-purpose, “high-security” ID card is to replace the three major ones issued by Government.
It will simplify transactions for people who have had to show their National Identification Card, driver’s licence and National Insurance & Social Security card to access goods and services.


Continue reading

November 5, 2009

Caribbean leaders gear up for immigration showdown



(Trinidad Guardian) - The fight for undocumented workers in the US has moved from the pulpit to the streets, and finally to Capitol Hill.

Taking a page form the African American churches that were at the forefront of the 1960s civil rights movement, the Caribbean clergy has emerged as the key player in the struggle for comprehensive immigration reform.

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November 4, 2009

Chinese construction workers in Trinidad protest



They haven't been paid in months, they were seen eating "dry bread", cannot speak a word of English and would rather return to the crowded streets of Fujian Province than stay to work as labourers in Trinidad.

However, they want the money that they claim is owed to them before they leave.

This is what about 85 Chinese nationals say they were protesting when they gathered on the South-bound lane of the Uriah Butler Highway, near Guayamare, early yesterday morning.

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Here for some time - from the Guardian



Here for some time

While 25,000 immigrants passed through eight detainee centres, photographer Melanie Friend captured a take on their lives


* Marc Leverton
* Society Guardian, Friday 7 November 2008 00.05 GMT
* Article history

continue reading

November 2, 2009

Barbados' New Immigration Policy is Online


If you're interested in reading the Green Paper - A Comprehensive Review of Immigration Policy and Proposals for Legislative Reform, you may visit four websites: (i) barbadosparliament.com (ii) gisbarbados.gov.bb (iii) investbarbados.org (iv) foreign.gov.bb You may share your views by emailing gapplewhaite@barbados.gov.bb

October 24, 2009

Oneika Russell of ART:Jamaica speaks to Annalee about On the Map


Annalee Davis, experienced visual artist, activist, designer tells us about a recent project, ON THE MAP, a documentary video project. For artists who are interested in venturing into making documentaries and some activist projects, Davis sets an example.


What is 'On the Map' about and what does it seek to achieve?

ON THE MAP is a thirty minute video project airing intimate discussions with undocumented Caribbean migrants who speak of life between the cracks. More specifically, it looks at the movement of people from Guyana to Barbados, revealing gaps between the official stand on Caribbean integration & the experience of unskilled Caribbean migrants, within the context of the CSME (The CARICOM Single Market & Economy).

The goals of ON THE MAP are:


1.To give a voice to the numerous voiceless and tell a contemporary story of intra-Caribbean migration.

2. To sensitise the public and policy makers to key social issues.

3. To contribute to conflict resolution at the community level while promoting tolerance, understanding & respectful coexistence.

4. To foster policy debates and political attention to the development of sound socio-economic policies under the integrative sheme.

5. To use my voice as a visual artist as a legitimate language to back chat to the state and engage in debate.


keep reading

October 16, 2009

On the Map to be screened at Real Art Ways Gallery, USA


click images to enlarge

October 13, 2009

Region can't turn back, says Carrington

HEADS MEET.From left, Deputy Prime Minister and Attorney-General of Barbados Freundel Stuart, Prime Minister of Antigua, Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Patrick Manning, Barbados’ Prime Minister David Thompson, Chief Justice of Barbados, Sir David Simmons, and CARICOM Secretary General Dr Edwin Carrington at yesterday’s opening of the convocation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.


Published on: 10/10/2009.

THE REGION HAS COME too far to turn back now from CARICOM integration.

CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington said at the opening ceremony of the Convocation of the CARICOM Single Market And Economy (CSME) yesterday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael, that it is time to get on with the business of building of a community which is 36 years old.


Continue Reading


'Immigration crisis could strike T&T'



Few Caricom heads confirm attendance at CSME forum



JUST five Caribbean Community Heads of Government had confirmed, by yesterday, their participation in the two-day forum on the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) that gets under way today in Barbados.

Among the confirmed, apart from Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson-host for the event-are the Prime Ministers of Trinidad and Tobago (Patrick Manning), Antigua and Barbuda (Baldwin Spencer), St Vincent and the Grenadines (Ralph Gonsalves) and Dominica (Roosevelt Skerrit).

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PEP COLUMEN: Time to go beyond CSME


Published on: 10/9/2009.


THE People's Empowerment Party (PEP) extends a warm welcome to all Heads of Government, civil society leaders and technocrats of our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) who are in Barbados attending this weekend's Convocation on the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

These regional leaders are expected to give careful consideration to the findings of an 'audit' which was recently carried out in all CARICOM states on the workings of the CSME. It is also anticipated that they will propose strategies for advancing the process of constructing a 'single economy'.

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OUR CARIBBEAN: CARICOM CSME 'audit' forum on today

by RICKEY SINGH

SO, HOW MUCH PROGRESS has really been achieved by the member governments of the Caribbean Community to transform it into a fully integrated CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) by a much revised target date of 2015?

A better understanding, if not a precise answer, should be forthcoming by tomorrow before the curtains are drawn on a two-day "CSME Convocation" that gets under way this morning at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Two Mile Hill, St Michael.

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October 8, 2009

Carrington tells Mexicans: CARICOM ripe for investments


CARICOM Secretary-General Edwin Carrington told a business forum in Mexico last Friday that Mexicans establishing a business in any CARICOM Single Market and Economy member state would benefit from some key elements of the CSME.
He noted that with a functioning single market and a population of approximately 15 million, the region stands ready to welcome business enterprises.


October 6, 2009

Bolivarian alliance for the peoples of Latin America (ALBA): South-South co-operation?



In the Diaspora

(This is one of a series of weekly columns from Guyanese in the diaspora and others with an interest in issues related to Guyana and the Caribbean)

D. Alissa Trotz

Alissa Trotz is editor of the Weekly In the Diaspora Column

Last week, I participated in a discussion in Toronto on the Venezuelan-led PetroCaribe and ALBA initiatives. PetroCaribe is a concessionary oil facility where a portion of the receipts from crude oil imports goes into a special fund to be used for social investment, and is available to 16 countries in the greater Caribbean. ALBA, created in 2004, is an integration arrangement that describes itself as a people-centred alternative to free trade integration models. St Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda have signed statements of support while Dominica has acceded to ALBA. The 2008 summit was also attended by St Kitts-Nevis and Haiti.

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October 2, 2009

Finally, the big CSME event

The Caribbean Community Secretariat has announced, at last, the dates for a long expected and overdue special consultation on the status of its flagship project, the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME).


The announcement on Monday said that it will take the form of a two-day "Convocation on the CSME" in Barbados on October 9-10 and will involve leading stakeholder representatives.

October 1, 2009

Crane clamps down on illegals


THE CRANE RESORT will conduct daily checks on all sub-contracted workers to ensure that they are legally documented to work in this country.

The new policy came into immediate effect yesterday after 20 workers were reportedly rounded up, interviewed and removed from the St Philip hotel by the Immigration Department last Friday.

Continue reading

September 30, 2009

Split views on airport policy

TWO TRAVELLERS who returned to Barbados last Wednesday said they were told they had no choice but to be fingerprinted or else be put back on the plane.

The two, who live in Barbados and were returning from business in Trinidad, said they believed their human rights were violated when they were forced to be fingerprinted on arrival at the Grantley Adams International Airport.

Continue reading

Need for 'Obama spirit' in Caricom

Analysis by RICKEY SINGH

AS WE FOLLOW United States President Barack Obama's inspiring, relentless efforts to win decisive congressional support for his imaginative plan for health care reform, I wonder if, with humility, Caribbean Community leaders could also summon some of that "Obama-like spirit" in the interest of advancing the major goals of CARICOM.

If they could summon at least half of Obama's passion - if not eloquence - to inspire public confidence, then we would probably witness pessimism giving way to a new hope for the transformation of CARICOM into a seamless regional economy, despite today's worsening economic gloom.

Read full article

September 15, 2009

Hatchlings - A Requiem (2009)

The Treaty of Chaguaramas established the Caribbean Community and Market, later known as CARICOM, and was signed by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago in 1973.

In 2001, a revised Treaty of Chaguaramas establishing the Caribbean Community including the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, (CSME) was signed by six member countries and now has fifteen members. The treaty was expected to be fully implemented by 2008 with harmonization of economic policy, the free movement of all CARICOM nationals and possibly a single currency.

The Revised Treaty is yet to be fully implemented and the region is witnessing increased fragmentation. Many question if CARICOM is still relevant.

The Free Movement of Persons has been the most contentious issue within the Revised Treaty and has exposed xenophobia, nationalism and racism among member states.

Hatchlings - A Requiem, situates the fifteen member countries as insular national states, lying on a bed of the shredded Revised Treaty of Chaguramas.

When I look at this piece, in my head, I hear David Rudder singing, 'Rally 'round the West Indies' as a requiem.












Installation - Velvet, shredded Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, fifteen nests, acrylic on fifteen chicken eggs . Size - 13"w x 12'd x 35"h
Photo Credit - Dan Christaldi


Mormons issue could have been handled better – Jagdeo

President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said the issue involving 50 Mormons here without permits could have been “better handled” as there was no need for the missionaries to be rounded up and taken into custody even though the police had a right to do so.

“I didn’t think, frankly speaking, that we needed to round people up. It is not the image of Guyana that we want to portray, particularly where it concerns religious people,” the President told reporters yesterday at the opening of the new East La Penitence Health Centre.

“But the police have to enforce the immigration laws of our country. We are an open society, we are very welcoming but we also have laws,” he added.

read more

SLOW PROGRESS OF CARICOM SINGLE MARKET BOTHERS PATTERSON

By HG HELPS, Editor-at-Large helpsh@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, September 07, 2009


Retired Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson is unhappy that the Caribbean Single Market (CSM) is not yet a reality.

Patterson. it would appear that we have just abandoned things

More than three years after Caribbean heads of government held a ceremonial inauguration of the CSM and formal signing of the document for its implementation at the Mona Visitors' Lodge in Kingston, on January 30, 2006, the CSM remains virtually non-existent.

The inauguration and signing would have made the Caribbean Community and Common Market - (Caricom) only the second group to form a single market, the other being the European Union.

It is geared toward bringing the Caribbean region closer together and removing regional hurdles to trade and employment.

The process would have been completed with the implementation of the extended Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME), which the heads at the time agreed to have implemented by the end of last year.

read more

OUR CARIBBEAN: Concerns following 'a warning'

by RICKEY SINGH

I RETURNED to Barbados last week from a visit abroad with my wife, to further learn of concerns by professional media colleagues, family members and others, about recent comments by Prime Minister David Thompson that have been interpreted as directed at me as a "writer" who has engaged in "unfair and unwarranted maligning of Barbados and Barbadians" over its immigration policy.

The Prime Minister was at the time delivering the feature address at the August 23 annual conference of his Democratic Labour Party (DLP) when he made references, without calling names, to criticisms pertaining to the Government's immigration policy and, in particular, what he chose to describe as "the definitive action we have taken on the issue of undocumented migration in Barbados . . .".

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‘Good job’ by immigration officers

(Barbados Nation) A Bridgetown magistrate has thrown his support behind immigration officers who attend court, saying lurid stories about treatment by officers of Guyanese do not apply to them.

Magistrate Christopher Birch made the comments as he dealt with an out-of-status non-national in the Bridge-town Traffic Court on Friday.

“There have been many stories appearing about immigration officers in the press recently,” the magistrate said.
“But I can speak for these immigration officers in court. These immigration officers have taken people to the bank, allowed them to close out their accounts, and allowed them to pack their bags,” the magistrate said.

keep reading

Guyanese reporter caught up in St Maarten immigration raid

A Guyanese reporter, who was reportedly working illegally in St. Maarten, was among two, who were “targeted” by that country’s immigration service.

The Saint Martin News Network reported that immigration officers raided the Today Newspaper on Friday after they were tipped off by a disgruntled employee that the management of Today had at least two persons working illegally for the company. SMN News reported that a well-known local reporter had been having problems with the management of Today who suspended her.


keep reading

August 30, 2009

Ramphal rejects claims

FORMER Commonwealth Secretary General Sir Shridath Ramphal has rejected claims that he linked Barbados' immigration policy to 'ethnic cleansing'.
"I very much regret the misleading information that has wrongly attributed remarks to me about 'ethnic cleansing' in Barbados," he said in a statement issued yesterday.
"I make it absolutely clear that I never made even an insinuation about this in relation to Barbados, or any other country in the Caribbean." Read full article here

August 26th, 2009

August 18, 2009

The exodus of professionals

THE disclosure that large batches of foreign doctors and nurses will soon be arriving in Trinidad and Tobago to work in the medical sector underscores the challenge facing most, if not all, Caricom countries-a serious shortage of such urgently needed professionals.

Ironically, it is small and poor Cuba, still suffering from the enormous consequences of almost half a century of the US economic blockade, that continues to maintain a high profile in assistance with medical personnel and facilities to the region. Read full article here

August 12th, 09

Take it back!

by Tony Best

CHARLIE SKEETE, a former Barbados Ambassador in Washington, has taken issue with the term "ethnic cleansing" by Sir Shridath Ramphal, a former Commonwealth secretary, in reference to Barbados' new immigration policy.

"Coming from somebody like [Sir] Shridath Ramphal, who has had a prominent Caribbean position, I would have thought that there would have been a lot more care and thought before a statement like that would cross his lips," said Skeete. "He knows better." Read full article

August 16th, 09

NEW YORK NEW YORK Obama move welcome

by Tony Best, August 14th, 09

TO ANY BAJAN either living illegally in the United States or hoping to be joined by a close relative, President Barack Obama's words were like sweet music to the ears.

"I think the American people want fairness. And we can create a system in which you have strong border security and an orderly process for people to come in," was the way Obama put it at a news conference attended by the leaders of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.

"But we're also giving an opportunity for those who are already in the United Sates to be able to achieve a pathway to citizenship so they don't have to live in the shadows," he added. Read full article

August 10, 2009

The West Indies Death Wish

Fragmentation of the once mighty West Indian Cricket Team mirrors the disintegration of the West Indian nation

by Mike James


The Editor of the Prestigious Wisden Cricketers Almanac Scyld Berry, in an article in Wednesday’s UK Daily Telegraph writes:"West Indian cricket seems to have a death wish, to judge by the inability of its administrators and players to pull together. Not even the ultimate humiliation of being beaten at home by Bangladesh has sparked any common sense, purpose or sanity."

In the article, which unsurprisingly headlined the sports pages of regional newspapers such as the Trinidad Express and Guyana’s Stabroek News, Berry said that while he felt that the West Indies might assemble “decent” teams for World Cups and Twenty20 tournaments, their incompetence at Test level “is now a sorry fact.” Read full article here

EDITORIAL - CARICOM's lack of clarity on global crisis

Reprinted from the Jamaica Gleaner

A week ago, Prime Minister Bruce Golding hosted two of his fellow Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders, Trinidad and Tobago's Patrick Manning, and Guyana's Bharrat Jagdeo, to discuss a regional response to the global economic crisis.

Messrs Golding, Manning and Jagdeo may still be polishing up ideas, or have presented to the community a full menu of strategies for jointly tackling the recession. But in so far as the public is aware, the leaders emerged from last Monday's summit without a single proposal. Read full article

August 9th, 2009

Unjust Ramphal bashing on 'ethnic cleansing' talk

by Rickey Singh

TALK OF "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide", used occasionally by reckless or frustrated political elements in our Caribbean Community, belong to the lexicon of a diseased political culture that have had horrible manifestations in what was once Yugoslavia and in a few African states.

In our region, we are accustomed to learning, or worse, experiencing, cases of discrimination based on ethnicity and, to a lesser extent, nationality. However strong the claims of such discrimination, the familiar refrain from officialdom has been "not true". Read full article

Criminal Deportees To Caribbean Tops 50 Thousand Mark In Decade

Deportees being loaded on to a plane for return to the Caribbean (ICE Image)

CaribWorldNews, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. July 17, 2009: Over 50,000 convicted Caribbean-born criminals, who have called the U.S. home for many years, have been shipped back to the Caribbean in the past decade under tough U.S. immigration laws, a CaribWorldNews analysis of new Department of Homeland Security data reveals. Read full article

August 7, 2009

Crucial innings for Windies cricket

Astute diplomat that he is, Sir Shridath Ramphal must know that he is doing more than brokering a deal in the dispute between the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and the West Indies Players Association (WIPA) which has crippled the regional team and left their top-tier players in the wilderness.

Sir Shridath's appointment as mediator seemingly brought to an end the stand-off between WIPA and the WICB which saw the first choice Windies players refusing to play in the Bangladesh series, citing pay and contract issues as their main grievances. Read full article here

August 7th, 09

Dominican Republic to host joint workshop with CARICOM in Sept

Guyanese Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo and President Leonel Fernández of the Dominican Republic on Tuesday agreed on the need to strengthen relations and build confidence between CARICOM and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean country following its request for membership. In that regard, it was proposed that a joint workshop be held on the functioning of CARICOM and that both sides sit together to discuss collaboration in the area of multi-destination tourism, the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported yesterday. Read full article

August 6th, 09

John King and Caribbean Integration

The Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) would like to publicly congratulate veteran Barbadian calypsonian, John King, on placing second in the Calypso Monarch competition with an outstanding composition about the power, beauty and value of our Caribbean integration movement. John has performed the very laudable service of calming and reassuring the Barbadian people, at a time of tension and apprehension about the relatively large number of CARICOM brothers and sisters who have migrated to Barbados in recent years.

Put simply, John King has helped Barbadians to... Read full article

August 4th, 09

CARICOM proposes new measures for debt relief, loan refinancing

Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has announced that it intends to approach multilateral lending agencies with proposals for debt relief

and loan refinancing.

At the same time, the regional body has signalled its intent to press Venezuela to at least delay proposed changes to the PetroCaribe arrangement.

Guyana's President, Bharrat Jagdeo, head of the CARICOM prime ministerial task force charged with devising a recovery plan for the region in light of the turbulent world economic recession, has said Caribbean development may stagnate if the proposals are not taken on-board.

Read Full Article

August 5th,2009

Region must save Haiti- Andaiye

The plight of Haiti has continued for too long and the region will regret not intervening, Red Thread International Coordinator, Andaiye, has said.

She made the remarks during the final session of the Kwame Ture Memorial Lecture Series at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, on Sunday where she spoke before a number of Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) on her experiences with the troubled Caribbean neighbour. Read full article

August 5th, 09

August 4, 2009

Dominican ordered deported from Antigua, Jamaican chooses to leave

By Stabroek staff | July 10, 2009 in Regional News

(Antigua Sun) A 50-year-old Commonwealth of Dominica national who pleaded guilty to remaining in Antigua after the expiration of a permit is to be removed from the state, while a 24-year-old Jamaican has opted to leave voluntarily instead of being deported.

The Dominican, Elias Baron, appeared in the St John’s Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday where it was revealed that... Read full article

Court separates Jamaican woman from children

By Stabroek staff| July 2, 2009 in Regional News

(Antigua Sun) – A Jamaican woman was recently severely reprimanded before being ordered deported when she appeared in the St John’s Magistrates’ Court.

Samantha Tanya Peart pleaded guilty to remaining in Antigua and Barbuda after the expiration of a permit legally issued to her by the Immigration Department. She appeared before Magistrate Joan Fung. Read full article

NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Sir Shridath should take back words

Reprinted from the Nation News

by TONY BEST

"I THINK Sir Shridath Ramphal should consider withdrawing his words."

Sir Courtney Blackman, the first Governor of Barbados' Central Bank and a former ambassador in Washington, was referring to Sir Shridath's use of the term "ethnic cleansing" to describe the effects of Barbados' immigration policy, meaning the deportation of scores of illegal immigrants from the country, especially of Indo-Guyanese descent. Read full article

July 31st, 09

OUR CARIBBEAN: Lamming's inspiring Conversations

Reprinted from the Nation News

by RICKEY SINGH

THIS WEEKEND, when the climax of the Crop-Over Festival coincides with Emancipation Day celebratory activities, and at a period of discussions on issues of race and nationality, I consider it relevant to draw readers' attention to the recently released and latest in a trilogy of publications on Conversations by the iconic novelist and thinker George Lamming.

Perhaps the most quotable of West Indian writers on the political history, culture, race, class and nationality of the English-speaking Caribbean, Lamming was last month honoured by....continue reading

July 31st, 09