Lip Service June 30, 2007
Yesterday, I attended the march on the House of Assembly protesting Government Corruption. The theme to the gathering was honesty, openness, transparency and accountability, which were the word we chanted walking up the hill. Unfortunately, there were only about 60 to 100 people there in total, however that did not stop the spirit of the occasion. Stephanie Smith gave an amazing speech which hit upon exactly what most Bermudians expect of their government, but rarely see.
Ewart Brown finally made an appearance and took the mic to make a speech. In what was instantly a rather boring rehash of extremely trite comments, utilising my all time favorite phrases that I consider to be the last refuge of politicians with nothing else to say…
- “I’m glad to see everyone gathered here today”
- “…by you being here shows that democracy is alive and well”
He proceeded to tell us that it reminded him of when he was involved in rallies, protests and the likes. And that young Bermudians should stand up for what they believed. While his 3 minute speech was full of praise, it carried no real weight as to why people were actually there, but rather provided a rather dismissive lip service to the brave young women to organised this event. One thought occurred to me, in Dr. Brown’s feistier years while taking part in the civil rights movement back when he attended Howard University when the DC riots were on. I would imagine that a younger Dr. Brown would have been ashamed to see himself years later making a speech that essentially said nothing but rather waffled around the issue. I highly doubt he would not have accepted it then and I don’t think we should either.
After a few other politicians made their speeches, several members of Progressive Minds came up to the microphones to say a few things. The atmosphere got real tense when comments like “You need to get your fact straight” or “Do your research” was uttered. The crowd, myself included, started shouting back “That’s why were here! We want answers!” Unbeknownst to most, this brought about the attention of the PLP’s hired gun for spin (Their hired PR Consultant), who was frantically giving the kill motion to the younger PLP members at the podium to get them to stop. Apparently not following scripted protocol takes away your 15 minutes of fame.
Unfortunately I was unable to attend Greg’s steak house due to work commitments, however if any of you want to post the details please do so.
One additional note I would like to make is; Bermudians, you loose the right to complain if you don’t get involved. We need to shirk our apparent apathetic nature and stand for what you believe in; cause if a few 16 and 17 year old girls can do this, why can’ t you?
Update: BravoZulu has shiny pics of the event!
Technorati Tags: Bermuda, government, march, protestYou may also want to read these last 5 posts in My Humble Opinion
- Bad Friday - April 3rd, 2010
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- Ironic Friday - June 29th, 2008
You may also want to read these last 5 posts in News
- Bad Friday - April 3rd, 2010
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- What's marching got to do with it? - March 23rd, 2010
- 3 More Shootings - March 20th, 2010
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- Posted in : News, My Humble Opinion
- Author :Sean
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