Progressive Labour Party policies remain the best way forward to creating and maintaining a “fairer Bermuda” for Black Bermudians versus those of the One Bermuda Alliance, which would seek to “divide and conquer” through deception.
So expressed PLP leader and Bermuda Premier David Burt during Wednesday night’s opening of the Annual Delegates Conference.
The Premier described the Freedom Democratic Movement as merely another surrogate entity — similar to the OBA — which yet seeks to maintain or extend the economic divide between the wealthy and systematically disenfranchised.
He furthered how former Premier John Swan, a one-time head of the United Bermuda Party, had positioned himself as head of a presumed coalition of independent candidates that similarly seek to employ policies that would disadvantage the majority sector, via the raising of taxes, making health care less affordable and widening pathways to status for non-Bermudians.
Entering the arena as conscious lyrics of reggae artist Septimus blared inside St Paul’s Centennial Hall, encouraging a unified progression toward equality for the historically downtrodden, majority sector of Bermudians Premier Burt drove home the point to party supporters and the voting public at large.
Our theme this year is the power of one and it is a reminder to all that each voice, each action has the power to spark the change we need.
“When one person stands up, even in the toughest moment they can move mountains.
We know that it’s easy to feel that your voice doesn’t matter and that by yourself you cannot make a difference.,but history teaches us otherwise.
“Real change does not always start in the halls of Parliament or in boardrooms.
“It begins with an idea. An idea carried forth by people who believe in something bigger than themselves.
“We, the PLP, are the product of such courage, rooted in the belief that fairness, equality and justice are worth fighting for.”
Mr Burt reflected upon the earlier formation, efforts and achievement toward levelling labour, economic and societal playing fields by its forerunner The Progressive Group, noting the job as unfinished and requiring continued, collective efforts toward eradicating institutional, systematic and systemic injustice.
Mr Burt reminded Bermudians of perceived policy faux paus committed by the OBA when granted a single term in office, highlighting the leasing of the L.F. Wade Airport to a Canadian company, which denied tax revenue while costing hundreds of millions in revenue guarantee expenses. Also mentioned was the failed Morgan’s Point luxury residential development fiasco, millions spent hosting the America’s Cup and the ill-fated ‘Pathways to Status’ immigration reform prospectus.
The party leader’s comments echoed preceeding speeches from Minister of Youth, Social Development and Seniors Tinee Furbert and pastor of the host venue Reverend Nicholas Tweed.
“We stand at a moment that is not unlike many other places in the world, where the choices we make in the coming season will have consequences that will ripple into the future and have a lasting impact for good or ill,” said Tweed. “Therefore it is incumbent upon us to make wise choices that will continue to move Bermuda forward so that we can advance the vision of reaching the goal of a just, fair and inclusive Bermuda.
Quoting snippets from Locksley Hall, a dramatic monologue written as a set of 97 rhyming couplets by 19th-century English poet Alfred Tennyson, Tweed fortified the concept of the Black majority being best served via their staying the course prescribed by the PLP’s founding members.
“When the centuries behind me like a fruitful land reposed; When I clung to all the present for the promise that it closed.
When I Dipp into the future far as human eye could see;
Saw the vision of the world and all the wonder that would be.
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