Elections are over. The Bahamian people have voted, and the vote was historic. It’s not just that it was the cleanest sweep ever in the history of party politics in our nation. It’s not just that for the first time since 2002 that any governing party has been elected by a simple majority of the […]
Read more "The day after the day after"Under one week and counting. Advance polls opened (late and chaotic) yesterday. And the question is, who’s going to win the election? Now I’ve gone on record saying that I don’t believe that it really matters; that none of the parties and few of the candidates who are contesting seats in this election have demonstrated to my satisfaction […]
Read more "Counting Down to the Ballot"Bahamian democracy is too narrow in scope. 1) We have one vote which must be cast for one of a slate of candidates that most ordinary citizens had no hand in selecting, vetting, or ratifying. 2) Once that vote has been cast, the citizens have no means to recall the “representative”. No matter what the […]
Read more "Seeding the Revolution: Resist the Status Quo"I accept that the twenty-first century is a century of revolution. That our print-based, elites-centred models of representative democracy have run their historical course. That the model of society which gives a small group the exclusive right to rule over a large one, with minimal checks and balances which can be activated by the large group, needs to be re-examined and remodelled. That the tools we now have at our disposal—tools for public education and public participation—have opened the door for more participatory forms of governance, and that we must move with the world in that direction.
And so this election, I do not consent to participate in this old, flawed model. I know it’s a crazy idea. I know it’s illogical. But I don’t believe it’s wrong.
Read more "Spoiling the Ballot: Spreading the Revolution"Educated Foolishness Last Thursday, the Out Da Box movement introduced itself to The Bahamas. Ian Strachan, Alicia Wallace and I began the discussion about spoiling the ballot as an option in the upcoming general election on Guardian Talk Radio, and (to my considerable surprise, but not to the others’) the discussion took off. What madness […]
Read more "Seeding the Revolution: Withdrawing Consent"Elections are coming. They have to be. Constitutionally, they have to be held by the middle of this year. Between now and May, presumably, Bahamian voters will know which constituencies they reside in, who their candidates are, and what choices they will have at the polls this time. In response to this knowledge, the talk […]
Read more "Seeding the Revolution: Spoiling the Vote"Something has changed in the air. Today, I took part in a peaceful march from Arawak Cay to Rawson Square in Nassau. I can’t easily articulate why, though. It was not a protest on my part. It was most certainly not a partisan gesture; I have come to consider Bahamian party politics (the only kind […]
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