When good people do nothing, evil prevails. So does injustice, victimisation, repression and persecution.
However, several events in recent weeks have shown that “people power” does work. They have killed the myth that politicians call all the shots, and given the public new hope in their fight for their rights.
Apart from the high-profile free speech debate, when a work permit was used as a political weapon during a long face-off between The Tribune and the government, two other stories have highlighted the power of dogged resistance and a determination to be heard.
One followed the astonishing admission by Immigration Minister Shane Gibson that the actress Anna Nicole Smith would – had he been able to swing it – have been granted what amounted to “same day service with a smile” when she applied for permanent residency. Another was the heartening tale of a Nassau couple, Greg and Tanya Cash, whose admirable four-year fight for justice has finally earned them their day in court.
The gaping contrast between the fawning deference afforded Ms Smith by Mr Gibson and the callous
ﾠ- arrogance and indifference shown to Bahamians and foreigner’s in their applications for work permits, residency and citizenship was more than some people could take.
Within hours of The Tribune hitting the streets, furious Bahamians were inspired to act by the success of the Freeport company Unexso in reversing permit refusals for a top dive instructor and three other key staff, and the restoration of permits for two loss adjusters employed by Grand Bahama attorney Fred Smith. In both cases, publicity had provoked ministerial action and produced swift reversals of bad decisions.
As INSIGHT said last week: “Suffering in silence rarely secures the right result. Injustices need to be flashed up in neon lights and emblazoned across the front of newspapers.”
Since that statement appeared, aggrieved parties have begun to emerge, some with heartrending tales of their unsuccessful bids for status in a land to which they feel committed, but which in return appears to show them little regard.
Most poignant of all, perhaps, is that of 20-year-old Maryse Cassy, who was born in the Bahamas to foreign parents and is now trying to make her way in the world without a properly established sense of identity.
Ms Cassy’s family has been in the Bahamas for 25 years. She was educated here and graduated from high school with honours. Her application for citizenship has, she says, been before the government for two years.
“There are many like myself who dream of receiving Bahamian citizenship, to attend college, to be qualified and contributing citizens of the Bahamas,” she says in an e-mail to INSIGHT.
But she asks: “How can I do that when the government of my country withholds and denies young people like myself the assets that can help me to help my country to be a better Bahamian land for now, tomorrow and the future to come?”
For Ms Cassy, official status is far more than an expedient for escaping the frenetic hustle of Hollywood, as was the case with Anna Nicole Smith. It is all about what she is and where she stands in the world.
People need a national identity to enjoy a sense of self, to define their place in the scheme of things. Without that status, they feel rootless, detached and ultimately diminished.
Whereas residency in the Bahamas for Anna Nicole Smith means nothing more than creating a convenient bolthole from the paparazzi, citizenship for Ms Cassy is essential to establish her sense of belonging. To be stateless is to feel unwanted an adrift in a world which increasingly wants to know who you are, where your allegiances lie, and from whence you came.
Another message was sent to INSIGHT by a British woman who has been married to a Bahamian for seven years. After five years, Mrs Helen Sweeting’s spousal permit ran out and she has since had to apply three times for a “general permit” at $650 a time pending consideration of her residency application.
Each time she receives a permit, Mrs Sweeting inquires about the state of play on her residency status. Repeatedly, she has been told it is being “processed”. At one point, she was told it was “on the minister’s desk” but, years later, she is still waiting for a result.
Mrs Sweeting, who has a sevenyear-old daughter, lives in a state of anxiety because of the uncertainty of her position. She is particularly concerned in case “something happens to my husband” because then she would be unsure of her own status and that of her child.
Given the emotional implications of such an unsatisactory situation, it is hard for her, and people like her, to understand Mr Gibson’s assurance that, had he been able, he would have granted Anna Nicole Smith residency status in 24 hours.
For Ms Smith, the Bahamas is presumably nothing more than a haven in which she can gain respite from her chaotic lifestyle. It’s unlikely to be her permanent home, and once the funeral of her son Daniel is over, it, is expected that she will fly out. For Mrs Sweeting, the Bahamas is her long-term home, her husband’s country, her daughter’s birthplace and, in her own eyes, her permanent domicile.
The heartless treatment of Mrs ﾠSweeting and others like her is unacceptable, especially when “celebrities” of dubious worth to the Bahamas have their every whim fast tracked by starstruck and impressionable politicians.
So outraged was one Bahamian man by INSIGHT’s revelations last week that he decided to confront the government immediately. His foreign wife had been waiting for citizenship. for five years, even though she has been in the Bahamas for 36 years, has a Bahamian family and is an active partner in a Bahamian business.
Moreover, their business is an unusual tourist draw for which there is high demand. They are just the kind of people the government ought to be encouraging. Instead, they have faced years of dismissive indifference, something akin to contempt, which is insulting not only to the applicant herself, but also her husband, who finds his inability to acquire status for his wife exasperating and humiliating.
So what lies behind Shane Gibson’s provocative double standards, the glaring contrast between the government’s eagerness to please Anna Nicole and the unashamed failure to address the genuine concerns of many hard-working Bahamians and their families?
Mr Gibson has so far remained bewilderingly silent on the prospects of success for work permit, residency and citizenship applicants. They are still it seems, subject to the and wiles of politicians, many of whom have strong anti-foreign inclinations.
In fact, his assurance that Anna Nicole would have been given sameday service had he had his way was the closest he has come to a policy statement on what is becoming an increasingly emotive issue. He has yet to say what he considers an appropriate time-scale for processing the applications of those outside the celebrity circuit.
On all available evidence, it’s not hard to analyse the motivations of the political class in this matter of status. With their automatic honorary membership of exclusive clubs, their generous concessions at highend resorts, their easy access to gratis gourmet food galore, and their close proximity to the stars at various social occasions, Cabinet ministers soon develop a liking for the high-life and the preferment and privileges that go with it.
In fact, some become so besotted by the trappings of celebrity that they imagine themselves to be celebrities. Thus, they quickly become “friends” with people whose world is so vacuous, so insubstantial, so utterly meaningless that friendship in its true form barely exists.
However, Mr Gibson was anxious to tell the world that his “friend” Anna Nicole was not only welcome in the Bahamas, but entitled to the kind of treatment so-called “ordinary” Bahamians and foreigners can only dream about.
It was a classic articulation of what we all know to be the truth: that politicians are quick to adopt airs when they attain power, and that the populace at large becomes a very low priority in their thinking until election time looms again.
If Mr Gibson loses his seat and Cabinet post at the next election, and reverts to being a humble union official, he will see soon enough how ephemeral such “friendships” are. When he is of no further use to Anna Nicole, it’s interesting to speculate how long he will remain on her Christmas card list. Union bosses don’t rank very highly among the gloss and glitter crowd.
For four years, the PLP government has shown an almost vulgar taste for the trimmings and baubles of high office without actually being able to deliver the goods where it counts. They are long on talk, but short to the point of invisibility when it comes to getting things done.
At the moment, scores of businesses are hurting because of Immigration’s all-round slackness in processing work permit applications. Bahamian families are living in states of perpetual anxiety because of the governmetn’s contemptuous “manana” attitude to residency and citizenship applications.
However, after more than 50 months of virtual non-achievement the government has a chance to leave behind a worthwhile legacy by doing what needs to be done, and ought to be done, on the residency and citizenship front. And to keep businesses moving smoothly and efficiently by allowing them to make use of the outside help they need with minimal delay and interference.
To hang young stateless people out to dry, to fail to grant status to spouses who have shown commitment to this country over many years, and to withhold the work permits of law-abiding citizens who are making a solid contribution to the economy is indefensible and no longer tolerable.
There was a point when Shane Gibson was thought to be making political capital from his aggressive approach to immigration. Now he needs to rethink his strategy because opinion is turning against him. Since his Anna Nicole Smith gaffe, he is going to face an uphill task in simply retaining his credibility.
Bowing and scraping to celebrities while effectively telling the Bahamian people and foreign investors to take a hike is not the way to win friends and influence people, especially in a society where voters are beginning to see politicians more and more for what they really are.
By: John Marquis, The Tribune
What do you think? Fax 3282398 or e-mail jmarquis@tribunemedia.net
INSIGHT thanks all those who responded to last week’s call for examples of Injustice in applying for work permits, residency and citizenship. Others who feel aggrieved can contact us at the above fax and e-mail addresses.
