TIGblogs - Dennis Dames

Civil Society and Nation-building

For quite a long time now, we have sought to engage in a process aimed at widening the range of public discourse in our land.

Here we have achieved some measure of success.

This has happened in great measure because of the simple fact that we had and continue to have access to some of the human resources that conduce to making this kind of civic endeavor successful.

In addition, we here at JCN have also sought to play some part in recognizing the sterling achievement of some of this nation’s pioneering citizens and residents.

Note also that, we are comforted by the fact that we are not alone in this civic enterprise; here having on our side for quite a while now people like Sir Arthur Foulkes and a coterie of others who might be described as ‘nation-builders’ of the first order.

In this regard, then, we are in total agreement with Sir Arthur when he notes that, “…We must make sure that the country is developed in an orderly fashion and that the best interests of the Bahamian people are the primary focus of development policies.”

We also agree with Sir Arthur when he charges that, “…Too many Bahamians are unable, for one reason or another, to take full advantage, or any advantage at all, of the opportunities created by development. That is a recipe for disaster…”

And by the same token we wholeheartedly agree with him when he indicates that, “Bahamians are a talented people and we have demonstrated throughout our history that we are capable of rising to world class heights in a multitude of disciplines and pursuits…”

But as he notes, capability is one thing, achievement is another.

Here the Governor-General explains that, “But there are some serious flaws in our society which are exacerbated by a dumbing down and excessive permissiveness in Western society. The result is that too many of our young people are ill-equipped and lack the motivation to participate in the development taking place all around them…”

This is the challenge now pregnant in this moment.

And for sure, this urgent challenge in this difficult moment is one that could and should be met by all who profess love and commitment to the Bahamas.

Evidently, this encompasses Government, Business, Labour, The Church – and Civil Society.

That Sir Arthur Foulkes is truly one of this nation’s greatest of sons is a proposition that wears on its back a mantle of truth; and that he is a nation-builder par excellence is beyond reasonable dispute.

It is also quite evident that, he is providing the Bahamian people – even now – with a polished style of leadership that surely resounds and reverberates whenever there is a need for a voice of reason.

In a sense, then, we see him and know him today for what he brings rather than for the long distance run that has been his path from the days he was a lad in Inagua to this time as he serves from the ‘prodigious’ social heights of Mount Fitzwilliam.

Thanks in some great measure to this great Bahamian, Government House is coming closer and even closer to the people of this great little nation.

Here we take as fact revealed that, this land and the communities it sustains is only as rich and as bountiful as its residents and citizens make it; we are today convinced that we are also called to do our bit to help make this place a better one.

We also know that, if we do what we must, we shall be sustained by a Providence that sees all, knows all and that rewards all who diligently search out for Him.

We are also quite aware of the fact that, we who labour in Civil society have a major [if not pivotal] role to play in crystallizing a so-called people’s agenda; one that goes well beyond some of the rancor that usually accompanies, inflects and infects partisan politics.

While our law-makers do have a leading role to play in establishing the rules of the game, we too have our own independent role in that plethora of community efforts aimed at building up the Bahamian Nation.

Like others in the business of nation-building, we have a part to play in this vitally important process and project.

Some of what we are called to do in media involves the creation of projects that recognize achievement and that show-case some of the work done by a broad cross-section of hard-working trail-blazers.

Here we reference men and women – some of them foreigners who are strangers no more to the Bahamas – who through grit, determination and with all their wits about them build the firms, employ the labour – and then and thereafter get the job done.

The fact remains; we have a God to serve and a nation to build.

January 25, 2011

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Caribbean Blog International