 Welcome to what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean code pinks weekly YouTube program of hot news out of the region in partnership with friends of Latin America, Massachusetts peace action and task force on the Americas. We broadcast every Wednesday at 430 p.m. Pacific, 730 p.m. Eastern on code pink YouTube live. Today's episode is the end of the rain Barbados becomes a republic in an overnight ceremony in the capital Bridgetown. Dame Sandra Mason was sworn in as president. The new era for Barbados ends Britain's centuries of influence, including more than 200 years when the island was a hub for the transatlantic trick slave trade. Dame Sandra Mason 72, the island's governor general since 2018 was named as president elect of the nation following a vote in parliament last month. She now replaces the Queen of England as the head of state Barbados announced its plan to become a slave colony last year, but will remain within the Commonwealth. It was one of England's first slave colonies, English English settlers first occupied the island in 1627 and under British control, it became a sugar plantation economy using enslaved people brought in from Africa. The population of Barbados in 1834 and the country became fully independent in 1966 with a population of about 285,000 people Barbados is one of the more populous and prosperous Caribbean islands. Joining us today to celebrate the newly created Republic of Barbados is David Denny. He is the general secretary of the Caribbean movement for peace and integration. He is the president of the Cuban Barbadian Friendship Association and general secretary of Friends of Venezuela Solidarity Committee Barbados. Welcome David. I'm so pleased you had time to talk with us today. I'm happy to be here with you. It's so great. I have to let our audience know that David and I are activism has has intersected several times in Caracas. So, I can attest you we truly does do Venezuela Solidarity work and we're so happy you had time today it's a big what your work is so great your activism is so strong and your work is so great we're just we're so thankful to have you with us today. So you're talking to us from Barbados this morning. Yeah, I'm talking to you from Barbados in my home. So, tell us what, why don't we just start with what the activity is like on the ground the entire island must be celebrating since early this morning I'm sure the celebration started from yesterday that people of Barbados are very happy to know that we were able to remove the queen of head of state of Barbados. And we are a nation now with full independence. We are Republic. And we are very happy to be able to move forward as a nation where we are cutting ourselves away from the Royal family, because you notice family play the major role in slavery. And benefited and benefited a lot from slavery. So we have, you know, we have taken a position to cut ourselves away from that monarchy. Even though we remain as part of the Commonwealth which I think is important for us, because it's a very good intergovernmental agency, but we are nation by ourselves today, and the people of Barbados. They had a very big celebration last night and, and today we have more celebration, you know, so the people of Barbados are going to spend the entire week celebrating its new Republic. So, you know, here I am in Tegucigalpa Honduras talking to you and Barbados and of course we had witnessed a significant win for the people of Honduras on Sunday. So it's really wonderful to see now two days later, Barbados become a full Republic there's a lot happening in Latin America and the Caribbean. And that's very exciting and liberating for people what. How do you see the new Republic of Barbados influencing and affecting economic and foreign policy throughout throughout the hemisphere of the Americas, specifically the Caribbean, the Caribbean, but, but it will definitely influence the hemisphere as well I suspect. I think what would happen from here would be that some of our Caribbean English speaking countries in the region will now move towards becoming a Republic and we expect countries by solution to make it to become Republic soon. And really, I think that it will help us in a major way, because Barbados need to now look at self self trading and business relationship, rather than concentrating only on North America and Britain, I think we need to concentrate now on so self trading. And I think that countries have just set up a number of embassies in Africa, which I think is good. And with a less progressive movement, developing in Latin America. I think this will also help to create the conditions for us to be able to defend our region, and for us to be able to work together economically and politically, because there's, there's a lot that Barbados, as a small nation, can develop this in the Latin America region. And we have never really, we have never really, you know, look at Latin America as an important economic zone, because we were tied to Britain, and to the Queen. And economically we spent our energy concentrating on Britain for our own economic development. I think Latin America have hundreds of millions of African descendants. And we need to zero in, okay. And we need to zero in those areas, because Barbados is just 100 and 250,000 people. And therefore, there's hundreds of millions of people, you know, of African descent that's living in, in Latin America, we don't have any relationship or any form of contact with them. I think if we can develop that, we can create the conditions for us to develop a stronger relationship in terms of trade with Latin America and the Caribbean region. That's really, that's really exciting and so important for the, the history of the region, particularly the last 500 years. I wonder, let's spend a little bit of time talking about you mentioned economic zone and south to south trade. It's a really big theme, and you and I have done Venezuela solidarity work for many, many years and so we can share with our audience that this south to south trade is a vision of Hugo Chavez, when he was alive and president of Venezuela. Let's talk a little bit about that particularly in relationship to what came out of the select summit in September in Mexico City because a big theme of select this year was, and of course this was the reconvening of select after a four year pause. A big theme that came up in select was the creation of an economic block. Economic block in the hemisphere, particularly the southern part of the hemisphere. And so let's talk a little bit about what, what that could possibly look like for Barbados and many other countries in the hemisphere as well. I think it will help us to develop, you know what I mentioned earlier in terms of south south trading, but we have a lot of experience coming out of the project that Chavez launched between the Caribbean and Venezuela the whole tech to Caribbean agreement. And that agreement created the conditions for many Eastern Caribbean countries to get fuel after reduced cost one, and also get financial assistance or social development projects within the Eastern Caribbean because under the Petra Caribbean agreement. The contributing countries also benefited from a fund. So, you know, those countries that would have paid for the fuel, that money created a fund that was coordinated and organized by President Chavez in Venezuela. And then countries then were able to draw them from that fund for social development for sports and cultural development within our hemisphere. So we have, we have, we have a history in terms of working together. And I think this new idea can be developed in a broader platform in the Americans. You know, and, and I think that that platform would be able to give progressive governments in the region an opportunity to work together so that we can save our region from this main crisis. Because the COVID-19 situation is creating in our region serious economic problems among the poor and working class people. So we can develop an alternative if we work together within our region. And if we use our resources for our people, I am certain that we can get out of this crisis situation. I think that we need that kind of developmental program and project, you know, that is coming from CELAC. We need that kind of developmental program for our people so that we can save them from this crisis situation that is developing in our region. You know, this is one of the things, this is a theme that continually comes up through through many episodes of our weekly program is this, and you're touching on it this clash throughout the world but we're specifically can really see it here in the middle of the Americas this clash between those systems those government and economic systems that are pushing the neoliberal project the complete privatization of society and the economy, and then those governments and economic systems that are putting people over profits or there is public investment in infrastructure and schools health care and public institutions this is clash and we're really seeing it play out. I would argue that perhaps it's been toppled slightly here in Honduras on Sunday and now of course with the Barbados today a real opportunity to to further strengthen relationships with other progressive governments in the hemisphere and throughout the global south, but that clash is really, really becoming very, very evident and stronger and stronger every day. And, and it's really wonderful to to see a new republic form today it's quite it's quite exciting and the message that it's sending you know throughout the hemisphere. Let's talk about you brought up, you know, the response to coven 19 and, and I agree with you the hemisphere as a whole has not had an opportunity to really strongly and appropriately respond. And of course there was a real opportunity for the United States to lead in the response to coven and completely failed not not just in the hemisphere but it but among my own people in the States as well. Let's talk about what a post coven Caribbean and Latin America could look like. Looking from looking at our position in Barbados very little. I will say to you that workers are being attacked. And the private sector is using coven 19 conditions to exploit working class people to reduce costs for labor because a lot of workers are losing their jobs and the economic situation among working class people you know I becoming very, very, very difficult for working class people to survive during this period. And I know that many of the other Caribbean countries are going to face similar problems like what we are going to hear in Barbados so that the trade union movement and civil society must come together so as to defend working class people against these brutal forces that are exploiting our people. We have many problems also in relation to education because our educational system is now being done through using social media platforms so we have a return back to school for the entire year of 2001. So you know that many poor working class people that do not have the social media platforms or equipment or electricity are going to serious problems because those children are not attending school on the social media network so that's a very serious problem for poor working class people in Barbados and many other Caribbean countries that are going through this crisis or period. So you know that it's creating two definitive classes of people that are uneducated and unemployable out of very modest salary and I will share with you I was in Nicaragua earlier this month to observe the presidential elections and I was in Nicaragua and I was in a sanctions-themed delegation and one of the things that was it's controversial outside of Nicaragua but inside Nicaragua it's been hugely successful and it directly ties with your comment about lack of education. The government in Nicaragua kept the public schools open so that they would not fall behind for very similar reasons as we're discussing now is that you're creating a permanent underclass by doing that and that's what I'm talking about is that the government was insistent that those children who only had access to public education now is that you're creating a permanent underclass by denying people the right to education access to it in whatever form it takes yeah that's really that's it's really crucial and if not everybody has electricity and laptops and access to the internet but you can still keep the public schools open in some fashion you can help alleviate that social economic divide we're seeing that in the United States too that divide between people who have access to the online education and those who don't it's creating a permanent underclass I would argue or attempting to create a permanent underclass that's maybe a better way to phrase it what has been the how do I say this without sounding what has been the effect of COVID-19 in Barbados has it been has it been a pretty dramatic health scare or what has the management been of the pandemic there well we have serious problems with the COVID-19 situation to the extent that all of our centers are full and you're asking people to stay at home at the present moment so we have serious problems the Cuban government they have sent a delegation of nurses and doctors to Barbados and they are really helping us a lot they're helping the world because without those Cuban doctors I don't know how we would have been able to handle this situation but there's serious problems in Barbados because Barbados is also a country with tourism as it stands in the street so rather than be concentrated on dealing with this issue internally in a big way we have opened up the country to tourists from all over the place and because of that our numbers continue to go up rather than to come down so that I don't know what's going to happen in general we are hoping that we will be able to reopen the schools in general but if the numbers keep going up we will be able to have serious problems in terms of opening up the schools during the month of January next year so COVID is a very serious it's a very serious problem for Barbadian people and for Caribbean people but before we go on to another area before we forget Congratulate the new government of Honduras Congratulate the Sandalistas in Nicaragua Congratulate the government of Bolivia and also the government of Venezuela we would like to congratulate them on 90% of the votes in the Venezuelan elections it's really thank you for that it's been quite a year in the Americas regarding elections and the results of the progressive governments and movements throughout the hemisphere and particularly this month we've talked about this on this program we've had elections in presidential elections in Nicaragua presidential elections in the first round in Chile regional elections in Venezuela presidential this past Sunday in Honduras and now the creation of the Republic of Barbados can you tell our audience a little bit about the technical creation of the Republic when this whole project started or the idea of leaving the monarchy fully leaving the monarchy and becoming a republic what was the path of the project? In the 1990s we had a constitutional commission which was referred to as the force commission and that commission led the process to become a republic in the 1990s they also recommended a number of constitutional changes the people of Barbados voted in 1999 for a republic but I think the government was afraid to take the big step and create a condition for Barbados to become a republic in the 1990s then we went through the period of 2000 and some prime ministers made statements about advancing the cause for Barbados to become a republic in June 2020 we in Barbados joined with the world to protest against the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement took off in Barbados so on the 6th of June we held our first demonstration outside of the U.S. Embassy and the people called for the removal of Lauren Elson from our national hero's grave Lauren Elson was a very strong supporter of slavery and the people called for the removal of Lauren Elson the people also organized a march on the 13th of June and on the 13th of June we made the call for the removal of Lauren Elson for the name of the royal Barbados police force to be changed to the Barbados police force and for Barbados to become a republic by the 16th of November 2020 the government of Barbados removed Lauren Elson from our national hero's grave so that was our first achievement the 26th of July this year the government issued a statement that Barbados will become a republic on the 13th of November and then during that period the government of Barbados made a statement that the royal Barbados police force name will be changed to the Barbados police force so it's a long drawn out process but I take the Black Lives Matter movement in Barbados help to push the struggle for Barbados to become a republic for Lauren Elson being removed from our national hero's grave and for us to change the name of the royal Barbados police force so I think that Black Lives Matter movement struggle was very very important for the Barbadian people and it helped to create the conditions and it gave the Prime Minister and her government the will power to make that first step in terms of building our republic but I see this as the first step you still have some other steps that we have to look at the first step was to work on the ceremonial changes in terms of removing the queen of head of state of Barbados and putting a woman as the head of state of Barbados our second step must be to build a people's democratic republic a republic that will have serious constitutional changes that will benefit the people of Barbados a republic that will institute the constituency assemblies that will create a higher level of peoples Barbation in our decision making process a republic that would allow the people of Barbados to vote for the president because our first step is the parliamentary republic where parliament vote and make a decision in terms of who must be the president of Barbados so our movement the Caribbean move a peace and integration saying we have to go to the second republic and that would be to empower the people to give the people the right to vote for our president and also to create some economic changes in Barbados for instance we need to develop democratic changes with state corporations private and public corporations every worker who work for more than 10 years should benefit from some kind of share in the cooperation so that he or she can benefit from the surplus value that each organization is making in Barbados and some of that finances should be contributed to the social development of Barbados to education culture sports okay and to help the masses in terms of developmental programs that would benefit communities in Barbados so we have a lot of work to do in terms of building our republic but it's also positive and exciting I mean it's very inspiring listening to you I'm very happy that they that this government was able to make the bull step forward because we have been waiting for this for a very long time since 1999 several decades the climate is different in the Americas now right I mean the political and economic climate is really shifting quickly throughout the Americas and that window is there for you and many other countries right now can you tell us what the third step is well that's the second step that I mentioned the third step which I think will be also part of our struggle in the future to build a socialist state then you will have a socialist republic so the first republic is the parliamentary republic second republic you know the people's development or people's democratic republic and the final state will be socialism and that's our struggle and we have to do it in stages so one day we will reach there and because what is happening in Latin America and the Caribbean region in terms of socialist development we will have some level of influence on our people in Barbados and the wider English speaking Caribbean and I know that one day we will be able to build that kind of socialism in our region I'm so it's so inspiring to listen to listen to you today and to celebrate the formation of the Republic of Barbados it's just really it's one more example of possibility of what we as people can make happen and I'm so thankful you had time for us today and we just want to send our congratulations to you and all of your countrymen and we just look to you now as leaders and such a wonderful example for the rest of us can you tell our audience where they can follow you on social media so that we can watch as this project continues to develop on my Facebook page I will normally put up a lot of information there they can follow me on on Twitter I am also David Denny they can follow me on Instagram and you know I'm always there and they can also send me emails for information at David.Denny 66 at Hotmail.com and all locates David.Denny 66 at Hotmail.com send me information there or ask me questions or you know contribute to what we are building in our region because the Caribbean movement for peace of integration is a very strong relationship with a regional solidarity group that shows solidarity with Cuba and Venezuela and we are working together and we are would be happy to even work together with aggressive forces in Honduras and Nicaragua and Bolivia and throughout the whole of Latin America and we are looking forward for victory in Brazil with Lula I think good things are on the horizon for us and we need to work together to build a strong anti-imperialist movement that will help you to get through the struggle of the growing Latin America and the Caribbean and I know we will be in this course. It's coming because of people like you David so thank you so much for your time today and thank you for your audience We will, we will, because we're going to want you to come back and keep us updated. Right, right, right. Okay, so we're building our republic and I'm very happy, you know? Yes, for sure. I'm happy today. You know, today's, today's our Independence Day and we celebrate it. Your full Independence Day. Full Independence. Yeah. Full Independence. We're no longer, you know, obligated to the queen, that we are no longer run by the queen, because a lot of people don't understand it. Barbarians with the queen of head of state, when our parliament passed resolutions, okay, those resolutions had to be supported by the queen or not, they cannot happen. Now, we have a barbarian who is our head of state, and that means a lot to the people of Independence. You know, our loyalty is no longer to the queen, our loyalty is to the people of Barbados. I long live the republic movement in Barbados. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. We'll, we'll like, thank you for taking a break in your celebrations today to talk with us. This is part of the celebration. Yeah. Because I know that many people in Latin America will be able to, you know, to see your program and to hear your program. And I hope you will send me a link, a copy of the link. No, we definitely will. And share it with other friends in Barbados. We most certainly will. And for our audience, I just want to let all of you know that I will put in the comment section, all of David's contact information, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and his email, so that all of you can follow him and his work and the evolution of the Republic of Barbados. Also, I should remind all of you watching and listening that you've been listening to code what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean, Code Pink's weekly YouTube program of Hot News Out of the Region. We broadcast every Wednesday, 7.30 p.m. Eastern on Code Pink YouTube Live. And also be sure to catch Code Pink Radio every Thursday morning, 11 a.m. Eastern, simulcasting on WBAI out of New York City and WPFW out of Washington D.C. Both what the F is going on in Latin America and the Caribbean and Code Pink Radio both can be found on Apple, Podcast, and Spotify. So we've got a nice breach at this point. So thank you, David. I look forward to yes, you want to. You can also add my telephone number. Oh, okay. You sure you want. And okay. We have that. What's up everything, you know. Okay. I'll be sure to add that as well. All right. Thank you so much.