Deutsche Börse prize for photography goes to chronicler of displaced people

Magnum photographer Jim Goldberg has documented refugees and immigrants in across the world since 1983.

Jim Goldberg has won this year's £30,000 Deutsche Börse prize for photography, in a ceremony hosted by the Photographers' Gallery in London.

The Magnum photographer, who has documented the experiences of refugees, immigrants and displaced people from Africa, the Middle East and eastern Europe since 1983 in a project titled Open See, triumphed over a shortlist that included fine art photographer Thomas Demand, whom many insiders considered the favourite. Goldberg, who lives in San Francisco, and won the 2007 Cartier- Bresson Prize for an earlier version of the same project, describes himself as a documentary storyteller.

Open See was shown to great acclaim at the Photographers' Gallery last year. It features polaroids, video stills, found images and hand-written text often using the words of his subjects.

The chair of the jury, Brett Rogers, praised Goldberg's "timely and inventive approach to documentary practice … allowing these individuals to tell their own stories."

See link here.

Regional heads worry about Libyan investments

By KINGSTON
Story Created: Apr 25, 2011 at 11:48 PM ECT
Story Updated: Apr 25, 2011 at 11:48 PM ECT
For the Caribbean governments, particularly those in the sub-regional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), the events unfolding in Libya are more than just an attempt to remove an African leader from power.
For the nine-member OECS grouping who have adopted their own lines of engagement with Libya, much to the concern of some opposition parties, their main concern is—what will become of Libyan investment projects in region?
"Whether we like it or not, we're still very much dependent on oil from the Middle East and most of our economies are driven by that," said Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer of Antigua and Barbuda.
In the midst of the unrest in Libya, leaders in the region have found themselves caught between the proverbial 'rock and a hard place'.
Many of St Vincent and the Grenadines' major development projects in recent years have benefited from Libyan funding. The opposition in St Vincent and the Grenadines has criticised Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves' government for accepting what opposition leader Arnhim Eustace describes as "blood money".

Read full article here.

Beenie warns immigration

BY YVETTE BEST | WED, APRIL 27, 2011 - 12:03 AM
BARBADOS NATION NEWS

DANCEHALL KING BEENIE MAN has a timely word of advice for the local immigration authorities.

He took a moment from his performance before a massive crowd at Brandons Beach, St Michael, for the Reggae Beach Party last Sunday night, to speak to the ongoing issue with his countrymen and local officials.

“Ease up Jamaican. Stop pressure Jamaican,” he said from the stage as he wagged his finger.

Speaking to the DAILY NATION after his explosive performance, Beenie said it was a warning, not a threat.

“Sometime you get fed up ah one ting, yuh know. ’Cause you have been all over de world and den sometime you doan really need to come to Barbados.

The immigration need to tink twice. I ‘ave friends who come over ‘ere and end up in jail fi four days fi no reason,” he stated.

He said he too had been “arrested” by local officers. He said he had issues on his last visit, but everything was cool this time around. Having said that, Beenie Man said the “vibes nice and de people dem enjoy demself and me like that. Thank you Barbados”.

Reports about Jamaicans being ill-treated have recently come into focus in the wake of accusations by Shanique Myrie that she was finger-raped while being held in Barbados last month.

Beenie said he had performed here a total of 15 times since 1992, and kept coming back because of the people.

The live wire on stage said he had been busy touring and was currently working on a new album, titled The King In Control, which is due out this summer.

PM: Cameras coming at all ports

BY MIKE KING | WED, APRIL 27, 2011 - 12:05 AM

SHANIQUE Myrie is free to return to Barbados and point a finger at who she alleges assaulted her at the Grantley Adams International Airport last month.

And according to Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, surveillance cameras will be installed to confirm or contradict any allegation in the future.

This country’s seventh Prime Minister made these disclosures on a nationally televised interview on the state-run Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC TV) last night.

Prime Minister Stuart said the Myrie affair in which the Jamaican woman claimed she was finger-raped at the airport was unfortunate and had inflamed many passions. However, he said he was disappointed that certain elements had tried to inflame the issue because they thought that “here at last was a stick in which Government could be beaten”.

Stuart said he had in his possession a full report by the police on the issue, statements from all of the persons who were involved and gave the country the assurance that his Government was on top of the matter.“

No obstacles will be put in the way of Miss Myrie if she wants to be come back to Barbados and to point out to police who the offending officer, as alleged by her, might be.

“Suffice to say, I am not aware that there has been any formal complaint from the Jamaican police to the police authorities that would activate any prosecutorial processes,” he said.

Stuart said that relations between Barbados and all of its regional neighbours would continue to be normal.

The Prime Minister said there was a view that if any cameras had been in place for the March 14 incident, there might not have been any scope for speculation.

Read full article here.

Jamaica could take Shanique Myrie case to CCJ

Dr Kenneth Baugh, minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, has warned that the CCJ could be asked to rule on the case if the two countries cannot work out their differences.

This would be the first time that the Jamaican Government would be taking a case to the CCJ since it was established in 2001.

Ironically, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), which now forms the government, has been opposed to the CCJ being the country’s final court of appeal, although in recent months there has appeared to be a softening of that position inside the party.

With the Myrie dispute now at the level of government to government and a probe under way in Bridgetown, the Jamaican authorities are demanding that the Barbadian government does all that is necessary to establish the facts.

The dispute stems from claims by Myrie that she was subjected to verbal harassment and a demeaning cavity search on arrival in Bridgetown.

Responding to questions from Opposition Spokesman Anthony Hylton during last week’s meeting of the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament, Baugh declared that Jamaica is not backing down on the Myrie case.

Read full article here.

Myrie case triggers reminders

BY TONY BEST | FRI, APRIL 15, 2011 - 10:00 AM

Names such as Tawana Brawley, Maryam Muhammad, Steven Pagones, Alton Maddox, C. Vernon Mason and Henry Crist are unlikely to ring many bells in Barbados or Jamaica.

But to a criminal investigator in New York City, they mean quite a lot. As a young lawyer in the late 1980s he followed an unfolding drama that involved those names and attracted national and international attention.

Twenty-four years later, he isn’t quite sure who or what to believe, except that he is leaning to accept the findings of a special grand jury that looked into the high-profile case.

Hence, when emotions ran high in Jamaica and Barbados after Shanique Myrie levelled explosive charges that she was “finger-raped” by a female immigration officer at Grantley Adams International Airport and Barbados’ Foreign Minister, Senator Maxine McLean, rejected the charges as being “baseless,” the attorney offered a word of caution to both sides.

“I believe Barbadians and Jamaicans should let investigators do their work, carefully and independently,” said the man who requested anonymity because of the position he holds in the city.

“The Tawana Brawley case offers a poignant reminder about how things can go horribly wrong and how passions can be inflamed when we rush to judgement.”


Read full story here.

Danticat documents truths about Haiti for the world to see

In documenting painful truths about her Haitian homeland, Miami writer Edwidge Danticat demands that the world not turn a blind eye, writes Lydia Martin, who interviewed Danticat for the Miami Herald in the wake of the renewal of U. S. deportations of Haitians.

Music blares on a hectic Friday afternoon at Buena Vista Bistro, Edwidge Danticat’s favorite lunch spot, just a quick stroll from her house on the edge of Little Haiti. Patrons bellow in that wound-up, weekend’s-here way, and stressed-out servers do a valiant job of avoiding eye contact.

You’ve been sitting here 20 minutes, and no one has brought even water. But Danticat, who spent the morning wrestling with a deadline for one more op-ed piece about Haiti and will have to run soon to pick up Mira and Leila, her young daughters, is unperturbed.

“After the earthquake, we went a year without deportations,’’ she says, explaining in her unhurried, even way the topic of the piece she just finished for The New York Times as the low pitch of her voice pulls you in and mutes the clanking and clamoring around you.

“But then the deportations started again. A South Florida man died of cholera when he was sent back. It’s just inhumane. Many of the people who are sent back don’t have criminal records. It’s as if you were deporting people to Japan right now. It’s almost like a death sentence. A study says that 800,000 people could get cholera in Haiti this year once the rainy season starts. I just want to get the word out.”

For Danticat, Haiti has always weighed heavy. At 12, she moved from her homeland to join her parents, who had left her in Port-au-Prince in the care of an aunt and uncle a few years earlier to find jobs in New York that helped support several folks back home.

Read full article here.

USA resumes deportations to Haiti - is this a death sentence for returnees?

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2011 www.Nationnews.com

WASHINGTON – Despite what has been described as a humanitarian crisis, the United States has started the second round of deportations to Haiti.

Immigration officials said that 19 Haitians, who had been convicted of crimes in the US, were sent back to the impoverished, French-speaking Caribbean country.

“US officials confirmed that they have received no assurances that the 19 individuals who were deported will be treated humanely upon their arrival in Haiti,” said the Washington-based Center for Constitutional Rights, a civil rights advocacy group, after a conference call with immigration officials.

Friday’s deportation was the second since the devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti last year that killed an estimated 300,000 people and left more than a million others homeless.

The US had halted deportations in the wake of the massive earthquake, but immigration officials announced in December that would resume deportations in January.

At least 27 Haitians were deported on January 20.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said they plan to send 700 immigrants back to Haiti this year, ignoring the objections of human rights groups, which insist that the move is “equivalent to a death sentence.”

Barbara Gonzalez, an ICE spokeswoman, said those sent back were “criminal aliens,” who were convicted in US courts for various violations of the law. She said all have already served sentences in American prisons.

The Center for Constitutional Rights and a number of immigration advocacy groups have condemned the latest round of deportations, calling on the Obama Administration to immediately “halt all removals to Haiti and the release of all Haitians being held with final orders of removal.

“The United States has an obligation not to deport anyone to death,” said the groups, which comprise the University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Clinic and Immigration Clinic, FANM/Haitian Women of Miami, Alternative Chance, and Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center.

“Our country must live up to its human rights commitments and immediately halt any and all deportations to Haiti,” they added. (CMC)

OUR CARIBBEAN: Health care in Caricom

BY RICKEY SINGH | FRI, APRIL 15, 2011 - 12:00 AM

When Caribbean Community Health Ministers assemble in Guyana today for a two-day meeting, they will have the opportunity to face an issue of deepening concern to the region’s people.

It has to do with a recognised need for a region-wide common approach for non-nationals with legal status to access prescribed drugs and health care benefits – without discrimination.

This problem has been made all the more urgent for objective consideration as a result of cries against discriminatory practices being experienced by non-nationals, with Barbados referenced as a current example for its exclusion of CARICOM nationals from access to even free drugs they once received – unless they have citizenship or “permanent residence” status.

This weekend’s 21st meeting of CARICOM’s Council for Human and Social Development (COSHOD), will have a special focus on “pressing issues related to the region’s health sector development and sustainability”, according to the Community Secretariat, with the battle against chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) being a major topic for consideration.

Current chairman of COSHOD, Guyana’s Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who will chair the meeting, has said it would be difficult to “mobilise much needed active cooperation of nationals of CARICOM in the fight against NCDs – which remains a major and costly headache for our Community, if we do not strive together to achieve a common policy for our nationals to access free medical benefits, wherever possible and without feeling they are being discriminated against as a consequence of either official policy or practices . . . .”

His idea would meet with the approval of St Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister Dr Denzil Douglas, who has lead responsibility in CARICOM for health and human resources development Douglas wants to see the Community “prioritise an enlightened common approach in the provision of health care for all nationals of our Community . . . .”

Read full article here.

Visas for Jamaicans, Guyanese in effect, but confusion abound

PHILIPSBURG--Nationals of Jamaica and Guyana now require a visa to visit St. Maarten. The requirement went into immediate effect on Monday, April 11 leaving travellers already booked to visit the country in the coming days in limbo because no easing in period was given.
Justice Minister Roland Duncan confirmed that visas were now needed, in a press release issued after The Daily Herald contacted his office asking for clarity because the Dutch Consulate in St. Kitts and Nevis had sent out a fax on Monday morning to travel agents in countries under its scope, but nothing had been issued locally by government.
Government had taken the decision to put a visa requirement in place for nationals of the two countries in a bid to curb the influx of undocumented persons and crime. That decision of the Council of Ministers was sent on to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
While the press release from Duncan and the fax from the Dutch Consulate in St. Kitts and Nevis that was obtained by this newspaper states that the visa requirement was in immediate effective, travellers in Guyana who contacted Dutch authorities there were told that an official enforcement date still had to be set. This meant that travellers already booked can still travel without a visa until the yet-to-be decided enforcement date.
The Dutch Consul in Guyana directed callers to a contact person at John Fernandes Limited who explained that forms for visa application could be obtained at the office when requirement was enforced.
Attempts to get further clarification on the state of affairs from the Justice Ministry proved futile. Personnel at the ministry were not even aware that the visa requirement had come into effect on Monday and were provided with a copy of the fax obtained by this newspaper.

Read full article here.

Is Myrie a Caribbean version of Rosa Parks?

BY TENNYSON JOSEPH | TUE, APRIL 12, 2011 - 12:01 AM

While social scientists tend to place heavy emphasis on large structural and economic explanations for occurrences of historical significance, the reality is often that the catalysts for these developments are often unassuming, ordinary individuals who refuse to stand at the back of the bus.

In the case of Rosa Parks, it was not a radical historical consciousness, but her overworked tired feet which compelled her to break the racist Jim Crow laws which were in operation in the southern United States at the time.

In our own time, we have seen how Mohammed Bouazizi, the Tunisian man who set himself ablaze, simultaneously set alight a wave of anti-authoritarian protests and revolutions throughout the Middle East and North Africa, far beyond what he was thinking when he made a human torch of himself. (What really was he thinking anyway?)

Marx describes this dynamic between individual action and structural change best, with his famous reminder that “whilst men make history, they do not make it in conditions of their own choosing”.

These historical realities therefore compel pro-integrationist Caribbean people to find a silver lining in Shanique Myrie’s refusal to remain silent in the face of what she regarded as unjust violations of her personal space, whilst seeking to move across her Caribbean.

Read full article here.

Barbados again! - Another J'can woman says she was mistreated Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Barbados-again--Another-Jcan-woman-says-

YET another Jamaican woman has come forward with accusations of mistreatment by the authorities at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Although Donna Benjamin-McLean's alleged case of abuse occurred in September 2004, she has decided to come public in solidarity with Shanique Myrie — a Jamaican woman who has bitterly complained of being strip searched, finger-raped, verbally abused and locked up before being shipped out of Barbados without a reasonable explanation.

In an interview with the Observer on Saturday, Benjamin-McLean expressed her displeasure with reported denials by Barbadian authorities that Myrie's account was lacking in veracity and that she was a victim of human trafficking.
"I want Barbados to know that it is happening. They are behaving as if it never happened, as if it is a lie. I don't believe I will ever revisit Barbados, because I fear them," Benjamin-McLean said.
Benjamin-McLean said she was plucked from the immigration line upon her arrival in the eastern Caribbean island and subjected to demeaning treatment after she was accused of smuggling drugs.
"They had my luggage on the counter all opened, they searched and found nothing. Then two women took me into a room and said I should strip. I took my clothes off, leaving my panties and they said 'take the panty off'. So I said, 'I can't because I am seeing my menstruation' and they said 'drop off the pad'â so I dropped it off," a distraught Benjamin-McLean said.
She also said that the Barbadian authorities put her through even further humiliation.


Read more here.

Jailed and raped in Barbados

Jailed and raped in Barbados
Horrific allegations of another J'can woman
BY KARYL WALKER
Sunday, April 10, 2011


THE 27-year-old Jamaican woman who has accused officers of the Royal Barbados Police Force of rape and sexual assault has given a graphic and horrific account of the treatment she said was meted out to her after she was jailed in that country two months ago for drug smuggling.
The Sunday Observer obtained a copy of her signed statement, in which the woman, whose name we have been asked not to reveal, described the men she accused of the crime.

According to the woman, who lives in Spanish Town, she arrived at the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados on a Caribbean Airlines flight from Jamaica on Saturday, February 26. She cleared immigration, but was stopped by customs officials who searched her bag and found approximately two kilos of ganja hidden in a secret compartment.
She was strip-searched and taken to the Oistins Police Station where officers took a statement from her, but denied her the opportunity to make a phone call. They also denied her the opportunity to seek legal counsel, she said, and mocked her by saying that no lawyer would take her case because she had no money.
Later that night, she was transferred to the Central Police Station in Bridgetown, where she again gave a statement. She was then placed in a cell where, over the course of the next day, she alleged, she was raped, sexually assaulted and verbally abused by police officers.
According to the woman, after being locked in the cell, she heard a man call her name. The man, who she said was dressed in a plaid shirt and a pair of jeans, questioned her about her life in Jamaica, verbally taunted her, forced her to take a tablet he gave to her after which he demanded sex.
“When I took the tablet I felt like I was floating. I felt reckless and tired, but I was conscious of what was going on around me,” she said.
“He asked me if I didn’t want to have sex and I said ‘Sex? Sex a di least a my problems right now. Sex a di last thing pon my mind’. He said I had to have some sex with him before I go to Dodds (prison), so I started to cry,” she said.


Read more here.

Bajans Living Overseas sent home an estimated $322 Million last year

Check out PP 2/3 of the Barbados Today April 2nd edition to learn more about Bajans emigration.


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