Thanks for the help

January 5, 2005

Dear Sir,

Please allow me space in your column, to thank two gentlemen who so kindly assisted me on November 8, when I was hit by a bike on the crosswalk by White Sands Road, in Paget. One of them called 911. They carried me to the sidewalk and also phone my husband, I was and am very grateful, thank you, again.

Principle of blackness

January 14, 2005

Dear Sir,

I am curious about ASHAY. Having something called the ?Seven principles of blackness? doesn?t sound like history but more like culture. It sound like it is about what it means to be black. I can understand Mr. Howes? query on this.

If I started a programme on the ?Seven principles of whiteness? I would be called a racist, even before you came and heard what it was about. We teach European history, but do we teach European culture? Do we teach what is means to be white? I believe in teaching about all of the people in this world. We should not stop with only black and white.

The important thing to remember is to give equal time and effort on each area of this world and not make one culture seem better than another.

Defending wages

January 12, 2004

Dear Sir,

I hope you will be kind enough to allow a reply to Mr. Stewart?s letter on the overtime legislation entitled ?Fruitcake Legislation?. Unlike Mr. Stewart I am not schooled in law and economics, so please forgive me if I am unable to condense my ideas in such technical jargon as ?fruitcake?. As a worker, I am self-educated in these questions by experience, observation, and reflection, and so am restricted to layman terms.

Mr. Stewart asserts that ?wages are simply what employers pay employees in their capacity as agents of the buying public?, and that ?customers that determine that accountants get paid more than short order cooks?. Incredibly, he even seems to argue that businesses are benevolent charities that exist solely for ?meeting the wishes of the public?.

Wages are the price, the exchange value, by which the capitalist purchases the only commodity the worker possesses, his or her labour power. The price of this commodity is determined, as are all commodities, by the quantity of labour required to product it. A certain quantity of necessaries must be consumed by a worker to become a worker, and to maintain his or her life. These necessaries may be both physical and ?spiritual? in nature. For example, a certain amount of foodstuffs, medical care, shelter, etc. are required to produce and maintain the worker?s physical existence. Similarly, ?spiritual? commodities such as education and recreation are required to produce a worker?s skill level and general mental well-being. In addition to the quantities required to produce and maintain the individual worker, one must also consume enough to reproduce the working class in general ? that is, to have children that are to replace him or her on the labour market and to perpetuate the race of workers.

This simple fact is not a new revelation, but was obvious even to the founder of economic theory, Adam Smith: ?A man must always live by his work, and his wages must at least be sufficient to maintain him. They must even upon most occasions be somewhat more; otherwise it would be impossible for him to bring up a family, and the race of workmen could not last beyond the first generation.?

It is this fact ? that wages must be sufficient to produce, maintain and reproduce labour power ? that determines that ?accountants get paid more than short order cooks?, and this is reflected in different wages. The customer, that is demand, along with supply only cause fluctuations around the actual value/price of commodities. This actual price is ultimately the cost of the labour power socially necessary to produce the commodity in question. Fluctuations of supply and demand will average out over time to this actual value.

As a result it would be quite easy to legislate that the minimum wage be raised to $5,000, $10,000, or whatever sum we choose. We would only need to un-peg our dollar from the American Dollar and accept an equal increase in the cost of general commodities. As such I may easily become a millionaire, but the cost of a loaf of bread would now cost me $200 as opposed to $2. As with Independence, all that would change is the name and not the reality.

The sole interest of employers/businesses is profit and not the ?wishes of the public?. They obviously wish to maximise their profit, and they can do this by either reducing the quality of their product (which is only a short-term ploy, the price will eventually fall to its real value) or by maximising the surplus labour of their workers. They can do this by intensifying the worker?s labour, either by increasing the working day or by making one worker do the tasks of two or more. Intensification of labour results in the workers requiring greater resources or time to replenish his/her labour power. Unless compensation, either in the form of increased pay (overtime) or time in lieu, are allowed, the net result is workers with shorter and stunted lives. It is the worker?s right and interest to demand fair compensation for his or her labour power, and thus to agitate for overtime pay and/or time in lieu.

The bottom line is that workers will combine to defend their rights and interests, just as the employers combine for their interests. An increase in wages, that is the fair compensation for labour power expended, would result in a general fall in the rate of profit but not affect the prices of commodities. The general tendency of our capitalist mode of production is not to raise but to lower, in absolute terms, the average wages. Workers will seek to defend their rights and thus retard the sinking of wages.MAMA

Sandys

Road to dictatorship

January 12, 2005

Dear Sir,

When military juntas, dictatorships, or totalitarian regimes take over power they target certain parts of the democratic structure in order to retain absolute control and deny the people their rights.

The key objectives are: a) control of the armed forces: b) control of the police forces; c) control of the legal system; d) control of the media; e) corrupting the electoral process. Robert Mugabe is a classic example. Saddam Hussein is a classic example. Hitler is a classic example. All eventually resorted to a one-party system (despite the pretence of an electoral system) and to the murder of voices of opposition in order to retain power.

Alex Scott has in the last few days stated that he wants to achieve control of the legal system and the police force. Rightly one can assume that the push by him for Independence is so that he can achieve a totalitarian Bermuda where only he and his cronies have power.

So much for Alex Scott accusing others of being undemocratic.