June 8, 2012Dear Sir,I watched, along with millions of others around the world, with interest in the enthusiasm and pageantry surrounding the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s reign. Stepping aside from ideology, I was impressed by the tremendous character and stature that has been the hallmark of her reign and which was honourably greeted and received around the world. I began to think of the centuries of traditions, legacies and influence wrapped in the chain of dynasties. I could not dismiss the fact of the global impact from the little island of England was inextricably linked to those values and tradition. She was born to be Queen. What could she do but inherit a role and a responsibility to protect both the kingdom and the values she understands as inherent in the dynasty?I had a few celebrations of my own because it’s also my jubilee year because I was born on February 15, 1952 the day her father was buried. I learned of that fact as a young adult and hence in my own vanities matured with a feeling that there was an association of fates, not so much as some royalty, but ideologically. I am not a royalist or a loyalist nor am I disrespectful to positions that may lay in opposition to each other. I am a humanist and regard all life as equal in origin and that our blood as a human family is one.Historically I sympathised with 17th century Oliver Cromwell not because he decapitated a King but because he was part of an original attempt to create a greater commonwealth of equals. The beginnings of the triumph of his failed attempt came over 125 years later in the American Revolution. The American Revolution was a premature success in that it would only bear a child called the United States of America. Without demeaning the child, the greater war was lost in that the ideological movement was truly meant for an empire and the world and not a nation. So Bermuda like the rest of what remained of the British Empire is stillborn. The monarchy continued to rule over much of the world, extending the life and philosophy of privilege, loyalty and patronage, over freedom, liberty and equality.With regard to the view on history, politics and the development of nations, too often the standards used for comparisons of jurisdictions are drawn between what is considered effective governance and ability to derive decisions, resilience or economic success. Sense of freedom, quality of life, Liberty, the pursuit of happiness and other human values lay on mantle pieces as ideals and not as an object for national comparisons. In that case what would we take home for values when we witness the success of a command economy like China with its form of governance? Should we suggest that the ultimate and better form of governance is that of a command economy because of its economic success with little or no regard to human rights or liberties? The failure of our Western society with the masquerade we deem our politics is linked to our division in ideology between the governance and rule of privilege, against the rule of consent by the liberated masses. What is the price or the value of a free soul? Is it a nobleness in societies where the simple freedom to participate is muted by the grumbling growls from the bellies of oligarchs who are wedged so tightly at the table that no one else can fit in? We trash idealism when it is the life blood of what humanity has fought and died for.It’s not that China could rule the world that should be of concern to us; it’s that the world could systemically succumb to tyranny of the human spirit that should concern us. I believe there was an intrinsic reason why the battle wasn’t truly won in 1783. I believe, as with Oliver Cromwell, that this victory and opportunity was meant to be shared later. I am of the view that the opportunity lies with people of small countries like Bermuda, along with other similar intellectually and spiritually impoverished jurisdictions that can rise and bring the world together under the thrust of true liberation for all, with a system that edifies our humanity. This is not the old call for independence, it’s a call for a togetherness or a mutuality were all the constitutionally deprived nations can free their people by shedding the politics of special interest, systemic elitism and patronage and combine under a new ethical banner where liberty is a birthright and there is the principle of all man being created equal and entitle to certain inalienable rights. Bermuda should lead the call.KHALID WASIWarwick