MUCH to the chagrin of the anti-Independence lobby, the recent visit to Bermuda by the United Nations' Decolonisation Committee proved to be a useful exercise, giving Bermudians the opportunity to talk to and ask questions of nationals from other countries which have already taken the path to sovereignty.

This alone has gone a long way to help dispel some of the myths associated with former colonies gaining their Independence. Chief among those myths is the idea, pushed by Bermuda's anti-Independence detractors, that sovereignty spreads all manner of social viruses that a country is bound to catch the minute the old colonial flag is lowered and the flag of the new nation is raised.

But, in fact, how a former colony evolves as an Independent country is subject to its own unique historical development up to that point. The members of the UN Committee were perhaps taken aback by the level of development in Bermuda and were perplexed as to why a country with such an infrastructure is reluctant to take the path to Independence.

As the representative from Papua New Guinea remarked: "If Bermuda considers that it has problems that it considers must be solved before any move towards Independence, imagine my country ? which has 500 languages and at Independence had very few roads to link the country together."

But even so, no matter what developmental problems they had, none of the UN representatives from the relatively recently created sovereign states thought of returning to their former colonial status ? rather they would use their God-given human abilities to overcome these problems.

What is clear is that there are no perfect circumstances under which a colony can decide to move to sovereign Independence. If you have problems, then you must take steps to overcome them ? whether as a colony or an Independent country.

Interestingly, with all of the critical statements heard in Bermuda about why we cannot hope to function and survive as an Independent micro-state, about why we supposedly need to solve all of our existing social problems before embarking on Independence, it is not clear how our current colonial state is actually assisting us in this regard.

Throughout Bermuda's history ? even during those times when Britain sent representatives to help fix Bermuda's problems ? we have not always taken their advice (I am thinking specifically of the unimplemented recommendations in the Wooding and Pitt Reports on Bermuda's social woes). Both of these Commissions proposed solutions, particularly to do with Bermuda's racial situation, that were by and large ignored in this country.

The UN Decolonisation Committee was surprised at the level of racial tensions that its meetings brought to the surface. They may have been surprised but not those Bermudians who had prepared to be honest about the true nature of race relations in Bermuda, where the question of race touches most things in the Bermuda reality.

This apparently has not entered the mind of the anti-Independence letter writer Veritas (, April 1). His mindset was revealed when he said he forbade his daughter to attend these meetings because of where they were being held.

He is a typical example of why Bermuda cannot come to grips with its racial problem. The same contempt that he holds for much of the world community (except, presumably, the European countries) is reflected locally in his contempt for the sporting clubs of Bermuda's black community.

preventing his daughter from attending those meetings, he is saying to her that her future will be like his past. Continued conflict with the black community. Veritas represents a mentality that cannot be defended and will not stand.

But I should add at this point that the whole idea of an Independent Bermuda is, in reality, not for the older generations ? both black and white. Even many in my generation, which came of age in the revolutionary and turbulent 1960s and '70s, will go to their graves with the same biases, fears and lack of confidence in their ability to overcome our existing problems.

They, like Veritas, assume all Bermudians share this same mindset. So a future Independent Bermuda is not for you but it is up to you to give our children the chance to create a new reality, "a more fuller unity" (if I can borrow a clause from the American Declaration of Independence). I do not support the current campaign for a referendum on Independence but not for the reason the Progressive Labour Party Government has given (it favours a General Election to settle the issue). Nor because I am afraid to engage in the public debate that a referendum would prompt in Bermuda. After all, I was very vocal about my opinions during the 1995 Independence referendum campaign .

In fact, the last time I publicly broke with the PLP was over its call to boycott the referendum vote brought about by former United Bermuda Party Premier Sir John Swan.

I broke with the PLP because there was no way I was prepared to make common cause with the so-called Concerned Bermudians pressure group and the anti-Independence UBP MPs and their supporters whose sole aim was to kill the question of Bermudian Independence once and for all.

I believed then ? and still do now ? that the question of Bermudian Independence transcends political party loyalty and from my point of view only death would stop me from being an advocate for Bermudian Independence.

this current referendum campaign to be a Trojan horse. Although the referendum advocates claim they are defending Bermudians' democratic rights ? one man, one vote, one issue, all votes of equal value ? in fact, their hidden agenda is to encourage Bernudians to vote against Independence.

This is the Bermudian way. And when it comes to the question of Bermudian Independence, rather than engage you face to face anti-Independence detractors will engage in any sort subterfuge to hide their true intentions.

But why am I so impassioned about this question of Bermudian Independence? Not only because I firmly believe that this is Bermuda's destiny. This country is not destined to remain British because they settled it by accident: once they brought African slaves here the future destiny of this country was fixed.

Additionally, I believe the only reason anti-Independence detractors are questioning Bermuda's ability to survive as an Independent country is because they want to undermine the confidence of Bermudians in themselves as a people.