SINCE presenting its final petition of signatures to the Premier in February, pro-referendum campaign group Bermudians For Referendum has kept out of the media spotlight. The group's low profile was even noticed by Government Senator David Burch who, speaking on his radio show last Sunday, told listeners that the "pro-Independence" group had gone to ground.

But according to BFR organiser Mike Marsh (pictured), the group is still very much alive and already preparing for its next move. And while membership has dipped since it collected more than 15,000 signatures calling for a referendum on Independence, its ambitions have swollen beyond the issue of sovereignty alone. It now wants to see Bermuda hold referendums on an annual basis covering a range of concerns put forward by popular demand.

ORMED in October 2004, the BFR's members spent the following year obtaining more than 14,000 signatures declaring support for a referendum on Independence.

After presenting that petition to Premier Alex Scott amid much media hype, the group collected more names in a drive to obtain what it declared was a significant target ? 14,736 signatures representing more than half the number of people who voted at the last General Election.

That target was achieved and presented to the Premier in February. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Marsh, having received no response from Mr. Scott, declared Bermuda's leader was "riding roughshod" over the will of the people and that the island was no longer a democratic society.

Since then there has been little word from the organisation. So had it really run out of steam, direction and purpose as Sen. Burch declared?

"No, not at all, we're still very, very much here," Mr. Marsh said.

"But there are several reasons why we've been quiet since we delivered the last batch of petitions in February.

"When we delivered those we wanted an answer from the Premier within a week. He did write eventually and said amongst other things that our efforts are an excellent example of democracy at work.

"But he also said that the public had not had a chance to consider the pros and cons of Independence and that the Bermuda Independence Commission report was the be all and end all of allowing people to study the pros and cons of Independence."

Mr. Marsh said that BFR was holding its fire while the Progressive Labour Party Government held its own series of public meetings on the topic of Independence ? but would start a fresh campaign of educating the public once the PLP had completed its "one-sided con job".

"We were criticised as to why we have not been present at these BIC report meetings," he said.

"In fact, we decided initially that we were going to attend the PLP/BIC meetings because we wanted to criticise the BIC report but we then decided it would be better for us to ignore the meetings altogether.

"The deck of cards is so stacked against any form of pure democracy that it would be a waste of time for us to attend. We decided we'd let the BIC report people carry on with their one-sided con job of trying to convince the population that Independence is a good thing. Whether it's a good thing or not is up to the individual to decide at a fair and free and independent referendum. That's what we've been fighting for."

BFR plans to hold a series of its own meetings later this year, with the subject of democracy at the heart of the debate.

"To push forward on the Independence referendum ? because the Premier is saying nothing at all as usual in spite of the will of the people having been very clearly expressed ? we're going to hold something similar to fireside chats, inviting people to discuss the topic of democracy and how Bermuda fits with that word," Mr. Marsh said.

"Democracy is defined as government by the people, especially rule of the majority. We have presented a petition which reflects the rule of the majority and Government has not responded positively. In fact, Government is trying to avoid a referendum before a General Election, presumably because it feels that in a referendum, the majority of the population would not vote the way they want them to vote. That's a ludicrous situation.

"Hopefully, Government will see the light and honour the right of a fair referendum by holding one at least six weeks before a General Election. Having a referendum at the same time as an election, which the Premier has suggested, confuses the voter and allows for political spin. The Initiative and Referendum Institute advises that it's to be avoided at all cost.

"But we are moving ahead slowly. We're waiting for this BIC nonsense to end so that we can get on with something far more serious, which is the will of the people being reflected in Government actions."

But there is a wider issue now at the heart of the BFR platform ? to hold a referendum annually on any number of issues.

"The whole Independence referendum issue is a beacon to follow, to ensure that we have pure democracy in Bermuda," said Mr. Marsh.

"What we should have is a referendum system that is held at most once a year with several issues on it as required by the people. It would be much less expensive and would not induce voter fatigue. As with a General Election the places people could sign up would be the post offices or some central location.

"The individual people of Bermuda all have the interests of Bermuda at heart and the majority will always vote the way the feel. In a referendum those sincere feelings are expressed in a secret ballot ? no political spin, no intimidation, and no blackmail by politicians.

"I know of very few people who trust politicians. Politicians have to earn the right to be trusted and must be seen to be honest and open. The more honest and open they are the more they'll be trusted.

"There are two forms of referendum. One is a plebiscite which is a government-induced referendum where the government decides what the subject will be, what the wording will be and when it will take place. That's not what we are in favour of because it tips the scales in favour of political spin. What we want is for people to get together and come up with their own petitions. The bottom line in Switzerland is that a government cannot induce a referendum, only the people can.

"The point to having it not more than once a year is to stop voter fatigue. If nobody bothers to sign a petition calling for a referendum on any subject, you don't have a referendum at all. One thing this system does which is so important is it makes a government think twice before it adopts a policy which is unpopular. If this Government decided to wage war against America say, or some other ridiculous idea, the people would be able to stop it."

"There's been a huge swell of support in Europe for having a referendum based upon a minimum of five per cent of the electorate supporting one. There are countries that require ten per cent of the electorate and one that requires 20 per cent of the electorate. Our own recommendation to both parties is that they introduce a petition system for the people based on a minimum of 20 per cent of the electorate. This would avoid the frivolous issues and concentrates on issues that affect every Bermudian."

Mr. Marsh acknowledged that collecting signatures for the BFR petition had been "a lousy job", but could be made easier if an annual referendum had official backing. "Unfortunately, we couldn't use the post offices for our petition and so had to ask private businesses if they supported the issue of a referendum," he said.

"In the end our team managed to get 26 places across the island which felt it was the free and fair thing to do to allow Bermudians to have their say.

"But it was extremely difficult to get this going because we had very few hands. In Switzerland they wander around the main towns and villages with placards and set up tables in the street inviting passers-by to sign. They also try and get the media involved to publicise what it is they are getting signatures for.

"We set up these 26 centres and we monitored them by trying to pop in now and then to see how many signatures we had received. We didn't actually have people manning the tables and a lot of businesses couldn't afford the time to have someone man the sheets but they were in an exposed position within sight of the business.

"About half did a wonderful job of manning the tables but we knew that this would expose us to opponents of referendums to go and tear the sheets up or falsify names. We knew that it was likely that there would be opponents who would criticise us for not doing the job properly.

"We know of certain cases where people would walk in to the signature centres with a view to sign false names to try and trip us up.

"This was a waste of time as there was no way we would accept the signatures. We had every signature checked carefully against the electoral register and any signature that was indecipherable or fraudulent could not be counted.

"The vetting was done by a very capable lady and her team. It was a long job and she swore an affidavit of what she accomplished and we produced a massive list of every single signature. We also had a Commission of Oaths sign that he had seen every original petition sheet."

There were other problems that the pressure group faced once signatures had been collected.

"After we presented the first batch of petitions in September 2005, a number of people who signed the petition told us they were approached and asked to reverse their position," Mr. Marsh said.

"They were asked to state that they didn't know what they were signing. We had phone calls from people who had signed and told us that they had been asked to say that. They identified themselves. Dozens of people called me about this and it's rather pathetic.

"Clearly, it was done in an attempt to back up that ridiculous comment by the Premier ? that people who signed our petition didn't know what they were signing. For the Premier to say that was a huge insult to the majority of voters. At the time I asked him to apologise. He didn't, but came up with an excuse about this or that. It's high time that he did apologise."

Mr. Marsh believes that a general malaise on the matter of referendums is a result of a poor understanding of their significance.

"Bermuda is new at having referendums and most people don't quite understand the importance of them," he said.

"It's a one-person, one-issue, one-vote situation. I think Bermudians need more education on them because it is the purest form of democracy.

"Senator Burch said on one of his talk shows that referendums undermine democracy. That just shows he has no idea of what a referendum is or why it is the most democratic process in the world bar none. For him to say such a stupid thing shows that he is very poorly exposed to the process of democracy."

Mr. Marsh also believes that an annual referendum will quell what BFR sees as public disillusionment with the political process, something the group encountered while canvassing for signatures.

"It wasn't always a pleasant experience, we would come across people who didn't know what we were talking about or hated what we were doing or were rude to us," he said.

"But it didn't faze any of us because we felt we were right in doing what we were doing. We tried to explain to everyone what the petition was about and what a referendum is. We could spend half an hour talking to one person and it was not easy.

"One thing we did learn from speaking to thousands of people on the streets. Many of those we spoke to were young people who felt helpless. They said they wouldn't sign or wouldn't vote because it wouldn't make any difference because, regardless of whether it's the UBP or the PLP in power, there's too much power at the top and our voice is never heard. There's a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness among young people.

"But throughout the world there's a huge swing now in favour of referendums, especially countries that were under the dictatorship of the former Soviet Union who have now joined the EU and want pure democracy like there's no tomorrow. They want a voice. They're tired of being told what to do, as are Bermudians getting tired of being told what to do."

Mr. Marsh also dismissed claims that BFR was an anti-Independence, UBP-supporting organisation.

"We're non-political, we have members who have supported the PLP and members who have supported the UBP," he said.

"Some of us want Independence and some of us don't and it's totally unfair to say that we are an affiliate of the UBP. We are not, what we are is a group that wants every Bermudian to be able to express their view.

"They are welcome to come to a meeting and see who's here. BFR is a loose arrangement and we don't really have any rules or regulations. No one has to follow a party line and it's a free arrangement."