Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

“Thoughts. Feelings. Speech. Action.”

This is usually the order and process for change. Change doesn’t just start with Action; a lot more goes into it. It can be likened to a factory process; there is input and there is output. While Action is the output, “Thoughts, Feelings and Speech” qualify as input.

Got Change?

Want Change?

The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that we have to be prepared to contribute the appropriate Inputs. In fact we must start changing the current Inputs to better reflect the values we want to see in our society. That means changing our thoughts, feeling and speech.

In the Caribbean, we have a problem…

… the women in our society are not always protected, promoted and empowered as they should be and need to be. That is the requested Change, or output. So our goal now – for this Women’s History Month 2019 – is to focus on the appropriate Inputs.

What do we need to change with our thoughts, feelings, speech and actions?

Thoughts & Feelings
Believe it or not, a lot of the inappropriate thinking about women in our society come from the religious orthodoxy. This commentary has previously identified that the Caribbean’s Christian legacy has not been always been a force for good in our society. In the case of protecting, promoting and empowering our women, the religiosity has many times been the problem; the Natural Law preponderance has been to view women as subservient to men. See how this theme had been elaborated in these previous Go Lean commentaries here:

Speech
As humans, we cannot see other people’s thoughts or feelings; we can only hear their speech and see their actions.

“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”. – The Bible Matthew 12:34

So when we see or hear bad words (maledictions) coming from Caribbean institutions, its important to name, blame and shame it immediately. This problem is acute in many Caribbean musical genres; and have been for years. There is now the awareness that this bad trend needs to be remediated and mitigated. See this related news article (and VIDEO of the role model) here:

Title: Sarah concerned about songs that degrade women
External Affairs Minister, Sarah Flood-Beaubrun has expressed concern about the playing of songs that are degrading to women.

She told reporters Tuesday that despite all the work that has gone into trying to reduce domestic violence, globally there has been an increase.

‘So we have to look at everything that causes violence – violent language, violent songs,’ the minister stated.

‘I hear so many songs that are downright degrading to women – an affront to our dignity. Yet still we women who – talking about issues facing women, are supporting these songs being played. What do they do to our girls? What do they tell our girls about themselves?’  The outspoken founder of the Caribbean Centre for Family and Human Rights (CARIFAM), remarked.

She spoke of the need to address the problem of violence holistically and not ‘point fingers.’

Flood-Beaubrun noted that it must be recognised that everyone has a part to play in the situation, although those in leadership positions must ‘take charge’.

‘Leadership at all levels, not just at the political level – in the home, in the school, in the community etc. So it is a job for everybody,’ the minister explained.

Source: Posted February 13, 2018; retrieved March 4, 2019 from: https://stluciatimes.com/sarah-concerned-songs-degrade-women/

—————–

VIDEO – Sarah Flood Beaubrun Appointed Minister – https://youtu.be/zSkWSY0FzPQ

HTS St. Lucia
Published on Jul 26, 2016 – The Allen Chastanet-led cabinet has grown to 16 government ministers. Castries central MP Sarah Flood-Beaubrun was sworn into office as a minister. Her appointment leaves the deputy speaker post vacant.

• Category: News & Politics

Action
There are inexcusable actions that simply must be marshaled against in society. Remember these “sad but true” offenses detailed in prior blog-commentaries:

So in order to reform and transform the Caribbean’s bad practices in protecting, promoting and empowering our women, there must be the heavy-lifting tasks to first win people over for more positive thoughts and feelings, then regulate “bad” speech and finally “police” bad actions against women efficiently, effectively and purposefully in our society.

This is our quest!

Here, we present a full series of commentaries related to women empowerment for Women History Month; this series addresses and presents the Thoughts, Feelings, Speech and Actions of great contemporary women who impacted society – these are role models for us:

1. Women History Month 2019: Thoughts, Feelings, Speech and Actions
2. Women History Month 2019: Viola Desmond – The Rosa Parks of Canada
3. Women History Month 2019: Kamala Harris – Caribbean Legacy to the White House?
4. Women History Month 2019: Captain Marvel – We need “Sheroes”
5. Women History Month 2019: Ellevest CEO: Sallie Krawcheck
6. Women History Month 2019: Accepting Black Women As Is

In this series, reference is made to a “Next Frontier” of Gender Relations – women are now on the verge of breaking all “glass ceilings” in society.

Yes, they can! They have in the past and can do it again now!

See foregoing VIDEO …

Most importantly, there is a Caribbean consideration in all of these submissions. We must do the heavy-lifting of protecting, promoting and empowering our mothers, sisters and daughters. With at least 50 percent of the population, women should naturally be considered our partners … not some subservient “property”.

Yes, we can do this – partner up with our women – and make our homeland a better place to live, work and play for all. 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

• Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
• Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. There is even a chapter (Page 226) specifically addressing the need to elevate women in our society, entitled: “10 Ways to Empower Women“.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.

xxi. Whereas the preparation of our labor force can foster opportunities and dictate economic progress for current and future generations, the Federation must ensure that educational and job training opportunities are fully optimized for all residents of all member-states, with no partiality towards any gender or ethnic group. The Federation must recognize and facilitate excellence in many different fields of endeavor, including sciences, languages, arts, music and sports. This responsibility should be executed without incurring the risks of further human flight, as has been the past history.

xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.