Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming to my session which I've entitled Cross-Wiki Ideological Conflicts and Wikimedia's vision of Knowledge Equity. As I start, I want to start with a disclaimer. I am a Wikimedean who believes in truth and supports the vision of knowledge equity in the Wikimedia 2030 vision and some of the slides that I'm going to present might provoke some nationalist tensions. So, I want to say that I have the best of intentions for our open knowledge movement. I have no intention of offending any viewer or stirring up any hatred against any nation. The journey I want to take you through in the next 20 minutes is my personal reflection on how transnational divides and translingual divides in ideology and opinion is going to be a problem for knowledge equity and I want to open the discussion on how we may be able to solve these issues. I don't claim to have all the answers. I just want to give my perspective on where we are and where I think we can go. So, with that in mind, I want to start by recapping a talk I gave at Wikimedia 10 years ago. So, this is titled Wikipedia as Afraid of Governments. And at the time it was a tongue-in-cheek critique of Wikipedia editorial policies whereby if you go to the Polish Wikipedia, the article of the Wikimedia 2010 venue city is called Gedansk and in the German version is called Dantik. You've got names of things and perspectives of things being divided alongside the lines that were already drawn based on how people use language in different language communities. And scale that up, you get to the more contentious disputed territories. So, for example, these are a set of islands in East Asia that are currently disputed between the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China and Japan. And the different editions of Wikipedia have very different perspectives and names of the articles, which reflect the main language communities and the nationalist identities behind those languages. So, the Chinese Wikipedia article calls the article Diao Yu, which is the Chinese name. The Japanese Wikipedia article says Senkaku, which is the Japanese name and they have their own national perspectives, respectively. Interestingly, the English Wikipedia article uses Japanese name rather than the colonial English name because they say currently Japan has military control over these islands. So, this is what we're following. And I think that is a good point to bring up where these problems might lead. And I think Wikimedia has an over-reliance on authorities in the outside world. And that has really hit home in how Wikipedia has been covering a political conflict that is very close to my heart, the Hong Kong conflict since 2019. There is this one case that is covered by both the Chinese and the Cantonese editions of Wikipedia about a first-aider which was reported to be shot blind by right police. The Cantonese Wikipedia, so the language spoken in Hong Kong and used colloquial in Hong Kong, reports the events quite matter-of-factly based on local accounts reporting in local media. Right police shot the first-aider blind, full stop. Hong Kong media reports were taken at face value and a valuable news photograph from that incident which was released by a news agency under an open corporate license was included in the article. Whereas if you go to the Chinese Wikipedia, it accepts the Chinese state media viewpoints that Hong Kong media staged the photos and that the cause and extent of injury of this involved person was disputed. Hence, this article was framed as a controversy rather than an incident and there was no photograph on the article because, hey, it's disputed. That's what Chinese media say, so we need to give due way to that. Okay, so we're saying in the last slide there might be some intervention of governments and the report discussed how the Croatian Wikipedia had a Croatian nationalist bias and there was some bullying behavior which was enabled by the editorial decision a decade ago to separate the different national varieties of the Serbo-Karate language continuum. And what this example shows is that one does not need a dictatorial government to have a nationalistic ideological bias to occur on Wikipedia. You just need a dominant viewpoint and that could crowded other viewpoints and if those viewpoints align with language divides then you could get big problems that affect knowledge equity. So I want to look at how some fundamental Wikipedia policies have got us where we are today and how they are causing problems. The first is this notion that Wikipedia relies on verifiability, not truth and this is determined based on reliable sources. What this means is that we rely on external sources to dictate what Wikipedia can and cannot say and so if someone can manipulate the external sources then they can indirectly manipulate Wikipedia and that is compounded by our consensus model of decision making. If one has influence over who can edit Wikipedia to promote what viewpoint then one can also influence what is stated on Wikipedia. This worked well as Wikipedia policies 10 years ago when Wikipedia was a fly on the wall but now Wikipedia has gotten so big that we need to revisit these policies because these are now easily manipulated by an authoritarian regime or a multinational corporation with too much resources and such a strong incentive to influence what a central repository of knowledge like Wikipedia is saying. So let's look at reliable sources in detail. Some of you may recall that two months ago on the pressure of Chinese and Hong Kong authorities, Apple Daily, the biggest Democrat leaning newspaper in Hong Kong shut down wholesale due to a government freeze on their company's assets. This really brings home the fact that reliable sources as we understand it are actually quite fragile when a government or a corporation gets sufficiently powerful regardless of where you are. They could indirectly dictate what the reliable sources say and therefore what Wikipedia can and cannot cover and this incident was reported on Wikipedia as well. So this news item was shown in the English Wikipedia in the news section on the front page. And the next one I want to look at is this idea of consensus. So earlier on I talked about this incident in 2019 in which the Cantonese Wikipedia and the Chinese Wikipedia presented the same incident very differently, one with a Hong Kong local perspective and one with a perspective that mainly follows that of Chinese state media. And how did this happen? Well, if you look at the discussion, you can see that the Chinese Wikipedia actually has a real consensus to accept the Chinese media points of view. I don't have any reason to doubt the sincerity of the editors who participated in that debate as much as I disagreed with more than half of them. And at this point I want to bring a reminder that Chinese authorities have been using what is called the Great Far Wall of China to block Wikipedia for over a decade now. So as soon as you can apply selective censorship as a government to decide who can edit Wikipedia, then you can influence the consensus that Wikipedia builds to take it to an extreme. To take it to an extreme, if in a certain banana republic only flat earthers are allowed to edit Wikipedia, then the Wikipedia edition representing that language community will have a consensus that says the office flat. And in the case of Hong Kong, as reported by some media outlets and also the Wikipedia signpost, there was this incident where related to this edit dispute, someone threatened to report Hong Kong editors with an editorial perspective critical of Chinese authorities and report them to the Hong Kong National Security Police. So you can see where this conflict can affect consensus, even if we have all the good intentions to run Wikipedia as a consensus building project. And the hard question I want to ask all of us is are we complicit in authoritarian abuse? Because over the last decade and a half as countries around the world, the ones that are less liberal, decide to censor Wikipedia one way or another, we have been building bridges and cultivating local communities to help them access Wikipedia from behind government censorship. But over the last few years, I think there is increasing evidence that the same dictatorial regimes are using these processes to reverse infiltrate Wikipedia by selecting who may or may not participate on Wikipedia in circumvention of the national censorship. And so to understand this problem properly, we need to define the question and that is what do you mean by knowledge equity? Well, let's start with the original Wikipedia vision from a decade and a half ago. Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to some of all human knowledge. So the sum of all human knowledge, whose knowledge are we talking about? We are talking about not just a rich and powerful surely. We want to talk about all knowledge known to all humans, including underrepresented and oppressed voices. And we want free access for every single person. That means we want to enable access to both read and write Wikipedia so one can fully participate in the global conversation. That is this worldwide knowledge sharing project. And a few slides ago I said when Wikipedia started for the first 10 years really Wikipedia was a fly on the wall collecting the world's information. But now Wikimedia as a whole has created a reputation that we are the central library of all knowledge. So we can no longer sit as a fly on the wall. We need to foster a global conversation and we need to set some international standards on what is knowledge and what we ought to capture in our projects. And one of the main things that I think we really need to tackle now is how we can resist governments and corporations that act against knowledge equity and try to play our editorial policies into one way streets in which they influence us but we don't influence them. We need to have a robust response to those. So looking at some of the more specific recommendations that I want to bring out. The first one is tackling the issues that the notion of independent reliable sources has given us in this new era in which Wikipedia is now the leader rather than follower of knowledge. So I think Wikimedia movement has been actually doing quite well. We have Wikipedians and residents who work in big cultural institutions to help them bring knowledge they have into the public and release them in open licenses such that Wikimedia projects can propagate to the world. We have an oral history project whereby Wikimedians in good faith create primary sources of underrepresented cultural communities around the world so that their voices are heard. And we have a copy of a primary source or secondary source to be cited on Wikipedia and that primary source is also generated by a Wikipedia now acting as the source of the reliable source. In the recent years we are venturing into journals. So there are now four wiki journals on science, humanities, medicine, psychology and behavior respectively. And I think we can do more with Wikinews that has been going on for the last decade and a bit and move it more forward towards knowledge creation. And also continue to partner with our friends at Wikipedia to see what we can do in terms of reporting on the ground. And another recommendation I have is that verifiability not truth really needs to evolve because Wikipedia by its design and 20 years of evolution has become the most verifiable thing on the internet. We should cease depending completely on things external to the Wikimedia world for the sources that we try to verify from. And in my personal opinion I think Wikimedia can no longer escape the quest for truth. At some point this is something we need to tackle as a movement because again we have become the central library of humanity. The next aspect I want to talk about is leading international standards. So YouTube and Twitter already rely on Wikipedia officially in their editorial processes. So can we lead some international standards in fact checking and can we deploy more foundation resources and staff labor to help the volunteers who are at the front line of making those editorial decisions. The other thing I want to talk about is language classification. So to get a Wikipedia you need an ISO code for a language and as misattributed a Max Weinreich a language is dialect with an army and navy. And more recently people repurpose that phrase into a language is a dialect with a missionary and dictionary. Really I think what it really means is a language is a dialect with an ISO 639 code and a Wikipedia. And the last few years have seen small language communities users actually coming to the Wikimedia Foundation's language committee and asking for help to get the language classified and accredited so that they can then start Wikipedia and have an internet locale. So Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia movement should really be doing more in leading these standards. And finally I think to foster a global conversation we need more standardization across Wikimedia projects. Sometimes it's been too much for example the German Wikipedia seems to complain every year but other places there might be too little and we've been starting well with Wikidata and global templates. But moving forward we also need some robust editorial policies so we have the universal code of conduct coming up and I think we need to keep pushing that. We might need global editorial policies for example we need to be robust against government censorship. Maybe we should have a rule that if an authority censors Wikipedia, Wikipedia should really be censoring their state media back. So that's all I've got for you in summary. I think Wikipedia policies are great to have got us here but there is an over reliance on authority in our current policies and these policies entrench ethnolinguistic conflicts. And our processes are vulnerable to abuse by external authorities and to achieve knowledge equity. I think we need to support knowledge creation more as a Wikimedia movement. We need to lead international standards and we need to foster strong cross-wicket relationships and policies and have a robust response to censorship. Thank you very much and let's carry on.


How's it going everybody? Datsunoi here back with another Dragon Ball Fighters update video for you all today and this is the news we've been waiting on for quite some time now that of course being the next DLC character finally getting confirmed and as you can probably tell from the Thumbnailer title that character is going to be Super Baby 2 and I do want to say this just up front because I know with a series like Dragon Ball there's a lot of different characters that can get into this game but even if you aren't a fan of Baby you should definitely stick around because along with the confirmation that this character is coming to the game we also got information about some of his special and super moves and these mechanics are insane. That's why I think even if you aren't a fan of the character there is something to love here which is really cool to me because they've been doing a great job at making these newer DLC characters super unique. So with all that out of the way let's get into the actual information that we have on Super Baby 2. Of course all credit goes to DBS Hype if you're a fan of Dragon Ball or any avenue of Dragon Ball definitely go give him a follow he does a lot of great news and keeps you updated on stuff and I'm also going to be using a translation of the event from this user here because just from reading their tweet it does seem like they have experience playing fighters which I think helps the translation come across a bit more naturally. So now let's actually get into those special moves starting with Darkness Springshot which description states even if it misses it will come back from off screen.  Don't get me wrong both methods can be really good but automatically helps out in more of a pressure sense and being able to input it helps out more with combos we've seen a move kind of like this with Master Roshi where he throws the little keyblast and can bend it back if he inputs it that's why I'm personally hoping this one is something that happens automatically and then up next we get into the absolute craziest thing I have ever read for a Dragon Ball fighters character and that is even if your ally is down you can still get them to use their Z assist to make them attack. Think of that is so crazy especially with a system like Limit Break in the game which ironically enough we did talk about whether or not they would consider nerfing it and now I'm almost thinking do they kind of have to nerf limit break here? Honestly this makes Super Baby 2 sound like the best possible anchor in the game just on paper. Imagine having that limit break damage with assist to extend combos or just keep pressure. That means if you're going up against a team of Kid Buu GT Goku and Super Baby 2 and Super Baby 2 is the last one alive he gets all of that damage boost and still has the lockdown assist for Kid Buu and the neutral slash combo assist of Goku GT. That is a nightmare dude. That is legitimately terrifying. Ah man I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm being less analytical but man I'm just such a huge fan of that because that's crazy dude that is that's gonna be so fun to mess around with. The next bit of information we got on Super Baby is that he does have access to full power energy wave which is also noted as being able to aim downward firing down a keyblast having more options is usually always a good thing. Up next we have revenge death ball which this translator notes is not having anything to tell us. I can imagine this is just your standard cool-looking Super. Gonna be fun to look at obviously. Probably we'll just do a set amount of damage and that's all. And then after that we have another cool thing that I mentioned at the beginning. This is something that I think even if you're not a fan of Super Baby you might have been waiting for something like this and that is the giant ape attack. On hit much like Broly's level 3 which the translator notes here you transform into a giant ape and lash out and then it mentions if an ally's touch baby will shoot out a straight beam. So I'm going to be completely honest I'm not entirely sure if this is going to be a permanent thing or just a quick level three but the idea that it has something to do with the assist makes it seem like this will be a permanent sort of state. I don't know it seems super weird and it's not something I'm confident enough to say this is exactly how it'll probably work or how good it will be etc etc but I think we can say for sure it will look really cool. It's so nice to know that we're finally going to be seeing a great ape in the fighters art style even if it is the golden great ape which I don't mind but it would have been kind of nice to see a normal great ape as well. And with that that is pretty much all of the concrete details we know about Super Baby 2 and now we can move on to talking about what does this mean for the last unknown character and the event that's happening on the 20th. If you didn't know Japan's World Tour Finals are happening on the 20th and they were also going to reveal the next character there but now we know that character is Super Baby 2. Now obviously it'll still be exciting because we'll be able to watch the trailer of him in motion for the first time but will they also reveal a second character there to keep our interest as well or will they keep that last character hidden until a later date. At this point it really could be anything so I'm just going to turn it over to you guys in the comments section what are you guys hoping for in the 20th are you hoping that we get that second character reveal or are you hoping that we get it later on down the line and get to see what they can do with even more time. Other than that while you're down below in the comments let me know what you think about Super Baby 2 so far obviously the scans we have on us are pretty low quality right now so it's hard to talk about the visuals so much but I personally am very excited it's not Omega Shenron so I have to accept that I was wrong and now I just kind of have to hope that either he gets added as the last character or maybe we'll still find a way to get Gojita Super Saiyan 4 in here. I don't know it is crazy to be I definitely thought Omega had a really high chance of coming. I'll let you guys talk about that down below in the comment section though while you're down there make sure to like button and subscribe to the channel and check out some of the other videos that should be on your screen right now. I've been Dr. Doi. Thanks for watching this one all the way to the end and I'll see you in the comment section.


My name's DP Jane if you do enjoy the video leaving a like really helps out and if you like what you see and want to see more be sure to subscribe Now this well that's really the first one the sword The sword of Saint Trina is an utter monster It does some serious damage and the way in which it works. It causes that slate build up I think this is probably the only main weapon in the game. I've seen with this on and What I've seen people do with this is Unbelievable it really is a great great weapon and you can get it basically at the start of the game Now showcase you after I've done talking about it where this actually can be located But we also have the Saint Trina's touch as well, which also causes that sleep build up Now I've got two of these with my friend drop me one But you could always get to a new game plus and they do work as dual wield and they're they're amazing guys You could also because if you don't know can apply that sleep to the blade and give it a bit of a More brutality we can also do it with both because obviously can just two hand or one so I do that and apply it And pull back at my other one No, I'll do it again. That's not what I did There we go, and I pulled out there we go guys. You'll see now that I have both of them That sleep build upon him and I could just chop chop chop away as you know badass absolute badass so What about the actual torch? Well, the torch is a lot harder to get to work, but it's still pretty decent It really is now I wouldn't recommend using these together because that's the main attack you get when wielding both We're still pretty good now the torch is a little more interesting in my opinion because it does that fire damage too Which you can obviously scale with different I've got one right here fire scorpion charm Yeah, I'm probably pretty sure there's probably more in the game as well Well, it's definitely something worth considering guys if you're new to these and you could probably come up with something great Build wise with them. Like I said, I haven't seen many builds based around sleep to be honest I've just seen people using the weapons and doing some crazy things with it But you could probably mix some matches With an existing build make it better. Well, it's up to you but you guys unscrew now you're gonna see the location firstly of the The sword which is relatively straightforward to get get more less at the start of the game The actual torch requires you to go up into the mount tops of the giants and you just have to stalk The actual fog for a couple of Giants Putting along a carriage and then you have to listen basically what I did was I didn't actually have to kill Anything I just I just basically attacked one of the Giants run away He'd they can't stop to jump from the back grab it done guys simple as of that Guys on that note the end of the video has arrived if you enjoyed it Even a like really helps out feel like what you see want to see more out of me be sure to subscribe and hopefully people I will see you on that next one


Thank you very much Dr. Yehven. Allow me to say goodnight to the solutions here. Can I say Boasueh Tutmune? It's an honor to be here, particularly in my own school. I see you didn't Let me thank you, Mr. President, for this really revealing introduction. I hope everybody said it was true. I'm honored and privileged to be invited to deliver this year's Errol Barrow Memorial Lecture. Being asked to follow in the footsteps of people like Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, the late Frank Arlene, his dentary Frank Arlene taught me agriculture economics at Keville. Professor Eudin Barito, the Swedish Rampal, friend of Stuart, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, George Arlene, Jeremy Stephen, is indeed a among the stars to undertake. I thank the organizers of the lecture and leadership of the DLP for inviting me to reflect on the rich contribution and legacy of one of the Caribbean's most outstanding sons, the right excellent Errol Walton Barrow. It is indeed a single honor for me to deliver this lecture in honor of a man who helped shape my political evolution and development and belief in Caribbean regionalism. Errol Barrow was a Barbadian by both, but Caribbean by outlook, and was not constrained by the narrow-mindedness or insularity. He saw himself as a Vincentian or St. Lucian or Trinidadian or Barbadian by both. In his parting of the ways speech delivered in the Barbados Houses of Assembly on January 4th, 1966, 10 months before Barbados proceeded to independence, he boldly said, I am a West Indian, and there is no one who is more West Indian by both or by inclination or by otherwise than I am. His Westernism was further defined when in keeping with his wishes, his cremated remains was scattered on Barbados in the waters of the Caribbean Sea, a powerful symbolic gesture of his embrace of a Caribbean identity. If there was any doubt as to the value of his contribution to Caricom, if there is any questioning of the validity of naming him a champion of Caricom, these doubts should be swept away by the realization that his regional integration movement, which he helped initiate, has survived for 50 years. That Caricom, if all its accomplishments and all its weaknesses will observe 50 years since its founding is a testament to the aspirations and vision of Errol Barrow and the three other leaders, Eric Williams, Michael Manly, and Forbes Bonham, who signed the Caricom Treaty on 4th July, 1973. That 50 years of Caribbean regional integration, so Caricom, is an event to be proud of and to be observed with some pump and ceremony. It's underscored by the fact that Caricom is the oldest surviving regional integration movement in the developing world. The importance of this anniversary is further emphasized by the sovereign reality that 2022 marked 60 years since the collapse of the first attempt at the regional political union, the West Indies Federation, that lasted only four years from 1958 to 1962. Barrow was obviously annoyed at the failure of the Federation and he observed that and I quote, we would never get together in the West Indies until we fashioned something of our own, as in the parting of the way speech in 1966. It is believed that Barrow regarded the Federation experiment with a measure of contempt and a convenient colonial contraption designed to give Britain a tighter administrative control over its Caribbean countries than to promote genuine development. After the collapse of the Federation, Errol Barrow pushed in 1965 for the first indigenous Caribbean effort at integration, a regional free trade area. That initiative was based on a three-fold belief. There was the unshakable belief that he expressed at the first meeting of heads of government of the Kauawef Caribbean on 22nd July 1963 in Port of Spain, namely first, and I quote, regional cooperation is something without which we cannot hope to survive. Secondly, that his fellow Caribbean leaders like Forbes William of Guyana and Eric Williams of Chinda and Tobago still shared this conviction, a conviction that he had first espoused in London as students in the mid 1940s. For it was they who had, and I quote, staged the first public meeting on Caribbean integration in the United Kingdom, and we followed the biblical injunction by staging that meeting in the lands then itself, in the bastion of imperialism, which is described as Trafalgar Square. A lot of our fellow West Indians were rather amazed at our temerity and mislisted the assistance of the colleagues from other parts of the world in making a bold stand on the need for West Indies integration. And he said so at the signing ceremony of the Treaty of Chagrammas on the 4th July 1973. Thirdly, his belief and his faith that the people of the Caribbean could manage their own affairs. He said, I think that the writings of Dr Williams and the economic researchers of Professor Arthur Lewis were the first faint glimmerings of the indication that the Caribbean people were capable of managing their own affairs. It was all this that led him to invite Forbes Bodham to meet with him in Barbados on the 4th July 1965 to discuss the possibility of the establishment of a regional free trade area in the Caribbean. Exactly eight years later, on 4th July 1973, at the signing ceremony in Trinidad of the Treaty of Chagrammas, Establishing Caricom, he revealed some details of that meeting and I quote, occasions for making disclosures of this kind are not frequent. I can disclose that it was on July 4th 1965 that the Prime Minister of Guyana met with me in Barbados at my invitation to discuss the possibility of establishing a free trade area between our two countries in the first instance and the rest of the Caribbean at such time as they would be ready to follow our example. Baru went on, the letter which I wrote was in my own fine Barbadian hand, which is sometimes ineligible. But apparently the Prime Minister of Guyana was able to read that letter because of his, he informs me, his Barbadian ancestry. In that letter, I invited the Prime Minister of Guyana to come to Barbados so that we could hold these discussions, end of quote. These discussions eventually led Baru, Bonham and Verbal of Antigua, signing on 15 December 1965, the Dickinson Bay Agreement, establishing Carifter, a free trade area between the three countries with the provision for other Caribbean countries to join later. Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago quickly became involved in the discussions and the first May 1968, Carifter formally came into being for Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago. By August 1968, the rest of the Coyote of Caribbean had joined Carifter, the precursor to Carricom. Baru's 1965 meeting with Bonham was therefore pivotal to Caribbean history for two reasons. First, it was the sea that dominated the Caribbean community that we are all part of 50 years later. Secondly, through Baru's passion for Caribbean integration, because Baru did to hold it despite an environment in the Caribbean at the time which had become soured by the disappointment and disillusionment and anger that pervaded the region at the breakup of the Indus Federation. Errol Baru stands out as the indisputable founding father of the post-Federation Caribbean regional integration movement. 50 years on, we have Carricom because the other Caribbean leaders did follow the example said by Byrd, Bonham Williams and himself. We have Carricom because they took him to appreciate and accept Baru's regional vision. It was a regional vision that Errol Baru frequently and articulately expressed in a style that only he could. In his address to fellow Caribbean heads of government at the conference between 1963 and 1986, that style was clear. The various themes that informs this vision when applied to the reality of Carricom at this 50th anniversary year provide, in my opinion, essential guidelines for the direction that Carricom should be following as it commences its journey into the next 50 years. There are six themes I propose to examine. One, raising the standard of living of the people. For Errol Baru, the fundamental rationale for Caribbean regional economic integration was that it would improve the living standards of the people of the Caribbean. It was this same concern that drove his social democratic revolution in Barbados. At the first meeting of the heads of government of the Caribbean countries in Georgetown, Ghana, from the 8th to the 10th March 1965, he said, the British government and peoples outside of our own territories fail to realize and appreciate the importance of regional cooperation either at an economic or at a political level for the survival and the improvement of the standards of living of the people over whose destinies we have the good fortune to preside. Therefore, the ultimate objective of any meeting of this kind must be that we intend to improve the living standards of the people of these territories and to afford them the equality of opportunity which by both and status they are deprived of. End of quotes. And at the signing ceremony of the Treaty of Chagoramas on 4th July 1973, he reminded the audience that the activism of this Indian Students Union in London in the 1940s was to, and I quote, protest against conditions in the West Indies and indeed supporting our comrades from Africa and other parts of the colonial empire in the protests against the conditions under which our people suffered. Regional economic integration was one of the vehicles to raise the standards, the living standards of the people. Free trade and the common market would be the cornerstone of the second phase of the regional integration movement launched in 1973 as Karikom, the Caribbean community and common markets. Free trade within a common external tariff was supposed to produce positive economic growth among participating countries and according to Barrow, the common market should provide an opportunity for our industrial and cultural sectors to leap forward with the necessary determination the region's economy can become vibrant with a relatively short period of time. I said so in a statement to the House of Assembly on the establishment of the Caribbean community 19th June 1973. It is fair to say that in the early years of the economic integration process, interregional trade grew significantly, then tappered and stabilized by the end of the first 40 years of integration. However, it remains limited when placed in the context of total exports as the bulk of the region's trade is still with the rest of the world. Interregional trade, which over the years has been dominated by Trinidad and Tobago, has still not grown to the extent that would dramatically spool economic development in the region. It is for this reason that Secretary-General of Karikom, Dr. Carla Barnett, at the 44th Intersectional Summit of Karikom in March 2022 in Belize, urged member states to improve on regional trade. And I quote, let us set a target to lift interregional trade out of the dole jumps of 16 to 18 percent of our total trade to 25 percent by 2025. In November 2022, at the 55th meeting of quoted, Dr. Barnett again said, integration is a critical platform for improvement in our trade performances, and it is trade performances that will drive the economic growth that we need. If free trade, therefore, is to be a more significant stimulant to economic development throughout the region, and therefore positively impact the lives and living standards of the peoples of the region, then the decades ahead, Karikom member states must make a concerted effort to dramatically increase trade by removing the unmolded barriers that still encumber genuine free trade. Therefore, there is a school of thought that believes that in the Karikom context, the freeing of trade among member states is necessary but insufficient to obtain the gains of economic integration. It argues that it also necessitates the removal of colonial, economic, and social structures and production and consumption patterns that have kept the region at a low level of development. It was in recognition of the limitations of free trade for driving economic development in the region that led the Karikom founding fathers to ink the 1973 Chagoramas Treaty. As you know, the treaty provided for Caribbean community and common market with three pillars of integration, economic integration, functional cooperation, and foreign policy coordination. Later in 2001, the successors to the founding fathers agreed to a revised treaty that establishes a Karikom single market and economy, the CSME, and according to Dr. Caleb Barnett, the adoption in 2001 of the revised treaty of Chagoramas, incorporating the CSME, was undoubtedly a bold and unprecedented step forward in deepening our regional integration process. However, the single market is slowly being implemented, well past its initial target date of 2008. A Karikom strategic plan for 2015-2019 reports that there was only a 64% level of implementation of the CSME. The actions that have to be taken to put the components of the single market in place have to be taken by the governments of each member state, and there lies the problem. Governments have not been moving fast enough to give national effect to the regional decisions of the CSME. We must give priority to the realization of the single market in the shortest possible time frame. It is clear that if Karikom is to deliver on raising the standards of living of its people, as Erobarro had hoped, the deepening of the regional integration for the CSME must proceed at 50 times the pace of integration during the next 50 years. We must revisit with some urgency the agreement for a single economy whose attainment is now a goal on a distant horizon. One of the key tenets of the Karikom single economy was monetary integration, which would involve among other things the creation of a single currency among member states. Several attempts of this have failed over the years. It is instructive that the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the ECCB, for which I am chairman of the Monetary Council, launched its 40th anniversary celebrations last night in St. Kitts. The ECCB is evidence that a single currency is possible, where there is the will and the discipline to give up a liquor sovereignty, in that case, monetary policy for the benefit of all. In this 50th anniversary of Karikom regional integration, it is time to make the effort once again. For in addition to its economic benefits for the region, it would give Caribbean people tangible proof of the benefits of regional integration. It is not beyond us the successors of Erobarro, Eric Williams, Forbes Woodham, and Michael Manley, and the inheritors of the legacy of the region's only Nobel laureate for economics, Sir Arthur Lewis. It would be remiss of me if in examining Karikom's record of raising the standard of living of the peoples of the region, I did not refer to the functional cooperation in Karikom, for which member states pulled their resources to deliver critical social services to the people from cooperation in education, in health, statistics, tourism, export promotion, development of standards, public service management, culture, broadcasting information, among other functional cooperation areas, has been a successful pillar of Karikom's regional integration, and through well-known institutions like this CXC, the University of West Indies. And Erobarro was one of the prime movers behind the creation of the Cave Hill Campus. Cedema, Kaffa, the CTO, the CTO has raised the standards of living of our people. The strengthening and expansion of functional cooperation must therefore also be a priority in the years ahead. Freedom of movements. The need for the mobility of the peoples of the region, in the region, had been recognized by Erobarro as far back as 1965. At the first meeting of the heads of government of the Caribbean countries in Georgetown, Guyana, he said, and I quote, it is only in the field of crickets that the West Indian is able to contain as a man, to give full expression to its individuality. In no other field, either social, political, or economic, has the man in the streets, has the middle class man in his business been able to exercise their unrestricted control and to demonstrate freely their ability. What we have to do therefore, is to translate from the field of crickets to the economic and social level of these islands, the same freedom of movement, not only in the geographic sense, because as I explained yesterday, we have already transferred too many of our people with initiative to the UK, the USC, Panama, and British Guyana. Therefore, when I say that there should be the greatest possible freedom of movement, or rather the greatest political, social, and economic mobility would probably be a more accurate definition, end of quote. 40 years later, CRICOM leaders recognize the need for freedom of movement within the community in the revision of the Treaty of Chagoramas to allow for the establishment of the CSME, one of the key elements of the CSME as you know, is freedom of movement of labour. For the people of the Caribbean to be able to move freely and work and establish businesses throughout the member states. The implementation of this principle has been as labored as the implementation of the single market itself. The free movement of persons regime is based on allowing persons of certain certified skills to be able to move freely and work within the region. In 2006, the CRICOM heads first designated five categories of persons who would qualify for free movement, and over the years this has been expanded to 12 as of 2022. Despite this phased approach, freedom of movement has faced difficulties as the necessary national legislation and an administrative framework to give effect to the principle has run into delays in several member states. There is still a fear in some countries that they would be adversely affected by freedom of movement. In October 2011, hearing Barbados at the David Thompson Memorial Lecture, the Prime Minister of Dominica, the Honourable Roosevelt Scarrett, addressed this apprehension. The community is losing its skills to the rest of the world and is in a global competition for scarce skills. Member states should not continue to hold on to the unreasonable fears or hostility towards other CRICOM nationals. The statistics reveal an unexpected picture. A comprehensive migration and free movement study conducted by the CRICOM secretariat in the period June 2009 to June 2010 showed that approximately 4,500 persons moved through the skills regime in the period 1997 to June 2010. In spite of these low figures, there are persistent rumours that countries have been flooded by CRICOM nationals. The same study provided that in the period 2000 to June 2010 an estimated 85,000 work permits were issued by member states. Over 63,750 were issued to nationals of food countries. By food countries, women nationals who are not CRICOM citizens. These findings clearly highlight that the main movers in our community in the past decade have been non-CRICOM nationals. So foreign nationals are finding and creating job opportunities for themselves in our region, while our CRICOM citizens do not appear to be taking full advantage of the opportunities open to them in this regard. End of quote. In 2019, a study by the International Organization for Migration found that Trindan to Bego and Guyana were the two countries selling the greatest number of inter-regional migrants, simultaneously Trindan to Bego also figured among the top two receivers with Barbados of CRICOM nationals. In 2017, 71% of the skills certificates issued were for university graduates followed by holders of associate degrees with almost 11%. That study concluded the CRICOM and OECS free movement regimes expand the avenues that allow people to move facilitating greater opportunity to travel, seek employment, access social services, and established businesses. Available data suggests that although within this region, some countries utilize the free movement provisions more than others. In fact, the application of such provisions has manifested in a gradual increase in inter-regional mobility, rather than in large migration movements. End of quote. In March 2022, in responding in the Trindan to Bego Senate to opposition criticisms of the Immigration Caribbean Community Skills Nationals Amendment Bill 2022, Trindan to Bego Foreign and Curricum Affairs Minister Dr. Emery Brown pointed out the benefits to the country. And he said, our nationals have been benefiting under the categories of skilled workers identified by the CSME. These categories include musicians, media workers, sports people, and registered nurses. When the bill is proclaimed, Trindan to Bego nationals will be able to access 10 categories of skilled workers for free movements. 442 workers and 417 spouses of workers came to this country between 2017 and this year. In 2018, CRICOM leaders agreed that the free movement of skilled workers was to be achieved within three years to 2021. While there is now agreement to provide for free movement of 12 categories of workers, including agricultural workers, we are now in 2023, two years past the deadline, and 2023 is the 50th anniversary of CRICOM. So after 50 years of regional integration, it is time that CRICOM adopts the arrow borrows position, that there should be the greatest possible freedom of movement. Essentially, the requirement for freedom of movement of persons within the community should simply be proof that the person is a CRICOM national, a passport, or national ID card. This is already successfully taken place within the OECS Economic Union, whose members make up half of CRICOM. It can happen now within CRICOM. 4, as arrow borrows said in 1986, if we have sometimes failed to comprehend the essence of the regional integration movement, the truth is that thousands of ordinary Caribbean people do.  We are a family of islands nesting closely under the shelter of the great cooperative Republic of Diana, and this fact of regional togetherness is lived every day by ordinary West Indian men and women in the commons and goins, the small traders, and some not so small who move from Jamaica to Haiti, or what I believe is the legitimate business. The same with Grenada, Trinidad, Barbados, and Saint Lucia, and Dominica. I should like to believe that we are all committed to the principle of mobility and people interaction. However, can we speak of freedom of movement when it's easier to get to send kits by American Airlines than original airline? To come to Barbados, I had to, that's one of the show. With the unfortunate demise of Liat, which is owned by regional governments, a huge void has emerged. Travelling around the region today has become a nightmare, both from the standpoint of high fares and reduced flight availability. It is having an undermining effect on the economic prospects of the region. This state of affairs must not be allowed to continue for much longer. It must be fixed as a matter of urgency. For years, two Cairo government have also spoken of a fast ferry service between the islands, but these are yet to materialize. The issue of regional A and C transportation must be approached from the premise that regional transportation is a regional public good, and as such governments must invest in and finance it because it is a duty they owe the people of the Caribbean. Regional integration in the Caribbean will never be effective if the people cannot and do not have the means and the systems to move freely between the islands and to easily communicate between themselves and share their ambitions and their experiences with each other. How can we be serious about building a vibrant regional community and single market if the people who are the main participants cannot get around the region freely and affordably? Let us therefore no longer circumcise their mobility and the interaction and let Cairo come grow on the freedom of our people to interact, to work, live, and enjoy their lives together. The food crisis, in what was to be its final address at the Cairo Come Heads of Government meeting on Food July 1987, Aero Barrow identified two weaknesses of the Caribbean community which are still with us today and which must be resolved. If the community is to be, is to meaningfully exist for another 50 years, one was the food crisis and attributed its identification to the Prime Minister of Trindal and Tobago at the time, Dr. Eric Williams, and I quote, I should like to recall a voice and a great mentor who has never been without ideas about this danger and who tried to reverse the suicidal tendency which pervaded all our history. Dr. Eric Williams will have to be heard again and again whenever we say agriculture. He had a conception of food production which was regional, I quote from him, on the Caribbean food crisis. Food production must be approached as a basic industry to be run on commercial lines by a corporation collectively owned by the governments of the area and making approved investments in different territories. This in practical terms means a Caribbean community market. Production must aim to satisfy not only the food needs of the local population of the Caribbean, it must also take into account the needs of the extensive tourist trade in such countries as Barbados and Jamaica as well as the export market beginning with the Caribbean region, Suriname, the Netherlands, Antilles, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the commercial cooperation and visage for the production of food on a large scale must keep the needs of these Caribbean areas in mind. Dr. Eric Williams wanted to correct the preference for imported foods which has been a major cause of our psychological dependency before and after independence and he wanted to help make agriculture a respected occupation because we needed it to make food production a respected industry because we cannot survive without it and because it is it also required gifts of intellect and high technical competence, end of quotes. I have quoted extensively from Erobaros observations on the food crisis because it is as relevant today as it was then and some would say it is even more relevant today because since that time we in Caricum have failed to diminish to diminish much less solve that crisis. In 1976, Caricum established the Caribbean Food Corporation, the CFC, as a commercially oriented organization whose mandate was to provide the production and marketing for a 1975 regional food plan. It was to promote and finance viable agribusinesses in the Caribbean by 1999 the CFC was no longer viable and had ceased to exist. Today Caricum countries import US 6 billion worth of food every year to feed their people and visitors in their vital tourism industries. According to the World Bank 80 to 90 percent of all the food consumed in the region comes from abroad. Only Haiti, Ghana and Belize produce more than 50 percent of their own food. What is even more dire is that 40 percent of the English-speaking Caribbean is food insecure. A Caricum survey in 2022 found food consumption and diets were deteriorating for 25 percent of the people. 25 percent of the respondents eating less preferred foods, 30 percent skipping meals or eating less than usual and 5 percent going an entire day without eating in the week leading up to the survey. It is estimated that there are 2.7 million food insecure persons in the English-speaking Caribbean and with food prices continuing to skyrocket from global inflation fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine War the food crisis in the region more than anything else is the most serious challenge facing Caricum today and will continue to be if something is not done in the decades ahead. Heads of government have recognized this and it is recalled that last year Caricum held two major agri-investment forums one in Maine, Ghana and in August in Trinidad and Tobago to examine transforming regional agriculture for innovation and investment it is not worthy that the majority of heads of government attended attended the food crisis in the region demands urgent and immediate action the heads of government have agreed to increase food production by 25 percent by 2025 we have the land to do this in Ghana, Belize, Suriname and Jamaica we have vast acreages of fertile uncultivated land can the capital be mobilized to develop these lands the regional private sector must be seized of these opportunities and act on them we must therefore move quickly to remove whatever tariff and non-tariff barriers that are still impeding regional trade in regionally produced agriculture products we must act rapidly to correct the inadequate regional transportation network so there can be a viable means of moving food across the region what is perhaps most critical in addressing the food crisis in Caricum is the need to radically change the pattern of our food consumption in the region as I've constantly said in my country St. Lucia in the past year sometimes ridiculed for it we need to eat what we grow and grow what we eat it was something that both Errol Barrow and Eric Williams urged in 1986 and I quote Dr Eric Williams wanted to help put an end to the insult he heard school children exchanged about their past I quote I myself accounted a group of young people to whom I was speaking and who assured me that they have no part of any agricultural program related to the small farmer and local food stuff because commodities like Eddow's and Dachin were slave food the colonel from the confedred itself has won the battle for the minds of our children I am happy to say I don't think this would happen in Dominica where school children are making our cultural work a normal part of their curriculum and it is there we need to begin in the schools if we are going if we are going to correct this hostility directed towards the production of the food which is the very fuel of our existence and if you are going to help another generation to understand while self-sufficiently maybe one of the greatest forces of resistance to any form of external penetration end of quotes and adjust to the that is an adjust to the curriculum heads of government conference 3rd July 1986 in George Town Garner the second weakness in curriculum that era borrow identified in 1986 was communication as and he said what is the source of our failure I should like to share some of my own misgivings the force has to do with communication and the ways in which we communicate for many of our people the regional movement has come to mean matters which relate exclusively to trade who who will buy my shoots and what conditions whose markets will open up for my pepper sauce my govagelly who will buy my white son and who will buy my gray son these are realistic questions but but we have made them the exclusive justification of our being together and this has been a grave shortcoming whatever recognize it or not we have a cultural history a common experience of feeling which goes deeper and is much older than curriculum and the negotiations about trade we have not been able to communicate the essence and the cultural infrastructure of the regional integration movement borrow for July 1986 he went on to call on every institution on organization to accept the challenge of communicating that the region is a larger concept than trade it's a challenge that carry come itself has not properly answered or fulfilled 26 years later after borrowed issuance only last September at the lecture in Barbados the secretary secretary general of curriculum Dr. Carla Bennett admitted that and I and I quote our inability to effectively communicate and secure broad-based buying for the initiatives comprising the program of work for implementing the CSME more particularly we have not adequately articulated our successes as a regional integration movement in a manner which motivates the demand by ordinary citizens of the community for continued national implementation of regional decisions it is true and of course it is true that we have not made the people of the region feel the importance of carry come to them let us ask ourselves how many take an interest in our meetings of heads of government will they miss these meetings if they are not held will they even be aware if they if these meetings fail to take place the contemporary revolution in communications the advent of social media for example has made it easier to communicate and he must capitalize on this more resources are required for extensive communication to the people on a daily basis but that should not be the responsibility of the carry come secretary at only the private sector has a major role to play in this also there is need for traditional media outlets radio and television that are regionally oriented in the content and their focus and to which the people of the region can tune into on a daily basis for news and information about the Caribbean community one recalls the popular radio until is based in Montshoch we finance from a German producer in the mid 90s when it fell victim to the Montshoch volcano then there was BBC Caribbean service with his daily Caribbean report and sports Caribbean which the BBC closed in 2011 after decades of broadcasting to an appreciative regional audience it should be noted that both these services were externally sponsored the Caribbean news agency Canada was established to increase regional awareness for a significantly higher output of visual news and information unfortunately Canada has all but disappeared and is not uncommon first to know more international news more about Trump than the happenings erring in neighborhood island 30 minutes away when the BBC Caribbean service ceased in 2011 the cessation of Caribbean media workers ACM consumed by the loss issued a call which is yet to be answered and I quote the Caribbean needs a distinctive service of a high quality news and information that is collected distilled and explained by some as veteran journalists and not a hodgepodge of duplicated copy from national media houses let it not be said that the moment of adversity the Caribbean media failed to shed consideration and looked at profit instead to create a trustworthy source of news and information they have failed and to the Caribbean private sector and governments should collaborate to reverse it so as to ensure that the reality of integration must become in the woods of Errol Barrow and essential parts of the consciousness of the population foreign policy the right honorable Errol Barrow was not only a proud Barbadian patriot but he was an ardent Caribbean nationalist fiercely guarding the identity the identity sovereignty and independence of the country of the Caribbean he was an anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist this is why he declared that Barbados would be and I quote a friend of all and satellite of none this is why he drew attention and I quote to the need to protect our small communities from the exploitation by undesirable influences that is why he announced in July 1986 that my position also remains clear that Caribbean people must be recognized as unrespected as a zone of peace that is why there is a fundamentals there is a fundamental theme I should like I should like to think there there can be no difference and that is the absolute necessity to promote and defend the solidarity and sovereignty of the original Caribbean family and also the absolute obligation to discover these strategies and mechanisms which ultimately lead to unity of action in all major areas of our economic and social political life end of quote the pillar foreign policy coordination bike bike curriculum first enshrined in 1973 in 1973 treaty was one of the mechanisms for unity of action in the political life of the community this was important for Barrow because within the Caribbean community and common market and I quote however the regional as a whole will carry more bargaining with when confronting food parties trading groups and international organizations Barrow 19 June 1973 Barrow Manly Williams and Burnham demonstrated this and all of them and all of the foreign policy themes exposed by Barrow when the 8th December 1982 Barbados Ghana Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago established diplomatic relations with our fellow Caribbean country of Cuba this was against the dictates of the United States and the action of other Caribbean countries that had told the US line we have managed in our four countries and Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago Ghana Barbados to sustain our independence to the extent that we are considered to have committed an act of defiance in October last year when we took a lead in the Western Hemisphere in deciding to open diplomatic relations with the Republic of Cuba much to the shagway of our regional neighbors in the north said so in Toronto in April 1973 this has been one of the greatest acts of foreign policy coordination by correct by curriculum states for it has stood the test of time and today Cuba and curriculum countries enjoy a close and beneficial relationship only recently the 50th anniversary of this event was celebrated here in Barbados by curriculum countries and the president of Cuba since 1982 the record of foreign policy coordination in curriculum has been mixed it was successful in the struggle against apartheid in the non-aligned movement during the cool war and in negotiations for a new trade relationship with the European market but it has been divided in some critical areas there was stark division over the US-led sanctions and other actions of aggression against Venezuela and its president Nicolas Maduro with six curriculum states visibly siding with president Donald Trump on that issue in the decades ahead curriculum countries must reach for foreign policy harmonization harmonization rather than coordination and this is based on the absolute necessity to promote and defend the solidarity and sovereignty of this regional Caribbean family Barrow 1986 there will be continued economic and geopolitical threats and challenges to the Caribbean as a zone of peace but more importantly today there is an existential threat to all of us it is it is climate change that in the battle for climate justice the Caribbean must have one voice it must have unity of action failure could very well mean the disappearance in 50 years time of the type of island states that we are today there is one other aspect of Barrow's position that the Caribbean must be respected that the Caribbean must be must be respected as a zone of peace of which we must recognize the threats to peace in the Caribbean and not only external but also internal instability in one member state cannot be good for the community and so it is incumbent on curriculum to help solve the crisis of governance and security in Haiti today with its humanitarian and other problems while the community is currently in dialogue with Haitian authorities and stakeholders for a solution to the problem there are differences of opinion as to the best approach we must be united in our mediation efforts we need to succeed because we owe a historical debt to the people of Haiti for the for the brave overflow of slavery and colonization and the strike for black liberation 200 years ago we must succeed because the problems have partly stemmed from a 200-year history of interference and interventions in their affairs invasions of the country and economic exploitation by imperialist powers we need to succeed if only for economic reasons because Haiti with over 11 million people is the largest marketing curriculum further it is reported to have huge untapped mineral resources of oil and natural and natural gas after South Africa the second largest deposits of the rare metal uranium gold and estimated us 20 billion copper silver and marble the initiative to ensure that Haiti is a fully functional member of curriculum must be a top priority for the community the other internal threat to peace in curriculum is the rising rate of violent gun crimes in some of our member states including my own St. Lucia and more noticeably in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago uncontrollable crime can retard the economic development of our countries and damage the livelihoods of our people the solutions to crime are complex however the gravity and similarity of the current crime problem in some of our countries requires urgent and determined regional collaboration on its short and long-term solutions and for the curriculum implementation agency for crime and security we must increase our efforts in that direction leadership finally finally i turn to the question of leadership the leadership of our Caribbean community what can we learn from Erobaru as Caribbean leaders face the start of the next 50 years of curriculum it is universally accepted that one of the major reasons for the so progress of regional integration in the Caribbean despite its 50 year history is the failure of the heads of government to implement the decisions that they have taken to further the integration process study after study report after report commission after commission has blamed curriculum's implementation deficit for the integration process not being more advanced and have recommended improvements to its governance system the current leadership of caricum has accepted this and has agreed to the latest recommendation in that regard they have adopted the protocol of enhanced cooperation whereby a subgroup of countries can proceed to implement regional decisions at a faster pace while others who are not yet ready can do so when they are able to this approach was what Erobaru suggested when he proposed the idea of Carifter to Forbes Bonham in July 1965 heads of government have also agreed to meet more frequently by holding six meetings annually virtually and in person this is moving in the right direction but i believe that today's leaders will be even better placed to chart the way forward if we adopt the attitudes and perspectives of regional integration that leaders like Baro exhibited and that have brought us 50 years of regional integration first Erobaru was very frank in his discussions with leaders of the other regional governments as to the state of regional integration and what has required for it it is addressed to the first meeting of heads of government of Cormac Caribbean countries in Port of Spain on July 27 22 963 just one year after the breakup of the Federation he did not hesitate to convey the feelings of other Eastern Caribbean leaders who were not at the meeting and his own disappointment at what had transpired and i quote in this singular capacity therefore my reception of this invitation had been one of satisfaction that after a short period of 20 years the dim light of revelation of the benefits of regional cooperation has dawned upon leaders of our newly independent neighbors and friends in Jamaica and Trindad the reception by others not involved in these talks has been one of looking back in anger to the failures of past attempts to bring together and keep together the long-suffering peoples of the British Caribbean an objective from which we alone have never turned aside and towards which we are even now relentlessly working we have continued to struggle to make one of many whilst others have succeeded only in making many of one the last line was surely a dig at both Jamaica and Trindad Jamaica which are abandoned Federation first to become independent and Trindad whose Prime Minister Eric Williams had famously said after Jamaica's departure from the 10 from the 10 member Federation that one from 10 live zero Barrow went on to see the first commitment of the people of Barbados is association of our fellow men and governments in eastern Caribbean so disdained because of their size dismissed as insignificant insignificant by realistic phrases like liquid eight or liquid seven reviled because of their low income structures as likely to be a I like it to be a dream on the economies of the more powerful neighbors and discarded on the rubbish heat heap of colonialism it is not surprising to this extent of disillusionment that they should view with suspicion any attempt to gain entry into the markets on the pretext of economic cooperation without the greater labilities attendant upon a complete federal system end of code secondly Barrow was bold with the waters of the with the waters of the Caribbean sea still awash with the fallout and ranker from the breakup of the Federation he dared to invite Bonham of Guyana to discuss the launching of a free trade area while still reeling against those whom he considered had failed the Federation character readers today must be just as bold in the decision making and the actions on integration foodly Errol Barrow was an integrationist to the bone and he approached the task of regional integration not as prime minister whose business was to demonstrate the fact of being prime minister but it is so as a Caribbean citizen who put the region first and he was not the only one doing so as he explained in the integration of curriculum on 4th July 1973 at Chagoramas to me this is the end of a long of a long journey neither one of us I did a prime minister of Jamaica the prime minister of Ghana or I had any ambitions to be prime ministers we had ambitions at that time to see the Caribbean integrated today I had a young aspiring political contenders stating that they want to be prime ministers as if being a prime minister is I taken an examination and once you achieve the past mark you are automatically a prime minister I can now see that remembering what took place in Kingston Jamaica none of the four of us set out to be prime ministers the distinguished prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago did not even want to be a politician end of quotes in the midst of kind of regional integration those honorable gentlemen were integrationists and people folks and prime ministers after as curriculum ends the first 50 years of vision integration I urge all of us leaders and citizens alike to adopt the approach of Errol Barrow and the other leaders that in this that in this journey the only goal must be to see the Caribbean fully integrated so that in 50 years time curriculum will not have gone but curriculum would have become not a community of states but a truly integrated community of the peoples of the Caribbean economically prosperous socially advanced culturally confident and proudly independent I thank you


So, just few conceptual things which might help you sometime in your career, I like to show you two situations because you are asking about the vedo zone and someone from here was talking about the vedo zone. So, there are normally four zones of soils, the ground surface is this, there is something known as maximum capillary zone or sometime we call as maximum capillary rise. Then we have I should not show it as with water, this is the capillary saturation and this is somewhere the water table is. This is what I have defined as H c, in some of the books you will find this as H c max also, but I hope you can realize that this is the maximum possible height of the water which can be in the tube. So, normally I do not write H c max, instead I will try to differentiate between the two by giving this as H c s capillary saturation zone alright and this is the water table. Here you will be having the bottom of the bottom surface, what are the peculiar characteristics of these zones, below the water table everything is saturated, here everything is saturated because of the capillary action, here also the material might be saturated, might be partially saturated, from here to here is a dry state because capillarity has no effect on this zone. So, I will write it down and you might use this information, so this is partially saturated downward percolating water table, this is partially saturated with the capillary water, this is saturated with capillary water, this one is saturated with which type of water, phreatic water. So, this is a zone, this is another zone, have you understood this ground surface, then there is something known as the maximum height of capillary followed by the saturated with capillary, then you have free water table which is phreatic, each and every point below the water table is going to be in the positive state of stress, wherever the capillarity comes in picture it becomes negative, when capillary action ceases there is no water, it is a dry condition. Some of the questions are related to this discussion, have you got the answer to your question or still if you have a question I will try to answer, there was some confusion related to the phreatic line, is this clear, there was something related to the capillary thing that is clear, you are talking about something is this ok, yes we will come to that, we will come to that. So, first thing you understand is below phreatic line everything is saturated, is under positive stresses clear, anything above the water column and where the capillary action is taking place might be saturated, might be unsaturated and the pressures are negative because of suction only the water is getting lifted up from here to here and suction is being caused because of surface tension, is this part ok. Once you have taught all this in the class then only the guys can learn geomechanics otherwise it is a white wash, you will not realize the big big companies they do not know even the concepts of geotechnical engineering and major losses to the government and to the private houses. So, what I do, I do every day may be 10 corrections of the reports which come to me from different industries and I penalize them for giving a wrong solution, have you realized this, these are the basic consults people have forgotten, nobody knows and they are consultants, how to use what parameter for computing the state itself people are not aware of a very poor state of affairs in civil engineering. Just to give you an idea about how much the capillary action could be, if I plot h c versus the d 10 on a log scale, this is also in millimeters and this is also in millimeters. The first thing is as d 10 increases h c will drop down, this is h c, this is the line for h c s somewhere here you have clays and the magnitude of s c would be 10 to the power 4, then you have silt 10 power 3 to 10 power 4, then you have sands 300 to 10 power 3 mm, then we have gravels 20 to 100 mm normally gravels are not supposed to show you the capillary action, this just to give you an idea. I hope now you can get an answer that why and deserts cactus survives and cactus can lift water from 100 meter to 100 meter deep as well, you must have done this problem in your engineering mechanics course, suppose if I give you a capillary tube sorry h c is in millimeter or this is h c and this is h c s, you are talking about gravels, say it is 10 power 3 to 10 power 4, they are rough numbers, so do not just go by what I have written. The idea was to show the trend that as the diameter increases the h c decreases, I should write this as not as h c, this will be h. You must have done this problems in your undergraduate first year d 1 and d 2 diameter, this is l 1 and this is l 2 and this capillary tube is kept in the water bath, you remember this problem and what will be the height of water column in the capillary tube, you agree, you can you have done I am sure, you can solve this problem, try attempting this, different cases you study and see what governs the capillary action in the tube, whether d 1 governs or d 2 governs using the same concepts. This capillarity phenomena is normally used in define the shrinkage limit of soils or in other words shrinkage is guided by the capillary action, you must have done laboratory experiment where the soil sample is taken and then you are air drying it. Now, this is how I can idealize this, this specimen is having pores, so this is the pore and this is the soil skeleton and this is the center line. So, best way to define shrinkage of the material is, you remember I had drawn this free body diagram of the two grains, what surface tension does? It brings particles closer to each other, water is under tension, so soil is under compression, is this correct, is this correct or not? Now, what happens is that these pores are filled up with water and when I am allowing the free evaporation taking place from the soil, this is how the meniscus gets formed from both sides. So, enlarge view would be like this, this is the center line of the sample, this is the meniscus formation and this is the meniscus formation. If I use this concept because of the water and surface tension, the grains are under compression, so when evaporation takes place from the soil, soil sample gets compressed and it comes up to the shrinkage limit. By definition shrinkage limit is the state of the material where air has not entered into the system and it remains saturated, clear. So, this is the model which can be utilized to show how the shrinkage of the soil mass is taking place. So, capillarity and its application is in determining the shrinkage limit of the soils. State of stress in the soil mass, let us start with the simple ground surface and at a depth z, I want to find out what is the state of stress. Now, this state of stress is normally defined as sigma, if I define this as let us say point number P, sigma P. As long as it is dry, sigma P will be equal to gamma dry into z. This is the state of stress at this point, but suppose if I say that the water table is also here. So, in the first case your pore of pressure is also going to be 0 without water. I will not mix it with this now. However, if you have the ground surface and there is a water table and if I ask you to find out at point P the state of stress, this is z. So, sigma P here would be gamma into z, but this gamma is saturated now because the water table is here. Now, if you want to find out the pore of pressure at this point, the pore to pressure will be again the same concept. You have to put a piezometer here and let this piezometer show the height of rise in water up to z. So, the pore of pressure at this point would be gamma w into z. So, what is the effective pressure here? This will be gamma saturated into z minus gamma w into z. This becomes gamma submerged into z. Is this okay? I can draw the pressure diagrams also. So, the pressure diagrams would be this is for u w which is equal to gamma w into z and for sigma P also I can plot the pressure distribution. So, this is for sigma P and this is for u w. I think this is what you are discussing. So, I hope you have understood now how to compute the state of stress at this point P and the pore of pressure. So, I can plot the variation of pore of pressure if I substitute z and if I know z I can compute the normal stress also. The third situation could be when you have a partially saturated system. Suppose if I say there is a partially. So, this is situation number one, situation number two, situation number three. Ever wonder why buildings collapse in bombacity during rains? The answer comes from here. This is the ground surface and during rains what is going to happen? Suppose if this is the point P, what are logging? Is this correct? Say z 1 and this is z. What is your intuitive feeling? What has happened to sigma P and u w? Quickly. Yes, do it systematically. So, sigma P will be equal to gamma w z 1 plus z gamma saturated. Is this ok? This is the over weight and up to this point this is the whole system water table is here. So, the whole soil mass is saturated. At this point the stresses will be gamma w z 1 plus gamma saturated into z. What is the pore water pressure at this point? Put the piezometer again. So, if I put a piezometer here, where is the phreatic surface? This becomes phreatic surface atmospheric pressure line exposed to the atmosphere clear. So, height of the water column here would be z 1 plus z. So, that means u w will be equal to gamma w z 1 plus z. So, what has happened in terms of the effective stresses at point P? So, this will be gamma w z 1 plus z gamma submerged minus z 1 gamma w minus z gamma w. When I cancel these two things, do not think that mathematically I am canceling something. Do you get my point? It is not that mathematically I have cancelled gamma w z 1 and gamma w z 1. What is the physics behind this? This water column is contributing to both the pore water pressure as well as the surcharge that effect goes. So, water logging never creates a problem. Remember throughout your life, water logging is welcome. Is this okay? Because what has happened to effective stresses? Now gamma submerged, sorry, please excuse me. This is gamma saturated alright. So, z gamma saturated minus z, this will be z into gamma submerged. Effective stress remain constant whether the water table is on the surface or whether it has gone up. So, what is the problem? Why buildings collapse? When water table drops down and let us try to analyze that situation. If you can maintain the water level up to that point forever, there is no issue. So, let us do a quick analysis. Situation number 4, this is the ground surface and the water table has gone down. There is a drop in water table and I am interested in finding out the state of stress at this point which is at a depth of z. This has gone down by z 1. Can you compute now quickly and see what is happening? So, sigma p will be equal to, let us take a simple case of this material as gamma. This is where I can play tricks. That depends upon the type of soil you are dealing with granular, cohesive, compacted, capillary action, no capillary action, all those things. Simple case, this will be gamma into z 1 plus z minus z 1 into gamma saturated. What is the pore water pressure at this point? u w. Normal simple cases granular material is filled up over here. This will be z minus z 1 into gamma w. Remember, the pore water pressure, sorry, the piezometric tube has to be kept here and this goes up to the free attic table. So, this is your z minus z 1. Is this fine? What has happened to the effective stresses? This will be gamma z 1 plus z gamma saturated minus z 1 gamma saturated. This pore water pressure is positive minus z gamma w plus z 1 gamma w. z gamma saturated minus z gamma w, we can quickly take care of this will become plus z gamma submerged clear z 1 gamma saturated minus gamma w minus z 1 gamma submerged plus gamma z 1. Is this correct?  Is this ok? What is your intuitive feeling? Z gamma submerged, z gamma submerged and here what has happened? You have z gamma submerged. I can write this as z gamma submerged plus z 1 gamma minus gamma submerged. Is this ok? So, what is your intuitive feeling? What has happened? What I am trying to prove? This component has got added up with this effective stresses have increased at a given point. So, if effective stresses have increased at a given point, Calcutta metro, the tunneling, this is the grain and this is the grain because of the thin film of water, surface tension they came close to each other and this is your sigma prime exactly. Sigma prime cannot be measured. There is no way. Sigma can be measured and u w can be measured. Now, repeat your question. I will answer. Your question was different. How repeat is that? Balancing what? So, answer to your question is not balancing anything. So, suppose because you are discussing suppose this was a confined system alright and suddenly the confinement got broken, damps. So, what is going to happen? If this gets broken, the water moves out, water table drops down, collapse occurs alright. So, whenever there is a movement of water table below, drop in water table, this is going to be detrimental. Confinement can get removed in several ways. You had done sheet piling. Remember two years back what happened in one of the prime localities of Bombay? Times of India first page. Clear? Sometime back what happened somewhere else in Bombay city? So, confinement gets removed could be because of anything. I may remove the piles. Piles are not designed properly. There was a deflection. Clear?  So, these are construction techniques. Question has been answered. So, it so happens that you cannot do anything with this. So, what I should be doing? Just to wind up today's lecture, pump in the fluids and that is what Venice is doing. Read the Venice case. So, what they are doing? They are trying to lift the entire city up. What they have done? They have dig out maybe at least 40, 50, 100 deep wells and what they are doing now in those deep wells? They are pumping in water. Why? Look at this. They have to bring it up. So, the more and more water you are consuming, what is going to happen? This is what is happening. Underground tunneling. Bombay city is having maximum number of tunnels now. Are you aware of this? Very close to IIT there is a big failure. So, quickly give you answer how to tackle with this problem. Tomorrow some of you will become consultants. Is this correct? My job is to tell them the answer. So, suppose if I was doing a tunneling over here and the water table earlier was here and if I am not careful what I have done? I have done a tunneling and the water starts entering in the tunnel. I have created a situation like this. You were talking about the same thing? Lack of confinement. What here has happened is a different case because of creating a void I have allowed water to seep into. Any type of lowering of water table is going to cause this. I can, I might be doing pumping also. So, I can install a pump over here, tube wells and these tube wells are taking over water to irrigate the land or whatever industrial purpose. What is happening? Initially the water table was somewhere here then it went down to this and this and this everything will collapse. The same problem hydrocarbon extraction guys are facing. Remember you are sitting on the top of this in the form of a hydraulic platform or what do you call this as a jack up platform.  It is a very difficult task and that is why the charges are one lakh times more than whatever you get in the onshore industry clear. Now, what you are doing? This is the well through passing through your platform and you started extraction of hydrocarbons. So, what is going to happen? This whole thing is vulnerable to collapse and this is how the accidents occur fine. So, this is the geomechanics. We will be talking about this in details. Hope you are enjoying it and one more situation. There was an aquifer let us say somewhere here alright. This is an aquifer water table it means this is an aquifer and I punctured it by putting a shaft of a tunnel. What is going to happen? Again same thing what is percolating through this tunnel water table lowering down. So, gas extraction hydrocarbon extraction water extraction mining processes all of them are going to be difficult situations to handle. So, what we are supposed to do? Our job is to tackle these situations. Somebody was asking how would you tackle it? This is how I will tackle it.


A public hearing on the bill to establish the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Examiners became rowdy on Thursday in the House of Representatives over allegation of plegerism. The public hearing was organised by the House Joint Committees on Anti-Corruption and Commerce. Details in this report. Addressing journalists separately, heads of the two institutes maintained the stance on the proposed bill. Both are nearly unmade submissions on the public hearing held by the House Joint Committee on Anti-Corruption and Commerce. The pro-term president of the Chartered Institute of Forensics and Investigative Auditors of Nigeria, Enakmeh Victoria, said they were taken aback when they discovered that the proposed bill was allegedly a duplication of their bill passed by the Eight Assembly. On hearing this, we became curious and our curiosity led us to critically look at the provision of the newly introduced bill alongside with others which has already been passed by the National Assembly and we discovered that the provision of the new bill nearly duplicates the provisions of our bill. Chartered Institute of Forensics and University Professionals of Nigeria that has just been passed by the two chambers of National Assembly is an injustice. If this should be allowed. However, the Chief Executive Chartered Institute of Forensics and Certified Fraud Examiners of Nigeria, Gashin Baki, who debunked her claim, said the bill seeks to address the existing gaps and the growing complexities in the ways financial transactions have been conducted, especially with the use of technology and other reasons. Accountants are not fraud examiners. Neither accountants are forensic experts. And that is why, and which is also one of the accounting bodies, understanding that forensic sciences is a deployment of science to do forensics, understood from the beginning that that traditional training of accountants that we have is not sufficient. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Bajabyanmila, who was represented by the House Deputy Leader, Peter Aqpartisan said the country is in dire need of capable accountants in the fight against corruption in the country, insisting that the bill is coming at the right time. In the legislative agenda of the Nites House of Representatives, we also stated, so we also identified the fight against corruption as one of the critical areas of our action and attention. I assure Nigerians that our commitment in this regard remains as steadfast today as it was then. The misconception arose due to the similarities of the nomenclature of the names of the institutes and their functions as it's passed in the provisions of the two bills, hence the need for the National Assembly to do what is required to save Nigerians from the semen confusions. Thank you.