US Congresmen call for investigation into DR sugar sector

Jan 9, 2004
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They may have been one of the last sectors to get wages increased.................but an increase is what they got;



Respectfully,
Playacaribe2
 

Naked_Snake

Bronze
Sep 2, 2008
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Completely agree. I am as conservative as a Ronnie Reagan clone, but am also a Christian. We are admonished to love our neighbor as ourselves as a demonstration of loving the invisible God. We view (or should view) our wealth as a gift from God. Does that mean we need to live on dirt floors and drink toilet water? Of course not. But we need to help those who can't help themselves. If we are business owners, that means treating them as we wanted to be treated. This is not rocket science or advanced theology. It's just the way things should be.
Conservatism and social justice are a hard (if not near impossible) fit, at least as far as one and the other are understood in the US. In Europe it's another story.

To get the post back on Hispaniolan waters, the only way I see conditions on the bateyes changing is for a political revolution to happen on the island's current colonial metropolis (the US) in such a way that political change can happen here on the island, in pretty much the same way that the distracted state of affairs in France due to the revolution allowed things to proceed the same way on its former colony. Thing is, seeing how things have fared for Haiti after its revolution, the remedy might end up being worse than the disease itself for an hypothetical Haitian revolution v2.0 as well.
 

NanSanPedro

Nickel with tin plating
Apr 12, 2019
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Boca Chica
yeshaiticanprogram.com
Conservatism and social justice are a hard (if not near impossible) fit, at least as far as one and the other are understood in the US. In Europe it's another story.

To get the post back on Hispaniolan waters, the only way I see conditions on the bateyes changing is for a political revolution to happen on the island's current colonial metropolis (the US) in such a way that political change can happen here on the island, in pretty much the same way that the distracted state of affairs in France due to the revolution allowed things to proceed the same way on its former colony. Thing is, seeing how things have fared for Haiti after its revolution, the remedy might end up being worse than the disease itself for an hypothetical Haitian revolution v2.0 as well.

Glad to see you back, NS.

We normally agree, but not here. Conservatism means you work for a living. We do that and try to help those that can't help themselves to become self sufficient. That means we just don't give them a monthly stipend to not work, nor do we pay them to have kids.

As far as the bateys are concerned, I've spend a significant amount of time in a couple of them and visited a few others. I never saw what the OP was talking about. There was electricity available in every one. Colmados to buy real food. Everyone had a kitchen (some were outside) and an outdoor bathroom. I will say that Batey Esperanza had some nasty black water that made a modern sewer smell good, but everyone knew to avoid it.

I'm not saying that what is in the OP doesn't exist, but in seeing about 6 or 7 bateys between 2017 and 2019, that was not my experience.
 
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Naked_Snake

Bronze
Sep 2, 2008
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Glad to see you back, NS.

We normally agree, but not here. Conservatism means you work for a living. We do that and try to help those that can't help themselves to become self sufficient. That means we just don't give them a monthly stipend to not work, nor do we pay them to have kids.

As far as the bateys are concerned, I've spend a significant amount of time in a couple of them and visited a few others. I never saw what the OP was talking about. There was electricity available in every one. Colmados to buy real food. Everyone had a kitchen (some were outside) and an outdoor bathroom. I will say that Batey Esperanza had some nasty black water that made a modern sewer smell good, but everyone knew to avoid it.

I'm not saying that what is in the OP doesn't exist, but in seeing about 6 or 7 bateys between 2017 and 2019, that was not my experience.
"Conservatism means you work for a living. We do that and try to help those that can't help themselves to become self sufficient. That means we just don't give them a monthly stipend to not work, nor do we pay them to have kids."

I don't disagree with that definition you gave. Thing is, the average democratic voter and politician don't see things that way, and there in lies the problem.

As far as the bateyes are concerned, my only gripe with all this is that the political establishment in the US act as if they haven't had a part on the creation of that system (after all, they are part and parcel of the American takeover of the industry here and the rest of the archipiélago before and during the Banana Wars in the 1900-10's). And not only this, but also act as if major political donors (Vicini, Fanjul) as well as a corporate conglomerate (Gulf and Western) aren't involved in it, so they put the onus on the Dominican government to do something about it, only to turn and start yelling if the DR gov overreacts and actually ends up doing something against said interests (which would automatically stick on it the label of communism on a previous era).