Island of Sark
The island of Sark, one of channel islands which has been a self governing feudal system for hundreds of years has now become democratic following open elections last week. There are roughly 480 people living on the island. It is fiercely traditional and slow to change. And this reluctance to change had caused two brothers to blackmail the island into voting for their own candidates.
The Barclay brothers, twins who own the famous Ritz hotel in London, have business interests on the island. The twins themselves have a house in a nearby island under Sark control. The newest tiniest democratic government in the world, was being held to ransom by two extremely wealthy men – what an introduction to the reality of big business interfering with democratic politics.
The Barclays threatened to pull out of Sark, causing 150 people to lose their jobs which is nearly one third of the population. Clearly these men more or less own Sark and fancy themselves as a pair of ruling Kings with their subjects at their beck and call. Their treachery is disgusting and typical of the ‘gentry’ in Britain.
There's TWO of them
The pair are also Lords, knighted by the Queen of England for being, well, rich powerful overlords helping to maintain the ruling classes in Britain. This is exactly what used to happen in Ireland when tenants who did not vote for the Landlords candidate were evicted off the land. These people are abhorrant. They truly believe they are superior and have the right to determine the future of others. So they engage in blackmail and economic threats to look after their own agenda. They tried to strangle the baby at birth.
But despite the threat to their livelihoods, the islanders of Sark did not vote for the Barclay candidates and now they face serious economic problems as a result. But rather than have two paymasters telling them how to run their own island, they said no. They said no to big business running their affairs and interfering in their brand new democracy. They chose true freedom rather than the illusion of freedom (money, wealth, consumer choice). So well done to Sark for having the balls to say no and taking the chance to map out their own destiny. If only other western democracies could say the same.
Read about it here…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/7779656.stm
Read about Sark here…
Good post, Hm, inspiring – and educational!
Oh, I like the cut of those Sark people’s jib.
Barclay Bastards.
nothing else to add really.
poobumwilly.
Just to play devil’s advocate (i love that game), but isn’t it equally the right of the business to up-and-leave if and when they desire? If the political climate of sark no longer suits the barclays, why do they owe it to the inhabitants to continue providing them with jobs?
Yeah but it’s immoral hold them to ransom. It’s business people who have established the status quo regarding the mobility of business around the world not the people who are affected by it. The owners and beneficiaries of businesses live where and do what they like regardless of who works for them and where they work for them.
Once they move their enterprise somewhere else, they leave hundreds if not thousands of people wondering what the rest of their lives will be like. It’s not balanced. And this is what modern day terrorism is really about and it’s going to morph into civil unrest in western democracies on a scale not seen before. Once the problem becomes global, the reaction too will become global. It’s happening already.
Drop a tactical one on the fuckers