Barbados to Remove the Queen as Head of State

[Andsed]

2015 Poll from Barbardos Today: 64% don't support the abolition of the monarchy. This is an undemocratic coup and it will isolate Barbados' crucial tourism industry when it is suffering so much. A distraction from the incompetence of the Mottley administration.

Its not really a coup though. The monarchy has no actual power so this changes nothing in the political landscape. And I doubt many go to Barbados because of the queen. Though yes it would be better for this to be decided by a referendum.

2015 Poll from Barbardos Today: 64% don't support the abolition of the monarchy. This is an undemocratic coup and it will isolate Barbados' crucial tourism industry when it is suffering so much. A distraction from the incompetence of the Mottley administration.

Barbados has tried multiple times to abolish the monarchy through referendum, each time failed. The fact they’re doing it without a referendum now is fishy and undemocratic. I wish Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (LMSR) would dismiss the current administration and force Barbados to hold new elections.

I don´t think she has that power. Much less a way to enforce it if she does. Call me crazy but I don´t think Parliament is going to want to waste time and money invading some random tiny island nation to overthrow its government because they got rid of a powerless institution. That does not exactly look good for voters.

[Estanglia]

2015 Poll from Barbardos Today: 64% don't support the abolition of the monarchy. This is an undemocratic coup and it will isolate Barbados' crucial tourism industry when it is suffering so much. A distraction from the incompetence of the Mottley administration.

If this is a coup, this is the least notable coup in history. It's pretty much "replacing the figurehead monarch with a figurehead politician", aka changes basically nothing. Undemocratic I'll give you that.

And isolate their tourist industry? How many people go to Barbados for a monarch that lives in the UK?

[Atheris]

2015 Poll from Barbardos Today: 64% don't support the abolition of the monarchy. This is an undemocratic coup and it will isolate Barbados' crucial tourism industry when it is suffering so much. A distraction from the incompetence of the Mottley administration.

Coup? No. Undemocratic? Yes. Isolate the tourism industry?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

[The Huskar Social Union]

2015 Poll from Barbardos Today: 64% don't support the abolition of the monarchy. This is an undemocratic coup and it will isolate Barbados' crucial tourism industry when it is suffering so much. A distraction from the incompetence of the Mottley administration.

Barbados has tried multiple times to abolish the monarchy through referendum, each time failed. The fact they’re doing it without a referendum now is fishy and undemocratic. I wish Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (LMSR) would dismiss the current administration and force Barbados to hold new elections.

Yeah that is never going to happen. You really think the UK is gona have a constitutional crisis over a symbolic change in a Caribbean nation?

Near certain it would cause one anyway. And they are not gona care in the slightest. I think Lizzy is a bit too busy with one of her sons being a potential child rapist than Barbados removing her as head of state.

[Novus America]

Barbados has tried multiple times to abolish the monarchy through referendum, each time failed. The fact they’re doing it without a referendum now is fishy and undemocratic. I wish Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (LMSR) would dismiss the current administration and force Barbados to hold new elections.

Yeah that is never going to happen. You really think the UK is gona have a constitutional crisis over a symbolic change in a Caribbean nation?

Also per the Barbados Constitution only the Governor General (not the queen) actually has that power, but they can generally only exercise it at the request of the PM. The Barbados has a written constitution that has explicitly eliminated most royal prerogatives. Unlike the UK where they still exist in theory.

So it would be actually illegal for Elizabeth to do that, unlike in some realms where it is still technically legal (though she would not do it in practice).
It is not legal in Barbados. So they could just tell her to sod off.

[Exalted Inquellian State]

Since the OP declared that Barbados is a "dominion", I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt.

The general misconception in this thread seems to be that Barbados is subject to the British crown. It is not.

Well, for the most part I've seen people here who got what I meant. I actually didn't expect such a discussion about the merits of the British monarchy at first.

What did you think it would be?

[Rio Cana]

I think this is just a technicality. Barbados has always been independent of the UK. For example, they helped base US troops for the invasion of the island of Grenada a commonwealth nation. Supposedly, Barbados with the island of Dominica asked for Grenada to be invaded by the US. Barbados even sent troops. The UK. did not even find out about the invasion until the day of the invasion. In that part of the Caribbean (not including the European controlled islands) Barbados has the strongest military.

[Risottia]

Now maybe if we can give all the dominions independence......

Personal union is independence already.
They're not becoming independent because they already are.

[Shrillland]

Well, for the most part I've seen people here who got what I meant. I actually didn't expect such a discussion about the merits of the British monarchy at first.

What did you think it would be?

Well, I did, I just didn't think it would get so big.

[Mercatus]

Ready to join Boojahideen: Barbados Unit

Way to go Barbados.

[Exalted Inquellian State]

Ready to join Boojahideen: Barbados Unit

Way to go Barbados.

And now the argyments will start back up.

[Mathuvan Union]

Ready to join Boojahideen: Barbados Unit

Way to go Barbados.

goddamn the republicans.
it's not broken, don't fix it.

[Novus America]

Ready to join Boojahideen: Barbados Unit

Way to go Barbados.

goddamn the republicans.
it's not broken, don't fix it.

But they felt being under symbolic minority rule, even if purely symbolic, was broken. A symbol can be broken.

They might agree that if it is not broken, do not fix it. Problem is what they think is broken is not what you think is broken, thus rendering your argument meaningless.

[Thermodolia]

2015 Poll from Barbardos Today: 64% don't support the abolition of the monarchy. This is an undemocratic coup and it will isolate Barbados' crucial tourism industry when it is suffering so much. A distraction from the incompetence of the Mottley administration.

Yes so undemocratic that they gave the pro-monarchy party the boot in 2018 and nearly Unanimously elected an openly anti-monarchy Party

[Thermodolia]

Can't find one. A few online polls over the years have been mentioned by Caribbean friends but I was told to disregard them because they're just anyone can vote polls on tabloid sites. Would be very happy if someone was able to dig up more recent polls though.

I've just done the same, and can't find recent ones.
But if the Barbados Government does agree with the democratic principle, perhaps holding a referendum to decide if the people want to remove the Monarchy would be a good idea first.
Just because the Labour Party has 2/3 majority in Parliament does not mean they can abandon the democratic principle.

They don’t have a 2/3 majority they have a near total majority

[Neuer Deutsches Reich]

Nobody betrays the immortal queen, destroy Barbados and wipe it of the planet

God save the Queen

[Andsed]

Ready to join Boojahideen: Barbados Unit

Way to go Barbados.

goddamn the republicans.
it's not broken, don't fix it.

Literally nothing is changing though. For all intents and purposes Barbados was a republic. This is just making it official.

Nobody betrays the immortal queen, destroy Barbados and wipe it of the planet

God save the Queen

Good luck persuading Parliament. Cause while I am sure Lizzie is a very persuasive person I doubt any government wants to be associated with invading a sovereign nation and ousting its government for no reason other than they officially removed a powerless figurehead from power.

[Ansarre]

2015 Poll from Barbardos Today: 64% don't support the abolition of the monarchy. This is an undemocratic coup and it will isolate Barbados' crucial tourism industry when it is suffering so much. A distraction from the incompetence of the Mottley administration.

Yes so undemocratic that they gave the pro-monarchy party the boot in 2018 and nearly Unanimously elected an openly anti-monarchy Party

Show me a single mention of republicanism in the Barbados Labour Party's manifesto for the 2018 election. I would wait, but I'd be waiting for the rest of my life because there isn't one, and the PM got exposed for lying about it.

[Shrillland]

Yes so undemocratic that they gave the pro-monarchy party the boot in 2018 and nearly Unanimously elected an openly anti-monarchy Party

Show me a single mention of republicanism in the Barbados Labour Party's manifesto for the 2018 election. I would wait, but I'd be waiting for the rest of my life because there isn't one, and the PM got exposed for lying about it.

True, the BLP did mention it in the 2008 manifesto...after a referendum. But again, when you are unanimously elected and still hold all but one seat of the House, you can basically do whatever you want.

[The Marlborough]

2015 Poll from Barbardos Today: 64% don't support the abolition of the monarchy. This is an undemocratic coup and it will isolate Barbados' crucial tourism industry when it is suffering so much. A distraction from the incompetence of the Mottley administration.

Yes so undemocratic that they gave the pro-monarchy party the boot in 2018 and nearly Unanimously elected an openly anti-monarchy Party

The DLP isn't pro-monarchy either. Barbadian politics isn't dominated by the question of the monarchy, even though most are in favour of retaining it. This is a piss poor argument and you know it.

[The Marlborough]

goddamn the republicans.
it's not broken, don't fix it.

But they felt being under symbolic minority rule, even if purely symbolic, was broken. A symbol can be broken.

Most people in Barbados are fine with the monarchy.

[Novus America]

But they felt being under symbolic minority rule, even if purely symbolic, was broken. A symbol can be broken.

Most people in Barbados are fine with the monarchy.

Well clearly most people parliament are not find with it. And the people elect Parliament. Clearly they do lot like the monarchy enough, given they overwhelmingly elected republicans.

Although I do think there should be a referendum, this is perfectly legal. They elected a government to decide these sort of things.

[The Marlborough]

Most people in Barbados are fine with the monarchy.

Well clearly most people parliament are not find with it. And the people elect Parliament.

Well most of America's congress seems to be okay with pervasive and illegal government surveillance, the assassination of American citizens abroad, torture, slave labour, blatant corruption and so on down the list. And Americans vote in Congress. Thus it is safe to say Americans are okay with all of these things.

[The Archregimancy]

Wait, what? Weren't they already a country, you ask? Yes, but they were a dominion with the Queen as head of state. But as of yesterday's Throne Speech, the government announced that they shall become a republic within the next 12 months: https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/16/americas/barbados-queen-elizabeth-scli-intl-gbr/index.html

Yes, Barbados shall now be a republic with a powerless president and everything. Some are saying this could lead to a renewed push to see more dominions make the final break, but I don't think it'll go quite that far in the near future. Once Charles becomes King, we'll probably see it, however.

What's your views, NSG?

I doubt that I've been the only person to point this out, but your basic premise about 'total independence' is flawed.

You don't seem to have fully understood the constitutional role of the monarchy in Commonwealth Realms; which is, incidentally the correct term here, not 'dominion'. 'Dominion' indicates a different constitutional status that's been defunct since the 1950s.

Barbados is no less totally independent in its current constitutional status than Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, all of which still have Elizabeth II as head of state. By far the more significant step in the 'total independence' of Barbados - or at least the most significant step since actual independence in 1966 - came in 2015, when it joined several other Caribbean nations in replacing the UK Privy Council as the court of final appeal with the regional Caribbean Court of Justice in Port of Spain.

Edit:

And this....

Good for Barbados, I suppose.

I wonder if this'll domino into other countries leaving the Commonwealth. Probably not, but I am interested to see what will happen.

... is as ill-informed as the OP and thread title.

Barbados is not proposing to leave the Commonwealth; only to change its status from monarchy to republic.

It would mean that it would cease to be a Commonwealth Realm, but it would not mean leaving the Commonwealth. The overwhelming majority of Commonwealth member states are republics, following a precedent originally set when India became a republic in 1950 but remained a member of the Commonwealth.

[Novus America]

Well clearly most people parliament are not find with it. And the people elect Parliament.

Well most of America's congress seems to be okay with pervasive and illegal government surveillance, the assassination of American citizens abroad, torture, slave labour, blatant corruption and so on down the list. And Americans vote in Congress. Thus it is safe to say Americans are okay with all of these things.

I mean, sure, you could say that. I am not sure what your point is.
We have the government we deserve and chose.

If you give a supermajorities to a certain party, you probably broadly agree with that party. Again this is perfectly legal and constitutional. Although I think a referendum would be better, Barbados did not put that in their constitution.

Not all constitutions require a referendum to make a constitutional amendment, (including the UK) even if many do.