Barbados set to become a republic, cut ties with Britain

[Njumba]

Welcome to the club.

[-Astoria-]

So does this mean Barbados will remove it's team from the West Indies Cricket Team and subsequently play as a separate nation?

To the best of my knowledge, the West Indies Cricket Team is not associated with the Commonwealth, so there is no reason (from my knowledge, I could be wrong) for them to play separately. I mean, they have Sint Maarten, don't they?

And the US Virgin Islands.

---

Welcome to the club.

Especially the presidential club.

[Nova Catania]

So, it's a Barbexit? Sorry, just had to say it before someone else snatched it up.

[Ladinacem Andia]

So, it's a Barbexit? Sorry, just had to say it before someone else snatched it up.

Outstanding.

In any case, good for Barbados. I understand that the title is misleading, but it is still wonderful to see a nation progressing away from British imperialism, even if the substance of the progress is mostly ceremonial.

[Existential Cats]

So in essence, the head-of-state title is moving from Lizzy to the Barbadian PM. A face-lift not at all describable as "cutting ties with Britain." Indifferent toward republicanism and monarchism, but whatever route they go, I wish them the best.

[The New California Republic]

Contrary to the thread title, Barbados has not "cut ties with Britain", it's still in the Commonwealth.

[The free romanians]

Im a monarchist
But i can see why barbadians wouldn't want a foreign monarch

[Ethel mermania]

Contrary to the thread title, Barbados has not "cut ties with Britain", it's still in the Commonwealth.

Welcome to NationStates

[The free romanians]

Contrary to the thread title, Barbados has not "cut ties with Britain", it's still in the Commonwealth.

Welcome to NationStates

I think they aren't that new......

[Ethel mermania]

Welcome to NationStates

I think they aren't that new......

I think you are right.

[The free romanians]

I think they aren't that new......

I think you are right.

Maybe

[Immortan Khan]

I'm not going to congratulate this considering they didn't ask the people of Barbados if they wanted a republic or not. Maybe they were afraid of doing so since, iirc, a majority of people in Barbados don't want to be a republic.

[Nora Xent]

I'm not going to congratulate this considering they didn't ask the people of Barbados if they wanted a republic or not. Maybe they were afraid of doing so since, iirc, a majority of people in Barbados don't want to be a republic.

Do you have a source for that claim?

[Vassenor]

Wait are we supposed to be mad about this?

[Seangoli]

Wait are we supposed to be mad about this?

Nobody is. It's not like there are staunch loyalists and republicans going to war in Barbados, and the Crown has more or less shrugged it's shoulders and said "Cool, do whatya want".

Equally, it's not even a major change. It'll basically amount to changing the letterhead on their country's paperwork as Barbados has been completely independent in all but name only for 50 years.

It's much Ado about nothing, to be honest.

[Ethel mermania]

Wait are we supposed to be mad about this?

Nobody is. It's not like there are staunch loyalists and republicans going to war in Barbados, and the Crown has more or less shrugged it's shoulders and said "Cool, do whatya want".

Equally, it's not even a major change. It'll basically amount to changing the letterhead on their country's paperwork as Barbados has been completely independent in all but name only for 50 years.

It's much Ado about nothing, to be honest.

Its a good excuse for a party.

[The free romanians]

As an monarchist(while im not a subject of the queen)
I react as
Oh
Not pog i guess

[Immortan Khan]

I'm not going to congratulate this considering they didn't ask the people of Barbados if they wanted a republic or not. Maybe they were afraid of doing so since, iirc, a majority of people in Barbados don't want to be a republic.

Do you have a source for that claim?

It's been six years, so maybe it's not as accurate today.

[The Archregimancy]

So does this mean Barbados will remove it's team from the West Indies Cricket Team and subsequently play as a separate nation?

To the best of my knowledge, the West Indies Cricket Team is not associated with the Commonwealth, so there is no reason (from my knowledge, I could be wrong) for them to play separately. I mean, they have Sint Maarten, don't they?

Cricket West Indies was founded in the 1920s, and the West Indies has been a full test cricket side since 1926.

Originally it was the overall governing board for the cricket-playing British territories in the Caribbean, though it's since taken on some islands of Dutch and French heritage and the US Virgin Islands as sub-members. Therefore its roots are very much within British colonial structures.

The full members of Cricket West Indies are Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Jamaica, the Leeward Islands, and the Windward Islands. The latter two are themselves federations of the smaller islands in those groups. Sint Maarten (but not Saint Martin) and the USVI are part of the Leeward Islands.

Barbados already has its own national cricket team, which competes separately in inter-Caribbean competition. Barbados has also produced some truly great cricketers, not least Garry Sobers. It's unlikely, however, that any of the individual constituent parts of the West Indies team would ever break away to field individual teams - with the possible exception of the restoration of cricket to the Olympics, in which case the West Indies wouldn't be able to field a team - for the simple reason that it would be impossible for them to be competitive.

The West Indies, as an entity, is a full member of the International Cricket Council, meaning its teams can compete at the very highest level against the other 11 full members - and they're often competitive (though they've been going through a fallow spell at test level over the last 20 years). A Barbados team, in contrast, would not be a full member, and would struggle to be competitive at any level against the ICC full members.

So the West Indies allows all of its constituent components to play international cricket at the highest level, while still allowing its components to field national sides in internal competition; it's almost inconceivable that the Bajans would throw that away.

[Kaczynskisatva]

I fail to see why this is newsworthy. It would barely be newsworthy if the Leviathan sprouted up from the eldritch depths and swallowed Barbados whole - and the only news interest in that piece would be about the awakening of the Leviathan, not the loss of Barbados, which would be no loss at all.

In this case, no materially significant change will take place, in a place that didn't matter anyway.

[Lady Victory]

That's great, now do the rest of the Commonwealth and then the UK.

[The Archregimancy]

Do you have a source for that claim?

It's been six years, so maybe it's not as accurate today.

In the 2018 Barbadian general election, the opposition Barbados Labour Party won a landslide victory - winning every single constituency seat with an overall vote total of 73.47% of votes cast (though Joseph Atherley subsequently crossed the floor to become the sole opposition MP, and therefore Leader of the Opposition).

Though it was only one issue in a broader manifesto, the BLP ran on a republican platform. Since the BLP holds a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Barbadian parliament (both in the elected lower house and the appointed senate), and can therefore amend the constitution without reference to other parties, it can safely claim to have a democratic mandate to make the requisite changes.

And the constitutional changes are minimal. They vest the ceremonial roles of the monarch to the state, while the powers of the governor-general of Barbados are transferred to the president. The president will not be elected in a popular vote, but rather nominated by parliament, requiring a two-thirds majority in both houses in cases where the prime minister and leader of the opposition can't agree on a joint nomination. This is functionally the same as nominating a governor-general, except that the polite fiction that the g-g has to be approved by the crown is removed. So very little will change except the identity of the ceremonial head of state.

[Rusozak]

I fail to see why this is newsworthy. It would barely be newsworthy if the Leviathan sprouted up from the eldritch depths and swallowed Barbados whole - and the only news interest in that piece would be about the awakening of the Leviathan, not the loss of Barbados, which would be no loss at all.

In this case, no materially significant change will take place, in a place that didn't matter anyway.

That take is so ironic coming out of Belarus.

[Kerwa]

Good. The queen should have nothing to do with a shady tax haven that hides money for international criminals, Human traffickers amongst them no doubt.

[Lady Victory]

Good. The queen should have nothing to do with a shady tax haven that hides money for international criminals, Human traffickers amongst them no doubt.

Pompous rich leeches- oh, sorry, I mean "monarchs" should have nothing to do with anything anyway.