There are quite a few Caribbean people who may want to eviscerate me for this, but I am delighted that international corporations, rights groups, and others are putting pressure on conservative and regressive Caribbean governments (Jamaica and St Kitts for the moment) on human rights and animal abuses.

If we want to play the capitalist game, there are capitalist consequences when those who’ve got more capital than we do threaten boycotts of our export goods or announce moralistic bans on our tourism product(s). And, much as I do have concern for the local “small man” at the end of the day who may well suffer from this lack of revenue, the responsibility lies with our governments who refuse to bring our constitutions and legislation into something progressive, or at least not regressive beyond comprehension.

Yeah yeah yeah, there I go with my tree-hugging, anti-patriotic, hedonistic, impractical, Marxist, hippy rhetoric which — as it argues for the protection and/or rights of animals, the environment, and people of every background and orientation — stops one step short of advocating marriage between humans and goats, right? Mmhmm.

Anyway, I’m glad the Jamaican and Kittitian governments have to take a second look at their human rights and animal rights legislation and practices, respectively, as well as those of their citizenry. To that: I raise my glass.

UPDATE (Wednesday 21 May)

Here goes the Jamaican PM defending his bigotry and discriminatory policies, and articulating why I do not support Jamaican music… and may now consider extending that to include Jamaican goods on the whole.