Anti-draft campaigners have their fight honoured in song

By Elizabeth Roberts

Bermudians Against the Draft (B.A.D) campaigners have had a theme song written honouring their battle to end mandatory military conscription.

The reggae track, called B.A.D Mon was composed by Gavin “Djata” Smith, who himself won exemption from service as a conscientious objector in 2002.

His lyrics include the lines: “It’s time to recognise / This is an abuse of our rights / This Conscription / Conviction / Got me on a mission / They can’t stop we now.”

Mr. Smith wrote the song a fortnight ago and hopes to release it as part of a proposed anti-draft album featuring contributions from local artists including RJ, Blac and Roachekilla.

“I consider it one of my best songs, if not my best song. I’ve been trying to write it since I was about 17 years old,” said Mr. Smith, 28, from Pembroke.

“You cannot rival the power of music...I’m trying to give a voice to the youth. A lot of times you feel left out of the political process.”

A guitarist with the Chewstick band, community activist Mr. Smith hit the headlines in 2003 when he unsuccessfully challenged then-Premier Jennifer Smith and the United Bermuda Party’s Kenneth Bascome in Constituency One as the sole member of the Gombey Liberation Party. He said at the time of his own fight against conscription, it was hard to persuade others to join him in formal action because they preferred trying to evade the draft.

“It felt more comfortable to run. It was just easier and seemed like it worked,” he commented. He therefore welcomed the recent decision of B.A.D to launch a class legal action in a bid to abolish conscription for good as “bringing my initial hopes to fruition”.

He has placed a sample of the song and information about B.A.D on his civil rights website www.crcb.org, and appealed for anyone who wants to collaborate on the album to email him at sundjat@gmail.com.

Via The Royal Gazette