Caribbean lessons from 2008

Dec 28, 2008 Features / Columnists, Ronald Sanders

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By Sir Ronald Sanders
In the week before Christmas I mused on the five defining moments in 2008 that would affect the Caribbean in 2009 and beyond.
Topping my list was the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed between the European Union (EU) and individual Caribbean countries. This agreement has, by far, the most far-reaching and long-term implications, establishing a legal and institutional framework that shapes the relationship of the region to Europe, to the rest of the world and to itself, into the indefinite future.
I continue to hold the view that the EPA will deliver few, if any, of the promises of access to the EU market for services that was the argument trumpeted by its advocates.
At the same time, I also believe that the agreement will lead to the displacement of Caribbean-owned companies in their own domestic market. Even the autonomy of elected Caribbean governments may be compromised by the Board-room decisions of foreign owned entities.
The second defining event was the election of Barack Obama to the US Presidency. My reason for choosing this event has little to do with policies that an Obama administration will pursue toward the Caribbean. Some of these policies – particularly in relation to financial services – will be harmful to the region. I see the election of Obama as the essential act of acceptance by a former slave-owning society, that the people they enslaved on the basis of race are every inch their equal in the family of humankind. Even though the once enslaved people of the Caribbean have governed themselves for decades, the fact that a man of colour is now arguably the most powerful leader in the world enriches the status of every Caribbean person. I expect that there will be differences and disappointments in the Caribbean’s relations with the Obama government, but these will not diminish the sense of validation that his election has created.
The two events in third place are the financial crisis that spread across the globe like wildfire, toppling huge financial giants and swallowing up the livelihoods of little people, and the falling price of oil. The Caribbean has, so far, experienced only a very small tip of a rather large iceberg. It is already evident that tourism had been badly affected as tourist numbers drop and hotel resorts are compelled to lay-off workers.
The situation will get worse. Many of the tourists who will come to the Caribbean in the early winter of 2008/2009 are those that paid for these holidays as long as a year ago. Fewer tourists will come in 2009 and 2010.
The scene throughout Europe and the United States is bleak. Unemployment has reached levels not witnessed in recent decades; house prices in which many people had some equity are continuing to drop, leaving them with little if any equity and much debt; mortgage companies are foreclosing; and savings in banks (at 0.25% in the US and 2% in the UK) are providing no interest on which people can live. Holidays, therefore, are the last thing on their minds.
The credit crunch will also adversely affect development projects. For, while the regulatory institutions throughout the developed world and even in China and India have mandated huge cuts in interest rates, the rates on borrowing have remained prohibitively high. Further, caught with worthless paper for dubious lending over the last decade, financial institutions are subjecting themselves to little risk and all but the most secure loan applications are being rejected.
Linked to the financial crisis for some countries in the Caribbean is the falling price of oil from US$148 a barrel to US$40.
Deeply affected by this is the government of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela which had promised much to Caribbean countries. Indeed, the Caribbean countries to which the Chavez government had actually delivered some help had become reliant on his assistance for financing a range of projects.
With a large hole in his own national budget, and the price of oil unlikely to rise to its former highs in the near future, counting on Chavez’s help would be foolhardy.
Another two events are in fourth place as defining moments in 2008. They are the 60th anniversary of the University of the West Indies and the collapse of Caribbean-wide Television news coverage by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
Sixty years of UWI is a monumental achievement in a region that has not managed to maintain and successfully develop any regional institution. But, its success shows that the cooperation of Caribbean countries can produce real and beneficial results if standards are kept high, financing is forthcoming and the governance structure makes sense. By the same token, the collapse of pan-Caribbean TV news coverage by CMC is cause for deep lamentation. After almost four decades of the Caribbean Broadcasting Union and the Caribbean News Agency, it is a reasonable expectation that a region that talks of establishing a Single Market and Economy would have placed as a fundamental of that undertaking, the importance of televised news between the Caribbean people. Yet, neither governments nor private sector institutions have stepped-up to provide machinery to sustain Caribbean television news.
My fifth event is linked to two Caribbean men – Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Usain Bolt. Chanderpaul has continued to give us pride in cricket. He has been an example of the grit and diligence that our cricketers need if we are ever again to enjoy as one Caribbean people the pride of occupying the game’s number one spot.
The aptly named Bolt, gave the entire region pride, joy, and a magnificent example of what the region – small though it is in every way – could achieve.
He exploded at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with an unprecedented double-triple of world records and titles in winning gold medals in the 100m, 200m and 4×100m sprint relay.
These events, taken as a whole, show that world events impact the Caribbean. At the same time, the Caribbean possesses the capacity to make its mark on the world as well. Our smallness is not a long-term weakness and the Caribbean ought not to be hesitant in taking on challenging circumstances.
But to do so we must overcome our “mental slavery”, reorganise our outdated structures of regional governance to act in our collective interest, and face up to the world fearlessly.
(The writer is a business consultant and former Caribbean Diplomat)
Responses to: ronaldsanders29@hotmail.com

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