In search of a proud and principled Caribbean

Mar 15, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
On Thursday, March 6, 2014, at the Annual Awards Ceremony for Corporate bosses, former Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Basdeo Panday, in his speech to the gathering, with an amazing sense of prognostication intonated that CARICOM is dying and that they ¯ corporate leaders ¯ will do well to cast their eyes on the horizon of wider Latin America.
I believe that Mr. Panday’s statement should be properly analyzed by scholars of international relations because it has implications for the general well-being of CARICOM. Be that as it may, it should be noted that his statement about Caribbean countries forging relations with states in Latin America is not a new position. However, it should be seen in its wider context.
It is clear to me, that Mr. Panday’s statement is anchored on the following: –
1. Lack of patriotism by sections of the Caribbean Community, particularly in Trinidad and Guyana.
2. A failure to recognize that the richness of a people is predicated on their understanding of their roots and collective history ¯ a history, which successive generations seek to vindicate in different ways. The English-speaking Caribbean has, for generations, been faced with the challenge of its history, and that is why our post-cold war magnificent successes in cricket as highlighted by our calypsonians —”Cricket lovely Cricket” — helped to stimulate a collective, Caribbean consciousness about who we are and our potential to be a people distinct and unique in spite of our slave and indentured labour backgrounds.
Cricket, along with Carifesta ‘72, pointed to the overcoming of post-World War I discussions on confederation versus annexation to the United States of America. Also, the Caribbean people gained strength and stimulation from India’s independence in 1947 and Ghana’s ten years later. However, with the pressures of migration, economics and the cultural assault as a result of a pervasive mass media and easy movement of people, many West Indies leaders lost sight of the richness of the Caribbean culture and our potential, despite our being just a few million people.
However, as a result of the three great West Indian founding fathers; Errol Barrow of Barbados, Forbes Burnham of Guyana and Michael Manley of Jamaica, who in December 1965, at Dickenson Bay, Antigua, the idea of Caribbean Unity was properly advanced. They and their successors expanded confederation to what is now CARICOM. Therefore, instead of moving to be subsumed by the interests of large South American Republics, we are better off, for the sake of our children, building on the dream of the founding fathers of CARICOM. It is only that way that we can bequeath to our next generation a proud and principled Caribbean.
Further, Panday’s exhortation failed to encourage the executives to consider the internal factors and social forces which are affecting the general integration process and to contemplate ways and approaches to solve them. Indeed, Caribbean leaders may very well discover that once they engage in bilateral relations with Latin American Republics, that they too have their own set of challenges and difficulties.
Might I add that Panday’s encouragement to the leaders is in effect a serious indictment against Caribbean political leadership? If our political leaders cannot push ahead with achieving the objectives of CARICOM, then they have failed the people of the Caribbean. I very much doubt any thought that our leaders are not capable of carving CARICOM into a Single Market Economy for the good benefit of all those countries whose shores are washed by the Caribbean Sea.
I close with a quote by William Shakespeare: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings”.
Let us look to ourselves, let us be self-reliant, let us make CARICOM work not only for us but our next generation.
Congratulations to all those businesses that received awards!
Royston King

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