Adapting to the new world order

Jun 03, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
I want to argue that there is an opportunity for Caribbean countries to be a major player in global politics, instead of the Caribbean being a pawn like what happened in the cold war. Jamaica, Guyana and Grenada are three countries in CARICOM which had social turmoil as a “spinoff” of the cold war.
During the cold war the United States, Europe and Canada saw it necessary to give incentives to Caribbean countries to side with the west and not the Soviet Union: four Lomé Conventions since 1975, 1983 US Caribbean Basin Initiative and 1986 Caribbean and Canada Trade Agreement were attempts at US, Canada and European support for the Caribbean to prevent The Soviet Union influencing the region.
Since the cold war has ended all that support is non-existent. However the Caribbean countries have not adapted to this global reality and have all significantly increased their debt to cope with their financial obligation, with a great increase in unemployment and crime.
Through CARICOM, a policy and philosophy must be developed on how to deal with the pull of these large economies. Large economies and countries have always been influencing the policies of countries in the Caribbean through trade and international aid. Having a ratified international policy that supports the rule of law and international treaties will set an international precedence never before seen in geopolitics.
If you look at world history, large powers plan and later pull in their smaller allies. We in the Caribbean must set out clear policies that will be beneficial to us and any international partners. Any country wanting our support must be consistent with our standards.
CARICOM must become proactive instead of reactive and this will make the 15 territories of CARICOM leaders in geopolitics instead of pawns. Countries cannot wait until the problems in Ukraine or the South China Sea heat up before we develop a policy, or we will become pawns.
As the African proverb says when the elephants fight the grass gets trampled. We in the Caribbean must make sure we strategically manoeuvre the elephants so that they do not trample on us during their fight, because the Caribbean is not fertile soil for which the grass they will trample on will flourish. Our defence is a diplomatic offence; unusual for small states, but we have the intellectual capital.
Brian Plummer

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