As a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Saint Lucia in the Kenny Anthony Administration I wish to join the Group of Concerned Caribbean Citizens calling for full and public disclosure of the EPA recently negotiated with Europe. Records will show my strong and very often heated arguments at all levels particularly against “reciprocity” which I firmly believe will result in serious challenges for the Region particularly the OECS which we are not equipped to meet now nor in the forseeable future as far as I am concerned.
As an NGO in Guyana dealing with issues pertaining to discrimination, we believe that threats to economic development will hinder progress in social development. We are also aware that we were not following all arguments since we were preoccupied with other issues, and that this space gives some time for the discussions so that we can learn more
As a human rights activists and St.Lucian citizen, I wish to join the Group of Concerned Caribbean Citizens calling for full and public disclosure of the EPA recently negotiated with Europe.
We must begin lifting the veil of this trade negotiation before it is too late.
I support the statement by the Caribbean group on deficiencies in the EPA. Another world is not just a possibility, but an imperative. If we don’t stand up now for what is right, what is in the best interests of the region and our people, future generations will never forgive us.
Caribbean counties need to unite in solidarity and resistance against the death dealing global trading system and to seek atlernatives for an economy of solidarity which is life-giving.
As a lawyer, author and lecturer on the ACP-EC-cooperation, born in Suriname and based in Brussels, I write and lecture since 2000 on subjects concerning the ACP-EC-ooperation and the EPA-negotiations, trying to raise the awareness of the media and civil society in Suriname, Holland and Belgium. I saw what was happening all these years: no involvement of civil society and other non-state actors, no transparency on the cooperation and the negotiations, no feedback…
I sign in support of the Statement. Thank you Ian MacDonald, Clive Thomas and Norman Girvan for your excellent articles. Jocelyn Dow has been a key, long-time advocate in this arena for years - and I thank her publicly for her example in walking the talk. My own commitment will be to disseminate information & link action with the rain forest-based communities in Guyana with whom I work in partnership with the NRDDB and Iwokrama and with the Guyana Citizens Initiative, an NGO of which I am a Board Member.
The analysis in Implications of the EPA raises important issues for the sovereignty of CARICOM states through externally imposed constraints on industry development policy. The lack of clarity about the principle of regional ‘cumulation’ raises questions regarding the EU’s perception of CSME. Does the CSME, at the present time, have all the critical institutional arrangements and policies in place and functioning to be treated as a single market ? I hope that your report will serve as a catalyst for discussion and urgent action within CARICOM governmental and business sectors.
The Caribbean public has once again been excluded by its political “leaders” from participation in, or even knowledge of, a matter that will have a considerable impact on our region for generations to come.
As a Journalist and student of Law I must note with considerable interest how we continue to operate even in this post colonial era. Policy decisions are hastily made without a general consensus from the public and with little contribution from civil society.
No matter how adverse influences affect our ability to negotiate on even grounds it is nevertheless paramount that we recognise all sectors, including NGOs, in major decision-making processes.
International diplomacy leaves no room for mediocre contributions; however our policies must be harmonious with the position of civil society.
I certainly lend my voice of support to the members of the Caribbean civil society for a public review of the Agreement. I hope that the analysis of the implications of the EPA is given full attention by and serves as the basis for immediate action on the part of all parties responsible for the governance of CARICOM.
Mohabir Singh,CEO, Guyana Furniture Manufacturing Ltd. and President of Guyana Manufacturers' Association, on January 21st, 2008 at 12:57 pm Said:
I would like to add my name to the list of concerned individuals and organisations pertaining to the recently concluded EPA.
As a previous MP, Trinidad Parliament I abhor the movements of our regional Executives, Cabinets on this matter. We must persevere until there is open and frank discussion prior to the official signing, ? in April 2008.
You may refer to my column on this issue in the Trinidad Express on both Monday 14th and today Monday 21st January 2008
A reminder of Walter Rodney’s thesis of how Europe under-developed Africa. Quo Vadis, CARICOM? I join my voice with voices that call for a public review of the Agreement.
Honor Ford-Smith (Jamaica) Assistant Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, on January 21st, 2008 at 3:37 pm Said:
I support this call for a public discussion of an agreement that will affect the everyday lives and the social and natural environment of all Caribbean peoples
Many thanks to the initiators of this call for serious, public dialogue on an issue which threatens to further marginalize the poor of our region. Our Caribbean people, including religious people, need to rediscover our prophetic voice and action for justice across our region
As an economist who specializes in the poverty, income, and inequality effects of trade, I wish to join the Group of Concerned Caribbean Citizens calling for full and public disclosure of the EPA recently negotiated with Europe. Negative impacts of a variety of trade agreements, including the NAFTA, have been amply demonstrated. Sadly, however, once agreements are signed with consequent implications for investment and jobs, it is impossible to reverse those effects. This underscores the importance of a careful analysis of the effects of the EPA. I strongly endorse the request for more time and opportunity for a full and public review of the EPA.
As the author of Storm Signals: Structural Adjustment and Development Alternatives in the Caribbean (1991), I am saddened that so many leaders of state have been strong-armed into accepting the ruse of “development through liberalisation”. The EPA would yank the noose constricting the region’s development options even tighter than when I wrote Storm Signals…
I support the statement and join with all those expressing concern about the negative impact of this agreement on our region and the manner in which our leaders conducted the “people’s business”.
The UK-based Haiti Support Group backs the Haitian coalition, Bare APE (Stop the EPA), composed of the following organisations:
PAPDA - Haitian Advocacy Platform for Alternative Development
MODEP - Popular Democratic Movement
CHANDEL (Adult literacy organisation)
RAJES - Assembly for the advancement of young people of Savenette
SOFA - Haitian Women’s Solidarity
RNDDH - National Network for the Defence of Human Rights
TÈT KOLE TI PEYIZAN AYISYEN (National peasant movement)
I wish to lend my support to the call for public disclosure and engagement on the contents of the recently concluded EPA negotiations with the ACP (particularly, with CARIFORUM). As the author of Caribbean Political Economy at the Crossroads (1998), I am afraid that the populist neoliberal development formula has not been altered in any meaningful way following the conclusion of this `trade-plus-development’ agreement.
Neoliberalism and its sense of value driven solely by the profit motive and commodification of human life pose one of the biggest threats to Caribbean existence in the 21st century. It is time to demand of our leaders something more than their genuflection to western capital and cowardice in the face of imperial might. I thus completely support the statement by the group of concerned Caribbean citizens.
Literary Editor and Publisher
(Editor of The Arts Journal: Critical Perspectives on the History, Literature, Art and Culture of Guyana and the Caribbean.
Secretary of The Arts Forum Inc).
I support the call by civil society for a full public review of the EPA negotiations before it becomes a fait accompli.
I support the call for a public review of the EPA agreement. Pushing this agreement through would be an absolute failure of accountability to the people of the Caribbean and to their interests.
Stephanie Rodriguez, Réseau National de Défense des Droits Humains (RNDDH)/Coalition Nationale BARE APE, on January 23rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm Said:
Je demande la revue complète des APE entre l’UE et les Caraïbes!
We of the Foundation , inheritors of the legacy of George Charles ‘ spirited defense of simple, ordinary workers , call for a thorough assessment of the intellectual capabilities of our national and regional political leadership to negotiate far-reaching , longterm agreements that deeply impact the lives of Caribbean citizensand the way they allow themselves to be bullied. Ordinary Caribbean folk do not have the faintest idea about the shift in the name of the game - from preferential trade to the anti-small economy principle of reciprocity. The colonial trap still remains sprung.
I enthusiastically support this call for greater transparency, involvement and participation of Caribbean people who have a much deeper knowledge and understanding of the issues than we are given credit for, and in whose bellies lie viable solutions.
EPA, yes or no; and if yes, then how? That is not the main issue. Obviously, even decency would require all stuff to be published previously and have it properly discussed. But the fundamantal question is whether Europe is primarily concerned about our present problems and lack of future options, or is its driving force, when stripped from all cosmetics, its own strategic and economic interests? …More
This is not a question of preferential arrangements. EU countries simply need to take responsibility for the untenable economic legacy that they created in the Caribbean which is at the heart of the matter.
As a concerned Caribbean person I support the call for there to be a full and public review of the EPA in order that this trade agreement (and all other trade agreements) is created for the betterment of our peoples, now and in the future.
A delightful European plan, all they seemed to have left out is the appointed “governor to the territories” and lo and behold the authorization of a new post post colonial era - a wonderful set up taking advantage of age old inefficiencies and the structured somewhat arrogant cultivation of a superior advantage, so delightfully couched as cooperative advantages and investment. The ball in our court?
Wilbert Geertruida, Vice President, Small and Medium Businesses Association, Curacaco, on January 24th, 2008 at 5:46 pm Said:
A united Caribbean would not allow this post colonial arrangement to take place. We should evolve a common Caribbean front against ‘cover-up’ deals of this kind from the European pirates.
The Caribbean Area governments must postpone the deadline date for this agreement until they can put an all encompassing mutually beneficial Caribbean agreement forward to the EU.
This is a much needed public debate. I myself am attempting to organize such a panel discussion in St. Lucia, where farmers are hard-hit. We need to have a voice on this issue.
There needs to be full and open discussion of the implications of this agreement. It would appear that the EC version of reciprocity is “heads I win, tails you lose.”
I totally agree with the views expressed in Implications. I would add that to enter into binding trade agreements with blocks that maintain hidden and explicit subsidies to their own producers would be highly detrimental to the economic and social welfare of the Caribbean community.
Louis Lefeber
Professor of Economics and Graduate Program for Social and Political Thought, Founding Director of the Center for Research of Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University
Caribbean leaders would create a frightening scenario for their peoples if they were to sign the EPA. Let there be a full and transparent review of the proposed “agreement” with full participation by all sectors of society.
It is long overdue for Caribbean leaders to stand up for their rights, as Bob Marley advocated, and to challenge the “bullying” tactics of the United States, Europe and the WTO as their mouthpiece.
I strongly support this statement and add my voice to protest the exclusion of Caribbean working peoples. This undemocratic decision by our elected leaders wiil have severe consequences for future generations.
Director, MPH Program & Professor
Department of Community Health/Preventive Medicine
Margaret D. Gill, Tutor, UWI Cave Hill and former Chairwoman, Caribbean Association for Femininist Research and Action (CAFRA), on January 28th, 2008 at 11:02 am Said:
The statement states that the governments will commit “for all time” if they sign. While it may be difficult to get out once one signs, for all time is hardly realistic. My statement in no way detracts from my agreement with the principle thesis of the letter that we should get the review and public exposure to happen before the governments sign on March 15. I merely ask for an intervention that itself does not cover information which people need to have with its own special pleading.
M. D. Gill
Helene Davis Whyte, General Secretary, Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers, on January 28th, 2008 at 11:35 am Said:
I wholeheartedly support the call for full discussion and disclosure on this EPA, which from all appearances, is likely to have far reaching implication for the citizens of the Caribbean.
Let us stand up and let our voices be heard.
Gregory McGuire, Director Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago, on January 29th, 2008 at 4:09 am Said:
The signing of this agreement was a completely misguided act executed by colonial minds. I feel that they believe that the political risks associated with the EPA signing are low because the mass of people won’t ever understand its implications . We must therefore broaden and deepen our advocacy to pressure regional Governments into taking corrective action.
Posterity will be unforgiving if we failed to engage in wide discussion of the full import of this agreement. It is ironic that the generation of the late 1930s that sowed the seeds of independence had greater sensitivity and engaged in wider and more intensive debate about our future without the benefit of 21st communications technology. We seem to lack a filial connection to the leadership of yesteryear.
Yet another proof of the imperialist agenda - they are “re-carving up the world” again, this time with “agreements” that will solidfy their control under changing circumstances in the world. I am hoping that the Caribbean will increasingly join up with the peoples and countries in Latin America that are fighting back against this imperialism dressed up in new clothes.
As the author of Fair Trade Coffee, I strongly support this statement. The people of the Caribbean should fight back and refuse to submit to a globalizing effort that places the needs of their communities last, and those of rich countries and giant corporations first.
Stephon Jimenez, Research Assistant, Department of Economics, UWI, St. Augustine, on January 29th, 2008 at 4:28 pm Said:
We will be digging our own economic graves by signing the EPA in its current form. We cannot continue to be “bullied” by the E.U. and must unmercifully seek our OWN economic interests because they will unmercifully seek theirs!!!!
Annita Montoute, Student, Institute of International Relations, St Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago, on January 29th, 2008 at 8:56 pm Said:
I fully support a reveiw of the EPA. The funadmental principles on which the EPA is based will not lead to the sustainable develpment of our region. We need to not only reject the current form of the EPA but all trade agreements with a neoliberal orientation. Our long term goal therefore should be to carve for ourselves a new developement paradigm upon future trade agreements will be based.
John Hunte, The Organic Growers and Consumers Association and The Bawden Environmental Park Group, Barbados, on January 30th, 2008 at 9:27 am Said:
I am glad for you to add my name and that of the organisations that I represent to your statement. I wholeheartedly agree with the text that you intend to use in the petition and will forward your message to several NGO’s and prominent people in Barbados.
I feel abused as a Caribbean citizen by the governments of the region stealthily concluding potentially disastrous Economic Partnership Agreements with Europe, without even providing adequate information to the people of the region, far more engaging us in a serious dialogue so that we could understand the long term implications of the new economic arrangements which they intend to sign on March 15.
The agreements are wholly contradictory to all the talk of developing greater South-South relationships and represent a lost opportunity for constructing an Africa-Caribbean solidarity that could have tamed the European “threats” which seemed to intimidate our leaders. We have to make our voices heard before it is too late.
Liisa L. North, Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean, York University, Canada, on January 30th, 2008 at 2:55 pm Said:
Having witnessed the devastating consequences of these types of trade agreements in Latin America, I would like to add my name to your portest.
I support the group of concerned caribbean citizens.it is imperative that we dictate and define who we are and how we will be treated.full disclosure will show
that there are no hidden agendas.
Holger Henke, Senior Fellow, Caribbean Research Center, Medgar Evers College, CUNY, on February 4th, 2008 at 11:03 am Said:
With the overwhelming influence exerted on all countries by international capital and the current globalized neoliberal dispensation, glasnost and broad civil society acceptance of agreements such as the EPA ought to be a minimum requirement. This is not just a demand based on ethics or moral politics, but a practical one that is mindful of the fact that in the face of a dwindling middle class practically everywhere, support and involvement by civil society in economic arrangements is the only way to provide legitimacy and thus guarantee the long term survival of democracy. Also Senior Research Fellow, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (Washington, DC); and Assistant Professor, Metropolitan College of New York
Very few ordinary people even know what the term EPA refers to, yet this agreement with such a huge potential to undermine our basic standard of living, is handed to us as a fait accompli.
I fully support the call for full public disclosure.
Regarding the EPA, I support Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s position that the Caribbean can no longer continue to be mendicants in its relationship with the developed world and in particular with the EU. With globalization we have to fend for ourselves and cooperate as an economic block in our trading relationships with the rest of the world. The umbilical cord through which we have been fed by Europe will eventually be severed and a most favoured nation status will no longer be the norm. The Caribbean will have to face a new reality by implementing its own productive plans and policy measures. For example, we have to look to a country like Guyana to become a bread basket and thus the source of much of the food that will be needed by the countries of CARICOM. On the western side of the Caribbean, we could look to Belize to produce beef and other small animal stock for the Caribbean market. The EPA is a wake up call that we have to be astute and use our business acumen to survive in a competitive world. Thus, the EPA in spite of some weaknesses, is pointing the direction in which or economic future will take and signals the realization that the Caribbean will have to be productive and innovative as it looks towards its economic future.
I am surprised that the official Opposition party of Trinidad and Tobago has not raised this issue in public forums. The support for that party comes from the argricultural regions of the country.
I do believe that the general population is unaware of the terms and condition of this agreement (EPA). As such information should be made available to the average citizen since it has serious implications for us as Caribbean people.
Thank you for this long overdue publicity of this trade agreement.
Krissy Luke Mphil, Candidate, Institute of International Relations. UWI St. Augustine, on February 13th, 2008 at 3:56 pm Said:
When the REPA was initiallly proposed it was considered to be a development agreement, not a trade agreement taking into consideration the Caribbean own particular “bread and butter” development issues; but what was concluded on the 16th December, 2007 was not a development agreement but a WTO-plus agreement. I support whole heartedly the call for the review of the EU-CARIFORUM EPA, with the inclusion of the Caribbean citzenery. The CRNM and other Caribbean public administration bodies should stop with the “Fact v.s Fiction” and tell us the truth.
The issues clearly needed to be ventilated in the public domain. The average citizen of the region may not be totally abreast of all the technical jargon but they are not fools. Citizens of free education in some territories and others who have graduated from our universities and colleges are educated and quite capable of analyzing and having informed opinions with respect to the EU-CARIFORUM EPA.
As a student and citizen of our Caribbean community, I want to show support for a review of the EPA. This agreement would have a major impact on our lives and the lives of our children. We thus have every right to be enlightened and to engage in discussions about the impact of such an agreement. It is about time that we as Caribbean people stand up for our rights!
I fully support a public forum to discuss the EPA. It is imperative on the government of the region to allow citizens to engage in public debate on a matter that promises to have far reaching consequences.
The average person in the general population doesn’t understand and is not sufficiently aware of the true and real implications of the EPA. There needs to be a campaign to raise awareness about the general implications of this agreement so that the ordinary person on the street can understand too that they will be adversely affected and will seek to become actively involved in determining the contents and rules of the EPA.
A lot of people believe that the EPA is outside of their realm of understanding and think it is limited to the bureaucrats, technocrats and policy makers. How do we get the entire public to understand the gravity of the situation so that they would want to make a contribution towards determining the rules and content on the EPA?
If it is to be resisted then we must have greater public attention.
Our leaders at all levels need to understand that we the people, at all levels, need to know what they are negotiating on our behalf.
I wish to thank TV6, for the debate that they facilitated between Professor Norman Girvan and the EU representative. The attitude that the EU knew what was best for us in the Caribbean coupled with the vagueness of the information that was being presented as demonstration that the EPA was sound spoke either of a great deficiency on the part of this EU representative, or of great arrogance.
The same can be said of our leaders who continue to mimic the attitudes of these donors in their own dealings with the population.
How do we proceed to ensure that they take this call for transparency seriously?
It was Ghandi who said these infallible words, ‘ There is enough of everyman’s need but not for everyman’s greed.’ The template on which EPA has been negotiated and is expected to be signed by our Caribbeans leaders reflects what some might say is the very heart of Ghandi’s statement. Let us organise ourselves and demonstrate to our Leaders that they are our servants, not masters. I started a petition which can be viewed at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/jamaicaepa and would appreciate your support and suggest you do the same. One Love
On behalf of my colleague Miguel Ceara Hatton and myself, both from the Dominican Republic, we would like to join this group signing the petition you are circulating.
As a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Saint Lucia in the Kenny Anthony Administration I wish to join the Group of Concerned Caribbean Citizens calling for full and public disclosure of the EPA recently negotiated with Europe. Records will show my strong and very often heated arguments at all levels particularly against “reciprocity” which I firmly believe will result in serious challenges for the Region particularly the OECS which we are not equipped to meet now nor in the forseeable future as far as I am concerned.
JRH
As an NGO in Guyana dealing with issues pertaining to discrimination, we believe that threats to economic development will hinder progress in social development. We are also aware that we were not following all arguments since we were preoccupied with other issues, and that this space gives some time for the discussions so that we can learn more
As a human rights activists and St.Lucian citizen, I wish to join the Group of Concerned Caribbean Citizens calling for full and public disclosure of the EPA recently negotiated with Europe.
We must begin lifting the veil of this trade negotiation before it is too late.
I support the statement by the Caribbean group on deficiencies in the EPA. Another world is not just a possibility, but an imperative. If we don’t stand up now for what is right, what is in the best interests of the region and our people, future generations will never forgive us.
Neoliberal-driven trade negotiations are destroying lives throughout the world. We fully support the efforts of Caribbean people to fight back.
Caribbean counties need to unite in solidarity and resistance against the death dealing global trading system and to seek atlernatives for an economy of solidarity which is life-giving.
As a lawyer, author and lecturer on the ACP-EC-cooperation, born in Suriname and based in Brussels, I write and lecture since 2000 on subjects concerning the ACP-EC-ooperation and the EPA-negotiations, trying to raise the awareness of the media and civil society in Suriname, Holland and Belgium. I saw what was happening all these years: no involvement of civil society and other non-state actors, no transparency on the cooperation and the negotiations, no feedback…
More…
I sign in support of the Statement. Thank you Ian MacDonald, Clive Thomas and Norman Girvan for your excellent articles. Jocelyn Dow has been a key, long-time advocate in this arena for years - and I thank her publicly for her example in walking the talk. My own commitment will be to disseminate information & link action with the rain forest-based communities in Guyana with whom I work in partnership with the NRDDB and Iwokrama and with the Guyana Citizens Initiative, an NGO of which I am a Board Member.
The analysis in Implications of the EPA raises important issues for the sovereignty of CARICOM states through externally imposed constraints on industry development policy. The lack of clarity about the principle of regional ‘cumulation’ raises questions regarding the EU’s perception of CSME. Does the CSME, at the present time, have all the critical institutional arrangements and policies in place and functioning to be treated as a single market ? I hope that your report will serve as a catalyst for discussion and urgent action within CARICOM governmental and business sectors.
The Caribbean public has once again been excluded by its political “leaders” from participation in, or even knowledge of, a matter that will have a considerable impact on our region for generations to come.
Signaira Merce, student of the University of the Netherlands Antilles
As a Journalist and student of Law I must note with considerable interest how we continue to operate even in this post colonial era. Policy decisions are hastily made without a general consensus from the public and with little contribution from civil society.
No matter how adverse influences affect our ability to negotiate on even grounds it is nevertheless paramount that we recognise all sectors, including NGOs, in major decision-making processes.
International diplomacy leaves no room for mediocre contributions; however our policies must be harmonious with the position of civil society.
I certainly lend my voice of support to the members of the Caribbean civil society for a public review of the Agreement. I hope that the analysis of the implications of the EPA is given full attention by and serves as the basis for immediate action on the part of all parties responsible for the governance of CARICOM.
I would like to add my name to the list of concerned individuals and organisations pertaining to the recently concluded EPA.
Greetings to the Group.
As a previous MP, Trinidad Parliament I abhor the movements of our regional Executives, Cabinets on this matter. We must persevere until there is open and frank discussion prior to the official signing, ? in April 2008.
You may refer to my column on this issue in the Trinidad Express on both Monday 14th and today Monday 21st January 2008
A reminder of Walter Rodney’s thesis of how Europe under-developed Africa. Quo Vadis, CARICOM? I join my voice with voices that call for a public review of the Agreement.
I support this call for a public discussion of an agreement that will affect the everyday lives and the social and natural environment of all Caribbean peoples
Many thanks to the initiators of this call for serious, public dialogue on an issue which threatens to further marginalize the poor of our region. Our Caribbean people, including religious people, need to rediscover our prophetic voice and action for justice across our region
As an economist who specializes in the poverty, income, and inequality effects of trade, I wish to join the Group of Concerned Caribbean Citizens calling for full and public disclosure of the EPA recently negotiated with Europe. Negative impacts of a variety of trade agreements, including the NAFTA, have been amply demonstrated. Sadly, however, once agreements are signed with consequent implications for investment and jobs, it is impossible to reverse those effects. This underscores the importance of a careful analysis of the effects of the EPA. I strongly endorse the request for more time and opportunity for a full and public review of the EPA.
Typical of our cowardly Caribbean leadership. Always afraid to confront the bigger powers. So easy to give in rather than plan counter measures.
As the author of Storm Signals: Structural Adjustment and Development Alternatives in the Caribbean (1991), I am saddened that so many leaders of state have been strong-armed into accepting the ruse of “development through liberalisation”. The EPA would yank the noose constricting the region’s development options even tighter than when I wrote Storm Signals…
More…
I support the statement and join with all those expressing concern about the negative impact of this agreement on our region and the manner in which our leaders conducted the “people’s business”.
The UK-based Haiti Support Group backs the Haitian coalition, Bare APE (Stop the EPA), composed of the following organisations:
PAPDA - Haitian Advocacy Platform for Alternative Development
MODEP - Popular Democratic Movement
CHANDEL (Adult literacy organisation)
RAJES - Assembly for the advancement of young people of Savenette
SOFA - Haitian Women’s Solidarity
RNDDH - National Network for the Defence of Human Rights
TÈT KOLE TI PEYIZAN AYISYEN (National peasant movement)
see: http://www.haitisupport.gn.apc.org/EPA.html
I wish to lend my support to the call for public disclosure and engagement on the contents of the recently concluded EPA negotiations with the ACP (particularly, with CARIFORUM). As the author of Caribbean Political Economy at the Crossroads (1998), I am afraid that the populist neoliberal development formula has not been altered in any meaningful way following the conclusion of this `trade-plus-development’ agreement.
More…
Neoliberalism and its sense of value driven solely by the profit motive and commodification of human life pose one of the biggest threats to Caribbean existence in the 21st century. It is time to demand of our leaders something more than their genuflection to western capital and cowardice in the face of imperial might. I thus completely support the statement by the group of concerned Caribbean citizens.
Literary Editor and Publisher
(Editor of The Arts Journal: Critical Perspectives on the History, Literature, Art and Culture of Guyana and the Caribbean.
Secretary of The Arts Forum Inc).
I support the call by civil society for a full public review of the EPA negotiations before it becomes a fait accompli.
Economic Researcher
I support the call for a public review of the EPA agreement. Pushing this agreement through would be an absolute failure of accountability to the people of the Caribbean and to their interests.
Je demande la revue complète des APE entre l’UE et les Caraïbes!
We of the Foundation , inheritors of the legacy of George Charles ‘ spirited defense of simple, ordinary workers , call for a thorough assessment of the intellectual capabilities of our national and regional political leadership to negotiate far-reaching , longterm agreements that deeply impact the lives of Caribbean citizensand the way they allow themselves to be bullied. Ordinary Caribbean folk do not have the faintest idea about the shift in the name of the game - from preferential trade to the anti-small economy principle of reciprocity. The colonial trap still remains sprung.
I enthusiastically support this call for greater transparency, involvement and participation of Caribbean people who have a much deeper knowledge and understanding of the issues than we are given credit for, and in whose bellies lie viable solutions.
EPA: DEVELOPMENT OR ENVELOPMENT?
EPA, yes or no; and if yes, then how? That is not the main issue. Obviously, even decency would require all stuff to be published previously and have it properly discussed. But the fundamantal question is whether Europe is primarily concerned about our present problems and lack of future options, or is its driving force, when stripped from all cosmetics, its own strategic and economic interests? …More
This is not a question of preferential arrangements. EU countries simply need to take responsibility for the untenable economic legacy that they created in the Caribbean which is at the heart of the matter.
As a concerned Caribbean person I support the call for there to be a full and public review of the EPA in order that this trade agreement (and all other trade agreements) is created for the betterment of our peoples, now and in the future.
A delightful European plan, all they seemed to have left out is the appointed “governor to the territories” and lo and behold the authorization of a new post post colonial era - a wonderful set up taking advantage of age old inefficiencies and the structured somewhat arrogant cultivation of a superior advantage, so delightfully couched as cooperative advantages and investment. The ball in our court?
A united Caribbean would not allow this post colonial arrangement to take place. We should evolve a common Caribbean front against ‘cover-up’ deals of this kind from the European pirates.
The Caribbean Area governments must postpone the deadline date for this agreement until they can put an all encompassing mutually beneficial Caribbean agreement forward to the EU.
I would like you to add my name to the statement by a Group of Concerned Caribbean Citizens.
Mervyn
I fully support this call for public review in the interest of participatory justice and a Caribbean-based redefinition of the EPA.
This is a much needed public debate. I myself am attempting to organize such a panel discussion in St. Lucia, where farmers are hard-hit. We need to have a voice on this issue.
Shades of CARIFTA! More re-colonization, eh? The project continues. Of course I support this statement by The Group of Concerned Caribbean Citizens.
There needs to be full and open discussion of the implications of this agreement. It would appear that the EC version of reciprocity is “heads I win, tails you lose.”
Institutional Affiliation: University of Puerto Rico
Delighted to see grassroots organizations, practioners, and academics adding their voices. This is public converstion that needs to take place.
I totally agree with the views expressed in Implications. I would add that to enter into binding trade agreements with blocks that maintain hidden and explicit subsidies to their own producers would be highly detrimental to the economic and social welfare of the Caribbean community.
Louis Lefeber
Professor of Economics and Graduate Program for Social and Political Thought, Founding Director of the Center for Research of Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University
Caribbean leaders would create a frightening scenario for their peoples if they were to sign the EPA. Let there be a full and transparent review of the proposed “agreement” with full participation by all sectors of society.
It is long overdue for Caribbean leaders to stand up for their rights, as Bob Marley advocated, and to challenge the “bullying” tactics of the United States, Europe and the WTO as their mouthpiece.
I strongly support this statement and add my voice to protest the exclusion of Caribbean working peoples. This undemocratic decision by our elected leaders wiil have severe consequences for future generations.
Director, MPH Program & Professor
Department of Community Health/Preventive Medicine
The Cariforum governments have deliberately left out trade unions from this process. The EU’s trade unions do have a seat at the table.
Because Caribbean working women and men need to be heard and need to have policies formulated that pay attention to their lives.
UWI Staff
The statement states that the governments will commit “for all time” if they sign. While it may be difficult to get out once one signs, for all time is hardly realistic. My statement in no way detracts from my agreement with the principle thesis of the letter that we should get the review and public exposure to happen before the governments sign on March 15. I merely ask for an intervention that itself does not cover information which people need to have with its own special pleading.
M. D. Gill
I wholeheartedly support the call for full discussion and disclosure on this EPA, which from all appearances, is likely to have far reaching implication for the citizens of the Caribbean.
Let us stand up and let our voices be heard.
The signing of this agreement was a completely misguided act executed by colonial minds. I feel that they believe that the political risks associated with the EPA signing are low because the mass of people won’t ever understand its implications . We must therefore broaden and deepen our advocacy to pressure regional Governments into taking corrective action.
Posterity will be unforgiving if we failed to engage in wide discussion of the full import of this agreement. It is ironic that the generation of the late 1930s that sowed the seeds of independence had greater sensitivity and engaged in wider and more intensive debate about our future without the benefit of 21st communications technology. We seem to lack a filial connection to the leadership of yesteryear.
Yet another proof of the imperialist agenda - they are “re-carving up the world” again, this time with “agreements” that will solidfy their control under changing circumstances in the world. I am hoping that the Caribbean will increasingly join up with the peoples and countries in Latin America that are fighting back against this imperialism dressed up in new clothes.
We are in full support for this will impact on each and every one of us in the region
As the author of Fair Trade Coffee, I strongly support this statement. The people of the Caribbean should fight back and refuse to submit to a globalizing effort that places the needs of their communities last, and those of rich countries and giant corporations first.
We will be digging our own economic graves by signing the EPA in its current form. We cannot continue to be “bullied” by the E.U. and must unmercifully seek our OWN economic interests because they will unmercifully seek theirs!!!!
I fully support a reveiw of the EPA. The funadmental principles on which the EPA is based will not lead to the sustainable develpment of our region. We need to not only reject the current form of the EPA but all trade agreements with a neoliberal orientation. Our long term goal therefore should be to carve for ourselves a new developement paradigm upon future trade agreements will be based.
I am glad for you to add my name and that of the organisations that I represent to your statement. I wholeheartedly agree with the text that you intend to use in the petition and will forward your message to several NGO’s and prominent people in Barbados.
The agreement makes mockery of the development agenda.
Although not a Caribbean citizen, I would like to add my name to the Statement about the EPA.
Haroon
University of St.Andrews, Anthropology
I feel abused as a Caribbean citizen by the governments of the region stealthily concluding potentially disastrous Economic Partnership Agreements with Europe, without even providing adequate information to the people of the region, far more engaging us in a serious dialogue so that we could understand the long term implications of the new economic arrangements which they intend to sign on March 15.
The agreements are wholly contradictory to all the talk of developing greater South-South relationships and represent a lost opportunity for constructing an Africa-Caribbean solidarity that could have tamed the European “threats” which seemed to intimidate our leaders. We have to make our voices heard before it is too late.
Having witnessed the devastating consequences of these types of trade agreements in Latin America, I would like to add my name to your portest.
I support the Group of Concerned Caribbean Citizens calling for full and public disclosure of the EPA recently negotiated with Europe.
I support the group of concerned caribbean citizens.it is imperative that we dictate and define who we are and how we will be treated.full disclosure will show
that there are no hidden agendas.
With the overwhelming influence exerted on all countries by international capital and the current globalized neoliberal dispensation, glasnost and broad civil society acceptance of agreements such as the EPA ought to be a minimum requirement. This is not just a demand based on ethics or moral politics, but a practical one that is mindful of the fact that in the face of a dwindling middle class practically everywhere, support and involvement by civil society in economic arrangements is the only way to provide legitimacy and thus guarantee the long term survival of democracy.
Also Senior Research Fellow, Council on Hemispheric Affairs (Washington, DC); and Assistant Professor, Metropolitan College of New York
Deputy Editor, Race & Class
Very few ordinary people even know what the term EPA refers to, yet this agreement with such a huge potential to undermine our basic standard of living, is handed to us as a fait accompli.
I fully support the call for full public disclosure.
Regarding the EPA, I support Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s position that the Caribbean can no longer continue to be mendicants in its relationship with the developed world and in particular with the EU. With globalization we have to fend for ourselves and cooperate as an economic block in our trading relationships with the rest of the world. The umbilical cord through which we have been fed by Europe will eventually be severed and a most favoured nation status will no longer be the norm. The Caribbean will have to face a new reality by implementing its own productive plans and policy measures. For example, we have to look to a country like Guyana to become a bread basket and thus the source of much of the food that will be needed by the countries of CARICOM. On the western side of the Caribbean, we could look to Belize to produce beef and other small animal stock for the Caribbean market. The EPA is a wake up call that we have to be astute and use our business acumen to survive in a competitive world. Thus, the EPA in spite of some weaknesses, is pointing the direction in which or economic future will take and signals the realization that the Caribbean will have to be productive and innovative as it looks towards its economic future.
I am surprised that the official Opposition party of Trinidad and Tobago has not raised this issue in public forums. The support for that party comes from the argricultural regions of the country.
I do believe that the general population is unaware of the terms and condition of this agreement (EPA). As such information should be made available to the average citizen since it has serious implications for us as Caribbean people.
Thank you for this long overdue publicity of this trade agreement.
When the REPA was initiallly proposed it was considered to be a development agreement, not a trade agreement taking into consideration the Caribbean own particular “bread and butter” development issues; but what was concluded on the 16th December, 2007 was not a development agreement but a WTO-plus agreement. I support whole heartedly the call for the review of the EU-CARIFORUM EPA, with the inclusion of the Caribbean citzenery. The CRNM and other Caribbean public administration bodies should stop with the “Fact v.s Fiction” and tell us the truth.
Citizen of the Caribbean
The issues clearly needed to be ventilated in the public domain. The average citizen of the region may not be totally abreast of all the technical jargon but they are not fools. Citizens of free education in some territories and others who have graduated from our universities and colleges are educated and quite capable of analyzing and having informed opinions with respect to the EU-CARIFORUM EPA.
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As a student and citizen of our Caribbean community, I want to show support for a review of the EPA. This agreement would have a major impact on our lives and the lives of our children. We thus have every right to be enlightened and to engage in discussions about the impact of such an agreement. It is about time that we as Caribbean people stand up for our rights!
I fully support a public forum to discuss the EPA. It is imperative on the government of the region to allow citizens to engage in public debate on a matter that promises to have far reaching consequences.
NUPW believes that there shoud be wider discourse on this.
The average person in the general population doesn’t understand and is not sufficiently aware of the true and real implications of the EPA. There needs to be a campaign to raise awareness about the general implications of this agreement so that the ordinary person on the street can understand too that they will be adversely affected and will seek to become actively involved in determining the contents and rules of the EPA.
A lot of people believe that the EPA is outside of their realm of understanding and think it is limited to the bureaucrats, technocrats and policy makers. How do we get the entire public to understand the gravity of the situation so that they would want to make a contribution towards determining the rules and content on the EPA?
If it is to be resisted then we must have greater public attention.
Our leaders at all levels need to understand that we the people, at all levels, need to know what they are negotiating on our behalf.
I wish to thank TV6, for the debate that they facilitated between Professor Norman Girvan and the EU representative. The attitude that the EU knew what was best for us in the Caribbean coupled with the vagueness of the information that was being presented as demonstration that the EPA was sound spoke either of a great deficiency on the part of this EU representative, or of great arrogance.
The same can be said of our leaders who continue to mimic the attitudes of these donors in their own dealings with the population.
How do we proceed to ensure that they take this call for transparency seriously?
It was Ghandi who said these infallible words, ‘ There is enough of everyman’s need but not for everyman’s greed.’ The template on which EPA has been negotiated and is expected to be signed by our Caribbeans leaders reflects what some might say is the very heart of Ghandi’s statement. Let us organise ourselves and demonstrate to our Leaders that they are our servants, not masters. I started a petition which can be viewed at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/jamaicaepa and would appreciate your support and suggest you do the same. One Love
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On behalf of my colleague Miguel Ceara Hatton and myself, both from the Dominican Republic, we would like to join this group signing the petition you are circulating.
Best regards, Pavel