A
CALL FOR A UNION OF CARIBBEAN STATES (PART 1)
Anyone with a modicum of genuine interest in the
welfare of the masses of Barbadian and Caribbean people would recognise that
with a massive global economic crisis threatening unprecedented destruction,
the Caribbean needs, now more than ever, to come together in brotherhood and
solidarity under the banner of our "Caribbean Community" (CARICOM)!
Yet, this is precisely the time that halfwits and
quislings are creeping out of the woodwork and seeking to convince our people
that Caribbean regionalism is "irrelevant", and that "in a
globalised world economy we’re all better off fending for ourselves." The Peoples
Empowerment Party (PEP) would like to urge the masses of our people to
treat these backward and destructive sentiments with the contempt that they
deserve.
The PEP is hereby issuing an urgent call to all the
civic and political leaders of the Caribbean Community to respond to the
international economic crisis by boldly embracing and fast-tracking the goal of
a "political union" of our sub-region!
If we take the step of establishing a "political
union", what we would in effect be doing, is creating a new and
powerful executive instrument that will complement our existing individual island
governments, and bring to bear additional resources, focus and energy on
fostering the development of our people.
A political union will strengthen us rather than
weaken us! A new, collective, regional executive mechanism should be viewed in
terms of its ability to increase our capacity for self-generating development,
rather than in the purely negative conception of a costly addition to the
bureaucracy of government.
The state of Florida in the United States of
America, for example, possesses a state government that fosters the development
of the territory and people of Florida. But it is also served by a federal
government - the Federal Government of the United States of America - which
also brings additional attention and resources to bear on the development of
the territory and people of Florida. Why would we Caribbean people wish to
continue to deny ourselves the additional developmental assistance of a
collective "Federal" or "Union" government?
Wake up Caribbean people, and recognise that our
salvation rests in establishing a multi-territory "Union of Caribbean
States"!
Granted, all of the territories of CARICOM may not
yet be prepared to make this leap forward, but let us start with a coalition of
the willing and most suitable! And such a coalition, in our view, could be the
nations of Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, St Vincent & the Grenadines, St
Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis.
In recent times, a fascinating scenario has
developed in the Caribbean, in which the territory with the strongest economy
and with the best prospects of going it alone - Trinidad and Tobago - is the
territory that is most keen on establishing a political union.
Of course, in times past, the Caribbean integration
movement has been bedeviled by the economically stronger territories believing
that the weaker economies would simply be a drag on their developmental
prospects, and choosing therefore either to opt out of the Federation or to
insist on a slowing down of the integration process.
To his credit, Prime Minister Patrick Manning of
Trinidad and Tobago, seems to be able to see beyond this myopic conception of
development, and to envisage the long term future of a thriving multi-territory
Caribbean nation and civilization.
The political and civic leadership of Barbados now
also needs to rise to the challenge of conceptualizing the long term future of
our physically small, natural resource deficient, but intellectually fertile
nation within the context of a multi-territory nation and civilization.
DAVID A. COMISSIONG
27/10/09
Further reading: How
Small Nations Were Cut Adrift by the Global Economic Crisis, Gideon
Rachman, Financial Times