I think skin bleaching goes on in every black country. Besides, Jamaica is the least black country in the Anglo Caribbean.

Honestly, was this really called for? Do you guys learn NOTHING from the fuckups of my generation and the ones before me?

I happen to be in Jamaica right now preparing to leave after spending the last two week on a management course and I think it's appropriate to post the paper I had to do two days ago as my group (two of whom were Jamaican) had the question Caribbean Unity Is a Pipe Dream: Discuss



My colleagues have outlined many agreements and institutions that in their own way defy the idea that regional integration is a pipe dream. I too share the optimism. However, for that notion to be dealt with we have to look at some harsh facts.

Those who ague that regional union is a myth have good reason for saying so; but the principal reasons for the current lack of cohesion and insularity stem from two main interrelated sources: self-doubt and political opportunism.

There are many examples, this institution being the most obvious one for us, that the dream of a unified Caribbean is always at our fingertips, but right here we all share the same complaints: unimaginative leadership, mutual suspicion, hoarding of information and resources, etc., reflexive deferring to Europe and the US for often irrelevant guidance, training and expertise. This is what happens when earlier generations were told constantly that nothing they produce or conceptualise is of value and when later generations don’t deconstruct that in all facets of our respective societies: so now the poison recycles itself.

And that self-doubt is what prevents so many of us from challenging our own elites when they, no less indoctrinated by the idea that the north is our heaven, keep us apart and make a mess of our respective spaces. It can be argued that there has always been a degree of dislike and insularity among the common people and there is some truth to that. But I argue that this is where our political and educated elite failed, chose not to, refused to sufficiently educate the populace to develop a mindset different from the one developed by the coloniser. They kept the mechanisms of division to suit their purposes. Statements like “1 from 10 leaves 0” in response to Jamaica breaking away from the Federation, a move which itself came about largely through narrow party politicking, only served to keep the region in stasis, again, for no legitimate reason. Add to that the very real situation of being caught in Cold War bullying which derailed many a sincere venture to realise a Caribbean civilisation.

In one hand one shouldn’t be harsh on them; these were brilliant minds, in many ways dedicated to remove colonising yokes. But unfortunately, they were schooled in Eurocentric values which, therefore, impacted on them; as such many of them fought the coloniser only to take over the colonising. As Sir Shridath Ramphal said “Colonialism was overcome but dominion in a deeper sense was not.” CLR James spoke about this in Party Politics in the West Indies as did Lloyd Best till the day he died. His 1967 essay Independent Thought and Caribbean Freedom should be required reading for everyone doing ‘A’ Levels and up) but few read these publications because in our societies, few people read. With that ignorance, it became easier for insular rhetoric to seep down to the working class, many of whom already had Grenadian, Bajan, Vincentian and Guyanese roots, often in one family. How easy do we forget – for who knew at all – that while Trinidad was the greatest culture bearer of calypso, the early icons like Tiger sang songs that were often modifications of songs sang by Jamaican stevedores as they worked on the docks; while other kaisos can be traced to Martinique. How well we ignore Byron Lee; who can say the names of the Indian brothers from Guyana who were active in kaiso writing in Trinidad in the 1930s? And when Lord Kitchener lead a crowd of people onto the pitch at Lords when the West indies won in 1950, did he take Trinis alone? Where was Peter Minshall born again? How did we move from the phenomenon of Jamaicans rioting over the barring of a Guyanese intellectual from returning to teach to the apparent initiative to break away from CARICOM as I saw in the Gleaner two days ago. Some people just never learn from history.

We need to understand that and all that that implies, we need to seriously re-examine ourselves and determine how and why are our elites so fragmented and insular so as to rein in their misdirections. If we look around this room, we need to seriously figure out that if there is to be any regional cohesiveness, the initiatives cannot be left with politicians and business elites but must come from our own trading of ideas and relationships. If we look at Europe we see a diverse group of countries that in the 20thC fought not one but two major civil wars and yet today have the EU while we still engaging in the most juvenile, shallow arguments.

In concluding I will say that we can continue in this vein in which case we will all be re-colonised in a different form as such “agreements” like the EPA and the WTO ruling on bananas are showing or we can start pitting our heads together given that the best and most potent product we can sell to the world is our combined intellect. Perhaps we need to look again at the institutions that were cohesive and draw models; anyone remember the West Indies team under Clive Lloyd?



I'd also suggest going through this speech by Sir Shridath
IS THE WEST INDIES WEST INDIAN? | The Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies
Or you can all continue to engage in the jackassness that I've been noticing these last few months.

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