Walk without talk

The reality, however, is that although the talk is everywhere, it is, as the Americans say, talk without walk.

Going in, to be clear, I have no hesitation in saying that my heart is completely for regional unity in the Caribbean, but in the next breath I also don’t hesitate to say that’s only in my heart; in my head, in the clear light of day, 50 years after I first heard it, there is no evidence anywhere of any entity based on regional unity succeeding.

On what basis, other than naivete, do we continue to proclaim this “one Caribbean” idea?  Where is it working?

It’s not that we haven’t given it a good try.  This idea has been lofted in the Caribbean repeatedly, for almost 70 years, in permutations big and small, quiet and trumpeted, extensive and spasmodic, and each incarnation of it has either already fallen to the bottom of the cliff or is on its way there.  The notion actually goes back to the 1930s when the journalist T. A. Marryshow in Grenada, and the labour leader Andrew Cipriani in Trinidad, first campaigned for federation as the answer to Caribbean development dilemmas, but even in that early stirring, deep dissension among island leaders surrounded the idea, with one of the major stumbling points being differing views on, believe it or not, adult suffrage. In the ensuing 25 years, with continuing dissension, nothing concrete emerged, and it was finally only through the machinations of Great Britain, who wanted this Caribbean albatross off its neck, that the various elements were persuaded to accept a trial West Indies Federation (WIF) in 1958. (The carrot the British used was that this was the only way these small islands could be feasibly independent. The then British Guiana was not in that first formation, but would be brought in later.)

But even during that critical Federation trial period (Britain had promised financial support; boy, they wanted to be rid of us) our leaders, with diverse priorities, were immediately at each other’s throats. The two major power brokers – Norman Manley in Jamaica, and Eric Williams in Trinidad – were in fundamental conflict, with Manley wanting a loose Federation with power held by individual states, and Williams preferring a system with power held at the centre. In Barbados, Grantley Adams was leery of the powerful prestige of both Manley and “the Doc” and was concerned about his position as Federal Prime Minister being undermined. The smaller islands, with no significant power, were divided in their allegiances.

The Caribbean history lesson is that, although a relatively small region, our differing priorities going into Federation were, as now, significant. With the WIF not even a year old, Trinidad was up in arms over special concessions being asked by Manley for a proposed oil refinery in Jamaica. Having spent some 25 years arriving at a Federal Constitution, acceptable to all, a Jamaican member of the Government called for a review of that same Constitution – in the very first session of the parliament! The inherently shaky structure began separating at the seams on these and a number of issues too lengthy to go into here, and when Britain later made the mistake of agreeing to give Jamaica independence solo, the Federation became, as Eric Williams trenchantly put it, a case of “10 minus 1 equals zero.”

It makes for humorous reading, but Williams’ analysis, pertinent then, remains so.

Our history since shows that the same differences that caused the Federation to fail have operated in the same manner through the years sinking every proposed regional vessel before its timbers have hardly been wet by the sea.

Go back into Caribbean history and look at the initiatives in concord we have undertaken. Go back as far as the Standing Closer Association Committee when we were colonies. Look at Federation, and Carifesta, and Caricom. Look at all the travail over the CCJ. More recently, think about the Common Market and the common currency, and free movement of labour and goods. In 2010, almost 50 years after the West Indies Federation folded, we find producers in Guyana asking Caricom to do something about the foot-dragging on free trade. Think about the very recent dissension surrounding the EPA, and regional positions on that unravelling with the signatures on the document barely dry. Whatever happened to Shridath “Sonny” Ramphal’s detailed West Indian Commission regional blueprint? Where is the Patterson/McDonald plan to save West Indies cricket?

Someone who knows the inside of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) told me, “The Board members cannot agree among themselves; it’s constant war.” That’s not surprising; our record on concord is pathetic.

We are so bent, albeit with good intention, on lauding the diversity of our region, that we often seem blind to the fact that, rhetorical bursts aside, the very diversity we’re shouting about is at the root of why we can’t come to cooperation among ourselves.

Dr. David Jessop, Executive Director of the Caribbean Council for Europe wrote last week that “the Caribbean is far from integrated, without regional institutions with executive authority, and with differing foreign and economic policies”. He could well have added social and cultural categories to the list.

Where is this often proclaimed “one Caribbean”? Apart from the travel posters of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), it is a myth; indeed, even in the CHA try at promoting “one Caribbean” tourism, it proved to be a myth. We are a number of small nations, in a small bowl, and there are distinct differences culturally between us. The Trini and the Jamaican may have the same skin colour, but beyond that, if you know them well, they are different people; they are different in cuisine, dialect, spectacle, and manner; ditto for the Barbadian and the St. Lucian.  Guyana doesn’t have a cultural parallel anywhere, and neither does Antigua.

More importantly, our history is one of a people traditionally separated by the sea, and, prior to recent times, by very limited travel by air. Our story is one of isolated nations, each struggling with its specific problems, and, also until recently, generally ignorant of each other. This physical and social separation left these “island nations” not totally at ease with and even suspicious of each other from Federation days to now, and the provincial behaviour of some of our leaders, early and late, has led us farther away from the idea of unity.

Caribbean unity is a dream that remains largely gaff, and as is usual in such matters, the common people can be ahead of the curve. Last week, a gentleman buying coraila in Bourda Market was raising questions about Guyana’s growing involvement with Brazil. The vendor rocked back on her seat and said, “I seh le’ we try de Brazilians; wha’ Caricom ever do fuh we?”

Bourda is always worth a visit; you get a great price on coconut water, and the insights are free.