Two weeks ago, Barbados’ Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart, pointed to an issue that ought to give pause for thought across Caricom. Speaking to alumni of the University of the West Indies, he asked why it was that the previously vibrant voice of the Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC), the Caribbean Congress of Labour (CCL) and the Caribbean Conference of Churches (CCC) was now so diminished.
Speaking on the theme of the global economic crisis and integration, Prime Minister Stuart suggested that in the past the voices of the regional private sector, the labour movement and the church were all loudly raised and heard. But today, he suggested, the resonance of all three institutions had diminished and their flame was, to quote him, burning low.
The region could, he suggested, gain much from the
