Whither CARICOM?

Today’s article really came naturally. I sat before my computer at about 11 am on Wednesday trying to decide on the topic for this week’s column when a phone call alerted me to the fact that Usain Bolt had not only won the 200 metres finals but had broken the world record. Another call shortly after informed me that Melaine Walker of Jamaica had won the 400 metre hurdles event.{{more}}

Today has become special! Granted it has been mainly Jamaica, but that country has kept the Caribbean flags flying. The young Jamaican athlete, the Bolt, has done the double, winning the sprint doubles in world record times. Amazing! Like other people from the Caribbean, I am extremely uplifted and carried away by the performance of Caribbean athletes. Before this was the 100 metres finals, a first and second place for the Caribbean, Trinidad lending support here, then the clean sweep of the women’s 100 metres by Jamaica. Later today I am expecting great things for the region in the women 200 metres and 110 metre hurdles for men(by Cuba). Of course, by the time this is being read, you would know for sure.

It has really been exciting, especially after following events from the NBC American feed. I especially liked the 100 metres Women’s final. In the heats, Lauryn Williams was trumpeted. The Announcer was expecting great things from her. Her performance was ominous, and others had better take warning. The Jamaican girls showed otherwise. Although Jamaica has always been producing outstanding athletes, the sheer numbers this year and their performances have been something else. The United States of America has always dominated the sprints. What is it about a country with a population of a little over two and a half million and without the resources of its big neighbour that has allowed it to make the strides it has been making in the field of athletics? To see Bolt literally blow away the field in the 100 metres and in the 200, I have been told, is utterly amazing and has helped the region to add another few notches on its achievement belt. I am emphasizing all of this not only because I am excited by what is happening but also because I have fears about where the Caribbean is going.

A few years ago we were all excited about what was happening in the Caribbean. We were heading for the Caribbean Single Market and Economy, something that was signalled by the revised Treaty of Chaugaramas. Then, our leaders started pushing back the dates for the implementation of the Single Economy phase. Despite all of this, they appeared optimistic that things were on stream. Then other things began to crowd the agenda. The OECS Single Economy was being pushed by the sub-region. Our Prime Minister saw it as just the formation of another concentric circle but his scepticism about Caricom’s ability to deepen the integration movement did create some concerns. We would remember his statement that “in a sense the quest for an OECS Economic Union is a recognition by the OECS member-countries that the “special and differential” position elaborated for them within the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas is inadequate and that the promise of a CARICOM- wide Single Economy is unlikely to be fulfilled either at all or in a manner sufficiently advantageous to them.” I have no problem with our Prime Minister telling it like it is. But we must begin to wonder because this mechanism for deepening the regional integration movement was being touted as our pathway to heaven on earth, really as the way to go in this era of globalisation. Then there was more to come. Dr. Gonsalves pointed to several idiosyncrasies within the cultural make up of Caricom that were destined to keep CARICOM as a “community of sovereign states” in which several of its member-states jealously guarded a vaunted and pristine sovereignty. Despite his misgivings, however, he still felt that the quest for a deeper union must continue for historic and what he calls challenging reasons.

But again, other complications have emerged. I read a piece in Caribbean Net News by Lloyd Noel who quoted our Prime Minister as saying the OECS cannot be ready to meet the revised 2015 date for the Single Economy and that other arrangements will have to be made. What are those other arrangements? I am not sure about the source of Lloyd Noel’s quote and if there was a reference to the other arrangements that will have to make. But in the midst of all of this there appears a new initiative- the Manning, Gonsalves, Thomas and King’ initiative. It appears that the goal is for economic integration of their states by 2011 and a political union by 2013. Word on the street is that the other OECS leaders were not apprised of the initiative. But recent reports are to the effect that Manning and the new man in Grenada, Tillman Thomas, are going to be visiting Dominica, S.Kitts/Nevis and Antigua/Barbuda to promote this new plan. There is some unhappiness within Caricom. Bruce Golding is of the view that this new development will have implications for the structure and future of the regional union. He is asking that the matter be discussed among regional heads and stated that Jamaica will then evaluate its position based on those discussions. Really, any thought of a political union will send shivers up the spine of the Jamaican leader. Then there is Basdeo Panday. He is always sceptical of any efforts by Trinidad and Tobago to forge unions with the Eastern Caribbean. He sees it as a plot by Manning to increase the African presence in any union that emerges with Trinidad. Remember Dr. Gonsalves’ talk of the politics of ethnicity as one of the shackles imposed on the regional movement.

So what is happening? Shouldn’t we be confused? All of these initiatives are crisscrossing each other and we cannot be sure what is driving them. Is Caricom really serious? I ask this question because a few months ago there was virtual unanimity within that body, except for Guayana, about signing the partnership agreement with the European Union, the so-called Economic Partnership Agreement. Now others are beginning to express some reservations and no one seems to be sure how many of our leaders would sign it on the agreed date. They appear to be bowing to the concerns raised by the academic community and by NGOs. Chris Sinckler, the Barbados Foreign Minister who had been in the forefront of the efforts by the region’s non-governmental organisations to push their concerns about the EPA agreement, now says proudly that Barbados will sign on the dotted line. So whither goes Caricom? What is feeding this confusion? Where are we really going? We keep changing directions, responding to different drums, it would seem. Has the Manning, Gonsalves, Thomas and King’s initiative pushed the CSME into the background? Our athletes are doing us proud but we are not sure where our leaders are taking us. What next for CARICOM?

Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian.