THE PEP COLUMN – The Assembly of Caribbean People

The countdown is on for the staging of the Assembly of Caribbean People in Barbados from August 3 and 8, 2010! This important Pan-Caribbean gathering of civil society representatives – farmers, workers, women activists, artistes, students, scholars, youth and representatives of political parties, trade unions, cooperatives and other community based organisations – will assemble at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies to brainstorm the many challenges and problems confronting the Caribbean at this time. The Assembly of Caribbean People could not have come at a more appropriate time, for it is clear that the Caribbean – like much of the world – is facing what is perhaps the most daunting existential challenge since the dark days of the 1930’s!Make no mistake about it, our civilisation has come to a critical crossroads, and is facing a crisis of monumental proportions. Put simply, we are now in the early phase of a profound international economic and financial crisis, an energy crisis, a food crisis, an ecological and environmental crisis, and a moral and ethical crisis – a veritable system of multiple crises, creating one single systemic crisis of our civilisation.Delegations from Haiti, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Martinique, St Lucia, Dominican Republic, St Vincent, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guyana, Anguilla, Dominica, Guadeloupe and Barbados will assemble in Barbados to tackle ten pointed and crucial questions.The first question to be addressed will be: How is the international financial, economic and debt crisis impacting on the Caribbean, and how should the Caribbean respond?Caribbean farmers will lead discussions on the question of: What does the Caribbean need to do in order to reform the rural sector, develop agriculture and achieve food sovereignty?Leading Caribbean economists, will lend their expertise to answering the question of: How can the Caribbean so harness, organise, combine, process and exchange its own resources that new industries are developed?The plight of the remaining colonies of the Caribbean will also be addressed when the Cuban delegation gives guidance on the question of: What are the components of a comprehensive strategy to achieve the total de-colonisation of the Caribbean?Of special importance to the CARICOM countries will be the discussion of:  What would be the components of new and more appropriate people centred models of governance for Caribbean states, and how could the nations of the Caribbean utilise all of the available opportunities for integration and political union?And of course, the critical issues of education and health will be addressed. In fact, Dr Didacus Jules of the Caribbean Examinations Council will lead off the discussion on: What are the “best practices” that exist in the Caribbean in the field of education, and how can we ensure that they are extended to all Caribbean societies?The social and racial problems of the Caribbean will also come under the microscope via the question of: What measures can the Caribbean take to address the socio-cultural defects of illegal drugs, crime, racism and moral and cultural degeneration?•The PEP Column represents the views of the People’s Empowerment Party.