CARIBBEAN integration from inception or the trying of which was the 1958 Federation through to the present Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) 2010, is doomed to failure.
We had Trinidad’s Eric Williams saying “one from ten leaves nought”, because he had the most money, so if he pulled out there would be dire financial need.
Jamaica thinks that they are the biggest – but only in size.
St Vincent is attacking Barbados, saying that Barbados thinks that because we have the freest and best education, we are the best. Trinidad’s Patrick Manning is trying to form a union with some OECS countries, in the face of CSME and not even signing on to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
Now Trinidad’s Kamla Persad-Bissessar is emphatically saying that Trinidad is not an ATM for CSME member states.
It is recession time and should also be coming together time, now moreso and since 1958.
But it is still cut-throat and insularity time. There’s nothing visible on the horizon to show that this situation will change.
Maybe it’s time to give up and use our mental resources to chart a different lucrative course, like Michael Jackson and Diana Ross of music industry fame.
TREVOR HARPER
