The Peoples Empowerment Party (PEP) is appealing to fellow citizens not to allow the current crop of political “mis-leaders” to blind them to the critical role that Barbados and Barbadians have always played in the regional integration movement.
They must also recognise the grave responsibility that rests upon our shoulders to ensure that the heroic efforts of our forefathers to construct and develop the English-speaking Caribbean region were not in vain!
What term other than “mis-leadership” can one use to describe the performance of the late Prime Minister David Thompson, when, during his wind-up speech in the May 2009 Budget debate, he declared on national television that we Barbadians were different from other West Indians, and “entitled” to feel that we were “better” than other West Indians?
Similarly, what other than “mis-leadership” is the record of a Democratic Labour Party administration that exploited anti-Guyanese sentiment in its 2008 general election campaign, and that, since taking office, has presided over the fraying of Barbados’ relations with Guyana, St Vincent and now Jamaica.
The PEP wishes to bring home to our fellow Barbadians that our country has always played a major role in constructing a West Indian nation and civilization. Indeed, even if we go back to the earliest colonial period, the energetic contributions of Barbados are evident.
Take the case of the very establishment of Jamaica as a British West Indian colony! The historian, Robert Schomburgk, informs us that the squadron that won Jamaica for England in 1655 was “reinforced by a troop of horse raised in (Barbados) at the expense of the inhabitants, and three thousand five hundred volunteers”.
He further explained that this Barbados-assisted conquest of Jamaica from Spain, opened a wide field for English enterprise, and many opulent planters from Barbados and other islands settled in Jamaica”. And, of course, the same point can be made in relation to many of the other English-speaking territories that are now members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
But if we have mixed feelings about this colonialist record, we can take greater pride in the unquestionable leadership role that Barbados has played in the more recent post-World War II period!
Whatever else may be said about the anglophile Sir Grantley Adams, we have to concede that he was the only one of the major West Indian political leaders who was prepared to make the sacrifice of giving up his local leadership position in order to take on the burdens and uncertainties of captaining the fledgling West Indian Federation.
And when the Federation disintegrated, Barbados once again stepped forward and attempted to construct a federation of the “Little Eight”. Indeed, so committed were the late Wynter Crawford and Erskine Ward to this effort that these two Barbadian statesmen were willing to sacrifice their political careers in its defence!
It is also to Barbados’ credit that it was included in the extremely small band of pioneers that established both CARIFTA in 1967 and CARICOM in 1973.
Other notable achievements are that the very first secretary-general of CARICOM – Fred Cozier – was a Barbadian, and that Barbados undertook lead responsibility for the establishment of the Caricom Single Market and Economy?(CSME).
This is the proud record that we Barbadians must live up to, and we must not permit any myopic politicians to lead us away from fulfilling our destiny.
