Rightly, Barbadians would not want to take any comfort in knowing that depressing as their prevailing social and economic woes may be, Jamaicans were facing a worse scenario as the people of all Caribbean Community states and territories were observing Emancipation Day.
Basking for years in the glory of a CARICOM state with recurring admirable economic performance ratings and often at the high end of human development indices, it is understandably disturbing for Bajans that Barbados’ [creditworthiness] has been [downgraded] by rating agency Standard & Poor’s to “junk bond” status.
Yet, in their reflections on the good years, Barbadians could also try to appreciate the yearnings of Jamaicans for years past when successive governments in Kingston struggled, against the odds, to survive internal and external political pressures to maintain the sovereignty and dignity of a proud, though poor nation.
Also of the brave spirit of successive administrations in Kingston to cope with quite burdensome restraints imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the continuing success of Jamaicans in fostering the richness of their performing arts and general cultural contributions that continue to provide positive vibrations for the rest of this region.
For all its own past and lingering social/political challenges, Guyana also stands as a shining example of the indomitable spirit of a people of this region to overcome severe social and economic problems.
The intention here is not to generate a false “feel-good” mood among Barbadians at this “tough” season. Rather, it is to encourage wider perspectives on how others of our regional family spread across CARICOM are coping with their respective social, economic and political challenges.
In a year of a likely new general election – though I am inclined to think it could be within the first three months of 2013 – even a renowned Barbadian cultural icon like calypsonian The Mighty Gabby could have allowed himself to mistakenly warn that this nation may be “ripe for riots”, reminiscent of the dreaded historic 1937 colonial period.
Not so, Gabby. True, the comparative upsurge in serious crime, the continuing craze to adapt or, worse, uncritically embrace foreign and quite costly lifestyles, as well as the bullying of children at schools and the more degrading social sickness of child sex abuse at home and school are problems from which Barbados and other CARICOM countries must speedily free themselves.
Across in Jamaica, the Observer newspaper was editorializing on Wednesday: “As we mark Emancipation Day, we must endeavour to look deeply at the areas of national life in which we cannot claim full Emancipation and in which we have not fulfilled the hopes and aspirations of the descendants of the newly freed slaves . . . .”
Truth is, while Barbados, Jamaica and other CARICOM states have burdensome problems of varying degrees, none can claim success in fulfilling “the hopes and aspirations” of the descendants of emancipated slaves. This remains a work in progress.
• Rickey Singh is a noted Caribbean journalist.
