Bajans have had a rude awakening with the verdict in favour of Miss Shanique Myrie. The impression is that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) believed the information presented by Miss Myrie as against that presented by our battery of lawyers.
The verdict cuts across the belief of prominent people that somehow we have total control of our 14 by 21 rock with the total ability to say who of, and for how long, our Caribbean neighbours can play in our backyard.
Our founding fathers said no a long time ago and we should have updated our concept of sovereignty with respect to our Caricom people. This is a harp back to West Indian Federation. Sovereignty does not mean that we can do whatever we like.
People have been aware of the reality from time immemorial, but some of us consistently tried to deny it. St Lucians, Vincentians, Trinidadians, Guyanese have so entwined themselves with Barbadians, and vice versa, as not to be able to distinguish who is totally Barbadian.
We have visited and lived in other islands since Adam was a lad, and yet we hold on to the slender concept that Barbados belongs to ‘born’ Barbadians only. So if you are born in Barbados of a Jamaican father and a Guyanese mother, who are you? See what is shamefully happening in Santo Domingo right now in our backyard. Silence except from St Vincent.
The Wild Coot has roamed every island of the Caribbean, lived for years in some, and has never been questioned either by immigration or customs officer – except in Barbados.
What is making things worse is that the proud boast that we once had – as being the best-run economy and society in the Caribbean, punching above our weight – is not only in serious doubt but has been debunked by reputable outsiders.
Imagine Jamaican debt that had once been traded at a discount, is now preferred to our junk bonds, and devaluation is not finished there yet. The reason for our downgrade has nothing to do with influx of Caribbean people. The position in reverse might now accelerate with Barbadians seeking work in other islands.
Shoe on the other foot!
While once people hesitated to take potshots at us, now it happens with embarrassing frequency. We must change our buggery laws, so that people carrying on in the privacy of their bedroom would not have to look over their shoulder. We must take a hanging option off the books. Amnesty International does not seem to have spoken to the United States or for that matter China, or Iraq that just hanged 42, including a woman, in one day.
These new interventions must pain many of us, especially my friend Lowdown, who must take it easy lest he falls sick again.
Funny enough, other Caricom people would grudgingly admit that there was a high standard in Barbados. Now they are asking “what happen?”. Is the calibre of our politicians who were once thought of as learned and pragmatic coming into question?
Miss Myrie’s case should wake us up, but I believe it will not. Scholars, lawyers and people who should know better are unfortunately going to question the decision ad nauseum. The immediate fear is not that we are sorry that this thing has gone so far and that we should have settled with Miss Myrie long ago, but that even now we may not have learnt our lesson.
A woman, driving through Harrison College to collect her charge, noticed a monument featuring the past prime ministers of Barbados. She called me on the telephone to say that she now understood why Barbados was so sensibly run in the past.
Well, the Wild Coot did not get into that ‘elitist’ statement. He did not agree with her added scatological observation and advice that we should follow what Jamaica did with the West Indies Federation. But hey, just as we now have real freedom of movement, we still, for the time being, have freedom of speech.
The question still remains: Are we stronger united or are we losing the opportunity to be a force to be reckoned with? Perhaps we must ask former Prime Minister Owen Arthur.
• Harry Russell is a banker; email quijote70@gmail.com