WITH NO DIFFERENCE, and deference to the opinion of fellow letter-writer Mr Leonard St Hill, I would want to underscore the point not only American Law Colonises Us in the Daily Nation of Monday, August 3, but Barbadians almost a half-century after the declaration of independence and freedom from colonial powers, are still wallowing in a form of neo-colonialism brought to bear by institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU).
The harsh conditionalities of IMF programmes that include sweeping income tax exemptions, the WTO restrictions on subsidised goods for export, the OECD restrictions on “strategic” goods and raw materials for export, and the EU’s threats and penalties to small island states (SIDS) for not protecting their fishing grounds are part of the workings of colonial power and might.
The EU’s (black)listing of so-called tax havens is not excluded.
Unfortunately, small developing nations are not only colonised and controlled by American law, but by other international agencies that dictate our day-to-day livelihood and existence.
– Michael Ray