The Caribbean has arrived at an important crossroads.
The question before us is fundamental: Will we look to one another for our strength, our development and our future, or will we increasingly look outward for special arrangements and temporary favors from forces whose interests may not ultimately be our own?
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That question applies equally to the Caribbean region and to Caribbean communities throughout the diaspora.
There will always be the attraction of the special deal, an arrangement with a powerful government, corporation, institution or outside interest that appears to provide an immediate advantage. One country may receive favorable treatment. One organization may receive special recognition. One individual or group may gain access denied to others.
The short-term benefits can be seductive.
But history teaches us to be careful.
For the Caribbean, divide and conquer is not a new strategy. It is one of the oldest instruments of domination. Separate one country from another. Reward one while isolating another. Encourage governments to compete for favor rather than cooperate for regional strength. Within our diaspora communities, the same principle can operate by encouraging organizations and leaders to seek individual access rather than build collective power.
The result is fragmentation.
And fragmentation makes us weaker.
Carib News has consistently advocated another path: Caribbean solidarity.
It is why we have championed institutions that bring Caribbean people together. It is why our newspaper has sought to speak to the Caribbean community as a whole rather than as a collection of isolated nationalities. It is why our Caribbean Multinational Business Conference was conceived as a regional and diaspora institution, bringing together people with common interests, common challenges and a common future.
We believe that sustainable progress must ultimately be built upon the strength of our own institutions and the solidarity of our own people.
This does not mean withdrawing from the world.
The Caribbean must trade with the world. We must develop international partnerships. We must negotiate with powerful countries and institutions. We should welcome investment, technology, markets and relationships that contribute to our advancement.
But there is an enormous difference between partnership and dependency.
We should enter the world standing together, not competing against one another for favor.
The danger is that arrangements made to solve today’s difficulties can create tomorrow’s dependency. What begins as accommodation can gradually become submission. And a region that fought its way out of colonialism must be particularly careful that it does not quietly enter a new form of colonial dependency through economics, diplomacy or political pressure.
The late Caribbean intellectual and cultural giant Rex Nettleford constantly reminded us of the importance of knowing ourselves. The recovery and affirmation of self is fundamental to liberation.
That wisdom is particularly important today.
We must know who we are.
We must be comfortable with who we are.
And we must understand that there is strength in being Caribbean, not simply Jamaican, Trinidadian, Barbadian, Haitian, Guyanese, Grenadian, Dominican, Bahamian or any other nationality, but members of a larger Caribbean civilization with shared histories, shared struggles and increasingly shared futures.
That same principle must operate within the diaspora.
Our organizations cannot become islands unto themselves. Our leaders cannot believe that individual access to power is a substitute for community power. One organization’s advancement should not require another organization’s marginalization.
We must resist the temptation to become instruments in someone else’s strategy.
When particular countries are offered favors that encourage them to distance themselves from their neighbors, we should recognize the danger.
When community organizations are encouraged to compete against one another rather than build common institutions, we should recognize the danger.
When our people begin looking outside the community for salvation rather than developing the resources, organizations and leadership within our own community, we should recognize the danger.
It is the classic formula: divide, weaken and control.
Reggae artist Buju Banton, in speaking of controlling one’s destiny, gives expression to an idea that must become central to Caribbean thinking: we cannot surrender responsibility for our future to others.
No wealthy nation, powerful corporation or external benefactor is coming simply to save us.
Nations act in their interests.
Corporations act in their interests.
Political institutions act in their interests.
The Caribbean must therefore learn to act, unapologetically, in the Caribbean’s interest.
That requires stronger regional institutions.
It requires stronger CARICOM cooperation.
It requires greater Caribbean trade and investment.
It requires stronger educational, cultural and communications institutions.
It requires Caribbean businesses investing in Caribbean development.
And throughout the diaspora, it requires organizations willing to cooperate, share information, build networks and establish a collective voice powerful enough to be heard.
We are not lacking in talent.
We are not lacking in resources.
We are not lacking in intelligence, creativity, entrepreneurial ability or leadership.
What we have too often lacked is the determination to organize those resources collectively.
That is the warning we wish to sound.
There may be temporary advantage in breaking ranks.
There may be recognition, access or resources available to those prepared to pursue their interests separately.
But we must ask a larger question: What does that decision leave for posterity?
Future generations will not judge us simply by the opportunities we secured for ourselves. They will judge whether we strengthened the institutions they inherited.
Did we leave them a stronger Caribbean?
Did we leave them stronger organizations?
Did we increase Caribbean economic and political power?
Did we preserve our dignity and independence?
Or did we exchange long-term collective strength for short-term individual advantage?
Our answer must be clear.
The future of the Caribbean cannot be found by constantly looking away from one another.
We must begin again by looking toward one another.
Toward cooperation.
Toward regionalism.
Toward community.
Toward the recovery of self.
And ultimately, toward the determination of our own destiny.
The Caribbean has the talent. It has the resources. It has the history. It has the people.
What it now needs is the will to stand together.
Our liberation will not come through fragmentation. Our strength will come through solidarity. And our future must remain in our own hands.
