Caricom: Beyond 50 years

The enthusiastic turnout of Vincentians last Tuesday night to participate in the ONE PEOPLE concert to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of CARICOM was an unqualified success. It can only be interpreted as a ringing endorsement of the concept of Caribbean unity. Of course, the sceptics among us, of whom there appears to be no shortage, will find their own explanations.

Yet, it is only fair to conclude that, aside from the attractions of a free concert with the prospect of being entertained by a high-level cast of regional performers, the response can only be seen as validating the desire of Caribbean people for oneness among themselves. Given a similar positive response in countries where other concerts were held, one cannot escape this conclusion.

There have been other manifestations of the intrinsic desire for deepening the integration process which have been demonstrated from time to time over the years. However, the failure of the political leadership of the regional institution to capitalize on these has delayed the process. There have not been sufficiently clear measures to cement the bond and this in turn has slowed down the unification process and led to growing frustration. This stands in stark contrast to positive reactions which indicate that definitive initiatives in the fields of culture and sports will always engender positive responses.

For all its weaknesses, leadership-wise and institutionally, CARICOM remains a vital regional institution, still the only one on which we rely as the chief mechanism to spearhead our thrust. We are fond, however, of not looking at its strengths and possibilities, bur rather, highlighting its shortcomings. It is all too common for us to use the media, traditional and social, to “diss” Caricom, using local parlance. Yet it has survived for half a century. Does that not tell us something? Clearly, it is not the unity message which lacks support or validity. Perhaps the failure to go faster and deeper does not lie in the lack of authenticity of the message itself. Rather, we have to make a more searching analysis of the type of political leadership provided throughout the region and the instruments employed to further our goals. We need to re-examine the relevance of those instruments and to what extent our insistence on top-down approaches are effective in the 21st century.

The Caribbean today is a far cry from that of 1973 when Caricom’s founding fathers first took the plunge. The world itself has undergone monumental changes. We now face enormous challenges of a global nature, which dwarf the usual insecurities we may feel. Chief among them is climate change, yet such is the breadth and scope of the demand for reparatory justice that it too can have far-reaching repercussions for our future.

We rightly laud our founding fathers for their vision in founding CARICOM and express appreciation to their successors. But it is clear that we must forge new paths, demonstrate our faith in the youth of our region and, above all, create opportunities for the greater and more meaningful involvement of our people at all levels.

Again and again, it has been demonstrated that culture, the arts and sports may well provide us with the greatest developmental opportunities. When are we going to listen and push our leaders in that direction?