Between a rock and a hard place

It is an undisputed fact that Caribbean countries have little choice but to intensify their efforts at economic diversification. The difficulties being experienced on the international trading front, while not ruling out trade in goods as a viable option, point to the need for initiatives in the services industry as an equally, if not more important, developmental thrust.{{more}} By and large, this is the direction in which Caribbean countries, without exception, have been moving. Even those countries, previously heavily dependent on trade in commodities, such as Guyana, Cuba and Suriname, have themselves embarked on this path of diversification as being vital to their own survival.

As regards the services industry, concrete steps have already been taken along the path of financial services and the hospitality sector. A third major area, cultural services (including entertainment), is only now being seriously explored. However, experiences to date in both the hospitality and financial services sectors indicate that it is far from smooth sailing. In financial services, the reaction of major developed nations to Caribbean initiatives especially in off-shore banking is well documented. The same countries which are closing the door to opportunities for us in commodity trade are the very ones trying to block our entry into this lucrative area.

So what about Tourism? This industry has many possibilities for growth and development, yet is is also a very vulnerable one. Not just in a physical sense in terms of our susceptibility to natural disasters, but also vulnerable to social and economic factors. Take, for instance, the impact of the growing recession in western economies which has caused both a fall-off in tourist arrivals as well as a cutback in airline flights to our region. Our major tourist destinations throughout the region are already feeling the pinch. Trepidation increases as the upcoming tourist season approaches. How many of our hoteliers will be able to bear the strain? How many workers will lose their jobs? What are the implications for foreign exchange earnings?

Now another threat looms. The recent upsurge in violent crime in the region is being used as an excuse for a negative and, at times, hostile media campaign in North America and Britain in particular, against Caribbean tourism. Just read this example:

“Violent crime and the gun culture that accompanies it are spiralling out of control-not just in Antigua and Barbuda-but right across the Caribbean”. (SUNDAY TIMES, August 3, 2008).

Further, newspapers like the TIMES are quoting UN and World Bank Reports on crime in the region, pointing out that our murder rates, at 30 per 100,000 persons annually, “are higher than for any other region in the world”. They point to statistics -Jamaica 59.2 per 100,000, Trinidad and Tobago 30.6, Bahamas 24, and the OECS 19.7 as the major offenders. They even hypocritically contrast these to those of much – maligned Haiti (5.2) and then piously inform us that the comparable figures for England and Wales is 1.2 murders per 100,000 persons.

Such negative media coverage is damaging the Caribbean. Antigua’s government and hoteliers are already desperately trying to institute some damage control and to counteract the image that all is murder and mayhem in that beach-blessed land. But the repercussions go well beyond Antigua’s shores, and brazen murders like those of the barrister Bertram Stapleton in St. Vincent cause irreparable harm to the reputation of a country. It is imperative that we take full cognizance of the wider socio-economic implications of such criminal actions and the threat they pose to our collective well-being.

At the same time, the double-facedness of those who use their domination over international communication, world trade and global financial institutions, is deplorable. Britain, whose tabloids daily paint a picture of the Caribbean as a crime-riddled drug den with murder a-plenty, cannot ensure the safety of its own citizens in the cities where they live. Talk about crime in the Caribbean? What about Britain? The TIMES (Aug.8, 2008) estimated the value of the criminal economy in the UK at 40 billion pounds (about EC$ 200 billion) and fraud cost the British economy EC $70 billion. Caribbean money-laundering? The same paper gives the figure of EC $75 billion for Britain. Drugs? The UK market for heroin, crack and cocaine is put at EC $18 billion. As for our much-publicised “marijuana problem”, one look up north will reveal hypocrisy. In America’s “Golden State”, California, an estimated 20 million marijuana plants are under cultivation with an estimated street value of EC $35 billion with ganja plants being dispensed to about 200,000 “registered” patients. (In Europe Amsterdam’s “coffee” shops, ganja dens in reality, are infamous).

This is not in any way to justify our lamentable recourse to criminal activities, but merely to expose the hypocrisy of those who complain of the motes in our eyes but ignore the beams in theirs, to use Bibical terms. The same people who berate about our murders use their Privy Council, to which we seem hopelessly addicted, to prevent us from administering the corporal punishment that we have on our statute books. In the case of the British couple murdered in Antigua, the very same British press has revealed that Scotland Yard assistance, requested by Antigua, was delayed because the British Government was trying to get Antigua to promise that if the murderer was caught and convicted, the death penalty would not be applied

We are truly caught between the proverbial “Rock and a Hard Place”.

Renwick Rose is a community activist and social commentator.