Caribbean unity still in question?
EDITORIAL
Guyana Chronicle
July 23, 2003
A little under two weeks after Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
Heads convened their 24th summit or “regular meeting “ in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the Antigua Sun editorialized the conventional concern over where the region is headed.
Titled “ Caribbean unity still in question,” the Sun’s July 15 editorial lamented the fact that, “After 41years of attempted unity for the Caribbean, regional heads of state are still quibbling over what has to be seen as insularity when it comes to their hesitation to adhere to the adage that unity is strength.”
As newspaper observed, the Heads reached an agreement on almost every other facet of regional and commonality except for that-important step of political union - unanimity in forging ahead with their long agreed-to decision to come together as a single political bloc. “A political union that would see the region face the 21st century on a united front with the kind of clout that any other country, if you were to consider an amalgamation of the Caymans in the North to Guyana in the South, with the ensuing economic, trade, expertise and industrial wealth would command.
In something of a throwback to 1962, when the Federation failed, Jamaica’s P.J. Patterson made it clear that his country was not interested in a renewed West Indian Federation or in being a part of negotiations to renew a form of political integration among countries in regions.
The Jamaican Prime Minister said that it was a question of sovereignty. In other words he was not willing to give up his individual power base for the power the region together could exercise.
It is a sad thing for our region that similar feelings exist among other leaders, even those of the Organization of East Caribbean States, the closest that the region has gotten to integration or a common political understanding.”
These examples apart, we’ve seen a lot of worrying sings of discord that underscores leadership wavering on the issue of regional integration
The one that ‘s very glaring is the treatment of Guyanese fishermen by some Surinamese. In a discourse with President Jagdeo at the weekend, No. 66, Corentyne, fishermen ventilated a saga of harassment by the Surinamese on the Corentyne River - from the taking away of their catch, the dentition of their boat to the refusal of those antagonistic officials to renew the fishermen’s licenses. All that, even though Guyana and Suriname are members of CARICOM, share a common border and go a long way back so far as bilateral ties.
To say the fishermen’s meeting with the President was emotional is putting it mildly.
We appreciate that the two governments are addressing the issue. But how much longer is this going to go on? Could it be, as it seemed to the Antiguans, “that the old colonial masterstroke of “divide and conquer’ has persisted and been so instilled in our senses that we are unable to think beyond” the realm of self-centeredness?
Indeed, we have much to offer the world as a region. But only if we get our act together.
