Caribbean Integration...For whom?

By Anselm Caines

To date, many of our citizens have displayed a malignant apathy and antagonism towards the process of Caribbean integration. I can vividly recall in a public forum I recently attended, one lady in her verbal castration of regional leaders, described their approach to the integration movement, as a “Prime Ministerial, piecemeal, paper-based and people-less process”. For my part, I found her blunt summation to be right on target and have therefore decided to use these four P’s as the premise of my publication. 

PRIME MINISTERIAL – For many, Caribbean integration has been viewed as the sole domain of Ministers of Government and those in academia. The corollary to this has been that ordinary people feel no real connection to the process. If the regional leadership wishes to sever that scholarly and sophisticated semblance, which in part, defines the integration project, then it is absolutely critical for them to ‘come down to the level of the people’.  

They must now step out of the cosy conference centres and venture into the schools and the community to interact with our citizens, explaining to them how Caribbean integration can improve their quality of life, both in the short and long term. Some of the same fervour that characterizes election campaigns on the part of governments should be transplanted to this process at the domestic level. President Barack Obama, who many of them seem to admire, often does it whenever he wishes to build public support for a major piece of legislation that he endeavours to push through Congress e.g. health care reform.

Community groups should be organized to network with our people and solicit their feedback. Let them help to drive the process. Our regional leaders may just achieve more success in their bid to rally the citizenry around the cause of integration, if they mirror such efforts to energize and mobilize the grassroots of the Caribbean Community and discontinue the trend of having the process being driven predominantly by government ministers and regional technocrats.

PIECEMEAL – One of the key reasons why many integration initiatives fail to be endorsed by the public is because of the lack of consistency. The occasional radio program or sporadic lecture is not sufficient to sustain the interest of the average citizen. Too often, regional leaders wait until legislation has to be passed through parliament or a referendum held on a particular issue, to seriously begin to arouse the consciousness of civil society. Then, they expect our citizens to swallow it whole and digest it without discomfort. It does not work that way!  The means of dialogue must be consistent and until this is the case, then we will continue to spin around in never decreasing circles.

PAPER-BASED – Too much of the information pertaining to Caribbean integration is communicated using conventional methods such as seminars, lectures, brochures etc. This does very little to engage the minds and probably more importantly, the emotions of our people. Innovative ways must therefore be found to convey the information.

Within the secondary schools, simulated CARICOM Heads of Government Meetings (where students perform the roles of various leaders and debate topical issues in a setting that mirrors a CARICOM conference) should be organized. Additionally, the CARICOM Regional Quiz that is staged every 4-5 years amongst secondary school students should be held more frequently; perhaps on a biennial basis. My own experience from having been a part of such an initiative has shown me that our youth do possess the intellectual appetite to learn about Caribbean integration. However, we must provide them with more avenues to fully comprehend and absorb such knowledge.

The CARICOM and OECS Secretariats are also encouraged to continue to take full advantage of technological hot spots such as facebook and twitter. However, the approach to maximizing the strengths of the social media should be a conversational and interactive one, as opposed to simply making pronouncements every so often, as the latter does very little to prompt the sort of debate that is required.

PEOPLE LESS – As aforementioned, on June 18th, a major step towards the establishment of the OECS Economic Union was taken via the signing of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre. However, was this sufficiently vetted in our local Parliament? Isn’t it important that the opposition members receive the opportunity to enlighten themselves of the nuances of the treaty so that they can in turn educate and rally their supporters behind this cause? Remember, matters such as freedom of movement of persons and the right to establish businesses in any member state are very sensitive issues that cannot truly be expected to succeed if half of our populace is indifferent and apathetic to such principles.

What about the teachers union and doctors throughout our Federation? Were they thoroughly consulted so that they could offer their views as to the scope of the social shocks that will inevitably follow (and thus what safety nets should be embedded in the treaty)?

 I don’t get the impression that these various groups were adequately brought into the mainstream of the debate on this issue. This is in part, why so many of our people feel no sense of ownership of the process.

From here on out, we need to engage our citizens a bit more and illustrate to them the personal gains to be hatched from integration so that the initiative appeals to their imagination. The information must be channelled such that local farmers and business men don’t only associate the OECS Economic Union with ‘foreigners’ coming and taking their jobs but in a way that they will understand that it also provides them with an avenue to travel to another regional territory and establish their business, if they find that the market there is larger and more lucrative.
 
It must be communicated  in a manner such that the laid off worker at the Four Seasons Resort, who has some certification in the field of hospitality recognizes, that he can more readily travel to St. Lucia in search of employment in that island’s hotel sector.
A national conversation of this sort, where the issue of integration features more prominently amongst our political discourse, may allow for the information to be presented so that it appears to be, not only of regional significance but also of domestic relevance!

Going forward, I also encourage our people, not to simply stand by the wayside and become isolated from this important initiative. Place yourselves in a position to understand just what integration undertakings, such as the Economic Union, are all about. Avail yourself of all literature and pay close attention to relevant education programmes that may air on CMC News/Carib Vision. Ask questions and demand answers! For in times like these, what is needed the most is a community of conscious citizens; not a society of submissive spectators!

In continuing to work towards this regional cause, I admonish the political leadership of CARICOM and the OECS to be relentless in their mode of public outreach and participation. You must, as one political party pointedly put it during the January election season – ‘Cover All Ends!’ This requires that everyone, from our PM to the pauper, has a basic understanding of how he/she stands to benefit from this entire process and what role/s they have to play in ensuring that this project is a success for the regional community.

Failure to work towards these objectives and fully involve our people, may yield the unfortunate result of the modern integration movement carrying on a listless life until it is eventually confined to the ashes of our Caribbean History!