Jamaica and........then the Caribbean

Since the days of the Federation, Jamaica had sought to exclude itself from the wider Caribbean. Coming out of Jamaica's need to exclude itself was one of the most popular quotes in Caribbean history: "One from ten leaves zero" by Eric Williams.

The Federation collapsed in 1962 and it is notable that at that time Jamaica was the economic power house of the Caribbean. From Jamaica's desire to protect its economic status came its greatest fear - that of becoming the economic burden bearer for the rest of the Caribbean. Now fifty years later, Jamaica has ironically become the second poorest country in the Caribbean, preceded only by Haiti.(In retrospect, I would imagine former members of the Federation are glad Jamaica left.)

And despite what was gained or not gained from Jamaica's exclusion, Jamaica continues to exclude itself.

There is Jamaica and.....then there is the Caribbean.

Now don't get me wrong. Jamaica is not entirely excluded from its Caribbean neighbours. There are several institutions such as the University of the West Indies, CARICOM and the more recent Caribbean Court of Justice that somewhat facilitate integration in the Caribbean. Nevertheless, more can be done to foster greater ties not just on the part of governments but societies as well. Being from the Caribbean, I have come to realize that we are  very similar. Yes, our accents differ and even our foods but we share a similar mindset, similar history and, most obviously, a similar geographical location. Unity in its true sense has never destroyed a civilization and I doubt that that will begin now.

Challenges to integration abound. They present themselves in poor logistics, high energy costs, thoughts of anarchy and feelings of xenophobia but challenges like these call for ingenuity and a willingness of people to be accepting of others and to co-operate with each other, and even to put aside issues of self-pride.

Earlier last year, there were talks of Jamaica leaving CARICOM, partly due to its inability to compete with Trinidad and Tobago given the constraints of high energy costs. Realistically speaking, if Jamaica is unable to compete with the twin island nation then how will it fare on a global stage. And why would Jamaica want to repeat its past mistake. It is clear that moving away from integration has not helped Jamaica in the past.(He who is once bitten, should be twice shy.) These are hard economic times which call for novel ways of solving our problems and greater leadership and management skills.

Based on current attitudes, Caribbean integration may be a long shot with respects to political and economic aspects. In the meantime, as Caribbean people it is for us to be a bit more open minded and consider ourselves not just as St. Lucians, or Bajans, or Trinis but Caribbean people. Once we can break a mindset we can make meaningful steps towards bigger things like affordable inter-island transportation, Caribbean innovation and better management of our scarce resources.