November 9, 2010

All Ah We Is One - Kamla and CARICOM


BY TENNYSON JOSEPH | TUE, NOVEMBER 09, 2010 - 12:00 AM

The recent view expressed by the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago that any aid given to CARICOM states affected by Hurricane Tomas “must in some measure” benefit her country provides yet another instance of the death of the integration idea at the hands of a newly elected leader eager to play to the local gallery.

Following so closely upon the heels of her ATM statement, it suggests a fully formed Persad-Bissessar perspective on Trinidad’s role in CARICOM.

It is a perspective which should be urgently reviewed.

This call for a rethink is not meant to suggest that Kamla Persad-Bissessar should abandon the pursuit of her country’s self-interest. Instead, it is based on the recognition that Trinidad and Tobago is the one Caribbean country best placed to benefit from economic and political integration.

Leadership not resistance It should therefore provide leadership and not resistance.

Politics always follows economics. It is for this reason that the possibility of Caribbean political integration has become truly real, only with the emergence of the Trinidadian business class as a genuine Caribbean bourgeoisie. Trinidadian investment in the commercial and banking sector in Barbados alone tells the whole story.

The next logical step must be for Caribbean political arrangements to adjust to these economic realities.

Read full article here.

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