The Shattered Sky

Yes – unfortunately for those who may have wished otherwise I have not in fact died.  I was simply caught up in a slew of real-world activities that acted as a brick wall of sorts between me and my blog.

So our dear Prime Minister Patrick Manning has decided to pursue regional integration amongst Caricom states – economically by the year 2011 and politically by the year 2013.  To this end, Manning has been jetting about the region selling his idea. Thus far, Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and St. Lucia have signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the matter.

So is this a good idea or not? Well, it really does depend on what angle you look at it from.  In the short term this could actually be quite a drain on T&T’s economy in trying to sustain the others.  In addition, T&T businesses will probably end up outclassing many of the smaller enterprises on the other islands.  But what about in the long haul?  We live in the era of super states.  China and India are poised to reclaim their place as the world’s most powerful economies, the Russian Federation is sitting on immense oil wealth and has begun flexing its muscles once again, the European Union has become incredibly powerful and the United States is doing all it can to closer integrate itself with Canada and Mexico.  Meanwhile there are inklings of unions in the African continent, South America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

What place would small island nations such as those found in the Caribbean have in a world of unions and federations?  How would our voice be heard and how will we effectively get the best value for our resources on the open market?  It has to be admitted that there is some element of truth in saying to integrate or perish.

It will be a long, rough road and yes, a united Caribbean front has been attempted before and failed. – look up the West Indies Federation of 1958.  However, we live in a different time and while I do not see it happening in Manning’s proposed time frame I think the seeds have been now planted in people’s minds.  As time passes by the idea will become more palpable and eventually could even be accepted by the masses.

We shall see.  Done right, a united Caribbean could in fact benefit us all.