Dear Editor,
Reports of upcoming elections, along with news about ‘Citizenship by Investment’ schemes, lead me to ponder once again about the odds for and against improvement in the quality of life in the region described as the West Indies.
I have great respect for politicians mainly because of the absolute need for government, without which there will be chaos, if not barbarism. I do, however, wonder whether West Indian politicians are not missing a great opportunity to do something dramatic, after all these years of treading water, to improve the quality of life in their territories by simply acknowledging the economic unsustainability of the individual island states and striving vigorously for political and economic integration of the region. Successful attempts at such integration, by other regions, and even, frankly, the often unreliable discipline of economics, suggest it is the course more likely to produce positive results.
We know that historically, insular competiveness within an imperial system has been an enormous impediment to such thinking. I believe, however, that a leadership (used in its broadest sense), that in its narrow interests, emphasizes and inculcates insular uniqueness and often superiority, is currently the main obstacle. “Trini to the bone” is more than a sweet melody. Bajans “know” they are superior, and you do not want to ever mistake one islander`s accent for another. St Lucians call one another my countryman, and Grenadians are convinced that everything good in Trinidad comes either from Tobago or from Grenada. The immigration policies of Trinidad and Barbados towards the other islands do not differ much from that of the US and Canada towards West Indians. I remember being in Trinidad for carnival in the late seventies when police were chasing Grenadian “illegals” in the hills with dogs for deportation. The rationale is basically, “We are better off than you, so don`t come here and lower our standard of living.”
The attempts by some islands to sell citizenship for investment as a strategy for economic development must surely be offensive to right-thinking people, and cannot possibly be considered a more rational economic policy than integration. A West Indian central bank, a unified approach to air and sea transportation, facing the rest of the world as a unit in dealing with trade, security and other international issues, unified educational, health and social services policies, environmental protection policies, and things of such nature must surely produce positive developments.
Physically and psychologically, the citizens will feel themselves better off as part of a larger and therefore more significant country, and will more likely be willing to make long-term commitments to their homeland rather than constantly (reasonably) seeking opportunities to migrate. The intellectual resources for providing the framework and structures for such an entity are available at UWI, which is uniquely suited for fine tuning such an endeavour.
Speaking several years ago at an island independence ceremony, the celebrated Barbadian writer, George Lamming, lamented the inability to celebrate independence regionally.
I admit my bias because I grew up in Grenada when the only newspaper was named The West Indian, and its masthead was ‘The West Indies must be West Indian.’ Its editor was Theophilus A Marryshow, who as early as 1927, without formal education, had produced a paper titled ‘Cycles of Civilization,’ which demonstrated clearly how well he understood imperialism, and was often described as the father of federation.
Sixty years of living with, associating with and loving other West Indians abroad have cemented my belief in the possibility of successful integration.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
