The Caribbean is not one unified region. There is the French-speaking Caribbean, Spanish-, Dutch- and English-speaking Caribbean. Jamaica is the largest of the English speaking Caribbean islands; it is said to be about the size of the state of Connecticut.
All the islands in the English speaking Caribbean share a similar history of slavery and British colonialism. The irony is that despite the similarities the islands are different and the people of the islands know very little about each other. Our intonation and dialect are different: the dialect of the island of St. Lucia is a mixture of French, English and West African languages Our cultural practices are different. The geographical features are different: Dominica has 365 rivers, Nassau, Bahamas has none. The English-speaking Caribbean unites when it comes to the sport of cricket, and when it comes to education: they share a common exam for 17 year old high school students (except the Bahamas) and all the islands contribute to a regional university: the University of the West Indies. The university has campuses in Trinidad, Barbados, Bahamas and Jamaica. The leaders meet at CARICOM (name of the regional body) and make economic decisions that affect the region but the people are largely ignorant of each other and very competitive with each other. Jamaicans, for example, think that they have the best and the tastiest native dishes in the Caribbean: curried goat, rice and kidney beans, hard-dough bread, spicy jerk pork, jerk chicken and beef patties and they know they have produced the best athletes in the English-speaking Caribbean.
So what’s wrong with the big Caribbean islands of Haiti and Jamaica, and with Guyana? Guyana is geographically located in South America but shares the Caribbean sea and its history with the English-speaking Caribbean. Read John Maxwell’s article, Haiti’s Great White Hope, published in the Jamaica Observer May 25, 2009 http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/html/20090523T170000-0500_152049_OBS_HAITI_S_GREAT_WHITE_HOPE_.asp. It is an article primarily about Haiti and predicts failure of President Bill Clinton, UN envoy to Haiti and The Great White Hope. He writes of treachery of the Haitian leaders and the American trained Haitian army, unfair lending terms by international agencies (compound interest), and invasion of Haiti by the United States 93 years ago and Jim Crowism in Haiti.
Jamaica’s and Guyana’s problems are complex but to a great extent they have to do with self-sabotage of the people – race and class issues, betrayal of the people by political leaders, and unfair lending terms by the international agencies hence the poverty, crime, and mass emigration of the people to smaller Caribbean islands and first world countries.
Dare I suggest that one solution is more unity in the region? And the prerequisite should be increased knowledge of the people of the region of each otherp.
Dare I suggest
Written by Janwill
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