The EU and the Caribbean - An engagement of political discourse

By Rebecca Theodore


As the Cold War languishes in the mausoleum of time, and twitching agonies of ghosts resonate in the void, reminding us of the long lived bi-polar days of the US and the Soviet Union, the European Union proves that it is a force to be reckoned with on the global international stage. Although not a nation state, the long-awaited Lisbon Treaty elevated its ranks to legally binding status and strengthened its foreign, security and defence policy even though the General Assembly recently sought to weaken its role in the UN. Hence, these developments come as guaranteed provisions, with political and diplomatic status to match the EU’s undoubted economic and commercial clout in the world at large. And now, the post-Cold War period, when the US was the only undisputed superpower, is over.

The EU is not only the biggest donor of aid to the developing world, and the leader in the Kyoto drive to reduce air pollution that causes global warming, but also leads the way in the struggle to safer food and a greener environment, better living standards in poorer regions, joint action on crime and terror, cheaper phone calls, and elimination of border controls facilitating freedom of movement thereby enhancing its reputation as a community of democratic values and liberal market economies.

Seeing that the EU’s influence in world affairs is on the increase, it becomes necessary to redefine political discourse with Caribbean states not only with France’s overseas regions of Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Martin, and French Guiana, which share cultural affinities with the Caribbean and use the euro as their common monetary unit, but the entire Caribbean at large, since the perceived distinctiveness of Caribbean states emerges from their shared historical experiences.

Critics have argued that political discourse with the EU means being bound by European Union law, as agreed in the European Parliament, and administered by the European Court of Justice and its various branches; but we cannot allow the quality of our thoughts to be polluted by ideology, as the EU and most of the Caribbean's political systems are based on pluralist democracy, fundamental rights and the rule of law.

Herein lies the predicament. If the Caribbean is to effectively tackle its socio-economic and environmental problems, the cost of energy, and communications, then the proposed solution for CARICOM and CARIFORUM to ensure a smooth integration of the region into the world economy is through partnership with the EU. On the other hand, if CARICOM’s main objective is the promotion of the assimilation of its member states through the integration of a single market economy, co-ordination and functional co-operation of foreign policies of its independent states; then the establishment of a more stable and transparent framework for the growth of businesses, and the security of investments in the Caribbean can be achieved through political co-operation in the diversification of political, economic and trade relations with the EU, as the EU supports the creation of a regional unit in the Caribbean.

The Caribbean faces a number of challenges, and political discourse with the EU will emphasize how these challenges can be transformed into opportunities. A decisive political partnership based on shared values, addressing economic and environmental vulnerabilities, promoting social cohesion, and combating poverty will see the birth of good and effective governance, respect for human rights, and improvements in gender equality in the Caribbean.

The presence of the EU in the Caribbean evokes a study in political discourse. The Caribbean can soar to heights unknown and anchor its zenith of economic freedom through political discourse with the EU. Therefore, CARICOM and CARIFORUM states should begin formulations and advising on conciliation strategies with the EU to enhance political, economic and social co-operation for a better and safer world.

November 10, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

World Bank head calls for monetary system linked to gold

In the run-up to the G20 summit of leading economies, to be held Thursday and Friday in Seoul, the president of the World Bank has published a column in the Financial Times calling for a fundamental revamping of the global currency system involving a lesser role for the US dollar and a modified gold standard. The Financial Times underscored the significance of the column by making it the subject of its front-page lead article on Monday.

In his column, World Bank chief Robert Zoellick, a former US Treasury official, points to the crisis conditions prompting his proposal. He begins by observing: “With talk of currency wars and disagreements over the US Federal Reserve’s policy of quantitative easing, the summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in Seoul this week is shaping up as the latest test of international cooperation.”

Here Zoellick is referring to the announcement by the US Federal Reserve last week of a second round of “quantitative easing”—the printing of hundreds of billions of dollars to buy US Treasury securities—and the sharp criticisms of this move by major US trade competitors including China, Germany, South Africa and Brazil. The US move is seen correctly as an intensification of a deliberate policy to cheapen the dollar in order to make exports less expensive and foreign imports more expensive.

The Obama administration is focusing its economic attack on China. It wants to line up Europe, Japan, India and other Asian countries at the G20 summit behind its demand that China allow its currency to appreciate more rapidly.

However, its cheap dollar policy is roiling relations with other export-oriented, surplus nations, most notably Germany. In unusually bellicose language, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble denounced the US in an interview this week with Spiegel magazine. Saying the American “growth model” is in “deep crisis,” he added, “The United States lived on borrowed money for too long, inflating its financial sector and neglecting its small and mid-sized industrial companies.”

He went on to declare: “The Fed’s decisions bring more uncertainty to the global economy… It’s inconsistent for the Americans to accuse the Chinese of manipulating exchange rates and then to artificially depress the dollar exchange rate by printing money.”

The US—the world’s biggest debtor nation—is exploiting the privileged position of the dollar as the primary world reserve and trading currency to drive up the exchange rates of its rivals, in essence a trade war measure. It is unleashing a flood of speculative capital into so-called emerging economies in Asia, Latin America and Africa, pushing their currencies even higher and creating the danger of speculative bubbles and inflation.

This aggressive and unilateralist policy on the part of the United States is exacerbating global tensions and destabilizing the world monetary and financial system. It is heightening the likelihood of a breakdown of international relations and the outbreak of the type of uncontrolled currency and trade warfare that characterized the Great Depression and led ultimately to World War II.

In his column, Zoellick urges the G20 to “build a cooperative monetary system that reflects emerging economic conditions.” He continues: “This new system is likely to need to involve the dollar, the euro, the yen, the pound and a [Chinese] renminbi that moves towards internationalization and then an open capital account.”

The new system, he writes, “should also consider employing gold as an international reference point of market expectations about inflation, deflation and future currency values. Although text books may view gold as the old money, markets are using gold as an alternative money asset today.”

This is a tacit acknowledgment that the monetary system that has existed since 1971 and is rooted in the system established at the end of World War II—and which is anchored by the US dollar—is no longer viable. It is furthermore an admission that there is no other national currency that can replace the dollar as the basis of global currency relations.

One expression of eroding confidence in the US dollar—and the monetary system based on the dollar—is the spectacular surge in gold prices. On Monday, gold for December delivery set new records, closing above $1,400 an ounce.

Zoellick argues that the “scope of changes since 1971” justifies the erection of a new monetary system. However, he is silent on the most important of these changes—the vast decline in the global economic position of the United States and the decay of American capitalism.

The United States emerged from the wreckage of World War II as the unchallenged global economic hegemon. Its industry dominated world markets. The US share of world auto production in 1950 was 79 percent. In 1955, it accounted for nearly 40 percent of world steel production. At the same time, the vast bulk of the world supply of gold was in Fort Knox.

The US engineered the postwar recovery of world capitalism, ensuring that the monetary and trade architecture was favorable to its interests. Key to the postwar recovery and expansion was the establishment of a new monetary system, the Bretton Woods system, under which exchange rates were fixed and pegged to the dollar. The dollar served as the world reserve and trading currency, but it was backed by gold at the rate of $35 per ounce.

However, this arrangement contained a fundamental contradiction—the attempt to use a national currency as a world currency. Even the massive economic wealth and power of the United States could not override the basic contradiction between the global economy and the nation-state system of capitalism.

By the late 1960s, the quantity of dollars held overseas far outstripped US gold reserves, and the US was facing growing competition from resurgent Germany and Japan. The Bretton Woods system collapsed in August of 1971 when the Nixon administration, facing a run on the dollar, removed the gold backing from the US currency.

That ushered in so-called Bretton Woods II, a system of floating exchange rates tied to the dollar—an arrangement that was even more dependent on international confidence in the strength of American capitalism. That confidence has progressively eroded as the US has built up ever-greater debts and its industrial base has withered, leaving its economy increasingly dependent on financial speculation.

The financial crash of September 2008, which was centered on Wall Street, has fatally undermined confidence in the dollar. The fact that the financial crisis takes the form of a currency war and breakdown in the system of exchange rates—what had been the pillar of the postwar recovery of world capitalism—underscores the fact that the current crisis is not merely a conjunctural downturn, but rather a systemic breakdown of the system.

Zoellick’s proposal for a return to some form of gold standard is both utopian and reactionary. There is no possibility that the dramatic shift in economic weight between the older imperialist powers—first and foremost, the US—and emerging economies such as China and India can peacefully produce a new international economic equilibrium based on a reduced role for the US dollar. As in the twentieth century, so in the twenty first, the declining powers will not willingly accept a lesser position and the struggle for control of markets, raw materials and sources of cheap labor inevitably leads toward world war.

Were the proposal for a new gold standard to be carried out, moreover, it would result in a catastrophic contraction of credit, plunging the world into a depression exceeding that of the 1930s.

The breakdown of the currency system is an expression of an insoluble crisis of the capitalist system that can be resolved in a progressive manner only through the international revolutionary movement of the working class and the establishment of world socialism.

Barry Grey

9 November 2010

wsws

Bahamas Blog International

Mr Obama, it will not be an easy road

By Christopher-Burns

Without advancing the crucifixion theory, US President Barack Obama should have known that in politics the journey between Palm Sunday and Good Friday can be as triumphant as it can be absolutely hellish.   Consequently, he should have anticipated the terrible results from last Tuesday's mid-term elections, because as he now concedes, "Ultimate power resides with the people"; however irrational the exercise of that power may appear.  For, whether by fair means or foul, the Republicans, aided and abetted by an insurgent group of angry, impatient, ultra-conservative (and more often than not unreasonably myopic) Tea-Partiers, stuck to their message of demanding a smaller government and lower taxes and were handsomely rewarded by American voters.

Defeats are always hard to accept, even in circumstances where it was obvious from the start that the quality and quantity of inputs would not have produced good outcomes, but we have to move on.  So like many other presidents, prime ministers and premiers, Mr Obama may have come to the realisation that leadership is not easy and that political leadership, in particular, is one of the most thankless jobs anyone could aspire to, because no leader, however well-intentioned, can ever meet everybody's expectations.  Nonetheless, last Tuesday's election results were not about a pack of ingrates.  People were "mad as hell" about everything and they forgot about what Obama inherited - since as president he owns all the issues.

Remarkably, Obama's admission that he has not been as passionate in leadership as he was as candidate - though visibly obvious - conveys a tiny part of a bigger problem.   You see, Democrats foolishly underestimated the strength and reach of the Tea Party; herein lies the real problem.  As I see it, Obama continues to err by stubbornly pursuing his brand of clumsy intellectualism over practical intelligence and empathy, especially in moments when the country wants compassionate leadership.  Sometimes, he appears so academically bionic and unexcitingly robotic that he seems unable to read the mood of the people, much less understand the political zeitgeist, however threatening.  I have never been able to fathom why he chooses to use feather pillows to fight the massive artillery power of his political opponents, knowing full well that American politics is a high contact sport.

None of this is to suggest violent confrontation or political incivility, but my gosh, stand up and fight like a man, if you truly believe in something, as I think Obama does in his policies.  Say what you may about the Republicans and their coterie of Tea-Party supporters, they are never short on enthusiasm and stick-to-itiveness.  This makes me worry about Obama's Pollyannaish expectations for bipartisanship and compromise.  This approach may seal the deal for his ouster in 2012, as the Republicans are not in the mood for consensus and with Congress now at extremes, right wing-conservatives versus liberal democrats; "Blue Dog" democrats and moderate-conservatives were booted out, cooperation looks unlikely.

The Democrats lost big and the scale of the electoral trouncing will have far-reaching implications, not only on the Democratic Party or Obama's presidency, but also on policy issues affecting immigration, education, climate-change, trade, health care, social and welfare spending, among other things.  Politically, the size of the Republican win will give it the ability to carry out major redistricting - a practice that could almost guarantee a Republican majority in both Houses of Congress for a long time to come. Nationally, there were about 680 seat changes (including governorships and state races) to Republican control.  This is above the 412 or so seats that changed hands when Democrats lost in 1994 under Bill Clinton.

In fact, historians have now declared the 60-seat gain by Republicans in the House of Representatives as the biggest since 1948.   Already, predictions are being made as to whether or not Obama can survive this massive political tremor as he heads into the lame-duck session of his presidency and then on to the 2012 presidential and mid-term general elections.  Shortly after Obama won the 2008 presidential elections, I remarked privately to a friend that his victory and success, though absolutely thrilling, historic and substantially important, may have been a strategy to place an important, but necessary, pause - like a comma - in America's history to showcase America as the land of possibilities; however temporary.  As I said then, I say now: unfortunately I do not envision Mr Obama serving as president for more than one term and it would have nothing to do with underachievement.

Undoubtedly, Mr Obama's accomplishments far outweigh those of his predecessor, George Bush. He has brought a refreshing pedigree and purpose to the White House and to American leadership around the world.   He has achieved in that health care reform law what many presidents before him did not achieve.   Yet, Obama has been subjected to more attacks on his legitimacy to be president, his religion and love of country than any other president.   Without citing race as the underlying factor for the hostility and indifference directed towards him, Obama's success does not mean America is post-racial - just listen to some Tea Partiers talk about "putting real Americans back in the White House".

Now that the Republicans have some power, let us see what they are going to do with it because America's problems are bigger than tax breaks, debt and deficits. America has been lagging behind some other industrialised countries in areas such as education, innovation, research and science.   If they think stepping back into becoming an isolationist state is good for America they'd better think twice.   If they think locking out immigrants and restoring the Bush tax cut will lead to an automatic spiralling in job growth or robust investments and economic activities they'd better prepare for a major disappointment.   Certainly, it will not be an easy road.

November 08, 2010

Burnscg@aol.com

jamaicaobserver

Haiti in the time of indifference and insanity

By CLAUDE ROBINSON

AFTER sparing Jamaica serious damage, Tropical Storm Tomas gathered hurricane strength Friday morning heading for Haiti, threatening further suffering on people traumatised by an indifferent global response to disaster after disaster after disaster.

As yet another disaster appeared imminent, global news media and international humanitarian and non-governmental organisations were expressing deep concern for the hundreds of thousands of Haitians who prepared to face Tomas's fury in the flimsy tents they have called home since the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010.

Without knowing the impact of Tomas on Haiti at the time of writing, we can draw from history to predict that the focus of concern will shift soon and the high-sounding words will not be matched by practical deeds.

Ten months ago, we witnessed an impressive outpouring of sympathy as ordinary people, institutions, governments, and international organisations from all around the world responded to the death, suffering and destruction that the category 7.0 earthquake wreaked on the second oldest republic in the Americas region.

More than 220,000 people died, about 1.5 million were made homeless and the Government was unable to function because the entire institutional capacity was in rubble.

After some initial bungling and bureaucratic humbug, humanitarian aid began to arrive, even though some of it was not getting to the people in need.

Despite all the activity and the presence of thousands of international aid workers, and despite the promises made at international forums, more than a million Haitians still live on the streets between piles of rubble.

And, on top of the earthquake disaster, a recent cholera outbreak has claimed more than 400 lives and sickened hundreds more.   It is widely suspected that the outbreak originated with the Nepalese unit of United Nations peacekeepers on the island.

Back in January everyone with the authority and resources to act agreed that rehabilitation and reconstruction should move quickly to avoid an outbreak of disease in crowded camps and to house people properly before the hurricane season.  So the events that are unfolding now were predicted and could have been avoided.

How could things turn out so badly after such a promising start?  The proximate reason is that governments have not lived up to their commitments.  Some 50 nations and organisations pledged a total of US$8.75 billion for reconstruction, but just $686 million of that has reached Haiti so far -- less than 15 per cent of the total promised for 2010-11, according to a recent investigation by the US-based news agency, the Associated Press (AP).

Caught in the logjam of American politics


One reason, according to the AP: "Not a cent of the $1.15 billion the US promised for rebuilding has arrived" in Haiti.  And the other countries haven't done much better.

On a trip to Haiti in October former United States president Bill Clinton, who is the point man on reconstruction efforts in Haiti, explained that the money from Washington was delayed because of "a rather bizarre system of rules in the United States Senate".

He was referring to tactics used by Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn to block the flow of the entire package because the senator believed that $5 million of the provision "will be wasteful", the AP investigation revealed.

Senator Coburn's actions are part of a broader strategy by the Republican opposition in the US Congress to force the Obama administration to make deep cuts in the budget.

"Since I believe that we are still essentially a sane as well as a humane country I believe the money will be released, and when that happens that will also give a lot of other donors encouragement to raise their money," Clinton said in Haiti.

Few would quarrel with Mr Clinton's assessment of the humanity and decency of ordinary Americans, but the 'sanity' of the political process is another thing altogether.

Initial responses from Republican leaders to the gains made by their party in last week's mid-term elections affirm that there will be even greater opposition to President Barack Obama in the two years leading up to the 2012 elections.

In fact, Senator Mitch McConnel, the minority leader in the Senate, said Thursday that the real objective of the opposition was to make Mr Obama a one-term president while Senator Coburn said he would repeat the same tactics used to deny the Haitian reconstruction.  He said Wednesday that if President Obama fails to cut spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, he may block an increase in the debt limit and risk federal insolvency.

Meanwhile, the lack of funds has all but halted reconstruction work by CHF International, the primary US-funded group assigned to remove rubble and build temporary shelters.  Just two per cent of rubble has been cleared and 13,000 temporary shelters have been built — less than 10 per cent of the number planned, the AP report said.

Need for passionate advocacy


But while political infighting in Washington may explain the current financial logjam, there is a deeper explanation for what Myrtha Desulmé, president of the Haiti-Jamaica Society and a passionate advocate of the rights of the Haitian people, described as "genocide" in a conversation with Ronnie Thwaites on Independent Talk last week.

Ever since black people in Haiti waged a 13-year successful revolutionary war against the colonial might of Europe and declared their independence January 1, 1804, the Haitian Republic has been met by a pattern of crippling blockades and embargoes, isolation, aggression, invasion and punitive measures by Europe and America.

The imperialists found Haitian independence unacceptable on two levels: The military defeat of the major European armies by blacks led by Toussaint Louverture and Jean-Jacques Dessalines flew in the face of the notion of white superiority. Second, creating a successful black state out of a slave society would send the 'wrong' signal to enslaved Africans in the rest of the region.

Accordingly, Haiti was subjected to economic strangulation from the beginning. In 1825, France offered to lift embargoes and recognise the Haitian Republic if the Haitians paid out 150 million gold francs as restitution to France for loss of property in Haiti, including slaves.

Having no choice, Haiti borrowed money at usurious rates from France, and did not finish paying off its debt until 1947, by which time Haiti had become the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

In 2004, at the time of the 200th anniversary of Haiti's independence, the Haitian Government put together a legal brief in support of a formal demand for "restitution" from France. The sum sought was nearly US$22 billion, that is, the original 150 million gold francs, plus interest.  France summarily rejected the claim.

There have been other interventions ranging from the US invasion and occupation from 1915 to 1934, at the request of the big New York banks to which Haiti was deeply indebted, to the more recent removal and exile of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and banning his party from the upcoming elections.

Of course, external aggression has been compounded by a string of dictatorships, environmental degradation, natural disasters and domestic misrule.

So what is needed now is not more expressions of sympathy.  First, there has to be a new advocacy to pressure the US and the major donors to honour their current and historic commitments. This will require more than lip service from Caricom.

Former Prime Minister PJ Patterson, Caricom's point man on Haiti, has to become more vocal in advocating financing of the Action Plan for Haiti's National Recovery and Development that has been developed to rebuild the national infrastructure, modernise the main economic sectors and rebuild social infrastructure, including health and education.  This may require more than his usual quiet diplomacy.

Also, regional voices in the media and the NGO community have to be more engaged and tell the Haitian story to other Caribbean people so that the country is not seen only through north Atlantic lenses.

kcr@cwjamaica.com

November 07, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Haiti a nation beset by catastrophe inflicted by man, God and nature!

By Jean Herve Charles



It is November, the hurricane season should be on its death bed, yet Tomas, the latest hurricane, strong as a young lad, has just created havoc in St Lucia, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines. It is on its way to Haiti where, month after month, a new catastrophe raises its inflicting and destructive head, causing death and material destruction all over the country.

On January 12, 2010, on a sunny afternoon, a major earthquake took place around the capital; it was baptized goudougoudou by the locals as they try to mimic the sound of the hurricane as the destruction took place. It caused 300,000 deaths and 1.5 million internal refugees are still under tents or makeshift tenements, where the natural elements -- rain, wind and flood -- visit them without an invitation.

Last October an outbreak of cholera in three of the ten states of the island nation has caused the death of some 500 people and the hospitalization of 7,000 Haitian residents. The scientific analysis by the CDC (Centers for Disease control) in Atlanta has concluded that the origin of the virus can be attributed to the strain found in South Asia.

The people of Haiti blame the Nepal contingent of the UN force dispatched in the region of Mirebalais, where the epicenter of the disease has been established. The Haitian government as well as the UN management for political and diplomatic reason refused to point the finger at the root cause of the public health outbreak.

Paul Farmer, the expert in epidemiology, reminded the authorities that “good public health dictates that knowing the point source of the disease is good for everyone and good for public health”. John Mekalanos the chairman of the School of Public Health at Harvard University clarified that the virulent strain of cholera found in Haiti is unknown in the Western Hemisphere. The evidence points the finger at the Nepalese soldiers who arrived to Haiti this October.

After my essay on the gift of education by the Royal Caribbean cruise line to Haiti, it was my intention to dwell on the splendor of the nation instead of the squalor of the country. The successive wave as well as the most recent catastrophe inflicted by men, God and nature has upset my original plan.

On the splendor side, I still have in mind the full display of culture in the town of Grand River as the people were celebrating the Day of the Dead on November 1. Eat your heart out New York, Roseau or Osaka, the dancing in the cemetery as well as the grand ball with the Tropicana orchestra has excited all the senses of my American travel companion, P. Scott Drahos, who promised to become the ambassador for the next year event bringing lot of visitors to the city.

Traveling from Cape Haitian (my outpost for the winter) to Port au Prince, I have contemplated the lush vegetation on the northern side of Haiti, where the grapefruit and the oranges trees filled with succulent oranges and grapefruits provide a backdrop for the giant poinsettia trees with their red flowers in full display and on time for the Christmas season celebration.

The capital city is cleaner; the government wants its candidate to continue its policy of ill governance with the forthcoming election as such, a best effort has being made to clean up the city so as to avoid the ire of the electorate.

With Tomas on its way, the cholera disease not dampened, the destructive remnants of the earthquake still visible, one would thought that a full scale election should be the least of the expectations. In fact, the majority of the Haitian people are neutral at best or at worst inimical to the exercise that has not and will not change their condition of life one iota.

The political tragedy that adds to the recurrent natural disasters has been in the Haitian national theater for a long time. For the first 150 years of the life of the nation, Mulatto rule brought little benefit to the people. In the last 50 years, the dark skin rule has been as – if not more – repugnant. They have instituted the clan politics that kills all sentiment of civics, solidarity and patriotism, including the sense of noblesse oblige, one of the staples of the Haitian safety net.

Adding insult to injury, the international community has been a steady and loyal patron of the tenets of the clan politic doctrine. Duvalier, Aristide and Preval have cultivated a following in the United States, Europe and Asia (Taiwan).

The international institutions are also in bed with the principals of the clan politics. The United Nations, under different acronyms, have occupied the Haitian space during the last twenty years with no significant impact – in disaster preparedness, security, good governance or economic growth.

Colin Granderson, the CARICOM representative, was recently at the extraordinary meeting of the OAS pushing for the masquerade election, knowing full well that the country and the people are not ready for the exercise. Some fifteen years ago, the same Colin Granderson was the proconsul in Haiti, demanding that the embargo that destroyed the Haitian flora and economy should not only be maintained but extended.

Indeed, man, God and nature have not been friendly to Haiti. As Job of the Bible, the people of Haiti have remained faithful to their God, who is urging them to stand up against the forces that suppress and kill their civic pride. Will hurricane Tomas be the last straw that will galvanize the resilient Haitian people to stand up and take charge of their beautiful country against the forces that pretend to lead their destiny for the best while in the end bring only disaster after disaster, with only the promise of redemption?

November 6, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Cool Heads and no Crowns: The Caribbean in a storm

By Sir Ronald Sanders


Not for the first time in the history of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), Heads of Government are conveying mixed signals to the people of the region about how they feel about the CARICOM relationship and, indeed, about themselves.

Two incidents brought this reality into sharp focus over the last few days. The first was an inflammatory statement attributed to Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, that she did not make, and the other was the almost complete turn out of CARICOM Heads of Government to the funeral of David Thompson, the late Prime Minister of Barbados, and the genuine sense of “family” that they showed.

The statement that Persad-Bissessar is alleged to have made is, “No free help” for the islands of St Vincent and St Lucia that have been severely battered by Hurricane Tomas with St Lucia getting the worst of it. Earlier, as a tropical storm, Tomas had also sallied through Barbados uprooting trees, dislodging utility poles and wires, and damaging hundreds of mostly low-cost houses throughout the island.

“No free help” were not Persad-Bissessar’s words. They were the headline in the Trinidad Express newspaper on November 1, which did report what the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister actually said. According to the story and other newspaper reports, the Prime Minister was speaking at a press conference about a request that she had received from the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, for assistance after his country was ravaged by the brutal Tomas.

What all the Trinidad and Tobago media reported her to say, was: "We will have to look at ways in which we would be able to assist. But you would recall my comments earlier this year, when I said there must some way in which Trinidad and Tobago would also benefit. So if we are giving assistance with housing for example, and that is one of the areas that we (Prime Minister of St Vincent and myself ) spoke about, ... then we may be able to use Trinidad and Tobago builders and companies, so that whatever money or assistance is given, redounds back in some measure to the people of Trinidad and Tobago."

She did not say that the Trinidad and Tobago government would not help. Indeed, she is reported as actually saying that her government had already mobilised two containers of foodstuff, and a decision would be made about where to send them but "certainly to St Vincent".

The issue here is not that she refused to provide assistance. If she had done so, I would have joined the chorus of voices that are now condemning her. When she talked earlier this year of Trinidad and Tobago not being “an ATM machine” for the Caribbean, I was one of the first to criticise that statement drawing attention to the fact that Trinidad and Tobago enjoys almost a monopoly market in the Caribbean for its cheaper oil-subsidised goods because of the CARICOM Treaty and that the Petroleum Fund (badly managed though it is) is as much in Trinidad and Tobago’s interest as the rest of the CARICOM countries since it helps to keep those countries as markets for Trinidad and Tobago’s goods.

The real issue with those who now condemn her is the link she drew between her government’s assistance and the use of “builders and companies” from Trinidad and Tobago.

Heat over that issue should be tempered by two realities. First, other countries (not only the former imperialists) link their assistance to their own materials and people. As examples, Cuban projects in many CARICOM countries use Cuban material and Cuban labour, as do several Venezuelan-funded projects. And, China not only insists upon the use of its material and people in aid projects, it does so for commercial projects too. And, it has long been the condition of many donors – either directly or through the agencies they use to finance aid projects – that their money be used for materials and workers from their countries exclusively.

The second reality is that Kamla Persad-Bissessar is the leader of a political party and Prime Minister of a country that, like many others, has become sceptical of CARICOM. It is up to her and her Ministers to demonstrate to a large section of the Trinidad and Tobago population that there is benefit in CARICOM for them.

Of course, they need to demonstrate CARICOM’s benefit to them over a very wide range of issues which includes the fact that CARICOM is a very lucrative market for Trinidad and Tobago’s products and services keeping thousands of its people employed; the country needs the support of CARICOM in fighting drug trafficking and crime, and maintaining security; it needs CARICOM in international bargaining in trade against larger entities such as the European Union; and it would not fulfil its international aspirations in the international system without the full backing of CARICOM.

Trinidad and Tobago, too, must realise that it alone does not wear a crown and it is not an island (not even two) unto itself.

But Persad-Bissessar should not be lynched for what she did not say, or for linking her government’s assistance to use of her country’s material and work force. At no time did she say no help would be forthcoming.

The entire Caribbean is going through what Professor Norman Girvan recently described as “existential threats”. This is a time for cool heads. It is not a time for tit-for-tat statements or for statements whose content sound like “something will not be given for nothing”.

Much of this present controversy is unnecessary and would not happen if CARICOM governments talk to each other on a platform of interdependence and common problems, and with a resolve to solve them collectively, recognising that none of them can go it alone and the task at hand is urgent and huge.

It was significant that at the well-organised and dignified funeral of Barbados David Thompson in the same week of this incident, CARICOM leaders turned out in full force to honour their fallen brother, and CARICOM was given an important role in the proceedings through its Chairman, Jamaica’s Prime Minister Bruce Golding. It is on that sense of CARICOM “family” that the region needs to go forward in its own vital interest.

November 5, 2010

caribbeannewsnow

Bahamas Blog International

Bahamas: Father David Cooper and an affair that was his and one woman’s

Rough Cut,
By Felix F. Bethel.

“…the dark end…”



Today is a hard one for me; this because I feel constrained to say something about that matter that today brings Father David Cooper and an affair that was his and one woman’s to the public’s attention.

In this regard, I have taken note of the fact that, “…A Catholic priest admitted yesterday he was intimately involved with a woman who died in a fire at her apartment four years ago - the same day he had to be pulled from a separate blaze at his own home…”

I am so sad for this man.

I am sadder still for the family and in particular, I am terribly sorry for the son of the woman who lived on Faith Avenue-no less who had decided that, she could/ should and did truly love a man who was a religious.

I also now know that, “During the continuation of the coroner's inquest into the death of 35-year-old hotel worker Nicola Gibson, Father David Cooper took the stand, claiming he visited the deceased on the night before she died, but does not remember how he got home…”

But no matter how this man got home, today I heard Percy Sledge as he cried out in song: At the dark end of the street; that is where we always meet, hiding in shadows where we don't belong; living in darkness, to hide alone…”

And in refrain, the word echoes - You and me, at the dark end of the street; you and me…

The ‘you and me that they were’ came with its fair share of tensions; some so severe that, Father Cooper was constrained to tell the Coroner’s Court that, “…at the time of her death there was tension in their relationship as he was trying to pull away, but she wanted their involvement to continue…”

Percy Sledge affirms: When the daylight all goes around; and by chance we're both down the town; please meet, just walk, walk on by; Oh, darling, please don't you cry…”

In truth, the crying did end; it ended in the stone-cold silence that is Death’s stony-hard handprint – with the information in the wind attesting to facts and even more facts: 1.Ms. Gibson was found dead following a fire at her Faith Avenue apartment on the morning of July 21, 2006; 2. Just hours earlier, at around 3.30am, Fr. Cooper was found unconscious at the rectory of Holy Family Church on Robinson and Claridge roads by fire officers, who had been called to tackle a fire at the building; 3. Fr. Cooper, who was the rector at Holy Family at the time of the incident, told the court he met Ms Gibson during 1995 and 1997 when she came to see the rector of St Francis Xavier's Cathedral in relation to her upcoming marriage at the time; and 4. The priest told the court their friendship began after her fiancé died in a motorcycle accident; and 5. Things have a way of happening in this stone-cold place.

Like what I’m trying to say is that, you go about your business and you try your best to keep your balance – and then, like wham-gadjammit; something happens.

That nasty something makes you giddy as hell; and then, once you are giddy with the dizziness; something else happens that makes you want to holler. That sad something that makes me want to holler so very much has to do with the really sad story concerning the man who loved a woman; and as to how the same woman died in a fire; and as to how the man who loved the woman might have also died in a fire in his home.

And then, I hear say that the man who was found in the burning room has told a Coroner’s Court that he thought that he was somehow abnormal for having succumbed to the mystery he thought inherent not in loving a woman; but for him – a religious- to have been that man who loved a woman.

Lord God Almighty, protect me now as I say to this people that is yours: The night that came before the morning after was short enough and in the fitful time I slept and in which I dreamed; I dreamed a number of dreams; and in the time I dreamed the dreams I dreamed, I saw in one of them a good man – Conrad Knowles; himself a very good man.

I really can’t say why I dreamt as I did and as to why it was my fate on this recent night that came before the morning after; but what I can tell you is that on waking, I discovered that, I was still clothed in my right mind.

And so, clothed thus, I made it my business to listen in to songs piped my way thanks to stuff on the internet; with two of these songs clinging in memory: Morning has broken and Dark End of the Street by Percy Sledge.
At this point, I thought about the matter that matters so very much to me on this blessed Thursday; that matter being the one in the news concerning Father David Cooper.

And then I listened in to Percy Sledge as he continued with his woe-filled lament about what did in truth and in fact go down as it did on the dark end of the street: I know a time has gonna take it's toll. We have to pay for the love we stole; it’s a sin and we know it’s wrong; oh our love keeps going on strong…

And I listened in –as it were from a long time ago in my life - when I too searched for love and comfort and care and for caresses galore; I searched knowing full well that: Steal away to the dark end of the street/ You and me was an act of transgression fit for the likes of David who thought that he could have it all because he just so happened to be a man after God’s own heart.

At that juncture –as the Word informs – Uriah’s fate was sealed and so was what that of Bathsheba, Uriah’s beautiful and well-bathed wife.

In the same twinkling moment, I remembered some of what Father Cooper allegedly told the police. And then, it also dawned on me that Percy Sledge had said, “They gonna find us, they gonna find us; They gonna find us love someday; You and me, at the dark end of the street - You and me.

Interestingly, [so I put it, interestingly]: Fr. Cooper described his relationship with the deceased as "abnormal" considering his vow of chastity…

Even I now I wonder about the need for celibacy itself as a co-requisite for service to the Master and to God Almighty Himself.

Even now, I wonder; and even now, I bless God for the gift he gave me when he caused my path and that of the late Conrad Knowles to cross where it did and how it did.

And I bless God for the dream I dreamed when I dreamt about this good man; and so, too I suggest is Father Cooper; and so too any number of men who have stumbled and fallen.

I am also quite aware that, the God we all serve is a God of truth and He is also a God of mercy to all his children: the good, the bad and the truly ugly.

Clearly, then, we have all sinned and we have all sinned and we have [each and every one of us] fallen short of the glory of God; this even as some of us continue to rendezvous with lust at the dark end of the street.

November 4th, 2010

jonesbahamas

Bahamas Blog International