Neocolonialism and economic imperialism in the Caribbean

By D. Markie Spring
Turks and Caicos Islands

When God created man, He did so in His own likeness!

Nowhere have I known that God breathed into a ‘black man,’ ‘white man,’ or an ‘Asian,’ or any other so-called races. Neither did He make any of these humans superior to the other. However, there are people of one kind that devote their chief energies to thinking that they are superior to another.

Often, I refuse to use the word ‘race’ as I do not believe in ‘races.’ Conversely, I believe that there are people that happened to look differently on the outside, but on the inside the human body, regardless of differences on the outer layout of the person, our hearts, lungs, intestines and other body parts are shaped the same, located at the same dimensions of the body and have the same functions. Our blood is the same colour and it operates in the same areas of the body, transported by endless veins and arteries.

God is an omniscient Being and knew that the world would be one boring place without differences. Imagine a world filled with blacks or whites, or Asians. Visualize a world with one culture or language, or for that matter one climate. When fast forwarded in time, the world would seem like an austere, monastic, rootless ‘out-of-shape’ ball wriggling on its axis while it dances around the blazing hot sun, tormented into a monotonous brutish environment.

These facts have rejuvenated and given rise to modern day imperialism and colonialism. One would think that imperialism and colonialism have aged and that the world has rid these economic and financial, nonetheless, political exploitations – think again!

West Indians look around! The facts are surfacing and are evident like the shining stars in the night sky. Henceforth, the big regional cooperation are dominated, controlled and directed by mega metropolitan centres headquartered in the outer sphere of the Caribbean; and nonetheless, establishing and expanding settlements within the Caribbean Basin.

Furthermore, the colonizers are hiring liked-figured people, giving the impression that the regional boys and girls cannot perform certain categories of jobs, especially at management levels. West Indians are given the duties of the dirty jobs and lower end jobs when they are more experienced and qualified that the colonizers and their liked creatures; and their only experience and qualifications stems from their pale outlook.

They set up a ‘New World Order’ that is constantly and consistently merchandizing their kind into the work force; dodging all legality of the requirements, regulations and policies that directs the system. And for those of us who have made it to certain level, we ended up being paid at twice as lower than the non-West Indians on the jobs.

However, it must be noted that not all are the same, but there are the legitimate few who tend to contribute meaningfully to the regional economies and aid in lifting the standards of living for citizens.

Along this path, we cannot solely blame the imperialist-colonizers for their actions, but the local authorities, including our government, business entrepreneurs and lawmakers for solely concentrating on holding back one another especially those from neighboring islands and their constant disregard to neo-colonizers that are secretly spreading their empires.

Astoundingly, this fascist doctrine defeats the lure of economicinfrastructure, such as the ironic fate of the ‘Education Revolution’ in SVG, the surge for independence in the Turks and Caicos, or does it subjugate the strife for political and economic stability within the region?

Already, we are witnessing the aftermath of these two phenomena; impacts that are both immense and pervasive – and effects that are both instant and protracted on our societies from inequality, exploitation, enslavement, trade expansion and the creation of new literature and cultural institutions.

Our fall is subsequent to our failure in accepting our own while the rest take advantage of the vacuum within our system!

Wake up!

June 27, 2012

Caribbeannewsnow

The Caribbean: Where tyrants and terrorists prowl at ease!

By Rebecca Theodore

Like something from the planet Krypton, a blinding flare and surreal atmospheric light disguise the cerulean beauty of the Caribbean Sea. Fear revels in the image of a radioactive glow and mushroom clouds soar in swirling winds. Oceans can no longer separate sovereign nations from massive meltdowns. A despot prowls at ease in my backyard. He denounces American imperialism and calls for a new world order free of US leadership.

Behold the tyrant! Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- President of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

I watch the flaming lights blazing across the Caribbean skies and a thousand voices sound the dreadful happenings.

Iran is intensifying bilateral relations with ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of our America) in the Caribbean. Amidst escalating threats in the Strait of Homuz, a dispute between Teheran and the West over the manufacture of atomic weapons, Iran is feeding uranium into its first and only nuclear power plant and strengthening ties with Venezuela and other Latin American countries. Foreign terrorists have national identity cards that identify them as Venezuelan citizens.

“Lord have mercy,” they cry. There is a lethal, anti-Semitic, aspiring genocidist, loose in the Caribbean. Has President Obama failed in his efforts to get Iran to abandon its nuclear program? Why are we vulnerable after billions have been spent to fight insurgents and terrorist in the Middle East?

And they utter profanities against the ghost of Einstein.

American embassies, consulates, corporate headquarters, energy pipelines and Jewish-sponsored community centers and citizens are ready targets but American officials are asleep at the wheel.

“If countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find an extended hand from us,” is their only pronouncement but, regrettably enough, that fist is tightly clenched.

There is no extended hand.

As yellow smoke whirls into light, Iran cajoles in its Hezbollah presence in Latin America, and ALBA nations are rapidly becoming aides in the acquisition of nuclear weapons of the apocalypse. Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda are conceding their freedoms in the political and economic domains and are no longer free negotiators within the assemblies of CARICOM.

But they don’t care.

Venezuela has at last ruptured CARICOM’s hymen from behind. The bandage of trust bleeds. The birth of a modern ‘Frankenstein monster’ yields into being.

A “doppelganger!” I learnt from the papers that Chavez and Ahmadinejad share joint paternity.

Out from the murky, quivering flames Ahmadinejad hastens the return of the Twelfth Imam in genocidal tempest right on America’s southern doorstep.

Will Islamic terrorist bombs rain in Atlanta, Washington and New York as well?

And in the midst of flames tossing against the firmament, I lay speechless. Nuclear energy was once the hope of humanity's future. The atom promised a boundless supply of power and possibly world peace but now faces are placed on stories of leukemia, breast cancer, stillbirths, and government deception.

I look out my window. It’s swampy, almost glaucous, and military advocates, peace activists and disillusioned scientists stare in amazement. The batteries of life are spent. Scientific discoveries of nuclear weapons are our own demise. Our pristine Caribbean home is now a nuclear waste dump.

Herein lies the harsh realities of the ideal.

January 9, 2012

caribbeannewsnow