Campbell's Commentary - I AM CARICOM. I AM COVID19 CLEAN…

By Aubrey Campbell

NEW YORK, NY. Tuesday, July 07, 2020 --- Folks, a couple days late will not diminish the intent of my kind wishes, coming out of the grand holiday weekend. I hope you had all the right reasons to celebrate the Independence anniversary of these United States.

I Sincerely hope that you did go Fourth and be happy in your COVID19-fashioned consciousness.

My thoughts this week are however foreign.  Foreign as in the Caribbean, which, on Monday, July 6, marked CARICOM DAY, with the theme, “I am CARICOM, a community for all”.

It comes as no surprise that the secretariat, charged with moving the integration movement forward, is rethinking and reimaging its strategy at this time.

Here are a few perspectives;

Last week, the 15-member grouping passed the chairmanship baton from PM Mia Amor Motley of Barbados to the greying grand-daddy, PM Dr. Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent & The Grenadines.

The region, with the exception of Haiti, has done remarkably well in mitigating and containing the coronavirus disease. Talk about ‘flattening the curve’ was nothing but a tropical evening breeze for the region. Kudos to them!

The perennial threat of a natural disaster and the dependence on a fickle, unstable hospitality industry, the changing though stable political architecture, must be considered big ‘influencers’ in the new paradigm.

The integration movement which aims to galvanize these independent nations into a geo-economic force continues to sputter along for a number of reasons, least of which is the frequency with which governments change.

With the outcome of the March 2, elections in Guyana now headed to the regional court for a ruling, and Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica, expected to hold elections by year’s end, it will be interesting to see how much resources are put behind the rebranding campaign.

Depending on who you talk to, the single market and economy (CSME), has made some headway, with some economies finding markets where there were once, none, and others complaining about an imbalance.

The movement of nationals through the region has not been smooth, the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas has been ignored when convenient or, ripped and thrown in the diplomatic thrash bin many times over and the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), is still more of an after-thought in the delivery of justice in the region, because key stakeholders refused to be signatories.

Don’t ask me how come? That is not in my job description.

A release from the Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana says the rebranding campaign is aimed at increasing visibility and understanding of the integration movement in a dynamic and often challenging global environment.

A diplo-political mouthful that can be saying so much and meaning so little, at one and the same time!

If accolades are hard to come by, it’s because it’s more expensive to travel from one Caribbean Island to the next, more than it is to travel to mainland USA, from the region.

The availability and affordability of tertiary education in the region, ‘fuggedaboutit’.

And so, as one caller asked during Sunday’s ‘Caribbean Conversation’, what and where is the relevance of CARICOM, in the present tense?

A ‘deep’ question when you consider that the movement is not considered good enough by its peers, let alone being able to broker a deal in the Guyana elections, in its own backyard, literally!

Which brings me to my final point, thank goodness. What role will the NY-based Caribbean Consular Corp plays in this new thrust for the regional integration movement?

There has to be a role, considering that it is not far-fetched to label parts of the Northeast USA as an extension of the Caribbean, and I won’t mention the billions of dollars in remittances to the region, annually, from the Caribbean Diaspora!

Food security, climate resiliency, and a sustainable economic model are key sectors of the region that needs a serious and urgent make-over, so that the new slogan, ‘a community for all’, will finally mean something to the millions of people who call the region, home!

Thank you for your time, you have the floor!

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Editor’s note. Aubrey Campbell is producer/host of ‘Caribbean Conversation’, a magazine program airing Sundays, 2 – 4 pm, on WVIP, 93.5 FM, and streaming on the Wee Radio Network at, www.weeradioonline.com.