Caricom perspective, no 69, june 1999 by Caribbean Community (CARICOM)

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CONTENTS SPECIAL FEATURE The Caribbean Court ofJustice: Challenge and Response'... 24

FEATURES Contradictions

......... 13 African Consciousness: Journey to .....................39 Freedom Struggle, Sacrifice and Resistance Indians in Guyana ........................... 42 One Hundred years of Labour

Law

..............

Success...........

.............65

Suriname a Melting Pot ....................70

............46

Design and layout: Mark Lee, MARVAL, Barbados.

Dear Reader Welcome to the 1999 edition of CARICOM Perspective - "A Century of Achievement" Volume I of two editions which highlight some of the issues facing the Caribbean at the end of the 2oth Century. We are now in the closing years of the century - one in which we have witnessed and experienced more revolutionary changes than perhaps at any other time in history and at a mind-boggling pace. Ultimately, the annals documenting the progress of this Region will show that the paths chosen by our leaders during the past 100 years and the milestones reached, have most significantly shaped our fortunes, and the social and economic legacy to be inherited by future Caribbean generations. So CARICOM Perspective pays tribute to the Caribbean "movers and shakers" of the 20th Century, to their vision, wisdom and unshaken determination. Where we have reached is the result of the sterling effort of many contributors, of different race, class, creed, and political persuasion. They taught us that the way forward is built on a foundation of defying odds, believing in self, Region and independent thought, and refusing to accept the limitations placed on them by restrictive doctrines and systems. And this reaching for the greater freedoms is symbolised by the cover of the edition - the peo-

ple whose voices and actions coloured

the Region's 20ft Century and the issues and events which propelled them.

INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT CARICOM Into the 2lst Century .....1I

Making the Caribbean Who1e.........3 I Oth

Inter-sessional Considers

TRADE RELATIOI{S Telecommunications: facing the ..................18 Challenge The Internet in the Caribbean: Opportunities and Threats ...............21

Challenge in the Negotiating .........................6 Process Intellectual Property Rights a Must for

Development

..............15

YOUTH, SPORT & ARTS How Seriously do We

Cricket

Take

.....................:37

CARIFESTA: Doing it

way

...............

Our

.............74

Caribbean Integration - Youth's .............'79

View...............

Caribbean Blues, New World

Trippin'..........

.............91

)

CARIFESTA: From What We

TRIBUTES William Demas - A Distinguished

Son................

............84

KurleighKing-AQuiet

Diplomat

...................86 Earl Warner - Theatre Artist par ..................87

excellence

BOOK REVIEW New World Trade order: Uruguay Round Agreements and Implications

for Caribbean States .............................

JUNE 1999

Page f..\\_

1926- 1999: The Workers' Fight .......53 The Credit Union Movement: Retrospect and Prospect ............................55 Overview of health in the .............60 Region............ CARICOM in Education: CXC a

Trinidad and Tobago - Contrasts and

, aS-

)

Making the

Caribbean \fhole he Caribbean has been described - and correctly so in my view - as one of the most

balkanised regions in the world. It comprises a large number of geographically and socially separate frag-

t Edwin

Corrington

- English-speaking, Spanishspeaking, French-speaking, Dutchspeaking and, I dare say, Americanspeaking, depending on their histori-

ments

must immediately dispel any impression that I am of the view that CARICOM is the only (regional) mechanism, which is contributing to "Making the Caribbean Region Whole." The University of the West Indies (UV[I), the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the East Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), the Organisation of eastern Caribbean States (OECS), BWIA, LIAI, the West Indies Cricket Team, are all contributing in various ways to that process. Let us however,

cal or current 'imperial' linkages. Each fragment is in turn divided into a numbpr of small states. "Making the Caribbean Whole" therefore, requires the building of bridges among the var-

look briefly at what CARICOM

has

ious states and between the various

done, is doing and looks forward to

fragments, by designing wider and stronger instruments of cooperation

Caribbean Whole."

doing, towards "Making

the

First, the Treaty of Chaguaramas created CARICOM as an Association of Sovereign States, not just English

among them. Perhaps it is useful from the very

beginning to draw a small distinction between the concept ofintegration and

speaking. Apart from the orilinal members, it provides for "any other state of the Caribbean region that is in

cooperation, but cooperation does not necessarily imply integration. Put another way, to me, integration refers to a process by which a number of

the opinion of the Conference, able and willing, to exercise the rights and

the concept of cooperation. I say "small" because integration implies

assume the obligations of membership

in accordance with Article 29 of this Treaty." Under this all inclusive

countries adopt certain policies and mechanisms to enable them to pursue

certain goals and objectives, as one

unit. Cooperation, on the other hand, refers to a process whereby a number of individual countries agree to pursue

the same or similar policies towards achieving a common objective. It is clear that the two concepts are closely related, but different, and that differ-

that ideal can be of inestimable value to the Region. One cannot fail to recall, for example, that when Europe formally embarked on the road to integration some 42 years ago, (1957 Treaty of Rome) charged with a man-

date

for "ever

closer union", few

would have given

it much chance of

ence can be very important. It is also recognised that "Making

aniving at today's juncture of a single crurency, albeit among 11 of its 15

the Caribbean Whole" might be seen as being no more than an ideal. Even so, working to move ever closer to

members.

JUNE 1999

By comparison, the

Caribbean Community (CARICOM) at26 is therefore still a Youth.

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final stages of including the Frenchspeaking state of Haiti as a Member State, and inclusion means full membership. CARICOM will therefore

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now comprise Antigua and Barbuda;

umbrella, room has also been found for example for the British dependent territories of the Virgin Islands, qhe T\rrks and Caicos Islands and Anguilla, as associate members of CARI-

coM. Seqondly, CARICOM has grown from the original purely Anglophone grouping to embrace the Dutch-speaking state of Suriname, and is in the

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The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Dominica; Grenada; Guyana; Haiti; Jamaica; Montserrat; St. Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; St. Vincent and

the

Grenadines; Suriname; and

Trinidad and Tobago

14 sovereign

states and one dependent territory.

is important to note that Haiti's terms

Region to achieve sustained cultural, economic, social, scientific and technological advancement;

develop the potential

the

Caribbean Sea through interaction among Member States and with third parties;

promote an enhanced economic

and conditions of entry into CARICOM are still being finalised. Also Montserrat, though a British dependent tenitory, has been a founding

the benefits which accrue to the peo-

member of CARICOM. Though large

ples

resources and assets, including the

number. CARICOM has a small population of 6 million. With Haiti's approximately 7.5 million, the population will now be close to l4 million. A third arrangement of this genre, to which CARICOM is central, is the

for trade and investment with for cooperation and concerted action. in order to increase space

opportunities

of the

Caribbean from their

Caribbean Sea;

establish, consolidate and augment,

as appropriate, institutional structures

countries of Central America and CARICOM fired by a vision shared by former Prime Minister Michael Manley of Jamaica and then President

Callejas

Honduras, met

San

Pedro Sula in Honduras to initiate the building of a process of cooperation between the states of Central America

and those of the Caribbean. That process continues, with the latest Ministerial meeting - the Fourth concluded in Georgetown, Guyana on 22 March, with the negotiation of a Free Trade Agreement between the two blocs now on their Agenda, as is a proposal from the Dominican Republic for a strategic alliance of

sive to the various cultural identities, developmental needs and normative

Central America and CARICOM. Also among the areas of cooperation between the two subregions, is that of

Caribbean and Pacific States (CARI-

systems within the region.

disaster management.

FORUM) in which all the independent countries of CARICOM and the

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Dominican Republic are grouped together to interface with the Euro-

pean Union under the Lomd Convention. This structure adds the Spanish-

However, "Making the Caribbean Whole" does not necessarily or simply involve common membership by all Caribbean countries, in any one organisation or set of organisations. That commonality certainly helps, but there are other dimensions or forms of linkages, which are as important. CARICOM has set, as a further objective of common linkage, the cre-

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Caribbean Forum

African.

speaking Dominican Republic to an English, Dutch and French-speaking CARICOM. A fourth related arrangement and perhaps CARICOM's most creative

initiative. is the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) the creation

of which CARICOM

spearheaded.

The Convention establishing

this arrangement was signed in 1994 in Cartagena, Colombia. The ACS is a mechanism for consultation. cooperation and concerted action, and brings

together

all the countries of

the

Caribbean Basin, i.e. the sovereign

states of Central America, CARICOM, Cuba, Colombia, Mexico and

- 25 sovereign states and a of dependencies, altogether

Venezuela

number

with a population of some 200 million. The main purpose of the ACS is to

identify and promote the implementa-

tion of policies and

and cooperative arrangements respon-

ation of trade, investment and economic cooperation arrangements, with other countries of the Caribbean Basin. To that end, it has negotiated such agreements with Venezuela and Colombia and is now in the final stages of doing the same with the

Dominican Republic. It has also established a CARICOM/Cuba Joint Commission as the framework for cooperation in the fields of trade, transport, culture, biotechnology and language development, for example. A quick survey of the map of the Caribbean Basin would indicate that so far I have sketched the existence of linkages among the countries of the Caribbean Basin from a CARICOMcentric point of view, but with two

programmes

notable exceptions. These are the

designed to: . harness, utilise and develop the collective capabilities of the Caribbean

countries of Central America and the United States of America. As regards the former, in 1992 the

The United States of America. which by virtue of Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the very shores

of Florida and the southern coast of the United States can. and has laid claims to itself being a Caribbean nation. President Clinton did lay such a claim when he met with the leaders

of the

nations of the Caribbean (excluding Cuba) in Barbados in May 1997 , to conclude the Agreement entitled "Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean." Despite this claim, neither Puerto Rico nor the US Virgin Islands - US territories in the Caribbean Sea - are members of the Association of Caribbean States or of any of the umbrella arrangements mentioned earlier. They are, however members of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) a sector-specific body.

The process of "Making the Caribbean Whole" therefore, is never going to be an easy one given its history, its geography, its cultural diversity, its weak economy and its overall and individual small size. Many and varied have been the powerful influences to which it has been sub.jected.

To forge from these historical geographical and cultural fragments a united Caribbean, pulling together the JUNE 1999

Jamaican dramatic youth group, Ashe, which provides inspiration through drama and song, performing at the opening ceremony of the Caribbean Youth Summit in Barbados, October 1998. The youth at the summit declared their vision for the Region into the 21st Century.

tution, faces a Herculean task in spearheading the process of "Making the Caribbean

Whole." This would still be so even if all the Caribbean territories, including Cuba and the Dominican Republic,

were to become members of

will be no

to some central forum for driving the

simple task. Even to conceive of a desirable achievable and sustainable state defies all but the most perspicacious of visions. But the task is not impossible. Others have faced equally daunting tasks in their history and have not failed. Are we innately any

Community forward. Secondly, it was accepted by all that the Caribbean, in the new millennium, must incorporate its cultural and ethnic diversity with the technological versatility which, respectively,

many fragmented parts,

less capable?

In Saramacca, Suriname, at the beginning of March this yeaq CARICOM Heads of Government began discussions on "The Caribbean Community in the Next Decade" as part of

the 25th Anniversary celebrations of CARICOM. It is a theme to which in the past they have only turned their attention from time to time. This time they have done so frontally. To their discussions, they invited the Youth of

the Region, including a number of young university students who participated actively. This first exchange was most encouraging. At least three points of importance emerged from those discussions:

First of all, it was widely accePted that the process of governance of

CARICOM is inadequate to meet the needs of the Community in the New Millennium and calls for some degree ofceding of sovereignty by conferring some measure of executive authority JUNE 1999

the solidarity of the Community and the new age, demand and which are the only means by which the Community will secure its place in this hemisphere and in the new global village. Thirdly, a more efficient mode of

functioning by the Community is called for and this must involve more selective prioritising of its activities. The Region's youth, who had Participated in the Summit, had themselves also organised previously, their own Youth Explosion with a Youth Parliament and a Youth Summit, as part of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Celebrations of CARICOM. Based on what transpired I can saY

without fear

contradiction, that should they continue in public life, in

the manner in which they undertook those discussions, our democratic tra-

ditions will be in no danger, save for that precipitated by the undermining of our economies.

But despite its wide-ranging coverage of the various dimensions of regional life, CARICOM, as an Insti-

CARICOM, and the Single Market and Economy was to come

into effect, complete with

the

Caribbean Court of Justice.

For one, the process requires a much wider participation than is now conceived of within that design. For another, CARICOM, as well as all the other Institutions contributory to this

process, are in critical need of resources - human, financial, and technological to undertake their tasks. It is for that reason, among others, that the former Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government,

Prime Minister Kenny Anthony of Saint Lucia, has highlighted the role and contribution which those in the Diaspora can, and must play, if this process is to be successful. All hands are needed on deck! Or as we now say in another context "Rally round the West Indies!" His conviction is one I

fully

Edwin Carrington is SecretaryGeneral of CARICOM. This is an excerpt from an address delivered by

Mn Carrington to the North-East gional Caribbean Students C onfe rence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachu-

selts, on

April, 2,

1999.

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The Caribbean

ChaIlenge in the Negotiatrng Process the 1990s. These are decidedly

oday's global economic environment is dominated bv two concepts and their practical application, namely liberalisation and globalisation. They are, ofcourse, different things. Liberalisation is a poli-

cy prescription

Sir Shridoth

Romphol

now a global pre-

scription. Globalisation is a phenomenon that stems partly from the appli-

cation

unpromising auspices for efforts to achieve development for the poorest people through the Negotiations. Declining prices for commodity exports have dragged down developing countries' terms of trade, which measure import capacity in relation to export earnings. The least developed countries, generally the poorest, have

of that prescription but from

liberalisation are sufficiently intertwined to represent the essentials of

not open to all products or all people; 'free trade'is rarely fair trade. Liberalisation is not the trade dimension of a regime of global liberalisation; there

the global economic environment in

is no

other causes as well, like the information revolution. But globalisation and

which the challenges and options of the Negotiations will have to be faced and exercised. Deep misgivings exist about liber-

alisation and globalisation - which for some who espouse them are present with theological, almost fundamentalist, fervour. That, of course, is part of the problem when we relate them to the WTO and to Lom6 and rhe FIAA. For the WTO is the cathedral in which we are supposed to worship and the ACP is increasingly agnostic. This combination of western economic ideology and southern scepti-

cism will be a basic feature of the dialectic beyond 2000. Unless it is understood, there is a real danger that the parties to the Negotiation will be talking past each other, even as they use the language of partnership or integration. We need to be more outspoken about this global environment.

The truth is that 'open markets' are

regime - as French farmers, demonstrating for retention of the Common Agricultural Policy, confirmed in Brussels recently with such vehemence.

Globalisation, however,

is not

choice; it is a reality. But being a reality does not itself endow it with virtue.

It is already

clear, for example, that there are aspects of globalisation that have more hazards for the weak than for the strong. Developing countries have certainly profited from globalisation far less than the richest industrialised nations. Globalisation is widening the gap between rich and poor in the world. United Nations figures show that the share of global income, received by

the poorest one-fifth of the world's people, has been shrinking from 2.3 percent in 1960 to 1.4 per centin l99l and then to l.l per cent in 1994, suggesting that the decline had become sharper as globalisation advanced in

suffered a 50 percent drop

their

terms of trade since the early 1980s.

The global financial crisis

has

worsened this decline in commodity prices. This is proof that globalisation has made the international financial system more unstable, making even star performers vulnerable to devastating shocks. The world's ilrangements for economic governance proved incapable of anticipating or preventing this crisis; efforts to manage it seemed to make matters worse, driving economies into greater disar-

ray and pushing more people into poverty.

All this, the outturn of the era of liberalisation. Is it any wonder that we start the Negotiations with substantial scepticism of the global economic environment? The WTO is the flagship of trade liberalisation. It was designed to benefit all countries on the basis of rules that all will respect and live by, rules designed especially to bring under the sway of the rule of law, those power-

ful

economies that have historically

asserted a right to play not by the rules

JUNE 1999

l l

but by their perceived national interests and the instincts of the bully indiff'erent to the f'ate of the small and weak. Not surprisingly, many developing countries are signatories. Yet, serious questions are arising about the WTO regime itself, about the f'ears its early record is generating of the WTO becoming, fbr small countries in the area of trade. the rod of chastisement

the IMF had become in the area of finance. The WTO has been catapulted into the fiont line of the Lomd negotiations by the notion of 'WTO compatibility' that has been underscored by Europe in its Green Paper and, even more so! by the United States in the FTAA con-

text. So, if all

these negotiated

arrangements are to be WTO comPatible, and if the WTO itself looks like

being incompatible with a regime of global equity and a balance of interest between developed and developing countries, we could face the most serious of difficulties. The answer is that the WTO must evolve in this way. It must not become

fundamentalist institution com-

So how does the

Caribbean

approach the Negotiations'i It needs, I am sure, no reminder fiom me that the

basic strategic position CARIFORUM Governments had endorsed at the highest level is insistence, in their words, on'a cohesive regional position for these c'ompler und varietl discussiotts.' It was to that end that the Regional Negotiating Machinery was established by Heads of Government. An essential requirement of the concept of the Regional Negotiating Machinery is that, in the Negotiations, wherever there are Caribbean voices speaking. they must be speaking tiom an agreed regional brief, ttt an agreed

regional position. We must all sing from the same hymn sheet. That is the heart of the concept of a regional negotiating strategy. The RNM's ef1brts, including my presence here last November in your

national consultative process, are essentially about composing that hymn sheet; including blending the interests of Suriname into those of the

wider Caribbean region, bringing strength

to these national interests

manding unswerving obedience to the

from their pursuit by the wider region,

ideology of liberalisation and uncriti-

and ensuring that the strategy with which we go forward into the negoti-

cal acceptance of all that globalisation is made to yield. For us in the Caribbean. this is no

theoretical exercise. We are living through the terrible experience of the threat to our small societies and fragile economies at the level of bananas - the kind of threat that arises lbr people. some among

ations, with Europe and with the Americas, is one that responds to the

vital interest of this country. There must be a Surinamese verse in the

regional hymn. To achieve this at the level of all member countries of CARICOM is not a simple matter, or one that is free

of difTicult decisions. But,

it is mainly

the

ideology masquerading as a vlrtuous new order. The Caribbean does not seek a future dominat-

believe we have a right to do so; and that both the EU and the US

different contexts have

responsibility to help us. JUNE 1999

through that 'cohesive

regional position' that these complex talks and varied negotiations can be brought to fruition in the interest ofall

the people of the Region. We have gone 1'ar in securing that position. But, as important, in the Lomd context, is progress on the twin-track of solidarity with Africa and the Pacific. The Negotiations, for post-Lom6 IV arrangements, are between the European Union and the ACP as a group -

not 71 (and with Cuba 72)

separate

countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. So let me focus on these Negotiations. From the earliest discussions with the EU, the ACP made it clear that it attaches great value to the

Lom6 relationship, that it is mindful of its shortcomings, including the ACP failures, and that it looks to a future which might appropriately be characterised as an 'enhanced Lomd partnership.' It is a fundamental ACP position that post-Lomd IV arrangements must be essentially a partnership for devel-

opment. 'DeveloPment' must be the

dominant objective

Post-Lomd

arrangementsl it must not be subordinated, for example, to

WT* ** the l.l:",f*:::1,":'J'1. ",#l: eathedral ln whieh - like lT,',".',:l;",T"JT1i:ffl,,,?: we tre $*Fpesed te wsr*k*S *nd tke ;i,'il ilJl1:il:T:[[:1i;: AeP ** *nere***mgly tsfte*t*e- in inequality

equally,

Heads of government are mindful that

.-.t**G

the political objectives of other agendas.

The ACP insists that 'development' is an objective in its own right; indeed, that 'development' is itself a fundamental human right. We do not accept, fbr examPle, that any particular 'political environment,' however desirable

in itself or

supportive of

development, is

site of

pre-requi-

development

rele-

gating the trade and econom-

provisions

Lomd

of the Post-

arrangements

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secondary place. The ACP obviously

will not reject

the idea of a political

dialogue

between the EU and the ACP

proper conditions and

under

proper

sequence. This means that a political dialogue under a future Convention could be acceptable to the ACP if it conforms to agreed principles, for example, that it is a dialogue in which the concerns of both sides regarding policies or practices of the other may be raised - the only provision being

that they bear on the central objective of the Convention, namely, coopera-

tion for development.

It means that the ACP, for example, could require a dialogue with the EU on debt, or on the treatment of migranl.s. or on European practices regarding hazardous waste or CO2 emissions generally. It could similarly extend to ACP initiated dialogue on the protection of cultural heritage or biodiversity. As important would be

the principle that political dialogue did not imply, in any way political dictation under a system of EU certification of ACP states. This means that any political dialogue the ACP is willing to have with the EU is not tainted with notions of conditionality. Another matter of concern is the clear intention of the Commission to split the ACP into three. or even six parts, for the trade negotiations, which

would succeed Lom6 IV. This is not the regionalisation of which the ACP speaks. Indeed, it is precisely the opposite. The ACP has repeatedly reaffirmed its determination to maintain ACP solidarity and the integrity of the ACP as a negotiating partner. This should be the fundamental basis for the Negotiations; but it would be jeopardised from the outset, were we

to agree to the negotiating structures the EU is contemplating. As already signalled ar the ACPEU Ministerial Meeting in Barbados, the admission of Cuba as a member of the ACP under post-Lomd IV arrangements is a matter of importance to the

ACP and rather specially,

the

Caribbean. The ACP will want to ensure that Cuba is within the substantive'geographical coverage' as it

pertains

to the Caribbban and

full ACP partner in the post-Lomd IV secure the admission of Cuba as a

arTangements.

And then there is 'vulnerability.' Forty-two of the ACP states have a population of less than five million, and half of these are in Africa. The problems of small states are not confined to the Caribbean. Small states are not simply small versions of large states. Many disadvantages result from scale diseconomies in adminis-

tration, infra-structural development, transportation, marketing, keeping and attracting high level skills and accessing global capital markets.

In addition, the geographical vulnerability of many small states including proneness to natural and ecological disasters (arising from hurricanes, volcanic activity, fragile coastal zones, high population density and forest depletion) complements economic vulnerability; and their impact is made worse by pervasiveness. For them, a 'level playing field' is a mirage. That is why the vulnerability of small island states has been traditionally recognised in the context of

ACP-EU cooperation. No similar flexibility obtains in the WTO rules. A significant issue for future ACP-EU relations is forging an alliance for change in WTO rules to recognise the

vulnerabilities of some

small

economies that will not survive on the basis of reciprocity and non-discrimination.

But

it is the trade

aspects

the

some of which I have already alluded. Suffice it to say that ACP countries do

not buy the theory that developing country interests lie in the route 'from Lomd to FTAs'- a theory with which by now (with the aid of its own commissioned studies on regional FTAs)

the Commission should itself

uneasy.

Lomd always had trade and development at its center - Lomd I - IV. The ACP wants to preserve that architecture. The EU does not. Despite the language of 'cooperation for development' that it uses in its Green Book, the Guidelines and Negotiating Directives, it wishes to dismantle Lom6 and refashion it closer to a blueprint that sees trade in goods and services as a net benefit to Europe, and development assistance as a lever for social.

political and economic imposed through a system

policies

of condi-

tionalities adorned as political dialogue.

Just take the issue of reciprocity for which the ideologues of liberalisation would claim sanctity - and which is at the heart of FTAs - or REPAS as they ware euphemistically described Regional Economic Partnership Agreements. Reciprocity between equals is one thing; it is the very essence of equity. But as between unequals it is the opposite. We do not have to go back to Aristotle's Ethics to recognise that between rich and poor, between highly developed industrial economies and under-developed largely agricultural ones, between

countries that are large and well endowed and those that are small and impoverished, reciprocity is a recipe

Negotiations that will prove the most difficult. Until the final decisions on

for enlarging inequality.

the EU Mandate were taken at

WTO compatibility, would ordain for

the

meeting of the General Affairs Council on 29 June 1998, the EU's projec-

Yet it is this that the EU, pleading

ACP-EU post-Lomd arrangements

Trade Area arrangements by region or

through regional FTAs. The Commission may be in danger of being 'holier than the Pope' if it does not gener-

MFN treatment. The first is not on for

lution of the development factor in the WTO regime - an evolution which

tion of ACP options was for

Free

general participation in the GSP. Others spoke of the alternative of both technical and other reasons

ate forward-looking ideas on the evo-

must come.

JUNE 1999

Prime Minister Basdeo PandaY of Trinidad and Tobago, addressing a session of a conference between African, Caribbean and Pacific states and the European Union.

The alternative option advanced by - general participation in the GSP system - could hardly have been serious; certainly, it holds no attraction for ACP states. What the 29 June decision of the EU did (in the last days of

the EU

the British Presidency) was to create some negotiating space for non-LDC

ACP countries by providing a third option of 'a new framework for trade between them und the EU which is equivalent to their existing situation under the Lomd Convention snd in conformity v,ith WTO rules' In practical terms, this fortifies the initial Libreville position of the ACP for an enhanced Lomd Convention in relation to the trade regime. This may take the form of a super GSP for ACP partner countries - notwithstanding the reach of the GSP beYond ACP countries, generally.

In this

context, the ACP would

count on the full potential of the compromise decision and in particular the

practicality

of 's new framework for

trade . . . which is equivalent to their existing situati.on under the l-omd

Convention and in conformitY with WTO rules . . . making use of the dif' ferentiation permitted by WTO rules.' It is not coincidental that the compromise decision committed the EU to assessing in 2004 the situation for non-LDC ACP countries not wanting FTAs, since it is in 2004 that industrial countries

will

be reviewing the GSP

generally. There is need, therefore, to

call prior to 20O4 for an enhanced Lom6.

But, when will such new alrangements become operative? Recognising that the existing Convention expires in

February 2000, and that the negotiating process will be a lengthy one, there JUNE 1999

o o o o a a o a o o a a o a o o o o a o a a is obvious need to roll over the exist- FTAA process?' Many reasons requlre a ing Convention to an appropriate date. us to join these Negotiations and many o But the appropriateness of the date is factors influence the path we will try o not merely conditioned by the duration to pursue in them. But fundamentally' o of the negotiations. Much more signif- it is because of their relevance to our o icantly, it should be conditioned by the vital national objectives of eliminating a transition period required for ACP poverty and advancing development a economies to develoP new export within each of our countries. The o activities and deepen their capacity for Negotiations may seem esoteric, but o integration into the international econ- they have as their most basic rationale, o improvement of the lives of people at a omy, and for the character of the globo al economic environment to become every local level. It follows that for each member 1 clearer with, for example, the review of the GSP and the outcome of the state these negotiations - whether with O . o Millennium Round of Multilateral Europe or the Americas or the WTO relaCARICOM of because o are not Trade Negotiations. And this will certainly be longer than the five years tionships. They face the member state o irrespective of CARICOM. CARI- a being contemplated bY EuroPe. The ACP, therefore, looks to a COM helps You not to face them O rollover of Lom6 lV (with enhance- alone. And even so, you have options o within the Negotiations. But one O ment) to, say, 2010 with negotiations option you do not have. To do nothing o for successor alTangements commencing in 2006. It cannot possibly com- is not an option. If you stand still while o mit itself at the end of this year to even the world changes around You - You o will cease to be where you are relative O the broad nature of the trade alrangecer- o ments that will follow the end of the to everything else - and almost rollover period

whether that is five,

much less ten years away. stages in these Negotiations, seek answers to the questions: 'Why are we

At all

it will

be salutarY to ask and

lV arrangements? WhY also for that matter' are we engaging with the Americas in the

negotiating post-Lomd

tainly to your detriment. And that is as true of Lom6 as of the FTAA discussions. Although the FTAA negotiations are very different from the post Lomd IV arrangements' the issue of reciprocity on which we stand with the ACP in Brussels, is the same issue that lies at the heart of the

o o

o o o o a

Page 9

a o

FTAA concept.

namely Agriculture, Competition Poli-

We cannot grant reciprocity to the United States under an FTAA and deny it to Europe under Lom6; which is why we are arguing in the FTAA context very much the same kind of fundamental issue that we have to press in

cy. Dispute Settlement, Government Procurement, Intellectual Property Rights, Investment, Market Access,

o o o O o O O Lom6. An obvious difference is that o with Lom6 we are discussing with O Europe whether to continue a longO standing relationship. With the FTAA we are discussing o whether to establish one. But there is o something else. In Brussels, the EU is O negotiating under a Mandate carefully O developed by the European Commiso sion and authorised by the Member a States, including flexibility for negorio ating 'alternative arrangements.' In O Miami, the United States, which is drio O ving the process, has no such authoriO ty. The US administration has signifiO cantly failed to secure fast-track a authority for the negotiation of a o Hemispheric FTA. One implication of a slow or o stalled FTAA process might be the O enlarged possibility of pursuing CARIO COM negotiations with regional partO ners CARICOM bilaterals: with the O a Dominican Republic, with Central o America, perhaps with Canada: all of O which are being submerged under the O weight of the FTAA process. From a o CARICOM point of view, this may nor a be a bad reordering of priorities. If we O can secure a reasonable outcome from O LOME and develop potential markets O in Latin America, the immediate result o could, on balance, be favourable to our o economic prospects, while giving us O time to prepare not only our negotiatO ing positions, but also our domestic O economies, for a more mature relationa ship with the United States. Given the enormous task of prepaO ration for negotiations, however, the O Caribbean must not make the mistake O o of putting its own preparatory work on O hold. We must occupy the space proa vided to us in a productive manner. O And so we have been doing - in the O several Negotiating Groups that have O been established to cover the field. o Page 10

Services and Subsidies, Anti-dumping

and Countervailing Duties. We hold Vice-Chair positions in Competition Policy and Services. There is also the Committee on Electronic Commerce which CARICOM chairs; and, mosr specially for us, the Consultative Group on Small Economies chaired by Ambassador Richard Bernal, who is also the Dean of our College of Negotiators established to bring cohesion to

our negotiating efforts. In all these areas, we have assembled as our Lead and Alternate Negotiators some of the best talents in our Region. This year will see an intensification of CARI-

COM's efforts in the FTAA

process,

keeping always in mind those consid-

erations

to which Minister

condor

alluded.

The Second Meeting of the Trade

Negotiations Committee (the first Vice-Ministerial Meeting since the

FTAA process began in September) was held in Suriname. I draw particular attention to the agreement of this Suriname meeting on additional meet-

of the Small Economies Group and the planned CARICOM programme on Customs Procedures ings

directed towards'Business Facilitation.' The former. of course. is very much in the Region's interest, as we seek to enlarge awareness of the need

for special arrangements for

Small Economies and to infuse all Negotiat-

ing Groups with the necessity of responding to those needs. The second, the decision on 'Business Facilitation'

a matter specially promoted by the United States as an early harvest ofthe negotiations - might be a commentary as well as the uncertainty of the ultimate yield. It is not a matter that should give us concern, though we must of course be vigilant about the nature of the detailed arrangements lest they work to our disadvantage. But that vigilance is necessary in every stage of the Negotiations.

In these negotiations, which are unlike any we have engaged in, in the past, we must do our utmost to secure better terms of trade for our products mainly primary products, but some manufactures as well - in the markets of rich countries in Europe and North America. We argued successfully in 1974 against reciprocity with Europe. The United States agreed with us then. So Lomd involved no concessions by way of penetration of our markets small admittedly, as they are.

Nor did CARIBCAN or rhe CBI. Before them, imperial preferences had, but they were the product of colonial and post colonial arrangements, not the product of open negotiations. Whatever the outcome of these present negotiations in specific terms both with Europe and with North America, one thing is certain: they will involve a deliberate step to further open our markets, our economies, to access from beyond the Region; from member countries of the European Union and from North, Central and South America in the case of the FTAA. These negotiations will involve, therefore, challenges we have not faced before. They represent an historic point of departure for us. They are not about staying as we are at home

and enlarging our chances abroad. They are about enlarging those chances through adapting ourselves at

home shores

to new

realities beyond our through influencing those

realities as best we can , of course. but in the end through being part of what is unquestionably a new global economic scene. So the Negotiations are only part of the story of survival. As big a part, is what we do at home.

I Sir Shridath

Ramphal

Chief

Negotiator of the Regional Negotiating Machinery. These are excerpts.from a speech prepared by Sir Shridath, for the Sociery of Economists in Suriname on 3 March 1999.

JUNE 1999

Oth Inter-sessi onal considers

CARICOM into the 27st Century aribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders negotiated difficult political terrain when they met in Paramaribo for the Tenth InterSessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Governments and, during an exchange with specially-invited young Caribbean people, concluded that, perhaps, "the method and structure of Governance of the Community was inadequate for spearheading and guiding a regional integration movement." Such a conclusion would not have been an unexpected outcome of much agenda for the Meeting offered. For example, persistent political strife in Guyana - which hosts the CARICOM headquarters and is a key

of what the

founding member of the movement dominated much of the closed-door deliberations at the spanking new Congress Hall in the heart of the Surinamese capital.

The leaders responded critically to

what they viewed as a "renewal of

political discord and unrest

Guyana." They called for "an immediate cessation and a return to the com-

mitment and spirit

of the Herd-

manston Accord and the Saint Lucia Statement."

They also reaffirmed the role of CARICOM Facilitator, former Barbados Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maurice King, who was mandated to continue his efforts at inter-party dialogue. As they spoke,

there were reports JUNE 1999

more distur-

0 Wesley

Gibbings

bances in Georgetown.

Leaders would have also not been of tensions in the host country, Suriname, post-election strife in St Vincent and the Grenadines following a close election result in June 1998 and the taxing circumstances of politics in St Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. They must also have taken note of the remarks of Suriname's Minister of

unmindful

Foreign Affairs, Enoll Snijders, who told the first Extraordinary Meeting of the Foreign and Community Relations (COFCOR) days before that: "The

is becoming more and more involved in the regional political agenda." "Maybe it is time to examine at this and future meetings how we could strengthen this leadership of the Caribbean in important regional bodies," he advised. Such counsel would not have been missed by the CARICOM Heads who, even as they hold out hands of partCaribbean

Then came the vexing issue of U.S. action against the European Union aimed at undermining the EU's Banana Import Regime with countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping.

The imposition of sanctions against the EU by the United States drew heavy fire from the CARICOM leaders who described such action as "unauthorised and illegal" and having the potential to undermine the World Trade Organisation (WTO) while threatening the "economic survival and social and political stability of several Caribbean countries." A statement issued at the end of the Meeting said that the European

Union had, in fact, modified its Banana Import Regime "radically" and had implemented the new Regime

January 1999, "in

full

compli-

ance with the ruling of the WTO."

"The banana industry is of vital economic interest to the Caribbean and the present United States action will destroy that industry," the statement said.

The CARICOM Heads

said

Europe was the region's only export market and that its share of the market accounts for only two per cent of

a keen eye on intractable political developments in Port-au-

world trade in bananas. "Despite that minuscule share of the trade, the banana industry is a major earner of foreign currency and provider of employment for several Caribbean countries," the statement

Prince.

said.

nership with Haiti would have been

keeping

o a o o a o o o a a a o o o o o a o a o a a o o o a o o a a o o a o a a o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o a o o o o Page

o o o o a o a a o o a o a o o o o a o o o o o a o o o a o o a o a o a o o a a o a o o o o a o o o a o o a

appeared that less than two years after U.S. President Bill Clinton's historic summit with Caribbean leaders in Barbados and the signing of

an accord entitled: "Partnership for Prosperity and Security in the Caribbean", relations between CARI-

COM and the United States

had

soured considerably over the banana issue.

The Inter-Sessional Meeting also came at a time when some interna-

tional attention was being drawn to two shipments of nuclear material from France and the United Kingdom

bound for Japan through ed warnings and protests from

the

region.

This attracted a sharP

response

from the Caribbean CommunitY who called on the two European states and Japan to "respect the economic importance and ecological fragility of the Caribbean Sea and the well-being of the millions of people who depend on this unique resoul'ce for their very existence." The leaders said they were "fullY

of the catastrophic consequences ofany accident for their peo-

conscious

ples and for the ecological systems of the Caribbean Sea." The Tenth CARICOM Inter-Sessional Meeting will also be known as the time Caribbean leaders engaged

the region's youth in open and frank discussions on the issues they considered critical to the future well-being

of the region. Trinidad and Tobago Prime MinisMr Basdeo Panday said at the opening of the Inter-Sessional Meeting that such an encounter was "clear

ter,

and unequivocal recognition of the need for the total involvement of our young people in determining and defining the future of our region."

in the regiona] ,l , pclitical agende,,,r,,,,: '",' - Erroll $nlideis.

According to the conf'erence communique: "it was generally acknowledged that central to the problem to Caribbean integration. was the fact that the method and structure of Governance of the Community was inadequate for spearheading and guiding a regional integration movement." A summation of the talks suggested that "at the heart of the problem" was "the absence of any central exec-

utive/decision-makin-e authority. capable of acting on behalf of Member States within the limits of the Treaty (of Chaguaramas)."

The CARICOM leaders agreed that the status quo was "unsustainable" and that "action needed to be taken with despatch both of a tactical and strategic nature to respond to the curent situation." The matter returns to the CARICOM agenda when the leaders meet in Port of Spain in July this year for the 20th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government.

was Suriname President Dr

Jules Wijdenbosch who reminded his colleagues that though the economies and populations of CARICOM were small. the movernent had made "substantial and ample contributions to the current situation in the (wider) region. "At the same time. however, the small scale of our states entails a vul-

place during the leaders'Retreat in the eco-resort of the Saramacca district in

nerability (in which) crises in other regions have a negative and sometimes devastating impact on our

of wider on the future of the

economies." he said. "To cope with the challenge of the

Such an exercise. which took Suriname, was a key part

deliberations

o a

regional integration movement.

Page 12

the

Caribbean Sea, in defiance of repeat-

*The Caribbean is becoming morâ&#x201A;Ź &ild rnole involved,

process

globalisation, which is

coming about at a fast Pace, it is important not only to form strategic alliances but also to fully realise that CARICOM is a strategic alliance in

itself." he said.

"This position should be

both

starting points and guiding principle for our activities," President Wijdenbosch said. "The process of integra-

tion must be expedited while we should endeavour lo better position our economies for participation in the modern world economy."

A similar message had come fiom CARICOM Secretary-General. Mr Edwin Carrington on the eve of the Tenth Inter-Sessional Meeting when he told reporters in Georgetown that the challenges of the future called fbr dispensation under which there were hands on deck" in an effbrt to ensure the future viability of the integration movement. The penultimate CARICOM Summit of this century. which is scheduled

"all

for July this year in Trinidad Tobago

will

and

be seeking a way fbrward

that involves the widest possible participation. "We need to realise," Mr Panday said, "that the challenges of the new millennium are already upon us."

According

to the Trinidad and

Tobago leader: "Our response cannot therefore be delayed. And that response must incorporate our cultural and ethnic diversity with the tech-

nological versatility which, respectively, our solidarity and new age demand and which are the only means by which we will secure our place in this hemisphere."

Wesley Gibbings is a Trinitlacl' bosetl journctlist and ntedia constrltunt who hus sen'ed as Public Relotiorts O.fficer of the Caribbean Comntunitv Secreturiat. An erpert on regionul public afJhirs, he heads Caribbeun

Mediq Consultlnts - a nenrork of v'riters utd radio and television prcduce

ope

roting tt'ithin CARICOM.

* JUNE 1999

Trinidad and Tobago:

Contrasts and Contradictions have given up on trying to define Trinidad and Tobago. We are one and all. And we love life so much

that our severest punishment involves

taking

away. Where else

the

world could you have the opportunity

t Nicole Huggins

to see the crowning of the most "beautiful" woman in the.world, and the following week witness the execution of

nine notorious killers? Only in Trinidad and Tobago. But by the time CARICOM Heads of Government arrive in Port of Spain for their annual conference in July, they would have missed most of the

zens you can find almost every racial group represented and most of the world's major religions and cultures -

excitement. The young beauties would have already dispersed to their various homelands across the globe, and given the current state of events, the nine condemned men would have had their turbulent lives cut short by the hangman's noose.

Trinidad and Tobago

is truly

land of contrasts and contradictions. Here is a twin-island Republic, which thanks to Trinidad's rich oil and gas reserves, has emerged as the Region's

Hinduism, Islam and Christianity trying to share the same small space

can pick out Machel Montano, Beenie

Here is a country where people frequently complain about the high cost of living, but where the two day

Man and Allison Hinds in a crowd, and who believes that the 80's cry of "One Love" is only a little less funny than the '70s cry of "Money is no Problem." Particularly among the

Carnival celebrations and every other festival are getting bigger and more

elaborate and almost every major show is a sold-out event - including the Miss Universe Pageant with its ticket prices ranging from US$25 to us$500! This is a country which has histor-

tory and geology laid the foundations for all that has followed, given that Trinidad is geologically part of the South American Mainland, but histor-

ically is part of the English-speaking Caribbean.

Look at the ethnic and cultural mix where among its 1.3 million citiJUNE 1999

But Trinidad and Tobago is chang-

eling in their own individuality.

ically turned away from tourism, and is only just beginning to define itself as a destination, but which spends US$12 Million on a risky, one-shot promotion through an international

peace

linked service with servitude.

and continually looking for the values they hold in common, but forever rev-

house, while fifteen minutes away (by

air) Tobago is the epitome of

that simple. Trinidadians and Tobagonians, accustomed to thinking of their country as an anomaly in Caribbean of sun, sea and sand, are only just becoming accustomed to the idea of T&T as a tourist destination outside of the carnival season. And it has been an up-hill battle to create a service ethic among people who have historically

ing. Just as the Americans have ways of defining their "Generation X," the Trinidad equivalent is anyone who

industrial and manufacturing power-

and relaxation. The country's own his-

already exists, and implementing the

strategy. Simple! Okay, maybe not

beauty contest, the benefits of which won't materialise any time soon (if they materialise at all). But just like organising the pageant, reaping the benefits will be simply a matter of formulating a strategy based on what

young people there is a greater appre-

ciation for the benefits that have accrued to the more tourism-oriented countries in the Region, and a feeling that marketing Trinidad and Tobago need not mean selling out. That's probably why one of the biggest achievements of hosting the

Miss Universe Pageant was that it gave the people of T&T the chance to to the world they looked as good as they are - and to offer. else has as anything anyone most immehas been the Perhaps this see themselves presented

diate benefit

of the whole

pageant

experience, given that the anticipated influx of visitors never arrived, leav-

o a a o o o o o o a o a o o o o o o o o a o a o o a a o a a o O

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Above: Contestants in the 1999 Miss Universe competition on a photo shoot. "One of the biggest achievements of hosting the Miss Universe Pageant was that it gave the people of T&T the chance to see themselves presented to the world as they are..." Left: The plant of the Trinidad and Tobago Methanol Company. 'Thanks to (its) rich oil and gas reserves, (Trinidad and Tobago) has emerged as the Region's industrial and manufacturing powerhouse."

ing hotel rooms empty and souvenir shops overflowing with inventory.

Still, questions linger about the actual cost of the pageant: its reach (out of the much touted two billion viewers, it is estimated that only eight million tuned in from the coveted North American market), who we were targeting, and how this international display fits in with the existing

or future tourism and

investment

agendas.

But even with the continuing controversy (and a fatal freak accident at one of the show venues) this pageant has generally created an impression

that there are now opportunities for Trinidad and Tobago that need to be seized as soon as possible. In one word

hope.

But this is a country that caters to every taste, from a passion for festivals and beauty, to a thirst for blood and revenge. The issue now is the implementation of the death penalty, and it has been simmering for some time among Caribbean countries. as each attempt to carry out executions has been stymied - until now - by appeals to the Privy Council in Britain

or any number of international human rights bodies. What makes this instance truly spectacular is that it is not the life of one man that hangs in the balance but nine. Again - only in Trinidad and Tobago. The usual arguments aside, the sheer magnitude of the exercise must give pause to even the most bloodthirsty. For opponents to the death penalty, even the state's execution of one man is bad enough, but what will be the effect of nine hangings in three days on the public's sensitivity to the imposition of the death sentence? Will the public feel safer or will there be a communal revulsion at the spilling of so much blood, leading finally to some sort of referendum on what the public really wants? Will the

young criminal see it as just another risk you face when you live high in the "gangsta" life?

And what will it mean for the international image of this country? Will potential visitors and investors feel safer or will they abhor the mass bloodletting? And if, as some say, this

the pageant, at this point there

are

more questions than answers. Unlike the pageant, this particular display is

unlikely to leave anyone with a sense of hope. I know it's not necessarily true, but sometimes it does feel as if only in Trinidad and Tobago will you find life and death sitting side by side on a pavement in town. leaning up on one another and waving at you as you pass by. You can feel it in the energy of the

music of the young people, inviting you to enjoy yourself while you "stampede and mash up de place" or as you heap scorn on all "mocking pretenders" and "dirty deceivers." There is today a sense of savagery behind our laughter. Perhaps that is why we can slip so easily from the stage to the gallows. From being the audience to the angry mob. Life at the turn of the century.

Nicole Huggins is a freelance writer and television producer who supports limited application of the death penalrj.

is truly the will of the people, does it matter what anyone else thinks? Like

JUNE 1999

o a

Intellectual Property Rights

a o o a

A Must for

DeYelopment ith the increased value of information and its use in this new phase in the development of world economics, com-

bined with the reconfiguration of international trade, the ever emerging

information technologies and their applications, and the rapid process of globalisation, the role of Intellectual

I Michelle Wolker i to the ordinary

citizen'

directorate

assumed new dimensions. As a result, developing countries like ours now face similar challenges in this area. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protect ideas and information of commercial value. Therefore, a country with a strong framework for protect-

Given the somewhat intangible nature of IPR, a special effort must be made to sensitise citizens of its value and to discourage infringement. At the political level, the trade related aspects of IPR must be of equal value, and command the s4me level of interest and concern, as trade in goods. In fact, as developing countries look to the trade in services as the waY to move their economies forward in the 21st century, IPR protection must necessarily be a vital component of this trend.

value within its jurisdiction. In today's world, where technological advances are made dailY, new commercially viable ideas are essential for business success. Countries which

protect IPR should therefore find it easier to attract the investment if investors are reassured that their IPR, a critical component of their business operations and a prerequisite for a competitive edge, will be adequately

protected. The investment obtained

by these countries, including needed foreign investment, will in turn assist their economic development and the making, or securing, of social as well as economic advances.

One of the main challenges for developing countries to harness benefits of IPR is to ensure its appreciation at the national level, from the political JUNE 1999

mercially valuable.

There is no doubt that coPYright and neighbouring rights protection has

Property Rights (IPR) has now

ing IPR sends a message that it will protect information of commercial

worldwide recognition. The Region also contains some of the world's most remarkable biodiversity and its use of traditional medicine, and its folklore, have the potential to be com-

Like many develoPing countries the Caribbean Community must grapple with the issues of protection of IPR from a national PersPective as well as not of international obligations, particularly Trade Related Intellectual Property (TRIPS). CARICOM now consists of fourteen member states, and Haiti is preparing to join the Community. The total population

is approximately six million

people. The talent and creativity of its people are well known as theY have made

major contributions to the world of music, dance and art. The reggae of Jamaica and the calypso and steel pan of Trinidad and Tobago have achieved

helped Jamaican reggae music to flourish, and expand its influence from the Caribbean to EuroPe, Asia and Africa. This has encouraged songwriters, musicians and producers to devote their talents to developing the genre of music. TheY are able to do something they enjoy and receive adequate financial rewards. At the same time reggae music as an art form has attained international acclaim. The Grammy Awards now has a category

for reggae artistes.

This kind of cultural recognition creates employment opportunities in the music industry for the country as well as an enhanced tourist product. Certainly, the iazz festivals held in Barbados, St Lucia and Grenada, create opportunities for tourism. For Jamaicans there is the sense of national pride that their blend of music has attained international recognition. Yet many of these benefits would not flow without adequate IPR Protection.

But unfortunatelY, at the

same

time, piracy and counterfeiting have

eroded the rewards to which these artistes are entitled. Greed, ignorance and indifference to IPR have fostered an atmosphere in which it is acceptable to pirate music. A combination

o o a o o o a o o o a o a o o o o a o O

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o o o a a o o a o o O

o o o o a

a a O o a a o

o O o O o o o

o o O a O o

? O a o o

: ? : a ? o o o o o o : 'o a Page 16

Two members of the popular Barbados band Square One flank Al Gilkes, the Chairman of the island's National Cultural Foundation at the launch of one of the band's CDs. The Region's cultural and other industries will increasingly depend on systems to protect their intellectual property rights.

public education and strong legal sanctions is needed to deal with this

subject.

Regrettably,

even when the will is present, there may sim-

ply not be enough resources to combat the

problem at the national

level without external assistance. Strong col-

lecting rights societies

are needed to ensure that rights holders receive royalties to which they are entitled. This is an area in which much work is now being done in the Region. Understandably, there is a strong desire to develop in the region the human and

institutional resources to address this aspect

ofcopyright protection.

being theirs. Both the manufacturers' revenue and reputation will suffer, perhaps permanently.

This illustrates one of the problems of right holders in small countries. First, the right holder must obtain protection in his own country as well as in target markets. This can

Region where agriculture continues to be a major economic sector as well as

providing other employment opportunities. Although these are small scale

of the economies involved, these operations are an important part in the economic activities of the country in question. producers, given the size

be a potentially expensive exercise if In recent times, appreciation is a vital his country is not party to the Madrid has developed about an the commercial aspect of business aoiviry. Where Protocol. Then there is the monitoring value of some sporting activities there is adequate protection it is an of rights. It is quite possible that a which have brought preeminence [o incentive for investors. Similarly, trademark holder in Grenada may be the Region. Previously, cricket and local entrepreneurs are encouraged to unaware for years of the fact that football were regarded as games to be be participants in the local commer- someone is breaching his trademark in played well and won. At the same cial secror by selling quality products

Trademark protection

easily recognised by .onrurn"., u, being indigenous. For many countries in the Region. one of the main advantages of trademark prorection is that it

increases investor confidence. As producers of goods in the international market. there is also a vested interest in this kind of protection. Small economies like ours best produce high quality goods for niche markets. tnaaequate trademark protection can do irreparable harm to manufacturers if

inferior goods can be passed off

Nebraska. Finally, there is the cost of bringing an action against an infringer in a foreign country. There are no easy solutions to these problems, but their existence does not detract from the value of trademark protection. Some of the disadvantages for the

Region include those for small manufacturers. This protection allows these persons to obtain protection and mar_

ket their goods in the Region and beyond. These products include spices, coffee, sodas and snack goods.

This, in turn, creates markets in the

time, there was always a shortage of cash to assist the participants. Now, the West Indies Cricket Board has registered a trademark. Proceeds from the sale of goods bearing the trademark can be used to help the team

which has won several championships. Similarly, the Jamaican

Football Team which qualified for the World Cup, a first for the Region, has registered its "Reggae Boys" trade-

mark. Many

of the richest

football

teams in England, for example, obtain most of their revenue from the sale of

JUNE 1999

a sons who are familiar with their problems work to develop products which can solve or alleviate these problems.

products with their trademark. Sports have always provided an avenue for the development of people and their countries. The trademark protection is, and will be, an important aspect of this effort.

develop patentable products.

Patent protection is sometimes regarded in developing countries as a tool more relevant to industrialised

tent with the control of the flow of

information in the patent process. Lack of awareness of patent proce-

countries. For many developing countries, their people are consumers of patented products and processes rather than rights holders. This raises

dures is also an issue. There have been instances where individuals or groups have contributed towards the development of a product and then signed

a a At the same time, developing o countries' concerns about how the o patent system now operates can only o be addressed at the international level a by concerted action. It is therefore a incumbent on all the concerned partic- a ipants to develop common positions O which can form the basis of negotia- o tions that the major players, both O countries and corporations, have in a

in relation to pharmaceutical and agro-chemical

away their rights

this

concerns particularly

products. The importance that developed countries attach to this particular issue and their influence in the WTO negotiations is shown in Article 70(8) of the TRIPS Agreement. Developing countries have a transitional period under TRIPS to imple-

ment obligations. Nevertheless with respect to patent protection for pharmaceutical and agro-chemical products, Members which did not protect these products, are required from the date of the WTO's entry into force, to have a means by which patents appli-

cations

for these inventions can

filed. The article goes on to set out the

procedure

for dealing with

these

applications as well as the duration of protection. The number of patent aPPlications and registrations in CARICOM is low. Generally, we are consumers of patent products. However, as technological advances are made worldwide, there is the potential in the Region to increase our participation in the tech-

nological revolution. The University of the West Indies (UWI) cunentlY does research in several areas, e.g. marine biology, work on pest resistant crops, and livestock for tropical con-

ditions. Scientists throughout

the Region also continue to do research in several areas. such as medical uses of

the marijuana plant. The biodiversity of the Region provides an opportunity for research in new and more effective kinds of drugs. So there are skills in

the Region which can be used to JUNE 1999

Admittedly, there are also other obstacles.

The free exchange of ideas to which our scientific community is accustomed,

sometimes inconsis-

in ignorance or allowed others to assume sole ownership of an idea. Of course, there is also the issue of the costs of developing a new product, particularly drugs. There is often an enormous cost attached and those with the resources are not always willing to enter into partnerships with the inventors. But these are not insurmountable' It should be possible to utilise the patent system to our advantage. Closer collaboration between the University and the scientific communities will

familiarise them with the patent sys-

tem and allow them to obtain the rewards from their work. Assistance with identifying organisations/corporations, which will be prePared to develop their ideas, will also have to be provided, as well as guidance in preparing contracts which would not leave the Regional creativity at a disadvantage with regard to the value and level of their contribution.

area.

And there are other subjects which O are of consequence to our Region. a

These include plant varieties, geographical indications and protection and utilisation of the biodiversity of our countries. The IPR and other aspects of electronic commerce are also being followed in the Region as

a a o a a a a this activity has also been identified as a having the potential to transform our o economies. It must always be remembered o that at different stages of develop- o o ment, different aspects of IPR will o assume importance for a country. All countries, but particularly developing a countries and small island states, such a

O as ours, are best Placed to make the o effort to protect IPR when there is a full appreciation of its value. And this o o appreciation must be at all levels of the society and must be a partnership a

between the Governments Region, their citizens and the

of the

agencies o

The Regional develoPment of which provide invaluable technical O o products to meet peculiar needs of assistance. a the CommunitY, Caribbean In the of can be developing our countries

which while providing opportunities and incentives for its citizens to promote social and economic development of their respective countries and the Region, through greater creativitY.

tremendous economic value. Devel-

objective is to develop a system

oping natural pesticides which

encourages external investment,

a o o o o o a

are

cheaper than the imported synthetics can save millions of dollars in imports

from the developed countries.

has

been argued, for example, that finding

legal medicinal uses for plants now

being illegally grown can not onlY reduce the bill for importing drugs' but it can also provide legitimate employment for Persons engaged in an illegal activity. In addition' societies have always benefited when per-

Michelle Walker is Senior

Officer at the CARICOM

Legal

Secretariat. '

'a o a

Page 17

o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o o a o o o o o o o a Page 18

TelecommunLcations:

Facing the ChaI\enge or countless decades, telecommunications have been the

province of monopolies in developing countries. Usually government owned companies or government ministries managed the telecommunications industry. Plain old telephone service (POTS) was the order of the day. Words like customer, competition and marketing were hardly

The net result of liberalisation has

ever discussed.

In the last decade, however, there has been a radical departure from this norm, as developing countries took steps to liberalise their telecommunication markets culminating in the World Trade Organization (WTO) pact, where 68 nations agreed in February 1997 to completely liberalise their markets. These 68 countries con-

trol 95 per cent of the

Jomes Corbin

world's

telecommunications market. This landmark pact holds out the promise of breaking down market barriers, and lowering costs to customers through increased competition.

WTO Director-General,

Renato Ruggiero said, "This is good news for the international economy, it is good news for businesses and it is good news for the ordinary people around the world who use telephones or who

want to use them."

Ending government and private monopolies would bring rapid growth and could add US$ I trillion - or 4 per cent - in the next decade to the value

of world economic output, he said. by individual countries legislatures, after The pact has to be approved

which it becomes binding. Any country which fails to honour its commitment will be liable to sanctions under the WTO dispute settlement system.

been that the telecommunications industry has been transformed from a sleeping giant into a critical engine of economic growth that will fuel global trade in other sectors. POTS, "Plain

Old Telephone Service" has been transformed into PANS, "Pretty Amazing New Services". Examples of new services include the Internet, video on demand, voice mail. call waiting and cellular. However as markets in the developing world are opened up, there are a number of major challenges facing these countries.

According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), world growth depends heavily on the telecommunications industry which ranks third behind banking and health care in market capitalisation. In its Annual Report for 1996, the ITU star ed that the revenue from global telecommunications was US$650 billion, and is expected to reach US$l trillion by the year 2000. This growrh is primarily being accelerated by advances in technology and the digitisation of information and networks, However, the telecommunications market is highly concentrated in the developed world. It has been estimated that for the global telecommunica-

tions market, North accounts for

America

3l per cent ofthe market,

Europe 48 per cent, Asia./Paciftc 17 per cent, South America 2 per cent and Africa/Middle East 2 per cent.

Although the North American market accounts for 3 I per cent of the world market, it's growth is flat with a

compound annual growth of 2.9 per cent projected to the year 2000. In contrast, according to the ITU, developing countries are experiencing double digit growth. China compound annual growth rate is forecasted at 19.3 per cent to the year 2000, Thailand 16.7 per cent and India 77.2 per

cent. This massive growth rate in developing countries will pose a major challenge as funds have to be secured for capital investments.

Furthermore, as countries in the developing world realise that information technology and telecommunica-

tions are key engines of economic growth, the challenges of implementing economic strategies to attract investors, deregulation and trade liberalisation in the telecommunication sector, will be acutely highlighted. In the area of information technology, the WTO has also secured a pact

to remove tariffs on information technology products. This will obviously lead to lower prices on information technology products. For example, in India, tariffs which can be as high as 52 per cent will be reduced to 0 per cent. This will probably lead to improved sales and consequently

would be a big shot in the arm for manufacturers in the developed countries. Thirty-nine countries representing92.5 per cent of the world trade in

information technology committed JUNE 1999

* FryFiffi.'-gii&;il!:'..

-..-,,.:..

a a thcrrsclr cs

thc pitct.

u Ircr-cbr onc tclccontnturrie lrlion cont-

Dcrcgulation ol tclccontntuniclliott' tttlrtkt'1. itt tlr'rel,,l]1111 e()ulllli('\ has creatctl o1'rportunitics firr ncn curricrs and nranullrctrrrcls ol' tclccont-

l)un\ llr'o\ idc: ull tltc tclceorrrntunicution scrr iccs lilr u 1'lrltictrllrr contllitn\.

rnunicl.rtiotrs c11ui1-rntcnt. Both

groLlp\ in thc

rlajolitr ol

tItcsc

clrscs Itarc

thci r roots i n rlcvcloltecl corrntrics.'['lte ITLI hus plo.jcctcrl thut tltc salc ol'

tclccorlnrunications cr;uiltntcnl ri ill grrlt lkrnr USS190 billion in 199(r to

This is e spct ialir usclirl lirl ntultinu tiortrl conrpartics. u hiclt dcsirc chctrp. cllicicnt lrrrrl tnrrrsparcnt e nrl-to-cnrl scrr icc.

Thcsc rnrrltinutiorrals o1-rcnrtc irr nrarrr rlillclcnt e()unlries iutrl nrtltcr than hur ilrc to rlcul u itlt lr rlillclcnt lclccontrnunication c()ntl)lnt in cach

USSS-50 billion br thc cnrl ol'tltc dccade. Thc nct rcsLrlt bcins thc crcation ol'a large nuntbcl ol'.jobs in tltc clevelopccl u orlcl. cs1-rcciullr as nrarrr

countr\. unrl :lcl u rlillelcnt bill ut tlil' lct-cnt tinrc: ll-orn cuch tlillcrcrrt cornpanr ltnrl possiblr hu\ c to rlcll n ith rlil'lr'r'cr)l lirDlr[r!es il] (lill('t('nl \''rt.ilt

ot' thc dcrcloltinr countrics uill

trics.

lcapf'r'ou the tcchnologr dcplovcrl in

c()nlJI[t\. Inulsi.rct businc:s in onc lltnguagc. unrl get ()l)c bill.

nrarrl Nurth Anrerican tclecontrnunications conrparries anrl intltlcntcnt state-()l-thc-art cligital solutions. .'\t the sart.tc tinre in tlcr clol'rinu colrn tric'. Iibcrtrli'irr! l('l('(()n)nlunieilti()n\ Iau s rlar ullcct thc tax lrasc arrtl ctltllltrl lttclll lr'\ els itt lr n('-rilti\ r' ntl.lrlncf.

For cxanrplc. uhcrr Nlcrico's Iong distancc rnalkct u as tlcr-cgulatcd. crc-

atins a nrarkct that is pro.jcctccl to sro\\ to LISST billion br thc I cur' l(X)O. Northcln Tclccont. l (llnarlianbasctl conrpan-\. llLlt togcthcl thc 1lrr1 ncrs [o sLrpplv Ar antcl. one ol'llte nctr conrpctitors. ri itlr a nctri or-k solution. In Canada thc inlirlnrution tcchnologr

illlLl tcl('r'()lt l | | t tttt ieltt iottr sr'r'lr rl' i : r rllr' of the fastcst gr'ori ing industrt sectors

and has rrtole enrltlolecs lhun

thc

e ancl aclospacc industrics cotrbinetl. Tu o ot' (-anlclu's nr.rior lr-rtonrotir

lclce 0ttttttttnit

ltli()ns

r'()nlltilnie \.

Northcrn Tclcconr uncl Neri [.rliclgc announced plans in August 1997 to creatc 30.0(X).johs in Ottlri a. Onc o1'thc nra jol challcngcs u hich clevelopin-u countlics u ill face ls nrlrkcts ale dcrcgulatccl is tlrc possible creation of hLrge rnonopolies. rrhicl'r alc lirlcisn-ou rtcrl unrl u hich ri ill

rltrrttirtrrle

lltcil

leletonununi!irli()n\

inclustrr'. In short. it

u1-r1-rcurs

as thor.lsh

onc is rcplucing thc locll rttttrtopolr rr

itlr lr Iirlcitrt rllort()l)()l\. Thc tlcnd in thc tlcrclopcrl rrorltl

tori

ltttls "()nc \t()p

JUNE 1999

:hoppirt u"

t oultl plclcl to rlcul ri ith onc

This hus lctl to llrc lirlnrrlion ol'

cr\ pori cllrrl lncrgcls \\ ttlt t)lillt\ intcrnlrtionirl lrlliunccs. .\T& I. thc \

Purlr)cIs,.\:soeitrtion. SpIint. the tltiRl lurgc:t lonq (listlnec in thc I rS..\. Irrrs

o o a a o

.joincrl ri ith Frurre c Tclce onr unrl I)cutsche lclckorrr trl (icrnurrrr. ll rit islr Tc lce orr I U'l' t. t hc ll rilish 'lclceorn !iunt. Ilrs rrrcr-1tcrl ri ith \l('1.

a a o

Iltt.-r'.1 It'ler'iltt tt Ittttttt lrI it'tt\ ! ( )IIIl)irIt). onc ol lT corrrplrrrrcs irr tlrc \\il ltl

lltc sccontl llLlgcst lorrr (li\tlrncc eiLl'r-icl in thc I iS,\. rn it rlcll ri ol'tlt L'S\ l-i billion. It is intcrcstinc lo nolc tllrt tltc or.isinal Il-l untl Nl('l rrrclgcl ri ur r rrl-

L'SSl0 lrillion. but rrl'lcl Nl('l I \\|i{){ }rrrilli,rrr ill ililenlIl irts to cntcl thc ioeul tclcphonc ntrlkct in thc IrS,\. tlrc tcr-rrr: ol thc ntcf!cr tuctl

l(,\l \r)nte

o a a

a a o a

o a a

a o a a o a

a o o a

o a a a a a o O

a a a a

a o a a a o a a

a a

a a Page 19

o o o o o a o o a a O

o o o O

a o o o o o o o a o o o o a

were renegotiated. The new company be called Concert. As the WTO pact takes effect there will probably

be more of these mega-mergers as the major telecommunications companies

promotions and no one really knows what is the cheapest long distance deal. Companies argue that to compete in the new deregulated environ-

seek global market share. Dealing with these large international companies, which have tremendous power in the telecommunications market place, will be challenging for the developing

world. The inability of MCI, for that matter any of the other long distance carriers, to penetrate the local telephone market in the USA is extremely interesting. In February 1996, the Telecommunications Act was signed

into law by President Clinton. This law was designed to open up the telecommunications market.

Under the 1996 Act, telephone companies in the USA were now given the opportunity to compete in the long distance market. Long distance companies could now compete in the local telephone market. Cable companies could compete in the tele-

opening up the

phony market.

o a o o o o o o a a

market it was thought that customers would be provided with better service

a o o o o o o o o

footholds. Lawsuits, charges and counter charges are the order of the

Page 20

by the

probably confused

o o o o o o o o

Furthermore, most customers are

will

at a cheaper price. Eighteen months later, there is vir-

tually no competition and the status quo remains. What has happened is that the major players have protected their markets with unprecedented zeal and have made it extremely difficult for new players to gain the smallest of

day.

When one compares the WTO pact with the USA Telecommunications Act, the objectives are the same

breakdown

market barriers,

increased competition and lower costs

for the customer. In actual fact what has happened in the USA is that market barriers remain, and although MCI is offering 5 cents per minute all day on Sundays, and Sprint l0 cents a minute, customers have generally seen their phone and cable bills rise, not fall.

constant

ment. they must combine resources and expertise in different markets, for example a telephone company merging with a cable company. Companies have increased prices to customers to provide a surplus for the coming bat-

tle for market share.

History has a way

repeating itself and this may be one of the chal-

lenges

for

developing countries

their markets are opened. Laws are passed but in effect no competition

from the United States. According to the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the settlement system is "ancient, outmoded, pro-monopoly, has propped up overlyhigh charges to consumers for international calls and has led to a huge outflow of money from the United States to foreign countries."

The annual cost

differential

between the USA and the rest

the

world in 1996. was estimated at US$5.4 billion in favour of the rest of the world. The deficit for some of the largest developing countries was

China $237 million, India $210 million and Mexico $876 million.

The USA is aggressively taking

takes place, prices rise and the local monopoly is replaced by an interna-

(FCC) has unilaterally mandated that

tional monopoly.

by the year 2000, the cost of

As telecommunication markets are opened up, the challenge of multiple bills must be addressed. It is possible that a customer will get a bill for local calls, another for long distance calls, and another for cellular calls if different companies operate these services. In many cases the customer will get

from developing countries to the USA must be significantly reduced. The proposed settlement rate ranges from l5 cents a minute for developed countries, to 23 cents a minute for the poor-

different bills even though the carrier operates the different services. This is a major issue in the developed world, and in the developing world

is in the order of 300 per cent to 400 per cent. Developing countries will

same

where education levels are lower, this could emerge into a real challenge. The biggest challenge for developing countries, as we approach the new millennium, will be in the settlement of international telephone calls. Every time someone in a country makes a telephone call to another country, the originating country telephone company must pay the destination country telephone company a fee for completing the call. For some developing countries the revenue from these incoming telephone calls is the single largest source of income. Currently there is a big differential for the settlement of tele-

phone calls between the USA and developing countries in favour of the developing countries. Twenty five per cent of all overseas calls are made

steps to reduce this imbalance and the

calls

est countries. In most cases, where the develop-

ing world is concerned this reduction

therefore lose a huge source of foreign

exchange, which could be used to modernise their telecommunications systems. It is interesting to note that

the 15 cents settlement rate for developed countries is higher than the settlement rate currently charged by France and the United Kingdom. France's settlement rate is 13.7 cents. As we look towards the 21st Century. the telecommunications sector is an uncertain path filled with many challenges which will require com-

mitment and ingenuity

to resolve,

thereby creating a paved road for us in

the developing countries to travel without fear of accident.

James Corbin is Divisional ManagSystems, Cable and Wireless BET in Barbados.

er Information

* JUNE 1999

The Internet in the Caribbezrt:

Opportunities and Threats he Internet has doubled in size

every single year since 1988. This growth has been totally

Jomes Corbin

unprecedented and today the Internet spawns the globe, adding momentum to the "global village" concept.

NUA Internet Surveys, an Internet company which for more than three years has tracked and analyzed the development of the Internet, publishes monthly statistics on the findings of a wide variety of surveys from around the world. In addition, it also provides critical analysis based on its own experience on the Internet. NUA in a survey dated 8 March 1999 reported the following: 25 per cent of Canadians Have Net Access; l0 per cent of Germans; 38 per cent of Americans; 50 per cent of Swedes; 45 per cent of Icelanders; and 18 per cent of the UK population You can subscribe to NUA Weekly's free e-mail on what's new in surveys on the Internet by sending mail to surveys@nua.ie or visit their web

site

http : //www.nua. ie/s urv ey s

NUA does not report numbers for the CARICOM countries, but based on my experience I would put the Internet penetration at between 1-3 percent. Internet Service Providers

(ISP) on Caribbean islands vary between one and four.

With every technology there are threats and opportunities. Consider the case of the automobile. This technology eliminated the horse and buggy, but at the same time replaced

JUNE 1999

countries, the opportunity perhaps for the first time in history, to market

to a world wide audience without incurring the huge expense associated with the marketing effort products

required to penetrate developed world markets.

Most Caribbean economies rely heavily on tourism as their major one kind of pollution with another. It kills thousands of persons on a yearly basis and will continue to do so for as long as there is an automobile. But the

benefits provided by this technology far outweighs the costs and it is high-

ly unlikely that the world will ever go back to the horse and buggy. The Internet provides the opportu-

nity for quick and easy communication via e-mail. It has become a primary source for information and all major corporations have an Internet strategy.

Internet technology reduces the disparities between the developed and developing world. One still has to purchase the technology from the developed world, but the creation of professional Web sites is an intellectual exercise, which can be executed just as efficiently by a person in New York sitting at a personal computer as by a person in Bridgetown, Barbados sitting at a similar PC. On the other hand, setting up a car manufacturing facility in Barbados versus setting irp one in USA is a different proposition. The Internet offers the Caribbean region, and indeed all developing

income earner. Hotels, Hotel Associa-

tions and Governmental agencies have been using the Internet to market their products, but in most cases the WWW site simply shows what is offered.

Similarly, the companies which have a web site generally simply give

information about the business, its products and services.

may also

give an e-mail address to request more information or a phone number to call.

However, as we move towards the

new millennium, customers want more. Specifically, they want to be able to purchase online, interact elec-

tronically and be an integral part of the cyberspace community.

The massive opportunity for is to evolve

Caribbean businesses

their web sites to attempt to satisfy these new customer requirements, consequently there is a huge potential market for e-commerce.

A study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group and the "shop.org" online retail organisation said that

electronic retail revenue

for

the

December 1998 period, when compared with the same period last year

a o o a o o o o o o o a o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o a o o o o a o o o o a a o o o a o o a o o Page 21

a o o o o o o a o o o a o o o a o a o O

a a o o o a o o O

a o a a o o a o O

o o o a o O

a o o o o o o o o a a o o Page 22

grew by 230 per cent. Retailers selling

apparel, books and music, home and

garden items, speciality foods and related retailing categories participated in the study. According to Jupiter Communications, a news media research firm, USA online sales leaped from US$ I .8 billion in 1991. to $5.8 billion in 1998 and is predicted to be $15.6 billion by the year 2000. The researchers claim that one in four Internet users already make purchases online. Table I shows predictions for commercial sales via the Internet (billions of US dollars).

E-commerce while providing

huge opportunity

market prod-

ucts/services on a global basis at rela-

tively small cost, at the same time poses some challenges.

The number one issue in e-commerce is trust.

Studio Archetype and Cheskin Research have released a comprehensive study investigating the concept of trust as it relates to e-commerce. The

full text of the study is available at http : //w

w'rl,.

s tu

o a rc h e t y p e. c o

rn/c

skin. The study investigated the concept trust and how it affects the factors of

essential

to online transactions.

1997

Industry

Manufacturing 3

Wholesale&Retail

Utilities Services

2 2 1

1998

2000 41 48 5 11

999

17 18 3

8 6

2001 68 78 7 19

2002 116 168 10

Source - Forrester Research Inc.

Table

including, but not limited to security and privacy. The research and analysis

the

study identified six fundamental fac-

tors that communicate trustworthiNCSS.

A Brand -

the importance of

the

company's reputation in the choice to do business with them

Navigation

the ease of finding

what the user seeks A Fulfillment - the process the user experiences from the time a purchase process is initiated until the purchase is received to the user's satisfaction A Presentation - the way in which the appearance of the site. in and of itself, communicate meaningful infbrmation A Technology - the ways in which the site technically functions A Seals of Approval - symbols that represent the companies specialise in assuring the safety of the Web sites. Another key issue is security also associated with trust. Customers want

to be assured that their

transactions are private and payments are protect-

ed. Access to sites is usually via a password mechanism and taking of payments is done via a secure server. There are also other securily con-

siderations. A firewall or electronic gate musl be used to protect against unauthorised access. There should be a firewall between the e-commerce

server and the outside world and another between the e-commerce server and the remaining in-house computer systems. In an e-commerce environment, the customer will access the company's business systems via the corporate data network and therefore access

If any unauthorised person gets access to the company's corporate data network then it is possible to access all the company's business systems. Hence the need for the firewall to protect the company business systems from the outside must be controlled.

world.

Of course it should not be forgotten that the rest of the world is also

marketing their products

the

Caribbean, and the use of credit cards is becoming widespread, therefore the

potential exists for us to become a region of individual importers where

the middleman has been completely removed. An example underscores the point. A gardener in Barbados wanting to

purchase orchids was able to find a producer in Thailand and make a purchase using e-mail over the space of just two days. This process would have taken weeks, an importer (the middleman), and much expense with telephone calls and faxes between the two countries. if connectivity was not provided via the lnternet.

JUNE 1999

As was noted previously with all technologies threats do exist. "The Internet superhighway or dirt track?"

published

by the Panos Institute

(http://www.panos.com) warns that

new "information povefty" threatens the developing world. The report states that 7O7o of the computers attached to the lnternet are located in the USA, and the technology required

others it is based on usage.

Telephone penetration is a key pre-requisite to making connection to the Internet. Telephone penetration in the region varies from 389 per 1000 persons in Antigua to 60 per 1000 persons in Guyana. The total population

although governments would like to regulate information flows on networks, the exponential rate at which information is becoming available on

the Internet

makes censoring tedious and burdensome." I would argue that it is almost impossible for

telecommunication service. A modem

companies in all the CARICOM coun-

countries in the Caribbean to censor material on the Internet primarily due to their small size and proximity to the USA. The story of the German government in its attempt to censor neo-Nazi material being placed on the Internet from a Canadian site, by blocking access to the site, led to the material being mirrored at major sites in the USA. including prestigious universities sites such as Massachusetts Insti-

in India costs four times as much as that in the USA. Internet access is generally l2 times more expensive in

tries except The Bahamas, Belize,

tute of Technology(MlT). The Ger-

Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. In Trinidad and Tobago,

the developing world than in the USA.

Cable and Wireless

The conclusion is that the Internet in the developing world is likely to be confined to a privileged elite more so than in the North. In the Caribbean the situation is somewhat similar. The cost of a typical multimedia pentium PC which sells for US$1,200 in Miami will sell for about US$2,500 to US$4500 in the Caribbean, depending on the country. Price fluctuations are based on shipping costs, duties and exchange rates. Exchange rates play a significant part in price fluctuations with rates of local currencies to the US dollar varying from 2: I in some countries to as much

(49%) shareholder. The Company had been investing heavily in the region and this augurs extremely well for the development of

man government was forced to lift the ban and to simply state that it is illegal to place neo-Nazi material on Internet sites located in Germany.

of the CARICOM region is 6.7 mil-

the South than in the Industrialised

lion with Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana accounting for 5.3 million (79Vo). The telephone penetration per 1000 persons in these three countries are the lowest in the region at 85, 161

world.

and 60 respectively.

access the Internet is considerably

less accessible and more expensive in

The following statistics listed in

Cable and Wireless, the giant

the report require serious consideration: 80 per cent of the world's popu-

British Telecommunications company.

lation still lack the most

basic

as 132:l in others. Monthly costs for an Internet service varies from a flat rate of US$25

per month in Barbados to a tariff structure based on time. For example: 0-10 hours US$2 per hour l0-20 hours US$ I .90 per hour Over 20 hours US$ 1.70 per hour. Using the Internet can become addictive, and therefore with an average time of 30 hours per month in a system based on usage, the cost is

US$51, which may be prohibitive. In addition in some countries telephone usage is based on a flat rate whereas in

JUNE 1999

is either the majority or sole shareholder in the telecommunications

is the minority

telecommunications. Recent major investments include a US$62M, 1,714 KM fibre system (The Eastern

the

Caribbean government has taken the initiative in rebutting this information. Singapore on the other hand takes a very active role in rebutting any information which the government considers not in its best interest. Increasing use of the Internet in the Caribbean will perhaps force the various governments al some point to take a keen interest in ensuring the

US$28.3M Western Caribbean

accuracy of information accessible on their country, institutions and citizens

Caribbean Fibre System), commissioned in 1995, which connects the British Virgin Islands in the north to Trinidad and Tobago in the south via the islands of the Eastern Caribbean,

and permits connection

North

America and Europe via existing fibre optic systems that operate from Torto-

la in the north and Trinidad in south.

A casual perusal of the material currently existing on the Internet about any Caribbean country will reveal that some proportion of it is effoneous. However up to now, no

Fibre System, commissioned in 1996, and some 870 KM in length connects Jamaica and the Cayman islands. The Company over the past five years has

invested some US$1,000M in the region and has announced plans to invest an equivalent amount over the next five years.

Shirin Madon in an article "The Internet: An opportunity for developing countries?" in the January 1997 issue of "information technology in developing countries" states that "

via this medium. The challenge then for developing countries, is to constantly seek to use the Internet to strategically locate themselves within the global market, so that they maximise every opportunity for accelerated growth, fully cognizant of the existing threats.

a o o o o o o a a a o o o o a a o o o o a a a o a o o o o o o o o o o a a o o a a a o a a o a a o o a a a o o o o Page 23

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The Canbbean Court of Justice:

Challenge and Response " ... the case for a

Caribbean

need

for a

regional Court

of last

he Draft Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice must be perceived as constituting the measured institutional response of competent decision-makers in the Caribbean Community to a

challenge which persisted in the Region for several decades. This

challenge is multi-faceted, comprehending dimensions which include juridically misconceived appeals to sovereignty, genuine concerns about autonomous judicial decision-making, the legal erudition of potential incumbents and the financial insecurity of an indigenous Court of last resort. All ofthese issues were ventilated by both members of the Judiciary and the private Bar at a symposium organised and sponsored by Caribbean Rights in Bridgetown, Barbados on 28 November 1998 and will be employed as the point of departure for much of the dis-

or of

abolishing

them. h is therefore not a de

rogation from sovereignty to

allow appeals to continue. It

the

and amenable to interpretation by judges who would have internalised the values informing the content of that social reality. " (Duke Pollard, CARICOM Perspective, June 1998).

continue

Duke Pollord

resort to apply laws incorporating a collective regional ethos, reflecting

the moral imperatives of Caribbean social realily

appeals to an external court to

Supreme Court could be based on the

was in effect an exercise of that right. I think this is the type of argument which the average

person would call a lawyer's argument. It asserts that it is

cussion which follows. nents of the argument that an indige-

an exercise of sovereignty and of independence to choose a

nous Court of last resort is necessary

situation

real

Among the more ardent propo-

complete the independence of Member States of the Caribbean Community is Mr. Justice Telford Georges. In his characterisation, the

learned judge maintained: "(s)tarkly put, it appears to me

that an independent country should assume the responsibility for providing a court of its own choosing for the final

determination of legal disputes

arising

for

decision

the

country. It is a compromise of sovereignty to leave that decision to a court which is part of the former colonial hierarchy,

o court in the appointment of

whose members we have absolutely no sty. The counter trgument is that ... on achieving independence the countries

(of the Caribbean) had a choice of either allowing

of dependency. In

lift, any one who behaved

in that way would evoke pity and exasperation, like the grown man who demonstrates

his independence by continuing to live free at home." However, from the perspective of the norms applicable to State interaction in the international community, it appears to be in the nature of an axiomatic juridical postulate that the essence of sovereilnty is the faculty to compromise it. And, as postulated, the sovereignty argument is based on the wrong conclusion for the wrong reason.

As the quotation at the commencement of this article suggests, the case for an indigenous Court of last resort may be persuasively advanced without an appeal to popular sentiment by reference to our colonial past. Nor should lawyers resile from employing

JUNE 1999

o a o a o o o

lawyer's arguments to demonstrate the relevance of legal rules. Indeed,

the layman's inability to appreciate such arguments should not be more a

of concern than the lawyer's inability to grasp the mathematical complexities of Einstein's theory of relativity nor the scientific implications of Newton's corpuscular theory cause

o o o o o a o o o o a

of light. And in this context, it does appear to be less a construct of Cartesian

logic than an incident of special pleading to introduce at this juncture of the debate a simile whose pertinence for addressing socio-attitudinal phenomena appears to be unimpeach-

able but which is unlikely to be accorded any persuasive value in analysing inter-state relations governed by generally accepted norms of

o o a o o o o

international law.

An issue of considerable and continuing concern to the private Bar in the Caribbean Community is the insu-

lation of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) from political manipulation. In the present submission, this concern is common to polities the world over.

In the

would be ingenuous to assume

of judges to the European Court of Justice and to the Court of First Instance of the European Community is made by the political directorate. Thus Article 167 of the Rome Treaty provides:

"The Judges and Advocates General shall be chosen from persons whose independence is beyond doubt and who possess the qualifications required for appointment to the highest

judicial ffices in their

respec-

tive countries or who

are recognised

jurisconsults of competence; they shall be appointed by common accord the

JUNE 1999

Mr. Justice Telford Georges.

present submission, it

greater disposition in the Caribbean to interfere with the Judiciary than exists among the States of the European Union. Despite this. the appointment

Governments

the

Member States for a term of six years ... and shall be eligible

for

reappointment... "

In order to address this concern of the private Bar in, the Community, the political directorate has agreed to remove the appointment of judges of the Caribbean Court of Justice from

direct political control. Thus Article V(l) of the Agreement provides for the establishment of a Regional Judi-

cial and Legal Services Commission, and Article V(2)(l) charges the Commission with responsibility for the appointment of judges other than the President (Article IV(5)). The President is to be appointed or removed by a qualified majority vote of the Contracting Parties on the recommendation of the Regional Judicial and Legal Services Commission. The President of the European Court of

Justice is elected by the members of the Court from among their number for a term of three years and may be re-elected (Article 167). Thus in both cases the appointment of the President

one removed from the political

directorates

of the European

Union

and the Caribbean Community.

In either case. the temptation to compromise the independence of the Court is likely to be a function of the relevant political culture and the viability of the perception of the role of the justice sector in overall development of national economies. In this connection, it does appear to be pertinent to submit that as a general rule

the political directorate in

the

Caribbean Community underrate the contribution of the judicial sector to national economic and social develop-

ment. But, in the present submission,

o o a a a o a a O

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a a o o a O

o o o Page 26

have been looking for-

its contribution must be seen

to be critical. Suffice it to comment that investment

a lc,c,ue o

decisions by potential perceptions of the effectiveness of judicial remedies in one or another jurisdiction, In the submission of Mr. Justice Telford Georges, one

sins

*t,ll

establishment of an indigenous Court of last resort is the quality of judges before whom counsel are constrained to appear. However, this perception of the private

Ge.Eg

opposed."

In the submission of

A Supreme

ters.

In one submission, the validity of this perception is brought into question by the fact that most appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council from the Caribbean are dismissed. And, in any event, it has been observed that there is no requirement established by the relevant provisions of the Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice that mem-

bers of the Court be appointed from among sitting incumbents. Moreover, the argument should be advanced that,

more often than not, the quality of

judicial pronouncements is a function

of the quality of the submissions of counsel in the relevant case. Indeed, the West Indian Commission, in its celebrated Report, submitted that: "ln the matter of judicial talent for staffing the Court, there can be no room for doubt. Some of our own highest judithe the

Caribbean has now provided a

judge of the world's highest judicial tribunal - the International Court of Justice at the Hague; several of our lav',yers have been in demand as Chief Justices and Judges of Courts

F,u

resources

When Commonwealth countries look for legal talent, it is often to the Caribbean that they turn. What ails us that we lack the confidence to go forward." And competent decision-makers

one

have already swallowed a camel in terms of national expenditure on the judicial system. Even so,

letle

tries of continental Africa.

but, in

is like straining at a gnat when we

sense, this

of Appeal in jurisdictions like The Bahamas, Bermuda, the Seychelles and several coun-

CARICOM

Court will

require the provision of

Gr,e,m Frs

vigorously contested in informed quar-

we should

find

ways of

reducing costs. One way, we feel, is to locate the Court in one place. We have already referred to the generous offer by Trinidad and Tobago; that is a great help. Another device might be to allow some of the members of the Court to remain in their home locations - other perhaps than the Chief

Justice. Communications have

improved so greatly, both

in no doubt that the required

physical communications and

expertise can be accessed from among qualified persons in the Community. Concerns expressed by the private Bar and one or two opposition political parties in the Region about the

telecommunications, that sav-

are

of Governments of the Community to provide the funding necessary to establish and maintain the Caribbean Court of Justice are not without considerable merit. In the characterisation of the Mr. Justice Telford Georges: " ... if Great Britain had given willingness and ability

a grant on the dissolution of the Federation for the construction of buildings and the

provision of a basic library for a Caribbean final Court and had agreed for a period of ten years to make available judges paid by them, one may today

the

West Indian Commission:

C'em

$bhea*

Bar has been

very Privy Council itself;

being timid about setting

it up if not downright

r trnsu:l*tfi

opposition of the private Bar

in the Community to the

cial fficers have sat on

that Court rather than

lua:te Ber

is that the

the celebrating

for

ofthe 40th anniversary of

Ederrb'[e

investors are not unrelated to

distressing fact

ward

ings can be explored in new and imaginative wav-s. Where the resources will be most needed will be in attracting and retaining the very best of our judicial talent for service on the Court. On this we cannot skimp; but it will be one of the most productive investments the Region can make in

the interest of making CARICOM work and in the wider cause of civil society throughout our Region."

does appear that the countries

the OECS have resolved the problem of the financial security of their Court by agreeing to an arrangement by which the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank is responsible for funding that JUNE 1999

Panellists at a symposium on the Caribbean Court of Justice (from left) Douglas Mendes, of the Coalition for Social Justice in Trinidad and Tobago; Mr Justice Telford Georges; moderator Leroy Innis, QC, President of the Barbados Bar Association, and Richard Small of the Jamaica Council for Human Rights. President of the BarAssociation ol Guyana, Miles Fitzpatrick was also a panellist.

institution, including the payment of the emoluments of judges. There is no guarantee, however, that an agreement by the other Member States of the Community to have their central

banks provide the funding for the Caribbean Court of Justice would

yield the same result. The central banks of other Member States are not

independent of their political directorates and any such arrangement is unlikely to afford no greater comfort than the currently proposed atrangement to make the expenses of the Court a charge on the national consolidated fund. As concerns the issue of jurisdic-

tion, competent policy-makers have responded positively to the recommendation of the West Indian Commission to invest the Caribbean Court of Justice with original jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation and application of the Treaty of Chaguaramas as amended. In his excellent presentation on the Caribbean Couft of Justice, the learned Mr. Justice Telfbrd JUNE 1999

ly the submissions of the learned

Jus-

course of action. In his submission, Articles 11 and 12 of the original

tice, especially in view of

his

acknowledged erudition and vast

Treaty were adequate to address the

experience on the bench. This obser-

Georges expressed doubt about such

issue

disputes among Member

States concerning the interpretation and application of the Treaty. In his submission, disputes arising between Member States on issues of unfair trading practices will be disputes similar to the one between the European Union and the United States on the scheme of preferences afforded bananas from ACP territories as contrasted with bananas from Central and South America: " ... and the sense of bitterness

may be no less ... (and) it would be unwise to permit the

ytssibility ()f exposing

Caribbean Court still building its reputatiort to a divisive dis-

pute

of that sort

among the

vation notwithstanding. it is pertinent to indicate some issues of considerable importance which might have been overlooked.

Foremost among these is the fact that whereas the regime of rights and obligations established by the original Treaty of Chaguaramas was relatively meagre on rights and weak on obligations, the new dispensation contemplated by the far-reaching revision of the Treaty creates a qualitatively different regime in which extremely important rights are being conf'erred and equally important obligations are being imposed on Member States. In this new dispensation, it cannot be business as usual and relevant decisions cannot remain unimplemented if

the stated objectives of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy are to be realised. An immediate task

would be foolhardy to disregard light-

confronting all Member States on the

ntcttther.s v'ltere Iltere i.s an et I I e gati on o.l' urtfui r tadi n g. "

In the present submission,

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o o o o o o o o o o o a

entry into force of the revised Treaty would be its implementation by the enactment of relevant legislation. The practical effect of such enactments would be to endow national courts with jurisdiction to interpret and apply the Treaty thereby facilitar ing a Pandora's box of interpretations which are not required to be consistent with one another. The case for investing the Court with original jurisdiction was persuasively argued by the West Indian Commission in its celebrated report Time for Action. In the characterisation of the Commission: " ... there is now another reasonfor establishing a court

of high authority in the Region, and that is the process of integration itself. Integration in its broadest economic sense - involving a Single CARICOM Market, monet*ry

revised) and that any CARI-

lng:

ment of a Member State of the

(A) uniformity in the interpretation and application of the Treaty; (B) Iocus standi for both public

Communit- or the CARICOM

and private entities

Commission itself, should have the competence to apply for a ruling of the Court in a mntter arising under the Treaty. This

which the Court is seised; and (C) development of Community law pursuant to decisions taken with-

will include, perhaps prominently so, matters in dispute between Member States in relation to obligations under

sis).

the Treary, particularllt under

exercisable to a limited degree

Community" and "Community law" as they are employed in the CARICOM context. As a first step in any such examination, it is important to bear in mind that despite its misleading nomenclature, to wit, "Caribbean Community", the regional integration movement from its very inception and. indeed. up to the present time. remains an association of sovereign

in the context of the CARI-

States.

COM citizen (individual or corporate) and any Govern-

the Single Market regime; but it will also provide for clartfication of Community law as it develops pursuant to decisions

taken within the CARICOM process. As already indicated, we envisage that that original

jurisdiction should also

matters of

in the CARICOM process (stare deci-

Before examining these issues, however, it is proposed to offer some clarification on the term "Caribbean

union, the movement of capital and labour and goods, and

COM Charter of Civil Society

This status was clearly established

which we have separately rec-

by the voting procedure employed in

functional co-operation in a multiplicity of fields - must

ommended.

We believe the arguments

the Conference of Heads of Government. Article 9 of the original Treaty

for the Court to be unassail-

provides: "The Conference shall

able. It needs only to be added

make decisions and re commendations by the ffirmative vote of all its mem-

have the underpinning of Com-

law. Integration rests on rights and duties; it

munity

requires the support ofthe rule

of law applied regionally and

uniformly. A

as an important footnote

to what we have said about the

establishment of the CARICOM Supreme Court that the

CARICOM Supreme Court interpreting

process

the Treaty of Chaguaramas, resolving disputes arising under it, including disputes

Community law in the future will be part of the equally necessary evolution of reform of

between Governments parties to the Treaty, declaring and

our legal

enforcing Community law, interpreting the Charter of

we can now look

Civil Society - all by way of the exercise of an original jurisdiction - is absolutely essential

to the integration process. It represents in our recommendations one of the pillars of the CARICOM stuctures of unity. Essentially, our recommendation is that the Court should have an original jurisdiction in matters arising under the Treaty of Chaguaramas (as

development of

s-\stems themselves. The point we make here is that

for return on the investment the Region has made in the development of law as a major discipline in

bers".

Article l8(l) of Protocol I which amends the Treaty provides: "Save as otherwise provided in this Treaty and subject to paragraph 2 of this Article and the relevant provisions of Article 17, the Conference shall take decisions by an ffirmative vote of all its members and such decisions shall be binding". Paragraph 2 of Article l8 provides that abstentions in an amount not more than one-quarter of the

The foregoing submissions of the West Indian Commission touch on three important issues which have been addressed by the draft Treaty Articles and the draft Rulcs of Court

Community's membership shall not operate to impair the validity of decisions of the Conference, while Article 17(3) provides that decisions of all Organs of the Community, including the Conference, on procedural issues shall be reached by a simple majority of the Member States.

of the Caribbean Court of Justice relating to the original jurisdiction of the Court. These relate to the follow-

In effect the unanimity rule, which is ordinarily perceived by international lawyers as the legal expression of

the University of the

West

Indies."

Page 28

JUNE 1999

sovereign equality of States, operates to deprive the highest Organ of the Caribbean

Where such a question is raised before any court

or tribunal of a Member state, that court or tribunal may, if it considers that a decision on the

Community of any attribute of supra-nationality which is

standard ingredient of

communities in the juridical

question is necessary to

the Caribbean Community possesses no organ like the European Union and the

enable it to give judgment, request the Court ofJustice to give a ruling

Andean Common Market, whose acts create legallybinding rights and obliga-

Where any such question is raised in a case pending before a court or tribunal of a Member

sense. Further,

thereon.

tions directly for private entities, that is, without the intervention of national leg-

State, against whose decisions there is no judi-

cial remedy

islatures. In short, the term "Com-

munity law" appearing in the West Indian Commission's submission quoted

or tribunal shall constitute a prescription for legal uncertainty with daunting adverse

relevant international instruments and

consequences

which create rights and obligations

investment, and the structured development of the CARICOM Single

to juris, therefore, the term "Community law" is juridically misconceived

in its

application

to the Caribbean

regional integration movement.

(A) Uniformity in the Interpretation and Application of the Tfeaty The objective of uniformity in the application and interpretation of the constituent instrument of any integration movement would appear to be as axiomatic for its successful development as it would be for the efficient functioning of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. Given that the Treaty of Chaguaramas creates rights

and obligations for Member States only and has to be implemented by national law before private entities can benefit from its provisions, it would be reasonable to assume that, in the absence of an agreed mechanism

for authoritatively and definitively

for foreign

direct

Market and Economy. Postulated in other terms, not only should the proposed Caribbean Court of Justice have jurisdiction to interpret and apply the Treaty, but thatjurisdiction must either be exclusive or final if legal certainty, which is indispensable for the successful development of

the CARICOM Single Market

and

Economy, is to be secured. The founding fathers of the European Union, buoyed by similar senti-

ments, crafted Article 177

Rome Treaty to read as follows:

" Article 177

The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction I

to give pre-

iminary rulings concerning: (a) the interpretation of this

Treaty;

(b) the validity and interpretation ofacts ofthe institutions of the Community;

interpreting and applying the Treaty,

the aphorism quot homines tot sententiae would prevail. Such an eventuality would, in the present submission,

statutes of bodies established by an act of the Council, where

JUNE 1999

bring

the matter before

above is ordinarily employed to characterise norms arising from or under

directly for private law entities. Srric-

under

national law, that court

those statutes so provide.

the

Court of Justice." I It does appear from an ordinary reading of these provisions that the European Court of Justice is the final, though not the only, tribunal competent to rule on the interpretation and application of the Rome Treaty. The ultimate objectives of legal certainty and uniformity in the applicable norms are, however, the same. Simi-

lar

considerations appear

to have of the

informed the establishment

Court of Justice of the Cartagena Agreement, whose final preambular paragraph reads as follows: "Certain that both the stability of the Cartagena Agreement and the rights and obligations deriving from it must be safeguarded by a juridical entity at the highest level, independent

of the governments of

the

member countries and from the other bodies of the Carta-

gena Agreement with the authoriry to define communitarian law, resolve the controversies which arise under it, and to interpret it uniformly rt)

Consistently with the foregoing, the provisions of the said Agreement

on Advisory Opinions read as

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The European Court ol Justice in plenary session. The appointment of judges to the European Court of Justice and to the Court of First lnstance of the European Community is made by the political directorate.

follows:

Article 28. It shall corre-

spond to the Court (sie') to interpret, through prbr adt'i-

sor,l opinion.s, the

norms

which contprise the iuridical

structure of the Cartogena Agreement, in order to assure uniJbrm application in the territories of the ntenfuer coutr-

ties." Article 29. Ncttional judges n'ho hure before lhetrt u t'use in

v,ltic'h any of the norms which

comprise the juridical stuc' ture of the Cartagena Agree' ment nlust be applied may petition the Court .for its interpretation of such norms, but pro-

t'ided tlnt the ruling is subject to uppeal w'ithin the ruttional jucliciul sl'sterl. In the event theft it is necessarl'.for the

restrict its interpretatiott to de.fining the content and scope

nutional court to issue its rulittg hefore receivittg tlte ittler-

Agrcement. The Court n1(1\' rtot interprct the c)ttent utd scope of domestic lutt' nor judge the substantive facts of

pretatiott o.f the Court, the judge must proceed to decide the cuse. In tlrc event

tlnt the ruling is not subject to appeal tt'ithin the national judicial srstem, the juclge shull suspencl the proceeding und petition tlte interytretation of the Court, ex fficio in ctll cetses, r.tr ulton the

petitiotl of ut interested parb", if so required bv law. Article 30. The Court shall

ttJ' the norms of the .iuridical structLtre o.f the Cortugena

the c'use.

Article 31. The judg,e heoring the cese ttlLtst odoPt the interltreltttittrt tl' tlte Ctturt." 2 The approach adopted by the draft

Articles is to invest the Caribbean Court of Justice with exclusive jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation and application of the Treaty. Indeed, this was the only rational approach open to the drafters ifthe objectives of

JUNE 1999

legal certainty and uniformity in the applicable norms were to be secured. The decision of the Conference to invest the Caribbean Court of Justice with original jurisdiction, as distinct from exclusive jurisdiction, would not operate to deprive municipal courts within the Community of concurrent jurisdiction in respect of the interpretation and application of the Treaty. In the premises, the objectives of legal certainty and uniformity in the applicable norms would only be secured if

the Court were also invested with final appellate jurisdiction in respect ofthe interpretation and application of the Treaty. Since, however, the relevant deci-

sion of the Conference was confined

to an original jurisdiction only,

the

objectives of legal certainty and uniformity in applicable norms, which appear to be the subject of a compelling inference from the context informing the decision, could only be secured by making the jurisdiction of the Court exclusive as well. The foregoing considerations appear to explain the thrust of the

draft Treaty Articles which read follows: " Article IX (a) The Court shall have (exclusive) jurisdiction to hear and

deliver final

judgment on: (a) (actions) (applications) by

Member States parties to this

international forum. Consequently, there was no machinery in the international domain by which persons, natural andjuridical, could have asserted a claim against foreign States and

and application of the Treaty." u Article IX (c) Where a national court or

tribunal of a Member Party is seised of an

State issue

whose resolution involves a

their nationals.3 In the submission of the Permanent Court of International Justice, predecessor to the Interna-

question concerning the inter-

pretation or application of the Treaty, the court or tribunal

tional Court of Justice (ICJ),

concerned shall, if it considers that a decision on the question is necessary to enable it to deliver judgment, refer the question to the Court."

Consequently, even though the Conference did not pronounce on the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court, the Legal Affairs Committee will need to advise the Conference that in the absence of such exclusivity, the exercise of an original jurisdiction by the Court will not operate to secure the objectives of legal certainty and uniformity in applicable norms, both of

which are required for the efficient and successful development of the CSME.

international delinquency has been committed against one of its nationals or his property, the foreign office of the State concerned normally makes a claim against the offending State, ini-

tially, by diplomatic

representation designed to secure an ex gratia settle-

ment, and ultimately, by judicial settlement if the parties so agree.S In the absence of consent, an international tribunal is not competent to determine

the claim. For the claim to succeed,

(B\ Locus Standi for both Public and Private Entities

the claimant State must establish:

(a)

Since traditional international law only recognised States and State entities as subjects of international law, only such entities were recognised as

capable

espousing a claim

the nationality of the claim, or its legal entitlement to espouse the claim;

(b) the exhaustion of local remedies in the jurisdiction of the delin1, .:, ., .,:tr,,:. r.: . ;:lti:r ;:11r

n,g

from

rrals

national

courts of Mem-

nmc6l

this Agreement and

the Community, concerning the int e rpretation JUNE 1999

And, in

the

absence of a contrary agreement, the State

tinuous nationality, or that the person aggrieved was its

this

claim.

etor 6\r^nnG \v/ \9 lvl el

putes

parties

tri_ the

espousing a claim must establish con-

Agreement disbetween Member States

diction of the bunal to hear

a,ke rs

ber States par-

ties to

thc

stn ce

o o o a o o a a o a o o a o a o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o O

quent State; and

Agreement;

(b) refe

the

claimant State, in espousing the claim of its national, was in effect asserting a right with respect to a wrong committed against the State in respect of its national.4 When a State determines that an

o o

national at all materiis, both

al times, that

at the time of the incident grounding the claim and at the date of espousal of the claim.

Where the claim

o O

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is by a State for breach of treaty provisions respecting

of the Junta adopted in violation of the norms which comprise the juridical structure of the Cartagena Agreement,

its nationals, the injury is considered to be a breach of good faith and an injury directly to the State itself.6 "Only in the rare instance where the treaty is intended to confer rights

including ultra vires acts, when these are impugned by

any member country, by the Commission, by the Junta,

directly upon the individual

by natural or juridical per-

can it be said that the individ-

sons as provided in Article

ual is also injured...6 . Even where the national has rights directly under the treaty, the contracting State alone

I9 of the Treaty." "Article 18 The member countries may only bring an action of nulli-

fication against the Deci-

should have the competence to bring suit and this competence should be independent of any change in nationali-

ry".6

sions approved without their

ffirmative vote." "Article 19 Natural and juridical persons may bing actions of nullification against Decisions of the Commission or Resolutions of the Junta

Where the national

is a company or corporation, the nationality of the claim will be determined by one or more genuine links such as the place of incorpoaggrieved

ration,T the place of domicile,S the place of the siee social or administra-

tive direction, or the disposition of effective control.9 Consonant with traditional international law, the Statutes of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accord locus standi to States only. Article 34(l) of the Statutes of the ICJ reads as follows: "Only States may be par-

ties

cases before the Court"

.10

These provisions are in sharp contrast to the provisions of Article 173 of the Rome Treaty which reads as follows:

"The Court of Justice shall review the legality of acts of the Council and the Commis' sion other than recommendations or opinions. It shall for this purpose have jurisdiction in actions brought by a Member State, the Council or the

Commission on grounds of lack of competence, infringement of an essential procedur-

requirement, infringement

of this Treaty or of any rule of Iaw relating to its application, or misuse of powers. Any natural or legal person

may, under the same condi-

tions, institute proceedings a decision ad.dressed to that person or against a

against

decision which, although in the form of a regulation or a

which are applicable to them and cause them harm." It is important to note, however, that in both cases where private entities have locus standi in matters

before the courts, such entities are directly affected by the acts of compe-

tuted within two months of the publication of the measure, or of its notiftcation to the plain-

tent organs of the integration movement. In both integration movements, provision has been made for legislation with direct effects. Thus, Article 189 of the Rome Treaty which addresses Community legislation, provides as follows: "In order to carry out their

tiff o4 in the absence thereof, of the day on which it came to the knowledge of the latter, as

in accordance with the provisions of this

decision addressed to another

person, is of direct and individual concern to the former."

"The proceedings provided for in this Article shall be insti-

the case may be."

Similarly, the Court of Justice of the Cartagena Agreement accords locus standi to both public and private entities as provided in the following Articles of the Treaty creating the Court of Justice of the Cartagena Agreement:

"Article 17 It shqll correspond (sic) to the Court to decide the nullification of Decisions of the Commission and Resolutions

task, the Council and the Com-

mission shall, Tre aty,

make

re c omme

ndat ion s

or deliver opinions.

"A regulation shall

have

general application. It shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member Stqtes.

"A directive shall be binding, as to the result to be achieved, upon each Member State to which it is addressed, but shall leave to the national

authoities the choice

form

JUNE 1999

and methods. "A decision shall be binding

party aggrieved may institute legal proceedings in the national courts of

in its entirety

the delinquent party and secure a ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice on any issue relating to the interpreta-

upon those to

whom it is addressed.

"Recommendations and opinions shall have no binding

tion or application of the

force'"

through a reference by the national court to the Caribbean Court of Justice. In both instances, therefore, access to the Caribbean Court of Justice by private entities would be indirect. The issue falling to be determined is whether, in the considered view of the Legal Affairs Committee,

Similarly, the relevant provisions of the Agreement creating the Court of Justice of the Cartagena Agreement provides as follows: "Article 2 Decisions are obligatory for the member countries as of the date they are approved by the Commission.

"Article 3 Decisions of the Commission

are directly applicable in the member countries from the

obligations directly for private entities

Official Gazette of the Cartagena Agreement, unless the

for a

within the Community. Nor does any

later

date ...."

The question now falling to

examined and determined by competent decision-makers is whether, given

the broad objectives of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy as set out in the various Protocols and the role the private sector is required to play in this new paradigm of eco-

nomic development, private sector entities should not have locus standi in matters before the Caribbean Court of Justice. At its Second Ordinary Meeting held in The Bahamas from 7l0 September 1998, the Legal Affairs Committee, inter alia, "noted the recommendation that a procedure should be considered to afford individuals,

institutions or other private entities, the opportuniry to appear before the Court in special circumstances". The draft Articles, consonant with

traditional international law, do not accord private entities locus standi in matters before the court. Consequently, a private entity aggrieved by a Member State or any of its nationals must have its claim espoused by the State of nationality. Alternatively, the

JUNE 1999

such access should not be direct. Unlike the Treaty of Rome, which legislates directly and derivatively for private entities in the European Union with direct effects, the Treaty Estab-

lishing the Caribbean Community, as revised, does not create rights and

date of their publication in the

decision provides

Treaty

Organ of the Caribbean Community like the Council and the Commission of the European Union or the Commission of the Andean Common Market, have the competence to create rights and obligations for private entities within the domestic jurisdiction of Member States without the interven-

tion of national legislations.

The

rights and obligations created by the Treaty of Chaguaramas are both primary and derivative, issuing either from the Treaty itself or from competent organs established by the Treaty and which have legal incidence for Member States only. Rights and obligations enjoyed or

by private entities in

amended provides for the removal of restrictions on the right of establishment, the provision of services or the movement of capital in the Caribbean Community, enjoyment of such rights by private entities is contingent on: (a) the enactment of Protocol II

into local law by Member States;

(b)

estab-

legislative or administrative mea-

o o o

for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) or the Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP) as appropriate;

States

Member

with the programme

sures.

On the basis of the foregoing submissions, the Attorneys-General of the Region have determined that private entities should be accorded /ocus in proceedings before the Caribbean Court of Justice by special leave of the Court on the satisfaction of specified conditions. Consonant

standi

with this determination, Article IX(n) of the Draft Agreement Establishing the Caribbean Court of Justice reads as follows:

"Article IX(n) Locus Standi of Private Entities "Nationals of a Contracting ParQ

may, with the special leave of the Court, be allowed to appear as parties in proceedings before the Court where:

(a) the Court has determined

in any particular case that the Treary* intended that a right

local law. It would appear to follow, therefore, that all claims of private entities arising in connection with the Treaty would have to be espoused by the country of nationality or made the subject of a reference to the Court by national courts seised of the issue. For example, where the Treaty as

lished for the purpose by appropriate

vant programme for the removal of relevant restrictions by the Council

Caribbean Community and expressed in the Treaty have legal incidence for such entities where the relevant Treaty

provisions have been enacted into

o o o a a o a o o o o o o

the establishment of the rele-

the

endured

o o a a

conferred by or under the Treaty on a Contracting Partv shall inure to the benefit of such persons directly; and

(b)

the persons concerned

have established that such persons have been prejudiced in respect of the enjo-vment of the benefit mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of this Article; and

a o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o a o o o a o o o o o o a o o Page 33

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o a o o o o o o O

o o a o o o o a a O

o o o o a o O

a o o a a o a o a o o o a o o Page 34

decisions of one another even though adherence to such decisions is not a legal requirement.

has: to

Since, therefore, it is proposed that the Caribbean Court of Justice should apply international law.in the exercise

the

of its original jurisdiction, the Court,

may

in the absence of a contrary intention, would be precluded from being con-

(i) omitted or declined or (ii) expressly agreed that

espouse the claim,

persons concerned

espouse the claim instead of the Contacting Party so entitled; and (d) the Court has found that the interest of justice require that the persons be allowed to espouse the

claim."

"Although no international decision is binding on subse-

strained in its determinations by the doctrine of stare decisis. But given, as mentioned above, that legal certainty was required for the successful operation of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, the question falling to be decided is whether such certainty was possible of achievement in the absence of the application of the doctrine of stare decisis in the Court's

determinations. The draft Articles have opted for the application of the doctrine of stare decisis in the deter-

quent tibunals, there is a natural reluctance to depart from principles and rules which have proved satisfactory in the past for the settlement of legal

minations of the Court. Proposed draft Article IX(e) reads as follows: "Member States parties agree

issues. Hence a

tendency towards stare decisis is most

shall create legally binding precedents for parties in pro-

marked." This submission

ceedings before the Chamber

that decisions of the Chamber

of O'Connelll2

eloquently adumbrates the current position in international law where decisions of international tribunals create rights and obligations only for

the parties to the dispute and constitute a re.r inter alios acta in respect of a third State or party. And it would appear to follow from the doctrine of sovereignty that decisions of an international tribunal involving third parties cannot operate to establish rights

and obligations

for a

State

the

absence of the State's consent. In effect, the doctrine of stare decisis is perceived to have no place in international law but is a doctrine of municipal law associated with common law jurisdictions. The foregoing notwithstanding, publicists like Hersh Lauterpactl3 detect in the practice of inter-

national tribunals a Jurisprudence constant, or a tendency for such tribunals to be influenced by judicial

unless such judgments have been revised in accordance

set out at

Vot.II 2nd Edition 1970, p.t029. 4 The Mavrommatis Concession Case (Jurisdiction), P.C.I.J., Sec. A. No.2, 1924. 5 For international responsibility and the protection ofthe property of aliens, see D. E. Pollard, Law and Policy of Produc-

ers' Associations. Oxford University Press, 1982, p.283.

6 D, P. O'Connell, International Law,

Vol.II 2nd Edition 1970, pp.1036-7. 7 Standard Oil Co. of N.Y. (U.S.) v Germany. U.N. Rep., Vol. VII, p.301 (1926)

8 F.W. Flack (G.B.)

United Mexi-

can States, U.N. Reports, Vol. V, p.6l (t929). 9 Daimler Co. v Continental Tyre and Rubber Co. (1916), 2 A.C. 3O'1. 10 See Articles relating to the International Court of Justice at Appendix III. 11 See Treaty Establishing the Euro-

pean Economic Community, Rome 25

March, 1957, London, HM Stationery Office. (See Appendix IV). Also Richard Plender, A Practical Introduction to European Community Law, Sweet & Maxwell, London, 1980, p.7. 12 Op cit. p.32. 13 The Development of International Law by the International Court (

1998).

with Article IX(j)."

REFERENCES

Alternqte Formulation " Decisions of the Court are binding on the parties in respect of the particular case; they constitute binding precedents for parties in subsequent proceedings before the Cham-

ber unless such judgments have been revised in accordance with Article

Appendix

D.P. O'connell, International Law,

IX(j)."

The Legal Affairs Committee will be required to examine and formulate a recommendation on this issue to the Conference.

End notes 1 The Articles relating to the European Court of Justice are set out in Appendix I 2 The Agreement Creating the Court of Justice of the Cartagena Agreement is

Brownlie, Basic Documents in

International Law, 3rd Edition, Clarendon Press,

Oxford, 1983.

D. P. O'Connell, International Law, Volumes I & ll, Stevens & Sons, London, r970. R. Plender, A Practical Introduction to Eurooean Communitv Law, Sweet & Maxwell, London, 1980. D. E. Pollard, Law & Policy of Producers' Associations, Clarendon Press, Oxford.1982. Intemational Legal Materials. Volume

XXIII, No.2, March

1984.

International lrgal Materials, Volume XXIY No.4, July 1995.

I Duke Pollard is Consultant, Treaty Revision at the CARICOM Secretariat.

JUNE 1999

Cricket

The Greatest Spott hen I was young I played a little cricket. Indeed, one of my most precious memories, a memory now nearly

fifty

serious cricketer.

I played

tennis hard and grew to love the game. And tennis was certainly good to me, filling my life with much pleasure, excitement, challenge, and reasonable achievement. It was a game that introduced me to many lifelong friends and taught me, I think, a

few of life's important lessons. And yet always, in my heart of hearts, I have thought that cricket is the greatest, the most splendid game

of all. If

had been given the choice

some benevolent God between

winning Wimbledon and hitting a century at Lords for the West Indies, I have always known which I would have chosen.

I have no doubt

that cricket is in fact the greatest game yet invented. No other sport compares with it in the number of skills displayed: batting-

skill; bowling skill; running skill. It requires fitness, strength, delicacy of touch, superb reflexes, footwork like a

cat, the eye of a hawk, the precision and accuracy of a master jeweler. It

involves individual skill and nerve and also unselfish team play. It calls for short-term tactics and long-term strategy. In the course of a good match there is a mixture of courage, daring, patience. flair. imagination. expertise JUNE 1999

years

old, is of playing for my school third XI on a rough pitch up at Mount St. Benedict in Trinidad & Tobago, and taking five wickets in one eightball over with some slow and cunning legbreaks which did nor turn. However, much to my regret, I never became a

approaches cricket in its blend of subtlety, entertainment , sudden thrill and sustained intellectual interest. Cricket. like no other game, takes the whole of a man - his body, soul, heart and wits. Cricket - real cricket. that is Test

lon

McDonold

cricket

- has been stigmatised by some as being too slow, too leisurely,

lacking in colour and excitement. I believe this is simply one more aspect of the malignant modern appetite for instant stimulation and quick-fire titillation. The slash-bang games may sometimes satisfy the craving for a quick thrill, but rhey bear about rhe same relationship to a good game of

'| One of the : lorie* of ;-' ericket is the g

way the drama

of a match

superbly cooked gourmet dinner.

It is like the dilference between lust and love. There is, it is true..the

|';, dauelops,

how paee

temporary excitement of a passionate

r,,r. the ua ties... how the plot thickeng.,. is certainly unequaled in all other, more superficial games. It is not at all surprising that cricket has inspired by far the best and dour defiance that

and most varied literature

cricket as instant lbod bears to

any

sport.

There are games that take strength, games that take more speed, games that require higher level of fitness, games that require deeper resources of endurance. But no game equals cricket in its all-round deployment of all the talents. There are games that contain a greater concentration of excitement

per playing hour. But no

game

one-night stand. but who can doubt that the more mature. the more beguiling, the longer-lasting love affair provides the more challenging and deeper experience? So it is with cricket. Like any lasting love affair a good cricket match has its moments when the play is ordi-

nary, slow moving, and even boring. But the complex interplay of emotion, psychology, and individual character.

allied with the sudden burst of excitement and the unexpected twists of fortune, add up to an experience which

far

outweighs the temporary

and

quick-fading list for instant gratification and which so many other sports supply. One of the glories of cricket is the way the drama of a match develops. how the pace varies 1'rom the leisurely

to the sudden lethal, how the plot thickens. and the subplots are inter-

o o o o a o o o o o a o o a o o a o o O

o o a a o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o a o a a a o o a o o a o o o o o Page 35

o o a o o o o a a o o o o O

o a o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o a o o a o o o o o O

o a a a a a a o o o a o o o o Page 36

H '1999 Cable and West Indies batsman, Chivnarine Chanderpaul, in his glory against the Australians at Bourda, Guyana, during the pure human nature. stuff of the contains series. Cricket Test and one-day Wireless

linked, as the play goes on. how the heroes and the villains take the stage with time enough to act out their roles. A good Test match is the equal of a

ing tbr self. playin-u fbr some

playin-u for money. and that. therefore. of the variety and spice and spontaneity has gone out of the game.

tion's eye, as well as your physical eye. open. To the dull of spirit who

five-act rnasterpiece on the stage. Even the best of the other games can really only compare with one-act spectacles and pander to those whose

And yet ... and yet... I wonder. Cricket is a -game great enough to rise above the limitations of this overly commercial age.

merely looks at the scoreboard. A Laru ut the creese's rint, A simple Lttrtt is to hint And lre i.s tuttlritrg rtrore.

imaginations are lacking. It may be that the latest pop star. with his highly charged and hectic act.

dramas and perforrnances to match the past. Think of the West Indian vic-

can attract much larger crowds than Shakespeare's King Lear or Berhold . Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle. but

tory at Kensington during the last Australia tor.rr. Surely. the last six hours of pla1, on the last day of that

will fade into

match has never been surpassed in

oblivion long, long before the other's

sport fbr sustained excitement. nerve wracking swerves of tbrtune and high

we all know that the one

glory.

I think there is a measure of truth

in what the old men say - that

cricket today there is too much play-

In cricket we will

averages,

always have

drama.

Cricket contains the pure stufT of

human nature.

As Neville Cardus

advised long ago, you must go to this best ot'all games with your imagina-

But to the cricket-lover of sensibility this Lara, and his f'ellows, are artists all. and the -earne they play is the wonderful garne of lif'e itself.

latr McDottaltl is the writer

u colSunday Stubroek trcu'spoper in Cuycun. He is also the ntdnuger ol the Gultutct Sug,ar Corponttiott.

rrnTn

o.f

on cricket in the

, JUNE 1999

How Seriously Do \7e Take

Cricket? ver since the publication 1963

of CLR

James' classic Beyond a Boundary, we have become increasingly familiar at one level with what cricket might repre-

sent for us in the Anglophone Caribbean.

Several analysts, not least of all, my colleague, Hilary Beckles, have set out to establish that cricket is perhaps the highest expression of our popular culture, that it is a major form of social expression and public art; that West Indian cricket comprehends and reflects the peculiarities of a distinct social reality, that cricket is the most widely shared idiom through

which we articulate our desire for social justice, political freedom and economic progress, that our performance as a test-playing nation is inextricably linked with stages in our

political development and political consciousness.

I do not intend to examine any of these theories and assertions. I mainly want to draw attention to these large claims, made for the significance of cricket in our lives, in our cultural, political and social existence, because, if cricket, as I believe, is

indeed

in our blood

and guts, the

question must arise, do we give

full public

its

due?

o Woodville Morsholl

even an academy. What I refer to is the existence or creation of those institutions and agencies which reflect the knowledge of a living tradition of achievement and provide both psychic satisfaction for people like myself and inspiration for the younger generation. Specifically, I refer to cricket as literature, to cricket as an academic discipline, to cricket as public education and public cel-

ebration. In all these

areas,

On the one hand, we cannot deny that our cricket has been the subject of informed comment and analysis by a variety of individuals, particularly in the last thirty years.

have always made in the cause of West Indies cricket. But what have we as a collective done in a sustained way to institutionalise our deep connection with the game? I do not mean the provision of facilities for playing

Therefore today we do not need to rely on the occasional "ghosted"

JUNE 1999

sug-

Gricket as Literature

I emphasise public because I have no doubt about the extent of emotional investment that we as individuals

the game: playing fields, coaching,

gest, we cannot see cricket occupying the centre stage that our historians, sociologists and political scientists are claiming for it. Let us do a quick survey.

biographies

There is instead a small and

o o a o cricket history increasingly dominated o by academics, particularly by our o Hilary Beckles. But that development o is not what I am talking about. I am a talking about cricket as the inspiration a for and subject of creative work, for o novels, plays, poetry. I have not done o an intensive search, but I can't find o much beyond Bruce St. John's two o poems and Kamau Brathwaite's tO Rites, with its significant line about a the start of an innings to which we a should call the attention of Stuart a Williams, Lambert and Wallace: isn't a no time for playin'the fool or mako ing no sport; this is cricket. o However, one must notice, that o perhaps significantly, it is the popuo lar art form of the calypso that has o most consistently celebrated o West Indies o o o O

o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o O

the outstanding players.

growing industry

o o o o o a o o

Caribbean

o o o O

Page 37

o o O

o o o o o o o a a a a a a o a o o a c a a a a o o o o o a o o o o o o o o a o o O

o o o o o o o o a o o o o Page 38

West lndies players celebrate on the fall of an Australian wicket during the 1999 Cable and Wireless series in the Caribbean.

Cricket,

from

Lord Beginner of "those two little pals of mine" in

1950. to

the

Mighty Sparrow's "Sir Garfield Sobers". to David Rud-

der's "Rally Round the West Indies". Clearly one cannot make prescriptions in this area, but one might ask the question: Why have our creative writers not followed the path marked out by the calypsonians and now increasingly trodden by our academics?

Gricket as Academic Discipline This is the area in which perhaps most progress has been made, but it is all very recent and it is still a small activity. What I refer to is the teaching of a number of courses in cricket history at UWI, which owe their exis-

tence

to Hilary Beckles, but

which

only appeared in 19921 Clearly there is a connection between the upsurge of writing I mentioned earlier and the

institution of these courses of study: they come out of the same processes, in particular the creation of the Centre for Cricket Research in 1994. That Centre is still in its infancy and is yet to receive stable funding. an organisational structure and a clear pro-

it is a move in the right direction. But I must repeat that this is a small and late start. Small. because it does not reach beyond the university into the schools and the Tertiary Level Institutes; late, because a life of less than ten years suggests that its importance and relevance are still in the process of being recognised. gramme. But

Gricket as Public Education and Public Celebration is the

greatest deficiency. Where are our cricket museums. our sound archives. our film archives? It is

Here

his non-West Indian fellow commentators. Nor should we have to search others' archives for replays of the Tied Test. of the last day at Lords in I 963. or the last day at Kensington Oval in 19991

The point is that we have

done

great deeds. deeds that have stirred the imagination and given us pride, but we have done little to preserve or display the record of them.

It is not enough to hang a few photographs in the Board rooms of the Cricket Associations and to rely on the BBC and ABC to provide us with a few

film clips from their own extensive film libraries from time to time. We

the greatest deficiency because cricket is public art and therefore can be cap-

must have a project for the creation of cricket museums in all our countries.

tured, studied and celebrated by the utilisation of available technology and

by the creation of appropriate facilities for collection. preservation and display. Surely it is important not only to hear John Arlott describe Frank Worrell's late cut but also to see its execution. Similarly we should not have to rely on memory to recall Tony Cozier's constant attempts to limit the biases of

Professor Woodtille Mctrshall is the

Pro Vice Chuncellor .for Non Cumpus

Countries utd Distatu'e Educatiur ctt the Universitt' of the West ltttlies. This address v'as delivered ut the opening of' a cricket exhibitiott to stort cricket v'eek in Grenuda on Tuesdat' 6 April 1999.

* JUNE 1999

Afri can Consciousness

o o o o

journey to Freedom or some time now, scholars on both sides of the Atlantic have agreed that expressions of the role and enduring legacies of Africans in Western modernity have remained clearly displayed in Caribbean society. The region, invented as a primor-

dial site of what is now called the 'West'. continues to be torn and tortured by the contradictory social forces that informed the discourse on slavery.

As a consequence, nowhere in the

Atlantic world, where societies were shaped by the culture of slave-owning, are the sentiments sunounding 'emancipation' as an historic event. and a social process, as keenly felt and

determining of public policy as they are here.

There is also considerable

agree-

ment on the statement that Caribbean societies are themselves monuments to freedom and incubators of liberationist political philosophies that have enabled working people - both free and enslaved - to live the Enlightenment vision as 'emancipation in action.'In the protracted struggle fbr freedom blacks demonstrated a com-

mitment to social idealism

ways

that ought to privilege lhem as primary shapers of modernity. Their determination to remove slavery at all cost from the Atlantic world mark them as

effective agents in the emancipation

discourse that continues todaY to define and guide global politics and Caribbean identity.

Caribbean society, then, by virtue of its historical remaking under colonialism, represents a space where the

masses

of African people have

emerged from JUNE 1999

deepest despair and

saint L'Ouverture who had situated them on the train to citizenship and

nation-building exactly 200 years ago.

The historicised imagination

Hillory Beckles

within which black citizenship

...thg ffi,cs$gs of Aflican people

tion

the popular refrain, 'massa

day donel' The journey to justice is idealised

haYe emerged

from deepest despa-if ..., with

and

nationhood were conceived and concretised. has remained a dominant organising fbrce of Caribbean identity. Human rights progress is conceived in terms of flight fiom the scaftbld of slavery and colonialism, and the universal wish is for full actualisa-

as a nationalist discourse within which Africans struggled to emanci-

pate themselves. with some strategic support from metropolitan sympathis-

In the written history of

cultuFB a:lld' FIG]N,'-

ers.

tallty that effuse

sus, the patriarch and matriarch of nationhood. are conceived as those whose political leadership of the marginalised and disenfianchised took on

trlu:m:phal:i:st

eelehration unimaginable bondage with a culture and mentality that efllse triumphalist celebration. It is a narrative of black ethnic survival against the back-

ground

autochthonous genocide

that identifies emancipation - cultural and spiritual - as the overriding sociopsychic postmodern project. For these diasporic African people, this process is perilously incomplete. The institution of slavery lasted fbr over 300 years but freedom less than 200.

The wounds inflicted during the former period will take considerably more time to heal. Meanwhile. Caribbean citizens have fbcused their imagination upon the vision of Tous-

these

societies the principal political colos-

messianic proportions. Up From Slavery, the title of Booker T. Washington's classic autobiography, func-

tions as the general theme and metaphor of broad-based emPowerment actions at all levels of popular rnobilisation. Ceremonial celebrations of 'emancipation' were not promoted nor otTicially sanctioned by the colonial state. Slave owners, as one party to the

emancipation dialogue, were generally opposed to black freedom as a principle of social organisation and economic development. For them, emancipation Processes constituted the total undoing of the white supremacy order they had constructed over time with the full back-

a o a o a o o a o o o a o a o o o O

o a o O

o o O

a o o o o o O

a a o o o a o o o o o o o o o o o o o O

Page 39

o o O

a a a o o o o a o a a a o o a a o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o a O

o o o a O O

o o a o a o o o o o o o o o o Page 40

ing of imperial, political, economic,

members eagerly awaiting the resur-

and military might.

gence of a popular movement dedicat-

In the British colonies they claimed that the imperial government,

ed to African redemption. The centenary of the abolition leg-

in its commitments to emancipation,

islation provided a compelling context for the emergence of refashioned concepts of emancipation as a long term socio-political process. Between 1934 and 1938, working class African and Asian communities throughout the Caribbean were mobilised by radical political organisations, essentially trade unions and workingmen's clubs, but driven ideologically by the concept of universal

had

betrayed them; they demanded compensation for the loss of property rights in their human chattels. Politically divided, but committed to colonial white rule, the imperial government capitulated and agreed to pay them f20,000,000 for their sufferings. The blacks received nothing by way of compensation; their legal freedom was considered by all within the white communities as more than sufficient. Whites who stayed in effective

political control of the colonial

administration, then, could not, and did not. conceive emancipation as a movement worthy of official recognition. When blacks moved to develop their own programme to mark the time, it was received by ruling class society as an affront to its sensibilities and an expression of social insubordi-

nation and ideoloeical revolt. For most of the lgth ..irury this state of affairs was the norm. Some blacks in the Anglo Caribbean made a joyful noise on August lst, the date chosen

by the British government to effect emancipation

1838; most whites

responded with a sharp silence. Mutual suspicion and distrust echoed

through the corridors ofpublic places, and the feeling that slavery could return was not far removed from the imaginations of blacks. The effect of time was to reduce the pain rather than heal the wound. By the end of the century fewer blacks came out to make merry on August st, and marking the moment gradualI

political enfranchi sement.

The Abolition Act of 1838 was represented as the harbinger of social enfranchisement; attaining universal adult suffrage a century later, took centre stage as the next phase in the process of 'emancipation in action.'

Labour rebellions spread from colony to colony during the mid 1930's. Their objectives were sufficiently clear to convince the imperial government that the minimally modified post slavery colonial dispensation was no longer politically viable. Constitutional reforms, more liberal than

radical, were presented by defenders of Empire as the answer to mass unrest. Emancipation celebrations on August l st became increasingly popu-

lar as a community activity, and constituted a conceptual focus around which the demand for adult suffrage and democracy was made.

In addition, the attainment of citizenship was rooted politically in this wider ideological rhetoric of emanci-

into being both the end of Empire and the creation of national independence. These socio-political developments

meant that emancipation would be actualised as a body of new constitutional arrangements that constituted mass empowerment.

Historicising emancipation, furthermore, took various shapes within the all embracing project of nationbuilding. The many nation-states that sprung from the plantations throughout the length of the archipelago all claimed ancestry in the struggle against slavery and the victory that emancipation represented. When, as was the case in all but one society. slavery was abolished by imperial legislation, anti-colonial discourse presented the event as a consequence of popular rebellion and mass refusal. The heroes and heroines of the new nations were enshrined as those who

had fought against slavery and its post-emancipation adjustments. The political significance of over a dozen nation-states claiming origins within the ideology of anti-slavery

constituted a major expression of Atlantic modernity that projected emancipationism as one of its glorious philosophical movements. That enslaved blacks should wrestle with Eurocentric visions of Enlightenment and emerge leaders and founders of democratic nation-states must surely constitute a most revolutionary development within this modernity. Jamaica moved most rapidly along the contours of this discourse. Here,

for example, national

independence

pation, and the concept of 'massa day done' served as a common clichd in the language of popular radicalism. Emancipation celebrations often times took the form of political discussions about civil rights, Afrocentric cultural shows and festive exuberance. They were usually preceded

ed war against British troops in the mountains above the plantations;

assume small-scale ritualised forms

in the morning by mass worship in the

there

resentment rather than radical microreconstruction. Only a few organisations on the radical fringe of the black

Christian church which continued to

slave revolution; and following in this tradition, Paul Bogle, the peas-

ly receded

as a public ceremony. The continuing hegemonic posses-

sion of economic resources and public governance by whites ensured that

emancipation celebration would of

political spectrum kept vigil; their

divide, and be divided, by the popular democratic struggle. But the demand for social justice via citizenship called

was symbolically enlivened by the establishment of a pantheon of nation-

al heroes and heroines - all radical challengers of the colonial order. First, there is 'Nanny', leader of a maroon clan that launched a protract-

183

is Sam

Sharpe, leader

the

ant leader, and his mixed-race respectable supporter William GorJUNE 1999

The message emanating from

the celebration of historical figures, particularly on August 1st, is that "massa day is done", and that the process of redemption - from plantation slave and petty peasant to Parliamentary Prime Minister - is now complete.

don, who inspired the struggle for black land ownership in the 1865 rebellion.

1998, Barbados, perhaps the

most politically conservative of Caribbean countries, moved in the direction set out by Jamaica and declared the official recognition of national heroes, and August lst as a national holiday. The first three of these national icons, Bussa, Sarah Gill, and Samuel Prescod, were all freedom fighters during the slavery period; Bussa led the 1816 slave rebellion, Gill used the Methodist pulpit to denounce slave owning, and Prescod built an alliance of free blacks and coloureds, and liberal whites to undermine slavery and to critique post slavery restrictions placed on the emancipated.

Other societies

Guyana, Vincent and St. Dominica Grenada, anti-slavery their recognised have also revolutionary leaders in the struggle

for civil rights and visionaries of national independence. In Guyana, a statue of Kofi, leader of the 1763 slave rebellion, occupies a central place; Bussa in Barbados is made to look out over the prime sugar plantaJUNE 1999

tion lands with broken chains in a posture of rebellious animation. In Jamaica, a national heroes circle has long existed, and at this time there is public debate about the creation of a heroes park where monuments can be

and accumulated a disproportionate

displayed. The message emanating from the celebration of these historical figures, particularly on August lst, is that "massa day is done", and that the process of redemption - from planta-

modernity in crisis with postmodern discourses, are creating in the Region new conceptual frontiers for theoreti-

tion slave and petty peasant to Parlia-

mentary Prime Minister

- is now

complete.

Despite the pervasiveness

of this

thinking, and the successes of the independence movements, there

remain however, people Caribbean trapped

in colonial

the rela-

tionships.

They are powerless with resPect to

resource ownership,

and

of the scarce

resources, result-

ing in black economic exclusions as a

living reality. The historical forces of continuity and change suggest that the overlap

cal analysis.

While one group of citizens (Europeans) celebrate 'DiscoverY DaY',

another (Africans)'Emancipation Day', and the most recently arrived groups (Asians) 'Arrival Day'we now

have projected onto

the

Caribbean/Atlantic canvas something altogether new and challenging - the redefinition of our social space as a multicultural survival zone still committed to the Enlightenment project, but to its second phase.

their

economies cannot independently sustain adequate levels of material living. The point should be made in this regard, that those who govern are not

those who rule. Ethnic minorities from Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East who arrived during

Histon.

the post-slavery period have inherited

Professor Hilary McD. Beckles is the Pro Vice Chancellor attached to the IJnde rgraduate Studies, Unive rsity of the West Indies, and professor of

o o o a a a a o o a o a a o o o o o o o o a a a a a o o a o o a o o o o o a o o o a o o o o o o O

o a o o o o a a Page 41

a o o o o a o

Struggle, Sacnfice

and Resistance

o O

a o o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o O

o o o o o o o a o a o o o o o a o o o o a o o o o o o o o Page 42

ay 1999 commemorated the l6 | st Anniversary of the arrival ofEast Indian indentured immigrants in Guyana. Indeed, for over three quarters of a century (l 838- I 9 l 7), Indian indentured labourers were imported from the subcontinent of India to the West Indian colonies ostensibly to fill the void created as a result of the mass exodus of ex-slaves from plantation labour, following the abolition of the despicable system of slavery and more so the premature termination of the apprenticeship scheme

1838.

This influx into the Caribbean in the post-emancipation period of the 19th and early 20th Centuries, was only one segment of a wider movement of Indian labourers to other parts

of the world,

including Mauritius, Ceylon, Fiji, the Strait Settlements.

I Toto

Mongor

0 in

stone Experiment". John Gladstone,

the f ather of British

Following the abolition of slavery 1834 and the termination of the

in 1838, a state of fear, uncertainty and gloom was uppermost in the minds of the then apprenticeship system

British Guianese planters. They were very conscious that a grave labour shortage on the estates would certainly mean economic disaster to themselves and the sugar indus-

try in general. The mass exodus of ex-slaves from the plantations during this cru-

Natal and,other parts of the Al'rican contlnent.'

cial period of 'crisis and change' merely served to confirm planters'

Overall, where the English speaking Caribbean is concerned, substan-

f-ear and uneasiness. This movement was not entirely surprising, as several decades of slavery had resulted in the

tial

numbers

indentured Indians

were imported.

Based

on statistical

evidence.

Guyana was the recipient of 239,909 East Indian immigrants up to the ter-

mination of the system in l9l7 Trinidad 143,939; Jamaica 36,412., Grenada 3,033; St Vincent 2,412; St Lucia 4,354; and St Kitts 337.2 In

addition, the non-English speaking Caribbean also imported Indian indentured labourers during this period. Of the French colonies (now Overseas Departments) Martinique received 25.509: Cuadeloupe.45.844 and French Guiana 19.276.J Suriname. while under Dutch rule. imported a total of 35.501 immigrants.4

plantation being the symbol of dehumanisation, degradation and demoralisation, and the victims. quite naturally wanted to rid themselves of white

planter class, social, cultural and political domination, and to assert their economic independence. With great enthusiasm and in the face of tremendous odds. they started the village movement and peasantry.

The importation of indentured labourers from the Indian sub-continent was part of the continuing search for a reliable labour tbrce to meet the needs of the powerful plantocracy. In the case of Guyana, East Indian immigration had its origin

in the "Glad-

statesman.

William Gladstone, was the owner of West Demerara plantations, Vreed-enHoop and Vreed-en-Stein, at thisjuncture of the country's history.

As a result of the acute labour problem, Gladstone wrote the Calcutta recruiting firm, Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Company inquiring about the possibility of obtaining Indian immigrants for his estates. The firm's prompt reply was that it envisaged no recruiting problems and that lndians were already in service in another British colony, Mauritius. Subsequently, Gladstone obtained permission for his scheme from both the Colonial Office and the Board of Control of the East India Company.

The first batch of Indian indentured labourers arrived in Guyana on board the steamships "Whitby" and "Hespe-

rus" in May 1838, and these first anivals were on a five-year contract. This initial experimentation was not confined to Gladstone's two estates but it involved plantations Highbury and Waterloo in Berbice, Belle View, West Bank Demerara and Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast as well.

This immigration scheme, involving Indian immigrants, commenced in 1838 with a temporary halt from July 1839 to 1845, after which it continued virtually uninterrupted to 1917 during, which time 239, 909 immigrants landed in Guyana.

Of this figure 75,547 returned ro the land of their birth5 while rhe remainder who survived the system chose to remain here and make this country their homeland. JUNE 1999

In the main, the system of indentureship could be characterised as one of "struggle, sacrifice and resistance" where the Indian immigrants are concerned. The system itself was closely linked to slavery. British historian, Hugh Tinker, who did extensive work

on East Indian Labour Overseas. describes it as a "New Svstem of Slavery".6 Anthony Trallope, who visited the Caribbean in the 1850s, viewed it as A despotism tempered with sugar."7 Chief Justice in the second half of the

Nineteenth Century, Charles Beaumont, aptly describes

as "a rotten,

monstrous system rooted in slavery."8 The late Walter Rodney highlighr ed the harshness of the indentureship

system and its "neo-slave natu.e."9 Basdeo Mangru argues that slavery and indenture showed remarkable

similarities

in terms of

permeated the whole recruiting system between 1838 and 1917.

Against tremendous odds

the

immigrants struggled for their very survival on board ship. Overcrowding of emigrant ships, inadequate food, lack of fresh water. water-borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea, and the long and arduous voyage, made lif'e unbearable.

In many instances, the consequence was a high mortality rate to as much as 20 to 30 percent. Immigrants consoled themselves through singing,

drumming and story telling, and of greater significance was the lasting friendship that developed among the Jehazis' or shipmates. In the colony indentured labourers had to endure the critical period of 'seasoning'or adjusting to their new

environment. This

introduced to plantation labour very quickly after their arival. On the estates. the indentured labourers experienced the harshness of the system. It was obvious that the powerful plantocracy had effective control of the immigrant labour force.

An important aspect of this control was the contract under which the immigrant was recruited. While it

stipulated the obligation

control.

ship system that prevailed, lent itself to struggle, sacrifice and resistance on the part of the indentured labourers. From the very inception the sys-

leave their homeland such as high levels of unemployment, chronic poverty, indebtedness and even famine and at the same time many were disposed to respond to promises

of better times and what they perceived as "greener pastures." Even so, professional recruiting agents, the 'arkatis' in North India, and the 'maistris' in South India.

to deception and

coercion to get supplies. Many were

lured by way of glowing promises, and were assured of lucrative employ-

ment and enriched opportunities. Recruiters exploited their ignorance and simplicity, and some were hood-

winked, cajoled and lured to leave pretences

while some were even kidnapped.ll Indeed, fraud, deceit and coercion JUNE 1999

the

o o o o o o o o o a o o a o a o o a o o o o o o O

tem was plagued with controversy. True enough there were strong "push" factors which motivated the people to

their homes under false

labourer and the employer, the labour laws weighted heavily against the fbrmer. As in the case of the slave laws, the plantocracy benefited immensely under the contract laws. After all, the implementation of the laws and the period of industrial residence were taking place thousands of miles from

exploitation and degradation.l0 In any event it is reasonable to conclude that the very nature of the indenture-

resorted largely

in itself was no

easy task, and some found themselves

o o a o a

The late President of Guyana, Dr Cheddi Jagan.

o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o o o a o a a o o Page 43

o o O

o O

o o o o a o o o o o a a o o a o

the labourer's homeland, in a social and political environment dominated by the employer. It was not surprising therefore that the laws were easily varied and very often abused by the plantocracy to suit

their 'whim and fancies.'l2 Of aaaeC significance was the fact that some

Immigration Agent-generals

and side to tended Magistrates Stipendiary

with the planter class. As a result cases of intimidation, assault and battery were often covered up. Moreover, court trials were sub-

jected to abuse and were. in manY instances, reduced to a farce as official Interpreters aligned with the plantocracy while the labourers had little opportunity of defending themselves.

Throughout the period

inden-

o o o o a o o o o o o

tureship, immigrants were faced with meager wage rates and unrealistic task work. Weekly earnings dePended on the number of tasks, the nature of the

found their earnings minimized. One immigration agent was baffled to know how immigrants at Plantation Bel Air existed due to insufficient earnings to support life,13 while Coljar. a spokesman for immigrants' was quoted in October, 1896 as saYing: "Times are hard. We cannot live on the wages we are gettinF: our stomachs are not being hlled."r+ Indian indentured labourers experienced a persistent problem surrounding the "muster roll", which was held every morning. Non-attendance meant the penalty of a fine, which was arbitrarily deducted from their wages. The pressure of getting into the fields early in order to complete unrealistic tasks at the expense of missing the muster roll, was very great. On the other hand, if he attended the muster roll and failed to complete the day's task, the end result was the same arbi-

o a o o o O

o a O

a a o o O

o a a o o a o o a Page 44

tasks, whether it was weeding, shovel-

ing, manuring, planting or harvesting, and the speed with which theY were completed. In any event, it was the employer who invariably determined the wage rate, and whenever there was

a fall in

sugar prices, immigrants

system.

Through the period of indentureship, the immigrant suffered from a

Y.â&#x201A;Ź-,IY'

i,n.d.en

paucity of social amenities. The tenement ranges or "logies" were small and unventilated, potable water was virtually non-existent, and medical facilities and sanitation were poor. As a consequence outbreaks of diseases tended to assume epidemic propor-

sJst@Lfl

il,Gd,

to stru rifice a

tions.

Through vagrancy laws immi-

g:ist-o' trary deduction of wages. In effect the labourer had little choice. One way or the other he was penalised. The Indian immigrant often went

before the courts as victims of the labour laws and the legal system in general. The planter had at his disposal several instruments of prosecution. He could prosecute for refusal to commence work, or work left unfinished, absenteeism without authority, disor-

derly or threatening behaviour, or even neglect. Punishment resulted in fines or imprisonment. Moreover an immigrant imPrisoned for misconduct could have his

indenture extended to include the period in jail. This meant the immigrant was effectively punished twice for the same offence. At the same time convictions of immigrants were inordinately high. Charges could be made on mere orders of managers, and for

grants had their movements restricted. This was an integral part of planters strategy to localise labour and to place

on workers' liberty. The labourer had to get a 'pass' signed by the estate manager if he wanted to leave the estate of residence. This pass system exposed the labourer to indignity at the hands of the police who were empowered to apprehend him

restraints

without a'pass'. Managers used it

an effective control device and also as

a means of preventing workers from making comparisons of wage levels at different estates. The fear was that such knowledge could easily lead to discontent and desertion. It was because of their powers of control over the indentured labourer

that planters became increasingly arrogant. Some repeatedly, and openly, boasted that the labourers on their estates should only be "at work, or in hospital or in gaol" - during working

hours, such was their attitude. One

In 1863 for example,

Demerara planter PubliclY stated

for the 4, 936 prisoners who were in the Georsetown iail, 3, 148 were

"give me my heart's desires in Coolies

indentureilabourers. I 5 Moreover, The Annual RePorts of the Immigration Agent-Generals for 1874-1894 showed an alarminglY high figure of 65,084 convictions of immisrants for breaches of the labour .ontri.t. l6 This development rein-

hogsheads of sugar."l7 It was not surprising therefore that from the 1860s onwards the mYth of Indian docility was to be seriously

even trivialities.

forced the fact that the indentured labourer was far from docile. He was

struggling, sacrificing and resisting.

The numerous instances of

cases

under the labour contract were ample proof of his restlessness and non-compliance with a harsh and oppressive

and I will make you a million

challenged. Indian indentured labourers began to openly defy the system. As a consequence there was a steadY

deterioration of industrial relations, increasing working class protests and imperial investigation. "Struggle, Sacrifice and Resistance" manifested in numerous labour unrests. Violent eruptions were occasioned by many specific and localised grievJUNE 1999

ances, such as overbearing behaviour of managers, wage rate disputes, disagreement over tasks, sexual exploitation of women by overseers and the

arbitrary deduction

wages of

labourers. I 8

The first such disturbance took at Plantation Leonora, West Coast Demerara in July 1869. The shovel gang complained that wages place

were withheld because they could not complete a job on waterlogged soil. They also demanded extra pay to do the job. A confrontation between armed police and the labourers was narrowly avoided, but the ringleaders were arrested, convicted and incarcerated at the penal settlement,

Mazaruni. The following year violence erupted at Plantations Hague, Uitvlugt, Mon Repos, Non Pariel, Zeelugt, Vergenoegin and Success.

Another major disturbance took place at Plantation Devonshire Castle in 1872. This time there was con-

frontation with colonial police who opened fire and five labourers lost their lives while some were seriously injured.

landscape and their traditional languages, music, dress, food, folklore were made to prevail. In the face of language barriers, they adjusted to the needs of a Western education in order to enhance their upward social mobil-

ity. In the long run they, and their in the professions to become teachers, headmas-

descendants, emerged

Press 1974)

7 Trallope, Anthony. The West Indies and the Spanish Main (London: Cass and Company Ltd) p.201. 8 For details see John Beaumont, The New Slavery: An Account of the

They contributed significantly in the areas of village development, cash crop cultivation, cattle rearing, milk selling and other economic activities during the period of indentureship. In recent times, their descendants have made, and continue to make tremendous strides in the social, cul-

tural, educational, political and trade union fields. Many of them are today leading sports personalities. entrepreneurs, educationists, politicians and trade unionists in their own right. The Late President, Dr Cheddi Jagan himself was the son of indentured labour-

ers who found themselves in the boundyard of Plantation Port

a strike and disturbance.

Guyanese society.

indenture system labour protests had

assumed various forms including work stoppages, mass picketings, violent demonstrations, marching to the Immigration Department, assaults on managers and overseers, coupled with passive resistance such as feigning

ill-

ness, malingering and deliberately

1920. (London: Oxford University

They toiled unceasingly to ensure the survival of the sugar industry and the emergence of the rice industry.

extra-ordinarily gifted man. Indeed, descendants of immigrants are actively engaged in every facet of life in the

of the

versity Press, 1971), p. 26 3Ibid, p.p. 42-43 4 Ibid, p.45 5 Long Collection, U.G.L 6 For details see Hugh Tinker, A new System of Slavery. The Eexport of Indian Labour Overseas, 1830 -

ters, doctors and lawyers.

Riots and disturbances continued with regularity in the 1890s and in the early years of the twentieth century. Four years before the termination of the scheme, five labourers from plantation Rose Hall lost their lives during Indeed, towards the end

tury. (St. Lawrence: Caribbean Uni-

Mourant. To assume the highest office

in Guyana, was no mean feat by this

Our forefathers of yesteryear have certainly been inspirational in the furtherance of national development through their grit and determination clearly 'Struggle, Sacrifice and Resis-

Indian and Chinese Immigrants in British Guiana (London: W. Rigway, 1871) 9 For details see Rodney Walter A history of the Guyanese Working People, l88l - 1905 (Baltimore: John

indentureship,

17 Trallope, p. 172 18 Rodney, p. 185

o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o o a

19 Mangru, Basdeo Indians in

Guyana (Chicago: Adam Press, 1999).

o a o o o o a a o o o o

59 and pp 153-173 l0 Mangru, Basdeo. Indenture and

Abolition (Toronto: TSAR Publications, 1993) Neutrality, pp33-34 1l Mangru, Benevolent Neutrality, p. 55 12 James Rose, The Repatriation Controversy and the Beginning of an East Indian Village System in Guyana Historical Journal. Vol I, 1989, p 3

l3 C.O. lll1438,l7 March 1887 14 C.O. lll/488, ll November l 896 15 Annual Report

of Immigration Agent - General, 1863, N.A.G 16 Annual Reports of Immigration Agent-Generals, 1874-1894. N.A.G

performing poor work.

Indentured labourers also struggled and made tremendous sacrifice in other areas, as for example, in the face of an often harsh and oppressive environment, they persisted with their religious and cultural practices. From the late Nineteenth Century temples and

mosques began JUNE 1999

to dot the coastal

Endnotes

Mangru, Basdeo, Benevolent

Neutrality: Indian Government Policy

and Labour Migration Guiana, 1854

British

1884 (Herford: Han-

sib Publishing Limited, 1987) p. 13

Lawrence, K.O. Immigration into the West Indies in the l9th Cen-

a a o o o a o o o o o o o o

3l-

P.56

1838- 1917.

Hopkins University Press, l9Sl)pp

tance' were 'part and parcel' of the Indian immigrant psyche during the neo-slavery system

o o a o o o o

Tota Mangar is a senior lecturer at the University of Guyana, department of history and assistant Dean of the Faculty of Arts. He also coordinates the programme Living History, aired

daily in Guyana.

Page 45

o o a o o o o o a o o o a o o o o o o o o o o O

One Hundred Yearc

of Labour Law he very nomenclature 'Master and Servant Act' betrays the obsolete, class stratified, narrowly capitalistic identity of a labour law system. Yet, sadly, such archaic legislation is still evident on Commonwealth Caribbean statute books. But, 100 years is a long time, and labour law relations is much changed

from yesteryear. We seldom now see the militancy of the formative years, the 1930s period, where valiant heroes, the Bustamantes, Butlers and Walcotts, walking the thin line between political, social advancement and labour law reform, led multitudes in battle.

always known, that much interests is about rigltts.

o o o o a O

o o a o o o o o o a o Page 46

Rose-Morie Belle Antoine

thankfully, today, the climate of

o a o o o o o o a a o o o o

supplemented by model CARICOM labour laws which are based on contemporary labour law ideals. compatible with ILO Conventions.z A closer look at individual areas of labour law demonstrates the progress or lack of progress within the time period.

Yet, it is an exciting time for labour law and ultimately, workers. Increasingly, governments, employers and even international financial institutions are beginning to recognise what workers and their unions have

of labour As such,

workers are entitled to them. This can be the only safety net to democracy.

Nevertheless, the many advances have been matched by various setbacks, often coming from our judgments in the law courts. The goal of achieving progress in labour relations is an ambitious one. The original model of our labour law was the common law, inherited from an industrial Britain during colonialism, a time immortalised by Dickens for the cruelties to its workers. Contemporary Caribbean labour law and policy is a unique mixture of custom, statute, common law and policy. In addition, no other area of law is so

cemented in ideology, economics and politics, and is so shaped by cultural and historical elements. The historical continuum and cultural paradigm also

Industrial relations Industrial relations is perhaps the area of labour law which touches most

intimately the lives of Caribbean peoples. There has been much activity in

help to explain the inconsistencies in labour law, both within a particular country and across the region. This operates against the backdrop of a

this area during the last 100 years. The initial struggles of the early labour movement have been well document-

labour legal infrastructure which is

ed.

often ad hoc, although touching many areas from child labour to social security. This is one reason for the new

These struggles enabled those who came after, to begin to enjoy the body of law which today we call basic

approach

consolidating relevant

legislation into Codes or holistic statutes, exemplified in Grenada in the Employment Act 1997 and the Antigua ktbour Code. The CARICOM Secretariat itself has played a prominent role in labour law progress. This was as a result of

the CARICOM Harmonisation Prolect.l This project signalled the intent of CARICOM countries to harmonise

their legislation to facilitate better industrial and trade relations between countries, and to update those laws in keeping within a forward looking and

relevant industrial relations context.

In fact, the CARICOM project has since served as a reference point not

only to international organisations such as the IDB, the ILO and the World Bank, but also as the impetus for labour law reform. This has been

labour law rights and freedoms. If today we accept that trade unions have a legitimate place in society, and

that workers have basic rights and expectations to just wages and working conditions, it is because of the early unionists. Their work also formed part of the political movement of the day, leading to social progress and greater autonomy for Caribbean peoples in their own

affairs, culminating in Independence. This link with the political life of the

country

is a factor which is

often

ignored in labour law theories and case law, but it is of particular relevance to us in the region. The 100 years therefore saw legal liability being removed from legitimate trade union activity. in particular, their strike activities. Previously, the objects

of unions were viewed as JUNE 1999

ing, the difficulties expen-

illegal, their activity viewed as criminal. or civil conspiracy, to prevent or restrain the

enced demonstrate that despite the achievements

employer's trade.

by the local labour move-

Today,

Caribbean law has abolished by statute this view of the union to a large extent. The

law has recognised

ment, the legal framework of labour has not kept up to date with the new employment sphere. with its

eted ledgem

trade

unions and their objects by way of conferring on unions immunities from such liabili-

emphasis on foreign

rlg hts i

investment, as discussed later. It demonstrates the vulnerability of consensus

t*eR$.

ties. This was a significant development. Not only are unions today, as opposed to 100 years ago, allowed to

and custom models inherited from an industrial rela-

mwQvGr,

tions sphere over 100 years ago, in a new hostile envi-

tiens s d s'ueh r

hold property and make contracts which enable them to be independent and forceful entities in the industrial rela-

tions context, but it means that we have witnessed an

ronment.

At the other end of

the

scale, some countries have moved even further away

from voluntarism to

evolution, or even a revolution, in the attitudes which the law, and inevitably the public has. toward unions. This evolution in employment relations has progressed from a legal position which saw the role of law and the State as one of total abstention

(the voluntaristic or laissez faire model), to one in which the Legislature has intervened into the industrial relations context to further promote trade union and worker interests.

formal recognition is not in place, the role of the trade union itself is recognised since all countries in the region have Trade Union Acts. In addition, the law or practice has procedures for

embrace systems of compulsory arbi-

tration. Here, industrial relations

severely regulated. This system, intro-

duced in Trinidad and Tobago, is

governmental authorities to determine whether a union has the majority of workers and could serve as the bar-

controversial development. We can accept that the voluntaristic model perpetuated a myth that the parties started from equal bargaining

gaining agent. Legal custom also

positions. Particularly in

plays an important part in those countries where there is no statutory recognition of the union. In practice, once the relevant authority has declared that a particular union has a majority

the Caribbean, workers were not only disenfranchised in the workplace, but also politically and socially.

parties, the trade union and the

often

There was need for intervention by the State to attempt to address the inequities in the employer/worker

employer, sought to achieve a balance of power without any assistance or

recognise them as the lawful bargain-

relationship. However, the highly

ing agent.

restrictive model that is compulsory

Industrial relations was originally seen as a process where the relevant

workers, employers

will

Ironically, recent events

restriction from the State.

The party with the most power would win the battle. Under the /ais-

St.

Lucia and Barbados, where employers refused to recognise such unions,

employer could choose to refuse to

actually reinforce the point made about an evolution in the attitudes

if it has the majority of workers within its

without this change, there could not

sez

faire model, for example,

recognise a trade union, even

toward the union.

I say this because

have been the huge uproar that such

arbitration has been accused of being weighted in favour of the employer by

severely limiting the power

of the

union to strike and ultimately, undermining the union and workers'rights.

Human Rights, the Gonstitution and Labour

fold. Similarly, collective agreements were considered to be mere "gentlemen's agreements" which could not be enforced because the law did not

actual laws in place to secure recognition. It is instructive that those

gressed

view the trade union as a legal entity. Most Caribbean countries have changed these traditional patterns of voluntarism. In those countries where

employers were foreign employers who were, in effect, out of touch with the current social mores of the industrial relations context. Notwithstand-

"immunities approach," which we adopted, has meant that the law has never fullY

JUNE 1999

refusals, given that there were no

While our legal system has proto the point where we now accept trade unions as legitimate

social entities, the

acknowledged that such entities have

a o o o o a a o o o o a o a a o O

o a o o o O

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o o o a o o o o Page 47

a a a o o a o o a a a a a o o a o a o o o o o o o o o o o o a a o o o O

o o o a a o o o a a a o a o a o o a o o o Page 48

Young Barbadian women ginning cotton in a turn of the century photo from the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. Such tasks demanded much from, and paid little to, the workers.

full legal

status and are entitled to rights. This is an important point as it addresses the raison d'etre of unionism and consequently, the acceptable level of power to be granted to the worker in society. Thus, the question as to the extent to which our labour law recognises fundamental rights of workers, is an emotive one. During the past 100 years, most Caribbean countries gained indepen-

dence from

Britain and saw the

advent of written Constitutions, with accompanying Bills of Rights. Given

the struggles of labour mentioned above, Caribbean peoples would have

expected some acknowledgement of workers' rights in their Constitutions. To date, howeveq few Constitutions specifically uphold such rights. The Guyanese Constitution is a notable

exception with its provision on the "right to work" and the right to form and join a trade union is proclaimed

by some Constitutions. What remains

highly literal. If the Constitution does

is for Caribbean people to evoke trade

not protect the most

union rights from more general con-

activity of an union, the strike, is not

stitutional rights, such as the Freedom of Association. In addition, constitutional protections, with few exceptions, such as the Bahamas, are available only against the State. This is of little use to the majority of workers whose rights are often violated not by the State, but by a private employer. Case law has demonstrated that any such constitutional protection is largely illusory. The infamous case of Collymore v. A.G.3 put to rest the

the freedom to associate with

fundamental the

union an empty, meaningless right? What is more unfortunate is that Wooding J. based his reasoning on the adopted, colonial, common law. He therefore not only ignored the ideals and values of the new Constitution, but also the changed labour law norms which had occurred during the years

leading

to that dynamic vehicle of

independence and liberty which

association

Constitution. The courts have also found that there is no right to collective bargaining. This says little for the

included the right of unions to strike. In a very narrow judgment, Wooding J felt that while the Constitution protected the right to form and join the union, it did not protect the union's activities, such as a strike. Many readers may rightly view this as being

recognition of workers' progress during the 100 year period. Further, such myopic decisions are incompatible with the modern philosophy of the ILO, which views certain of its Conventions as promoting basic human rights. These include ratified

notion that freedom

JUNE 1999

Conventions, such as No.87 on the freedom of association, Convention

bilities.

No.

course originating in India sees eco-

discrimination.

nomic or social rights as logical extensions ofcivil and political rights.

against forced labour and Convention No. I 11 on freedom from

Paradoxically, such decisions come at a time when Caribbean 'rights' jurisprudence, in other areas, has blossomed. Many new Constitutional rights have been created, even new rights for convicted murderers, as illustrated in the infamots Pratt and Morgan case on cruel and inhumane punishment for Death Row prisoners. Thus, rights in the labour law con-

text have been less prioritised than other areas of Constitutional law. While the Caribbean man thinks in terms of labour law rlglrrs, this is not upheld by the supreme law of our land, the Constitution. One of the difficulties with labour rights is that they are essentially economic or social rights. We are more familiar with civil and political rights,

such as the right to life or privacy.

Economic

or social (ECONSOC)

rights are rights which are usually of a collective nature ( given to a group

rather than an individual) and have some kind of cost attached to them. The existence of a progressive rights jurisprudence which seeks to locate economic and social interests firmly in the sphere of enforceable rights, is lacking. Traditionally, Constitutional

rights.

However, recent 'rights' dis-

This route overcomes the difficulties

raised by their justiciability. For example, the right to education was

Givil Servants and workers' rights During the 100 years, the freedom servants to strike has been progressively curtailed in the interest

of civil

of public order and efficiency.

Yet,

found justiciable through viewing it as an inextricable aspect of the right to liberty.4 Using this elasticity in interpreting civil and political rights, the right to life could incorporate the right to health, including healthy and safe

despite such restrictions, public servants may enjoy more labour law rights than the average worker. The

conditions at work. The right to be free from slavery could include the right to a decent wage and leave, while the right to human dignity could encompass humane working conditions. The list is not exhaustive.

from the British common law that

In an enlightened decision

Massiah, J. of the Guyanese court, the Indian line of cases was specifically referred to and approved. The court in A.G. v. Mohammed AL;,5 tretA that the right to work and the right of trade unions to consultation, as enshrined in the Guyanese Constitution were justi-

ciable. This was a radical judgment, again recording the progress of workers'rights in our Region. The fact that the dicta was short-lived, and was sus-

ceptible to subsequent law reform, does not rob it of its importance. It signals that Caribbean courts in the

future may give a more generous

radical constitutional decision of Thomas v. A.G. quashed the more than 100 year old principle inherited

public servants could be dismissed at pleasure. Such workers now enjoy security of employment because their terms and conditions of service are enshrined in the Constitution. Today,

or civil servants may only be disciplined, or dismissed,

Caribbean public

natural justice principles are heed-

ed, in particular, the right to a fair

hearing by the constitutionally

appointed Public Service Commission.

The rights of women

workefs

Women have special concerns in

the workplace which today, international Conventions such as those of the ILO and CEDAW recognise. Nevertheless, in the Caribbean, the legal structure has not kept pace with the changing social mores relating to women. This is perhaps a paradox,

law has viewed these rights, even when encompassed in Constitutions,

interpretation of such rights.

as unenforceable and non-justiciable. This means that the individual cannot go to the court for a remedy if such a right is violated. Such rights are also thought of as intangible, which adds to the difficulty in enforcement. Does the right to work, for example, mean

Conventions which treat such rights as justiciable, such as the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and various ILO Conven-

given the proud history of working women in the region, from times of

tions. For example, the "right

the Caribbean is made up of women.o

work," i.e. job security, is an "inalienable right." At minimum, we have a responsibility to implement compati-

Such endemic poverty is largely due to inequities in employment remuneration and access to emPloYment. It is generally accepted that the Caribbean is a matriarchal society, i.e. dominated by the mother figure. Yet, it is documented that Caribbean women still receive less pay for iden-

that the State must guarantee full employment?

Thus, the real problem in Collymore was that strike action was viewed as undermining economic pro-

ductivity. Its underlying thesis is that the State cannot be forced to give up its freedom to regulate economic matters according to its needs and capaJUNE 1999

Interestingly,

we have ratified

ble policies. States may do so progressively but cannot now simply dismiss these rights as Utopian ideals. As yet, over the 100 years we have not adequately demonstrated that our laws and practices have kept uP with the more contemporary notions of such

slavery, when women worked equally

alongside their brothers ( in equally bad conditions). The poorest group in

tical work. Indeed, the

Labour

Research Department of Trinidad and

o o o o o o o o o o O

o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a Page 49

o o o o O

o O

a a a a a a o a o a o o a o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a a o o o o a o o a o o o a o o Page 50

Tobago predicts that "women will have to wait until 2025 before they can earn the same pay as men."/ Women are also the first to be laid off

recession or structural adjustment, despite the fact that they are heads ofhouseholds and the last to

times

be hired.

In addition, hidden problems (de facto discimination) are that women are seldom found in senior positions, and dominate certain 'female type' occupations which are characteristically the lowest paid, such as nursing, teaching and the civil service. This is despite "the fact that the average educational levels of women in the economically active population are higher than those of -.n."8

Caribbean women are also predominant in casual labour positions. Indeed, this occupational segregation has led to the coining of the term, "the

feminisation of casual labour". This

is significant as work benefits and rights accrue chiefly to non-casual

equality. Our Constitutions sometimes

exclude the notion

gender/sex

except in their Preambles. For example, while discrimination is enshrined in the body of the

Jamaican Constitution under Article 24, it extends only to "race, place of origin, political opinions, colour and creed." Where gender is so excluded, courts have held that the mention of gender in the Preamble is not enforceable, but is only declaratory. This was one basis for the now infamous decision of Girard v. The St. Lucia Teachers Union. There, the dismissal of a female teacher because of pregnancy was not found to be violative of the Constitution's protection against non-discrimination. Elsewhere, there have been legal decisions which have revolutionised

the attitude of the law to

gender

inequities in employment. For example, British courts ruled that part-time

workers are entitled

dismissal for serious misconduct. In another similar case with more fortunate results, the Industrial Court

of Trinidad and Tobago, while recognising the cultural implications of the offence, for example, that in "certain types of employment, picong (verbal teasing) can be rough and commonplace" lamented the absence of legis-

lation which could bring

sexual harassment within the broader notion of sexual discrimination and imolied-

ly. correct social mores.l2

Job Security Undoubtedly, employment condi-

tions have generally improved over the 100 years period, as have workers' expectations. This is in line with the increasing development of our societies. Today, sick leave, holidays with

pay, work rests and reasonable work hours are the norm in the Caribbean, notwithstanding the abuses which

redundancy

occur in some workplaces without the

knowledge or attention of the law. Despite logistic difficulties with

continuous service. An examination of women's rights in the workplace over the 100 year period illustrates that the labour legal regime has failed to incorporate mod-

benefits which hitherto had only been granted to permanent workers.l0 However, despite the close relationship between Caribbean Law and such jurisprudence, these precedents have not yet found their way into our courts. The court accepted that it was gender discrimination against women. who made up almost exclusively the

ern, feminist ideals and notions of

part-time work force, to deny them

security benefits which meet the

equality. Most Caribbean countries have no legislation whatsoever on gender equality or non-discrimination.9 Caribbean law still largely views

such benefits.

expectations of relevant ILO standards. All of the countries have some such benefit, usually in the form of National Insurance (NIS) which provide some sort of safety net for the majority of workers in the Region, as maternity or pension benefits. In con-

labour. Severance pay, pension and maternity benefits, for example, are routinely calculated on an amount of

women, at best, as helpless, frail

to be protected, while legislation seeks to preclude females who need

women from night work (and inadvertently, the job market), instead of giving such women an informed choice as modern international standards

require. Ironically, women are not typically protected in the areas where it is most needed, such as from jobs

which can harm their reproductive capacities.

Again, the Constitution may be of little use to women in their quest for

Another example of the failure of the law to evolve with social mores is its attitude to sexual harassment. At

worst, Caribbean Labour Law is still sexist, at best, insensitive, inconsistent and unaware. One indication is

that cases on sexual harassment, or sexual discrimination, hardly reach

health and safety legislation, particularly with respect to modern hazards caused by new chemicals, the law has also progressed in this area. Caribbean peoples, while not pro-

gressing in the 100 years to welfare states, now enjoy a level of social

trast, few countries have created unemployment insurance schemes which seek to cushion workers in times of recession or unemployment,

the law courts. In one Barbadian case, Jones v. Bico,l I the plaintiff consistently peeped at female employees while they were changing, made disrespectful remarks about their private

bility of our economies in the world sphere and high rates of unemploy-

parts and even touched them.

ment, is perhaps more than a luxury.

The magistrate (a female!), found that the 'peeping tom's sexual harassment was merely "ungentlemanly,"' and not sufficient to justify summary

A few countries have introduced unfair dismissal provisions. Such legislation reverses the common law presumption that the employer can dis-

which, given the increasing vulnera-

JUNE 1999

o miss the worker at will. fbr whatever reason. provided he gives him notice of terrnination. Unt'air dismissal le-rislation is fbunded on the notion of "the ri-eht to work" which. translated. means a ri-cht not to be arbitrarily dismissed and a right not to be denied access to employment unjustly. Most

countries now also have Severance Pay or Redundancy schemes for qual-

ifying workers.

Ghanging World Order T<rday, more than ever, the chal-

Beckford's description

althou-eh essentially limited to redun-

Caribbean economies as characterised

dancy situations. These are great

by persistent poverty may still hold true today. The inherent factor in this

strides from the original rnodel which saw the employer as the sole decision maker in the ernployrnent arena.

paradigm is production tavouring fbreign entrepreneurs. no longer on plantations. but in factories and hotels.

In contrast. tripartism is now the accepted means to industrial relations harmony. While this has not yet rdvanced lo \ ()rker purticipution on u

large scale, the incidence of share owing by employees has increased. Trade union consultation also exists

recent years, f'ew developing

countries have been able to avoid programs of structural adjustment to their

economies. These programmes have been characterised by wage-fieezes, wage-cuts. retrenchment, the loss of governmental subsidies, devaluation and ultirnately. worsening employment conditions and rights. Public

of labour law are inextricably linked to the economic and political lenges

challenges of our young nations. During the 100 years. the work environment has changed from an agricultural base to largely industrial or service sectors. Increasingly. Caribbean countries har e turned kr foreign invest-

ment

o o o a a a o a a o a a a a a a a o o o a o o

sector than

elsewhere. While such industries in the Caribbean are not generally

exempted

fiorn the purview of law and protective

employment

labour laws. in practice. this might be the result.

One reason is the low levels of unionisation. the reason seen fronr the previous discussion on trade union recognition. Workers are particularly vulnerable where the bulk of workers' rights are located, not under legisla-

tion. but through collective

agree-

ments.

addition. as elsewhere

the

infbrmal sector. because of sporadic and erratic employment patterns. workers may be deprived of certain rights or benefits indirectly, tor example, where these rights are linked to the notion of "continuous employment." Such patterns of employment also explain the difliculty of unions to organise.

JUNE 1999

o a o o o a a

o o

multinational compunies. export processing zones and offshore companies as a viable route to developn.rent. Yet. this model has produced its own ditliculties. For example. it is well documented that conditions of work and pay are

in this

in the fbrm of

generally lower

a o a o a o o a o o o o o

Albert Marryshow of Grenada, one of the early campaigners for the Begional labour movement.

a a o a a a o Page 51

o O

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a a O

o o O

o o o o o o o a o o o o a a o a a o o o o o O

a o o o o o o a a a o o o o Page 52

servants are particularly vulnerable to cash-struck governments as the 8 per cent wage cut in Barbados demonstrated. Strucnrral adjustment has also changed negatively the pattems of work, forcing the casualisation of labour. These are problems which go

beyond the labour law infrastructure. Indeed, legal rules have shown their inability to cope adequately with the consequences of such situations whether this means the increased incidence of unlawful strike activity by

frustrated public workers or the refusal of employers to obey legal obligations. Perhaps the need for Caribbean integration is more urgent today in a changing world order where workers are now threatened with even newer challenges. Recent CARICOM legislation on the movement of skilled

workers recognises this need. Whether it be for the benefit of banana workers threatened under the

WTO regime, tourism workers or other sectors, the Region only has a voice. in an often uncaring international community, if unified.

Enforcement Laws on a statute book are worthless if they are not enforced. An effective labour regime requires not only political and judicial will, but adequate human and financial resources. The lack of such resources has often been our downfall. Employers' financial constraints and fear of competition also impact negatively on labour law reform. Our law is policed by

judicial review process in Administra-

law which we had inherited from

tive law is now substantially developed. While mainly concerned with

Britain.

statutory or governmental functionaries and power, contemporary administrative law treats unions and certain work situations as legitimate subjects of public law. The rationale for this is

brought progress!

their great impact on the public.

CARICOM Secretariat.

Workers can now expect the principles of Natural Justice and Reasonableness to apply to them. Similarly,

2.These model laws were actually drafted by the ILO as a result of recommendations and information arising out of the CARICOM Harmonisa-

unions are obligated

to act fairly

toward their members. The advent of the Ombudsman in recent years also means that workers, where no

remedy is forthcoming from the courts, or where such remedy is too

1992,

tion Report.

3.[l970] A.C. s38 (P.C.); (1967) l2 w.I.R. 5. 4. Khara K. Singh v. State of UP,

l SCR 332. 5.t19891 LRC (Const) 474.

(1964)

6."Sustainable

Development,

Poverty and Gender" ECLAC Web-

In the 100 years, while labour relations has evolved in Caribbean societies, in some situations, law and legal policy has not kept pace with these changes. These serve as poignant reminders of the gaps between social reality, political will and law. Giant steps forward are parallelled by two small steps backward. Nevertheless. we can end on an

site 1998

optimistic note. Perhaps there is no better statement which illustrates the evolution of Labour law in the Commonwealth Caribbean, both in philosophy and enactment than that of Rattray, P in a recent Jamaican .ur..l3 While examining the development of labour law in Jamaica, his words ring

true for the entire Caribbean. He found that the "rigidities of the for-

understaffed. Only two countries.

contributors in the productive process and the creation of wealth in the society." He also saw the creation of a "new regime with new rights, obligations and remedies in a dynamic social environment radically changed

Yet, today, workers have more means of redress at their disposal. Apart from constitutional rights, the

l.Antoine. R-M.B. The CARICOM Harmonisation Report,

policy for redress.

mer [employment] relationships have been ameliorated by the infusion of a

process.

End notes

expensive, can go to this independent, consensual arbiter of law and legal

governmental Labour Departments, labour inspectorates and quasi judicial tribunals, all of which are typically, Trinidad and Tobago and Antigua and Barbuda, have Industrial Courts (albeit under-resourced), despite the recognition by all that labour relations disputes require a special adjudicatory

The 100 years have indeed

more satisfactory balance between the

... from the pre-industrial context of the common law." The catalyst was the need for justice and humanity to ameliorate the harshness of the labour

T.Trinidad Guardian, Jlune 27, t994

S."Major Changes and Crises

The Impact on Women in Latin Amer-

ica and the Caribbean", Economic Commission for Intin America and the Caribbean (ECI,AC) Reporr (UN

Women and Development Unit, 1991.

p.29. 9.Exceptions include Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Vincent and Grenada.

10.R.

Secretary

of State for

Employntent, Ex Parte Equal Oppor-

tunities Commission[1993]

WLR

872. I 1.(Unreported) Magistrate Court, Barbados, decided February 16,1995.

12.Bank Employees Union

Republic Bank Ltd.(Unreported) No. 17 of 1995, decided March 25, 1996, Ind. Ct. T&T, at p. 19.

13.Village Resorts

Ltd v. IDT

(Unreported) No. 66197, decided June 30, 1998, Supreme Court, Jamaica.

Rose-Marie Belle Antoine is a lecturer in the Facuhy* of Low, Universin' of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Bar-

bados.

* JUNE 1999

o o a a

tgzS-rggg:

The tWorkers' Fight ever, Caribbean trade union leaders always adopted the position that the market was made for man, and not man for the market. Caribbean trade

he Caribbean Labour Movement can reflect on the outgoing century as one of solid achievement for labour at the regional, as well as national levels. At the start of the century, except for fledgling Workingmen's Associa-

tion, and a few unions in the more developed countries, both the waged and non-waged sectors of the British colonies in the Caribbean, were

wrapped

in a

tightening grip of

exploitation, deprivation and oppression.

Trade Union leaders, such as Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, in the period between 1900 and the first World War, provided a voice for the working class. Critchlow was in many ways, a shining example because he

personified those, who rose from among the ranks, overcame the slurs and barbs, usually hurled at those who came from "down under." He took a

commanding lead of the working class and his efforts won grudging, but well merited respect at the national, regional and international levels.

Critchlow pioneered the first British West Indies and Guyana Labour Conference, which was held in British Guiana in 1926. That meeting, which brought pioneering political and trade union leaders together, set the agenda for the Caribbean Movement. The issues raised at that

meeting, including

Federation, Labour Education, Communications, improved working conditions, dominion status and independence, workers' health and employment, remained current for decades.

0 Robert

unionists, therefore, constantly sought to bring a human and social dimension to the market. The period of the 1950s saw a

Morris

close association between the

to the expansion of the labour movement. A mix of labour, political and nationalist leaders and organisations came to the fore, with the result that the 1930's through the 1950's were years of great

ment which was conducive

dynamism and growth for the labour movement.

Trade unions were established throughout the Caribbean by the 1950's. Various Commissions, but particularly that led by Lord Moyne, helped to establish the British agenda

for the movement in the post World War II era. The formation

of the

Caribbean

Labour Congress (CCL), and its split over whether it should remain allied to the World Labour Congress, or join with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), was a defining period in the development

for Regional Labour. The

Period clearly underscored the reality that the Trade Union Movement had to understand the value systems and ideologi-

cal imperatives which were driving

the

1920's and 1930's created an environ-

open market ideological'camp' how-

JUNE 1999

o a o o o a o The regional movement benefitted o clearly from the cold war/East-West o o ideological divide. Especially after the Cuban revolution, whether the

the American Labour Movement. The formation of CADORIT was a clear example that the Caribbean Labour Movement felt comfortable with the foreign policy of the American Labour Movement. Caribbean Labour Movement and

the industrial environment of the day. The majority of Caribbean trade unionists were in favour of open market policies rather than closed market policies, and chose to go with the ICFIU. While choosing to go with the

The world depression of

a a o o a a a o o o a a o o o

Caribbean basin was an area of ideo' logical struggle, the labour movement ' benefitted tremendously from assis'O tance from the competing camPs. In the meantime Caribbean trade o unions developed their roles as the o

bargain- o ing at the workplace, and as political o o activists at the national level, for the o end of colonialism. In the 1960s, post-war economic o growth, the attraction of foreign direct ' investment, programmes of industrial- o isation by invitation, and import-sub- o stitution, brought diversification, o employment and growth to Caribbean o economies. Oil, bauxite, sugar and o other exports enjoyed protected mar- ? o kets. The Caribbean economies were leading agencies ofcollective

booming and a surge of consumerism ushered in new spending practices.

Nation states engaged in orgies of spending and borrowing. With rapid decolonisation, and the attempt

o ?

' : :

Page 53

o o o o o o o o o a a a

While the labour movement has achieved much during the past 70 years, Caribbean workers of the 1990s sometimes must still flex their muscles in matters of recognition, collective bargaining and other issues.

o o o o o a o o o o a o a o a o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o a o o a o a o a o o o Page 54

Federation, it appeared that the Caribbean, and the Labour Movement, had

created young vibrant nation states which were

to deliver even greater successes for workpoised ers.

The advent of the oil crisis, combined with new theories relating to

unions.

As one prominent policy in the Caribbean has stated

to celebrate seventy (70) years of the Movement, and to plan strategically

globalisation and neo-liberalism,

"The Caribbean . . . has but five years to absolutely restructure its economies

to take the Movement forward. Since then, the CCL's l3th Triennial Congress in Belize in 1998 has been able to take stock of where the Regional Movement stands. The Movement recognises certain

changed the environment in which the

leader

Labour Movement has operated and

to function in a new economy . . . our

challenged the modus operandi of the Regional Labour Movement. The failure of the 'socialist state' and the triumph of the marketemboldened leaders, like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, attacked

labour force has to be trained and retrained in accordance with the new

the Labour Movement, and

those

institutions which were strongest in support of the humanisation of the world of work. Neo-socialists, such as Felipe Gonzales and Tony Blair, have redefined the socialist agenda and the

modus operandi

trade unions in their relationship with the state.

Gradually, the role of trade unions as a countervailing force against the

big-capital,

big-government, has

been replaced by a perception of the need for social partnership. Trade Unions have beerl advised that they are now accepted in the

international community,

but

that

acceptance brings with it the responsi-

bility of self-reliance, and

indepen-

dence.

requirements

of a post preference

Caribbean economic reality."

At the end of the century,

the Caribbean Labour Movement can point to several successes. There is no doubt that trade unions are accepted as legitimate agencies representing the workers all over the Caribbean.

Occasional difficulties arise over recognition, collective bargaining and other issues. However, Caribbean governments and the private sector can only ignore the Labour Movement at the peril and detriment of our societies. Moreover, there is growing respect for Caribbean labour in the wider universe of labouq

particularly through the role of Caribbean Labour Leaders in fora such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFIU).

The current period, as we approach the end of the century and look towards the new millennium, is

to face the new century, when it met in

one of tremendous challenge for trade

Guyana from January 15

The Caribbean Labour Movement started its task of repositioning itself

19,1996,

imperatives

has

to pursue with

to organise the un-organised to strengthen its financial base; seeking membership in nontraditional, knowledge-based workplaces: changing the bargaining agenda; engaging in national efforts to improve productivity and competiurgency; continuing

tiveness; assisting the process of Caribbean Integration; training and retraining the workforce; assisting in bringing a social dimension to the programmes of the International Financial Institutions and the World Trade Organisation. The Caribbean Labour Movement pledges to continue as the champion of the workers into the next millennium.

Robert "Bobby" Morris

First

Vce-President of the Caribbean Congress of Labour and a former member of the Barbados parliament.

* JUNE 1999

a o o o o o o o a

The Credit tlnion Movement:

Retrospect and Pfospect "Can a third sector grow in the west between the forces of big business on the one hqnd and the state on

the other, based on co-oPeration, in which people will have more control over their working lives hiring their

movement is witnessing the 'professionalisation" of the movement, and

where there are attemPts to exPand,

Moxine Mcleon

consolidate and amalgamate. Each of these transitions has posed its own peculiar challenges, which the movement has been able to overcome to accomplish the level of achievement which today makes it one of the real successes of which Caribbean

own managers rather than being hired

by them?" AIasdair C toy re ( I

g gO

people can be proud. This success has led many to call for changes to regulatory legislation to ensure greater con-

he provocative question Posed by Clayre is one that was asked about worker-managed cooperatives, however it is one that can be asked of the regional credit union movement. Credit unions, from their birth, have contributed to the realisation of the financial dreams of the poor and later the new middle class in

trol of a

resources.

The origins of

and

of resource Pooling which not only in the co-operits origins had

losophy

of Rochedale and but in the comfathers, other founding practices collective munity-oriented,

ative principles

has witnessed several transitions: early phase where member-

'The ship was PredominantlY working class, and size of amassed resources

run the daY-to- daY oPerations. The consequence

of this was the con-

straints this situation imposed on expansion on one hand, and the important social role that credit unions

in bringing individuals

and

reflected this realitY.

played

The middle Phase when there was heavy reliance on volunteers to

communities together. ' The current Phase where the

union

their o purposes' ' Olga Grant, writing about the his- o o tory of the co-operative movement in Guyana, cited several instances ofco- o operative practices among Amerindi o ans, Africans and Indians. She iden- o tified for example the collective pur- o chase of a cotton plantation, North- o brook, by 83 emanciPated slaves, in ' 1839. This five hundred acre Proper' ty was purchased for $10,000'2 This o the pra"tice was said to give rise to :

indentured labourers pooled

aPProaches

This socio-economic movement

credit

resources for multiple

of the African "su-su", "meeting turn" among the Amerindians and Indians.

the

has

financial

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a a o o o

O movement in the Caribbean cannot be dated from the period of the formal o registration of the first credit unions' o o even though these constitute the official birth of credit unions. This move- o ment had its origins in the early co- o operative initiatives of the post-eman' cipation period, where ex-slaves and o

evolution of a truly revolutionary phi-

or "box", and similar

movement which

mobilised significant

the Caribbean.

This article traces the birth

Page 55

JUNE 1999

a a o a o O

o o a O

a O

o a o a o o o o O

a o o a o a a a a

founding of several coastal villa-ges. She also wrote of the "collection" or "box" system of co-operative credit among Indian indentured labourers. Such systems of rotating credit were and continues to be quite common in sub-Sahara Africa, and were successfully transplanted to the Caribbean and survive in many forms today.

There was also the birth and growth of Friendly Societies which pre-dated credit unions. and which were part of other indigenous efTorts of the region's poor to accumulate capital to satisfy provident purposes of members. Individuals used these funds fbr important events like funerals, weddings and for their children's

education. The credit union movement therefbre grew out of a long tradition of informal collectivism among the region's peoples. The official establishment of cred-

ative legislation, credit unions were

tion) broadlt'follows the lines

established across rhe region."A Study of Credit Unions in Jamaicar reporrs that by 19.13. there were six credit unions operating in Jamaica. the first having been registered in I 94 I . Statis-

laid dowt in Colonial Office Di.spatrltes o[ 29th. Man'h

tics cited in the Handbook for Co-

Operative Personnel In

Caribbean.

By union

1954 there was one credit Barbados, 63 in British

Guiana. 68 in Jamaica and 404 in Trinidad and Tobago. While there were no figures tbr Dominica fbr that year. in 19,52 there were flve and in 19-53 there were three credit unions operating.

The early credit union movement across the region was patterned on a

conlmon organisational and legislative model. As suggested in the docu-

it unions in the Commonwealth in the ment "Co-operatives in 1940s. These developed in response ro Caribbean". prepared by

Caribbean however began

the needs of the working class. out of the efforts of both the church and the Colonial Administrarion. Prior to the enactment of co-oper-

the

Caribbean 1956. give a clear picrure ol' the progress ol' lhe m()\'ement in various tenitories in the then British

the the

Caribbean Commission Central Secretariat in 1954:

developntent ( oj t.o-operutives and co-operltive legisla"

1946

utrct 2:3rd

April

1946

dettlittg u'itlt the <.o-oltsrutit,c movemett in the c'olonies." One of the basic operating principles of the international credit union

movement

is the provision of

on-

going education. Very early in the lif'e of the movement attempts were made to provide training opportunities for credit unionists and pehons supervising the movement, as a means of fostering the early growth of the movement. Prior to the enactment of the Co-operative Societies Act. in Barbados the Co-operative Officer attached

to the

Department of Science and Agriculture was sent on a one month familiarisation visit to Jamaica. the OfTicer was subsequently sent to a six month course at the Co-operative Col-

lege, Stanfbrd Hall, Loughborough. England.

Following the enactment of this le_eislation across the region between 1946

in St. Lucia,

1948

in British

Guiana, Jamaica in 1950 and Barbados in l95 l lbr example. training

o o a o a a o o a a o o o a a o o O

Credit unionists conducting their business in a modern, sophisticated environment. The growth of credit unions then has succeeded largely because they have offered to members a mix of benefits, financial and

nonjinancial, that other financial institutions could not or did not, want to offer.

a o o o Page 56

JUNE 1999

a o a O

o o O

facilities were established. 1951 the UniversitY College of the West Indies, in collaboration with

the Jamaica Co-operative Development Council mounted extra-mural classes and resident summer courses to train participants in basic co-opera-

tive principles. Individuals benefitting from such training were expected to assume lead roles in credit union education and develoPment. The early evolution of regional credit unions was thus very similar to that of credit unions internationally. They operate under very specific legislation, and with varying degrees of government involvement. The extent

of this government regulation or involvement varies however, along a

policy continuum from destructive, neutral, supportive, participating through to controlling. In the first instance such policy is suggestive of hostility to co-operatives, while at the other extreme the

policy environment is characterised

by an attempt to use co-operatives as a mechanism for furthering the agendas of government. It maY be argued that the stance taken by an individual government will influence the development of credit unions in a given country.

In the Caribbean there has been no evidence of any attempt bY governments to unduly influence the development of the credit union movement. It has therefore evolved in a neutral or supportive environment where governments

have sought to

encourage

credit the orderly develoPment in interfere to unions without seeking organithe internal workings of these sations. This has worked to the benefit of the movement. Government's primary role has been that of regulation, this function being performed by a Registrar of Co-oPeratives and a support staff.

The role of the Registrar is to ensure that the provisions of the Cooperative Societies Act are observed. While the Registrar has substantial powers invested in the office bY the legislation, the ability to exercise these powers to ensure compliance, is

constrained by the common Problem of chronic understaffing of the Cooperative Departments. Over the first three decades of the

ing sector. During this period credit unions were perceived as peripheral

institutions outside

mainstream

financial institutions, posing no significant threats to the dominant commercial banking sector.

The relative imPortance of this non-bank financial intermediary varied from island to island. In Dominica, for examPle, credit unions emerged as the dominant financial institution and today have the highest member penetration rate in the entire international movement. The Region's movement also Pre-

of Latin

America and Africa, where credit unions were

dates those

organised in the 1960s and 1970s respectively. The growth of credit unions can also be attributed in part to

of the local, regional and international umbrella bodies.

the efforts

National Credit Union Leagues were established across the Region beginning in Jamaica in 1942, one Year after the first credit union was formed.

life of the Movement, credit unions typically attracted a predominantly

In Guyana a secondarY societY was registered in 1949. These secondary bodies contributed to the develop-

working class membershiP. These were Persons with limited financial resources and with no meaningful access to the commercial bank-

The Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions was established in 1912, as a successor to the West

ment of the PrimarY bodies.

o o o o a o a o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o o a O

o o a o O

o a o o O

a o a o a o o o a o o a o o o Page 57

JUNE 1999

o o

KEY STATISTICS FOR THE REGIONAL MOVEMENT

o o o o o O

a o a o o o o o a o o o o a o a o o o a a o o .o O

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o O

o a o o o

YEAR

MEMBEBSHIF

TOTAL ASSETS SHARES/DEPT

LOAl{S

1972

'172,526

us$44,901,090

$40,748,994

$37,410,023

982

438,873

217, 312,322

213,58,398

1992

912,309

605,856,334

558,1 54,785

843.089.708

779,791 .544

997

242,119,803 735,703,137

1,158,427

1,083,301,084

Table 1. Source: CCCU Annual Report 1 999

Indies Conference of Credit Societies.

sup?ort this

This regional apex body serves to coordinate the co-operative move-

27th Annual General Meeting.

ment in the Region, and acts as a link

between the region and the world credit union movement. It is important to note recent attempts to forge stronger linkages between the financial and non-financial sectors of the co-operative movement, a move that is critical to the realisation of the significant contribution that credit unions can make to meaningful wealth creation based on the co-operative model

of business organisation.

These bodies serve to operationalise another fundamental co-

operative principle. co-operation among co-operatives. They provide credit unions with access to a pool of resources and technical assistance.

Regional credit unions have thus evolved as part of a world-wide network which falls under the World

Council of Co-operative Credit Unions (WOCCU), an internarional representative body. Participation in the activities ofthese national, region-

al and international

bodies affords

individual credit unions and their volunteers, management and staff the opportunity to network and collabo_ rate on specific projects, and general_ ly learn from each other in ways that are beneficial to growth and change in the movement. The past two decades have been a

period

significant growth

the

movement. Statistics of key indicators

at the individual credit union level. and the national and regional levels

claim. In its report to the the

Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions (CCCU), held in Trinidad in

characteristics of credit unions and other co-operatives that perhaps serve to encourage participation, and which may thus partially explain the rapid

1998 presents a pattern of this growth. Table I shows a summary of these sta-

growth witnessed recently.

tistics.

o The pursuance of the goal of passing on surpluses to members

These figures reflect the growth in

the movement in the countries of CARICOM with Guyana and Suriname in the south, Belize in the north, the islands of the Netherlands Antilles

and Bermuda. These Annual General

Meetings and Conventions offer regional credit unions the opportunity share the experiences of others, examine best practices of other credit unions and explore new challenges facing the movement and the regional

economies.

rather than seeking to generate a large profit on the deployed capital.

The identity principle as a motivator. Credit unions are characterised by the unification of two roles that are otherwise separated by the market. In other words the supplier and the customer are identical. . Amalgamation produces market

power and larger scale operations. Both of these permit cheaper products and services.

The success of the movement has been attributed to many factors, both internal and external. In Barbados for

example, some have sought to attribute this to the offering

of tax incentives to encourage savings in the 1980s. Such an oversimplification of causation ignores the contribution of the Movement's members, leadership and paid staff.

Credit unions are attractive for reasons beyond the tax credits they may offer rhe individual. Novy 4suggests that "the co-operative type of economic self-help is an active form of the worldwide struggle by the underprivileged to emancipate them_ selves. The chance of success for this type of self-help lies in mobilizing rhe victims of this situation...."

He goes on to identify

These

include:

several

These arguments suggest that there are definite internally generated economic benefits to be derived from participation in credit unions, particu-

larly for the working class, low income earners. These are individuals who typically pay little income taxes and who therefore will not be motivated by tax

incentives. Credit unions then were to overcome the stigma of the view held of the traditional commer_ seen

cial bank which was: ..a bank is a poor person's money-box which serves the

rich; by contrast the co-operative is a which

poor person's ,money-box serves the poor."s

Commercial banks in recent times have worked hard to shed this image, and in the process have become very competitive for some members of the

Page 58

JUNE 1999

credit union movement, especially those middle income members who

tion of some of the older and smaller credit unions, which have not been

attract younger members

recently joined the movement primar-

able

ily in response to the tax incentives

because of their small size and inabil-

previously mentioned. The growth of

ity to offer high loan limits or non-traditional services. Many of these credit unions do not have the services of a full-time, paid staff, or sophisticated

credit unions then has

succeeded largely because they have offered to members a mix of benefits. financial

and non-financial that other financial institutions could not or did not want to offer.

Ghallenges to modern Gredit Unions

ing financial systems.

It is critical that governments

information systems.

Within the movement there has therefbre been a call for, and a simultaneous resistance to integration. This issue was the focus of a 1998 Eastern

Caribbean Central Bank forum,

The most recent successes of the credit union movement, that is in the

and development of non-financial cooperatives, which can provide the people of the Region an alternative model of economic enfianchisement, that to date has not been afforded the masses ol' region who continue to function on the periphery of the exist-

"Credit Union Integration and Market Efficiency". At this conference the integration experiences of credit

recognise the real potential of the cooperative model and seek to foster its adoption across the Region. Ultimate-

ly though, one of the biggest challeneges facing the regional credit union movement. is the maintenance of the

fundamental principles

co-opera-

mercial banking sector. There have also been calls for further regulation of credit union activity. Banks have

unions in Trinidad and Tobago and St. Lucia were assessed. It is recognised that this is a delicate issue which cannot be ignored. While there are obvi-

tion. These cannot be sacrificed in the name of growth. competitiveness or efficiency. End notes 1 Alaisdair Clayre. "The Political

developed new products and services which in some instances have sought

ous benefits such as economic and financial efficiencies, to be derived

Clayre A. (ed.) The

from integration, there are many nonfinancial benefits that longstanding members have derived from their involvement with credit unions. The movement must therefore tread cautiously as it seeks to strengthen indi-

last decade, have served to stimulate competitive responses from the com-

incorporate elements typically

adopted by credit unions, for example the computation of interest charges. The provision of tax incentives to encourage saving has attracted middle class professionals to the movement in unprecedented numbers. These

"sophisticated" members

are

demanding more services. Thus as Marion6 suggests: "The role of credit unions in the financial sector development is passing from the formative, introductory phase into a period of broadening and enhancing the financial service options available to its membership." These developments have necessitated the further professionalisation of credit unions as their membershiP bases have grown. There is a need for the adoption of more sophisticated systems of decision making, information management, and investment for example. Many of the newer and larger credit unions have invested in stateof-the-art technology to enhance ser-

vice delivery to members and information management. The movement has however witnessed a Parallel development, the decline or stagnaJUNE 1999

vidual credit unions. increase member participation, and compete with other financial institutions. The success of the credit union movement to date suggests that it is up to the challenges it currently faces. It must now turn its attention to leveraging the resources of these financial co-operatives to encourage the growth

thi$Y' h,orve gf'feredi

mrembers a ffi,ix of - ': .

University Press, 1980. p. I

2 Olga S. I. Grant. Histott'

oJ' the

Co-operative Movement in GultanaCo-operative College Kuru Kuru. p.2 3 National Savings Committee. A Stu$, of Credit Unions OPerating in Jamaica. Working Paper No. 9, p.9 4 Klaus Novy (with collaboration of Ulrich Bimberg &Arno Mersman). Self-Help ond Co-opercttives in Germany-. Friedrich Ebert Stiftung 1989' p.8

System presenta-

beca,H,s,o,

be n ef its..

Political Economy oJ Co-operation and Participation. England: Oxford

of Credit Unions in Financial

credit uniolls...

lergely

of a 'Third Sector"', in

5 Novy et. al.1989, P. 80 6 J. Peter Marion. Building Successful Financial Systems: The Role

Th:O g,IOWth. Of

. has. suG.c,Q@'{,9,#

Economy

Development Prepared for tion to the Rural Finance and Financial Sector Workshop under the auspices of Rural & Institutional Development Bureau of Science and Technology, USAID, Washington D.C. September 1987.

Mu.ritte McLeun is <onsullurtl und

o a o o o O O

o o o a o a o o a a o a a o o o o o a o a o o a a o a o a o O

o o o o a O

o a o o o o o a a a O

a Page 59

o o o o o o o a a o a a a o a o a o O

a o a o o o a o o a o a o a a o o o o o a o o O

o a a a o a o o o o a o o o Page 60

Overview of

Health in the Region hy is health so important to us in the Caribbean'l Beyond the natural human quest for the highest level of health and happiness possible, given one's genetic makeup, environment, and lif'e choices, we are concerned about health because of its impact on social stability and economic viability of the

This article, briefly reviews

Poverty

ord

isation Statistics and Projections. and

als'o play a ms|or

role d

ete rm i n,in

tems and country reports. ,.

Caribbean depend highly upon a healthy population and workforce. Societies depend

fbr

sustainability. The impact of compromised health is felt both in increased health service costs for treating avoidable illness and in

the decline in productivity. loss of employability, etc.

The impact of health status,

.,.

treatment

will

remain critical.

and

have played a significant role in our health status greater emphasis -eains.

on health and well being will be needed as well as systems to monitor them.

However. they

will not replace tradi-

tional mortality and

morbidity

indices. which are needed to monitor

good and bad, affects all sectors of Caribbean society. Thus everyone

impact.

must see that health promotion is

and intervention. Changing social norms related to violence. avoidable

ment of his or her goals. Health is pivotal. Heatth is at the heart of sustainable development. In this sense, Prime Ministers and Presidents are also Ministers of Health, as the decisions they make, have definite consequences for the health of our populations.

injuries. responsible sexual behaviour, and a clean environment, for example.

critical to successful accomplish-

While disease prevention and

Demographic and social

,,,

of the

on healthy individuals, families and

are the Health Conditions in the Caribbean, Caribbean Tourism Organdata from Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC) surveillance sys-

costs.

communities

indices of communicable and chronic disease: the behaviour patterns that underlie much ill health; and emerging health challenges. The main sources of data reviewed

econom ic factors,,

intellectual and economic productivity, and decrease avoidable health care

Economies

status: relevant demographic changes; some mortality and morbidity data as measures of the impact of ill health;

the

sary to successfully implement change to improve health, unleash

reviewed

C. Jomes Hospedoles

Region. health status of the Region and examines implications fbr policy. including the health promotion approach neces-

In this article. the following are in order to discuss health

Social health must receive focus

will become more critical. Use of appropriate interventions: information, communication, legal and fiscal measures and persuasion, will necessitate new ways of working and new partners with whom to work. in the public and private sector.

The countries of the Caribbean are undergoing a demographic transition. Today, both men and women live longer than in the past, with women living on average four to six years longer than men.

The overall population has doubled in the last 50 years, bur the pro-

portion of the population aged less l5 years has been declining,

than

while the population aged more than 60 years has been increasing (figure 1995 population pyramid). This has implications fbr increasing rates of chronic non-communicable diseases. and an increasing need

fbr care of the elderly, who witl

approach one fifth of the population early in the next century. Along with the aging population, urbanisation is a major demographic influence on health status. In Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, for example, most of the population live in urban areas.

JUNE 1999

Checking up on the eyes at a public hospital in an Anglophone Caribbean country. Economies of the Caribbean depend highly upon a healthy population and workforce. Societies depend on healthy individuals, families and communities for sustainability.

This is an increasing trend in many countries of the region, which is

often accompanied

inadequate

housing, overcrowding, fewer job opportunities, and over taxed water and sanitation services. Education is inextricably linked to

health conditions. A healthier population is more capable of educational achievement. Conversely, the success of many health programs dePends on education in personal hYgiene, the development of health skills, and the

timely use of preventive health

ser-

vices. Thus, universal access to basic and secondary education, along with high rates of literacy are fundamental

of death in any description of

betes, suicide and homicide have

health status. In addition, the common causes of death also tend to be common causes of sickness and admission to a hospital, though this does not hold for some conditions, such as mental ill

increased markedly as causes ofdeath in the past 10-15 years.

causes

health and arthritis. Based on data reported to CAREC

by countries of the English-speaking Caribbean and Suriname, the following major conclusions can be made. Crude death rates per thousand population have gradually fallen over the last l0-15 years and potential life lost (YPLL) from birth to age 65 Years have also fallen. The latter is an indicator that takes into account age at

of good health and essential in sustainable development.

death and therefore gives a heavier weighing to causes of death among

Poverty and economic factors

infants, children and Young adults. Overall, chronic non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death. with heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, and injuries being among the top causes of death. Mor-

determinants

also play a major role in determin-

ing health status. TheY helP to determine general levels of income and expenditure, and access to

health care and social services. Many analysts put poverty and ignorance, as the fundamental causes of health inequities.

MortalitY Statistics on death are more complete and reliable than most sources of data, so it is conventional to consider

tality from communicable diseases, however, after years of decline, has been rising since the late 1980s, linked to the epidemic of HIV/AIDS.

In childhood, while infections have decreased as a cause of death, nutritional deficiencies increased.

In early

have

adulthood, dia-

some countries. suicide and homicide now surpass traffic fatalities. In males HIV/AIDS as a cause of death is increasing rapidly, and in several countries, AIDS is now the leading cause of death among men 15-44 years old. In few countries, that is true

for women as well. One conclusion of the above is that while chronic non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of death overall, it is HIV/AIDS, injuries and

violence that are the leading causes of death in people of Young age. These are largely preventable con-

a significant impact could be rapidly made on traf-

ditions. For example,

fatalities and injuries, with an attendant decrease in health care

fic

costs, through the enactment, promotion. and enforcement of seatbelt legislation in all countries.

Risk factors What are some of the factors underlying the major causes of death and ill health in our populations? At one level, the major determinants of

the epidemic of circulatory

disease

may be said to be hYPertension, dia-

o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o a o o a o a o o o o a o o o o o o o a o o a o o o o o o o o o o a o o a o o o a Page 61

JUNE 1999

a o

: a : a o : o ao :o oI I : : a

betes. and obesity. In the landmark St. James cardiovascular survey nearly twenty '-:years ago in T&T. hypertension affected one in four to six persons, and diabetes affected one in six to ten. depending on race. In Barbados, the results of two national sur-

veys, some ten years apart, have shown that adults have become more obese, and that this affects women

more than men. Since obesity is a major risk factor for diabetes, it is unierstandable thar diaberes morrality and morbidity is also higher in women than men-

however, underlies the high level of hypertension, diabetes and obesity? Studies from the Caribbean and all over the world show that habirual diet and levels ofphysical activity are the fundamental determinants which provide the necessary confluence of f-actors for these epidemics to Wha_t

: . a a o a a a occur. These same factors. plus tobacO co use, underlie many preventable a cancers o respect and heart disease. With O that to diet, a fundamental issue is Caribbean populations consume a fat greatly in excess of CFNI nutrient a composition targets for the Caribbean. a Viewed from this perspective. a a {-ew classes of behaviour are the a a underlying determinants of much of o the preventable ill health and unre_ o alised economic productivity in o today's population. Three have a already been mentioned: habitual diet. a physical activity, and tobacco use. O The latter is the second commonest a substance of abuse; the first being O alcohol; marijuana and cocaine rank_ a ing third and fourth, respectively, in o severalpopulation-basedsurveys. If we add sexual health behaviour, a e.g., condom use with non_regular O partners; personal hygiene and envi_ O O ronmental sanitation behaviour; road a use behaviour, e.g., seat belt use; and a conflict resolution, then we have cov_ O ered most of the behavioural determi_ a nants. A final class of behaviour may O be termed health-seeking behaviour, o e.9., vaccination, cervical cancer a smears, hypertension checks, STD

treatment, which facilitate prevention and reduction of the impact of the disease.

Thus we can see that after access

to basic needs are met, such as housing, safe food and water, and sanitation, human behaviours are the fundamental determinants of preventable ill health services, as part of the health sector reform, that needs to be taken

on board.

Emerging and re.emerging infectious diseases In examining this area, let us look

very briefly at the tourism industry, the major engine of economic development of the region. This is an indus-

try that is exquisitely sensitive to news of outbreaks. In the past two years, our investigations of several outbreaks in major hotels have shown the significant human and economic impact that these situations can have

on the hotel, and on the destination. The potential for an inordinate impact has also increased following the advent of the Internet in the Caribbean and the enactment of the European Commission Directive on package Tours.

ln 1996, tourism accounted for some US$33 billion in gross ourpur, 30 percent of the GDP, and most of the hard currency earnings, making the Caribbean the most tourism dependent region in the world. One in four to five jobs were in the travel and tourism industry. Fourteen million stay-over arrivals, seven miIion cruise ship arrivals, and over 1,200 hotels are at the heart of the industry. Predictions are for this to double in the next l5 years. But the future is not guaranteed.

High energy costs, importation of most supplies and equipment, con_ cerns about safety, health and environmental issues all challenge the indus-

try in an increasingly comperitive global environment. In addition. travelers are more quality and litigation conscious than ever where health and

envlronment lssues are concerned. Against this background, therefore, we can consider the situation with communicable diseases. Among the diseases subject to the International Health Regulations, only yellow fever and cholera are a real concern to us. Though yellow fever has not occurred in humans in the Caribbean since the 1978/9 outbreak in Trinidad, the yellow fever virus has been detected in monkeys in Trinidad on a cyclical basis in 1988/9 and in 1995.

New cruise ship links with Brazil and South America also increase the risk of introduction to the islands. and all countries except Cayman Islands, Bermuda, have the Ae. Aegv-pti mosquito, which can transmit the disease. Regarding cholera, outbreaks occurred in Guyana, Suriname and Belize in the early 1990s, but transmission has only persisted in Belize in some rural areas, particularly near Guatemala. For both cholera and yel-

low fever, the possibility of importation into the islands exists and continued vigilance is needed. Observing the three diseases sub-

ject to global surveillance,

AIDS

HIV infection rates in several countries, places the Caribbean cases and

second to sub-Saharan Africa in terms

of HIV prevalence and incidence. In Jamaica,

T&!

Guyana, Barbados,

The Bahamas, the trends of HIV seroprevalence in groups at high risk and

the general population have

been

going up and this does not augur well. HIV/AIDS models, developed by

CAREC in collaboration with the health economics unit at UWI, suggest that

if we do not have more suc-

cess with prevention efforts, AIDS

will have a very significant impacr on mortality in the coming two decades, and that 3-5 percent of the GNp could be spent on AIDS. This is as much as some countries spend currently on health overall.

In issue

considering HIV/AIDS, the

of the conventional Sexually

Transmitted Diseases, which

..open

Page 62

JUNE 1999

the door" to the AIDS virus must be considered. Surveys in several countries have shown that l0-15 percent of sexually active women have chlamydia. Doctors need to know this and treat accordingly. In the face of this rising problem we look at the lessons learned from elsewhere which suggest that it is possible to successfully combat this epi-

Thberculosis, after years of decline, began to increase around the turn of the decade. If we study the

trends, we can see that there have been nearly 600 excess TB cases in the past f'ew year, compared with the previous downward trend. Six countries have had consistently higher rates and these have been the focus of special attention - Suriname, Guyana,

Broad based alliance under strong political leadership is the key

Belize, T&T, Jamaica, St Lucia. In addition, St, Kitts and Nevis and the Turks and Caicos Islands, have had significant outbreaks in the past year. What underlies this increase in tuberculosis and what needs to be done? While HIV/AIDS has con-

to success

tributed to increased TB,

demic.

The main lessons

The Health sector alone cannot cope with HIV/AIDS

. Act as soon as possible- save

lives and money . Prevent infection among those

most likely to contract and spread HIV - prevention multiplier effect

Promote healthy living and safer sex as a survival skill - deregulate

condom sales . People with HIV/AIDS have a key role . Key health sector tasks - STD

services, care for people with HIV/AIDS, improve surveillance of STD and HIV/AIDS

199314

laboratory capacity (particularly smear microscopy), availability of drugs, directly observed therapy, training, and applied research. We have made progress in improving lab capacity and the availability of smear microscopy in several countries. However, there is quite a way to go, and additional resources are urgently needed

address this public health

problem and to reverse the upward trend.

At the global level, malaria is perhaps the most important vector borne disease, though dengue fever is more

common. Within the Caribbean, malaria is endemic in Guyana, Suriname, Belize, Haiti, and the Domini-

CAREC survey of national programs

can Republic.

showed that the infrastructure had weakened, trained staff had left, and high level commitment and funding had waned. This may have been in reaction to the downward trends in

Imported cases are reported every year in the islands. Of particular concern too in recent months and years, however, has been the occurrence of malaria outbreaks and clusters in three

previous years and the common (and

mistaken) perception that we had 'conquered communicable diseases". What needs to be done?

We have identified seven key areas and are incorporating them into a proposal for funding. These include advocacy, enhanced surveillance and

"malaria-free" countries, two of which are heavily dependent on tourism.

Field investigation by

the

MOH/CAREC showed that local transmission had occurred due to Anopheline mosquito species, which are present in nearly all islands. Thus, the need for vigilance and a high index of suspicion continues in order to facilitate early recognition. appropriate treatment, and the prevention of

spread. We cannot afford to have malaria re-established, both for the health of local people and visitors. The vaccine preventable diseases are one area where we have been, and

The Region can boast of higher rates of childhood vaccination than the USA. We have eliminated smallpox and polio, and have been the first region in the world to eliminate indigenous measles, with huge human and economic savings.

JUNE 1999

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a a o o o Page 63

o o o a o o o o a o o a O

continue to be, very successful. Thus we can boast of higher rates of childhood vaccination than the USA. We have eliminated smallpox and polio, and have been the first region in the world to eliminate indigenous measles, with huge human and eco-

nomic savings. In this regard, the of the Pan American Health Organisation must be noted. Of concem now is the occurrence of leadership

o o o a a o a a o a o o o o

for the tourism industry, given

ubiquitous presence of the vector, the

a o o o o o o a o o a o a o a a a a o o o o a o a o a o o

Aedes aegypti mosquito. There are four dengue virus types, dengue l-4, of which three types, 1,2, and 4, have been present in the Caribbean in

Page 64

rubella and Congenial Rubella Syn-

dromel in ,euell countries, which can be prevented by a vaccination campaign. Studies at CAREC have shown that such a campaign would have a high benefit cost ratio.

Of the diseases of special Caribbean interest, dengue fever, a mosquito borne viral disease, outbreaks have been increasing in frequency and intensity in the past

years. This is a disease that has conse-

quences

for the local population and the

recent years.

Last year, three countries experienced dengue fever outbreaks, with T&T having its first major outbreak of

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever. New analyses of our data of the last 25 years show that any one type tends to recur every 8-10 years and causes outbreaks which extend over a 2-3 years period. Thus we were able to predict with

accuracy the switch to type-2 outbreaks which began in 1997 and which were worse in 1998. Type-4 outbreaks in 199912000 can also be predicted. A new factor is the emergence of dengue virus type-3 from the region in the last 20 years, the possi-

bility of

explosive outbreaks

has

increased. Ideally, we need a vaccine while we continue with the efforts to involve communities in vector control and source reduction. Finally, several outbreaks of food-

and water-borne disease in major hotels and some outbreaks in the community in recent years, have resulted

some destinations experiencing cancellations of visitors arrivals, demonstrating the clear link between health and sustainable tourism. We have also seen an emergence of a new strain of Salmonella, S. Enteritidis, in the past few years, that is associated with eggs. This is now the subject of a special research study with UWI. This brief overview indicates that the health status of the Caribbean today, at the turn of the millennium, is

of a complex mosaic. Chronic diseases and injuries co-exist with communicable diseases and social pathologies such as substance abuse and violence, while new emerging and that

re-emerging infectious

diseases th-reaten us, linked to ever-increasing travel in and out of the region. Underlying this are fundamental

socio-economic

and

behavioural

determinants. The analysis strongly suggests that the best way to improve health of the

population is to invest in health promotion, and in comprehensive disease prevention programs. Health promotion includes healthy public policy such as education for all, and measures to combat poverty; genuine inter-sectoral collaboration and alliances; developing and fostering

interventions; the condition or factor being a basic determinant affecting several outcomes, e.g., literacy, diet; a

likely positive benefit: cost ratio; the need for a health promotion approach;

and the opportunity for synergy between sectors in country and between the regional health institutions.

From such an analysis the following priorities emerge: . Poverty and ignorance . Diet and physical activity

Sexual health promotion and

STD treatment

Injury prevention

especially

seat belt and helmet use

o I strong

surveillance and

response capacity

Policy implications Health is broad based and necessary for social and economic development. While the region has made

health gains, much avoidable ill health & death persists. A major impact is possible by acting on key determinants. This would unleash intellectual and economic productivity in our populations and decrease health service costs. Because

the fundamental determinants of health span many sectors, the use of a health promotion approach is essential

in furthering Caribbean Cooperation in Health.

sound personal health skills and behaviours; re-orientation of health services: empowering communities:

1 CRS includes mental retardation, deafness, heart defects, etc.,

and creating supportive environments.

which often results in life long institutional care being necessary.

Health promotion requires that we all become better at advocacy and learn to talk the language of the economic decision-makers.

How do we choose on which health problems to focus, particularly in the context of the new community arrangements and the advent of the Council for Human and Social Development? The criteria for choosing priorities include human and economic

I Dn C. James

Hospedales is the Directori ad interim, of the Caribbean

Epidemiology Centre ( PAHO4VHO ), the Caribbean's Health Monitoring and Disease Prevention Agency.

impact; international implications, e.g., political, trade, tourism, public health; the availability

proven JUNE 1999

o o o o

CARICOM in Educatron:

CXC a Success year secondary cycle. The Council

ince its establishment just over

25 years ago, the

Caribbean

Examinations Council (CXC)

has contributed significantly

to regional co-operation in education. In all aspects of its operations, CXC has brought together teachers, university and college lecturers, subject specialists and resource persons from the public and private sectors to partici-

pate

also offers the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) at the post-CSEC level. Currently the examinations are available in thirtythree subjects for CSEC and in seventeen subjects for CAPE, introduced as a pilot in seven subjects in 1998.

Lucy Steword

The number of candidates has also increased. For the first examinations in June 19'79,30,194 candidates registered for the examinations, and 58,708

activities such as syllabus

development, paper setting, marking

subject entries were received. With the increase in candidates and in subjects offered, in 1998, the Council examined nine subjects in the

and grading.

The Council is now well known for the high quality of its syllabuses,

in its procedures, and valid and reliable examinations to

thoroughness

January examinations: 17,127 candidates registered, and 26,235 subject entries were received. In June 1998,

meet the needs of a changing environ-

ment regionally and internationally. However, the journey has not always been easy. But the determination and vision of educators across the region have helped in the introduction of several innovations that mark the Council's work in carrying out its main regional mandate:

116,465 candidates registered, and 440,301 subject entries were received.

The Council,

"to

conduct examinations as it thinks appropriate and award certifi-

the results

Committees established by each par-

of examinations so conducted." Sixteen countries participate in the

ticipating govemment. Subject panels

cates and diplomas

Council's activities. Membership of the Council includes the Vice Chancellors and representatives of the Uni-

versities

of the West Indies and of

Guyana, representatives of the participating countries and of national teachers associations. The work of the

Council is conducted through the Administrative and Finance Committee (AFC) and the School Examinations Committee (SEC) and its SubCommittee (SUBSEC). In addition, the Constitution provides for National JUNE 1999

are appointed to prepare and review syllabuses and examination committees set question papers, prepare mark schemes and supervise the marking by examiners and assistant examiners.

This very extensive network reflects a regional commitment to a consultative process for the management of the affairs of the Council and for ensuring quality and relevance in education provisions.

CXC offers examinations for

the

Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) at the end of the five-

in its

formative

years, in particular, worked very hard to gain acceptance and credibility in a region where British education traditions and examinations were deeply entrenched. The Council's work was not made any easier by the fact that it sought not merely to replace overseas examinations, but to indigenise curriculum and modify the waYs of conducting assessment.

The main changes, radical at the time, were a switch from norm-referenced testing to criterion-referenced testing; the introduction of internal assessment

school-based assess-

ment; reporting Performance

grades and profiles and the integration of technical and vocational subjects with academic subjects. These changes were new to teachers, parents and emPloYers, and the Council embarked on intense teacher

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Page 65

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o o a O

o o o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o a o o o o Page 66

Top Regional performers in the 1998 CXC Carribbean Secondary Education Certificate at an awards lunction in Jamaica with Governor General, the Rt Excellent Sir Howard Cooke (front row fourth left) and CXC and other education officials. Since June 199g, candidates' results are reported on a six-point grading scheme with Grades l, ll and lll in the new scheme equivalent to Grades I and ll in the old scheme.

training workshops

in collaboration

with Ministries of Education

across

the region. Further, the Council had to put in place controls and procedures

that give all stakeholders

assurance

about international recognition of cer-

tification.

In order to do this. when the first examinations were introduced. the Council contracted chief examiners from the UK and mainly from Cambridge. The Council also obtained assistance from the Education Testing

in Princeton, USA. Through this collaboration, the Council was able to equate grades awarded with Service

those awarded by overseas bodies. In addition to the grades, the Council provided information on candidates' strengths and weaknesses using pro-

files. Perhaps the most innovative fea-

ture introduced by the Council

was

the School-Based Assessment (SBA). This was a proud banner under which the Council marched, since the Council was way ahead of many other examining bodies in taking the plunge in this area. Two former Chairmen. Sir

Roy Augier and Dr Dennis Irvine (1998) noted rhar: 'lt -'as a frequent boast and pardonable exagge ration that in implementing the idea, the CXC was ahead of the English boards. Hov'ever, the innova-

tiort required Council staff to engage in demanding forms of moderation, and teachers have grown increasingl_v restless as

the number of subjects demanding school-based assessment has grown. The teachers claim to be burdened

beyond tolerable limits by the of assignments they have to mark and record. However, the Council remains fully committed to school-based assessment, and efforts are

number

constantl)- made

assist

schools and teachers v;ith its implementation.' (p I 54 ) The Council is looking very seriously at the demands of the SBA since the number of subjects has increased

significantly. In addition, in responding to the need to provide educational opportunities for persons outside educational institutions, the Council has been developing alternative examinations for these candidates. Presently, private candidates can take examinations in 12 subjects in the January sitting. The introduction of examinations for private candidates

JUNE 1999

is in keeping with a regional thrust to provide persons with opportunities for

life-long learning. The Council continues to respond to changing demands and is deter-

to improve the quality

needs

of the region are in its current

efforts to reduce the demands of internal assessment and to work with Governments to provide national examinations for a wider range of abilities.

and

Now that the examinations for

ofits services and products. For example, before 1998, candidates'

CSEC are well established, the Council has embarked on activities at the post-CSEC level in response to a mandate from Ministers of Education for a new developmental model at this level. The mandate is clear that the model should not be a replica of 'A level examination, but rather should provide flexibility in subject options and in access to programmes.

mined range

performance was reported on a fivepoint grading scale. However, educators identified a need for greater dis-

tinction between grade boundaries. The Council has addressed this issue and, since June 1998, performance is reported on a six-point grading scheme with Grades I, II and III in the new scheme equivalent to Grades I and II in the old scheme. Other examples of the Council's sensitivity to the

Between 1980 and 1988, the Council reported to the Standing Committee of Ministers responsible

for Education (SCME) on

the progress of work done in the development of an alternative to the 'A level examinations.

Art

Art and Craft Biology Bookkeeping Building Technology Caribbean History Chemistry Clothing and Textiles Craft Electrical/Electronics English A English B Food and Nutrition French Geography Home Economics: Management Information TechnologY Integrated Science (Double Award) Integrated Science (Single Award) Mathematics Mechanical Engineering Technology Metals Office Procedure Physics Principles of Accounts Principles of Business Religious Education Shorthand and Typed Transcription Social Studies Spanish Technical Drawing Typewriting Woods

standard to the

a o o o o o

from

With funding from the Commonwealth Secretariat, a study was done

which showed wide support for

regional examination, equivalent in

'A level, but differing it in its philosophical assump-

tions and, consequently, in its structure. In addition to the study, consul-

institutions including community colleges and key educators across the

o o o o o

region.

tations were held with the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Univer-

sity of Guyana (UG), other tertiarY

The Caribbean Advanced Profi-

SUBJECTS EXAMINED FOR CARIBBEAN SECONDARY EDUCATION CERTIFICATE

Agricultural Science (Double Award) Agricultural Science (Single Award)

a a o

General General General General General Basic Technical General & Basic General General & Basic General Technical General & Basic General & Basic General & Basic General & Basic General & Basic General & Basic General & Technical General General & Basic General & Basic Technical General & Basic General & Basic General General General & Basic General General General & Basic General & Basic General & Basic General & Basic General & Basic

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JUNE 1999

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o a Page 68

GARTBBEAT{ ADVANCED PBOF|CIENCY EXAMTNATTON {Up TO 20031 SUBJECT Phase

UNITS

Caribbean Studies Communication Studies Functional Spanish

1 unit 1 unit '1

History Information Technology

unit

1st unit 1 unit 1st unit

Mathematics Statistical Analysis

unit

Phase ll Accounting

2 units

Applied Mathematics

1 unit

Biology Chemistry Electrical and Electronic Technology French Functional French History Literatures in English Mathematics Physics Spanish Phase

2 units 2 units 1 unit

2 units 1 unit

2nd unit 2 units 2nd unit 2 units 2 units

lll (for 2000)

Art and Design

2 units 2 units 2 units 2 units 2 units 2 units 2 units

Computer Science Economics Geography Geometrical & Mechanical Engineering Drawing Law Management of Business

ciency Examination (CAPE) was, therefore, born out of the same set of diagnoses that gave birth to the estab-

lishment

Community Colleges;

innovative curricula at the post-secondary level; open access to learning opportunities; and, the push for a

regional accreditation system that enjoys full support within the region, and convertibility across the international community.

CAPE

intended

provide

assessment and appropriate certification for a diverse and rapidly expand-

ing population.

It is envisaged that

the members of this population will prepare themselves for the examinations, using a variety of delivery

modes and in different sequences. The primary objective of CApE is to provide a coherent and transparent

certification, which

recognised

regionally and internationally,

which establishes

and

equivalencies across upper secondary and lower tertiary education in the Caribbean with a view to: clarifying routes to educational advancement; and promoting better articulation between educational pathways.

CAPE is designed to: (a) satisfy entry requirements [o universities and other tertiary institutions B regionally and internationally; b) assess achievement in courses that are equivalent in standard to the

level;

less

narrow and specialised in nature to the 'A level; (d) provide assessment in technicallvocational subjects as in traditional academic subjects; (e) provide for assessment of core

skills;

(f) satisfy the educational needs of a larger percentage of the post-CSEC population; (g) cater ro a wider range of abilities and interests than the 'A' level;

(h) allow for flexibility in choice of subjects and in time and place of study;

(i)

address the manpower needs

JUNE 1999

the region. The provision of tertiary education in the Caribbean region is a source of

great concern.

At their

meeting in

Because of the need for assurance

the Council can assist at national level

about international recognition, the

in syllabus development. provision and administration of examinations, training local persons in assessment

courses. At all stages in the develop-

procedures, and analysis and research necessary for improving the quality of education at all levels. In recent times, the Council has already undertaken some of these activities. It is hoped that this collaboration and partnership

stipulated content for an 'A level offering is incorporated in the 2-Unit

Montego Bay, in July 1996, Heads of Government, recognising the imperative of tertiary education and training for the development of the Region, set the target for an increase in the enrolment of graduates to tertiary institutions from the secondary education system at 15 per cent to be achieved by the year 2005. CAPE responds to

the region in the development of

this mandate by providing flexibility

CAPE, in order to realise economies,

and the opportunity to increase access to quality education at the posrCSEC

increase enrolments and maintain high

level.

Council, Sir Keith Hunte (1999),

ment.

noted that:

As a CARICOM institution, CXC has benefited from the guidance and

Flexibility

in CAPE is of

realised

ment of CAPE, extensive consultations and regional and international scrutiny take place in order to ensure quality, thoroughness, relevance and marketability. The Council is collaborating with

the tertiary education institutions in

standards. The present Chairman

1- and 2-Unit

'ln the light of the severe eco-

A l-Unit course requires 120 contact hours; a 2-Unit course

nomic pressures that are being

requires 240 contact hours. A candidate can opt for breadth by selecting several l-Unit courses and for depth by doing 2-Unit courses. For

respective governments, we should always be exploring the best ways to achieve our objectives in the most cost-effective

through a structure courses.

example,

a person wishing to

spe-

cialise in the Sciences can take the 2Unit courses in the Sciences but may also wish to take a l-Unit course in Functional Spanish or in the Management of Business. Quality is achieved through inputs from experts and other resource persons in the various disciplines, so that

the syllabuses have the

required

breadth and depth, reflect current thinking in the disciplines and incor-

In several areas, the lack of critical mass leads to the incurring of the high unit cost

for development, test construction and administation of examinations.

is to provide opportunity for

persons

also

allow candidates to pursue ancillary, complementary or contrasting subjects without prejudice to the main area of specialisation.

JUNE 1999

regional effort, and to what is certainly a success story in regional co-operation for human development.

common agenda in relation to

the courses that should be to assume joint responsibility for syllabus offered, we ought

examinations.'(p 13)

to acquire generic skills. They

all stakeholders across the region for the invaluable contribution to this

In the areas where we have a

core courses:

Spanish; and, Functional French. The purpose of these core courses

ments. Despite economic pressures, regional governments remain firmly committed to education provision at all levels. CXC has also benefited from the hard work of education officials, lecturers, teachers and other educators, and a pool of resource persons from across the region. Thanks to the policy makers and to

mode.

benejits to be gained by common regional or sub-regional

Caribbean Studies; CommunicaStudies; Statistical Analysis; Information Technology; Functional

increase as the region makes a concerted effort and takes systematic short- and long-term measures to ensure that it has the human capital to meet its developmental needs in a highly competitive global environ-

intervention of the CARICOM Secretariat and from the support ofGovern-

exerted on the budgets of our

porate elements to meet current and anticipated needs of the region within a global context. The programme is also enhanced by the inclusion of six

tion

will

onstruction and

deve

End notes

lopment

but consider redefining

the

Examinations

bados

2. Augier, R and Irvine, D (1998). Caribbean Examinations of

The Council is at the service ministries, institutions and public and private sector enterprises. The established practices, wide network of educators at regional and international levels and the investments in appropriate technologies are assets on which the various bodies can draw.

For example, in order to

Caribbean

Council (1999). Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations. CXC Bar-

realise economies and ensure regional and international currency of certification,

Council

Examination Systems in

Small States. Commonwealth Secretariat, London. Bray, M and Steward,

L (Eds)

Dr. Lucy Steward is Registrar of the Caribbean Examinations C ouncil.

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o O

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Surinzrre

A Melting Pot n spite of everything you might have heard about Suriname, my country, paradoxically the essential nature of Suriname is spiritual. You might have the impression that we, the Surinamese people, feel ourselves defined by political, economic,

cobalt blue and yellow butterflies appear along the riverbanks and all sorts of exotic orchids, birds, fish, deer, giant otters and black jaguars

t Eugenie

can be encountered. Some of us, who went to school in

Eersel

the Northern. colder regions of the world, while trudging through half

social or cultural indicators; but every

Surinamer knows that by virtue of being born in Suriname we acquired

an extra 'guardian angel',

Amerindian spirit guide, who will never leave us no matter what our eth-

nic origin may be. In pre-historic times a Pygmy-like people called the 'Surinen' appeared to be living in the territory of Suriname.

They melted over time into other Amerindian tribes, Caribs, Arawaks, Warau's. As you may have already suspected our country Suriname is named after the Surinen. The name of our capital Paramaribo (bo = city), is

also formed from a word from the Surinen tribe, 'Par-Mur-Bo', and it means City of Flowers. Some one thousand years ago, several Amerindian tribes inhabited our present territory, and it is firmly believed in Suriname that although they are physically no longer with us, their spirits have remained with us and guide us. Of course we came from the Old World with our own set of spirit guides, be they African, Asian or European; we just received an extra

local guide for the unfamiliar Wild Coast of South America. Actually we think that all who live in what is former Amerindian territory must have an Amerindian spirit guide although you might not be aware of it and

therefore not in touch with that part of your spiritual nature.

The Amerindian spirit world of of two types of Amerindian spirits: The Watra-Ingi and Busi Ingi. Symbolically, Watra Ingi's are the sedentary, socialized spirits who are 'living' in villages alongside rivers in stratified spirit Suriname consists

societies. Among them there are Captains or Chiefs, who are very authori-

tarian. For instance. the Chairman of

the National Democratic Party

and

Advisor of State, Mr. Desire Bouterse, is considered by all Surinamese to possess a strong Amerindian spirit -euide.

The symbol of the Busi Ingi is the hunting and gathering Indian, living

melted, dirty snow on dark November afternoons, could not believe that we ever took Suriname for granted. Pulling our woollen hats deeper over our half frozen ears, we feared we suffered from a mirage, thinking that a place like Suriname really existed.

Another slight turn in vision and time will change this green, lush, brilliant paradise into a place of severe suffering by its native and imported populace during colonial times. It is hard to believe that the harshest form of New World slavery was identified by social scientists to have existed in

Suriname;

punishment

was a form of severe slaves to be dis-

for

patched to then Dutch Guiana to work on the numerous and prosperous plantations for the cruel Dutch slave masters.

The reason for their inhuman

in small bands, very egalitarian, independent, mysterious and self-contained. It is not easy to know the Busi Ingi spirit, because the jungle is its

described as a state of borderline mental illness that guided the slave owners

habitat.

in their fear of the large numbers of

The spiritual understanding is that Watra Ingi's are very smart but Busi Ingi's are even smarter. What Amerindian spirit guides you? Slightly turning the kaleidoscope of Suriname, we envision the greenest and lushes landscape ever seen, where

in its many dark and tranquil rivers electric eels live, blue frogs and huge

treatment

slaves has even been

slaves that had just left Africa or were

sent

Suriname as punishment. It

would not have been possible to

completely sane and at the same time

exist

in a society of

such a bestial

nature, and yet produce commodities for the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is then that the Amerindian spirits came to our rescue?

JUNE 1999

o o o o o o o a a o o o o a o o o o o o a o O

people are possessed, by the spirits of horses' The Surinamers of Javanese extraction perform the 'djarang kepang', a dance in which from all the regions of the world' by skains is chaiacterised neighbours;, country's culture, like most of its Caribbean

war going on between maroons, runaway slaves, living in Maroon societies in the interior and the colonial rulers. To put an end to these wars the colonial rulers had to conclude peace

Large numbers of local Amerindians had died when the Dutch initially enslaved them to work on their plantations and others did not survive the strange viruses imported by the Euro-

peans.

treaties

True to historical fact, it has to be stated that Suriname was settled by the British in the 1630's and alternated between Dutch and British possession until 1815, when the TreatY of

fighters. The Dutch were not able to defeat the Maroons and lived in constant fear of them until abolition of slavery in

Vienna formally awarded it to the Dutch. Surinamers still speak an English-based Creole as lingua franca, which originated from the times of British rule. In 1863 when slavery was abolished in Suriname, only 33,000 slaves were alive whereas more that 300'000 had been imported since 1667.

All

during slavery there had been

JUNE 1999

with the Maroon

guerilla

1863.

The pacified Maroons and their

till

now, have a sPecial position in Suriname since colo-

descendants, up

nial times,

because

of the Peace

treaties they concluded with the government. Although they were considered to be and still are Surinamese

nationals, they have sPecial legal rights: they have their own traditional

administrative organs, collective

rights on their lands and some judicial rights over their subjects living in tribal communities. In recent times this has been the cause of serious Problems within the process of modernisa-

tion and integration of traditional groups in Suriname.

After the abolition of slavery the planters in Suriname decided to intro-

duce East Indians as indentured labourers. There were also experiments with indentured labourers from

Portugal and China, and later from Dutch East India now Indonesia. Our picturesque Maroon villages,

our enormous varietY of languages spoken and our quaint ethnic diversity

are

all not only Part of our inheri-

tance, but also silent witnesses of the harshness and strife that the populace of Suriname was put through in quite

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o a a o o a o a a o O

o o o o a o o o o a

c a

a a a o O

recent times.

Although the Africans

Suriname surely suffered the longest and

the most, through the dehumanising treatment by slave-owners, the indentured labourers did not exactly live in paradise. Most of them had to physically inhabit the same slave quarters as the Africans and as foreigners, who did not speak the local lingua franca, they were extremely isolated and left to the whims of plantation owners. There were also several revolts among indentured labourers. Not all indentured labourers came to work in Suriname of their free will. Some of the Indonesians had been kidnaped from their villages

and

boarded on ships, never ever to return to their families and country again. (My old Javanese Aunt, Sia, now long gone, told us as small children, how this happened to her and her girlfriend)

Only the Christian missionaries who advocated patience, longsuffering and reward in the here-after were allowed to work among the slaves. The Catholic priests with their egalitarian dogma only had permission to win souls among the free and freed slaves.

Expressions of African culture and

religion were forbidden in Colonial times, but remained alive and later enveloped larger and larger parts of the population. even becoming integrated to some extent within Christian beliefs and practices. With the budding awareness of

cultural identity after the

Second

World War and a form of partial independence in Suriname, a higher spiritual awareness among all ethnic groups in Suriname started to mani-

fest itself. Our cultural assertiveness has not always manifested itself in a peaceful manner, but it managed to

capture everybody's attention

each other more, maybe each through our greater cultural assertiveness. In recent times the composition of Suriname's population is as follows: Approximately 37 percent is made up by Hindustani (decedents of East Indi-

ans); Creoles including African descendants and people of mixed African descent make up 3l percent; Javanese (Indonesians) l5 percent, Maroons 10 percent; Amerindians 2.6 percent, Chinese 1.7 percent; with the

remainder being of European and Latin descent. We are all multi-lingual, each one of us speaking at least two languages, but most of us three or more. We all

are familiar with and enjoy each other's cultural expressions as manifested in food, music, language and

The Winti Gulture Most importantly there has been a merging in a metaphysical sense.

A good example of this is the African Winti Religion that exists in Suriname. Although almost all Cre-

oles in Suriname identify with

Christian religion, most of them are sensitive to the Winti-culture. and all other ethnic groups are familiar with elements of this system of belief. The basis of this religion is that we

are all manifestations of a composite

o o a o o o o o a

of spirits that guide us and sometimes misguide us. When there exists a discord in our

spiritual composition this has to be remedied in order for us to lead healthy, happy and prosperous lives. The remedy lies in a number and variety of ritual procedures as discerned

by a 'bonuman', a medicine man or Winti priest. The bonuman is a healer who is able to 'see' the origin of all

Page 72

ed to learn to know and appreciate

arts.

a a a o o a o a o a o o o

o o o o

each

time they visited Suriname. At the same time, another process started, or raiher continued, at a somewhat higher pace. We citizens of Suriname start-

A Bush Negro woman husking rice with mortar and pestle. one of Suriname's cultural expressions is manifested in its foods.

sicknesses and misfortunes in the spir-

it of his patient or in the environment JUNE 1999

and

o o o a o o o o o a a

enter the New Year

spiritually squeaky

o o a o a a o o a o o o o o o a o o o o o o a a o o o o o a o

Paramaribo is dotted with buildings of historical significance. One such is the tallest wooden cathedral of South America.

or family of that patient

ally of all the evil of

The 'winti' or spirii of the client can ask through the medium of the bonuman for a certain ritual, be it a rit-

the past year

ual herbal bath, a ritual meal, a ritual party or certain jewelry to wear. There are also rituals to ward off certain insults to the spirit, to bless and to

clean.

appease.

The bonuman has treatments for

evil things that happened maYbe in former generations, and for the expulsion of evil spirits there also are certain treatments.

Tied in with winti rituals is the Kawina music. For every 'winti' or spirit there exists a different drum beat, dance and song. It is the drum that talks to the sPirit and asks it to honour the bonuman with its presence in the ritual play. Only in this case, if the spirit is present at the ritual, will the bonuman be able to cure the Patient.

The blending together of culture and the existence of different cultures with and next to each other is demonstrated by the Surinamese cultural

group'Alakondre'. Alakondre

means

something of everything. This name is perfect for this musical ensemble, since it not only comprises Creoles, Hindustani, Javanese, Chinese, and

Amerindian rhythm, but also

songs

and dances, which is enjoYed bY all races in Suriname. The very PoPular group performs in and out of Suriname.

Although having a bath with 'sweet water', a bath PrePared bY a bonuman with lovelY smelling oils and flowers, on New Year's Eve used

to be a Creole tradition, every old years day on Government Square in Paramaribo there is occasion for all Surinamers who wish, to collect some of this water to wash themselves rituJUNE 1999

Another tradi-

tion that is

now

Surinamese but originated among the Chinese, is the

of fireAll of Suriname will be shooting

work.

involved on New Year's eve in the shooting of fire

works, with

the

intention of driving away the evil spirits of the Old Year and

welcome the New for all

Year.

In Suriname the act of undergoing ritual treatments prescribed by a bonuman,

in no way

Prevents us Suri-

namers from being enrolled

in Kun-

dalini Yoga-classes or in the practices

Transcendental Meditation. More examples of the integration in Suriname is the fact that the whole population was mesmerised bY the TV. series of the Ramayana and guests had to be excused for those hours.

don't think there is one single

new awareness practice existing in the world that is not eagerlY embarked

Suriname, be it Reiki; Feldenkreis; Bach's Flower therapy; any form of meditation; each and

upon

every religion; all kinds of alternative and herbal medicine; healing Javanese

ills.

sPirit. other indiscriminately anything that we think will work to solve a certain problem or just for the fun of it. The blessing of Suriname lies in being so richly diverse. We have turned an initial disadvantage into an exciting adventure and made a virtue out of being different. We, who firmlY believe that we are guided by Amerindian spirits, do not want to get rid of anybody who makes up the microcosm of Suriname. We are very glad to have established a community where all races can live in peace with and next to each other. We love all of us. We have merged in the

will borrow from

massage, Hindustani pandit massage

I Dr Eugenie

and medicine; Chinese medication; African herbs and bitters; acupuncture; Korean massage; faith healing;

Republic of

prayer healing; the latest fashion and fad being aloe vera as pesse part out

each

Eersel is Counsellor

the Embassy of Suriname in the

GuYana.

'o o o

'o o o o o o o o

Page 73

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Page 74

CARIFESTA:

Doing it Our Way This article was written after the stag-

ing of

first

Caribbean festival Arts (CARIFESTA) in 1972. the

he slave masters were absent. There were no whips, no foreign magistrates of taste of art,

itself. It was Amerindian,

t Komou Brothwoite

mrssronanes or sergeant majors. No-one had to shoe-shine-boy, shimmy or show his teeth at the sun over

his shoulder. There were no EuroAmerican camera crews, no anthropologists taking notes. It was Sam Selvon, Trinidad novelist and Sparrow our greatest balladeer, who summing it up, told an observing journalist, "look man, it doan matter how we do things here; is our thing and we goin' do it our way, unnerstan?" Three weeks:22 provinces of the

circumambient Caribbean: 4,000 artists: audiences of 10,000 every night: children everywhere . . . CARIFESTA was Emancipation Day come True; a collective declaration of independence; the first ever meeting of Caribbean people. One of the finest poems, accepted with tumultuous applause during the

festival, was "Wan Bon" (one Tree)

by Robin Ravales, better known as Dobru (his alias), written in Sranan (the Surinamese lingua franca): Wan bon someni wiwiri wan bon (One tree So many leaves One tree

)

Wan liba someni wQn se

kriki ala

e go na

(One river So many creeks All are going to one sea) Wan ede someni denki. .

Caribbean, Sino-Caribbean, albino, mulatto, mestizo or just plain visitors and fellow travelers, but it was not one people. Or rather, the area was looking through the wrong spectacles

Euro-

Caribbean, Afro-Caribbean, Indo-

into the wrong cracked mirror of recognition. (One head so many thoughts ...) Wan gado someni fasi fu anbegi hem Wan Tata. (One God So man1, ways of worshiping One Father) Wan pipel someni wiwiri so meni skin someni tongo (One people So many hairtypes So many skin colours So many tongues) Wan

pipel

(One people)

Dobru did not sound one nation; he said one people. The distinction is important. People can be welded into

a nation; but there can be no nation

until there is knowing.

possessive

The fault lay

ourselves. It

stemmed from the tale that a black man was no man, living in no-mans land. It came too from the lie that our loveliness could escape only into the established schools. That being nopeople, there was no art or culture of the people, by the people, for the people. It took us Tacky, Garvey, Malcolm, Fanon and Martin Luther King to get rid of that first mis-interpretation. Our poets, painters, novelists and sculptors have been working on the second: Sherlock, Lamming, Broodhagen, Walcott, Guillen, Kapo, Kitch...

Turn sideways now and let

sense of peoplehood.

them see

In the Caribbean today, it is important to grasp these distinctions, since they represent alternative possibilities. As ex-colonies, ruled politically from and by a distant European

What loveliness escapes

metropole that was once interested mainly in commercial exploration and

socio-psychological control; the area's first instinct, on achieving independence, was to seize that metropolitan style of control and wave it like a magic wand over shattered islands. It didn'r work. And it didn't work because there was no "kingdom of our selves". The Caribbean did not know

the

schools; Then turn again and smile,

And be the perfect answer to those fools

Who always prate of Greece andRome... It was a long time coming. There had been profound re-assessment among Caribbean people about themselves. Explosions inward: Soul, Afro,

Drum, Rock, Haiti with Vodun, Martinique with Cesairo, Trinidad with steel-band, Jamaica with Reggae, Suriname with Dobru, Chin a Foeng JUNE 1999

and Micheal Slory. .

people do not become committed until they know who their real great grandfathers are.

Drums! . ..

It is the tension

between

Just where my words Cqnnot reach my fingers I.feel poems living . . . Just where my words

and consciousness: politics and culture; nationhood and race;

Cannot reach the heart of

government and people, which

the drum The sun is rising

makes the Caribbean fragile,

these two modes

complex, so unique. The movement towards being Bajan, Surinamers or Honduran, is always co-incident with and paradoxical to being black (Afro-Caribbean), brown (Indo-Caribbean), white (euro-Caribbean) or Amerindian. And we have the mixing of these

And Elizabeth Clarke of Barbados, still only 19, can already state, with wisdom as ancient as the cane fields: De massa say dat we doan

belong to he and we ain't have no place in he land.

counter-considerations: the fragments of the past that exist within our soci-

Dey say we belong hey'. Dis is we land.

In dis land we brek up de groun' an' grow crops, buil'we houses start fomilies an' we

ainl doin'so bad.

In foc' we mekin'

eties and ourselves. Governments can and do legislate against class barriers: taxation, school

But new classes arise: meritocracy, technocracy, systems, housing.

uncle's children. Governments can and do legislate against colour (ethnic to beaches,

discrimination) access good

progress But we ain't happy.

In de back o'we minds dey is de feelin'dat hey ain't we real home.

for the use of certain words, but our prejudices mutate like viruses riding antibiotics: anti-long hair; anti-rasta; anti-tie

open clubs, penalties

head.

Governments can and do legislate

Sho it belong to we an' all dat But now an'denwe does get a

to help the sense of being local: buY local, work permits, common market.

fe e lin' of home s ic kne s s

But what price the local Product? How good, how long-lasting, how respected; what value for whose money? Who will write the new local

especially, Mudda Africa, when we hear we come from

you.

textbooks?

And this is what CARIFESTA was about. Home, which is here, we realised at CARIFESTA, is not onlY

nowl but past, spirit, ancestor. Our heaviest conscience of history; how we dream, how we build, how we gmw root and trunk and offsPring. What above all I wish to stress is that CARIFESTA involved those present in a sense of cultural wholeness: past, present, future: root and trunk and offspring. This sense of wholeness, however, brings us face to face with certain very real very serious JUNE 1999

of possibility

No. The Alpha and Omega of the new legislation is consciousness: the kind of spiritual energy, craft and

insight we saw released and made manifest at CARIFESTA: to conceive of change; to interpret it; to give it form and content; and above all, to provide it with protection. Change of house without roof, without padlock, would be to invite disaster.

To legislate creatively, therefore, we must understand and interstand' A nation does not become a nation until it is composed of committed people. A

veins. One Nation.

Hopefully culturDiffer-

one people. But with differing al expressions, even in creole. ent culfural ancestors.

The central creative problem in the Caribbean is how to use and

resolve this tension: how to achieve a multi-cultural synthesis of man, soil and sunlight. CARIFESTA was conceived as a significant step towards this:22 polities, presenting as national delegations, the rich varieties of their cultural lives. So, from Suriname came the Djukas, purest of Africans in the Caribbean; came also Hindustani and Javanese dancers. For the first concert of the festival, Guyana presented Amerindian singers, East Indian dancers, andAfro-Caribbean enter-

o o o a o a a a a o o a o o o o o o a o a o o o O

o o o o o o o a o o o o a

O tainers in abundance. O nearly something grasp more But

of haPpened, what was achieved, but what it was representative of: we must take a quick look at the terms culture, multiculture contact; and we must look of the tremendous

imPortance

CARIFESTA: not so much what

o o O O

a o Caribbean o

briefly at the history of the people and ofthe region.

in 1974.

This article was first published

West Indies Chronicle April

Kamau Brathwaite was then Professor of History, lJniversity of the Indies,

Mona.

o o o

West ' o *o

o o

Page 75

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CARIFESTA

From \fhat \fle \ilere Kamau Braithwaite looks back and fotward in this the second of his two articles on Carifesta, to the reverb of Africa and a new Caribbean consciousness.

The East Indians. who came after

the structure had established itseli plot and plantation, came bearing

their own bound inflexible ikons, and adjusted slowly, tentatively; unwilling allies of merchant and planter; but beholden and fearing contact with the

Komou Brothwoite

Culture is, simply, the way of life of a

people; how they think, dress, act, react, and express themselves in art, religion, social lifu. his culture may in the course of time retain its people characteristics, or it may become

national in orientation; defined within

Spain - are almost perfect homogenes. National governments also try to achieve this through political pres-

sure and promptings. sometimes helped by time's erosions.

Plural societies are those where of differing cultures co-exist

black cultural outcasts. Therefore they developed a tension between body and spirit, object

and inject: and on the mainland the Amerindians: crippled, aloof, reserved, inscrutable; their edges eaten by sickness and the plantations's materialism. In North America, also faced with

protected geographical boundaries

people

and developing a controlling political establishment. The culture of black people in the New World of the Caribbean is anoth-

work. The USA is one such culture. Indonesia, the countries of East Africa

down together into one cultural whole

and the Caribbean, are others.

or hell: god/father President, flag, the

er example; a common stem of expression being divided up among various island governments and sever-

al continental states. But the culture of the Caribbean is also unique in that to a degree hardly

ever known before,

is/was

imported/immigrant culture. The true indigeneses (indigenous people) are the Amerindians: folk cultures of forest, river, hilltop, promontory, seashore. The others are transplants, which makes the question of style, origin, ancestry so crucial. The models are uncertain and unstable.

Cultures may also be homogeneous or plural. By homogeneous I am thinking of a context where people who compose the culture, look and in

general think alike: coming from roughly the same ethnic stock; sharing a similar landscape of experience.

Most tribal groups - biblical Jews, Ashanti of West Africa, Basques of

within an accepted political frame-

These plural societies are the result of culture-contact of one sort or another: invasion, immigration, contiguity. In the Caribbean the Europeans intruded upon the Amerindians, prac-

tically exterminated them on the plantation islands and other areas of white settlement. There then followed the

massive importation

slaves

Africans and indentured East Indian labour. What this meant in cultural terms is that the local ancestors were put off, and imported paradigms came

many cultures, there had been the massive attempt to melt them all

national anthem, Gettysburg Address, All Mighty Dollar. In Latin America, a different notion has held sway: all mixtures of Iberia and Amerindia: the

all cultural

mestizo:

no white;

black; no brown; all mixed. In the Caribbean, there has been

no political or theoretical pressure towards synthesis. This, for a long time, made us seem and feel aimless, orphaned, lacking in style, grace, nus. But CARIFESTA revealed and confirmed a new marvelous phe-

to mediate the landscape. The Europeans as military and mercantilist invaders, set up material stnrctures: forts. plantations. courts. prisons. The Africans as slaves were allowed no politics or warriors. But

nomenon. The apparently graceless Caribbean had developed its own way of doing things: a process out of structurel preservation of the essences; radication of the ances-

they brought priests of the spirit, dancers, drums, and the soul. They

entwined ends.

preserved themselves and the circles of their culture secretly, stubbornly, with mysterious process.

ness/possibility: multi-ethnic, multicultural: requires a model more flexible than priest or politician, philoso-

tors; and enrichment of

the

But this kind of cultural aware-

JUNE 1999

pher or the schools can cater for. It requires a deep intransigent cultural chemistry like yeast rising in bread. Such a process, CARIFESTA demonstrated, is already underway in the

African-oriented arts of

the

Caribbean. The ancesffal consciousness of the slave, chattel chain, the sufferer; had

transformed itself on the plantation

until it has become more than a style, a meaning: absorbing syllable into song, pebble and tatter into landscape,

les dammes de la terre into new of god; Ogun, Shanto, I-egba,

shapes

Mama Aisa, Baron Samedi, Yemajaa, mistress of the sea. They spoke from the carvedApinrf drums of Suriname, from the painted aEsator of Haiti, from the entranced congas of Martinique and Trinidad; they leapt outof kumina and queh-queh, and possessed the white dancers of Cuba and Bahai/Brazil. They haunted the stage and watched at us from the painted canvases of Philip Moore, St. Omer, and the Haitians. And it was these and these alone, we came to feel at CARIFESTA, who

would make the link from what we were to what we could become: with Christ and Lazarus, the Virgin, Saint Michael the Archangel; with Vishnu, Shiva, the many faces of Brahma; and the stripped flayed gods of the

The objection most often heard, however, is that the designation is

society and politics as stated so harshly but accurately by V. S. Naipaul, for

wrong: we are not dealing with Afican culture, but with Caribbean

instance, stems from this stony fact: that post-colonial Caribbean society is post-imperial European in style and content; the imitation is built in: top hat, priest, teacher. On the other hand, in order to understand much of our dance, religious rituals, style of cooking, marketing, etc, we have to understand that

and/or negroid characteristics. True: but to a point. Having nominated shango, vodun,

bum-a-tuk 'Caribbean' or 'black', where do we go from there. How do these terms help us to understand the nature of what we are talking about ? 'Negroid' and 'black' refer us back to

Africa, and the

expression

'Caribbean' has greatest value as a geographical nomen. So to understand the Caribbean as a living complex, we must consider its culture and the nature of that culture. When we turn to its infrastructure, we observe certain orientations, corresponding to the indigenous and immigrant strata, which compose the

whole.

There

is little question that the

plantation and political structures we have inherited are 'Caribbean', but they are more meaningfully EuroCaribbean.

They were brought here from Europe, adapted by Europeans to the local requirements of a slave society and were developed from this for the benefit of Europeans at home and abroad. The imitative nature of our

we are observing fragments of an African tradition. The 'grunt', 'pant', 'shout', 'gibberish' we hear at a shakerlshango service, for example, seems 'animal', 'vulgar', 'debased' to those who expect black people to behave in this way. But if we realise that these grunts, pants, and shouts have attested

psycho-religious significance; that the whole choreography of service is based on an ancient model of worship; that the 'gibberish' is often miracu-

lously African words and phrases uttered by persons who in more 'normal'conscious states do not 'know'a syllable of Twi or Fante or Kicongo (though it is surprising how many people in the Caribbean still speak African languages), then we may begin to recognise that we are dealing with phenomena of considerable richness and exportnnce. But first we in the Caribbean will

have to

rid ourselves of

Amerindians.

our prejudices,

That the ancestral consciousness ofAfrica is central

and fears about Africa.

to the Caribbean is and should be by now quite obvious. There is the fact that the majority of people in the area

plantation are

of African

decent.

In my last article I argued that of all the cultures that constitute the region, it is the

African culture of

the

Caribbean which has so far proved most dynamic, adaptable and capable of building bridges and links of style and spirit among the plural cultures of the region.

JUNE 1999

myths

Africa, in the minds of most black, brown or white, is the 'Dark conti-

nent':

incontinent

domain of Tarzan and the

Phantom, inhabited by pigmy, fetish and cannibals, the shameful place

from whence we come: 'would you let one of them marry your daugh-

ter?!'

It is our id to be

suppressed.

Under this aegis, no good could come out of Africa: no wheel, no hero, no saint. As Bryan

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o O

o o o o o a o o a o o

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Edwards, l8th century Euro-Jamaican historian

material. But the censors

said in his monumental His-

packages: choral groups,

sent us these

'slavery was a blessing for

hounfor; dancers, wellschooled, from school, afraid to accept the full brunt and message of the drum, shirking the spin, shrinking from rib-cage

the African, since it brought

him into civilization: westsweetness

and light.' Many came to

believe this.'Education' was a good thing. This

shock, scared of the attack of head and hip. Tapping

meant Europe's education: good manners, good books,

instead; softly smiling; conscious of body-line, swathed in our tropical colours. In some of these

the best that was thought. Good looks meant looking like massa an'massa's wife;

Aunt Sally. Good

speech

territories (Anglophone as well as French and Dutch), impressarios combed the

meant you and not wunna;

eat and not nyami this an' not dat. Good hair meant combs, cream and wigs for the not naturally more 'for-

countryside, not to 'discov-

er' talent for CARIFESTA

tunate'. The European culture

the Caribbean, in other words, had become the model of style and excellence. A mechanistic and

of the gospel. Their products: (words) were not decent enough; (dance and drama) were not polished enough:

material culture had become the

(religions) inarticulate.

model of style and excellence. For no

matter what spiritual achievements there had been within Europe up until the Renaissance (and the record is

magnificent), the alter-Renaissance

of exploration and exploitation worshiped gut and gun and marnmon. And so we in the Caribbean drifted further into imitation, stasis,

despair: importing experts, importing

tourists and terrorists: moving forward into nothing, into no thing, into no man's space: losing steadily to

glossy

sweating out in trills, the harsh hoarse notes of the

tory of the West Indies

ern plantation

Hence the revelation

CAR-

IFESTA. Progress, possibility, despite the cultural censors. For CARIFESTA, make no mistake about it, was still a proCuct of our pain of the plantation. Government committees, Arts Councils, Ministries of Culture had to sit and decide: who was to go; what was to go; would this be representa-

tive, would that bring credit to the nation? And there was cultural politics, another product of the plant: the Indian unwillingness to join in, for instance, to really make it all-a-we-isone. And next time, God forbid, a

(although a few infant steel pan wonders were), but to commandeer the folk to teach the 'brown', the more 'refined' how it should go at tea-meeting, country wedding, nation dance. Not there-

fore uncut gems, but

censored

glimpses of these gleams: concession to the former master's gaze. But despite this censorship, this subtle Euro-lean, the difference was clear at CARIFESTA: authentic aim, not mimic/monkey man. Drum stamp whirl circle: alternatives of style, of shape, of use of energy. It was a far way from Tennyson, Tchaikovsky, the Thespians, as you would ever get. It was the revelation of the alternative:

that we people and nation of the

When this model, in recent years, emerged clearly warped and tarnished,'Caribbeans', like Euro/Americans themselves, began looking for alternatives: the creole ethic of Latin

CARIFESTA at Montego Bay: a feast of dollars.

Caribbean could express ourselves with the flagrance of volcanoes, with the gentility of lakes, with the reverb of Africa.

Cultural censorship, some say, was particularly noticeable with the Bajan contributions to CARIFESTA.

I This article was first published in West Indies Chronicle September

America; the ideological stance of Cuba; the Americanised bootstrap of Puerto Rico; the melting pot static of

But in many of the other presentations at CARIFESTA (other than Barbados, that is), there was also evidence of

the Protestant establishments. But

this.

never a look to Africa. Never a look,

There was no question, in these cases, of lack of Afro-Caribbean folk

television, to the movie star, to the syndicated columnist.

that is, to the living submerged people

1974.

JUNE 1999

o o a o o a

A Youth's View

Canbbean Integration aced with a new international

despite numerous attempts at working at it, or pretending to work at it, integration has not come.

While we have continued to put our energies into working out the semantics of the integration movement - the when, where, what and how, basically in an atmosphere of stasis, the rest of the world has changed. We are left to continually play catch-up, and by the time we figure out one bit of the puzzle, it no longer fits the world context. This progression, or change in the configuration of the world, throws up old challenges and much new ones. The enemy has become less definable, but the threat more pervasive.

tion.

the

has

become irrelevant in the present context. With such a score card, can we

called 'free' trade without fair trade considerations. the current tone of the Lome 'negotiations', are all designed as very clear signals of the mood of the new environment. With the deadline for the region to get its house in order for the implementation of related aspects of the WTO, the tone is persistent. It is hard

imagine that

glance at the record

defensive approach, which

the effects of small size or of history but rather against total negation in the world economy. Despite what is written on paper, the World Trade Organization (WTO) poses that very real threat to the Caribbean. The Banana crisis has set a precedent, which will be followed up. So

movement also suggests a reliance on traditional arguments and methodology. This is based on an incremental,

Shontol Munro

Caribbean integration movement must assess whether or not it has the necessary capacity to make the fundamental paradigm shift required for survival in

this new global climate. Traditionally, we have argued with great ferocity that it was the characteristics of size and history that made integration so inevitable in the region. It was thought that integration would provide a buffer against the negative effects of small size and the traditional enemy, colonialism. Despite heartfelt pledges from the governing elite,

suggest signs of willingness but little dedication to task and lack of prepara-

world order which has no respect for history, for size or for ideological diversity, the

with such

distin-

guished leaders in the Caribbean, men of great intellect, that none of them had the ability to decipher the writing on the wall. None of them could see the banana crisis coming.

This present environment

has

even contemplate Alvin Toffler's Future Shock? The proof of this is too numerous to mention. The Ship Rider Affair, the argument over the implementation of

legislation making work permits no longer necessary for certain categories of persons in the region, the inability

to offer any real solution to the Guyana affair, and the list goes on. This is not intended to suggest that the efforts so far, and the small successes should not be counted or celebrated, but rather to suggest that maybe we need to re-evaluate where we are and where we are going.

The movement, from stasis to entry into a new paradigm, is easy enough with the first small step of acceptance that there are fundamental problems which need to be corrected, and issues to be addressed. The law of the dialectic suggests that for any sort of synthesis to emerge there must be a thesis and

already put the integration movement

antithesis. This is of course based on

under test and, unfortunately, it has not even managed to get a passing grade. With the criteria of practical performance, anticipation of world changes, swiftness of an integrated response, effectiveness of such an

the assumption that the thesis is well defined enough to be called such. Do we even know what kind of

The integration movement must come to terms with this change, and the contradictory continuity which characterises the world at this time. The movement must ask itself whether or not it is has the tools to

integrated response and flexibility

offer a necessary bulwark, not against

to change, the integration report card

thesis we are sending out to the rest the world?

Are we clear what we want our integration movement to do? The evidence suggests not, we still discuss

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integration in the context of the old psycho- social argument built on the 'one history,

ition however must be based on practical considerations in the world environment. Inte-

one destiny'analogy. This new

gration about our characteristic globalisation has negated any

era dictates otherwise.

We must stop hiding behind the coat tails of emotionalism and decide that if integration is to be relevant we must see the

such notions.

. An approach which will

allow flexibility in methodology. Enabling nation states to be

movement as not primarily

about creating brotherhood. The creation of 'one love'will be a good offspring, but the movement must be defined in the present and future context. In essence as a strategic mech-

anism not just for survival in

the present, but for ensuring

the

future. Saying this is nothing new Ministers of Governments would agree instantly, hold their hands up in supplication and suggests that this is what they have been trying to do all along. The truth of this, however, seems to have either disappeared in the face of new challenges, if indeed it was ever there, or is buried under the numerous unrealised attempts. It will be necessary, at the outset, to discard certain notions about the integration movement which are hampering its development. We need to rid ourselves of the guilt of outwardly

professing that political integration

will occur. This is one aspect of the semantic argument we can bury in a hurry. The

inward guilt, of knowing that it will never be, is weighing like a noose around the neck of the integration movement. The younger and more pragmatic leadership in the Caribbean has many new ideas and new visions. Unfortunately these do not include acceding any real power to any higher

governing authority. While they agree that the integration movement is vital,

all is well when it does not threaten anything on the home front. This coupled with the fact that the myopic views of the vanguard of the econom-

ic elite in

many regions

the

Caribbean continually reproduces itself, serves to further entrench the stasis. Case in point - the interest shown by the Prime Minster of Barbados in the OECS movement and the possibility of an amalgamation of currencies. The resulting hue and cry by interest groups in Barbados suggested an

ominous aversion to anything entail-

ing progression in the integration movement. After more than a decade of tributes to integration, was this not where we were meant to be going? To this extent, our new Paradigm

from which integration must

viewed must contain an element of maturity in the Caribbean which we have long denied ourselves. By continuing to rely on our traditional relationships and on traditional methods of doing things, we have denied ourselves the possibility to flex our muscle so to speak. Too often we have felt ourselves confined to particular areas of development and sought to cage ourselves in such areas. Lomd is one case in point, as well as certain

trading arrangements within CARICOM.

This new paradigm must be configured based on: o A clear and uncensored evaluation of the present movement . A clear definition of what we want the movement to do. This defin-

free to maximise their individual resources so that the movement can freely respond to changes in the environment. . Innovation in its concepts and goals ( a free trade area within CARICOM comes to mind) A stronger and more powerful

CARICOM. This will involve a reevaluation of resources currently allotted to the Secretariat.

clude that integration

If we con-

important. and CARICOM the main instrument, there should be no quibbling. . A new mandate given to the economic elite, backed up by a rejuvenated CARICOM.

Of course this platform must

based not merely on traditional platitudes, but on real and concrete commitments from governments. It would be instructive to learn from, but not mimic, the European experience. The recent sacking of the Commission for

comrption is one lesson we need to note carefully.

The ultimate inquiry that has been

made presupposes that Caribbean integration is still relevant in the region. Perhaps what is needed is the doing away with the Movement altogether and replacing it with an amalgam of strategic alliances.

A new paradigm, for a New World. Do we have the necessary capacity?

I Shantal Munro is a student at the Faculty of Social Sciences, UWI, Cave Hill, Barbados. a

JUNE 1999

o o o a o o o a

BOOK REVIEW:

\World The New

a o o o

Trade Order firmer negotiating approach in

he book. The New World

Trade Order: UruguaY Round Agreements and Implications for Caribbean States. is the second in the series on

Critical

Issues in Caribbean DeveloPment that is published by lan Randle Publishers and the Institute of Social and Economic Research of the University of the West Indies.

The major author is Frank Rampersaud, assisted by Taimoon Stewart,

George Rampersaud and ReYnold Rampersaud, who collectively bring to bear a considerable degree of analytical maturity and judgment in the treatment of the various issues. The authors draw heavilY on work

by both developing country sympathisers and developed country commentators. The literature survey on the results of the UruguaY Round therefore captures the essence of the challenges and opportunities facing developing countries, and the authors have been at great pains to point out

done

the relevance for the Caribbean

each and every stage of the analysis. The book is timelY in three respects. First, a few Years have

the I JanuarY, 1995 implementation of certain aspects of

elapsed since

the Uruguay Round Agreements, and it may be possible to determine whether the authors' dire predictions are beginning to come to Pass. Second, the develoPing countries are required to start a new round of implementation on I January. 2000. JUNE 1999

the

future. The book should be required reading fbr public and private sector deci-

I Mourice Odle

sion-makers. and those others interin acquiring a deePer under-

ested

standing of trade issues and the -slob-

alisation process. A critical conclusion that appears in several parts of the text is that trade liberalisation d 1tr WTO will not bring immediate benefits to the Caribbean' The "trading system which has historically guided their past behaviour is thst becoming anachronistic" (p.2). This pertains particularly to manuf'actured goods and certain important conrmodities. For example, the lowering of tariff and non-tariff barriers to the rest of the world's manufhctured

The book should be required readinS for

goods entering the EuroPean and

will erode the very access benefits currently North American markets,

priYatc

enjoyed by Caribbean exporters in the relevant product areas. Similarly, the authors Point out that the intransigent position taken by

seGtoI

:; deci$i:oE. t, makoJt,,. '' .,

the USA in the case of bananas is like-

ly to find imitation with

Third, a new round of negotiations

is expected to commence in the Year 2000 with respect to unfinished business in the areas of agriculture and textiles and clothing. in addition to new subjects such as investment and conrpetition poliei. The experiences. and probably false prornises.

ilf earli-

er rounds could verY well intbrrn

respect to rum, rice, and, eventuallY sugar. In this regard, the ChaPters dealing with the WTO regime relating to trade in goods(GATT) and trade in

intellectual property(TRlPS) are of a particularly high quality' One policy conclusion drawn by the authors concerning the erosion of benefits relating to the export of industrial goods is that the Caribbean needs to diversity

o a o o a o o o o a a a o o a o o o a o o o o a a a o o o a a o o o a o o o o a a o a Page 81

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o o o a o o o o o o o o o a o o o o o o o o o o O

o o o O

o o o o a o o o a o o o o o o o o o o o Page 82

into the higher valued segment

lower valued end, inter alia.

For the agricultural sector, an important point to note is

that not only will Caribbean exporters experience difficulties in the future. but consumers

What the Agreement has effec-

tively done is to give suppliers oftechnology, i.e the developed

countries, an even greater monopoly than they already enjoyed.

enforcing their rights,

attitude that should be taken with

whereas the Region has great difficul-

respect to "cross-border supply" and a clear foreign investment policy is necessary in order to be able to make

ty in collecting

music royalties and enforcing rights with respect to geographical indications(e.g. Demerara Rum).

software) protection is for no less than 50 years. There are a number ofpossi-

of bio-resources for

Second, the international agreement is unequal in its implementation

impact since developed countries are

For example, the issue of Electronic Commerce is critical to determining the

out permission from their Govern-

sures.

ipation by Developing

f *ts

reverse engineering is not now possible with the tightening of the compulsory licensing and copyright mea-

cle iv on Increasing Partic-

real analysis of the implications of the four different modes of supply.

Third, "all CARICOM counrries should hasten to follow the example of Jamaica and pass legislation prohibiting the removal of biological

and South East Asian practice of

of "progressive liberalisation" as required by Arti-

Countries. There is also no

*b capable

process, within the context

med*,

Under the new law, a compulsory licence cannot be granted unless the product is neither manufactured nor imported in sufficient quantity to meet market needs. In addition, under

First, replication of the Japanese

made available and the pace of the opening-up

*wT st br

TRIPS is another area to CARICOM and other developing countries are least evident.

CARICOM

financial services). Neither does he offer a view as to the extent of the market access that is to be

rali*

where the benefits

ble implications for

ular industries (such as telecommunications and

*t tr*

subsidies. This seems like double jeopardy.

developing countries.

employed, whether generally or in relation to partic-

f the

in the Region will face higher import prices as a result of the eventual worldwide removal of

Also, a patent holder no longer needs to work a patent in a country (i.e invest) in order to avoid compulsory licensing of the technology to one willing to do so.

tioned. With respect to Services, the authors do not offer a view as to the strategy that needs to be

*us*e #s in

wage countries operating at the

The period of protection of a patented product or process has been extended to 20 years.

probably not as good as the two previously men-

eritl

of the market, especially since it will find it difficult ro compete with certain major low

specimens from their territories withments. This is to prevent the stealing

use by MNCs (multinational corporations) to pro-

duce drugs without compensation to the owner of the natural resource" $.2sa). For developing countries like those in the Caribbean. the TRIpS Agreement comes into force with effect from the year 2003. The chapters relating to Services (GATS) and Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMS) Agreements are

commitment decisions concerning "commercial presence". In addition, there is no evaluative reference to the significance of the Revision of the Treaty of Chaguaramas (in particular, Protocol II: Establishment. Services and Capital; and the net benefits to be derived from the

simultaneous deepening

Regional economic

the

integration process and erosion oftrade diversion advantages associated with global liberalisation,

Similarly, the analysis of TRIMS fails to come to grips with the possible implications for the investment incen-

tives regime that obtains in

the

Caribbean.

Whereas the attainment

local

content and export ratios are necessary for a foreign investor to qualify

JUNE .I999

for benefits under the CARICOM incentives regime, the WTO deems such performance requirements to be inconsistent with the national treatment obligation of Article 111.4 of GATT 1994 since these are mandatory legal or administrative measures "compliance with which is necessary (for an investor) to obtain an advantage".

The WTO has also ruled that the

performance requirements conflict

course

competitive capabilities, which of is ridiculous and absurd no

tence

matter how great the efforts of the former to fill the technological and man-

but not sufficient condition for

agerial gaps. On the contrary, at the same time that the less efficient developing countries are being asked to make the required herculean adjustment effort, the intellectual property rights system is being strengthened to make it infi-

nitely more difficult for there to be easy transfer of technology from the

with provisions of the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) since Article I defines

major sources and potential suppliers of technology to the traditional recipi-

a subsidy to exist, not only when there

ents of technology.

is a direct financial contribution by a government, but also if "government revenue that is otherwise due, is foregone or not collected (e.g fiscal incentives such as tax credits)" and Article 3 specifies the prohibited subsidies to include "subsidies contingent....upon export performance (and).....the use of

domestic over imported goods".

Only developing countries with less than $1000 per capita are exempted from these provisions and perhaps

only Guyana, of the CARICOM States, falls into this category. The

TRIMS Agreement comes into force on I January, 2000 and the relevant aspects of ASCM in the year 2003. A message that could have been

more forcibly expressed by the authors is that the new global rules of trade do not make for a level playing field, despite all the developed country propaganda to the contrary. The only major distinction made between developed and developing

countries

is reflected in the latter

being granted a five year transition period (seven in the case of least developed countries) before being required to honour certain types of obligations. (This transitional period is significantly shorter than that in the APEC arrangement.)

The assumption is presumably of this period, the

that, at the end

developing countries would be equal their

to the developed countries in

JUNE 1999

In this regard, the authors could also have dealt more frontally with the issue of the appropriateness of the

failure of the Uruguay Round Agreements to make a distinction between large developing countries and small developing countries, given all of the latter's diseconomies of size, scope and space, resulting structural distortions and related vulnerabilities. This is especially pertinent given the encouraging acceptance of the concept of "smaller economies" in the FfAA negotiating process, and the not unfavourable reception accorded the Prime Minister Owen Arthur led

Commonwealth delegation

the

WTO and the Bretton Woods institutions in 1998. However, in fairness to the authors, it should be mentioned that the book was completed over a year ago.

For the CARICOM developing countries, the Uruguay Round Agreements and trade liberalisation process remain more

a challenge than an

opportunity, especially since certain preferential advantages are being given up without any compensation or even guarantee that a sufficiently high level of competitive capabilities will ever be attained in order to achieve at least an equalisation ofbenefits. Recent experience of CARICOM manufacturers is not encouraging and reinforces the adage that access to a country is not the same as access to a

market, given the mutative persisof non-tariff barriers. Export

diversification is therefore

a necessary

success in the new dispensation. Creativ-

ity will also be required with respect to agriculture. As the authors have themselves observed,

"it is significant that in

those sub-sectors

agriculture in

which the Region made vigorous

o o o o o o o o o o a a o

political representation in the interna-

tional arena-sugar, rum, bananas-there also existed strong alliances between the regionts producers and commercial interests in overseas markets. This

o a o a o o

factor should be borne

in mind in

future strategies in which CARICOM Governments may wish to pursue in agriculture or indeed in other areas" (p.

l6s).

Finally, a major implication of the study by Frank Rampersaud et al is that developing countries might have conceded too much in past rounds of negotiation relating to the liberalisation of trade at the global level and would need to bargain harder in future rounds. The gravity of this situation is self-evident given the mandatory sanctions loaded nature of the new rules of the game and the assumption by the WTO of powers in the area of trade, that are probably even greater than those (conditionalities) held by the IMF in the area of finance.

For developing countries like those in the Caribbean, the new Glob-

al Rules relating to trade continue to constitute what one may describe as a "persistently uneven playing surface (PUPS)".

I Dr

Maurice Odle

Technical

Advisor CARICOM Secretariat.

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a o o o o a o a o o o a a a o o a o a o o o a o o o o a o o o o o o o o a a a o o o a a o o o o o o a a o o a o a

Tribute to

Distinguished Son illiam Demas will always

lic

be remembered as the distinguished economist, pubservant and revered West Indian

and Caribbean leader. Fate seemed to have dictated his very development fiom his boYhood days through his university and post-

o Lloyd Best

university career to the highest point, serving West Indian nations, all with a respect he had for the common CARICOM citizen. That made him the most popular Caribbean Community Secretary-General of all. Demas was a distinguished scholar and critic of West Indian fame. William Demas, everYwhere in the Region known as Willie Demas, was born on 14 November, 1929 in Trinidad and Tobago. He Proceeded on a 1941 college exhibition from the Tranquility Boys School to Queen's Royal College. ln 1947, he took an OPen Island Scholarship and went on to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1948. Young Demas comPleted the

Page 84

Economics Tripos, after which his

graduate research aPPraised the economies of Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad in the decades following Emancipation, an innovative choice which laid groundwork for the plantation models conceived in the 1960s by

Mclntyre, Levitt and Best. Mr. Demas anchored the field work on the public finances of the

British West Indies territories

and

emerged as a committed West Indian

generation

uninhibited Huggings, as Dudley such regionalists

among

Lloyd Braithwaite, Roy Augier, Elsa

It was a time of hope and golden expectation. Independence and integration seemed indistinguishable. Port of Spain was the Federal Capital, the economics of nationhood - first item on the agenda. At a moment's notice, Demas produced lucid, pointed briefs on complex issues. Apart from his capacious command of material, his ability to subdue and quell the most unruly questions, his forte was the instinctive recognition he engendered among his colleagues and collaborators, not only of technical competence, but also of integrity and devotion to higher purpose. Nowhere is his role as leader and animateur generally more highly

sung, than in the circle of sherPas, who saw him at close quarters and could judge him on evidence: ScottY Lewis, Dodderidge AlleYne, Eldon Warner, Frank Rampersad, Frank Barsotti, Eugenio Moore, Edwin Carrington and Ainsworth Harewood. In successive stages, from different points of vantage, Demas, effortGoveia and M.G. Smith. His university days ended hapPilY for him when, in 1957. he was recruited to the West

Indies Trade Commission in London headed by Sir Garnett Gordon. During the years 1955 to 1957, Demas had pursued research in public

finances at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University. He had been as prepared as possible to face the challenge, when Dr. Eric Williams met him at the Trade Commission, and lured him home to become in effect chief architect of the Public Policy and Planning Office in Port of Spain.

lessly, almost instinctively, knitted together teams of technical and policy experts who unerringly delivered high

quality output, the epitome of public service. By the end of his career, he would have forced observers to coin the term

'polycrat', the low-key but multi-talented, all-purpose, policy-leader; the pragmatic academic in public life who wears the technocrat's face. In 1970. Demas took over as Sec-

retary General of the Caribbean Free Trade Area. CARIFIA. Academic commentators have marked him out

JUNE 1999

.l l

o O

of the Regional Movement and its political leader, in a context where governments are routinely unsupported by politics and can get little done, save making declaraas the effective Atlas

tions.

His partners in the venture have been Sir Alister Mclntyre and Sir Shridath Ramphal, clearly the main

authors,

first of the Treaty

Chaguaramas, then of the West Indian Commission Report, and of everything significant in between.ln 1974, Demas moved on to the presidency of

the Caribbean Development Bank (cDB). From his seat in Barbados, Demas was tireless in his initiative to achieve Regional Integration. ln 1976, he published Essays in Caribbean Integration and Development and in 1976

Consolidating

our

Independence:

The Major Challenge Facing the West Indies. Towards the end, from Kingston, he seized on the ShipriderAgreements

and obliged the islands to put their heads together, even when it seemed too late. Demas' leadership was inde-

fatigable, incomrptible, and inspirational. Nothing, not even his chronic ill heath, could divert him from endeavour.

Those who see Demas as a mere economist scarcely know him. He was certainly a fine, clear, disciplined mind, and a great student of economics and social sciences. He never failed to produce excellent work, but his priority was policy, not theory. In the end, he gave his life. Few people suspected how young he was, seeming such a venerable, dignified figure. He was a wonderful person to know: a raconteur, a wit, and an encyclopedia when it came to the zeppo as well as the facts, current or ancient. Demas was a well read man, con-

suming literature from economists, philosophers, the great literature, poets, novelist and critics to detective stories. He knew Shakespeare, both on stage and on page; and he enjoyed Cantinflas and Fernandel.

JUNE 1999

William Demas 1929-1998.

Music, much like wine, mainly Spanish and Portuguese, was another love of this lovable human being. Sparrow, Kitchener, Spoiler, Rudder.

He loved Bach, Mozart; adored violinists. No aspect of human art, human achievement, human concern did not engage him. His life was full, rich, and pleasurable.

Needless to say that he ranks among the great teachers, teaching

without effort, without trying, being simply who he was, doing simply

what he did, fully, excellently, nobly, so that you only had to notice him to be transported into a world of grace, beauty, generosity and fulfillment. Many who were lucky to have his light shine upon them have prospered and multiplied.

I This article is excerpted from an obituary by Lloyd Best.

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Tribute to

A Quiet Diplomat

ticular meeting was in large measure due to the personal diplomacy of Kurleigh King. His perseverance through very hostile times in pursuit of the objective of bringing the Heads of Government back to the table led, among

r. Kurleigh King, born in Barl0 December 1933,

bados on

was

a shy almost diffident

man, further set apart by his personal commitment to an eastern form of mysticism. He was a kind of U Thant, coming after a Dag Hammarskjold,

the quiet man coming after

other things, in the convening of the Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, in 1982. This proved to be the institutionalisation of the July meetings of the Heads of Government

the

impacting personalities of Demas and Mclntyre. Yet when the archives are opened, it will be seen that there was high accomplishment. He took over at a time when because of political difficulties, the Heads of Government

Conference had not met for some years, while the Common Market Council struggled to assume some of the authority of that body. It was one of Kurleigh King's major achievements that he succeeded in restoring the holding of regular conferences.

His distinguished professional career spanned the world of academia, Caribbean Integration, banking and international business. He brought to the post of Secretary-General of the Caribbean Com-

munity, which he assumed on I November 1978, a wealth of experience and knowledge, gained as Assis-

tant Dean, Graduate School of Busi-

ness, Columbia University, New York; General Manager, Barbados Industrial Development Corporation;

and Director, Industry Division, Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

Even before he became formally associated with the Secretariat as its helmsman, Dr. King was no stranger to the Integration Movement. He had served and earned experience in economic policy, in the capacity as General Manager of the Barbados Indus-

trial

Development Corporation,

meetings.

Kurleigh King was very understanding when it came to his co-workDr. Kurleigh King 1933-1998.

part of many a delegation to seminal meetings on the Harmonisation of Fiscal Incentives to Industry and later, as Director of Industry of the CDB, had attended several other meetings. He came at a time too when little had been done to give meaning and momentum to an important dimension of integration. At the Regional level, the Heads of Governments had not met for seven years. Dr. King devoted much of his time to working with other Regionalists, to ensure that this important forum of decision-making did convene. It is also under his Regime that the Standing Committee of Foreign Ministers began to meet regularly.

One recalls the Meeting of the Standing Committee of Foreign Ministers in Grenada, in a context of tension, suspicion and pressure, when the operatives of a powerful government made no secret of their presence and of their views. The success of that par-

ers and he created activities, which involved their families. His love of music and his considerable piano skills were always at the disposal of the organisers. Dr. King served for four years at the Maharishi University of Manage-

ment in Fairfield, Iowa, USA after he demitted office as CARICOM Secretary-General in 1983. He moved on to Barbados in 1987, to serve his native country as the Central Bank Governor until 1992, when he returned to the

Maharishi University

to impart

the

knowledge, and share the experience he had gained in the service of the Region's people. King was a restorer and healer of the wounds of CARICOM.

Excerpts from obituaries by Lloyd

Seawan Director, Foreign Service Institute Project, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guyana and Eldon Mathurin, Consuhant and Former Directon General Se rvice s and Administation, CARICOM Secretariat.

* JUNE 1999

Tribute to EarI Warner

For Keeping Company he region has lost yet another of its brightest sons. Earl

Warner, director, playwright, theatre artist par excellence, finally lost a three-year battle with leukemia.

With his passing, theatre art in

the

Caribbean is sadly diminished. Born in Barbados in 1952, Warner has been described as being distinctly

and unapologetically Caribbean, in his approach to interpreting a work for the stage. He felt strongly that Caribbean people must discover their own flavour and distinctive traits, that we must sing our own song. In his view, material for forging a true Caribbean identity and style abounds everywhere, in every aspect

in Jamaica is significant. He studied under, and eventually worked with, the late Dennis Scott, for whom he had tremendous respect, describing him as one of the greatest directors in the world. Not surprisingly, he chose to produce, and direct, a Dennis Scott play, Echo in the Bone, as the very first production of the then fledgling theatre company, The Company Limited (TCL) which was his brainchild. He went on to direct other TCL productions, including Jqne and Louisa

Will Soon Come Home, I, Marcus Gamey und The Children of Babylon, Checkers, MacB and his own seminal work, Mantalk.

His formal training included

The challenge is for the director, as well as the actor, to draw on and manipulate that experience exploring the ways Caribbean people use the body and the voice, drawing lessons from rituals and folk traditions

became

Foundation he directed the tribute to Claude McKay, Flameheart, and more recently, was responsible for helping

the University of Technology develop a drama programme, the output of which so far have

of the region.

Warner himself described his style of directing as the "Anansi technique" which focuses on this method of incorporating the Caribbean

been a dramatic presentation

the history of the Indian presence in Jamaica and a Tribute to Marcus Garvey. the Elsewhere in was Warner Earl Caribbean, equally active. He co-founded, with Cynthia Wilson and

experience. Moreover, he chal-

lenged the actor to be part of this process. Earl Warner valued the ideas and thoughts of members of his cast in any production he might be directing. The director who doesn't listen to his actors, he said, "is quite

Dorsie Boyce, a production company, WWB Productions,

in his native Barbados

and

directed with acclaim, a num-

ber of Derek Walcott

silly".

JUNE 1999

During this period he

involved in community outreach and did work with the Elsie Bemand Home for Girls, Sistren Theatre Collective, Groundwork Theatre Company and with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission as a judge for drama. For the Ward Theatre

of the Caribbean experience.

Warner's contribution to the development of theatre arts

Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama from the University of Manchester in England and a postgraduate diploma from the same institution in Directing and Theatre in Education. He subsequently came to Jamaica in 1980 and taught at the School of Drama (Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts) while pursuing there a Diploma course in Theatre Arts, which he completed with distinction.

PlaYs,

notably, A Branch of the Blue Earl Warner 1952-1998

Nile and some of his

own

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o o o o o o o Page 87

o o o o o o o o o a a o o o o o o a o o o o O O

o o o o o a a a a o a o o O

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Earl Warner and Cecily Spencer perform in Athal Fugard's Hello and

Goodbye in 1981.

work, such as Lights and Fqt-Pork Season. He represented Barbados at CARIFESTA in 1981 with his adaptation for stage of George Lamming's In the Castle of My Skin. In Trinidad he has done consider-

able work, among which were the world premiere staging of two plays by Earl Lovelace, The Wine of Aston-

ishment and The Dragon Can't Dance. Warner's reputation as a director

of class reached far beyond the Caribbean. He was in demand by theatre companies in Amsterdam, Boston and London and was highly respected as an expert interpreter of Derek Wal-

cott's work.

An affirmation of the high esteem in which he was held is the fact that he was named to the prestigious World Consortium of Directors. However. like many other artists before him, Warner chafed at the scant regard, in terms of concrete support, given to theatre practitioners by Governments

in the Caribbean.

He refused to accept the excuse that there is no money for such support, pointing to the fact that even the

minimal sums spent on cultural endeavours in the Caribbean (the sporadic so-called Festivals) could be put to better use. The arts in general, he felt, should be seen and treated as an integral part of the development process, and as a teaching vehicle in the society. The-

atre-in-Education, for example, should be seen as a functional tool in

the process, notjust as an art form. He dreamt of Caribbean theatre

Djavan, his motheq Everil, five sisters, two brothers and a host of other relatives and friends.

being accepted at the same level as cricket - as a natural cultural expression of the Region and of establishing a Caribbean theatre company, not unlike the West Indies cricket team.

missed by the Caribbean Theatre

The best tribute to this great talent and committed Caribbean man would be a concerted effort on the part of his fel-

life tmd enduring c'ontributiort. This tribute was submitted bt The Compa-

low artists, and of regional Governments, to make his dream a reality. Earl is survived by his beloved wife, Karen, their children Zahra and

Editors' note: Earl Wanrer's preswill certainly be

ence and creations

Conunturih' cmd x'e give thanks

for

his

n)'

* JUNE 1999

Caribbean Blues tMark Lee I

(For Earl Warner)

Mtmt' people ask why dt ttt't Ct t ri hltcn n

t t rt i.sts ptt i ttl green and shcrdes ltictttres of green. of The scene spread with sunshine yellow in which leaves mellow

b e c omin g b rown mntc hing ground, with trees b"v* silver waters rolling over ashen pebbles;

such scenes are fine

But we also have Caribbean blues that bathe souls of Blacks blending with shadows

and sidewalk gre!-s; .flowing reds

from busted

heads.

Silvers: beaded drops of sweat on days when yellow sun is fire and green is temptation .for hungr,v bellies.

New World Trippin' W he

Ch ri

stopher Columbus

lan' 'pon de moon tttt' pltmt cle Anwican Union Jack 'im neva.find no Arawuk. 'lnt.sttiling up to go down an' den find tfurt machine must touch ntrrst conrc

Beep!

tlow'tt.

123456

Eroun'

Beep!

54321: dis looney expedition blast offwit'Kremlin ro.v-al potent Tranquil destinntion, Slcylab Santa Maria land "A great step..." But mannuhkind.

Radio v'ove

SPLASH!! Anutla ostronout reat'h de 14rat'e Front anarlu Bobr*kn plan. A dread shout Babte! Fabte! Mcut unnble to.f'inct g,ocl in de skt, Can't tell I cle setme lie.

Dese Martians neva before seen"' call dem qreen.... on'rape angels to seecl c'ane So de clread call lbr St Marc'us .fi Preuch equalitv teach hov' .fi be u Jree cotton picker shovv man is space age tadin'

fSD Neil arm strong, ntig,hh nutn Nintrocl great But x'ho goin' plcutt de sug,ur cane?

Martians goin'.fbet rle puitt

tippitt'

dctllar an cent sliltpin' cu.t' ntadness gainin' cltrrency while pickney belh' em;sn' jbr dere is not ct,soul ruisirt'ccme'

Murk Lee is a Coribbeott jcwnnli';t

d JUNE 1999

ntedia cortsultari.

Page 89

o o a a a o o o

NOTES

o o a o o a a o a o a o a o o O

a o a o o a a o o o o a a a o a o o o o o o o o o o o o o a o o Page 90

JUNE 1999

CARTBBEAN COMMUNTTY (CARTCOM) SECRETARTAT PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT BOURNE, Compton. Caribbean development to the year 2000 : challenges. prospects and policies. - London : Commonwealth Secretariat;

: Caribbean Community Secretariat, 1988. (CARICOM COUNTRIES - Individuals - EC$35, Institutions - EC$40, Guyana G$900; EXTRA-REGIONAL - Individuals - US$25, Institutions us$30) Georgetown

BROWN-CHEN, Cynthia J. Employment problem in CARICOM countries: the role of education and training in its existence and its solution. Georgetown : CARICOM Secretariat, t1997). - (1990-1991 Population and Housing Census of the Commbnwealth Caribbean). (US$25.00

(Postage charges. Limited circulation)

Workshop on Culture and Economic Development (2nd

-Georgetown,

1994

Guyana). Regional integration and culture industries : their

independence by Alwyn Bully. (Postage charges. Limited circulation)

Communications Unit. CARICOM perspective. - Georgetown : The

Secretariat, 1980- . Annual. (Gratis) (Postage)

includes postage)

CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY SECRETARIAT. Communications Unit. CARICOM view. - Georgetown :The Secretariat, 1995- . (Gratis)

CAMEJO, Acton. Socio-economic conditions of children and youth in CARICOM countries: a situational analysis. - Georgetown : CARICOM

-Georgetown

Secretariat, [199'7].- (1990-1991 Population and Housing Census Commonwealth Caribbean). (US$25.00 includes postage)

for women in emolovment. eoual oav. inheritance. maintenance and maintenance order. sexual harassment and sexual offences. - Georgetown : The Secretariat, 1997. Set of 8 booklets. (US$15.00 includes postage) of civil society for the Caribbean Community. - Georgetown 1991. (Gratis) (Postage)

Charter -: The Secretariat,

- Georgetown : The Secretarial,

diskette CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY SECRETARIAT. Curriculum guidelines for family life education in the Caribbean: education for ing. - Georgetown : The Secretariat, [991]. (Gratis)

liv-

New

pssurnsnhtion Centre. Directory of Caribbean publishers 3rd ed.. Georgetown : The Secretariat, 1999. (US$20.00 hardcopy, US$15.00 diskette, includes postage)

1996. (US$30.00 includes postage)

Statistics Sub-programme. CARICOM's trade : a quick reference to data 1980-1996 3rd ed.- Georgetown : The Secretariat,

-some summary

1998. (US$30.00 includes postage)

Statistics Sub-programme. External public debt and balance of pay-

retariat, 1998. (US$30.00 includes postage)

MILLS, Frank L. Regional monograph : intraregional and extraregional mobility : the new Caribbean migration. - Georgetown : CARICOM Secretariat, t19971. - (1990-1991 Population and Housing Census of the Commonwealth Caribbean). (US$25.00 includes postage)

Regional cultural polic), of the Caribbean Community. - Georgetown 1997. (US$25.00 includes postage)

-: The Secretarial,

& Econo-

MONDESIRE, Alicia and Dunn, Leith. Towards equity in development : a report on the status of women in sixteen Commonwealth Caribbean countries. - Georgetown : CARICOM Secretariat, 1995. (Cratis) (Postage)

Treaty establishing the Caribbean Community. Chaguaramas. 4th July : The Secretariat, I 987. (US$20.00 includes postage)

-I 973. - Georgetown

Workshop on Culture and Economic Development (2nd : 1994 -Georgetown, Guyana). Caribbean overview by Ralph Henry' (Postage

REGIONAL CENSUS OFFICE. Volume of basic tables for sixteen CARICOM countries. - Georgetown : CARICOM Secretariat, ll99'7). (1990-1991 Population and Housing Census of the Commonwealth Caribbean). (US$30.00 includes postage)

charges. Limited circulation)

Workshop on Culture and Economic Development (2nd : 1994 : -Georgetown, Guyana). Financing culture by Joseph Perreira. (Postage charges. Limited circulation) Workshop on Culture and Economic Development (2nd : 1994 : -Georgetown, Guyana). Penetrating the barriers by Douglas O.N. Green' (Postage charges. Limited circulation) Workshop on Culture and Economic Development (2nd : 1994 : Guyana). Potential and constraints by Lloyd A.W. Stanbury'

JUNE 1999

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ment of CARICOM member states 1980-1996. - Georgetown :The Sec-

Common external tariff of the Caribbean Common Market : based on and coding system (H.S.). 2nd ed. (US$60.00, only available on 1996. Georgetown : The Secretariat,

-Georgetown,

l97t-.

-the harmonised commodity description

Removing the barriers : facts on CARICOM Single Market : The Secretariat, 1997. (Gratis)

-Additions.

-: The Secretaria\

CARICOM model leqislation on citizenshio. domestic violence.

-m),. - Georgetown

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Statistics Section. National accounts digest 1980-1994. - Georgetown

Annual. (Gratis) (Postage)

-equalitv

l97l-.

|osurnsntstion Centre. C.C.S. Current Awareness Service

CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY SECRETARIAT. Annual report of the Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community. - Georgetown : The

l98l-

: The Secretariat,

the

The Caribbean Community in the 1980s : report by a group of Caribbean experts.... - Georgetown : CARICOM Secretariat, 1981. (US$5.00 plus postage)

Secretariat,

)96gmsn1ntion Centre. C.C.S. Current Awareness Service : Articles. -

REPORT on a comprehensive review

of the programmes. institutions Mills

and organisations of the Caribbean Community / Prof. Gladstone E.

et al. - Georgetown : CARICOM Secretariat, 1990. (US$15.00 includes postage)

SEROW William J. Aging in the Commonwealth Caribbean. - Georgetown : CARICOM Secretariat, 11997). - (1990-1991 Population and Housing Census of the Commonwealth Caribbean). (US$25.00 includes postage).

Page 91

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The interlocking G in black is the logo of the Caribbean Community. The narrow ring of green around the^su-n represents the veget;tion of the'Region. Articles may be reproduced in p.rrt or u'holly with due credit given to the publication. CARICOM PERSPECTIVE is ptrblishecl oncc a year antl reports.on the work, achievements ancl problems of the Caribbean Community;and is issued free of charge to readers in the Community. opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the publisher. Special thanks to the Nation Publishing Company, Barbados and Librarian N{onie Barron, for assiitance with many of the photographs in this issue.

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