Region’s future in the hands of the people

IT is up to the people of the region to determine the future of this regional integration movement known as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

This is the advice that the Prime Minister of Barbados, Freundel Stuart, gave to Caribbean citizens at the Inter-Faith Service in Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) on Sunday at the St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral in Barbados.

FAITHS UNITE: Members of the various faiths – Christian, Hindu,
Muslim and Jewish – in attendance at the Inter-Faith Service in
Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) at the St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on Sunday. 

Quoting from Henry Kissinger, “the future has to be shaped or it will impose itself as a catastrophe”, he stated that likewise, the future of this regional integration movement would depend on the steps that we all take as citizens of the various Caribbean islands in promoting the growth of this movement and all of the benefits that it contains, and he as the leader of Barbados has already pledged his support in this regard.

“We cannot afford the luxury of just drifting along. We have to determine at every point what kind of Caribbean we want, what kind of people we want to be in this region. What kind of integration movement we want, how we want to relate to one another, what standards of right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust, fair and unfair, blamelessness and blame worthiness we want to be part of our everyday life in this region. It is not beyond our capacity to do this, and I want to pledge the commitment of the Government and people of Barbados to this noble effort.”

Stuart said that a huge part of achieving this would be for all of the persons from the different islands in the region to focus on their similarities and not their differences.

Quoting from Trinidadian calypso, “We are the same race from the same place that made the same trip in the same ship”, he stated that while some persons may want to question the validity of this statement, they cannot deny that as a Caribbean people, we stand a better chance of surviving and even thriving if we work together.

“Though you may want to question the iron clad accuracy of everything that he said, the truth is that we all belong to one another, and that as a Caribbean people, we are better together than we would be divided,” said Stuart.

The Prime Minister said that it takes us back to 1967 when they were meeting to get other member states to join CARIFTA, when one of the leaders spoke about needing the conference to succeed in order for the islands in the region to survive. That conference did succeed and we did survive and many conferences have succeeded since then, and today, the region is stronger than ever before and we must continue along this path.

“Today we are a stronger and more vibrant people than at any other time in our history. We cannot all rest on our laurels; we cannot live our lives in the past. It is the future that we have to shape.” (PJT)