It’s a point that’s understandably not attracting too much attention at the moment, but sooner or later we would need to acknowledge the role Caribbean regionalism is playing in the management of the current crisis.
This point needs to be emphasised if only because in our midst are people staking claims for leadership in a wide variety of public spaces who do not routinely recognise the value of the regional process—both within the context of the notion of a wider Caribbean and the narrower, more familiar and longer standing, Caribbean Community (Caricom).
If the pandemic is teaching us one thing, it is that no single country persists as a geo-political island; and that an ability to address big challenges is best acquired as acts of collective diligence and application.
I am at a loss to understand where we begin this story. Should it start from the part where we, through circumstances of our history, are now called upon to exercise a greater measure of self-confidence? Should the story flow next to the point where a lack of communal self-esteem is recognised to be our most imposing developmental challenge?
Or should we fast-forward to the moment we realised that COVID-19 was upon us? Let’s agree to start there and to recognise the role the Caribbean Public Health Agency (Carpha) has played and continues to play in the midst of an unprecedented emergency.
Among the darkest moments of the early stages—not counting the absolute tragedy of the loss of lives – was the political scorn and scepticism accorded recognition of Carpha as the lead agency to guide our actions to address the pandemic.
I would contend that had there not been a Carpha, the region would not now be considered to be among the global front-runners in coming to terms with this phase of the pandemic. True, though it is, that more is likely to come.
Some disclosure at this point: I have had a past professional relationship with Carpha and two of the five regional agencies that merged a few years ago to become Carpha. This means I would either be prone to favourable commentary or, through familiarity, be better placed to understand the agency’s key positive and negative attributes. Take your pick.
Imagine, as well, the absence of Caricom as an institution at the helm of single market conditions. Think this thing through before you rush to an uninformed conclusion. Consider the “recovery” effort post-COVID and the fact of a single market within the context of a world that will only slowly be emerging from slumber.
Our manufacturers and other suppliers of goods and services, and the thousands they employ, would understand this point much more than those whose assessment of the regional effort is based on minimal information and analysis. I have provided statistics in this space before. Go look it up yourself this time.
Now, let’s turn to the 48-year-old Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and its role as a regional examining body in the midst of the pandemic. Who would want to be in Registrar Dr Wayne Wesley’s position at this time? Yet, in most countries (I notice Jamaica and T&TUTA are taking a different position) CXC will be administering region-wide examinations in the middle of all of this.
The list of regional institutions under Caricom is rather long, and most have remained alert (CTO, UWI et al), but I want to shift to the role of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). The ACS focuses on the interests and concerns of a wider constituency of 35 states, countries and territories “washed by the Caribbean Sea” (though it includes El Salvador which has a Pacific coast while Guyana and Suriname are “washed” by the Atlantic Ocean).
There have been the sceptics, but the ACS has carved an evolving role for itself in the area of disaster risk reduction and, last week, launched an important online resource that focuses on the data-supported progress of the wider region in addressing the COVID-19 challenge.
From Secretary-General, Dr June Soomer, came eloquent expression of the role of regionalism not only in managing changed circumstances, but in supporting the survival challenge COVID-19 has brought to the fore—in such a manner as to assure future progress.
When we eventually look back at this time, I believe we would find that the regional platforms have been sturdy and of greater value than we usually assign them.