Caribbean Divided: The walls between us

BY STEVEN KASZAB

A wall is being built between Haiti and The Dominican Republic, neighbours, friends. One a Caribbean titan and the other a breadbasket needing all the help it can get. At a time when the Caribbean should be uniting its distinctly cultural perspective, its people are divided by nationalism, economic greed and historic social alliances.

The Dominican Republic stands independently as a wealthy, prosperous nation with a thriving economy. It has a well-managed economy, while Haiti is the opposite, torn apart by political and social divisions, excessive criminality and a present-day state of chaos.

Throw in gangland violence, political corruption and an overall fatalistic attitude of the public and much of the world. A wall is being built to hold back criminals, terrorists and create a sense of security for the prosperous Dominicans. So, the world is told. Nations can act just like you and I, seeing danger, fearing that this danger will come our way, and we therefore build walls separating ourselves from something that is thought to be coming our way. The wall will not work, just as the wall in Israel does not stop domestic terrorism in Israel, just as the wall between America and Mexico fails to stop those seeking a better life, with freedom and peace.

The Caribbean has nations gifted by Mother Nature with mass natural resources, oil and minerals, and beaches to attract tourist dollars. Those exploiting these gifts are now in a defensive pattern, protecting what they have, and surely not sharing with their regional neighbours. When the Caribbean fails to assist their neighbours, failing to unite behind the greater cause of Pan-Caribbean Unity, it fails all the Caribbean’s people.

Economic and social forces are dividing a region, draining it of its gifted wealth, dispersing the money not in the Caribbean, but elsewhere. Why can Caribbean leadership not recognize this and respond in kind. Old time colonialism divided and separated the peoples of the Caribbean. Divide and conquer right? Well, that is exactly what is happening here today.

New pressures from your Colonial Masters located in the: EU, USA, Britain, France, China and beyond continue to create division amongst those who should be backing each other up, supporting those in need, building their economies while building up the new Caribbean regional power, with its vast Caribbean diaspora there to support the region. So long as the Caribbean is divided, so too will most of its people not achieve what they truly need: long term employment, health care, safe housing, protection from criminality, and betterment for future generations.

The Caribbean requires leaders like Prime Minister Mottley to show the way, pushing nationalism and Caribbean exceptionalism aside, and present a plan for uniting the Caribbean and its peoples. Embracing all islands, no matter their political or economic attitudes into what can be a future maritime dynamo.