Tweet
'Don't expect favours from Obama administration'
Caribbean warned to push for its own interests
Friday, December 05, 2008
COUNTRIES of the Caribbean will not enjoy any special relationship with the United States because of Barack Obama's ascendancy to the White House, analysts say.
"I've been arguing all along that those of us who say maybe now we'll get better, more favourable policies, that it's a big mistake. The Caribbean will get the favourable policy it wants when it argues for a policy and does in fact take control of its own future and stops hoping for saviours in Washington," said Dr John Rapley, chair of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI).
"We have to articulate a common trade policy [and] we have to do it aggressively. We have to put our interest on the agenda; we can't wait for the Americans to come with an offer. They will listen to us when we go to them with a plan of action. What we can't do is just wait around for Caribbean governments to get their acts together, so it will help greatly if we articulate a common goal rather than speaking independently and bickering among ourselves," Rapley told the Observer.
In addition to trade, Rapley said the region needs to adopt a position on security, transnational crime and terrorism, given the growing influence of the Russians and the Chinese in the region.
Rapley's views were in line with those of his fellow panellists at the US embassy's public forum on the results of the US presidential elections and the Obama administration at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston Monday night. The others were radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist Barbara Gloudon, newspaper editor Lloyd B Smith, market researcher Don Anderson and special guest from the American University, professor David Lublin.
Even before Barack Obama was elected to lead the US in the November 4 elections, speculations have abounded, especially since he is black, that his policies could favour the Caribbean. However, panellists at the forum Monday said that instead of looking to America for handouts, Jamaica and the Caribbean should take lessons from Obama's diplomacy and his rise to power.
"We shouldn't believe there is going to be a Caribbean policy. I think that is far-fetched," said Anderson.
"We need to stop hoping that his election is going to do anything for us," said Gloudon. "One of the lessons to learn from the Obama experience is to trust youth. We need to forget the worn-out model like we have in Jamaica and find some people who are going to refresh the system," she said.
Smith added to this by saying: "[We need to] learn from Obama in terms of how we conduct our own politics here... Obama's leadership is the kind that the 21st century is going to demand, not the sort of hawkish, narrow-minded, ego-centric type of leadership [that is often displayed]."
"It's not so much what the Obama administration can do for the Caribbean but the extent to which the Caribbean can establish a template for which it can approach the Obama administration at some time in the future with some ideas because when we look at what is happening geopolitically,
at what's happening in the Caribbean with Chavez continuing to flex his muscles, with Cuba still in a sort of flop situation, it's going to be interesting to see [how it unfolds]," Smith told the forum.
According to Lublin, who was a guest of the US embassy, Jamaicans need to be the ones to solve Jamaica's problems.
"The problems in the Caribbean will have to be solved by people in the Caribbean, and to the extent that Jamaica wants to continue to grow and develop it needs to be addressed primarily by Jamaicans and to the extent that you make progress, it's being done by Jamaicans, not because of anything that America does," he said. He added that "occasionally it can help and lend a hand with various programmes like trying to meet the millennium challenges goals".
Rapley, at the same time, said "the Obama victory has implications for the Caribbean in terms of consciousness, in terms of the identity of the people and the possibilities.
"I think that we just have to speak with one voice as much as possible, and it shouldn't be impossible for countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean to find that common voice because our common interests are much stronger than what divides us by and large particularly in this time of financial crisis."
Caribbean warned to push for its own interests
Friday, December 05, 2008
COUNTRIES of the Caribbean will not enjoy any special relationship with the United States because of Barack Obama's ascendancy to the White House, analysts say.
"I've been arguing all along that those of us who say maybe now we'll get better, more favourable policies, that it's a big mistake. The Caribbean will get the favourable policy it wants when it argues for a policy and does in fact take control of its own future and stops hoping for saviours in Washington," said Dr John Rapley, chair of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CaPRI).
"We have to articulate a common trade policy [and] we have to do it aggressively. We have to put our interest on the agenda; we can't wait for the Americans to come with an offer. They will listen to us when we go to them with a plan of action. What we can't do is just wait around for Caribbean governments to get their acts together, so it will help greatly if we articulate a common goal rather than speaking independently and bickering among ourselves," Rapley told the Observer.
In addition to trade, Rapley said the region needs to adopt a position on security, transnational crime and terrorism, given the growing influence of the Russians and the Chinese in the region.
Rapley's views were in line with those of his fellow panellists at the US embassy's public forum on the results of the US presidential elections and the Obama administration at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston Monday night. The others were radio talk-show host and newspaper columnist Barbara Gloudon, newspaper editor Lloyd B Smith, market researcher Don Anderson and special guest from the American University, professor David Lublin.
Even before Barack Obama was elected to lead the US in the November 4 elections, speculations have abounded, especially since he is black, that his policies could favour the Caribbean. However, panellists at the forum Monday said that instead of looking to America for handouts, Jamaica and the Caribbean should take lessons from Obama's diplomacy and his rise to power.
"We shouldn't believe there is going to be a Caribbean policy. I think that is far-fetched," said Anderson.
"We need to stop hoping that his election is going to do anything for us," said Gloudon. "One of the lessons to learn from the Obama experience is to trust youth. We need to forget the worn-out model like we have in Jamaica and find some people who are going to refresh the system," she said.
Smith added to this by saying: "[We need to] learn from Obama in terms of how we conduct our own politics here... Obama's leadership is the kind that the 21st century is going to demand, not the sort of hawkish, narrow-minded, ego-centric type of leadership [that is often displayed]."
"It's not so much what the Obama administration can do for the Caribbean but the extent to which the Caribbean can establish a template for which it can approach the Obama administration at some time in the future with some ideas because when we look at what is happening geopolitically,
at what's happening in the Caribbean with Chavez continuing to flex his muscles, with Cuba still in a sort of flop situation, it's going to be interesting to see [how it unfolds]," Smith told the forum.
According to Lublin, who was a guest of the US embassy, Jamaicans need to be the ones to solve Jamaica's problems.
"The problems in the Caribbean will have to be solved by people in the Caribbean, and to the extent that Jamaica wants to continue to grow and develop it needs to be addressed primarily by Jamaicans and to the extent that you make progress, it's being done by Jamaicans, not because of anything that America does," he said. He added that "occasionally it can help and lend a hand with various programmes like trying to meet the millennium challenges goals".
Rapley, at the same time, said "the Obama victory has implications for the Caribbean in terms of consciousness, in terms of the identity of the people and the possibilities.
"I think that we just have to speak with one voice as much as possible, and it shouldn't be impossible for countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean to find that common voice because our common interests are much stronger than what divides us by and large particularly in this time of financial crisis."