I was taken aback by residual doubts about the viability and significance of our struggle for sovereignty and national independence. I had no idea that 44 years after achieving political independence, some people still believe we would have been better off with colonial overlords.
To be sure, I belong to a school of thought that believes that achieving political independence is insufficient. Many of us in the progressive movement despised “flag independence” and the mere replacement of a white racist misruler with a black visage during the discussions on independence. The Trinidadian developmental economist Lloyd Best coined the term “AfroSaxon” to describe such a person. The more foresighted and visionary among us discussed Genuine Independence, People’s Ownership, and Control.
Progressives were clear that in order to chart a meaningful and sustainable developmental path, we needed to first wrest political control from the colonialists who disrupted our independence course, destabilised our culture, dehumanised our people, and mercilessly raped and exploited our country.
We were so convinced of our country’s development potential that when former Prime Minister James Mitchell opposed our country’s transition to independence with the bogus argument that “associated statehood with Britain protects us as well as sardines in a tin,” many laughed in his face and told him where to go.
As a result, it is disheartening to realise that there is nostalgia for our colonial past. The remaining colonies in our region, according to the argument, are better off economically and score higher on the social and developmental index. This argument ignores the reality that many colonies are similar to colonial showcases that arose in response to the regional independence movement that began in the 1960s.
The argument utterly ignores the fact that colonial officials hindered efforts to integrate the region and attempted to bring the West Indies Federation, which was created in 1958, to an end. More crucially, having “sucked the region dry,” as former Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Eric Williams put it, Britain has consistently failed to engage the region in a reparatory debate that will lead to true and sustained growth.
It is the past colonial powers’ criminal neglect of the Caribbean that has pushed post-independence regional authorities to borrow excessively, making the Caribbean one of the world’s most indebted areas.
Nonetheless, as we will see, inequality is quite significant in both independent and colonial states within the region. The white settler class completely dominated the business and social life in the colonial enclaves. As a result, metrics such as GDP and per capita income are misleading and do not provide a realistic picture of how the people in the region live.
The GDP measures the size of the economy and provides insight into how well it is operating. However, the real GDP growth rate provides a more accurate representation of economic health. Many individuals now recognise that economic growth does not always imply economic development.
The same can be said of concepts like per capita income or the amount of money earned by each individual in a certain country. SVG, for example, today has a per capita income of more than $8,000. However, we have a poverty rate of about 40% and an unemployment rate of more than 40%. When all of this is considered, the vast majority of Vincentians can be classified as working poor. As a result, per capita numbers are inaccurate and do not reflect citizens’ actual circumstances.
Many of the colonies have superior infrastructure than independent countries, but this is because the colonial overlords in London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Washington have transformed the non-independent areas into playgrounds for their economic elites. It’s no surprise that people of all colonial areas can be found in large numbers as they seek greener pastures. Puerto Ricans, Guadeloupeans, and Martiniquais can be found in large numbers in the metropoles. Bermuda, Turks & Caicos, and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) have considerable numbers of residents from other islands looking for work and a better life.
Because they are accustomed to seeing individuals who look like them in positions of influence in politics and the economy, many Caribbean people assert a strength and resolve in the metropoles of North America and Europe.
Conditions for indigenous peoples in colonies are comparable to those in independent countries. Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Cayenne, for example, have unemployment rates of 18, 22, and 23 percent, respectively. Life expectancy at birth is 83, 82, and 77 years, respectively. The life expectancy figures are not surprising given that all three civilizations have sizable white settler communities in comparison to primarily black independent countries. Metropoles watch out for their own.
There is also the need for preserving colonial remnants such as the Privy Council. Our judges are said to have gone to the same schools and knew each other. Proponents of this viewpoint overlook, downplay, or ignore a critical point: the law is rarely about friendships, but rather about class and political interests. British judges attend private colleges such as Eton and King’s College, same as our lawyers attend UWI or British institutions. They are no smarter than our judges. To suggest you’d rather have a stranger preside over your legal problem than a local judge is a sad reflection on our self-esteem. Such sentiments feed into colonial overlords’ beliefs that our people are subhuman and thus have inferior intellect.
Returning to the “halcyon days” of colonial control demonstrates a lack of confidence and self-worth. Such viewpoints are based on an inferiority complex, which believes that others are superior to us in matters of state.
Onward to true independence, citizen ownership, and control.
