0 ETERNAL COLONIALISM?

DO YOU AGREE THAT CARIBBEAN STATES WILL FIND IT DIFFICULT TO

MANAGE THEIR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT BECAUSE THEY ARE CONFRONTED WITH ETERNAL COLONIALISM? WHAT IF ANYTHING CAN BE DONE TO LIMIT ITS IMPACT? CRITICALLY DISCUSS.

According to Benjamin and Hall, eternal colonialism is a term used to describe the policies that were designed by the Western World and the United States in order to keep most of the world in a permanent subordinate political, economic, social and military state. It is a combination of both internal and external colonialism, or neo-colonialism.1 The independent islands of the Caribbean region, having come out of over 400 years of colonial rule, are eager to make a name for themselves and say that they are able to stand on their own as truly independent countries with absolute self-control. However, one cannot go from totally dependent to totally independent overnight. What with much of their crucial industries owned by foreigners and all money that was made from the islands during colonial times having been repatriated to the Mother Country, these islands needed to find a way to finance their development projects so that they could achieve social, political and economic growth and stability, and become just as developed as their former colonial overlords. Becoming a developed nation is not an easy task when a country has to build its future out of a backward, outdated model of rule that is a century behind the present time especially since, according to dependency theory, the reason that developed countries had became developed was through the exploitation of the undeveloped and underdeveloped territories in their care and they needed those countries to retain that undeveloped state to ensure the continued economic developments of the developed countries. Furthermore, the Caribbean states have no undeveloped territories on which to build their fortunes through exploitation so they have to find another way to achieve their development goals. This coupled with a lack of finances to achieve growth and progress meant that the Caribbean islands had no choice but to seek international aid to achieve their goals. However, this aid that was requested came with severe costs. Aid received from organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have provisions attached such as how the money could be spent, what social programmes
1

Benjamin, Russell., and Gregory O. Hall,. Eternal Colonialism. United States of America : The University Press

of America, 2010.

1 the borrowing government must implement or eradicate, issues pertaining to the labour force, such as wage freezes; hiring practices as well as devaluation of the countrys currency and removal of trade barriers which are often there to protect fledgling local industries. These are all implemented by the IMF ostensibly to ensure that the country can make the most of the loan which they can spend on capital projects that are to ensure that the money will be used wisely to benefit the countrys future while bringing in returns that will be used to repay the loan. However, more often than not borrowing from the IMF leads to greater debt in the country and seeking aid from them should be used as a last resort after all other sources of financial aid has been exhausted. A key example of this in the Caribbean is Jamaica who in 1977 borrowed 38 million from the IMF to ease their balance of payments problems. This loan came with austere stipulations such as the one that lead to a decrease in public spending, something that hit the poor in Jamaica the hardest. The economic policies that the IMF demanded that Jamaica follow in order to ensure their success at clearing their debts failed and Jamaica was plunged into an economic crisis with widespread poverty and violent unrests. By 1989 Jamaica had paid out 176 million to the IMF and had over 2 billion in worldwide debts.23 Even today Jamaica is still suffering from the aftereffects of the IMFs restructuring programme which lead to a rise in neoliberalism and the saw the creation of free trade zones in Jamaica to increase employment. There is an alternative to the IMF for Caribbean member countries called the Caribbean Development Bank. This bank gives its member countries loans for economic and social development projects with conditions that are more flexible than those offered by the IMF, despite being partly funded at least initially by the World Bank. As the bank is a regional one and is funded by member countries, the terms of the loan are less restrictive than those offered by the IMF and the interest rates are very competitive, going as low as 2% for Group 4 members and as high as 5% for Group 1 members.4 Borrowing from the CDB is also preferable because the monies repaid are used to aid in regional development projects.

2 3

Stephanie Black, Director, Life and Debt, 2001. How The IMF Wrecked Jamaica, Socialist Worker Online July 10, 2007. http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=12349 4 Caribbean Development Bank Lending Policies http://www.caribank.org/titanweb/cdb/webcms.nsf/AllDoc/BDCE7147F529A0FE0425746E00562F14/$File/lending policies3.pdf (April, 2008)

2 Economics is always an important issue for countries, especially developing ones and linked to economics is trade, the way in which markets operate, investment and globalisation. With globalisation comes a rise in neo-liberalism from which forms neocolonialism as international organizations such as the World Trade Organization seek to tear down necessary trade barriers which protected the countrys industries and introduced multinational corporations whose substantial profits often exceed that of the host countrys GDP. Globalisation is the removal of barriers to trade and the freeing up of the factors of production. That, along with trade liberalisation allow for companies to set up shop in countries foreign to their own without facing undue trade restrictions. This is a benefit to companies seeking to expand its consumer base and lower costs of production by moving its factories to areas with lower labour costs or taxes. Globalisation can also benefit consumers as there is an increase in competition which can forces local companies to do research and development to improve products, lower prices and create new product lines. An example of this is Digicels entry into the Communications Industry in Trinidad and Tobago in April, 2006, the companys presence forced TSTT to their services which led to their launching of the Bmobile brand, new competitions, the mylime brand with its free calls and a slew of other services including an upgrade of their system to provide better islandwide coverage.5 From the Small Island Developing State perspective, globalisation can be considered a form of neocolonialism with the multinational corporations being the master that wields the power using intimidation to decide for the government what it can or cannot do and the extent of control it will have over its own economy. These MNCs are all powerful organizations and often use their considerable wealth and power to convince the governments in developing nations to give them favourable benefits in exchange for the MNCs choosing to stay in their countries. These benefits given to the MNCs often include tax havens, free land and free utilities for a period of time all because they create a few much needed jobs in that country. Some countries even attempt to encourage MNCs to enter their borders through Industrialisation by Invitation schemes. These are done with the hope that the MNCs will hire skilled and unskilled labourers from their countries and train them, thus educating the labourforce while lowering the unemployment rate. The governments also hope that after the tax
5

TSTT (Trinidad) Issues A Profit Warning, tstt.co.tt May 25th, 2007.

3 haven ends the MNCs will choose to stay in the country. However, the scenario that most often plays out is that the MNC will come suck the country dry of its resources, hire mainly unskilled labourers, importing most of their skilled labour, increase the import bills, repatriate the profits made and leave as soon as the tax haven ends. On top of that, MNCs often provide unfair competition against local industries and often use the region as a dumping ground for extra or untested products which can cause local industries to go out of business as they are unable to sell products at such low costs. Even with these factors many countries still practice a form of Industrialisation by Invitation, though countries that have bargaining power can benefit from inviting MNCs in by negotiating a terms of agreement that is favourable for both the MNC and the host country. When this occurs the host country gains valuable capital resources that can benefit their countrys development plans. One way of protecting local industries is through the formation of trade blocs such as the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA), the European Union and Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME). These blocs help protect local industry by giving local goods guaranteed markets as well as create healthy competition on an even playing field, as member countries are often on similar developmental levels. Associations such as the CSME not only foster regional integration but help protect national and regional industries and promote growth and development for all members of such organization. When the region can protect its industries from destruction by neocolonialists who seek to expand their wealth through the exploitation of the region its strength and value as a world player increases exponentially. While there are some countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, with its oil and natural gas reserves, who can hold their own against neocolonialism because of the bargaining power they have from their natural resources, most Caribbean states do not have that luxury as their main industries are either agricultural or tourism based. Though, even Trinidad is faced with neocolonialism and even they need to band together with the other Caribbean islands to ensure the continued protection of their local industries by expanding within the region for without the other islands to buy their goods and sell goods to them Trinidad would become dependent on the United States and the United Kingdom to purchase most of their goods and services and would be forced to source goods and services not readily available in Trinidad from them. Despite what the individual islands believe development of the individual countries of the Caribbean is not possible without development of the Caribbean region as a whole,

4 because of this the region must stick together and not yield to the demands of the United States, nor should they allow any extra-regional country to bully another island such as was done to Grenada in 1983. The events in Grenada in 1983 when the United States assisted by Jamaica and the Regional Security System should, in my view, have never been allowed to occur. The United States had no right to enter Grenada and help forcibly overthrow the Maurice Bishop government, in flagrant disregard for international laws because of its Socialist nature and the Caribbean islands that aided this circumvention of power did it completely disregarding Grenadas right to complete autonomy. By aiding the United States with their plot to thwart the Maurice Bishop Administration the other islands showed a complete disregard for the Independence movement of not only Grenada but of their own islands as well. The implication of this is that an independent countrys right to self rule can be questioned by any country with enough military power to effectively back up their claims. If this is true then it can be said that most nations, certainly all the Caribbean ones except Cuba, are technical colonies of the United States. It would be near impossible to go to war with the Unites States of America and win. Few countries can provide a challenge to them especially not any Caribbean islands with their militaries that are scarcely able to fight the war on drugs far more for a real one against nuclear warfare. It should be noted that the United States, the only country to ever use a nuclear weapon against another nation, vehemently protests the creation of nuclear warfare by most countries yet they continue to refuse demands for disarmament. That being said is it possible to say we are free from neocolonialism because in the event of an attack by the United States, assistance would have to be sought from Britain, our ex-colonial masters and that aid would come with high costs. However, until such time that a threat to the regions independence is established, it is safe to assume that we are free to do as we please with regards to developing our nations providing those changes do not interfere with the foreign companies right to trade in our borders. Another threat to the Caribbeans freedom from colonialism comes in the form of acculturation whereby Caribbean people adopt the lifestyles and behaviours of foreign countries, mainly the United States, at the expense of the cultural traditions that previously existed in their country. This acculturation brings about new ideas and beliefs, some of which may actually benefit the development of the individual countries and the region as a whole. Others, however,

5 destroy the nation states especially the beliefs that relate to the gang lifestyle which involves a prevalent use of drugs, prostitution and guns. In the islands of Trinidad and Jamaica this gang lifestyle has caused unprecedented spikes in the crime rate forcing the governments of both countries to allocate scarce resources to fight these crime waves; resources which could have been used to build schools, hospitals or used to purchase capital goods necessary for the development of the islands. These crime waves also limit investment on the islands and prevent tourists from wanting to visit the islands. This can be seen in the numerous travel advisories issued to Trinidad and Jamaica from the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, just to name a few.6 7 That is not to say the region is losing its own identity as events such as Trinidad Carnival, Kadooment, Crop Over, the Tobago and Barbados Jazz festival, having regional airlines owned by regional governments and even the invention of the steelpan help to bolster national and regional pride. The creation of organizations such as the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), The Caribbean Court of Justice, Caricom and the CSME say that the islands of the region are serious about remaining independent and are dedicated to the development and improvement of their countries as a whole and the region as a by-product of that development. Yes the Caribbean States will face eternal colonialism in the form of neocolonialism and they will find it difficult to manage their development project as a result of this neocolonialism but the Caribbean islands, while they lack the advantage given to the developed nations of building their empires through the exploitation of others, do have a history of struggling and fighting for what they believe in. Haiti gained its Independence from France in 1804 and has spent the last two hundred plus years defending the right to keep it. In the British West Indies, the enslaved Africans fought for the right to be free and gained it. So there is no doubt that the Caribbean islands will fight to develop their countries into the best possible nations for the benefit of their people and these countries will do anything in its power including the formation of regional bodies such as Caricom and the OECS to ensure that the individual islands and the Caribbean region as a whole continue their development projects with the least amount of threats to their hard earned right to be considered independent.

6
7

British warn against crime in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad Newsday, July 08, 2003. US issues travel alert for Jamaica, Jamaica Gleaner, May 22, 2010.

Bibliography 1. Benjamin, Russell., and Gregory O. Hall,. Eternal Colonialism. United States of America: The University Press of America, 2010. 2. Thompson, Alvin O., The Haunting Past: Politics, Economics and Race in Caribbean Life. New York: M. E. Sharpe Inc, 1997.