The current debate in the Senate about whether Jamaica should accept the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as its final appellate court has inspired me to register my thoughts about it as an ordinary man in the street.

Prior to 2009, I fully supported the idea of regional integration within the context of Caricom and its various bodies, which includes the CCJ in both in its original (treaty/trade court) and secondary jurisdictions (appellate court). This all changed when I relocated from Jamaica to live and work in a country in the Eastern Caribbean. I am now firmly and decidedly anti-Caricom, with very compelling justifications.

Prior to 2009, I fully supported the idea of regional integration within the context of Caricom and its various bodies, which includes the CCJ in both in its original (treaty/trade court) and secondary jurisdictions (appellate court). This all changed when I relocated from Jamaica to live and work in a country in the Eastern Caribbean. I am now firmly and decidedly anti-Caricom, with very compelling justifications.

Over the past six years I have had first-hand experiences with most of these nationalities, and hence, I am ably placed to provide some insights into the virtues of regional integration. The various nationalities have similarities and differences. One area in which there is almost across-the-board unanimity is their chronic dislike, hatred even, of Jamaicans. I know this because I am living it daily, and I am personally aware of many other Jamaicans who also grapple with this reality. Many of the other nationalities share an affinity which is almost familial in its manifestation. These countries, in most cases, are members of Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), where they already share a common currency (EC Dollar), a common central bank, a common judicial system (Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court), a common airline (Leeward Islands Air Transport/LIAT), and free movement of people within the subregion. Caricom is regarded as an unwanted super-imposition on OECS, which already works well.

The nationalities regard us Jamaicans as ‘foreigners’ and are actively and are passively discriminatory and exclusionist in their treatment of us. I believe that the only thing which has kept us in contention in hostile territory is our proven ability for hard work and ingenuity in the workplace. However, it’s a constant struggle amidst a reality where we are routinely singled out for the ‘special’ treatment.

Based on my experience living in the Eastern Caribbean, I am diametrically opposed to Jamaica accepting the CCJ as its final court, and I also think that we should reconsider our overall ambitions in relation to Caricom. We should either stay with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council or have our own local final court inside of Jamaica. I think we would be better served redirecting our energies and resources internally, and establishing alliances (economic/trade) with our natural neighbours such as Cuba, Haiti, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rico, Cayman Islands, Panama, etc. Our education system could support this by promoting Spanish as an imperative in schools, such that within a decade or so, most high school graduates would be able to communicate well with our natural neighbours, many of whom are Spanish speakers. This would situate Jamaican as serious hemispheric power spanning the divide between the Anglo-phones and the Latinos.

I submit that many benefits would accrue from such an undertaking. Certainly it would be better than what currently obtains in this joke which is euphemistically dubbed Caricom. Within Caricom, Jamaica provides the largest dumping ground for Trinidad’s manufacturing sector and endless opportunities for the intellectual elites from Barbados and elsewhere to cherry-pick the top jobs in Jamaica. When you juxtapose this with the terrible treatment we get when we visit other countries in the subregion, can anyone really justify the Government’s almost romantic frolic with Caricom and the CCJ, given that we Jamaicans are ‘foreigners’ to most of the nationals of these Caribbean countries?

kidavis35@yahoo.com