 Regionalism and Birth of Caribbean

Integration
 A CSEC Social Studies Lesson at the
Wolmer’s Trust High School for Girls
 October 21, 2009
 Presented by Christopher A Humber
 Objectives
 Factors promoting integration in
the Caribbean
 Factors hindering regional
integration
 The origin of a West Indian
federation
 CARICOM
 Factors promoting integration in
the Caribbean
 Common goals
 Common resources though limited
 Common political ideology
 Common history: colonialism,
descendants of migrants, slavery
 Common economic status,
developing countries
 Common problems, local and
international
 Common climate, soil, landforms
 Common culture, language
 Strategic locations: all Caribbean
countries are surrounded by the
Caribbean Sea.
 The challenges of globalisation and
trade liberalisation.
 Factors hindering regional
integration
 1. Competition between countries,
e.g., for the location of new industries
and the production of similar products.
 2. Differences in resource distribution
 3. Differences in stages of
development
 4. Conflict between territorial and
regional demands and loyalties.
 5. Influence of multi-national and
metropolitan agencies.

 The federal experiment

 Federation means the amal-gamation
or coming together of a number of
entities to form one cohesive group
with the same aims and destiny.
 The origin of a West Indian
federation
 The earliest Federal experiment took
place in Barbados in 1626, where the
Leeward Islands were integrated under
one governor, the Earl of Carlisle.
 From 1833 to 1855, the Windward
Islands and Barbados were united
under one government, of which
Trinidad was a part for two years.
 In the 1930s, the idea of West Indian
territories integrating as a Caribbean
community under one federal or
Caribbean government was proposed
and meetings were held to effect this
change.
 Why a federation?
 West Indians were generally
dissatisfied with the unresponsiveness
and reluctance shown by the British
government to deal with the social,
economic and political problems being
faced by the colonies.
 They wanted an end to poor living and
working conditions, limited political
 powers and discrimination based on
race and class.
 West Indians in leadership positions
felt that they were trained and
knowledgeable about their own nation
states and could take over control of
their own governance.
 Why a federation?
 The teachings of Marcus Garvey
helped to empower blacks to take
charge of their own governments.
 They questioned the accomplishments
of Crown colony government, and
realised that not much had been done
to improve the conditions of the people.
 Colonialism as a constitutional and
ideological form of governance was now
under attack, as it was seen as an
outdated and backward political rule.
 The British government felt that it
would make administrative decisions
easier, as this could be dealt with by the
federal government that, in turn, would
be answerable to the metro pole.
 Why a federation?
 The British government believed it
would be more efficient and cheaper to
replace the Governor and his staff in
each colony with one governor-general
and few officials for the entire
Caribbean region.
 Problems arising
 The larger territories feared their
development would be held back by
smaller and generally poor colonies.
They feared that if the free movement
of Caribbean people were allowed, they
would be bombarded by more
 immigrants, and they already had more
than they could manage.
 In 1947, Alexander Bustamante said
that people were "rushing to set up a
federation of paupers". Grantley Adams
from Barbados said, "The plan would
lead to nothing more than glorified
form of colonial rule." The Trinidadian
representatives stated that it
represented no constitutional advance
for the Caribbean.
 More problems
 The question of funding became an
issue of debate.
 There was also a problem concerning
the location of the capital, as each
country that was proposed, was met
with opposition and jealousy.

 The End of the experiment

 In 1961, Jamaica, after a referendum in
which people were asked to vote
whether or not to let Jamaica remain in
the federation, to which the people of
Jamaica responded "No", officially
withdrew.
 Dr. Eric Williams of Trinidad and
Tobago stated after Jamaica's
withdrawal that "ten minus one equals
nothing", which meant that Jamaica's
withdrawal would make it impossible to
bring about a strong and unified
federation, so he declared Trinidad and
Tobago would also withdraw.
 1961 Desolution
 In 1961, the federation was dissolved.
Both Trinidad and Jamaica gained their
independence in 1962.
 Despite the failure of creating a
federation of Caribbean states, the idea
 of regional integration was never fully
lost.
 A number of regional organisations
were formed with the aim of fostering
Caribbean unity and development.
 CARIFTA (Caribbean Free Trade
Area)
 The end of the federation meant the
beginning of more serious efforts on the
part of the political leaders in the
Caribbean to strengthen the ties
between the islands and mainland.
 The heads of government kept
meetings to discuss the possibility of
establishing a free-trade area.
 A free-trade area is an area in which
there are no barriers to trade.
 The heads of government of the
islands of Antigua, Barbados and
British Guyana signed an agreement at
 Dickenson Bay, Antigua, to set up the
Caribbean Free Trade Association
(CARIFTA) in 1965.
 CARIFTA Continued
 It came into effect on May 1, 1968, with
the participation of Antigua, Barbados,
Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.
 They agreed that there should be no
trade barriers between themselves and
that any import duties they imposed on
goods should be the same in all
territories.
 By 1970, the membership included
Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados,
Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana,
Dominica, Grenada, St.
Kitts/Nevis/Anguilla, St Lucia, St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica,
Montserrat and British Honduras
(Belize).
 CARICOM
 It was at the Seventh Heads of
Government conference, in October,
1972, that the Caribbean leaders
decided to transform CARIFTA into a
common market and establish the
Caribbean Community (CARICOM),
which was established on July 4, 1973,
when Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana and
Trinidad and Tobago signed the Treaty
of Chaguaramas, in Trinidad. The
headquarters of CARICOM is in
Georgetown, Guyana.
 Objectives of CARICOM
 1. To encourage trade between
member states (economic cooperation).
 2. To foster cooperation in non-
economic areas such as health,
education, culture, sport, etc.
 3. To coordinate foreign policy among
the members of states.

 Assignment
 1. Explain the following:
 a. The Caribbean can truly be seen as
one global village.
b. Caribbean integration is critical and
essential to CARICOM member states.
 2. Explain why Caribbean integration
is very important to Jamaica.
 3. State four reasons why Caribbean
integration is possible.
 4. Give three reasons why Caribbean
integration is facing problems.
 5. Give two problems that have arisen
on several occasions, which tend to
jeopardize the integration movement.