Jamaican Till I Die!

Chair of the Caribbean community, Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, sends out a message to the Caribbean Community Good day. I speak to all our Caribbean brothers and sisters today, not as the Prime Minister of Barbados, but in my capacity as chair of the Caribbean Community. Our world is in crisis. I will not sugarcoat it. These are among the most challenging of times for our region since the majority of our members gained their independence. Indeed, it is the most difficult period our world has faced since the end of World War II, 80 years ago. Our planet faces a climate catastrophe that worsens every year. We have a cost-of-living crisis that has been bedevilling us since the disruption of supply chains, when the COVID-19 Pandemic triggered the shutdown of the majority of countries. Misinformation, disinformation and manipulation are relevant. The mental health crisis is causing hopelessness among many of our young people, and regrettably, crime and fear are on the rise. We’r...

One of the main reasons why Colonization was so successful was that the British successfully sowed the seed of division and discontent within a country and between countries. The British feared real unity and only wanted unity under the crown. For hundreds of years this disunity was allowed to fester and encouraged to grow because the more we are divided, the more control the British had over us. From a young age, I learned this disunity, between people, between parishes, and countries. My grandmother for example, hated people from the Parish of St. Thomas in Jamaica and disliked Trinidadians, as she declared both are not to be trusted. In fact, I cannot remember her speaking highly of any other Caribbean Island. For a long time, I also lived what I learned.  It is safe to say Caribbean countries have an inherited dislike for each other because we only seem to speak about each other in negative terms.  Most but not all, Trinidadian love to list everything that is wrong with be...