Diplomacy writer – Darby Etienne
In deciding what diplomacy article to write for my first article in this prestigious online Caribbean Newspaper, my mind flashed against the above topic with the reason being that it sets the grounding for the Diaspora to judge.
Since the West Indies Federation brief existence 1958 to 1962 there has been poor use of diplomacy by Caribbean leaders. The Federation was established under the British Caribbean Federation Act of 1956 with the aim of establishing a political union among the following members; Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, the then St Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and Trinidad and Tobago.
Jamaica notable excluded themselves at the time and memorable words from Dr. Eric Williams the Premier to Trinidad and Tobago was the talk of the time ‘One from ten leaves zero’.
Since first coming to England in 1987 I steadily grew in my understanding of the British culture serious in business ethics, nation branding and strong in cultural diplomacy all done by the British Council sponsored by Foreign Commonwealth Office and at the same time I cast my mind back to my understanding of the Caribbean culture of sun, rum and Carnival fun.
Sir Eric Williams. Photo courtesy 50tt.guardian.co.tt
Understanding the psychological effect of colonialism on the Caribbean and seeing the British shrewd utilisation of strategic names to hit an accord with the English speaking people around the world.
So when the opportunity came to unify as one Caribbean it was the old slave boy story of who is bigger and the selfish game of positioning for position. The fact that every Caribbean countries through independence from Britain could have its own prime minister, the quest for proclaimed autonomy, nepotism and egos, would be too much for babies of ex slaves to leave behind is favour of strength of unity in a Federation.
Throughout the decades that followed it became more and more apparent that diplomacy would suffer because of this mindset. You see diplomacy works best in people that want help, not in people who believe they have it all and too accomplished to stoop to conquer.
In the Caribbean the acquired Governmental post has no power to negotiate with world powers or international institutions except suppressing their nationals particularly with partisan bickering.
There is a solution, but our leaders must first accept that the systems most countries have used including the old national constitution modelled by the British which prevents dismissals of incompetent Governmental employees must be changed.
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