Setting: Caribbean.
Total population: 38,045,052*
There are a few people who sit in fancy chairs around fancy tables in each island and tattle amongst themselves, and then they meet with their counterparts from across the region and tattle amongst themselves again and then they stand behind lecterns, on top of podiums, in front of cameras and speak to us, the ordinary folk, and say we are moving towards integration, we are finding and working towards ways of unifying all almost 40 million people.
After this the brilliant ones amongst us sit in lecture theaters and and classrooms and library cubicles and analyse the implications and possibilities that would arise from this unification and integration. They write papers and present their findings to their peers who either cheer or chide and then it is filtered by removing jargon and convoluted terms and given to Joe Public so as to get them on board and in a mind state to facilitate what is called the integration movement.
All is fine and fair so far, here is where it gets tricky, and where the insulting of my intelligence begins; ready? Remember your parents back in the days of your youth telling you, "Do as I say not as I do."? Well the officials, the academics, the institutions, the governments are manifesting this parenting cliche. How? Like this.
The University of the West Indies, an institution created within the vision of regional integration, one university, three campuses, none offering the same specialties so as to make people leave home and travel (read as integrate) to other regional territories and foster relationships with a regional cross section of persons. This would facilitate a much smoother integration process...LOL! So fast forward a few years, and the campuses begin offering the same things as each other, so Bajans really do not need to leff home and Jamaicans don't haffi fly out and Trinis can stay home and lime. Well non-campus territories still have to send their people out, but integration is a all encompassing not selective, as some people would like to have us believe. University of Guyana? 4th UWI campus? Things of myth and legend I believe.
Caribbean Court of Justice, who sign on? Enough said, moving on.
Media. Yes media. "The integration movement is making significant strides to becoming a reality", says one news report, then the rest of the news program is dedicated to how Jamaicans are drug dealers and prostitutes and murderous bastards, Trinidadians are obnoxious, self centered people with serious internal integration problems based on a racial divide, the Winward and Leeward Islands are hopeless banana republics and the non-English speaking countries are not worth a once-over.
I sense a mixed message here..subtle.
What is the end result? well you get stories like these:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Finger-raped-in-Barbados_8573453
With comments like these:
Someone somewhere thinks I am stupid.
Why produce/promote songs like this then nuh if wunna really aint bout this togetherness thing?
Total population: 38,045,052*
There are a few people who sit in fancy chairs around fancy tables in each island and tattle amongst themselves, and then they meet with their counterparts from across the region and tattle amongst themselves again and then they stand behind lecterns, on top of podiums, in front of cameras and speak to us, the ordinary folk, and say we are moving towards integration, we are finding and working towards ways of unifying all almost 40 million people.
After this the brilliant ones amongst us sit in lecture theaters and and classrooms and library cubicles and analyse the implications and possibilities that would arise from this unification and integration. They write papers and present their findings to their peers who either cheer or chide and then it is filtered by removing jargon and convoluted terms and given to Joe Public so as to get them on board and in a mind state to facilitate what is called the integration movement.
All is fine and fair so far, here is where it gets tricky, and where the insulting of my intelligence begins; ready? Remember your parents back in the days of your youth telling you, "Do as I say not as I do."? Well the officials, the academics, the institutions, the governments are manifesting this parenting cliche. How? Like this.
The University of the West Indies, an institution created within the vision of regional integration, one university, three campuses, none offering the same specialties so as to make people leave home and travel (read as integrate) to other regional territories and foster relationships with a regional cross section of persons. This would facilitate a much smoother integration process...LOL! So fast forward a few years, and the campuses begin offering the same things as each other, so Bajans really do not need to leff home and Jamaicans don't haffi fly out and Trinis can stay home and lime. Well non-campus territories still have to send their people out, but integration is a all encompassing not selective, as some people would like to have us believe. University of Guyana? 4th UWI campus? Things of myth and legend I believe.
Caribbean Court of Justice, who sign on? Enough said, moving on.
Media. Yes media. "The integration movement is making significant strides to becoming a reality", says one news report, then the rest of the news program is dedicated to how Jamaicans are drug dealers and prostitutes and murderous bastards, Trinidadians are obnoxious, self centered people with serious internal integration problems based on a racial divide, the Winward and Leeward Islands are hopeless banana republics and the non-English speaking countries are not worth a once-over.
I sense a mixed message here..subtle.
What is the end result? well you get stories like these:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Finger-raped-in-Barbados_8573453
With comments like these:
- This is an outrage and very shameful. The Jamaican government has many tools at its disposal to retaliate against the Barbados yet is seemingly polite about this travesty. Sadly, this is not an isolated incident and requires a string response. Jamaicans, if little Barbados can treat some of us like that, you retaliate by not vacationing there, don't buy goods made in Barbados and boycott Bajan owned companies in Jamaica. Support Jamaican owned enterprises.
Jamaicans, you have power. Use it!!!
- Jamaica must go it alone, no to Caricom and no to CCJ. It is a good thing that Jamaica did get out of the West Indian Federation. This "Finger-raped" would never happened to Shanique if she was traveling on an US or Canadian or EU passport because those governments will "punish" Barbados.
It is bad when a "white country" theat Jamaicans "bad" but when it it a 'black country" doing the same there are no words to discribe shame shame on our so call " black" brothers and sistersin Barbados.
Someone somewhere thinks I am stupid.
Why produce/promote songs like this then nuh if wunna really aint bout this togetherness thing?
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