THE EDITOR, Sir:THOSE JAMAICANS in leadership positions who, on ideological grounds, are in favour of a West Indian Federation, disguised by whatever name, would do well to heed the 'No' votes of France and the Netherlands to ratification of the European Union constitution. This has already had serious repercussions, the first being the resignation of the French Prime Minister. The NO votes have sent shockwaves throughout Europe and the future of the union itself could be threatened.
The pros and cons of certain issues can be debated vigorously in theory, as was the case with the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice, but it was only when the Privy Council in the U.K. ruled against its constitutionality that the reality came home to its proponents in Jamaica.
The same reaction has occurred in Europe over the rejection of the proposed constitution by as large and important member of the union as France.
In that country and in Holland, the ideal of a united Europe is not shared by the ordinary citizen who fears losing his or her national identity and knows instinctively that unions of any kind carry as many risks as advantages. Human nature prefers to stay with the evils that it knows rather than fly to others that it knows not of.
It is glib to talk of sharing a common racial and cultural heritage, but in fact the peoples of the various West Indian islands do not really know one another and often espouse different values. Even in so ecumenical an institution as the University of the West Indies, Jamaicans studying
engineering at the Trinidad campus are disliked for being too aggressive and indiscipline. At the university in Jamaica, students from the smaller islands, many of them Roman Catholics, are reportedly intimidated by a wave of Fundamentalism which for some time has been a feature of the Mona campus. Political union is being pressured by prime ministers who are in the racially black camp whereas a large proportion of the populations of Trinidad and Guyana is Indian.
There is a strong argument for the West Indies speaking with one voice on international issues in fora like the United Nations, but this does not demand a
political or economic union. Holding up the EU as a model for us to follow may not now be as facile as it once was.
I am, etc.,
Caribbean Student
