Stephen Vasciannie

A few months ago, I was invited to address the Retired Teachers' Association of the Jamaica Teachers' Association on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (the CSME). In the question and answer session that followed my presentation, one of the teachers noted that not enough had been done to explain the CSME to the wider public. she noted that though the CSME is a significant development in our lives, it has not been treated as such.

If one considers the degree of public attention that we give to domestic scandals, quasi-scandals and scraps, I must agree with the teacher's point. There have been efforts to advertise and promote the CSME, both at governmental and private levels, but one wonders about the extent to which the message has been received or accepted. It may be that we have just not reached the tipping point. once we get there, the CSME will be a part of daily discourse, but until then, efforts need to be redoubled.

Ownership

But other factors may also be at play. For instance, the CARICOM Secretariat needs to take greater "ownership" of the project. To be sure, individual countries are party to the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas which sets up the CSME, and so, these countries have a role to play in disseminating information about what the CSME means in practice. Simultaneously, however, there needs to be a regional effort, one designed to demonstrate that the CSME will mean greater opportunities for employment, trade and investment throughout the Caribbean.

This, though, prompts a wider question about CARICOM and its impact in practice. As a matter of history, regional integration movements have tended to be 'top-down' efforts, particularly in their early stages. The leaders and the intellectuals identify the potential of integration, and then, through the gradual process of education, deliberation and opposition, the benefits of integration are accepted and brought to fruition - thesis, antithesis, synthesis, as the dialecticians would have it.

Is it so with CARICOM? Some leaders have identified the values of CARICOM and the CSME and have put forward the arguments for integration. However, the debate lacks vigour, not least because the antithesis - the anti-CARICOM position - tends to be rather muted. Those who are inclined to the view that CARICOM is problematic have simply remained silent. The result is that the cut and thrust that would enliven the idea of CARICOM is missing.

'Grass Roots'

In this context, the CARICOM secretariat needs, I believe, to become more proactive at the "grass roots" level. CARICOM should, for example, establish offices in each of its member states, dedicated to promoting, advertising and disseminating information on the regional movement. Given the well-known budgetary constraints in some CARICOM member states, these offices will, of necessity, be modest operations at the outset, but they will represent an effort for CARICOM to develop an identity composed of, but separate from, the identity of individual member states.

These CARICOM offices would need to be staffed by advocates with much patience. The main obstacles to regional unity are well known. They include the fact that we are geogra-phically separate, with Jamaica way up north and Guyana, way down south. Our people have historically found greater reason to unite in the colonial metropole than at home. The Bajan character - to the extent that I may generalise - is different from the Jamaican and the 'Trini'. The Eastern Caribbean countries have their rivalries. Post-Burnhamite Guyana is too busy recovering (and dealing with race-based stress) to concentrate on regional unity. And Haiti raises a whole set of special questions.

The challenge is for pro-CARICOM advocates to move beyond these, and other obstacles, to the benefits of economic integration. Even when our countries are brought together, the market is relatively small; but it is larger than individual markets. This, plus the fact that we have a shared history, and rough geographical proximity, can be used to convince Caribbean people that we must pull together as part of the CARICOM experiment.

Stephen Vasciannie is professor of international law at the University of the West Indies and works part time as Deputy Solicitor General in the Attorney General's chambers.