Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer
DR. PETER Phillips, a candidate for the presidency of the governing People's National Party (PNP), has ruled out the option of seeking to take Jamaica into another political union of the former British West Indian territories, should he become Prime Minister.
"I don't think that ... certainly from the Jamaican perspective, we are at a point where political unification or integration is a viable option," Dr. Phillips said during a recorded interview for the Power 106 show, 'Good Evening Jamaica'. Part of that interview was aired yesterday.
On the other hand, the former political science lecturer believes some countries of the Eastern Caribbean might still find it practical and culturally acceptable to form a political union because of their close proximity and the ease and convenience of travel and commerce between each state. "Which," he argues, "makes that an almost different psycho-cultural experience of Caribbean 'one-ness' down there than it is here where we do the same thing with Miami - going up and coming back for business in one day."
An earlier political federation, championed by Norman Manley, founder of the PNP, collapsed in 1962, four years after it started, when Manley lost a referendum on the question of Jamaica's continued participation. Jamaica's pullout from the union precipitated the break-up of the West Indies Federation. The situation was pithily summed up by Dr. Eric Williams, then Premier of Trinidad and Tobago, in the immortal words: "One from ten leaves zero".
CARICOM SINGLE MARKET
Reflecting on that break-up, Dr. Phillips concedes that "it might have been an historical inevitability", even though he continues to argue that Alexander Bustamante and the Jamaica Labour Party were wrong "in seeking to crash it". There might have been options then for reforming the Federation without abandoning the experiment, he contends.
In 1968, six years after the collapse of the Federation - the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) - was formally established. This came three years after talks towards this end began. CARIFTA was succeeded by the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) - in 1973.
One of the main objectives of CARICOM was finally achieved yesterday, when the CARICOM Single Market (CSM) was formally inaugurated by six heads of government from among the 15-member states. This took place, ironically, in Jamaica, with the host country being among the original signatories. The Single Economy component of the CSME, meanwhile, has been put off for later implementation.
Against the background of this belated step, Dr. Phillips remains impatient with the slow pace of implementation of important objectives within CARICOM. This, he contends, illustrates how difficult it would be to re-establish a regionwide political union. "There have been discussions about joint foreign representation that have been going on now for twenty or more years, but it hasn't happened. There is still a specificity of interests that would prevent that from happening," he said.
In contrast, Dr. Phillips is giving full support to the process of economic integration and coordination of foreign policy response on some critical issues, like trade negotiations and security, and historically important institutions such as West Indies cricket and the University of the West Indies.
