Envisioning Caribbean Futures: Jamaican Perspectives

212 Pages·2007·4.656 MB·English

by  Brian Meeks

Employing critical analysis of Caribbean intellectual thought and of the post-
colonial political economy, Brian Meeks sets about proposing a manifesto for the
future. What emerges is a programme for the medium term, which is pragmatic in
its efforts to deal with the current crisis without engaging in the romanticism of an
all-encompassing revolutionary transformation. Meeks suggests a form of participa-
tory reorganization without, necessarily, dismantling the fundamentals of formal
democratic organization. Second, he proposes ways of guaranteeing an expanded
participation in the political and economic arenas focusing, on the one hand, on
the diaspora, and most especially on the subaltern. Particular emphasis is placed on
rural agro-producers because their empowerment, politically and economically,
resolves the problem of elite domination while creating the conditions for econom-
ic democracy. He argues, finally, that the proposals can become the basis for a more
fundamental social and intellectual transformation from, following Sylvia Wynter,
“man” to “human”, based on democracy, community and solidarity.
“This new book, from one of the region’s leading thinkers in social and political
thought, breaks new ground in critical analysis and prescription . . . . He points to
the shortcomings of the current neo-liberal economic model and proposes for a
new paradigm of development that is democratic, inclusive and empowering of the
majority of the population. Deserves to be widely read and debated.”
– Norman Girvan, Institute of International Relations,
University of the West Indies, St Augustine
“The book is a manifesto for dealing with the crisis of globalization in the post-
colony through reorganization of the system, structure and processes of governance
and through the reformulation of economic organization toward forms of econom-
ic democracy. . . . There is much to engage with in Meeks’s book, which is just what
superlative scholarship is all about.
– Percy Hintzen, University of California, Berkeley
Brian Meeksis Professor of Social and Political Change and Director of the Centre
for Caribbean Thought in the Department of Government, University of the West
Indies, Mona. He is the author of Caribbean Revolutions and Revolutionary Theory:
An Assessment of Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada; Radical Caribbean: from Black
Power to Abu Bakr; Narratives of Resistance: Jamaica, Trinidad, the Caribbean;
and the novel Paint the Town Red.
University of the West Indies Press
Jamaica (cid:127) Barbados (cid:127) Trinidad and Tobago
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Envisioning Caribbean Futures
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E
N V I S I O N I N G
C
A R I B B E A N
F
U T U R E S
JAMAICAN PERSPECTIVES
Brian Meeks
University of the West Indies Press
Jamaica • Barbados (cid:127) Trinidad and Tobago
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University of the West Indies Press
7A Gibraltar Hall Road Mona
Kingston 7 Jamaica
www.uwipress.com
© 2007 by Brian Meeks
All rights reserved.Published 2007
11 10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2 1
Meeks,Brian
Envisioning Caribbean futures:Jamaican perspectives / Brian Meeks.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN:978-976-640-200-6
1.Social movements – Jamaica.2.Postmodernism – Jamaica.
3.Liberalism – Jamaica.1.Title.
H223.5.M55 2007 301.1’7292
Book and cover design by Robert Harris.
Set in Bembo 11/15 x 24
Printed in Canada.
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contents
Acknowledgements / vii
Abbreviations / viii
Introduction: Social Living / 1
1 Explorations in New Caribbean Thought / 6
2 Jamaica in a Time of Neo-Liberal Infatuation / 61
3 Imagining the Future / 108
Conclusion: Solidarity / 171
Bibliography / 179
Index / 195
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acknowledgements
I thank my wife,Patsy,for her tremendous encouragement throughout the
genesis,research and writing of this book.Her own work on regional inte-
gration and the difficult situation facing small states under globalization has
helped to shape much of my thought on these matters.I thank my daugh-
ters,Anya and Seya,for patience beyond their ages as they happily (and,
occasionally,not so happily) endured my many mental absences while I was
thinking through these ideas.I wish to thank especially former principal of
the University of the West Indies and now governor general of Jamaica
Kenneth Hall and the team responsible for introducing the Mona
Academic Fellowship,certainly among the most generous research grants
to be offered anywhere.I owe a special debt of gratitude to my colleagues
in the Centre for Caribbean Thought,Rupert Lewis at Mona and Anthony
Bogues of Brown University.They both read my manuscript carefully and
gave many critical but encouraging comments.The staff of the Centre,
including Adlyn Smith,Allan Bernard,Ryan Williams,Dahlia Cole and
Jennifer Jackson-Hill,all provided logistical help way beyond the call of
duty.The University of the West Indies Press has once again demonstrated
its commitment to professionalism.I thank Linda Speth,Claudette Upton
and Shivaun Hearne for their prompt and thorough approach to editing
and publication.Many thanks to all my colleagues and friends who read
chapters, excerpts or the entire manuscript, especially Norman Girvan,
Kari Levitt,Percy Hintzen,Paget Henry and Derek Boyd.Despite their
careful scrutiny and attention,complete responsibility for the flaws in the
final product is,inevitably,mine.
vii
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abbreviations
CARICOM Caribbean Community and Common Market
IMF International Monetary Fund
JLP Jamaica Labour Party
MP Member of Parliament
NAM Non-Aligned Movement
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development
PIOJ Planning Institute of Jamaica
PNP People’s National Party
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
WTO World Trade Organization
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introduction
social living
Do you know?
Social living is the best
– Burning Spear
Even at his most garrulous,Winston Rodney,Jamaican Rastafarian artiste
and leader of Burning Spear,is best described as terse.Rodney has mas-
tered what might be termed a “drumming lyric”in which his lead vocal
substitutes for the Rastafarian repeater,or cutting drum.There is a steady
and hypnotic background rhythm – the heartbeat,as it were – which is
suddenly interrupted by a brief,staccato outburst of improvisation;then
the heartbeat resumes,to be followed by outburst,heartbeat and outburst
once again.The rapid,ephemeral intervention of the voice (repeater) con-
tains a profound message, but it is veiled, coded, brief – indeed, terse.
Ultimately,it is up to the listener,caught up in the trance-like moment of
the performance,to fill in the blank spaces between the words.So it is with
Burning Spear’s 1978 hit single “Social Living”.1The late 1970s was a time
when notions of radical change were rife. Democratic socialism domi-
nated,but Marxism of various stripes,while never gaining broad-based
1