By *Jomo Thomas
I was taken aback by residual doubts about the viability and significance of our struggle for sovereignty and national independence. I had no idea that 47 years after achieving political independence, some people still believe we would have been better off with colonial overlords.
To be sure, I belong to a school of thought that believes political independence alone is insufficient. Many of us in the progressive movement despised “flag independence” and the mere replacement of a white racist misruler with a black visage during the discussions on independence.
The Trinidadian developmental economist Lloyd Best coined the term “AfroSaxon” to describe such a person. The more foresighted and visionary among us discussed Genuine Independence, People’s Ownership, and Control.
Progressives were clear that to chart a meaningful and sustainable developmental path, we needed to first wrest political control from the colonialists who disrupted our independence course, destabilised our culture, dehumanised our people, and mercilessly raped and exploited our country.
We were so convinced of our country’s development potential that when former Prime Minister James Mitchell opposed our country’s transition to independence with the bogus argument that “associated statehood with Britain protects us as well as sardines in a tin”. Many laughed in his face and told him where to go.
As a result, it is disheartening to realise that there is nostalgia for our colonial past. According to the argument, the remaining colonies in our region are better off economically and score higher on the social and developmental index. This argument ignores the reality that many colonies resemble colonial showcases that emerged in response to the regional independence movement that began in the 1960s.
The argument ignores that colonial officials hindered efforts to integrate the region and tried to end the West Indies Federation, created in 1958. More crucially, having “sucked the region dry”, as former Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Eric Williams put it, Britain has consistently failed to engage the region in a reparatory debate that will lead to true and sustained growth.
The past colonial powers’ criminal neglect of the Caribbean has pushed post-independence regional authorities to borrow excessively, making the Caribbean one of the world’s most indebted regions.
Nonetheless, as we will see, inequality is quite significant in both independent and colonial states within the region. The white settler class completely dominated the business and social life in the colonial enclaves. As a result, metrics such as GDP and per capita income are misleading and do not provide a realistic picture of how the people in the region live.
The GDP measures the size of the economy and provides insight into how well it is operating. However, the real GDP growth rate provides a more accurate representation of economic health. Many individuals now recognise that economic growth does not always imply economic development.
The same applies to concepts like per capita income, or the amount of money earned by each individual in a country. SVG, for example, today has a per capita income of more than $8,000. However, we have a poverty rate of about 40% and an unemployment rate of more than 40%. Taken together, most Vincentians can be classified as working poor. As a result, per capita numbers are inaccurate and do not reflect citizens’ actual circumstances.
Many colonies have better infrastructure than independent countries, but this is because colonial overlords in London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Washington have turned non-independent areas into playgrounds for their economic elites.
It’s no surprise that people from all colonial areas can be found in large numbers as they seek greener pastures. Puerto Ricans, Guadeloupeans, and Martiniquais can be found in large numbers in the metropoles. Bermuda, Turks and Caicos, and the British Virgin Islands have considerable numbers of residents from other islands looking for work and a better life.
Because they are accustomed to seeing individuals who look like them in positions of influence in politics and the economy, many Caribbean people assert a strength and resolve in the metropoles of North America and Europe.
Conditions for indigenous peoples in colonies are comparable to those in independent countries. Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Cayenne, for example, have unemployment rates of 18, 22, and 23%, respectively.
Life expectancy at birth is 83, 82, and 77 years, respectively. The life expectancy figures are not surprising given that all three civilisations have sizable white settler communities in comparison to primarily black independent countries. Metropoles watch out for their own.
They also need to preserve colonial remnants such as the Privy Council. Our judges are said to have gone to the same schools and knew each other. Proponents of this viewpoint overlook, downplay, or ignore a critical point: the law is rarely about friendships, but rather about class and political interests.
British judges attend private colleges such as Eton and King’s College, just as our lawyers attend UWI or British institutions. They are no smarter than our judges. To suggest you’d rather have a stranger preside over your legal problem than a local judge is a sad reflection on our self-esteem. Such sentiments feed into colonial overlords’ beliefs that our people are subhuman and thus have inferior intellect.
Returning to the “halcyon days” of colonial control demonstrates a lack of confidence and self-worth. Such viewpoints stem from an inferiority complex, the belief that others are superior to us in matters of state.
Onward to true independence, citizen ownership, and control.
(This piece was first published Nov. 3, 2023.)
*Jomo Sanga Thomas is a lawyer, journalist, social commentator and a former Speaker of the House of Assembly in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
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