SUNDAY 7TH JUNE, 2015 – UWI TODAY
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To effect change in poverty levels, social inequalities,
Caribbean integration, climate change, in SIDS (Small Island
Developing States) another speaker, Kahlil Hassanali from
the Institute of Marine Affairs pointed to the gap between
rhetoric and action that in every facet of life, is faced by
every country in the region.
“We are signing up to many treaties but lack legislation
to bring life to these treaties in national policy and action,”
he said.
Concluding Day One, Shariann Henry reiterated, “We
need equality for all, equal work for equal pay…The 2014
public corruption perception index ranks T&T at 85 and
Jamaica is close to that number too – the trickle-down
effect will never occur. We need long term approaches to
deal with corruption.”
The essential messages emerging over the days were
that people at every corner of the Caribbean are thoroughly
fed-up with governments fighting racial or tribal wars,
politicking with national resources, misappropriating funds
and acting in corrupt and nepotistic ways that further
undermine the archaic systems and processes that seem
never to work for and are always against people’s prosperity;
that collectively the people of the region are disgusted and
disappointed with where the Caribbean is developmentally
and relative to the rest of the world and that the region needs
to hurry up and get on the path to a better existence for not
select strata of societies, but for all.
The UWI’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Hilary
Beckles, in his opening statement on the second day said,
“We all know what we want. We wish to see the Caribbean
world develop its materials and infrastructure more
aggressively. We wish to see systems of governance and
political relations rooted in the Caribbean revolutionary
philosophy of justice for all and freedom for all. We wish
for cultural dynamism, cultural tolerance and respect. All
of this is a part of the Caribbean revolution.”
In locating the historical Caribbean within a
revolutionary mindset, he urged that there be a resurrection
of that spirit if any change were to be effective.
For a conference whose content description is as bold
as ‘disruptive’ to the status quo, the question really is: how
does disruptive thinking render to progressive outcomes?
It can be argued that the practical operations of
disruptiveness came from the audience. Throughout the
three days, comments and questions centered on these
points:
Rebecca Robinson
is an Adjunct Lecturer in Communication Studies at the Department of Literary, Cultural & Communication Studies, The UWI, St. Augustine.
we cannot really be disruptive if all the ideas we are
discussing are based on Eurocentric beliefs, paradigms and
measurements, none or few new ideas move away from this
way of thinking and perspectives on the region;
that as a region we are lacking cultural confidence in our
own traditions and abilities to respond to global developments;
when we talk about ‘sustainable development,’ whose
sustainable development are we really talking about, as social
justice and gender inequality are still not on anyone’s agenda
and the top-down approach to mapping, fixing and engaging
Caribbean people is not working but is still being done – take
this conference for example – where are the voices of the youth,
of civil society, of stakeholders and community leaders?
The peeping cynicism of day one was left behind on
days two and three where cynicism became rife among
attendees who shared their opinions.
“The usual Caribbean talk-shop” was the spin put on
the sessions, as people seem to be simply frustrated that
the issues around non-performing or under-performing
governments cripple their efforts to bring change, bring a
better quality of life.
On the morning of day three Indera Sagewan-Alli,
Executive Director of The UWI’s Caribbean Centre for
Competitiveness shared her perspective: “To have been
really disruptive this conference should have started at the
question of how to fix the problems of the region – which
we are all familiar with. We all understand where we need
to move to, so the descriptive statistics on the problems of
the region could have been lessened and the parts of the
sessions about what are the solutions broadened.”
Another perspective Sagewan-Alli shared on the form
and content was that, “The sessions have taken the usual
top-down approach to problem solving when people came
to share their ideas on disruptiveness for solutions and were
looking for a platform to be heard – and heard not inwriting,
but in the sense of how we do business – talking it out.”
Don’t misunderstand. Attendees across the days agree
that the content of the conference – research findings
and case studies from other developing nations, quality
and variety of the speakers, the analysis they brought, the
organization of the sessions, were all top-class. The issues
they raised, the possible solutions they provided, the lessons
learnt and best practices contextualized, the international
perspectives, the new approaches to persistent development
problems expounded – all are necessary elements of what
the region needs to chart the way forward.
In closing Andy Knight said, “This forum should not be
a ‘one-off.’ There is a need for an annual Caribbean Future
Forum and a series of interimworkshops and action events
to make sure that the disruptive thinking which emerged
from this inaugural Forum results in bold and decisive
action.”
Balancing Knight’s comment and to have truly reflected
its title, some said the conference needed to have entered
the discourse at ‘let’s disrupt the status quo by mapping out
strategies for some targeted interventions that originate
with you the people.’ In the apt words of Vice-Chancellor
Beckles, “Minister Dookeran has brought us here to plan a
revolution. We are here to re-start the revolution.” Sounds
like a call for Disruptive Thinking II - doesn’t it?
THE FUTURE OF THE CARIBBEAN
From UNDP, Stacy Richards-Kennedy and Richard Blewett, with The UWI St. Augustine Campus Principal, Professor Clement
Sankat and Sharan Singh Director of the Office of Institutional Advancement and Internationalisation at The UWI.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Winston Dookeran.
Deputy Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Antonio Prado.
