SUNDAY 2ND NOVEMBER, 2014 – UWI TODAY
7
Professor Sir Robert Worcester,
Chairman of the
Magna Carta 800th Anniversary Committee, makes
a point at a Distinguished Lecture on October 18,
2014 at the Learning Resource Centre of the St.
Augustine Campus. Sir Robert was in Trinidad to
launch a project titled “The Impact and Influence
of Magna Carta on the Commonwealth Caribbean”
which is being led by Dr. Hamid Ghany, Senior
Lecturer in Political Science and Coordinator
of the Constitutional Affairs and Parliamentary
Studies Unit (CAPSU) of the Faculty of Social
Sciences. The project is funded from a grant by
the Anniversary Committee, which is seeking to
promote the understanding of Magna Carta in the
Commonwealth Caribbean.
OAS SecretaryGeneral celebrates
the region’s season of plenty,
warns of challenges to come
Ten years of growth, economic stability and democratic
governance was how José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General
of the Organisation of American States (OAS), described the
fortunes of the Caribbean and Latin America. Speaking at the
Teaching and Learning Complex of The UWI St. Augustine
Campus, the OAS Secretary General focused on both region’s
remarkable progress and the numerous and critical challenges
it faces today and into the future.
“Latin America and the Caribbean must go back to the
many, many successes that we had in the past decade,” Secretary
General Insulza said before a university audience on October
7 in the complex’s Lecture Theatre E, “but at the same time
recognise we are faced withmany challenges in a time in which
the world economy will not be as favourable to us as it was in
the past decade.”
The OAS head was speaking at The UWI as part of the
university’s Distinguished Lecture Series. Apart fromSecretary
General Insulza, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran,
The UWI Pro Vice Chancellor and Campus Principal Clement
K. Sankat andDirector of the Institute of International Relations
Professor Andy Knight, spoke as well.
“In the past decade, I would put that decade from 2003-
2012, our countries achieved a combination of high growth,
macroeconomic stability, poverty reduction, even some
improvement on income distribution. And democracy became
the normal form of government all over the Americas,” the
Secretary General said.
He pointed to the effects of “unexpected and incredible
economic growth” which was more than that of the two
previous decades combined. At the beginning of the 21st
century, 43.2% of the region’s people lived below the poverty
line, Insulza described. Today that figure has been whittled
down to 28.8% with around 70 million people crossing over
the poverty line.
Alongside these economic and social strides were political
stability and democratic governance, Insulza added:
“It is around 25 years that the last dictatorships ended in
Latin America and around 20 years that the civil wars ended.
The result is well-known. We should not lose sight of that.
When we came to Trinidad some years ago for the Summit
of the Americas, every elected leader sitting at that table had
been elected democratically. These have been two impressive
decades of democracy.”
Challenging conditions
Despite all this progress however, the Secretary General
spent the second portion of his lecture highlighting several
challenges to the Caribbean and Latin America’s well-
being across the economic, social and political landscapes.
Challenges, he says, which make the region’s democratic
systems vulnerable.
Magna
Carta
in the Modern
Caribbean
THE REGION
Prepare for
Winter
Insulza pointed to a slowdown in the region’s average
economic performance. Regional economies’ growth figure fell
from 6.1% in 2010 to 2.75% in 2013, with a projected figure of
under 2% for 2014.
“The economies that are slowing down have slowed down
faster and the economies that are supposed to grow, have grown
less than they should have,” he said. “I should say that the
Caribbean, with very few exceptions, has experienced relatively
low growth; the result of the same competitiveness problems
that are largely shared by many countries in the hemisphere.”
Insulza said one of the core economic productivity and
competitiveness issues was the growth of the middle class
through people moving out of poverty and the increased
expectations of these people for greater equity in their working
and living conditions.
“There was a time unfortunately when some governments
felt the best way to increase competitiveness was to reduce
wages and cut down on staff. Now we know that’s not possible.
Most people would not stand for that. Therefore the issue here
is education, science and technology. Latin America and the
Caribbean still invest one fifth of what OECD countries do in
science and technology,” he said.
The Secretary General pinpointed three areas that could
hinder or damage democratic systems in the Americas:
Inequality – “Despite the decline in poverty, we are still
the most unequal region in the world.... It is impossible to grow
and have a democratic society in a region in which the degree
of inequality is as high as ours. A lack of social mobility, lack
of opportunity, are incompatible with democratic rule.”
Violence – “Some of our countries are some of the most
violent in the world.This is a problem for democracy.... We have
segments in our society (the poorer parts) that are governed
by different rules.”
Lack of consensus on moving society forward – “Many of
our countries do not have a general consensus in the political
area on to move forward. Where do we want to go? What is
our national view? What role is our country going to play in
our region first and then in the world.”
Secretary General Insulza also spoke of the need for
political campaign finance reform, which he said, was necessary
to protect regional democracies from the perverting influence
of wealthy campaign donors. He also stressed the need – more
important than ever – for economic unity:
“Our markets are our main opportunity. It is no longer
necessary but absolutely imperative that we undertake serious
regional integration. We have to create powerful internal
markets to help us withstand external economic pressures.”
Despite the challenges however, Secretary General Insulza
voiced optimism for the region’s ability to face the challenging
environment:
“We have much better possibilities. We have stronger
economies. We have stronger democracies. We have an
improved condition of our people.”
OAS Secretary General
celebrates the region’s
season of plenty, warns
of challenges to come
