Britain ‘Permits’ Bermuda to Join CARICOM: The Fraud of CARICOM Revealed, Again

Bermuda is 600 miles east of North Carolina, USA. Many in the region, derisively, will say that the British Overseas Territory is not in the Caribbean but 900 miles north of it. There are no regular airline or shipping services between the Caribbean and Bermuda — only with the USA, Canada and Britain. At the same time, Trinidad and Tobago sit more than 1,300 miles south of Cuba. Fewer, too, dispute that Guyana, Suriname or Belize are legitimately Caribbean despite their location on the South American and Central American coast. This reminds us that who is and is not part of the Caribbean is not merely a matter of geography. It is a legacy of different factions of colonialism and imperial blocks of capital.

Bermuda: Part of Britain, the US and the Caribbean?

During World War II the British Empire granted land for a US military base in Bermuda much as they did in Trinidad. The US remained militarily affiliated with Bermuda much longer through the end of the twentieth century.

Many have heard of the Bermuda Triangle which includes the waters and airspace of Miami and Puerto Rico; the enigma being that many aircraft and ships have vanished, crashed or sunk intermittently.

Bermuda was the eye of all trade in the Atlantic World before Haiti and Jamaica became more central. It may be essential for discarding those who demean us in the near future.

An Overseas Territory? Or an Insult to Caribbean Civilization?

Bermuda is officially a British “overseas territory” in the Caribbean. In other words, it is a modern colony denied self-government. Bermuda’s parliament, which plays at self-government and masquerades as autonomous does not amuse us. In post-colonial societies, we also have parliaments whose independence from Empire remains dubious at best. Only fools can try and convince us they are a vehicle of empowerment for anyone not looking to grab power and wealth for themselves.

Except for obscure individuals and small groups, where is the anti-colonial movement to free Bermuda? Where is the Caribbean regional and global movement for freedom and self-government for Bermuda? It doesn’t exist. This is evidence why both the imperial cultural apparatus, and the basic socialization of ordinary Caribbean people by the local rulers above them, constantly talking about how they reject “colonial” values is a fraud. Pretty soon “decolonize” will become a slogan that is a euphemism for indulgent and individualistic repertoires of “self-care” and “living one’s best life.” For few know how to turn words into deeds.

CARICOM Does Not Reject Empire, It is Funded by Empire

Recently, Britain gave ‘permission’ to Bermuda to affiliate as a full member with CARICOM, the bureaucracy of Caribbean unity and federation from above. Now some call this the greenlight. Others call it entrustment. Others still report that a blessing was given.

Some on social media have raised concerns. Is Bermuda entering CARICOM a secret British maneuver to spy on Caribbean independent territories sovereignty? Why would Bermuda be welcomed as a full member of CARICOM if it does not sign on to the CARICOM Single Market and Economy and “free movement” of Caribbean nationals? A well-meaning inclination, the reality we must face is much harsher.

CARICOM does not reject empire. It does not protect the free movement of Caribbean nationals. The lived experience of Guyanese nationals in Trinidad, Jamaican nationals in Barbados, or Haitian nationals in Jamaica and The Bahamas confirms this. It does not promote cultural independence and freedom, though it occasionally indulges in cultural masquerades like so many others who preach “decolonization” in search of professional development and social capital in this post-civil rights, post-colonial epoch. But the truth of CARICOM is far worse. It is not accountable to the people of the Caribbean. It does not protect regional free movement of Caribbean nationals (only politicians and financiers). CARICOM is funded and sponsored by USAID and the European Community.

And so when CARICOM secretary Dr. Carla Barnett announces Britain has given permission to Bermuda to become a full member, we cannot finally tell whether she is a charlatan or fool. A hustler would wish to cover up or find other language to undermine the fact that CARICOM is in no way a threat to British or American empire, yesterday or today.

Hustlers, the Ignorant, and the Formally Educated

An ignorant person, however formally educated, may believe that the Caribbean masses cannot comprehend the contemporary dynamics of their exploitation and CARICOM’s role in mystifying (really destroying) the terms of Caribbean unity.

If CARICOM is against colonialism, and what formally educated person in the Caribbean claims not to be, it would have to denounce Britain and Bermuda’s subordinate condition under Britain. At the same time, as many well-know, CARICOM claims to be leading a reparations campaign from both slavery and colonialism against the British. Here is evidence that the cultural pappyshow, spread throughout the region on radio, television, and in universities that the reparations campaign is a lie. It is not an impending confrontation with empire but a stage-managed ruse built in collaboration with the Empire’s greatest sponsors.

The Bermuda Question Exposes CARICOM Reparations Campaign

The fact is Bermuda joining up with CARICOM is not unlike Britain and the United States sharing the administration of colonialism under the Anglo-American Caribbean Commission in the 1940s and 1950s. Except it would be unacceptable in the post-colonial era where Blacks and Indians overlord Caribbean toilers to suggest that empire directly tells the Caribbean governments what to do and how to do it. So everyone has to pretend.

Except, CARICOM is SCAMICOM, and are not great pretenders. CARICOM rulers are not pretending they are doing well when in fact they are in crisis. They don’t behave like they are in crisis at all.

Personally, they are literally happy as a pig in slop, rolling around, oinking as they gobble what is thrown to them. Now many anti-racists say well they are burdened by the imperialist world system and deserve at least some sympathy. Who is being thrown to them to eat up and get fat? It is Caribbean toilers and the unemployed! The world has never had so many anti-racists and anti-imperialists who give so little thought to toiling people of color.

When We Think About Underdevelopment, Who Are the Backward Ones?

Whether Dr. Carla Barnett, a former banker and government official from Belize, maintains her own social media, or it is maintained by a committee for greater wisdom and reflection, clearly the most dotish people in the entire region make projections toward the region in the name of ‘Caribbean unity’ and ‘development.’ The most underdeveloped people in the region are the government officials not ordinary people as they tell us time and time again.

Clash! advocates Caribbean unity and federation from below, of the farmers, fishers, industrial workers, teachers, tourism workers, the unemployed, the market women, and single mothers who toil. Our vision of federation from below does not include Barbados’s Mia Mottley, Guyana’s Irfaan Ali, Ralph Gonsalves from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Bermuda’s Edward David Burt, or Dr. Barnett from Belize. We don’t care about the parties they are affiliated. We should not unite with them as a social class. Their vision of national purpose and development is meant to cut us off at our knees.

Who Will We Put Out of Our Caribbean? Toilers Need to Think About This

We don’t confuse unity for a fighting future of toiling women and people of color with the forces of hierarchy and domination who like to play with ‘independence’ but on other days openly tell us they are maintaining politics that openly collaborates with and takes direction from the imperialists.

The coming breakthrough in Caribbean political thought will not recognize the problem of ‘neo-colonialism.’ Like the critique of ‘neo-liberalism’ today it means nothing. These words obscure that there are activists for the government, and communists for capitalism, that wish to advise the degenerate governments, regardless of the party, all across the region.

These words, whether we know it or not, imply that a sector of the Caribbean ruling class are ‘an oppressed people.’ This is why our capacity to think and act is muddled and disoriented.

Is Bermuda Part of the Poorer Nations?

Bermuda at present has a currency pegged to the US Dollar. But both Bermuda and the United States have a growing problem of homelessness. Why should the homeless identify with the same national identity as the wealthy who monopolize real estate? It is a question relevant to the entire Caribbean.

Many might suggest Bermuda, like Martinique and Aruba, is not really one of the “poorer nations,” and ordinary people would rather keep their imperial passports or currencies. That is what the Caribbean middle and professional classes say about themselves, not what the burdened and dispossessed say in these teritorries. The fact is the idea of poorer nations is made up by the Caribbean and Global South elites who want to grow their own block of capital, while depriving the poor in their own territories of a dignified life.

Many say the reason why ‘‘the poorer nations’’ are bossed around by imperial centers is a result that Caribbean statesmen aren’t allowed to facilitate progress and development of the toilers beneath them, as found in the United States, Europe, and Japan. This philosophy of history is stale, brittle, and denies what every Caribbean migrant knows.

There are poor and powerless white people in the US and Europe. There are poor and powerless people in Japan. There are subjugated people in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — there will be so whatever terms of banking and trade they wish to pursue.

Whatever terms of Banking and Trade: They Don’t Really Care About Us

Whatever the terms of banking and trade in the Caribbean and Global South, what we should be clear on is those who administer our subordinate lives don’t really care about us. Despite the ruling elite’s populist moments suggesting we are beautiful, strong, and intelligent, they will not acknowledge our wisdom to directly govern society.

And while there is an imperial world system, rulers in every sector of the globe already live an active, delightful, wealthy, and propertied existence just as the Caribbean rulers do. Those people of color who regret they have not had a fair opportunity to become a high end millionaire and billionaire what can we say to such people? When the Caribbean revolution comes those with such a mindset will be the first to go.

Don’t Be Confused by the Pretense to Clashing Nationalisms: The Caribbean Rulers Live A Delightful Existence at our Expense

When there are quarrels between different blocks of capital in the world, clashes of nationalism can confuse us. But the fact remains that every aspiring national bourgeoisie in the world is primarily permitted to administer and subordinate the workers with their own name, image, and likeness. When we cheer on and wish for equality among global rulers, managers of the afflicted, we reveal that the denial of popular and direct self-government means nothing to us.

Britain giving permission to Bermuda to join CARICOM, which represents not a subversive, not a progressive within its limitations, but nothing but a decadent criminal operation, exposes not just insults to the Bermuda toilers. It shows that all talk of decolonize and reparations in the world is a veil for police states and peripheral blocks of capital. So what appears one insult to Bermuda toilers, in reality exposes perennial insult to everyday people across the entire region.

Individuals and small groups in the rum shops, under the street lamps, in the calypso tents, on the cricket and football fields have given themselves permission to be disloyal to all colonial and post-colonial governments in the region. To overturn them all, we will have to confront those who propose to capture our name, image, and likeness. We also must place values on ourselves beyond any silly notion that we are equal to white men or the colonizer, or more beautiful, strong, or intelligent. We have to be more handsome, weighty, and strategic in what we will do and how we will do it as we pursue popular and direct self-government.

Help Capsize Caribbean Officialdom: The Common Heritage that Matters

Undoubtedly, the Caribbean overlords with accumulation dreams would like to increase trade and the associated infrastructure with Bermuda. Their support for Bermudan membership in CARICOM (and failure to condemn ongoing British colonialism in the region) reveals the true character of CARICOM. It is a compact of business elites and the political class, that pretends to represent the will of the Caribbean people. With that comes Caribbean toilers across the region fighting to define when, where, and on the basis of what social relations they will work and socially reproduce themselves. Any opportunity for Bermuda toilers and the wider region of Caribbean toilers to feel part of one family that is a good thing. We should unite by teaching each of us our common heritages of struggle.

We can start by giving permission to each other, the toilers of the region, to forge relations across our borders based on political innovation, and rejection of ethnic and national chauvinism, so we may capsize government officialdom, and leave them to drown. Only then might we be able to approach their standard of social equality, as this is where Caribbean governments propose to leave the multitudes. We are of course more than equals to those who hide behind the police state and the empire of capital. It is through our own half-buried ideas and initiative that Caribbean civilization will flow not SCAMICOM, the gathering of the formally educated who are too stupid to try to mamaguy us with spectacles and empty proclamations. Our overlords can be made to crash, sink, or vanish with a Caribbean unity that includes Bermuda toilers.

Toward a Caribbean Federation from Below! From Bermuda to Bonaire! From Barbuda to Belize! From Barbados to The Bahamas!