It used to be that after a battle the losing side would, if only effectively, prostrate itself and pay homage to the winning side. Consider Caesar’s triumphant entry into Rome, parading chained defeated enemies doomed to be enslaved or executed.
The days of the Romans are obviously long gone. Nobody bows today. But the principle is undeniable: when you lose a battle be prepared for the consequences.
Since white Europeans literally conquered the mostly non-white Third World in the 16th and 17th centuries, they feel entitled to the spoils. And rightly so. Their almost total dominance since then, in virtually every sphere, has remained unchallenged—until recently. And only by the rising Chinese empire.
This is why, in my view, what the white First World (let’s call them the Victors) is doing today, mainly through economic bullying and oppression, to the hundreds of millions of non-white people (the Losers) in the Third World is worse than the worst excesses of slavery, which directly affected only a few million Africans.
Britain’s onslaught in India, the jewel of the empire in the 19th century, saw over three hundred million Indians completely subjugated.
The coming struggle will clearly not be one of arms superiority or military conflict, although there will always be side-shows and diversions. Potential losers will always seek to create distractions.
The Chinese have preempted the argument by clearly defining the agenda of their battle, with the focus very much on economic and developmental issues. This is the fascinating conflict of the coming decades, with the world looking on in rapt anticipation. That leaves the Black World, essentially Africa, to determine its place and strategy for its own coming battle, something I foresee late this century or in the twenty-second, when one-third of the world’s population will be African. Nothing wrong or alarming about that.
It took the Chinese almost one hundred years to lay the groundwork for initiating their battle-plan of today. However, the black strategy faces very severe obstacles. A substantial proportion of blacks and, surprisingly, mostly in the almost insignificant English-speaking Caribbean Islands, the very heart of former black slavery, seem to think that the repercussions should be focused on The Victors paying reparations to them—the Losers, the descendants of slaves. About fifteen million of them in the entire Caribbean today, out of over forty million inhabitants. Incredible! Losers making demands on Victors. Caesar would most certainly have laughed his head off while reaching for his sword.
It should also be appreciated that the vast majority of Caribbean people (in Cuba, The DR, Puerto Rico, St. Barths, St. Martin/St. Marten, Aruba, Saba, even Trinidad and Guyana) do not identify as black. Certainly not of African origin, or descendants of slaves. They are unimpressed by the argument for reparations.
Throw in the populations of coastal South and Central America, and the entire Caribbean is perhaps less than ten percent truly black, or descendants of slaves.
So, what should be done? Africa and its hundreds of millions of Black people must define for themselves a mainly economic platform which will form the basis for their strategy and not be distracted by Loser side-shows.
Their own political and economic mismanagement— and corruption—remain at the heart of the travails today confronting them. Just look at the example of the multi-million St. Jude’s Hospital disaster here in St. Lucia, with zero apportionment of blame.
The University of the West Indies, whose mandate is higher learning, has vigorously taken on the mantle of reparations at the instigation of Caribbean politicians who, while in office, dared not touch the issue, quite likely for fear of backlash. Remember what happened to Aristide after he dared to raise Haiti’s claims against France and the United States? And this could irreparably diminish a uniquely Caribbean institution, among the few that are so truly representative and successful that even the 1962 collapse of the Federation could not derail.
Strangely, we hear little of talk of reparations from India, the one nation and people that Britain pillaged, exploited, bloodied and ravaged in the 19th century, in their own homeland, significantly worse than in any Caribbean colony under slavery.
At its height, India was also forced to be the guaranteed market for almost three-quarters of British 19th century manufactured exports, and millions of Indians were conscripted and forced to fight in British wars all over the world.
Britain’s actions in India make Caribbean slavery look like a tea party. China and the Chinese suffered too. Today, both nations have a very clearly defined strategy for their futures and achieving redress. Their brightest and best enrolled in the leading learning institutions in North America and Europe, then returned home to play their part in the overall battle plan. Today, both nations have missions to the moon.
In comparison, it is estimated that over 80% of British West Indian graduates overseas do not return home. A visiting university professor bemoaned the almost total lack of innovation and real entrepreneurship all over the Caribbean in a dramatically changing and hugely digital world. Business was reduced to retail; everybody was buying something to sell to someone else; a world here, in which marijuana is a free for all, where we believe school children, babies literally, should be taught kwéyol instead of French or Spanish or, perhaps, Mandarin.
Our politicians should go see what Haiti has been reduced to: a failed state. If the UWI wishes to have a role in formulating the Black battle plan, it should help in defining a roadmap for the Black World rather than engaging in emotional posturing and perversely seeking salvation from their oppressors.
UWI represents only about five million people. Miniscule in just about everything, and without the means or leverage to pose any meaningful challenge to anyone. Black people must themselves come together to reverse the shameful historical legacy consigned them. The sooner we appreciate and accept that reality, the quicker we can proceed with creating our own plan for the inevitable coming battle!
