KEEBLE McFARLANE
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Source- Jamaica Observer
To many of us who were around at the time, it seemed like a great idea - all the British colonies in the Caribbean region banding together in a federation, the better to chart their future. After all, isn't unity more desirable than operating separately? Aren't some of the most successful countries in the world federations? Wouldn't we be able to have much more clout in the world with a unified voice rather than as a collection of micro-states? Wouldn't our economic affairs be much more efficient?
Well, 50 years ago this week, it happened - the Parliament of the Federation of the West Indies was inaugurated in Port of Spain with Princess Margaret representing the Queen.
The federation came into being on January 3, 1958, and an election was held on March 25. The West Indies Federal Labour Party, made up of Norman Manley's PNP, Eric Williams's PNM and the urban-based parties in the eight other islands handily won the election, with the Democratic Labour Party, led by Bustamante's JLP and the rural-based parties throughout the islands, as the much smaller Opposition. Grantley Adams of Barbados was the first (and only) prime minister, and Britain sent out a career Conservative politician, Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, to serve as governor-general. He was a baron, and we knew him as Lord Hailes.
The idea of a federation of the British Caribbean territories was not a new one - it had been kicked around for years. The first serious consideration, though, took place at a conference in Montego Bay in 1947. It was attended by delegates from Barbados, British Guiana, British Honduras, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Windward Islands. The conference voted to accept the principle of political federation and struck a committee to examine the possibilities and to draft a constitution. The committee submitted its report to a second conference held in London, and it was circulated to all the legislatures for their consideration.
With some reservations, all the legislatures, except those of British Guiana, British Honduras and the British Virgin Islands, accepted it. The final decision on federation came out of a third conference in London in 1956. It left open the possibility of the reluctant territories to join later. After that came prolonged and difficult discussions about where the capital should be situated. They chose Chaguaramas in Trinidad, but that didn't work since the US had a naval base there. The idea was soon abandoned and Port of Spain stood in as the capital.
One Commonwealth country which showed considerable interest in the new federation was Canada, which itself began as a confederation of former colonies with large tracts of unknown territories added later. It contributed two merchant ships, the Federal Palm and the Federal Maple, which visited all the islands twice a month. When the federation was dissolved not long after it was born, the ships continued their rounds for a while, then seemed to disappear without a trace.
Despite the good intentions and the efforts of many, the federation was doomed from the start. For one thing, the constituent territories had each developed in its own way, with varying degrees of cooperation commingled with large dollops of suspicion and insularity. Jamaica, the biggest territory by far, and separated from the eastern string by 1500 kilometres of water, was the most suspicious. Its leaders, Manley and Bustamante, did not personally enter federal politics, and Trinidad's Eric Williams stayed away as well.
In addition, the British created a weak government structure, with the governor general having executive, rather than mere ceremonial powers. Money was a serious problem - the budgets of Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were both larger than the federal budget, and all the territories remained as separate entities, able, for instance, to hide behind tariff walls against other members of the federation. Contrast this with the present-day European Community, which has a high degree of cooperation and commonality.
The differences and divisions very quickly began to fester, and by 1960 the JLP began agitating against the federation. Bustamante and his cohorts kept the heat on, and in 1961 Manley asked his compatriots for their opinion. The campaign was a contrast between the concepts of the two parties. Manley and the PNP discussed the merits of joining with others to work towards the goal of eventual independence, which he had promoted from his first entry into politics in the late 1930s. Bustamante and the JLP, on the other hand, appealed to the basic concerns of the poor - "Can you eat federation?" In the end, it was no contest - the "No" side won a decisive 54 per cent in the referendum on September 19, 1961. The event was special for me, as I served as a presiding officer at a polling station located at my home.
Britain had proposed in 1961 that the federation should become independent the next year, but the idea was now moot. The vote was followed by a flurry of talks among the leaders of the remaining territories, but these soon came to naught, and Williams was strongly re-elected in December of that year. He declared that "ten minus one is nought", and followed Jamaica's lead in going it alone. Formal independence came to both countries in August of 1962, and the others were left to fend for themselves.
About the only solid regional entity remaining is the university, which had been set up long before all this anyway. The cricket team had long preceded the federation, and all the endeavours since then, such as Caricom, have come up against the same insular attitudes and distrust. The Caribbean Court of Justice is a perfectly logical and intelligent idea, but, as we have witnessed, it has been having a very difficult time getting airborne. Part of the unease among Jamaicans in this regard can be attributed to the underlying suspicion that this could be a form of federation by the back door. When I first went to Toronto and began working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, I met an older editor who had been correspondent in Bonn and London.
He used to joke that the Secretary of State for the Colonies of the day, Duncan Sandys, had the habit of inviting colonial leaders to London and locking them in a room until they agreed to form a federation. Several were formed, including the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the East African Federation (Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika). The only one of note to have survived is Malaysia, after Singapore seceded soon after it began.
keeble.mack@sympatico.ca
No comments:
Post a Comment