Just days after the early death of David Thompson, the near 49 year old PM of Barbados, on Wednesday 28th October 2010, the annual Walter Rodney Lecture, held in the Ramphal Building at the University of Warwick, was given by P J Patterson, former PM of Jamaica. Patterson had served as PM in 14 years of unbroken service. The event was well attended.
I’d not heard Patterson speak before. I don’t think I’d even seen him speak on TV news or in documentaries. Patterson did not look 75 years old, but he is. Though his speech was relatively slow and ponderous, he did not sound 75 years old. His bearing was of a man in his 50s: tall and erect. It was only when he moved to take his seat, after standing at the podium for nearly and hour, that he showed signs of age.
Patterson’s talk, introduced by Trevor Burnard of the University’s recently renamed Caribbean Centre, began by celebrating the “clarity & compelling force” of the late Walter Rodney & outlining his personal links with the man. Patterson also praised the University for its dedication to Rodney by holding the annual lecture, which began in 1984, just three years after the assassination of Rodney.
The progress in JA, since 1991, was outlined. For example in 1991 44% of Jamaicans lived in poverty. By 2006 only 15% of Jamaicans lived in poverty. Patterson then drew attention to Rodney’s stance on migration in relation to the people of the Caribbean, notably through Rodney’s book ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’. Patterson saw migration as beginning with the “transplanting of African forebears” and the “ruthless decimation” of a population, no doubt a euphemism for ‘enslavement and forced transportation.’ Reference was made to the way in which ruthless Africans, lured by the profits that slave trading could bring, abandoned traditional industries. In the view of Patterson, development means self-sustaining growth. A further setback to the development of African and Caribbean industries, therefore, was (and is) the desire for European/American goods/services and their “false prestige” at the expense of indigenous goods/services.
There was more than one reference to the damaging ‘brain-drain’ vicious cycle effect of “unmanaged and unco-ordinated patterns of migration” including the transmigration between the Caribbean islands (including Cuba) and South American countries. For most countries, 35% of emigrants have achieved a tertiary level of education. However, with regard to the Caribbean, the figures are as high as 40% to 70% of emigrants being educated to the tertiary level. Though Patterson interpreted this as being tantamount to ‘global poaching’, no real suggestions were made as to how this can be reduced in scale, even though it meant that, in addition, the social fabric of Caribbean countries was under threat especially since a large proportion of the emigrants were women, often leaving behind ‘back-home’ children. However the ‘remittances’ these emigrants sent back to the Caribbean have two effects: on the one hand they contribute to a ‘dependency culture’, especially considering that they, in many cases, total more than most of these Caribbean countries receive in foreign aid (7-19% of GDP). But on the other had, such in-coming funds barely countered the loss suffered as a result of emigration.
‘Swallow migrants’ was a new term on me, apparently relating to the seasonal migration of Caribbean workers within the more prosperous Caribbean islands and across to North America and Canada.
With reference to the Asian, Oriental, Jewish & Arab presence in the Caribbean, I found myself wondering what Rodney’s views were on this and what proportion of the educated emigrants consisted of Caribbeans of non-African ethnicities.
I wondered to what extent patterns of ownership had changed, since independence, with regard to land, properties, businesses and what the implications of this were in terms of what development could take place within the Caribbean.
There were brief accounts of how the two world wars had affected the Caribbean, especially world war two. Samuel Selvon’s ‘Lonely Londoners’ was highlighted as Patterson explored the social & cultural implications of migration and the way in which ‘the cult of migration’ transcended class and colour. This prompted reference to Rodney’s ‘Groundings with My Brother.’
I was disappointed that when Patterson talked of what the Caribbean had exported to other countries, his focus was on music, sport and Mary Seacole. These are not the aspects that are lacking in the Caribbean. What the Caribbean is losing are doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, scientists, entrepreneurs, ICT specialists. Perhaps that is why Patterson was careful not to praise such emigrants?
Because Caribbean countries face similar problems Patterson stressed that their unity could enable common solutions. However Patterson did not mention crime and corruption though I did wonder what steps were being made to counter these aspects that may contribute to the push-factors the prompt educated Caribbeans to emigrate in the first place.
Though he made reference to climate change, Patterson gave no real examples of what Caribbeans were doing to alleviate or at least counter the negative effects of climate change, for example floods, deforestation, health, hygiene. I wanted to hear about the extent to which the Caribbean was making use of technological developments such as solar power, wave power, wind power, etc.
Following Patterson’s 50-minute talk a member of the audience questioned him about the appropriateness of celebrating Rodney, in the light of recent accusations against Rodney’s life and work. Patterson deflected the question on the grounds that he’d had no access to such reports and so was unable to comment. Nevertheless, Patterson asserted, the way in which Rodney was assassinated could never be justified.
All in all, it was a thought-provoking, worthwhile event. I’m glad I made the effort to attend.
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