Confronting plural crises

The theme assigned the upcoming regional meeting of regional labour ministers in Guyana ambitiously focuses on “social justice” during what the International Labour Organization (ILO) proposes to be a discussion on “the foundation for a sustainable Caribbean transformation.”

I am not sure how such fanciful themes are brainstormed and finalised, but it must have been that somebody or bodies spent time on a host of stuffy texts which explore current thinking on notions of equity and justice as fundamental components of the solution to what the framers of the May 23-25 conversation describe as “plural crises” in the Caribbean.

They must have been reading every newspaper there is to read, and followed all the newscasts, social media posts, and the lamentations of writers, musicians, and artists. It would have also been necessary to sift hollow political polemic and sloganeering from lived experience and trauma.

There had to have been a battle against political incumbents who claim, “all is well” (“excellent”) and those who narrate tales of terminal decline - until their turn arrives and all is suddenly well and “excellent”.

There had to have been the backdrop of April’s crime and violence talks and the largely infertile menu of under-developed, whimsical prescriptions depictive of cluelessness of high order … in high places.

Few from among us would contend that “plural crises” is the stuff of hyperbole. That we indeed face a multiplicity of multi-faceted and rapid downhill journeys on carriages fixed to wobbly, decaying, disintegrating wheels.

Those of us who have decided to stay, physically and emotionally, are left with a task way beyond the limits of partisan desire - the alternatives being exile of different degrees and expression.

You can sense an absence of commitment from a distance. There is a willingness to initiate destruction at the onset of defeat. Chronic claims of victimhood as a salve for complicity. Sectional triumphalism and factional defeat when victory becomes elusive. A quick resort to active and passive exile – darts thrown from both safely afar and within the neighbourhood.

Plural crises indeed. Little time to find how we came to this. To trace a lineage of descent. To contemplate the joint enterprise of loss. Instead, a simple resort to blame and hopelessness.

In that light, does the ILO (and, by extension, its Caribbean partners) understand what they are really getting themselves into when they meet in Guyana next week? Perhaps. I have seen that in the concept note for the meeting that last year’s communique from the Caricom Summit is cited with reference to a “whole of government and society approach to recovery and resilience.”

This is a tall order in any context. Of the host country Guyana, for example, Caribbean economist, Marla Dukharan, reported recently: “Guyana is still the world's fastest growing economy, but has the lowest import cover and they are withdrawing as fast as they deposit into their Sovereign Wealth Fund.”

How will this be addressed within the context of a meeting of labour ministers all ostensibly committed to “priority attention to and investment in integrated policies and strategies to create decent jobs, extend social protection and facilitate just transitions”?

Where will T&T’s growing socio-economic divide feature in the discussion on “human-centric” economic recovery and the challenge of labour migration in key sectors? Add to that the role of inward migration in expanding opportunities in our labour market.

Importantly, as well, is the requirement of “just transitions” within the context of inevitable global economic change, and an unfolding climate crisis against which all discussions on Caribbean climate must be nuanced.

It is time national dialogues in our region move more firmly in the direction of these subjects that have a bearing on our future viability. I looked and looked again at what the ILO has in store for Caribbean governments next week and hope we take an appropriate cue with eyes set on issues that reach farther and wider than unstable, chaotic labour markets and interventions to stabilise them.

Our labour ministers in this region are routinely clustered among the least influential of Cabinet members. Quick, name three of them from any three Caricom countries including your own.

True, such meetings are not meant to resolve all the problems of the world. But they play a role in defining the nature and pace of change. Come away with a reinforced status quo, and you have reached nowhere, achieved nothing – whatever the fancy language.