Preface

• Author: Kenneth Hall/Myrtle Chuck-A-Sang
• Pages: 11-11

xi

Introduction

PREFACE

The CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) is the most recently

set goal of what is to be attempted by the fifteen countries: Antigua and

Barbuda; The Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Dominica; Grenada; Haiti;

Jamaica; Montserrat; St. Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; St. Vincent and the

Grenadines; Suriname; and Trinidad and Tobago. The consensual decision

among those countries to make that attempt may well appear to be an act of

faith, based on the belief that where there exists the need to make a choice

between linking arms and going forth together (cooperation) and de-linking

arms and going one’s own sweet way (defection) the better choice for all is to

cooperate. Allegedly, nice guys will all finish first.

Whether this consensual decision turns out to be simply an act of blind

faith, or a well reasoned strategy for the conjoint pursuit of survival and

progress by the fifteen countries in a world of non-benign competition, may

one day become clear. For now, however, this book brings us a step closer to

making an informed guess, based on the dimensions dealt with in the essays

offered. True faith, by definition, does not need evidence; but for those who

despite belief in the proposition that ‘faith can move mountains’, nevertheless

would like to have a fallback position of action and effort based on reason,

this book provides somewhat of a basis for such ratiocination. Doubting

Thomases, like the poor, will always be with us, but it is offerings such as

those in this book that will save the rest of us from the destructive virulence

of their doubts.