Transformative Power of the Caribbean Diaspora

• Author: Rockfeler P. Herisse
• Pages: 60-73

TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF

THE CARIBBEAN DIASPORA

Rockfeler P. Herisse

regional development strategies and vice versa.

There is room for both strategies.

Regarding the strong country focus on

Haiti, it is explained through cases presented

here. There are opportunities and lessons

learned from the multiple engagements

involving Haiti. Its historical signif‌icance

notwithstanding, Haiti represents a major

cause around which the hegemony of the

Diaspora and the CARICOM can be tested.

During the 2009 Haiti Donors Conference

in Washington DC., US Secretary of State

Hillary Rodham Clinton2 addressed the Haiti

development assistance rationale:

Why should countries in the Western

Hemisphere, Europe, the Middle East

and Asia offer assistance to Haiti in the

midst of a global economic downturn?

Because what happens in Haiti affects

far beyond the Caribbean and even the

region, this small nation of 9 million

people is on a brink. It is on a brink of

either moving forward with the help of

the collective community or falling fur-

ther back. And it, as well as this region,

will be shaped to a large extent by the de-

cisions that we make.

Abundantly clear is how the fate of one

country (in this case, Haiti) and that of the

region within which economic, social and

political interests are linked. The point stressed

here is that the credibility of CARICOM as a

centrifugal force can be established through the

successful emergence of countries like Haiti,

Background

The nations of the Caribbean Community

(CARICOM) include Antigua and Barbuda,

The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica,

Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat,

Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent

and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad

and Tobago. On 20 June 2007, during the

Conference on the Caribbean in Washington

DC Heads of State from CARICOM and

the United States issued a joint communiqué

which served to: “reaff‌irm [our] unequivocal

commitment to a secure and prosperous

region and future for the benef‌it of all of our

citizens.”1 Two items are noteworthy in this

document: 1) the raison d’être for engaging

constructively with the Caribbean region and

2) the signif‌icant focus on Haiti.

To begin with, as a neighbouring region

in the Western Hemisphere, the parties

ackn owledge d “the mult idimension al

natu re of the secu rity thr eats and challenges

faced by [our] countries with a pledge to

continue to work together in the f‌ight against

terrorism, traff‌icking in persons, drugs and

small arms, and transnational crime.” The

best strategy for Caribbean home nations

to mitigate these challenges is often debated

passionately by Caribbean Diasporans along

two poles: regional focus via CARICOM

(espoused by smaller member countries) or

country focus (advocated by larger member

countries). One of the main arguments here

is that country appeals should not give way to

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