David Abdulah (copy)

The Movement for Social Justice issued a statement on March 2 condemning the policy position by the US Secretary of State that the US will sanction – by way of the non-renewal or revoking of visas – the citizens of countries who were involved in the hiring of Cuban medical professionals in order to improve their fellow citizens’ healthcare.

This is not an issue on which to play local political games. It’s a matter of principle: defending our right as a sovereign nation to make decisions in the best interest of our citizens. It is good that most Caricom Heads have issued strong statements on this.

International relations issues are crucial. Take the decision by the UK government requiring our citizens to obtain a visa to enter the UK. This is the old colonial exercise of power, especially given that there were no prior discussions with our government at any level. The UK acted with disrespect giving T&T two days notice of their decision. Given what is happening in the UK and Europe, our view is that it’s not the issue of asylum that is the real driving factor in this decision. It is the rise of anti-immigrant sentiment which impacted on elections; drove the Brexit vote; and was evident a few years ago in the wave of deportations of West Indians who went to Britain when we were still colonies and were therefore British citizens (the so-called Windrush generation) who could not “prove” their status in the UK.

Contrast this and the US position with that of the People’s Republic of China. As reported in the press, China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, stated inter-alia that “the ties between China and Latin America and the Caribbean are not based on geopolitical calculations nor aimed at establishing spheres of influence; but rather on the principles of mutual support and solidarity…What people in Latin America and the Caribbean want is to build their own home, not to become someone’s backyard; what they aspire to is independence and self-determination, not the Monroe Doctrine”. China also issued a statement critical of the US position on the Cuban medical professionals.

The US has a colonial and imperial agenda: take back the Panama Canal; make Canada the 51st state; take over Greenland; trade aid for ownership of Ukraine’s mineral wealth and power plants; impose tariffs in order to bully countries into accepting its demands; create a playground for the rich by removing all Palestinians from Gaza. The objective - expand ownership and control of more and more of the world’s resources in order to make America great again. It is an extension of the 200-plus-year-old Monroe Doctrine which supposedly gave the US the right to intervene anywhere in this hemisphere if it believed it was in their interest. This Doctrine also “justified” US military intervention in many countries.

The US says now that its actions are to combat the rise of China. But China has not invaded any country. It is not fighting any wars and has not been funding wars. Unlike the US, therefore, it has used its resources for its own development. This is one reason why China’s economic growth has been able to outpace the US to the point where it is an economic and technological powerhouse. This also explains why China has been able to invest in and or provide support for other countries’ development plans.

Since January, the US:

• Withdrew from the Paris Accord - the global framework for the climate crisis;

• Withdrew from the World Health Organisation which means less funding;

• Cut funding to the UNFPA which will put at risk the lives and health of thousands of women and children

• Declared in the UN General Assembly that “the United States rejects and denounces the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, and it will no longer reaffirm them as a matter of course.” This statement was made recently during debate at the UN General Assembly on a Resolution to create an International Day of Peaceful Coexistence and reaffirming the 2030 agenda. Three countries voted against the Resolution: the US, Israel and Argentina. The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development was approved by all 193 UN member states with the objectives of “reducing poverty and hunger, achieving gender equality and advancing measures against climate change”.

The US cares not that poverty will be worsened; people’s health and lives put at risk; global income and wealth inequality increased and the climate crisis accelerated!

The US just expelled the South African Ambassador for that nation’s seeking judgments of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice declaring that Israel is guilty of crimes against humanity. The US gave Israel the green light to once again bomb Gaza resulting in hundreds of people being killed in the past few days. Note that Trump’s right-hand man is Elon Musk, a South African-born white, and Trump claims that white South Africans are being persecuted!

The very latest decisions are that: the US will impose a 25% tariff on ALL goods entering the US that were exported from any country that buys oil or natural gas from Venezuela and; secondly, multi-million US$ tariffs will be levied against any ship made in China. The 25% tariff on gas will have a very serious implication for T&T if we do get the Dragon project going and buy gas from Venezuela as every export from T&T to the US will be hit with that tariff. The US$1.5 million tariff on Chinese-built ships that enter a US port and a US$500,000 fee on any ship operated by any company that owns a Chinese-built ship will drive up the cost of goods in T&T and Caricom.

Those who support the Trump agenda must tell us if they agree with mass deportations, sanctions, land/country grabs, the use of economic and military power to bully others into submission; the severe weakening of our economies and the rise in the cost of living that will surely result from that agenda.

Crucial meetings will take place this week between Caricom Heads and the US Secretary of State. Caricom must maintain a unified and resolute position on all these issues. There must be no vacillating by any Head. That will lead to the US using the old divide-and-rule strategy and we will all lose. We the citizens must hold our leaders to account. Our sovereignty must never be for sale.

At the same time, Caricom has to collectively strengthen ties with countries of the global south (BRICS plus Latin America and Africa) as well as by finding points of commonality with countries of the north (Canada) that are now in conflict, even temporarily, with the US, based on a recognition that this is now a multi-polar world.

Movement for Social Justice

David Abdulah

Political Leader

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