Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean wants to effect change in the Caribbean region.

• We are not the government.
• We are not the region’s Big Business apparatus.
• We are not representative of the security forces.

Yet, we want to optimize all these societal engines.

How can we lead, despite our lack of status?

We can be a Drum Major.

Sounds familiar?

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. – Martin Luther King, February 4, 1968

Assuming the stance of a Drum Major, this movement now presents this Change.org petition to urge the Caribbean to lean-in to this quest to elevate the societal engines in our communities.

Consider the actual petition here and the Letter to the government leaders in the Appendix below:

There is something wrong in the Caribbean. It is the greatest address on the planet, but instead of the world “beating a path” to our doors, the people of the Caribbean have “beat down their doors” to get out. Our societal abandonment rates have technically been reported as high as 60 – 89 percent of our tertiary-educated populations.

These are desperate times, calling for desperate measures.

We hereby urge all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to a roadmap to introduce and implement the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) among the 30 member-states of the region. This is presented as a technocratic federal government with powers to optimize the region’s societal engines with these prime directives:

• Optimize the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy; there is a potential to create 2.2 million new jobs and to grow the regional GDP to $800 Billion. The deficiency of jobs is one of the reasons that Caribbean people have emigrated.
• Establish a security apparatus to protect the economic engines, mitigate threats and ensure public safety.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these above engines, including a separation-of-powers between member-state governments and CU federal agencies.

We must do something and this roadmap for the CU – modeled after the European Union (EU) – has addressed the issues, strategies, tactics and implementations to effect change in our homelands.

Many people love our region – residents, Diaspora and visitors alike – and yet we understand why and how people have left. It is time now to work to elevate our communities. The timing of this effort is urgent, as our youth, the next generation for the Caribbean, may not be inspired to participate in the future workings of our communities. We cannot have a future without our youth.

We must therefore do “this” (lean-in = pursue these goals with gusto) … and do it now.

Sign this petition.

This petition – along with the below letter – will be delivered to:

• Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat
  CARICOM (15 heads of Caribbean nations and 5 Affiliates)
• United Kingdom Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN
• Republic of Cuba
• Dominican Republic
• Government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
• Government of the United States Virgin Islands
• Kingdom of the Netherlands – Minister Plenipotentiary of Aruba, Minister Plenipotentiary of Curaçao, Minister Plenipotentiary of Sint Maarten
• Republic of France – for the Departments of Guadaloupe and Martinique, the Collectivity of Saint Martin and the Collectivity of Saint-Barthélemy.

The book Go Lean … Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), a technocratic federal government to optimize the economic-security-governing engines of all 30 member-states. The quest is to streamline the direct stewardship, applying lessons-learned from global best practices.

There is the need for our region to elevate the societal engines of our communities. Fulfilling this need is the underlying theme behind this Go Lean movement, to “appoint new guards” to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play. This Declaration of Interdependence is pronounced at the outset of the Go Lean book (Page 11):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

The Go Lean book declares that the Caribbean is in crisis, but posits that a “crisis is a terrible thing to waste” (Page 8). The book asserts that the solution for the Caribbean crisis is within reach:

The Go Lean movement is … a plan to re-boot the Caribbean. This movement was bred from the frustrations of the Diaspora, longing to go home, to lands of opportunities. But this is not a call for a revolt against the governments, agencies or institutions of the Caribbean region, but rather a petition for a peaceful transition and optimization of the economic, security and governing engines in the region.

The Go Lean book details a 5-year roadmap, with turn-by-turn directions, for reforming and transforming our homeland. This 370-page manuscript features the community ethos that the region needs to adopt, plus strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute in order to impact the Caribbean region for the needed turnaround.

This petition is addressed to a number of stakeholders, starting with the CariCom, which includes the English-speaking member-states plus Dutch-speaking Suriname and French/Creole-speaking Haiti. Additional addressees include the governments of the Netherlands and France. There is also the need to integrate the US Territories into the fold; so the Go Lean book details the process of Interstate Compacts under US federal law that allows their participation legally. The Dominican Republic is also requested to lean-in to this collaboration as well as they already cooperate with other Caribbean member-states in the CariFORUM economic dialogue with the European Union.

Lastly, there is Cuba. While this country’s participation may have been unlikely in the recent past, today there is a normalization of relations with the United States, the dominant regional power. This paves the way for a full cooperative among all regional Caribbean neighbors; in effect the roadmap calls for the establishment of a Single Market economy among the member-states – 30 in total with 42 million people. They all share the same dysfunctional disposition; they should share in the fight to assuage the crisis.

The efforts to elevate the Caribbean societal engines have been a frequent theme in messaging from the Go Lean movement. Consider the details from these previous blog-commentaries:

The Caribbean: the greatest address in the world, and yet such an alarming abandonment rate. This must stop … now!

Why do we think that this Go Lean roadmap will be successful? It is modeled on time-tested best-practices. Remember dysfunctional East Germany? Remember how easily they were integrated into West Germany and a bigger, better society emerged – detailed in the Go Lean book on Pages 132 & 139.

Don’t remember?

That’s because it was seamless, technocratic and drama-free … in terms of international vistas; see Appendix VIDEO below. The prime directives of the Go Lean/CU roadmap is similarly modeled, as a technocratic stewardship for our region, identified with these 3 statements:

• Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to a $800 Billion GDP & create 2.2 million new jobs. The deficiency of jobs is one of the reasons Caribbean people have emigrated.
• Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and mitigate internal and external threats.
• Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these above engines, including a separation-of-powers between member-state governments and CU federal agencies.

Let’s do this!

Our people have a simple request, they only want a better homeland, a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

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Appendix VIDEO – The Cost of Reunification | Made in Germany – https://youtu.be/A4v3zeDKjNM

Published on Nov 5, 2014 – Reunification came with a hefty price tag – about 2 trillion euros. More than half that went into social services and programs. About 300 billion euros went into renewing infrastructure and transportation. The massive transfer of funds from West to East spurred an economic boom in Western Germany as well as in the former East.
More Made in Germany on: http://www.dw.de/program/made-in-germ…

• Category: News & Politics
• License: Standard YouTube License

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Appendix – Actual Open Letter to Caribbean Governments Decision-Makers:

To the Honourable ___________________________________,

We, the undersigned are representative of the views of persons and organizations with an affinity for the Caribbean; we are residents, expatriates, trading-partners and visitors of these communities in the Caribbean region. We present you this petition, reflecting our love for the people and places there-in. But we recognize this reality:

There is something wrong in the Caribbean. It is the greatest address on the planet, but instead of the world “beating a path” to their doors, the people of the Caribbean have “beat down their doors” to get out. Our societal abandonment rates have technically been reported as high as 60 – 89 percent of our tertiary-educated populations.

These facts manifest that these are desperate times, and therefore call for desperate measures.

We hereby urge you to “lean-in” to this roadmap to introduce and implement the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This is presented as an inter-governmental federation with powers to optimize the region’s societal engines with this prime directives:

• Optimize the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy; there is a potential to create 2.2 million new jobs and to grow the regional GDP to $800 Billion. The deficiency of jobs is one of the reasons that Caribbean people have emigrated.
• Establish a security apparatus to protect the economic engines, mitigate threats and ensure public safety.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these above engines, including a separation-of-powers between member-state governments and CU federal agencies.

We must do something and this roadmap for the CU addresses the issues, strategies, tactics and implementations to effect change in these Caribbean homelands.

The timing of this petition is urgent. When is the right time to address a crisis? The answer is always NOW. We cannot have a future without the youth, and these young people – the next generation for the Caribbean – are not inspired to engage in the status quo. We must impact change in our region, even if it is only for their benefit.

We urge you to lean-in – pursue these goals with gusto – now!

The source reference can be located and downloaded here at: http://www.goleancaribbean.com/

Thank You for your service,

Go Lean … Caribbean Movement