Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

Long Live the Queen!

But at her ripe age of 94, the ‘long” part needs a realistic assessment. At some point, soon, that dreaded day will come, Queen Elizabeth II will die. This is an important consideration as she is the monarch of the United Kingdom and Head of State, Head of the Commonwealth for 18 of the 30 Caribbean member-states. So these entities and institutions need this consideration.

• What will happen?
• What should happen?
• What change will this death bring to the Caribbean?
• What change – the ideal – that should be considered?

The truth of the matter is  that there is a formal comprehensive plan in London for this eventuality; (there should be one in the Caribbean as well). See the details of this British plan in this VIDEO here:

VIDEO – What Happens When The Queen Dies | Vanity Fair – https://youtu.be/v61JI6h423E

Vanity Fair
Published on Aug 16, 2018 – After nearly 66 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II is the longest reigning monarch in British history and has been a constant and calming force amidst the fast-paced changes their country has faced, making it even more inconceivable to think about what happens when she dies.
Since Buckingham Palace doesn’t shy away from procedure, it’s no surprise there’s already a comprehensive plan in place for what happens after she passes, known as Operation London Bridge. On the day Queen Elizabeth II dies, her death will elicit a comprehensive plan that has been in place since the 1960s. What will happen when Her Majesty’s reign comes to an end and how will Britain mourn the loss? Here is what we know so far.

• Category: News & Politics

Now is the time to ask ourselves: should the British neo-colonial status continue? Is it time to consider a formal exit?

While there is love for the current British monarch – Queen Elizabeth – her death should be viewed as a checkpoint in our sovereignty considerations.

The British eco-system is not working for all non-British-Isles stakeholders; consider Brexit; this is a nationalistic expression of “Britain First”.

With that reality, could their be any hope for maintaining the status quo in the Overseas Territories?

It is London’s claim that “they” will sustain their commitments and priorities. See a related Press Release here:

Overseas Territories meet in London for annual Joint Ministerial Council
Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon, Foreign Office Minister of State for the Overseas Territories, hosted political leaders from UK Overseas Territories on 4-5 December 2018. The discussions covered a range of topics, including Brexit, trade and investment, financial services, safeguarding, disaster management and constitutional issues.

See the remaining of the article at the source here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/overseas-territories-meet-in-london-for-annual-joint-ministerial-council

Can we truly expect the UK Territories status quo to continue? This is a shocking concern, worthy of skepticism!

Wasn’t a similar commitment-promise made to the EU?

The movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free – asserts that it is past-time for the Caribbean member-states to “throw off the shackles of colonialism” – whichever European power – we must now reform and transform our society to better deliver, ourselves, for the future for our citizens.

No more parasitical dependence! We must be protégés rather than parasites.

But, these European territories (colonies) in our region are too small to effect change alone; therefore there is the need to convene, collaborate and confederate as regional neighbors. Of the total (30 member-states), there are 18 that reflect some British neo-colonial stance (overseas territory or commonwealth member). In addition there are 6 direct territories (Aruba and the 5 formerly branded Netherlands Antilles) with active governance from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 4 embedded in the Republic of France, and 2 American territories.

Some of these lands are small territories, i.e. Anguilla, Montserrat and St. Barthélemy have less than 10,000 people in each island. Rather than these standing alone as a small island, these territories need to stand united with their regional brothers. Yes, the Go Lean book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit – for all 30 member-states. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

viii. Whereas the population size is too small to foster good negotiations for products and commodities from international vendors, the Federation must allow the unification of the region as one purchasing agent, thereby garnering better terms and discounts.

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.

xxiii. Whereas many countries in our region are dependent Overseas Territory of imperial powers, the systems of governance can be instituted on a regional and local basis, rather than requiring oversight or accountability from distant masters far removed from their subjects of administration. The Federation must facilitate success in autonomous rule by sharing tools, systems and teamwork within the geographical region.

The proposed regional pursuit is a new confederation, the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The Go Lean book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of this technocratic CU Trade Federation, for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

• Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
• Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

It is the urging here that upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the 12 British Commonwealth countries should exit the commonwealth – its a voluntary  club with no benefits; security is enforced by NATO, not the Commonwealth. Plus too, the 6 British Overseas Territories should petition for full membership in this new CU Trade Federation. The Go Lean book opens with this explanation (Page 4):

There is no expectation of sovereignty with this entity, so a commitment to the goals and aspirations of this Federation must be voluntary. The member-states of the region must therefore lean-in, to embrace the values, hopes and dreams of an integrated brotherhood of neighbors.

The book proceeds to detail the following definitions and developments for Caribbean sovereignty:

• Go Lean Strategy
  The Caribbean Union is not envisioned to be a sovereign “unified” state, but rather a Trade Federation, a proxy entity similar to a confederacy, a champion to “wage battle” on behalf of its member-nation-states. – Page 45
• Fostering a Technocracy
  The Caribbean Union is a non-sovereign union, of which the right to rule remains with the member-states, in whatever constitutionality at the time of the CU accedence: Republic, Commonwealth, Department (French), Collectivity (French) Constituent Country (Netherlands) or Overseas Territory (USA and UK). The CU is therefore a confederation, a ”service provider”, acting on before and with the authority of the member-states. – Page 63
• Caribbean Supreme Court
  With sovereignty not tied to the CU, there can also be the technical challenges as to whether the Caribbean Supreme is the final escalation of the judicial process. Consider an example of a case in Guadeloupe, a French Overseas Territory, a plaintiff may feel that the French courts maintain jurisdiction. A few test cases like this, early in the CU history should establish the precedence. – Page 90
• Autonomous Rule for Territories
  The CU treaty includes the American, British, Dutch and French Overseas…. Though the legacy powers are among the world’s biggest economies, such prosperity has not always extended [here]. The CU only seeks autonomous rule from their legacies, not sovereignty, and receivership status in the case of any financial insolvency. – Page 120
• Confederation Without Sovereignty
  The CU is only a trade and security bloc, so the sovereignty of island nations remains with its current possessors. So Puerto Rico remains with the US; the Caymans with the UK; Curacao with the Netherlands; Guadeloupe with France, etc. Yet there are still severe consequences for violating the mandates of the CU, that of economic sanctions. When a country’s currency is maintained by the regional bloc, they are less inclined to egregiously work against their best interest. (This is the EU model). For Cuba, a Communist country, their political structure remains their choice, as the CU is only the technocratic and economic engine that does their trade bidding. – Page 127
• Ways to Model the EU
  The EU region has quite an ignoble history of contending with differences, spurning 2 World Wars in the last century. Yet they came together to unite and integrate to make Europe a better place to live, work and play. Just like the EU, the CU will not possess sovereignty; this feature remains with each member-state. – Page 130
• White Paper [Excerpt]: “Towards A CariCom Parliament”
  The Caribbean … difficulty in establishing a common Parliament has to do with leadership. Because of their history as slave and indentured societies, it has been suggested that the leaders in the Caribbean were reluctant to transfer authority and cede their sovereign status. While these factors are no doubt valid, the paper argued that the major problem in the Caribbean may be the absence of a well- thought out federal political arrangement and the inability by the various countries to articulate clearly defined procedures and practices. …
  This paper concluded that given the global imperatives, the countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean must re-examine their options and perhaps extend CariCom to that of a CariCom Parliament. – Page 167
• Economic Sanctions and Penalties
  Since the CU does not have sovereignty, the only legal response is sanctions for state governments not complying with CU mandates. The “death penalty” would be a Failed-State designation. The CU is the designated receiver/trustee. – Page 168
• Spanish Integration
  The CU allows the reunification of Spanish Caribbean (PR, Cuba, DR) to one economic market, a reversal of European Imperialism of the 19th Century. There are no sovereignty issues with the CU…, so the neighbors get to integrate and scale with no political disparity. This is a lesson learned from the Samoa Islands experience. – Page 244
• Ways to Impact British Territories
  The CU will allow for the unification of the region into one market, thereby creating a single economy of 30 member-states for 42 million people with the scale to effect change; the CU does not involve sovereignty. The treaty includes the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos and the Virgin Islands. Though the UK is one of the biggest (richest) economies, British economic prosperity has not always extended to these islands; many chose to just emigrate there. – Page 245

The Queen of England, Elizabeth II, does help to run the governments of England, Great Britain, United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. She serves as the Head of State and asks the political parties in the individual countries to form a government in her name. The theme of this style of governance – Westminster – has been detailed in previous blog-commentaries:

The death of Queen Elizabeth II will be an end of an era and a sad day …

… but  it does not have to be the end or our actuality; it could be a new beginning …

… for a new rebooted Anglo-Caribbean region.

Yet, still the end of Queen Elizabeth should equal the end of the Anglo-Caribbean and the start of the Unified Caribbean.

London has a plan in place for that dreaded day. The Caribbean has this plan here-in. This plan is for more than just post-Elizabeth, it is for a bright Caribbean future. One in which we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂

Download the free e-book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.