Back in 1962, when Jamaica withdrew from the four-year-old West India Federation (WIF), ten members following a referendum, Prime Minister Eric Williams of Trinidad conscientiously denied, “One in ten is left feeling insecure”. He was, of course, in a critical position to transform his whip into reality. As the territory that would have to carry 75 percent of the runoff Federation’s budget, the removal of Trinidad, which Williams engineered, led to the complete collapse of the Federation. But the year before the British launched the WIF, six of the largest European countries had formed the European Economic Community (EEC) based on economic interests. Britain, Denmark and Ireland joined the EEC in 1973 which would accept other European countries in the following years who shared “common values” to become a European Union (EU). The impact of a European demonstrator in forming an ever-expanding unit to cover even the Eastern European Communist bloc was the inspiration for regional blocs around the world, including our CARIFTA in 1968 and CARICOM in 1973. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty formalized the formation of the European Community to emphasize its aims to move beyond mere economic cooperation in recognition of a single “European People” that would be facilitated by the free movement of people across borders. As a result of this latter policy, there were always deep doubts in Britain about the “union” as it was seen as diminishing their valuable sovereignty and increasing migrants. Matters reached a peak as the number of Europeans moving to the UK exceeded three million by the start of the last decade. The feeling against closer integration with the EU was there from the beginning within the Conservative Party and in fact was one of the reasons why the very successful Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was sacked as head of her party and government in 1989. Feelings against “outsiders” had always been strong in the UK, going so far back that the “voluntary”, apparently, came together from Scotland, Ireland and Wales under the government of dominant England. Over the centuries, these countries were startled at first, with the majority of Irish Catholics violently gaining independence in 1992, leaving the run-off in Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland in the Union. The influx of West Indians, Indians and Pakistanis after World War II created the first wave of indigenousism from the 1960s onwards and as Eastern Europe poured in after 1993, the move to leave the EU grew exponentially. By 2016, EU Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron resigned after the 2013 referendum he proposed on staying in the EU was defeated. This was followed by two general elections and three Prime Ministers as the divided political elite of the Labor and Conservative Parties fought their internecine battles over what is now called “Brexit”. As the fight intensified, it became clear that the major issue driving the winning Brexit voting bloc was “getting the foreigners out of Britain”. During the same period of this growing indigenous movement, it should come as no surprise that Scotland and Northern Ireland have consistently voted to remain in the EU, as English supremacy has been weakened in the larger block. The people of Scotland also consistently voted to secede from the UK and now on December 31, 2020, Britain has finally completed its disestablishment from the EU, the Scottish Prime Minister reiterated that their majority wishes must be respected leave the Union. Although there are all sorts of lessons from Brexit, the one that is most relevant to us in Guyana is that “identity politics” is now the main driver of politics even in the “developed” countries like Britain and the United States that have been go beyond this “tribal” phenomenon. Governments will have to focus on dealing with this reality rather than trying to prevent it and hopefully disappear with “development”. It also raises the viability of the Caribbean Community, modeled after the European Community.
