A Year in Reflection: 2025 Hindsight
by Ivana Javis (2024-2025 SOCAL Vice Chair)
As we approach our AGM, I’ve taken pause to reflect on what SOCAL has been able to accomplish within the past year. One word resonates deeply - community. It is not simply a singular space, people or even feeling. It can be all those things and at its very core, none of those things. It is an idea - one of oneness emancipated from such physical unities and anchored in common purpose. It is both a vehicle and the destination. I am proud to say that we have made community our cornerstone this year in every initiative, every gathering and in the transition of every new face into a familiar one. What makes this particularly poignant is its occurrence against the background of a Caribbean that has never ventured so far from the idea.
In March 2025, Trinidad and Tobago joined the list populated by Dominica, Jamaica and Haiti of countries requiring a visa to enter the United Kingdom. While there was protest by the thousands of nationals burdened by what is plainly a disproportionate measure, behind the scenes our leaders shook hands and accepted the one that was dealt. “The West Indian colonies were still the darlings of the empire, the most precious jewels in the British diadem.” Until they were not and there was nothing to be done. This October, Barbados joined Belize, Dominica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the full free movement initiative extending uninhibited mobility to permit-free settlement among the agreed jurisdictions. The other 11 member states and 6 associate states of CARICOM remain with gates ajar but barbed-wired by financial deterrents and procedural hurdles. We are one community. Until we are not and there is nothing to be done. The most concerning of developments has been the most recent. Two Trinidad and Tobago nationals were killed by a US military air strike while fishing in the international waters between Trinidad and Venezuela. This occurs against the backdrop of growing US military presence in the Caribbean endorsed by the Trinidadian government amid rising tensions with neighbouring Venezuela. While the CARICOM member states have altogether promulgated the message of the Caribbean as a “zone of peace”, Trinidad and Tobago has elected to reserve its position.
Growing up I loved Maths, the predictability of it. While the problem may change, maths formulae never do. I find myself hoping for a different outcome for this particular one. Dr. Eric Williams’ “one from ten leaves nought” continues to teach a maths lesson we may never quite learn. I read in a recent Barbados Today article commenting on the incident that, “the Caribbean is once again reminded that our region remains strategically important, but politically invisible.” Time and time again our strategic importance has emerged on the global stage - from the assassination of Grenada’s Prime Minister Maurice Bishop in a move against socialism in the region, to what the Caribbean as a voting bloc was able to accomplish within FIFA (albeit we could have put it to better use, but I digress). Others recognise our capability and occasionally, it appears we just might too. It was this very idea of our strength as a whole with the numbers we carry, our shared history and the wealth of our resources that manifested the West Indies Federation which then gave birth to the regional town hall we now know as CARICOM. But let us be clear, we have remained at nought. Politically invisible - a damning designation, but one hopefully not definitive of our region’s future. In light of the unprecedented catastrophic effects of Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica, the necessity of regionalism is even more important today than it ever was. If we won’t do it for ourselves, then who? Particularly when we often bear the consequences of decisions made for the economic development of the industrialised nations. Hurricane Melissa - case in point.
In an increasingly tension-fraught and economically-challenging global political climate, let us hope that recent events have shown us and we now see that there is something to be done. We can no longer afford to bargain at the table and reach for our chips just to realise they’re stuck within the four corners of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Let us hope that community becomes our vehicle and our destination in a meaningful way. Let us hope that we finally learn maths.
