A Worldview That Should Be Laid to Rest | Editorial

By Kieron Murdoch | Opinion Contributor

Despite the smallness of our states and often, our cultural insularity, the people of the Caribbean have never lacked an interest in world affairs nor have they failed to take active stances on consequential matters of international importance. However, it is fair to say that our worldview is still somewhat trapped in a bygone era where we saw things in black and white or capitalist vs socialist, or East vs West, or through other such similar lenses.

For example, When the Russian President launched his invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there were many in the developing world who took the view that Russia was the victim of Western aggression, and that his onslaught against Ukraine was a defence against the prospect of NATO expansion. This, despite the clear indications that Russia is indeed the aggressor, and its neighbour is the victim of that aggression.

It betrays the extent to which we are willing to allow any narrative, no matter how hollow that narrative may be, to convince us that our real enemy, and everyone’s real enemy, is always the West. By “the West” we are referring to the collective liberal democracies of North America and Europe – a cohort of nations which is often led by the United States (US) on a variety of issues, especially security.

This mode of thinking is certainly not a new phenomenon. It is a worldview which necessitates that we make an enemy of the West, or that our analysis of world events ought to revolve around the notion that the West indirectly, if not directly at fault over whatever the subject of the analysis might be.

Our comfortability with this particular worldview is undoubtedly influenced by our history. Anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, and oppression of the masses by the elite or by empires are dominant themes in much of Caribbean thought – political, economic, and social. Through colonialism, our history is partly a tale of domination, dehumanisation, brutalization, unparalleled human misery, and death, all in the name of empire and unrestrained capitalism.

Naturally therefore, Caribbean people are a sort of wary empire, wary of hegemonic power, and wary of those very nations whose citizens, capitalists and leaders, historically carried out such obscene levels of violence and exploitation in this region. The traditional powers of Western Europe and their offspring have become our proverbial boogeymen – the gremlins huddled behind the curtain who are seemingly always at fault for the ills of the world.

The problem that we seem to be encountering is that we no longer muster the intellectual energy to actually interrogate the narratives that place our proverbial boogeymen at the centre of a given problem. Instead, we simply accept it by default. This is true of both domestic and international issues.

In addition to that, there are many whose resentment of American imperialism is so strong, that they no longer take the time to actually interrogate the narratives that place Uncle Sam at the centre of a given problem. Instead, we simply accept it by default.

We have allowed our resentment towards the West to become so irrational, that we are willing to support autocrats, demagogues and tyrants who fetter democracy and trample on human rights – whether here in the Caribbean or Latin America, or abroad – merely so that we can feel that we are delivering a blow either to the US or our historic oppressors.

As a region, we have shown unending solidarity with several regimes despite human rights abuses and or the erosion of democratic institutions. There are almost never times when we offer even a modicum of criticism over such abuses.

We have at times championed the notion of “non-interference”. While this is a laudable and just concept, we have added to it by being completely non judgemental altogether. We simply do not care. We take the approach that the domestic failings of a nation are the problems of its people and its government and we have no business making judgements whatsoever.

When this happens, we run the risk of failing in our basic obligation to each other as human beings to promote the observance of human rights, and to call out those who abuse those rights, understanding that at times, the culprit will be the West, and at other times, it will be someone else.

About the writer:

Kieron Murdoch worked as a journalist and later as a radio presenter in Antigua and Barbuda for eight years, covering politics and governance especially. He is an opinion contributor at antigua.news. If you have an opinion on the issues raised in this editorial and you would like to submit a response by email to be considered for publication, please email [email protected].