Russia is claiming a chunk of the North Pole seabed. They believe it’s full of oil and natural gas. All nations having a Caribbean coastline should claim the Caribbean Seabed. This would include all Caribbean island nations, including the Bahamas and Bermuda, Mexico, the U.S., Central American countries, Venezuela and Colombia. The three Guyanas have no Caribbean coastline, but are culturally and historically part of the Caribbean. They should be included.
What minerals and other deposits can be extracted from the Caribbean Seabed is presently not known. But there is bound to be something of value there, apart from fish. It is only fair that the Caribbean should claim the Caribbean Seabed. Who else could claim it?
Now, it is very important to include some powerful countries in this our claim, namely the U.S. (Florida), France (Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyana), the U.K. (a number of Caribbean islands), Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia and the Netherlands (Curaçao, Aruba and 4 others). There is no doubt the other EU-countries would back us.
Our claim should be properly lodged with the U.N. and the International Seabed Authority. We should request that an internationally recognized Caribbean Seabed Authority (CSA) be set up to explore and exploit the Caribbean Seabed, i.e. the area extending beyond each country’s 200 mile Exclusive Economic Zone.
We should from the outset agree to earmark any and all income from Caribbean Seabed exploitation to certain well-specified common goals. Goals which nobody can object to, so that even Cuba and the U.S. can agree on this one. These goals should be to promote and fund: 1) Science and Education and 2) Universal Health Care.
The CSA should set up and run the best University in the world, with branches on various islands and in Caribbean coastline countries. Obviously, one of the subjects to be studied would be the exploration and exploitation of the Seabed. The knowledge gained could conceivably also be exported to other nations. Furthermore, excellent schools should be set up and existing ones upgraded all over the Caribbean.
Health care should be excellent and universal on all Caribbean islands and in all Caribbean coastline nations. To achieve this we can learn from Cuba. Even a poor country as Cuba can do this. Surely, with CSA-profits this can be achieved for the rest of the Caribbean as well.
The net profits should not be divided up among the participating nations, but should be directly used to achieve these common goals. These goals form part of the core tasks of (minimal) government. So whether one adheres to communism or capitalism (or something in between), these are tasks that government should take a leading role in.
This is the new paradigm. We move away from war and oppression. We leave scarcity behind and go for prosperity. Prosperity thrives on peace, freedom and unity. In the Caribbean we have based our ‘unity’ on hatred. Racial hatred, class hatred, political hatred, religious hatred, even inter-island hatred, much of it stemming from slavery and colonialism. We are a region of deep hate, often repressed, but it is there, big and ugly. That is why we do not co-operate among Caribbean nations, because instead of promoting reconciliation, we have continued to reinforce the existing hatreds into the minds of our people. This has been turning back on ourselves. The Caribbean has never been able to co-operate, to our own detriment. Even in CARICOM the old colonial hatreds are still prevalent, resulting in many words, but very few deeds. We reap as we sow. We are no exception to this rule.
So we are going to leave this all behind. Our unity must in future be based on aspiration and idealism. Together we can achieve! The Caribbean Seabed Authority is the first concrete step in this direction. We can use all the help available. That is why we should include the US and EU in this endeavor. They will help in many ways: technology, science, capital and with improving our health care and education. The new paradigm means among other things radical inclusion.
It goes without saying that these goals should be achieved by peaceful means. Two social problems remain to be solved internationally: immigration and poverty. The CSA initiative has to do with the elimination of poverty. In honor to those giants who showed how social change can be effected by peaceful means, we have dedicated a video to them (Peaceful Social Change, to the music of Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings). Great video!