#BTColumn – Are black politicians useful pawns?

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Lenrod Nzulu Baraka

The geographical incident of the location of the Caribbean archipelago places Caribbean people in the backyard of the world’s only surviving super power from the cold war era.

Caribbean governments and people, like the government and people of Ukraine, are forced to carefully consider our foreign policy initiatives and political pronouncements. Anything done or said that goes against the grain of American interests can be counteracted by the US State Department using many different strategies.

Notwithstanding the high incidence of mass shootings and crime in general in the USA, many Caribbean countries have found themselves saddled with crime advisories issued by the US State Department warning American citizens and others to be wary of visiting certain Caribbean destinations.

These crime advisories can be devastating for small economies that are dependent on tourism.

Political instability in the Caribbean often results in some kind of US intervention.US troops invaded Grenada in 1983 after the execution of Maurice Bishop by a rebel faction led by Bernard Coard.

US military intervention in Haiti stretches as far back as 1915 and has been a reoccurring theme in Haitian history as the US sought to protect American investments and personnel in Haiti.

During the Cold War era, the US maintained its hemispheric hegemony as outlined in the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 and the Roosevelt Corollary of 1904-1905.

The Soviet Missile Crisis involving the island of Cuba in 1962 served as a reminder to the world that the US did not take kindly to European powers or others setting up military bases in America’s backyard. This history of protectionism over its sphere of influence justifies American critics in calling the USA the United States of Amnesia.

The current European military crisis has forced African and Caribbean heads of states to cast in their lots either with Russia or with America and its Caucasian allies.

Cuba, unlike Belarus, Syria, North Korea, and Eretria who voted against the UN resolution to condemn Russia, abstained from voting. Barbados along with a number of other English speaking Caribbean islands have voiced and extended their support for the Ukrainian cause.

Seventeen African countries including South Africa and Uganda also joined Cuba, Nicaragua, India and China in abstaining from voting to condemn Russian at the UN.

One hundred and forty-one countries voted to condemn Russia, thirty-four nations abstained, and five nations voted against the condemnation.

It would be fair to conclude that the majority of Black nations in the Caribbean and Africa voted with America and the rest of its Caucasian allies to condemn Russia.

In her address at the Ghanaian 65th Independence Anniversary celebrations, The Prime Minister of Barbados reminded her audience that Barbados is committed to upholding the vision of its founding father the late Errol Walton Barrow who articulated the position that Barbados would strive to be a friend of all but a satellite of none.This is a noble axiom that all Black nations should seek to incorporate into their foreign policy objectives.

There may be hell to pay for taking a stance against any of the major players on the international stage. The USA and its Caucasian allies often exert their international influence and power punitively. As such, Africa and the Caribbean should maintain good relations with the US and her allies. This does not mean that we should not also seek to build bridges of friendship with China, India, and Russia.

The era of African and Caribbean states being useful idiots on the international stage, if it ever existed, needs to be suffocated and rendered breathless immediately.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka is the founder of Afro-Caribbean Spiritual Teaching Center.