Jamaica is lurching into the new world order. Rather than greeting it with open eyes and clarity in order to play the brilliant hand they have been dealt our leaders, — thought leaders and owners of the State — are engaging in the type of panicked behaviour that one would not expect from people who have or should have had the information to see this coming.
The new world order I speak of is the multipolar world, the world, which was violently born, as all epochs are, when the Russian army invaded Ukraine in 2022 in order to stem the civil war which had been raging for 8 years in the east.
The new world order has seen the West (read the EU, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea) in one camp, a renewed and strengthening Sino-Russian alliance, and interestingly the seeming revival of the nonaligned bloc in everything but name. These camps can be broadly grouped as NATO, BRICS, and everyone else in the global south.
All of this was projected some time ago, the writing has been on the wall. The creation of new payment systems by the EU, Russia, and China for Iran during the heights of the JCPOA, Bahamas becoming home to the regional Chinese currency clearance house, Russian-pivoting back to Cuba and Nicaragua while still re-arming and training Venezuelan troops have all pointed to this.
And not to be beaten, heightened Indian investment in Africa and the Caribbean to counterbalance Chinese influence has all played a part in making the world the multi-polar thing it is today.
Rather than see the freezing of Venezuelan assets in London and the US as the preparation for the inevitable financial decoupling and demise of the US dollar as the currency of last resort and trade, this was ignored and now our leaders are stuck playing yesterday’s game even as the rules and sport change.
There is no going back, and the sooner our leaders accept this, the faster we can take steps to actually lift the people out of poverty while also creating a world along our lines and not one imposed by an imperial master.
The argument will be that our leaders have embraced this multi-polar world, they do deals with Russia, China, etc, but this is a lie and one which they know to be a lie. Trade with private companies or even the state alone does not make friendly relations or pick a side. When the call comes, we act, this is seen in Haiti, in the Commonwealth debacle, and in our positions dealing with Israel. We will always be there to do the bidding of the imperial masters and therein lies the tell that our leaders have not grasped the woods for the trees.
The surprise they have at the dropping of the US dollar shocks me. That they are unware that most countries either don’t care or are silently cheering on the Russians baffles me, and the belief they have that this multi-polar world can be turned back humours me.
There is no going back, the wheel is in motion and what is done cannot be undone. We must embrace the moment. A multi-polar world is just that: multi, many. This is bigger than China-Russia v EU-US, this represents the first time in 500 years that the global south, the darker nations, have the handle and Europe has the blade. It represents the first time in 30 years that another way is possible.
Our leaders have choices in the next few years. How they act domestically will matter a lot, but the real test will be on the international scene. That will dictate how far they are willing to go at home or how restrained they will be.
There will be no logistics hub if we remain entrenched in the US grasp, they have no need for that and are already building one on the Haitian island they occupy. Our dreams of enhancing our Internet connectivity will be hampered, if not totally stalled, if we remain within the US orbit as countries like India quickly join the Western hit list.
The ability for food self-sufficiency will end with continued US involvement as they begin to whip their satrapies into line. Any hope for state ownership of the commanding heights of the economy will be lost with the reasons being obvious, especially for those versed in regional history.
The new world which is being created before our very eyes is something we cannot afford to miss, we must jump on board if we are to advance as a nation and people or we will become Puerto Rico, tied to a fading imperial power which is both unwilling and unable to invest in the colonies. We will become a nation unable to make serious decisions such as port ownership or increased connectivity as we are tied to a bloc which is change averse.
The infatuation with Western ways and Western money — the ways and money which had us on the same level as animals — is a thing of the past and it is high time our leaders embrace it. The region is rapidly realising this and electing leaders who see this. Will Jamaica join in with them and move to this brave new world, or will they cower, remaining blind to reality and doomed to be playing catch up? Time will tell.
