Commonwealth in the Caribbean: Scenes through a Chain Link Fence
If there is one scene that sums up the Caribbean republicanism movement in 2022, it is that of small hands reaching through a wire fence towards two white smiling figures on the other side.
The tides of republicanism in the Caribbean were firmly in motion prior to the death of Queen Elizabeth; In 2021, Barbados bid farewell to the British Monarchy in a ceremony attended by Rihanna and focused on a shared history characterised by the Transatlantic Slave Trade’s enduring effects on the Caribbean Anglosphere. The Caribbean is unique in this regard, its relationship with the monarchy is premised wholly on the racial exploitation of labour by the Crown and its continuing core-periphery relationship with the UK first as Empire and now as Commonwealth. King — then Prince — Charles, in his speech given that night in Barbados, was refreshingly frank in highlighting ‘the appalling atrocity of slavery’ on the Island, but these sentiments far from placate the pleas for redistributed wealth in a bid to address contemporary racial inequalities.
It is hard not to be reminded of this contemporary racial hierarchy in the pictures taken of William and Kate, taken during their tour to Jamaica in March of this year. In the pictures, taken during a visit to Trench Town to meet children watching football, was a stark reminder of the Royals’ role in the reproduction of colonial relations between the two countries. Although described by some as simply a failure of ‘optics’, the timing of the pictures — at a moment of reckoning for Jamaican republicanism featuring fierce protests — has added to a discourse dividing younger and older generations about the country’s future figurehead.
These events were, of course, prior to the death of the Queen. It was an event that shook the world, and in doing so, may have shaken free the final vestiges of goodwill towards the Windsor family in the Caribbean. In the following few days, the outpouring of condolences from the Commonwealth was interspersed with rather concrete commitments to beginning the republican process. Prime Minister Gaston Browne in Antigua and Barbuda was the first, promising a future referendum on the issue; Bahamas soon followed. Jamaica, emboldened by Will and Kate’s disastrous tour in March, reaffirmed its commitmentto republicanism that it had first expressed in June.
It is clear that the Queen’s death has produced an outpouring of grief in the Commonwealth, but the political conversations that it has prompted will go well beyond these initial emotions. It is equally clear however, that the road to republicanism is not one easily travelled. That these conversations are only beginning to gain major traction in the Caribbean Commonwealth is proof of the sometimes-glacial pace of changes in public opinion. The sense of continuity that Elizabeth provided has been shattered, and the tides that have been rising have suddenly become a swell, and this swell may finally sweep this last symbolic vestige of Empire. There is still a question to be answered though: If the Monarchy leaves the Caribbean, what will become of the chain link fence?
Image courtesy of Flickrworker via Wikimedia, ©2022, some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
