Walter Coppin
Political Analyst
The year 2007 has arrived and the struggle for greater self-determination in Tobago is already well engaged.
In his New Year message Chief Secretary Orville London has in a no holds barred approach sounded the clarion that an all-inclusive mantra is the new Tobago road march. 'Get involved,' London defiantly urged Tobagonians, he having recently reminded residents of the rise and fall of Haiti, the first black republic. London, a history major, most of all, must see the writing on the wall especially if the island refuses to remember the experience of history.
Franz Fanon, the famous Martinican writer is quoted as saying that a people's responsibility is to fulfil or betray their historical mission. London in many ways reflects the Haitian rebel turn President Toussaint L'Overture. Toussaint's diplomacy was classic. About to join the revolution he first ensured that his French masters, with whom he shared a somewhat congenial relationship during slavery, were quietly taken to safety before he returned to join and lead the masses.
The Parlatuvier-born Chief Secretary who proudly claims that he is a Tobagonian first and a PNM later has psychoanalytically sewn a thread in his message that the time for action has arrived. History would definitely have taught the 'Chief' the lesson of the circumstances of Toussaint's betrayal and essential downfall at the hands of the French warlord Napoleon. Those who forget the mistakes of the past are condemned to repeat them.
For Tobagonians, therefore, the time for self-determination has arrived. Self-determination is a norm imbued with a sense of natural justice, morality and with human ideals. The international covenants of civil, political and economic and social rights proclaim that the right to self-determination is a prerequisite for the enjoyment of all other human rights thus honouring it as the mother of all other rights.
It is timely, therefore, to hear London announce that the most critical challenge in 2007 is 'the management of the process of Constitutional Reform and Review of the Tobago House of Assembly Act.' Like Toussaint, London indicates a course of diplomacy, of 'meaningful discussions that will inform the decision makers on what Tobagonians want for Tobago and for Tobago and Trinidad.' He iterated that he is not an empty vessel making noise.
It is true to say, however, that the passions of other Tobagonians on the question of self-determination cannot be dismissed. Former ambassador and diplomat, Reginald Dumas, known for his public service conservatism has been forthright in describing, for example, the THA Act as a 'con job'. Dumas, one of the authors of the recent 'Calder Hall Accord' will seek to explain his position when he embarks this week on an island wide education forum on Constitutional Reform. One thing is clear the struggle is being undertaken at all levels.
The mantra to 'Get involved' is therefore the call to self-determination for us all. Denial of the nurturance of self-determination among peoples such as the Eriterians of Ethiopia or the Lithuanians of the Soviet Union for example, has resulted in liberation struggles aimed at exercising such right ultimately. It is therefore important in the case of Tobago to demystify the concept for clarity. Self-determination is not secession. The UN Security and General Assembly espouse the concept of self-determination. The most important document to the effect is the Declaration of Friendly Relations Among Nations 2625, which was passed by acclamation. Although the General Assembly lacks the law-making capacity, its resolutions pertaining to the principles of international law if passed by consensus are generally viewed as part of customary international law, Declaration 2625, which explicitly recognises the right to self-determination in non-colonial contexts, has been characterised by the International Commission of Jurists as the authoritative statement of the principles of international law relating to self-determination. On the basis of Declaration 2625, therefore, self-determination has matured into a full-blown legal right.
It has been argued by some that the right to self-determination is applicable exclusively to colonial situations and that once it has been exercised, any recourse to it is forfeited; in other words the people newly independent status do not retain right. Nevertheless Article I paragraph 2 and Article 55 of the UN charter stipulates that friendly relations among nations be based on respect for the equal rights and self-determination of their people.
The international recognition of the universality of the right to self-determination is also manifested in the General Assembly resolution 422 which requires all states, including those responsible for the administration of non-self governing territories, to promote the realisation of this right. Resolutions 1188 and 1803 are others.
The misconception that the right to self-determination can be exercised only once is shattered with overwhelming clarity by the case of Puerto Rico, which first exercised its right to self-determination in the form of free association with the United States, was permitted to modify its status if it so chooses. In other words, Puerto Rico remains entitled to the right to self-determination even after exercising it once in the form of free association. The case of self-determination is the people's right to freely decide their political status and pursue their economic and social development without external interference. In other words, self-determination means the fulfilment of the legitimate political, economic and cultural aspirations. Depending on the constitutional and political situation in the country, such aspirations can be realised in the form of a unitary or federal state or confederation, or of an independent state.
The call to 'get involved' therefore is clear. Unfulfilled by both the THA Act and the Ellis Clarke Constitution Draft, Tobagonians must now rise to the challenge of charting the course of their own destiny.
The planks for this new development are being laid; whether it is the regularisation of the Foreign Investors Act, the onslaught on the rise in crime, the impending industrial thrust or the availability of more opportunities to educational advancement, Constitutional Reform or repeal of Act 40 of 1996. One thing is certain no one must be left behind. Tobagonians must now seize the time and get involved in the development of a new Tobago.
