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This quote taken from the “CARICOM CONFERENCE ON THE CARIBBEAN: A 20/20 VISION A STRATEGY AGAINST CORRUPTION” which shows that politics in the region even at the highest is corrupted and filled with mistrust through these political parties manipulating others and taking money from the tax payers. These so called leaders of society lead the biggest corruption among countries where which they lead of citizens blaming each other for the major problem at hand.

This leads to citizens being intolerant of each and creating segregation through different standards and classes.

“Diverse Cultures and Politics

Although external influences remain important—and on occasion even overwhelming—the political life of the Caribbean region today is largely determined by internal factors. One of the most important is the differential impact of social classes and ethnic groups.”
This quote taken from “Caribbean Politics: A Matter of Diversity” shows that social classes do have a major impact in our society due to intolerance created from politics throughout the region.

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“The Caribbean today is characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels.”

In today’s society, there is a large number of instances where the Caribbean has been characterized by grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels. It has become an everyday routine throughout most people lives where in society they face many problems that affect the way everyone sees them. There are three major factors that contribute to this mistrust and intolerance that I will be discussing in this assignment. These major topics consist of : the political mistrust and intolerance, racial discrimination intolerance and religious intolerance in the Caribbean.

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This brings us to our first topic that will be discussed which will be political mistrust and intolerance. In our Caribbean society today we politics playing a major role with mistrust among the citizens of countries. In our own country of Trinidad and Tobago we see the mistrust between our political parties where one party blames the other party and no one takes responsibility for their actions and this atrociously follows through to the supporters of each party respectively.

“Corruption is often the manifestation of multi-faceted, systemic weakness that requires a broad program of governance, public sector reform and consistent accountability throughout a society and government.7 The embezzlement of millions of dollars by a high level executive, the illicit enrichment of a prime minister and the petty corruption of a mid-level license inspector may differ significantly in the amount of resources involved but have very similar causes. Corruption is not just the domain of criminals. It is the act of corruption that makes criminals out of well-respected, apparently lawabiding, church-going, public elected and appointed officials. Particular types of governance systems provide opportunities for corruption. Public Sector Management expert Geoffrey Shepherd, in presenting the World Bank’s view on corruption, argued that the political arrangements that prevail in a country will largely determine the opportunities for corruption.”

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The quote that talks about social classes from our first major topic also talks about ethnicity which leads to my second major point under this topic which is, racial discrimination among the people in the Caribbean society. This second topic of racial discrimination perfectly associates itself with the political mistrust and intolerance in the Caribbean.

“Diverse Cultures and Politics

Although external influences remain important—and on occasion even overwhelming—the political life of the Caribbean region today is largely determined by internal factors. One of the most important is the differential impact of social classes and ethnic groups.”

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Furthermore, another factor that contributes to racism is, immigrants who come to the Caribbean or people who migrate from one country to another legally or illegally such a the Venezuelans who moved to other various other Caribbean territories’ due to their economic crisis and have not only taken up available jobs in countries at lower price than minimum wage but have also raised the crime rate among countries contributing to the factor of racism among people and our society today.

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Racism goes way back into our history during the days of slavery in the Caribbean. Slavery has contributed to slavery more than any other factor has contributed. It was where the “whites” or the lighter skin people were seen as more superior than the “blacks” or the darker skin people. The dark skinned people were looked down upon and treated horribly as to where the lighter skinned gave orders and had a better life. This translates to our modern day life and society where the dark skinned people try to look lighter or “white”. An example of this is people in Jamaica bleaching themselves to have lighter skin because it has been hard coded to everyone that lighter is better and that is what they believe.

“In Jamaica, because of the historical baggage around ideals of beauty prescribed from the European perspective, shades of brown and shades of black” are not seen as beautiful as lighter shades, said Sonjah Stanley Niaah, a senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies. “It goes back to the days when slaves were sold on the auction block,” she said. “The color of the skin was important.”

This quote taken from “The Washington Post” reiterates my point made which shows that’s dates back all the to the days of slavery when the Europeans ruled.

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“ The studies and analyses of the topic of racism in the Caribbean give us an account of the levels, peculiarities and complexities of this phenomenon. Modern history in the region finds itself traversed by the migration and the coexistence – voluntary or forced – of peoples of diverse origins. These are human groups that were inserted in colonial societies already governed by the notion of race, understood as a category that has historically been used to differentiate, classify and hierarchize subjects. In the Caribbean, racist practices are not limited to a white – black, master – slave opposition, but assume particular characteristics in each context and moment, being present among and between the Chinese and Afro-descendants (Cuba), Afro-Caribbean and the descendants of immigrants from India (Trinidad, Surinam), Dominicans and Haitians, Bahamians and Haitians (all Afro-descendants), people of mixed race and Raizals (Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, San Andrés), indigenous people and blacks (Central  America and the South American Caribbean coast) just to mention some.”

This quote above best replicates the association between racism among people in the Caribbean and the racism that occurs in politics and social classes. These mainly take place in politics where supporters of the one party blame race on the other party. Most of the time the racism shows where there is a  “black” political party and an “Indian” political party in the Caribbean who just go against each other and hate as much they can where no one takes responsibility for their actions. This has been an ongoing feud between them for decades and it continues to be a dividing a factor among people in the Caribbean region.

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Coming into my third major discussion of mistrust and intolerance in the Caribbean, the topic of religious intolerance will be critically analysed.

In today’s Caribbean society, religion has created a major uproar where each religion has bashed each other for their practices and even some practices that are considered religions but is illegal in some Caribbean territories. An illegal practice that is still considered a practice is voodoo which practiced a lot in countries such as Haiti.

“WASHINGTON, United States (CMC) — Though religious freedom is generally upheld in most, if not all, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, the United States has called out some nations for what it describes as religious intolerance.

In releasing the 2016 International Religious Freedom Report earlier this week, the US Department of State said that almost 20 years after passage of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, “conditions in many parts of the world are far from ideal,” including those in the Caribbean.

The Department of State, therefore, cited instances of what it regarded as religious intolerance in some CARICOM-member states, particularly in the larger ones.

In Haiti, the State Department said that while Voodoo has been a registered religious group since 2003, it has not been able to perform civilly-recognised marriages or baptisms.”

Taken from “ Jamaica Bserver” “US Calls out Caribbean on religious freedom”

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Furthermore, we have many religious intolerances for instance in some schools where Muslim women who hijabs who are teachers have been discriminated against and have been told to take off their head wear due to it not being part of the school’s culture and religion. This has happened on more than one occasion where this kind of intolerance of another person’s belief has happened.

“A YOUNG Muslim woman was about to take up duties as an On The Job (OJT) teacher at Lakshmi Girls Hindu College in St Augustine yesterday when she was told by school officials she could not wear her hijab while teaching at the school.

The teacher, Nafiesa Nakhid, said she was told she would have to remove the hijab before entering the compound and she could put it back on after school was finished for the day. Nakhid said she chose not to take up duties if it meant taking off her hijab. She left the school and reported to the department who assigned her to Lakshmi Girls Hindu College. She was qualified to teach mechanical engineering.”

Taken from “Trinidad and Tobago Newsday”

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There is also reports of some practices and observances in the Bahamas that is considered blasphemous and is considered as a punishable crime.

“First, there is the assumption that I share the same faith as him and/or that I believe Jesus and God are the same entity.

Second, there is the assumption that blasphemy is observed in the Bahamas at all, let alone as a punishable crime.

Third, there is an assumption that what you view as sacred and what I view as sacred are the same thing; why should my lack of observance of what is sacred to you or your lack of observance of what is sacred to me, intentional or not, be deemed blasphemy? Why can’t they just be different and respected?”

This shows that even some Caribbean territories has a very high intolerance of people’s religion and beliefs and has contributed not only to intolerance religiously but also racially and politically.

Taken from “The Tribune”

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Throughout the discussion of these three topics we see that the Caribbean is filled with a lot of mistrust and intolerance which has played a major and has impacted us in the way we live. It also shows that we as a Caribbean society have a long way to go in improving ourselves and better understand each other. Due to these major points discussed we see that the Caribbean is in fact characterized as grave intolerance and mistrust at all levels from the highest of leaders in a country and religion to each and every individual of our Caribbean society.