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Throughout my academic life, subjects such as History were shunned upon due to its limiting potential in our current job market.
This course however revitalizes my appreciation for history, because by understanding our history we are able to map a prosperous society by learning from our ancestors and capitalizing on their accomplishments.
However, this course along with many other social science courses follows a particular political ideology (left leaning).
It is very intimidating for other views to be expressed as to it may not be politically correct which goes against the the philosophy of critical thinking.

I hold very strong views as to why I think Caribbean Identity was an invented term in order to push a political agenda and my goals of this portfolio was to support this idea.

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Independence gift for Trinidad and Tobago from the British government 

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Independence gift for Trinidad and Tobago from the British government 

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The Caribbean Community group was created in order to promote a single economy market and human development in the region.

CARICOM describes itself as the pillar for integration in the Caribbean region. It's missions include (according to its website) :
1.affirm the collective identity and facilitate social cohesion of the people of the Community

2. realise our human potential as defined by the Ideal Caribbean Person, full employment and full enjoyment of human rights;

However past events illustrates the challenges CARICOM faces

On March 2nd 2012
Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretary General Irwin LaRocque on Wednesday warned Caricom countries about setting "unrealistic targets" in their quest to deepen the regional integration movement.

On July 7th 2010
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar today cautioned regional governments that Trinidad and Tobago does not operate like “an ATM card” while stating that the oil-rich twin-island republic was not prepared to fund the regional security budget.

On April 2 2016
The Trinidad and Tobago Government says it had prevented 12 Jamaicans from entering the island late last month because they were “deemed likely to become charges on public funds”

Idealism is like a castle in the air if it is not based on a solid foundation of social and political realism. - Claude McKay

CARICOM is based on the idealistic assumption that we are one Caribbean people.

Much like the British in the European Union, Trinidad and Tobago's government felt the burden on many occasions from financial requests by CARICOM.

For the region to achieve development it is clear that each country needs to protect its national interest - a built foundation. And with this solid foundation we will be able to assist neighboring countries with fair, mutual agreements to protect the betterment of people of the country they belong to.

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Colonialism and its history in the Caribbean

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Colonialism and its history in the Caribbean

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The Caribbean region's current development status can be understood when exploring our varying colonial historic past.

The British, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch all occupied Caribbean territories at different points of time throughout history.

These European countries all had differing languages, culture and political philosophies. Exploring these differences and its impact on the Caribbean region will show why we are only able to define ourselves by a national identity.

France and Haiti
France controlled Haiti for just over 100 years. Its control over Haiti have left the country in a struggle for development to this day. They are ranked 163rd around the world on the Human Development Index and this is really no surprise considering their colonial past.

The French colonial slave system was particularly brutal, worse that virtually any other place in the Western world. Slaves were routinely treated with great brutality and inhumanity. However, the French foolishly, for their own safety, allowed the number of slaves to grow without any concern and within a 100 years of colonial rule had arrived at a very dangerous 10-1 ratio of free to slave population. In 1791 there were approximately 500,000 slaves and about 50,000 free people (Bob Corbett 1999).

Jan 1st 1804
Independence of Haiti and the resultant

Nowhere is this more evident than in Haiti, where people are literally paying for the debt with their lives and livelihood. As an "indebted" nation, Haiti is not only required to pay down its debt, but also forced to adhere to economic policy prescriptions of the French and institutions that have crippled Haiti's health, education and water systems and eroded their food security. In short, the debt in Haiti has brought a proud nation, the first nation built out of a successful slave rebellion, to its knees. In a country where in 1804 the people threw off their bonds of oppression, they have been captured and enslaved by debt.

United Kingdom and Trinidad and Tobago
When we look at the colonial rule over Trinidad and Tobago we can understand why the country is one of the wealthier countries in the region.

The twin island gained independence from the British in 1962 in a very much diplomatic way in comparison to the Haitian revolution.

In David Renwick's article "How BP helped Trinidad and Tobago make the leap into gas" we understand the importance of the British impact on the nation's current economic position.

T&T to this day still has a dependency on this industry therefore it can be said Colonial rule benefited the nation much more in comparison to neighboring islands.

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Identity is a very complex term and difficulties arise when trying to understand collective definition of the term for our region.

It said that we are bonded by our similar history of colonialism and multi-cultural diversity.

The formation of this identity follows the trends of neighboring regions creating political unions in order to compete in a more globalized world market. Approaching this topic is difficult without reference to its political context since "identity" is political by nature.

CARICOM is the union created in the Caribbean region and it consists of 20 countries with the aim of  human and socioeconomic development.

Recent news of the United Kingdom exiting the European Union which is based on "European Identity" emphasizes the troubles of trying to force nations to adhere to an identity which is against the best interest of individual countries.

June 23rd 2016
UKIP leader Nigel Farage has told supporters that "dawn is breaking on an independent United Kingdom", as votes are counted in the EU Referendum.

He said the Leave campaign had won a victory for "real people", and said 23 June should go down as "independence day".

58 percent of Brits saw themselves just as British and not as European according to new statistics from the European Commission's bi-annual Euobarometer survery.

The European Union was initially created in 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He called for a remedy to the European tragedy of World War II: the creation of a “European Family”.

It was a sovereign agreement at first to promote peace throughout the region in a post-war era but became highly political and against the better interest of individual country's people.

The vote signifies the rejection of one identity.

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Secretariat, CARICOM. "Pillars of Integration." Who We Are —Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

"Information about the UK Leaving the EU." Information about the UK Leaving the EU - GOV.UK. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

"EU Referendum: Farage Declares 'independence Day'." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

20140, Luke Stanley24 Dec. "British Public Declare: 'We Are Not Europeans'." Breitbart. N.p., 24 Dec. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Horizons, European. "European Identity: A Crisis of Construction in the 21st Century?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 May 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

"Human Development Reports." | Human Development Reports. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Short and Oversimplified History of Haiti. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Limited, Jamaica Observer. "'Too Ambitious' - Caricom Secretary General Questions CSME Targets - News." Jamaica Observer. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Limited, Jamaica Observer. "T&T Refuses to Be Caricom's 'ATM Card' - News." Jamaica Observer. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.