Opinion
- Editorial- Commentary
William
Lucie-Smith: Sugar and slavery
The
origins of the African slave trade are inexorably
linked to the growth of the sugar industry in the
West Indies from about 1650. The tobacco industry
in Barbados was destroyed by the superior plantations
in Virginia, but the sugar industry that replaced
it required far more labour than the colonies could
provide. Dr Eric Williams wrote in Capitalism and
Slavery: "negro slavery therefore was only
a solution, in certain historical circumstances,
of the Caribbean labour problem. Sugar meant labour-at
times that labour has been slave, at other times
nominally free; at times black, at other times
white or brown or yellow...Without it the great
development of the Caribbean sugar plantations,
between 1650 and 1850, would have been impossible..."
The sugar industry of course has changed a great
deal since the 1850s.The abolition of slavery meant
the conversion to indentured labour, and then to
private sector free labour.The decline of the industry
under fierce competition from lower cost producers
and European sugar beet led to the withdrawal of
the multinational Tate and Lyle and the advent
of state ownership. State subsidy may have made
the decline more gradual but there could be little
doubt that by the time of the final, expensive,
closure, Trinidad sugar was not competitive.
The announcement by the Congress of the People
that they would seek to revitalise and restructure
the sugar industry was met by derision by the PNM.
Sugar is still a widely used commodity but I have
no idea if it can still be produced commercially
and viably in Trinidad and Tobago. It would make
no sense to revive the industry if it cannot be
commercially viable. Given the history of the industry,
Patrick Manning's statement that a return to sugar
is a return to slavery is understandable if not
diplomatic. It is very understandable that those
who made an honest and hard working living from
the sugar industry should feel insulted by this
insensitive outburst.
More ironic is the fact that Prime Minister Manning
has highlighted one of the major failures of
this PNM administration and the preceding UNC
administration. That failure is the inability
to transform the economy from overdependence
on a single commodity into a balanced growing
industrial society. Yes, sugar has been closed
but no viable alternative agricultural production
has been nurtured in its place.
Full employment has been achieved by the conversion
from cutting cane with a state subsidy to cutting
grass with a state subsidy.The development of CEPEP
and URP despite the need for productive labour
in other sectors of the economy is testament to
the decline of sugar and agriculture. That one
is slavery and CEPEP a triumph, is only to expose
PNM's myopia for what it is. Both are symbols of
our failure.Trinidad and Tobago is desperately
in need of new ideas to achieve transformation
and allow for some diversity in the economy.
The pain of the decline of the sugar industry
and its failure to have any viable successor should
be a lesson to all of us. We are in danger of history
repeating itself, but this time with the energy
industry, based on hydrocarbons.
The economy of Trinidad and Tobago is now more
dependent on the energy industry than it ever was
on sugar. The massive energy boom and consequent
shortages or labour, inflation and congestion are
all signs that we have not managed a transformation
process at all well. Minister Imbert insults us
and says that flooding and traffic jams are all
a sign of progress, but he does not take any responsibility
for the lack of planning that allowed this to develop.
Although the economy is booming today with oil
prices touching US$90 per barrel there is a deep
unease among economists that we are not saving
enough for the future and that little of our development
is based on sustainable employment.We continue
to spend heavily on a stadium, a dance orchestra,
a diplomatic centre and other projects although
these are not self-sustaining and we appear unconcerned
that energy prices and production may fall leaving
us with a massive unsustainable non-energy deficit.
A vision for the future to protect us from the
fallout of our overdependence on energy is, for
me, one of the critical issues in this election.
We must seek a government that will manage our
wealth wisely and protect us from the recession
like the one that followed the last energy boom.
This requires the development of other industries
that can survive and provide employment in the
post-energy boom period. Once again I urge you
all to go out and vote for our future. Do not
let others decide your future for you.
William
Lucie-Smith is an
Independent Financial Consultant. He is a Fellow
of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in
England and Wales and a retired Senior
Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Petroleumworld
not necessarily share these
views.
Editor's
Note: This article was first publish in Trinidad
Express, Sunday, October 29, 2007 . Petroleumworld
reprint this article in the interest
of our readers.
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Petroleumworld
10/28/07
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