Norman Girvan

Jamaicanisation of the eurozone, Mark Weisbrot

Norman Girvan — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:54:21 +0000

Jamaica appears to be approaching the 50th anniversary of its independence in a state of virtual debt bondage and IMF trusteeship. Mark Weisbrot argues that the austerity programme being imposed on the country, and on the eurozone countries, will push these economies even further into recession and ultimately make it harder for them to service their debts.

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State of Governance in Trinidad and Tobago, MSJ

Norman Girvan — Thu, 24 May 2012 00:40:50 +0000

Two years after the Peoples Partnership swept to power in Trinidad and Tobago, the Movement for Social Justice, one of the partners in the ruling coalition, has given a candid and critical assessment of the state of governance in the country.

Read on

Statement on Guyana-Venezuela Workshop, Norman Girvan

Norman Girvan — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:49:24 +0000

Communiqué from United Nations Press Office, 17 May 2012.

Demonstrating their on-going commitment to a peaceful resolution of their long-standing border controversy, on Tuesday 15 May officials from the Republic of Guyana and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela attended a technical workshop on related matters at UN Headquarters in New York…

The CARICOM Regional Food and Nutrition Security Policy Explained, Sergia Garcia

Norman Girvan — Sat, 12 May 2012 10:37:37 +0000

In December 2010, the FAO Global Food Price Index surpassed the previous high level reached in 2008 which had led to food riots and social instability in many countries. This is the context in which the CARICOM Regional Food and Nutrition Security Policy (RFNSP) has been prepared..

Jamaica: debt, the IMF and economic stagnation; CEPR Report

Norman Girvan — Tue, 08 May 2012 17:16:53 +0000

“The paper notes that Jamaica remains one of the most highly indebted countries in the world, and that its interest payments as a percent of GDP were higher than anywhere else in the world in 2011, including even crisis-stricken countries in the eurozone. Jamaica’s large debt burden has displaced most other public expenditures, taking up almost 50 percent of total budgeted spending over the last four fiscal years while health and education have been only around 20 percent combined.”

Click here for CEPR report

UNCTAD XIII: Victory for the South, or a Draw? Three Views

Norman Girvan — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:52:17 +0000

At UNCTAD XIII recently held in Doha, a united front of the BRICS, the G77 and China, supported by intense NGO lobbying and a highly publicised letter from former senior UNCTAD staff (including several from the Caribbean), successfully resisted efforts by the Global North to retsrict the agency’s critical work linking trade, development and the global financial and economic crisis. Was it a victory for the South, or a draw?

Victory for the South Deborah James

Draw at Doha Vijay Prashad

South wins battle for new UNCTAD mandate Martin Khor

How can Caricom citizens be ‘Foreigners’ in Caricom countries? David Commisiong

Norman Girvan — Tue, 01 May 2012 04:01:52 +0000

Forty years after the establishment of the Caribbean Community, we continue to be held back by petty insular chauvinism.

Read They Are Not Foreigners! by David Commissiong

People-Centred Regional Integration: Answer to the Global Crisis (Video)

Norman Girvan — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:40:37 +0000

In this half-an-hour YouTube video, people from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe talk about people-centred regional integration as an answer to the interlocking crisis in global finance, economy, food, energy and climate; and its root cause, the neo-liberal development model. But where is the Caribbean?

View video

Food Security and Mitigating Climate Change: The Case for Organic Agriculture, Mervyn Claxton

Norman Girvan — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:25:40 +0000

Is Caricom ignoring the merits of organic agriculture in its policy choices for regional food security? A detailed and critical review that draws on a several authoritative sources raises troubling questions for consideration by consumers, public health professionals, educators, environmentalists, farmers organisations and government policy makers.

Click here for “Has Caricom made the right policy choices?”

Shifting the Geography of Reason, Caribbean Philosophical Association

Norman Girvan — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:00:09 +0000

Racial Capitalism and the Creole Discourses of Native-,Indo-, Afro-, and Euro-Caribbeans.

Under this broad heading, the Caribbean Philosophical Association (CPA) will take as the organizing theme of its upcoming Annual Meeting to be held at UWI Trinidad July 19-21 2012, the impact of the global capitalist crisis on old and new thinking in the creole discourses of the region.