Let's close ranks to protect borders

Despite the fact that we have not as yet arrived at the main goals of clocking the top grade in the global culture of post-industrialization, we should be careful that we do not allow the current economic mode to cripple us into submission. Key internal players are failing to stand up, even marginally, to obtain the very little gains which we have made. Many have failed to accept or give credence to our premature stage of advancement. On this bumpy road of confusion and sometimes conflict, we have remarkably shown how much we can achieve.
But we need to be given a chance to show-case our top-class products for global competition. We have stood up tooth and nail to market our products. However, more players have come on stream to put us on the backburner with goods and manufacturing tools of even lesser qualities. We have no doubt even seen where foreign employees at all levels have been brought in with very little value to the table. They are doubtless gaining higher pay scales.
In this new millennium, we must to stand up to the demands and pressures of the market. Competitors are required to promote what they have to offer to local consumers first. In this regard, we must get full support of the State in our effort to tackle the giants of setbacks and dismay. Specifically, we should take stock of those who place themselves in our market to promote and sell their produce at knock down prices. Though we ought to be fully aware that those from beyond our shores have worked tirelessly to establish their own economic niche, we may not be able to beat them now in their backyard. But we can play the game with our own backyard to make them aware that we have developed the stamina and clout to drive our goods.
Globalization did not just spring from out of nowhere overnight.
The origin of globalization stemmed from the halcyon days of plantation slavery which gave Britain her rule across the globe. It was a hard road to travel as our laborers made sugar into becoming king. A new dawn sprung from the bowels of widespread freedom. The blossoming of this process gave capitalism its glorious entry into how human kind should gain success. The dust was thus settled as men shared their knowledge of know-how and know why to be to make free market capitalism sprout for survival. Labor openly became equal to the building of capital. Many were instead chased from the plantation at the end of plantation slavery to begin plowing their own soil on hilly terrains. Education was also not offered to ensure that the sons and daughters of ex-slaves would not only cease to be the hewers of wood and the drawers of water but become critical players in free market of capitalism. Knowledge building for capitalism was all about the emergence of finance capital and ownership of labor for production. Little did they know that a Wall Street centre would have made sure that capital thrives while global organization of labor produced the International Labor Organization (ILO) which simply spread the message of “a little more bread and a little more butter”. Labor was the central focus of the free market. Labor constitutes the search for the best price.
The images and styles of producers of one product or another thrived. They decided to place themselves on our ground to take away slowly but surely our own capacity to evolve and build. Against this background marketing and sale of our goods should begin here in our region. It gives us the impressive edge and bent to garner the forces to protect our own. In this regard, consideration must be given to the use of indigenous products. This process will be dependent on computerization which has come hitting the market with a vengeance. No more is there an interest in muscles. Machines with hi-tech flavor rule the market. We are lagging behind even as we try to get a grip as to what is really happening. There was a time when our labor market was beaming with drive and acceptance. Overseas farmers employed our own laborers who were capable of withstanding the cold climate as they reap less than cheap crops, especially apple. Some have tried other styles. But computers are taking over bit by bit.
Apparently, we are likely to suffer unbearable hardships resulting from huge constraints such as our depleting foreign exchange reserves. Despite our free market push, we should now begin to keep down the need for unnecessary imports which are watered through an insatiable appetite to go for bright colors, the name brand and ultimately the price. We just need to take one step backward and reflect. We have already served the interest of our overseas sellers who have developed their own style of producing simple, marketable and attractive goods. Many years have passed for us to eventually take root. We hugged the learning curve no matter how steep. Our children have been able to pursue business degrees which gave them a deeper understanding of the nature of that environment. They learnt the key elements of science and technology which have become quite effective in the creation of goods and services. The tools of marketing and promotion are now theirs for the taking and remaking.
But we are now in a bind. As the global market develops for further enrichment of critical players in the world of business, many players have found that they can hardly survive. They have fled their horizon to look for something new and enriching. Hence, there has to be a new regime of protection. This is not to be couched in the creed as it is known. It has to be carved in a new framework of ensuring that we develop and build our own style and capacities to be prepared for the outside world. This is the place from where these new players have emerged to make things right among themselves and those whom they serve. We must now be glued to a fresh desire to defend things local, beginning from those whom we have chosen to represent us.
Lest we forget that the origin of Western democracy began with the United States of America which has had as its template, no “taxation without representation”. We would be foolhardy to behave contrary to that rule of democratic engagement. We must protect our own to survive in this global environment. The Europeans have decided to strengthen and unite around core principles to move toward new approaches with the formulation of a regional Union.
We in this region have begun to allow that style to take shape as we strive towards fashioning the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME). We should work feverishly to make sure that this will be the kind of reality which will give us the push to prepare ourselves for the real world of a regionally inspired free market. In this exercise, we should share information about critical players who move across borders once they have firmly implanted themselves, carrying with them goods which will attract buyers caught in a web of new designs, color and beauty. Yet, we are concerned that we have not been given the well needed time to make, not only our voices heard, but also to showcase our impressively new designs to make our outputs exceptionally attractive and strong enough to stand the test of suitability and time.
We need to give spectacular flavor to things local so that others in the outside world will recognize that we mean business to keep afloat in the global recession which is now gripping many who never felt it would ever have come on their doorsteps. There are those among us who already are doing exceptionally well in producing goods which are attractive to customers. There is nothing wrong with making entries for others to come on our shores and compete but we should first strengthen and guard our own from being swept away by those who have greater clout, marketing skills and high-tech production because of their longstanding existence in the field. However, fear should not grip and sink us so low to the extent where we feel to be obliged to open up to overseas players before we close ranks and prepare our small players for the big league in our market. We should be well prepared with requisite knowledge base and tools to make us competitive in an increasingly razor sharp free market. We are surely confident that only the strong will survive as they become more effective players in a new regime of this external market war. Let the new players arrive but we should get the tools to stand up to the pressures that they are now placing on us as they not only fear but seek to stifle our desire to produce cheaply to survive in a highly competitive market.

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tundebaba

...currently hosts Biting Hard Talk, the most successful programme to date on Bess FM airing Monday to Friday at 9am to 1pm. A Radio Talk Show Host as Babatunde, I am "the original sage pon di radio weh really sort out the tings and deal wid mix up with tambourine and all dem ting deh." Read my articles raw and direct and link me on my blog.
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