The Editor,
Dear Sir,
Unlike any other region in the world, the Caribbean countries demonstrate an innate ability to collaborate across state borders. The skill of effective communication within a group of nations combined with mutual dedication to work together is what makes the Caribbean stand apart from other global superpowers. Their unrecognized asset of collaboration lends to the continuous optimization and habit of upgrading that allows these countries to become leading global examples. Although this collaborative nature is the backbone of political organizations such as CARICOM, OAS, and CELAC, among others, the greatest potential these nations possess is the ability to leverage their collaborative culture to create a culture of peace that will influence the country not only politically, socially, and economically but even on a personal level. Not only this, but due to the Caribbean’s existing collaborative nature, their community can be an example to the world.
Caribbean Community, which thrives on working together with the same goals, holds the key to the seemingly unachievable question of world peace. This ability has been unrecognized both within the Caribbean and among other various global nations due to the influence of global superpowers that disregard smaller nations due to their size. A country’s influence in our world determined by population size creates a biased and difficult world stage that does not lend to a collaborative world. For true change to occur in our world, nations, disregarding their size, need to be able to provide influence based on actions and ideologies rather than mere size. With population size being one of the biggest indicators of a country’s ability to be heard with the world, global superpowers, many of which are in need of this collaborative nature that lends to a culture of peace, are unable to recognize or provide an avenue for Caribbean countries to be the example the world needs.
A solution to this is equal sovereignty.
If states were able to stand with equal weight regardless of their size, collaborative communication on the global stage would be much more plausible. Equal sovereignty also reduces the chances of skewed political influence or other forms of power. In the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War, equal sovereignty is proclaimed as a statute towards global peace. With this, the Caribbean’s hidden asset of collaboration, which is the genesis of peace, can be further developed to be a light to the world. The Caribbean has just begun to tap into the mounds of potential that come with their collaborative nature. This nature is the existing foundation to be developed into a culture of peace. In order to develop this, a culture of peace must first start with peace education. Due to its rarity in our world, peace must be shared through education to bring awareness and change. This potential leads to global peace, a dream that all nations share in. To get citizens on board with the culture of peace and to educate them of the mass potential contained within the Caribbean’s collaborative nature, peace education offers a solution that moves from the ground up. Citizens who receive peace education will be able to testify to their need for peace in an increasingly divided world and even come to understand how a culture of collaboration can grow into a flourishing nation of peace that can be a strong example to the world.
With the onset of Peace Education and the desire to educate citizens of the importance and potential of global peace, many nations, even within the Caribbean, are pledging to begin Peace Weeks. Implementation of a peace week within these nations allows citizens to experience the beauty of working together for a shared international hope. These Peace Weeks, spurred on by individual nations within the Caribbean community, could eventually blossom into a fully adopted national event on behalf of the Caribbean, which would provide even more opportunity for peace to break through to the international stage through the islands of the Caribbean.
I am,
Hannah Clifford,
George Mason University Student
