Focusing on the Caribbean

Saskia Grant provides insights from a recent youth roundtable discussion.

The NZIIA’s Wellington branch recently hosted a roundtable between visiting Caribbean youth and local New Zealand students. The event, organised in conjunction with the Caribbean Council (New Zealand), was an opportunity for participants to connect on shared challenges facing youth across different cultural contexts. The Caribbean attendees, visiting New Zealand for the 12th Commonwealth Youth Parliament in Wellington, represented the Turks and Caicos Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia and Guyana. New Zealand’s high commissioner to the Caribbean, Linda Te Puni, was also in attendance.

In his welcome, Karim Dickie, Caribbean Council (New Zealand) member and NZIIA Board member, underscored the importance of fostering relationships with Caribbean countries and the common challenges experienced by both Caribbean and Pacific Islands countries and territories. Participants were divided into smaller groups, providing a forum for closer discussions. The dialogue spanned various topics, with participants bringing their insights to the fore on areas such as climate change, education, mental health, crime, geopolitical tensions, misinformation and colonialism. Despite the diverse political contexts, participants connected on a range of shared challenges, while also exploring values, goals and visions for the future.

New Zealand students were fortunate to hear first-hand accounts of the complexities of different Caribbean political environments. Guyanese representatives shed light on mounting domestic concerns over escalating Venezuelan claims to the Essequibo River territory. This issue has drawn salience in the Caribbean, linked to contentions over oil resources, refugees and rising militarisation. Similarly, issues of crime, drug use and immigration in Turks and Caicos were raised, with representatives sharing personal insights into key challenges plaguing their communities. Given that the Caribbean often receives limited attention in New Zealand reporting, facilitating a better understanding of these intricate political situations was valuable for local Wellington students. Conversations also explored geopolitical tensions in both the Caribbean and Pacific. Amplifying competition between the United States and China in the Pacific was compared to similar tensions in the Caribbean. In recent years, China has heightened its engagements in the Caribbean through both investment and intervention. Students discussed how, similarly to their Pacific coun- terparts, Caribbean countries operate in a cross-fire of tensions between larger powers, where local communities must navigate entangled opportunities and challenges.

Delving into the topic of modern media, the participants recognised the difficulties posed by developing technologies and the challenges of growing up in a digitally-oriented world. An interesting idea was the tension between the imperative to protect youth against the harms of modern media amidst the equal need for youth to be equipped to successfully operate within its realms. For instance, social media plays a detrimental role in both mental health and political disengagement. However, it simultaneously provides a useful avenue to harness grassroots movements and mobilise social change. There was agreement when the conversation turned to misinformation, with representatives of various countries emphasising its growing danger to polarisation, social trust and political stability.

The dialogue saw interesting contributions in the area of inter-cultural relations. Both sides shared valuable insights about indigenous groups, decolonisation and on-going challenges and opportunities within communities. An interesting point for New Zealanders was the strong sense of regional identity shared amongst the distinct Caribbean communities. The Caribbean Community, a grouping spanning 21 countries and a myriad of ethnic groups, remains the longest serving integration movement of the developing world. Visiting youth were equally fascinated to learn about New Zealand’s colonial history and Māori–Pakeha relations. Conversations featured unanimous recognition of the importance of strong community connections, particularly in the face of challenges like polarisation, securitisation and rising geopolitical tensions. Ultimately the dialogue provoked valuable reflection on how to build strong social ties to bridge cultural differences and diverse identities.

Speaking to representatives from islands like Saint Lucia or Turks and Caicos, which have 180,000 and 47,000 people respectively, highlights how New Zealand is a larger country than we traditionally see ourselves. Despite these differences and others, there remain many similarities in the challenges facing today’s youth. As the evening drew to a close, attendees shared key takeaways from the dialogue. The importance of sharing both wisdom and passion was highlighted as a key first step to finding solutions. Respondents also emphasised the invaluable role of promoting international connections and solidarity.

Although the conversations focused on pressing political issues and complex international challenges, the evening resonated with enthusiasm from youth passionate about making a positive difference, both in their communities and the wider world. The dialogue served as a reminder of the importance of leveraging both cross-cultural engagements and avenues for youth to share their ideas, advocate for their communities and contribute to driving social change.

Saskia Grant, a NZIIA Wellington branch Student Committee representative, is in her final year at Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in international relations and political communication.