Winds of change keep blowing

Nuff said.

The winds of change have been blowing strong in the Caribbean. I am definitely convinced that the behaviour of voters in one island is influencing that of voters in the next. It has been basically a domino effect of falling governments since St. Lucians started the ball rolling in December 2006.

The roll call in the last 2 years is:

Montserrat - May 2006 -1 term John Osborne gov't out (Osborne had been CM from 78-91)
St. Lucia - December 2006 - 2-term Kenny Anthony gov't out
Bahamas - May 2007 - 1-term Perry Christie gov't out
Jamaica - September 2007 - 4-term Portia Simpson-Miller gov't out
British Virgin Islands - 1-term Orlando Smith gov't out
Barbados - January 2008 - 3-term Owen Arthur gov't out
Belize - February 2008 - 2-term Said Musa gov't out
Grenada - July 2008 - 3-term Keith Mitchell gov't out

The only one who has been able to resist the winds of change in the Caribbean in the last few years has been Patrick Manning in Trinidad and that is more because of the fragmented state of Trinidad politics than anything else.

But ... 8 governments in two years! If I was a long-incumbent party I would be shaking, no lie. It's like a whole new generation of Caribbean leadership basically (aside from Hubert Ingraham who has been there before). I grew up for about half of my life with a particular group of leaders - Arthur, Anthony, Mitchell, Gonsalves, PJ Patterson and then Simpson-Miller.

But I'm in a new phase of my life now - as a genuine adult and the Caribbean is in a new phase now as well. It remains to be seen how this generation will pan out.