O critics Bermuda has entered into a political suicide pact by joining the Caribbean Community, sacrifing its individual identity and allowing the island to be subsumed by a Third World cartel that it is not part of geographically or economically.

Proponents fete associate membership in Caricom as an affirmation of Bermuda's cultural diversity, belated official recognition that perhaps a third of the island's population trace their descent from what are still dismissively referred to as "the islands to the south".

All the standard code words - easy enough to decipher - are being lobbed back and forth by those on either side of the divide. In the process whole arsenals of clich?d rhetorical devices have been depleted to camouflage the fact that original thought is not a strong suit among either the pro- or anti-Caricom forces. Simply put, those who oppose the initiative are caricatured as the last redoubt of reaction in Bermuda while those plumping for membership are vilified as advocates for the creeping West Indianisation of the island and all this implies.

Bermuda is an insular, inward-looking society while at the same time boasting a cosmopolitan, international profile and there is no mutual attraction between these two cultural extremes. Consequently, Caricom has become something of a among Bermudian chauvinists and a in those circles that would like to tow Bermuda closer to the Caribbean Sea in theory if not in fact.

To most Bermudians, of course, Caricom is a narcolepsy-inducing matter, the back-and-forth verbal volleying between the two sides a non-debate between non-entities over a non-issue. Associate membership in the organisation tends to be widely viewed as an entirely unsatisfactory consolation prize from Government to those Progressive Labour Party loyalists inconsolable over the temporary shelving of Bermudian Independence. Trying to find a Bermudian who is excited about the initiative, one way or the other, is almost as futile an exercise as attempting to locate a pulse in a wax museum.

After all, the annual membership fee is a relative pittance - just ten per cent of routine painting bills on Bermuda Housing Corporation properties. The benefits of associate membership seem to be intangible but then so too do the potential drawbacks. And, as the cynics maintain, there is a hidden benefit involved in that the lure of attending Caricom summits and mini-summits in various beach-fringed locales will prove so irresistible to Bermuda's globe-trotting political leadership they'll be off the island more often and hence less able to cause further damage at home.

Bermudians would do well to consider the Caricom initiative more soberly.

The ultimate ambition of the Caribbean Community is a form of economic and political union that would not serve Bermuda well. Indeed, a debate is now raging in the Bahamas, once the chief standard bearer for Caricom unity, about the pitfalls of further integrating itself into the Caricom whole.

Last month the ran a strongly worded opinion piece, reproduced below, which painted a warts-and-all portrait of the impact further Caricom integration will have on that country. Bermudians should recognise that the unpalatable scenario now being played out in the Bahamas could one day being staged here.

"The concept of Caribbean integration is one that over the years has presented more difficulty for nations in the region to form a common basis of understanding regarding the ideology, modalities and common ground towards unity. What was thought to be a simple but methodigical approach, similar to the European Union, now appears more complex and pluralistic politically, geographically and socio-culturally.

"The Bahamas should be cognisant of the fact that there is no benefit for the country in aligning itself with Caribbean integration.

"The World Bank looks at the Caribbean as a speck. The World Trade Organisation looks at them as non-existent.

"In regards to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development, it has been suggested we could collectively make a case against the OECD by having Caricom bring the financial case forward.

"This is laughable. Have we all forgotten the Banana War? The WTO did not rule in favour of the Caribbean and in fact crushed the Caribbean Community.

"The OECD views the Caribbean nations as renegade tax havens and will not compromise with Caricom.

"The history of Caricom as a united front has been very disappointing. The Caribbean Community collectively has not been able to send negotiators to represent them at several international meetings as a result of a lack of funds.

"This is absolutely embarrassing. Caricom serves, at best, as a purely cultural and social platform. There are no success stories. Why should the Bahamas buy into failure?

"As noted by former Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley: 'Judging by the state of affairs on a case-by-case basis, by the mid-1980s one would be obliged to say that Latin America and the Caribbean were highly unsuccessful in their development measures. Measured by just two indicators, debt and the state of unemployment, it would be impossible to claim that these two areas, as applied to the one geographic region, comprise a success story'.

"The almost insurmountable problem besetting the prospect of integration is the region's geographic landscape. No other region in the world is so diverse and locationally dispersed, yet sharing thoughts of political, economic and social homogeneity (arguably) among each other as the Caribbean.

"In contrast to the European Union, the Caribbean countries are islands isolated from each other, such that the links between them possess more problems, which are not resolved by the level of economic development in the region that would not support the massive and large-scale capital requirements to create the necessary infrastructure to effectively and efficiently link the different countries to facilitate citizens' mobility and political coordination.

"On the social and cultural frontier, the Caribbean region, when compared to the European Union or the United States of America or the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, has no discernible cultural affinity that would bond such a union.

"Even though the level of integration of these nations or unions mentioned differs, the apparent fact is that all are (or were) integrated and they either maintained their separate identity or gave up their separate identity for a new identity.

"Looking at the different countries in the Caribbean region and the racial problems in Guyana and, more recently, Trinidad poses hard but factual concerns about the collective efforts at integration by the region's leaders.

"More glaring is the fact that, unlike the European Union, where strict conditions or guidelines were set for eligibility to attain membership, the Caribbean would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to find a common ground to set conditions acceptable to all countries within the region bearing in mind that most nations are at disparaging economic development levels and have no economic structures or infrastructures besides the reliance on tourism and financial services except for a few like Trinidad, having a low-scale commercial oil sector.

"Hence integration will certainly intensify the level of competition to attract tourist revenues and the ability of each country in providing and achieving competitive advantages in the financial services industry.

"Since the region does not generate business on its own in terms of tourism and financial services transactions, it will be interesting to see how strong the momentum for integration will be.

"This is considered in view of the fact that external political and economic policies from the United States, International Monetary Fund, World Bank and OECD, among others, will ostensibly dictate the pace and direction of activities in either the levels of tourism or the operational capacity of the financial services industry.

"The September 11 terror attack on the United States is an instance of external impact that devastated most of the Caribbean countries' economies.

"Among the major issues Bahamians should consider regarding further Caricom integration are the viability - and sustainability - of our fragile economic conditions.

"What would be the impact and cost of integration to our nation in the midst of many undeveloped, low- to very low-income economies in the region?

"And what are the conditions for job mobilty after integration? As we are currently experiencing, there is a large influx of both skilled and unskilled personnel from other Caribbean nations to our shores

"Caricom is already a disillusion and can become a nightmare if the Bahamas takes any part in economic unity."