Talking about the structural ineffectiveness of charities and NGO’s is difficult because criticism of charity creates the problematic misconception that an individual is against easing the suffering of others, or the good intention to make the world a better place. This is not true. The problem is the wider framework within which charity occurs.

This August will mark the 50^th anniversary of independence of Jamaica and Trinidad, but will also signal the 50^th anniversary of the demise of the West Indian Federation. To mark the occasion, on June 2^nd, 2012, The Economist published an unforgiving appraisal of the failure of the West Indian Federation and the region in general, but as to be expected, it lacks any serious context as to why the Caribbean finds itself in its current situation.

The banana industry has long been famous for the power and influence multinational corporations yield upon governments. Despite bananas being grown in nearly all tropical regions, 70% of the global banana market is controlled by only three corporations—Del Monte, Dole, and Chiquita. This two-part article looks at the corporate influences behind the demise of the Caribbean banana trade.

The recent news out of Haiti is that Port au Prince is currently undergoing a building boom—but it’s not the much needed homes for the estimated half million internally displaced people, it’s due to upscale hotels being built to house foreign investors and aid workers.