Submitted by Pachamama

At a time when the peoples of North Africa and Southern Europe are seeking to shake off the hegemonic imperialistic structures of oligarchy, humiliation and despotism the black elites of the West Indies Cricket Board of control are presenting a brutal plantocratic image that equals or dwarfs the worst expressions of the slave system. As part of a wider neo-liberal initiative of illegitimate sporting bodies, it is destined to failure.

This brutal institution under the guise of having an interest in the development of West Indies cricket seeks to limit the internationally recognized civil and human rights of players and the union that represents them in the most perverse and Kafkaesque manner. It argues that it has a right to control the private behaviors of players. It believes it has a right to characterize the private thinking of players as ‘antagonistic’ and ‘unrepentant’. Its leading Zionist oligarchs assume the right to decide who the players’ union representatives should be ahead of negotiations. It acts in ways that limit the ‘freedom’ of cricketers to contract their labour under market conditions using petit nationalism as the last stronghold of their tyranny. The WICB believes it has a right to dispense privileges instead of a recognition of basic human rights.

The irony is that the West Indies cricket board of control has itself failed in its alleged mission. It has a well known history of mistreating players for decades and this includes some of the very people who now administer its structures. It has mismanaged cricket since the end of the Richards years and produced only mediocre results. It has failed to ‘develop’ cricket in what could arguably be its largest market. The board is accountable to no one, except possibly the ICC, and has externalized much of its physical development costs to member countries. The clear exception to this generalized state of failure is the Worrell-Lloyd-Richards paradigm. Still, the board refuses to see that the oligarchy of the captain is more likely to succeed than the plantocratic business model of the WICB.

Given these circumstances, it is clear that a number of radical actions must be taken. These may include the dismissal of the current board and the dismantlement of its structures. The forensic investigation of the operations of the board. The setting up of a new institution with public accountabilities and player centrality.