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Emancipated? Independent? Really?
WIGNALL'S WORLD
Mark Wignall
Sunday, August 09, 2009
About 12 years ago when the Stone Team did a national survey, it was revealed that were they given the chance, close to 70 per cent of adult Jamaicans would use a visa to emigrate to the United States, Britain or Canada.
In that same survey, when asked what 'Independence' meant to them, close to 30 per cent said it meant 'celebrations', 'float parades' and 'having a nice time'.
I was 12 years old when Jamaica became an independent nation. A kid with stars in his eyes, hope in his heart and a long road of uncertainty ahead of him. Very few people in 1962 understood what the new engagement meant and I fell neatly into that category. I saw the Union Jack descending, the new Jamaican flag being hoisted and I felt pride, albeit with confusion, coming to me from three directions.
First there were my parents. As far as they were concerned, the old rules would have to suffice. Carry yourself in public places and in the home with dignity. Do your schoolwork or be damned. Do not associate yourself with 'bad company' and later, when my hormones began to kick, my mother would issue the stern but quiet warning, 'Keep your troubles outside.'
From the political rulers, the message was like that delivered from the podium by a university dean at graduation. The world was our oyster. We could attain anything we set our minds and shoulders to. We came from a long line of strong, resolute people who, though enslaved for 400 years in a holocaust of gigantic proportions, had never quite given in to the notion of slavery. As a newly independent nation we were going to prove to the 'mother country' and the rest of the world that we were going to be a force to be reckoned with.
The third direction was the most troubling of them all. Outside of maybe 10 per cent who could be considered 'thinking' people and another five per cent who were too rich and settled in the commanding heights of the society to be bothered by the humbug of independence, the majority of our people had not a single clue what it all meant. The passage from emancipation in 1838 to the 'awakening' in 1938 to independence in 1962 had found them still trying to come to grips with finding enough money to buy dinner, to educate their children, to read, to write and to be somebody in this new paradigm that was being rammed down their throats.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth ll. The Queen's representative in Jamaica is the governor general.
Enter the new breed of politicians in the post-independent Jamaica and the result, 47 years later, stares us in the face. The picture is not pretty: Close to the bottom of the economic pile in the region when 40 years ago we were at the top of all countries in the Caribbean. Seated right at the top of those countries whose 'decay rate' has been staggering, we lead the Caribbean in murders, and in 2005 we were at the top of the world. We treat our aged like garbage, and the young in the care of a state close to breaking are handled worse than cattle.
We continue to lie about our literacy rate, saying it is between high 70 and low 80 per cent when in reality it is closer to 60 per cent. As a nation, we have little to crow about, but noise has to be made - by the politicians, the church (politicians too) and those big business interests who share pillow space with them.
What purpose this sham of national praying?
The history of this country is tied up in conquest and that, as is the norm, is locked into violence and tyranny. Columbus arrived here in the late 15th century and saw about 100,000 Arawaks (Tainos) living here. The Spanish invasion took root in the early 16th century and, either because they were inherently evil or, more likely, they were led by religion to see 'heathen' in people they considered primitive, by the end of the 16th century they had decimated the entire Arawak population.
How do you wipe out an entire civilisation in less than 100 years? Simple. First, say God is speaking to you. Second, forcefully abduct a significant percentage of another civilisation (from the African West coast), enslave them by putting them to work on sugar cane plantations and, once you have seen their worth and, sadly, their replacements (another ship is coming), then you kill at will! Simple really, when it's the Bible in the forefront of your convictions.
From the evil days when it was used to justify enslavement of entire peoples to the present when it is skilfully used to keep us in a state of mental torpor, the Bible has been our constant companion. The only thing that has changed is that the white slavemaster of the 16th century has passed it on to the black house slaves of the 21st century and the focus has moved more to one of mental enslavement.
An Observer reader, after reading one of the recent editorials, wrote, "We should just change it to dependence day. All we do is borrow, borrow, borrow. What is the Jamaican dream? Oh... to get a visa to any foreign land. We claim we are independent, yet some old white woman 5,000 miles away is our head of state. Listen to the best part... we need a visa to visit that land 5,000 miles away."
As the Emancipation and Independence celebrations loomed, our three-card hucksters and part-time leaders engaged us in another great lie that, somehow, we could pray ourselves out of our problems. It was all about them playing to the gallery because they knew that from the very day the Spanish conquerors cruelly hauled the black man from Africa, there was always going to be black people who would, after 400 years, wilt under the pressure of 400 years of the white man ramming his religion down the throat of the increasingly mentally enslaved black man.
To the conqueror, he was simply doing what all waves of conquest have done: Subdue a passive and unprepared race with arms then fill their heads with the prevailing muck of the times, all the better to 'own' them.
We were told that, "During the National Day of Prayer, the church leaders offered prayers for the nation, reversal of moral decay, relief from economic stress, and reduction of crime
and violence. Prayers were also offered for national leaders."
I assume that they also made the trip down to West Queen Street to buy 'Oil of kill Moral Decay', 'Oil of Heal Wall Street,' and 'Oil of Cripple gunman'.
Has it occurred to these 'leaders' that they have been taking us down these paths of picture opportunities for so long that they no longer see how foolish they have become? Has it not dawned on them that we know that they are doing it only because they believe it is a useful tool to keep the ignorant and the hopeless from pushing too hard against them? Do they not know that we see the game, see the hustle, and recognise that it is all a substitute for the leadership which they lack?
What purpose this relic of colonialism?
The one area of this polity that pleases me immensely is the opening up of discussions that cyberspace has forced on us. At every angle, some worthwhile, some as crazy as the 'wingnuts' in the lunatic fringe of the far right in the Republican party, Jamaicans at home and abroad are engaged in constant assessments of our socio-economic conundrum and suggesting, proposing and ironing out solutions to our deep problems of crime, social decay and economic collapse.
In our 47th year of independence the office of the governor general looms large. And, as seems to be the norm, the present GG is fully armed with the same book which the original slavemasters used to justify the abduction, enslavement and genocide of the Tainos and significant populations of those people taken from the Gold Coast.
The GG is a Jamaican, obviously, and a good man, I am certain. But he is caught right in the middle of 'independence'. A reader writes, I am a retired, Black female, and living in St Ann for the past 14 years. My mother was born in Brown's Town and taken to America when she was 18 years old. I was born in the USA. The house I currently call home belonged to her, and it was willed to me. Since I spend most of my time here in Jamaica, I have observed much about Jamaican 'democracy' which does not make sense to me.
"First, let me agree with you 200 per cent on the uselessness of the governor general. In my thinking, this position in your government is as useless as that of the Queen of England - ceremonial, but not functional, practical or financially wise in today's economy. England has an elected prime minister who interfaces directly with the Queen and tells her about what is going on in England.
"Jamaica is supposed to be an independent country, with an elected prime minister - why can't he interface directly with the Queen to tell her about what is going on in Jamaica? Isn't Golding literate enough or worthy enough to talk to the Queen?
"In fact, why do we need to advise the Queen or appeal to England for anything? Why does Jamaica need to borrow money from the IMF if England is such a good 'Mother' to us? Why do Jamaicans ask God to 'Save the Queen' at all public events, instead of asking God to Bless Jamaica?
"The money Jamaica is paying to the current and previous governors general for their positions as ceremonial symbols of colonialism could buy uniforms, lunches, books, and increase the quality and salaries of teachers in the most needy areas. The only time I hear of or see a picture of the governor general is when he is posing at some banquet or dinner. What beneficial things does he do for the 'regular; people of Jamaica? Nothing that I have been able to identify for the past 14 years. Jamaica should have got rid of that position when they got independence in 1962 - but now is not too late because of the tight economy.
"Enough said. Without a governor general, Jamaica may even improve its image and the percentage of literate people, and would not appear ignorant to the rest of the world!! Jamaicans are not so illiterate or dumb as the percentage appears - Jamaica just permanently exports its smartest and brightest to the rest of the world."
In the present budget J$69,000,000 is allotted from the Consolidated Fund for the Office of the Governor General. Add to that another $10,000,000 for pension payouts and the total reaches $79,000,000 - not a lot of money in the larger scheme of things. But it exists.
The same reader wrote, "Read in the Sunday Observer that the upkeep of the Queen's representative (the governor general) is one of the first provisions of the Jamaican Constitution - Didn't you all formulate a new Constitution when Jamaica became an independent country - WHAT IDIOT(S) THOUGHT THAT THE QUEEN WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THEIR COUNTRY - JAMAICA?"
Independence celebrations or party time?
We murdered 13 people over the Emancipation weekend. What were we emancipated from? Others enslaving us? But what were we emancipated to do?
From where we've trod from August 1962 to now, it seems the answer is: so that we could wallow in mental enslavement and engage in a long-term killing spree of our own people.
The last administration whose MPs are even now telling Mr Golding how to run the country should hang its shameful head low. In the 18-plus years of its stewardship, except for Haiti, Cuba and in instances, Guyana, Jamaica occupied the bottom of the pile. While all the other countries in the region dragged themselves up by their own bootstraps, we indulged in an orgy of corruption under the PNP that even the droppings from pigeons in those times were orange-coloured.
The present minister of national security seems headed to be just another office holder in the mould of Col Trevor MacMillan.
I know that the assignment is a difficult one, but I would have preferred to have seen James Robertson there or Bobby Montague. Young men like Montague and Robertson are unafraid of making mistakes. Minister Nelson seems much too willing to bend over backwards in support of a JCF which has too many holes, too many bad eggs in its ranks to give it any wholesale recommendations.
While Minister Robertson dips below the radar in his attempts to unravel Petrojam and a viable energy policy in the post-recession period, he should consider if a shot at the BIG ONE, the security ministry, would not be more down his street.
Minister Dwight Nelson looks tired and he talks tired and uninspiring. As are so many of the oldsters in the Cabinet who seem to be just holding on, hoping that the young Turks will get them another win at the next general elections.
Outside of those worthy Jamaicans who are to be honoured, there is not much to celebrate. If the prime minister wants to add some gravy to a fast disappearing piece of meat, he should not be afraid to shift again. Better to shift gears than to remain in a bad one and damage the transmission of the bus.
And, by the way, what is the condition of the bus now? And the readiness of the driver?
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