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Why are we so afraid of what America thinks of us?
Monday, June 06, 2011
<span style="font-weight: bold">WE are afraid of the USA because we have renounced our independence, our sense of focus and pedigree, and have replaced them with a model that relies too much on America's beneficence. This we have done by virtue of our own act, without regard for the consequences. If there were any doubts that we are afraid of the United States and how it feels toward us, reactions to the WikiLeaks cables should have removed them. The sad irony, it seems though, is that we do not give a damn about any incorrectness or misunderstandings that may inform some of the views the US holds about us, so long as it is the US that holds these views. The truth is, it is not just the US that invokes this fear in us; the Canadians and the British hold similar sway.
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[i]The essential question therefore is: what is driving this fear and how can we overcome it? For too many years, we squandered the opportunities to diversify our economy and to get the country in order. We allowed the state to treat us less than citizens and with little regard for the protection or sanctity of life. We mortgaged our future and that of future generations by reposing trust in the hands of the undeserving. We borrowed tens of billions of dollars in the name of our children and grandchildren, with little to show for the debt that we must repay. We pussyfooted around the fundamental issue of development without providing quality education and health care to our people so they could be ready for the challenges and prospects of the 21st century; yet we ponder the reasons for the widespread poverty and hopelessness that beset us.
We empowered the powerful, and in a vulgar way disempowered the powerless through a scheme of high taxation and low representation. It is this scheme that has driven many into the vicious cycle of deprivation and depravation while forcing thousands of our highly skilled and trained citizens to migrate in search of a better life. <span style="font-weight: bold">Still, we bury our heads in the sand like ostriches and pretend there are no problems in Jamaica and everything is all right; all of this as we slaughter our chances of becoming a better country. </span>We did these things even as we continue to ignore our involvement in our own demise. Now, we sit in wild astonishment and struggle with how to "plaster-polish" the opinions others have of us and how these views, right or wrong, could translate into visa cancellations.
By virtue of our own act, we positioned our county at the entrance of "Gate Beautiful" and like the lame beggar who sat daily by the gate to beg, we have subjected our people to live in constant and unreasonable hope that some crumbs will fall off the rich man's tables and on to their plates. Even so, we will never accept that we have inflicted another form of slavery upon them. I speak of economic slavery, which has also forced us into a weird form of social degradation because our very survival is inextricably linked to the paradigm of the crabs and how they behave in a barrel. No wonder we quake in our boots and wet our pants, even at the slightest shift in US, UK or Canadian posture toward us, however undeserving.
For while I will not succumb to blind passion and must pay homage to these countries, particularly to the United States, to which we remain grateful for the many successes we have attained on their shores and for providing hundreds of thousands of people, myself included, the opportunity to learn, to earn a decent living and live in peace; I must submit that things could have been and can be different for Jamaica. Things could have been different had Jamaica followed a different socio-economic development path. They could have been different if we took political independence seriously by using it as a platform to economic advancement.
Things could have been vastly different had we pursued a model that empowered the majority of our people; things could have been different had we created the opportunity for education and innovation and had we remained true and steadfast to the ideals that informed the foundation that led to political independence in 1962. Had we done these things, we would not be as reactive to the WikiLeaks stories or be as terrified about the repercussions from visa cancellations. Alas, we will continue to be afraid of the US, the UK and Canada so long as our future depends on their munificence.
There is a balm in Gilead and it does not require insularism - that would be insane - but to the extent that we can chart a truly autonomous course, we should. We would be fooling ourselves by continuing to build our future on what the US does or doesn't do, because inevitably, it may have to embrace policies that could be antithetical to our interests. For while we know of the interconnectedness of this globalised world and of the benefits of forging sound bilateral and multilateral agreements, it remains in our best interest to develop and reposition our resources and use them to increase the value chain and create jobs, and as leverage to become more than a country of computer keyboard users and more of the country of programme developers and computer hardware manufacturers.
To this end, and by virtue of our own act, we must implement a new model for sustainable and rational development which is deeply rooted in a Jamaican dream with a development agenda that sets out new socio-political and economic imperatives and that treats all Jamaicans equally. These must take cognisance of our existing economic structure with a view to making individual ownership more equitable and our economy more diversified and productive. They must reflect a mix of foreign and domestic policies that target multiple markets, labour and energy reforms, economic innovation, education, cultural, social and scientific advancements, all geared toward full and positive exploitation of our indigenous resources and the upliftment of our most important resource - our people - so the country can earn its subsistence and become less dependent on overseas loans and grants. For, as my aunt was wont to say, "If yuh finger inna lion mout' tek time draw it out".
[email protected]
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/W...6#ixzz1OUARHuMk
Monday, June 06, 2011
<span style="font-weight: bold">WE are afraid of the USA because we have renounced our independence, our sense of focus and pedigree, and have replaced them with a model that relies too much on America's beneficence. This we have done by virtue of our own act, without regard for the consequences. If there were any doubts that we are afraid of the United States and how it feels toward us, reactions to the WikiLeaks cables should have removed them. The sad irony, it seems though, is that we do not give a damn about any incorrectness or misunderstandings that may inform some of the views the US holds about us, so long as it is the US that holds these views. The truth is, it is not just the US that invokes this fear in us; the Canadians and the British hold similar sway.
</span>
[i]The essential question therefore is: what is driving this fear and how can we overcome it? For too many years, we squandered the opportunities to diversify our economy and to get the country in order. We allowed the state to treat us less than citizens and with little regard for the protection or sanctity of life. We mortgaged our future and that of future generations by reposing trust in the hands of the undeserving. We borrowed tens of billions of dollars in the name of our children and grandchildren, with little to show for the debt that we must repay. We pussyfooted around the fundamental issue of development without providing quality education and health care to our people so they could be ready for the challenges and prospects of the 21st century; yet we ponder the reasons for the widespread poverty and hopelessness that beset us.
We empowered the powerful, and in a vulgar way disempowered the powerless through a scheme of high taxation and low representation. It is this scheme that has driven many into the vicious cycle of deprivation and depravation while forcing thousands of our highly skilled and trained citizens to migrate in search of a better life. <span style="font-weight: bold">Still, we bury our heads in the sand like ostriches and pretend there are no problems in Jamaica and everything is all right; all of this as we slaughter our chances of becoming a better country. </span>We did these things even as we continue to ignore our involvement in our own demise. Now, we sit in wild astonishment and struggle with how to "plaster-polish" the opinions others have of us and how these views, right or wrong, could translate into visa cancellations.
By virtue of our own act, we positioned our county at the entrance of "Gate Beautiful" and like the lame beggar who sat daily by the gate to beg, we have subjected our people to live in constant and unreasonable hope that some crumbs will fall off the rich man's tables and on to their plates. Even so, we will never accept that we have inflicted another form of slavery upon them. I speak of economic slavery, which has also forced us into a weird form of social degradation because our very survival is inextricably linked to the paradigm of the crabs and how they behave in a barrel. No wonder we quake in our boots and wet our pants, even at the slightest shift in US, UK or Canadian posture toward us, however undeserving.
For while I will not succumb to blind passion and must pay homage to these countries, particularly to the United States, to which we remain grateful for the many successes we have attained on their shores and for providing hundreds of thousands of people, myself included, the opportunity to learn, to earn a decent living and live in peace; I must submit that things could have been and can be different for Jamaica. Things could have been different had Jamaica followed a different socio-economic development path. They could have been different if we took political independence seriously by using it as a platform to economic advancement.
Things could have been vastly different had we pursued a model that empowered the majority of our people; things could have been different had we created the opportunity for education and innovation and had we remained true and steadfast to the ideals that informed the foundation that led to political independence in 1962. Had we done these things, we would not be as reactive to the WikiLeaks stories or be as terrified about the repercussions from visa cancellations. Alas, we will continue to be afraid of the US, the UK and Canada so long as our future depends on their munificence.
There is a balm in Gilead and it does not require insularism - that would be insane - but to the extent that we can chart a truly autonomous course, we should. We would be fooling ourselves by continuing to build our future on what the US does or doesn't do, because inevitably, it may have to embrace policies that could be antithetical to our interests. For while we know of the interconnectedness of this globalised world and of the benefits of forging sound bilateral and multilateral agreements, it remains in our best interest to develop and reposition our resources and use them to increase the value chain and create jobs, and as leverage to become more than a country of computer keyboard users and more of the country of programme developers and computer hardware manufacturers.
To this end, and by virtue of our own act, we must implement a new model for sustainable and rational development which is deeply rooted in a Jamaican dream with a development agenda that sets out new socio-political and economic imperatives and that treats all Jamaicans equally. These must take cognisance of our existing economic structure with a view to making individual ownership more equitable and our economy more diversified and productive. They must reflect a mix of foreign and domestic policies that target multiple markets, labour and energy reforms, economic innovation, education, cultural, social and scientific advancements, all geared toward full and positive exploitation of our indigenous resources and the upliftment of our most important resource - our people - so the country can earn its subsistence and become less dependent on overseas loans and grants. For, as my aunt was wont to say, "If yuh finger inna lion mout' tek time draw it out".
[email protected]
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/W...6#ixzz1OUARHuMk
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