Martin Henry, Contributor
Thank you former Prime Minister Patterson for the restoration of Emancipation Day. This is going to be an important part of the Patterson legacy.
But, it is a real pity that Eman-cipation Day has quickly followed Independence Day as a private rest day public holiday. Where are the civic functions? The remembrances? Swinging through Kingston and into Bogle country there was little sign of public gatherings of any kind. I spotted only one gathering in public state space, a school compound, but it sounded like a regular street dance.
August 6, Independence Day, falls on a Sunday this year and the following Monday has been made a public holiday for more private rest time. Sprinkled with public holidays and weekend days, the period from July 31 to August 7, and even later, will be a low production time in a nation which has used much of its 44 years of independence to achieve record-breaking 'negative growth' and to rack up one of the world's biggest debt to GDP ratios.
Grand Gala
As a youngster come to town, I looked forward to the Grand Gala at the National Stadium on the afternoon of Independence Day.
Apart from the music and cultural displays, it was an opportunity to see national leaders and to connect with fellow Jamaicans across a wide cross-section. Growing indiscipline and the declining quality of public transport in pre-car days became a big turn-off before the whole thing faded away on the Patterson watch.
I have only vague memories of the first Independence celebrations held in the village primary school. There are no specific events recalled, but the big gathering of everybody and the intensity of emotions linger somewhere in the recesses of a child's memory. More than seven out of 10 Jamaicans can have not even these vague memories - they weren't born yet. That is why the commemorations and remembrances and documentation are so important.
Bogle-led uprising
The Bogle-led uprising which engulfed much of St. Thomas only 27 years after 'Full Free' had land as one of its main issues. Access to land has remained a major issue spurring social and political upheavals until today. Freedom has much diminished meaning if the means of production remain out of reach. After self-ownership, as historian Philip. M. Sherlock put it, the ex-slave wanted to own his 'own piece of ground'. In 2006, a quarter of the Jamaican population are squatters.
An 1844 address by the libertarian American philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson, when America was 21 years away from its own emancipation, describes how the slaves received freedom: "The reception of it by the Negro population was equal in nobleness to the deed. On the night of the 31st of July, they met everywhere at their churches and chapels, and at midnight, when the clock struck twelve, on their knees, the silent, weeping assembly became men; they rose and embraced each other; they cried, they sang, they prayed, they were wild with joy, but there was no riot, no feasting. I have never read anything in history more touching than the moderation of the Negroes."
And from a historical source Emerson quoted: " 'The first of August came on Friday, and a release was proclaimed from all work until the next Monday. The day was chiefly spent by the great mass of the Negroes in the churches and chapels. The clergy and missionaries throughout the island were actively engaged, seizing the opportunity to enlighten the people on all the duties and responsibilities of their new relation, and urging them to the attainment of that higher liberty with which Christ maketh his children free. The day was like a sabbath. Work had ceased. The hum of business was still: tranquillity pervaded the towns and country. The dress of the Negroes on that occasion was uncommonly simple and modest. There was not the least disposition to gaiety. Throughout the island, there was not a single dance known of, nor so much as a fiddle played.'"
With Emerson, on the end of slavery, I agree: "This event was a moral revolution." Independence, 44 years on, is mired in the troubles of moral decay.
Martin Henry is a communication specialist.
