'Away with the cousins!' proclaims one of the banners carried by members of Mr. Willard Johnson's People's Political Party on their Labour Day march through the city in this May, 1961 photo. - File

Ken Jones, Contributor

The present public plea for peaceful politicking is pertinent and proper. However, I have a funny feeling that the call is being overstressed, abused and made ridiculous by some hard-boiled campaigners pretending to have thin skins, and claiming to be really hurt when their opponents throw words at them. Let's face it: Politicking is not picnicking; and an election race is not for the swift but for those who can endure and overcome the slings and arrows of outrageous opposition.

Rough-and-tumble strife

Political campaigning has never been a Sunday School exercise. It is rough-and-tumble strife, a give-and-take struggle in which the combatants should be expected to shoot from the lip and use cutting eyes and wounding words to hurt each other's feelings. It is not something for the faint-hearted; it requires brave souls who are prepared to bear the heat of the kitchen or to eat crow if that happens to be on the menu. If they cannot do this they have no business seeking votes. The only election in Jamaica that was conducted without much name-calling or mud-slinging was in 1983, when only one party entered the fray. Even then, some still hurled insults and innuendoes from the sidelines.

Jamaicans familiar with the history of the hustings will recall when people threw stones instead of words, and should be amused when they see old battle-axes complaining like children when they are called by names they do not like. Personally, I do not care two hoots for the insulted politician who runs for cover behind the Ombudsman or Mr. Speaker's coattail; but I give three cheers to those who respond to rude remarks with ripping repartee. When a vexed Lady Astor told Winston Churchill that if she were his wife she'd give him poison, the great man rapidly replied: "And if I were your husband I'd gladly drink it."

When Chief Minister and Mayor Bustamante was harassed and booed by a group on the sidewalks of Church Street, he didn't cry foul. He looked pityingly at the leader of the mob, shook his head and said: "You boo me, but who would even think of booing you?"

I think that some observers and commentators are making mountains out of molehills and unwittingly try to deprive us of the only bit of fun we the people ever get out of politics. How boring it would be if the candidates simply recounted their great deeds, recited Shakespeare, sang off-key sankeys and told us lies about their plans for future development. Would party workers be energised by such phoney piety? Really! Would a Jamaican political rally be worth its salt without dancing, singing and a little mud-slinging? It is all part of the game. The trouble is that political cass-cass is now being brought into our living rooms by radio and television people who afterwards turn around and tell us that we shouldn't be exposed to such behaviour. Mark you, I do not necessarily want them to stop, for in my book, political theatre is more entertaining than some of the television shows to which we are subjected.

Positive political conduct

This debate about positive political conduct is slowly getting out of hand, largely because its proponents are getting more and more media coverage and attention from talk show hosts. I cannot share the fretting and fussing that is developing among the squeamish. Ever since 1944, the politicians were getting along just fine, surviving all attempts at character assassination. Look at all the scandals that have been taking place and yet I haven't heard of one politician who has quit Parliament because of it. Yet they are being encouraged to become wimps and cry-babies, who run to the public for succour each time they get a bruised ego. They have even appointed a paid ombudsman to wipe their crocodile tears.

We have really gone soft when we tolerate politicians denouncing their opponents for flying flags on a house of orange or a field of green. How nonsensical it is to consider it provocative for one party of ordinary people to parade down Mountain View Avenue while others of opposing views are holdinga conference behind closed doors at the National Arena! How foolish, that those who complain about that seem happy on Budget Day to have opposing Members of Parliament marching towards a common point from either end of Duke Street.

Not long ago, the pious and spotless among us pushed the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee to resign his position because at some obscure political meeting he promised to "pepper the backsides" of witnesses due to appear before him. Most of us would never have known about the incident had it not been for the TV station that considered it newsworthy. I found Audley Shaw's statement more amusing than disturbing; and it was tame compared with Wills Isaacs' public remark that " ... a few broken skulls" are necessary in nation-building.

Idle controversy

Then there is this idle controversy about the Prime Minister being likened unto Jezebel, the biblical ruler who worshipped Baal, associated with prophets and punished those who disagreed with her and refused to worship her God. Those who know their scriptures and the strength and intelligence of that remarkable queen, might have accepted the comparison as flattering. But there are others who know only of the image of Jezebel painted by her enemies; and it is that righteous army that has become wroth and is calling for the user of the word to be censured.

PNP leaders are naturally among those demanding that Joan Webley apologise for the Jezebel remark which, if it was used in the negative sense, is no worse than Roger Clarke's comment that when he looks across from his seat in Parliament, all he can see is a group of persons with the mark of evil stamped all over them. Should we declare a plague on both their houses, or should we take the thing with good humour? I choose the latter course, because to do otherwise is to waste time that should be spent examining the real issues that impact on my family - food, clothes, shelter and the pursuit of happiness.

It is difficult to understand how modern politicos in Jamaicaare so touchy when name-calling in politics is as old as the hills and as widespread as the seas. America's best-known president, Abraham Lincoln, was constantly teased about his looks. One critic publicly described him as a baboon and another Democrat twisted his slogan 'Honest Abe' into 'Honest Ape'. Again, Bustamante may have been the best-loved target for foes of his party. He was called all sorts of names - liar, cheat, wicked usurer, a man unable to spell the word 'bread' and also the sufferer of an incurably sore foot. Even the man who introduced him to politics, St. William Grant, later dubbed him 'Cerasee' to say what a bitter character he was. And yet, 'The Chief' was the last man to be bitter about anything. He laughed through it, all the way to the rank of National Hero.

The Hon. H.A.L. Simpson, well respected by a wide cross-section of the Kingston populace, was discourteously described by his opponents as a vagabond - and a one-legged one to boot. Wickedly they sang: "Corkfoot Simpson, you vagabon'/If a ketch you a cut off the other one. But Simpson is still well-remembered by historians, while his detractors lie forgotten.

And so, rather than join the crusade for protecting politicians from each other, I say, let them knock each other cold with heated words; and I would urge media folks to edit out the nonsense that they utter. Instead, give us information that really matters in our effort to elect those best able to handle public affairs in a competent, honest manner. There is no need for mediators to deal with the deviants. If anyone is unduly offended, they already have legal remedies in the civil and criminal courts. Let them use the judicial system; and if it fails them, as it does some of us, they may be more inclined to do something about it.

Ken Jones is a veteran journalist and general secretary of the Farquharson Institute of Public Affairs. He may be reached at alllerdyce@hotmail.com.