A.J. Nicholson, Contributor

It could hardly be doubted that the stormy seas through which the Jamaican ship now sails requires a sense of community - all hands on deck - to arrive safely at a sheltered harbour.

I am content to leave to others, such as the gurus of economics and international trade, the meaning of a 'sheltered harbour' in the context of today's insistence on globalisation. They can say whether there is really any haven for countries, such as ours, which are beset by so many challenges in the face of the impe-ratives of the globalised approach.

Regardless, any route that is taken - including the choppy seas that we must currently navigate - calls for certain understandings and agreements that have been hammered out within the crucible of a keen and real sense of community. Nothing less will suffice.

Exposure to fields

My upbringing in rural and urban Jamaica, my exposure to fields of study at home and abroad; practising at the private bar, and my experience in public office, have collectively served to cement the view that we continue to move further and further away from the anchor of our movement towards independence, much to the detriment of our development as a people.

For many have reasoned and remain convinced that while independence is, undoubtedly, a signal turn in the road in the life of every nation, it assumes greater meaning and significance when the platform on which the movement towards independence was built remains firmly in the forefront of the national consciousness, the collective discourse and action.

Jamaica is not the only country on which that lesson has sadly been lost. For, to shelve one of the very vehicles by which the change to independence was arrived at, is to embark on a course of bridge burning, something that has been discouraged in the long march of history.

Jamaica Welfare was a force that propelled the exercise toward independence. It projected voluntarism and community development and its chief architects included visionaries such as N.W. Manley, D.T.M Grin and Philip and Hugh Cherokee. This energy came to full flowering during the decades of the 1940s and 1950s, immediately before independence. Its mantra was self-definition and self-reliance and its aim was the creation of a nation built by its own people, working together. And this was done through the channel of enhancing family life and a sense of community.

The Jamaica welfare movement was a tool that was used to tackle the health and hygiene challenges which the many diseases presented at that point in time. It played a significant role in the education process and led in the advancement of community enterprise in the fields of agriculture, cultural activities and social change.

The abiding message of Jamaica Welfare was, therefore, the pursuit of the positive aspects of our heritage, which would lead to meaningful participation and teamwork.

Self-definition

That was the strength of the movement - a strength that is to be found nowhere, or in too few areas - in our national plans and programmes. A sense of community, which directs us to consensus building and a push toward self-definition, self-reliance, participation and teamwork, requires leadership of the type that the architects of Jamaica Welfare were prepared to provide.

This is also the message that is to be received and acted upon by today's leaders. The challenges that we face are no less daunting than those that had to be addressed leading up to independence over four decades ago. We cannot regard them as insurmountable, for, as a people, we must satisfy ourselves that we are up to the task.

Today's leadership must face the hurdles presented by the circumstance that there is only a tiny majority in the House of Representatives, with the eligibility of some of the members, constitutionally, seriously in question.

Challenges touch all

Then there are the challenges that have been left by the devastation caused by hurricane Dean, followed by the kind of incessant rainfall that Jamaica had not experienced in more than a generation.

And there is the punishing, continuous escalation in food and energy prices that now commands the attention of the entire world and, in our case here in Jamaica, made more punishing by the burden of debt and the enhanced expectations that follow attractive promises. These all have a severely negative impact on living standards nationally.

Then, there is the real money challenge to a sizeable number of middle- and working-class Jamaicans caused by a misplaced faith in certain alternative investment schemes. They must now address these challenges in an atmosphere of fear and unease as a result of the swift upward movement of the murder rate and the spectre of crime generally.

So, what is to be done in the storm of these troubled times? Do we drift along on a path of narrow partisanship, mistrust and an angry cacophony in the national conversation?

How does leadership in the political arena, for example, deal with each other in the Houses of Parliament as an instrument towards consensus building in the society? For the challenges touch and concern all persons in the society, bar none, and cannot be approached in such a manner that excludes the input of too many of our citizens, as now appears to be the case.

We do well to recall that, throughout history, all countries that have found a settled place high on the ladder of economic and social development have risen on the strength of the uniting forces of participation and teamwork. And that should constitute the backbone of the economic and social integrity that we seek as a country which, in truth, has been divinely favoured by nature itself.

The message of Jamaica Welfare calls us. It beckons us to an already travelled way of doing things and interacting with each other. With the ship of state now sailing on troubled waters, it's a matter of all hands on deck, or else. And that requires a special type of leadership and captaincy.

Cooperation and focus

What is called for is a kind of captaincy which demands and commands national cooperation and focus. It is a captaincy which should seek to convince all our people that national cooperation is for the benefit of the individual as much as it is for the benefit of the collective, particularly in these challenging times. And we should demand this kind of leadership, not merely a leadership by words but by exemplary action and decisions that are not divisive, for our own survival and to take us safely into sheltered harbour.

In as much as there is the imperative of visionary leadership, there is, in addition, the requirement of sensible and discerning followership. There must be a willingness to follow, and be motivated by, inspirational leadership, provided it is presented to the people.

A constant refrain of oppose, oppose, oppose, or an everlasting tribal and partisan approach is a recipe for underachievement in normal times; it is a certain road to disaster and chaos in times of challenge or in times of peril.

National discipline

National cooperation, furthermore, attracts national discipline, which includes the discipline to set national goals that are to be met by agreed programmes and shared strategies. That is the kind of atmosphere in which motorists obey and abide by the rules of the road; in which our citizens, including our leaders, protect the provisions of our Constitution and uphold the rule of law; in which bribes are not offered and, if offered, are not accepted; in which scarce and expensive commodities such as water and electricity are neither stolen nor wasted; in which the instruments of restorative justice and peace initiatives are commonplace and fully utilised; in which the rights of others are fully respected and buttressed by our own response to our obligations and responsibilities.

The times, therefore, call for give and take; conversing with, rather than talking to; and listening to each other, since even the dumb and the ignorant may contribute meaningfully to the solutions that must be found. The times cry out to the obligations of family life and the requirements of parental guidance and the benefits that they offer to the desire for a wholesome, gentle society.

Let no one doubt the unusual nature of the challenges that are now at our doorstep as a national family, or the global and local pressures that will continue to beat upon our economy and our national psyche.

This is not a time for any person or group of persons to consider themselves possessed of all the answers. This is not a time for questions such as: "When did you find that out?" or "Did I not tell you so?" That attitude and approach will not guide us through these stormy seas. They run counter to the message and the aims of Jamaica Welfare and the vision of its architects.

In our history, many serious and diverse challenges have been successfully addressed and overcome by a spirit of togetherness and a sense of community. Does anyone know of a better way?

A.J. Nicholson, an attorney-at-law, is the opposition spokesman on justice.