Heroes and errors
published:
Sunday | October 19, 2008
Orville Taylor
Are there any heroes left? Are there any in the making? Tomorrow is Heroes Day, the cap to Heritage Week, when we focus on the things that make us unique and distinct as Jamaicans. Here is where we look forward to our eternal yesterday and celebrate the over-magnified achievements of those we consider to be National Heroes. All are flawed individuals.
It would be interesting to examine the present crop of leaders and see how they compare with the founding icons of our fledgling society. Sixty parliamentarians and just fewer than 40 members of Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet have the task of running the country and steering us in the right direction.
Those who know a little about me would figure that Marcus Garvey is my most favoured hero. With his message of race pride, self-reliance, international racial cooperation and empowerment and the liberation from mental slavery, he has to be at the top of my list. However, had he been more of a politician, he would have been able to make a greater appeal to blacks of all classes and perhaps not have lost the 1929 municipal elections. Furthermore, because he did not take his message for Jamaica beyond the barriers of race, he is not the best representative of our motto Out of many one people.
freedom fighter
Paul Bogle is heralded a freedom fighter, who gave up his life for a cause. Nonetheless, the truth is, he never expected to be involved in a fracas with the authorities. Indeed, if he had marched from Stony Gut with the intention of starting a riot he would have had a few more sharpened cutlasses. In fact, he had not even bargained on the two-sided sharpened panya machetes Maroons, who betrayed him.
Speaking of Maroons, having seen the sell-out Treaty of 1739 that her brother Kojo signed with British Colonel Guthrie, Nanny must be painted in a different light. Kojo agreed to return all runaway slaves to the English, in exchange for peace. Still, though she might have kept a grudge, it is not certain if she allowed this to divide her party of Maroons. Is there a Nanny around?
George William Gordon must be given top billing because he did not need to take on the struggles of the poor. In a white-dominated House of Repre-sentatives, he constantly opposed his colleagues. It is fashionable for politicians to speak about the poor in the House nowadays, but it ultimately turned them against him and led to his unjustified execution. He is perhaps the last self-sacrificing politician who was willing to commit political suicide by doing what is fundamentally right. It might not appear so, but in those days, the House of Assembly was a sort of garrison, where voting was en bloc irrespective of the wishes of the majority of Jamaicans.
Not as much is known about Sam Sharpe as is desirable, but his Christmas rebellion of 1830 softened the planter class and opened the way for slaverys end. In that context he could be considered heroic in that he initiated a new era in the history of Jamaicans.
Where do Alexander Bustamante and Norman Manley fall? Manley is seen as the father of the nation and Bustamante, the father of the modern trade-union movement. Manley for me ranks a bit above Busta in regard to his insight on regional integration and the fact that he formed the second real political party, but the first that was supposed to include all Jamaicans. True, it was a middle-class boasy party (and it still is to some extent), but it was for the people at home and abroad.
Busta, on the other hand, was part of the inaugural group of founders of the Peoples National Party. However, he broke away to form the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in 1943.
Their hero status is earned, but their parties have wrought much agony inasmuch as they have pushed the country forward. A curse and a blessing, these parties have divided the country into two hostile camps that can see no further than their green and orange and sometimes yellow, noses. With the formation of garrisons in the late 1960s, and later, large groups of persons are subsumed under a party banner. With the exception of a few key elements, it is difficult for them to see eye to eye. Both have made a total mockery of the motto.
With sheer hypocrisy, each appoints its cronies or sympathisers to key positions and when they are removed by the other administration after an election, it is called a purge. One does not have to be a psychic to know that they are dishonest when they ask, Which hunt?
major storm in a cup
A major storm in a cup is brewing over the dismissal of the board of the Urban Development Corporation, the firing of several key public officers, and the appointment of political activists. The leader of the opposition has demanded explanations from the Government. Talks abound now about how poorly the JLP has performed in its first year in office. How amazing it is that memories are short, but none of the parties can cast stones.
If they want a better system of governance they should leave parliamentarians out of the Cabinet because the pool of candidates is too shallow and has never allowed for the most talented Jamaicans to occupy the most important functional roles.
Lets push for constitutional reform where ministers are selected by bi-partisan committees and Parliament not Cabinet approves these appointments. Only then will we really have national unity.
By the way, how many of our (Shadow) Cabinet members could face dunce Sarah Palin in a debate?
Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Psychology and Social Work at UWI, Mona. Feedback may be sent to orville.taylor@uwimona.edu.jm or columns@gleanerjm.com.
