Jamaica: Michael Manley, Garveyism and Matalon

Manley, Garveyism and Matalon

By MICHAEL BURKE

Forty-three years ago today Michael Manley was elected president of the People's National Party. Twenty-three years ago today, the PNP returned to power and Michael Manley once again got a chance to be prime minister. In this 50th anniversary jubilee of our political Independence, perhaps the man with the greatest impact over the last 50 years was Michael Manley. Whether he was the most effective prime minister or he did the most for Jamaica, was the greatest negotiator or was the worst thing to ever happen to Jamaica are all debatable topics. But not even Michael Manley's detractors can successfully challenge the impact that he had.

I call myself a Norman Manleyist, in that I recognise Norman Manley (Michael Manley's father) as the person as "the man with the plan". Indeed, Michael Manley, for the most part implemented his father's ideas. While I am not in favour of Michael Manley being made a national hero unless another 50 years have passed when there can be a proper evaluation of both the way he lived his life and contributed to the growth of Jamaica, it has nothing to do with the massive impact that he had on Jamaica, the Caribbean and the World.

In 1969 when he was Opposition leader, Michael Manley visited Ethiopia and returned to Jamaica with a rod purportedly from Emperor Haile Selassie. That fact alone inspired Rastafarians to participate in the Jamaican democratic process from which they had hitherto stayed aloof as they awaited a return passage to our African motherland.

From the 1960s there were Rastafarians and Pan Africanists campaigning for Garveyism to be taught in schools. During the Social Services debate in 1992, then education Minister Burchell Whiteman announced that as of September that year, Garveyism would be taught in schools. I had advocated the teaching of Garveyism in my columns in the now defunct Jamaica Record, so I celebrated. But it was not to be.

The teachers said that they were not trained to teach Garveyism and that there was no Marcus Garvey textbook. To my mind, their stance was nothing but delaying tactics and I wrote as much. Now we hear that as of September Garveyism is to be taught in schools and a textbook has been provided. Is this another announcement which will be followed by delaying tactics for another 20 years? If it is not, then it will be ironic that it took a white man (education minister, Deacon Ronnie Thwaites) to implement the teaching of Garveyism in schools.

Children who were born out of wedlock could not inherit property until Michael Manley piloted the act to abolish the illegitimacy law in 1975, so that "no bastard no deh again". There was no minimum wage in Jamaica before 1975, some 84 years after Pope Leo XIII encouraged it in his encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891. There was the adjustment of the land tax law in such a way that the rich paid more land tax. The establishment of the National Housing Trust so that ordinary people could access housing has done a lot to empower the poor. This was done under Michael Manley's watch in the 1970s.

And this brings me to the subject of the late Mayer Matalon, former chairman of West Indies Home Contractors who recently passed away. By the way, Mayer Matalon was chairman of the Jamaica College board of directors (1967-71) while at the same time his brother, Eli Matalon, was chairman of the Kingston College board of directors. Had it not been for the Matalons, who invested heavily in housing, we would have serious housing problems today.

As an aside, no one might know that housing in Jamaica also contributed to the ecumenical movement, where churches of different denominations come together for prayer and action. The Church of Reconciliation in Bridgeport, Portmore, St Catherine, was opened in September 1977. It is a church that is jointly used by the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.

For its 20th anniversary in 1997, I was asked to prepare a history of the Church of Reconciliation. I approached the late Archbishop Samuel Carter (already retired from 1995), and asked him whose idea it was to have the joint church: was it his, or was it Bishop Herbert Edmondson's, then the Anglican Lord Bishop of Jamaica. "Neither," Archbishop Carter answered. "So whose idea was it then?" I asked. After a pause, the archbishop said "Matalon". However, he did not say which of the Matalon brothers.

Yes, it took a Matalon (who is of Jewish religion) who evidently wanted more space to build more houses to earn more money, when the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches applied for land within the Bridgeport Housing Scheme to build churches, to say, "Why don't you two bishops just build one church?" The truth is stranger than fiction.

I am not aware of any move by the powers that be to include in our celebrations a way of teaching our young people about the achievements of the last 50 years so that they understand that we truly have something to celebrate this year.

ekrubm765@yahoo.com


February 09, 2012

jamaicaobserver

Jamaica is suffering from a poverty of ideas ...and already it appears as if the new administration is ready to fall into the same ditch of intellectual and creative stagnation that characterised previous governments

The poverty of ideas and action

HEART TO HEART

With Betty Ann Blaine

Dear Reader,

For a country with some of the most brilliant minds one could find anywhere, I continue to be perplexed by the deficit of ideas, and worse yet, the lack of courage and conviction of those who are educated to challenge the status quo.

The recently concluded election campaign was an insult to the intelligence of any thinking person. It wasn't just that the platforms boiled down to a "tracing" match between the two main rivals about who was more corrupt than whom, it was also the complete lack of intellectual rigour commensurate with a society that has such a large class of educated people and a wide assortment of schools, colleges and universities.

The questions that I keep asking are, "How can a country with such a high concentration of intellectual capital be teetering on the verge of collapse? What is it that accounts for the gap between the "brilliance" on the one hand, and the "broken" on the other?

I would hope that these are questions occupying the minds of the leaders of our major educational institutions, and if they aren't, then clearly something is radically wrong and they ought to "wake up and smell the coffee". As far as I am concerned, if the country's tertiary institutions are not producing transformational leaders, then they might as well call it a day and go into some other kind of business.

The point is that if the society is failing, then so are our institutions of higher learning, and those who continue to live in the ivory towers of academia had better begin paying attention to what is happening on the outside of those walls.

What is even more perplexing is the fact that we now have living examples all over the world to emulate and encourage us to action. Globally, 2011 can be best described as "the year of people power". In the most striking and spontaneous fashion, people all over the globe took to the streets last year. To my mind, the Arab Spring best epitomises the dynamism of the movements in the Middle East, followed by the "Occupy Wall Street Movement" in the United States and across the world. Of note was the huge population of young people positioned at the forefront of the various uprisings and direct action campaigns.

So what is the difference between those young people and ours? What exactly is going on at our colleges and universities that is inhibiting youth activism? The Prophet Muhammad was quoted as saying, "If you see something wrong with the world, change it with your hands". That powerful statement should be inscribed on the walls of our educational institutions and embedded in the policies, programmes and culture of all those places where learning takes place.

One of the criticisms I have of the new People's National Party (PNP) administration is its perpetuation of political "parochialism". So far, every major appointment made is based entirely on loyalty to party, and while we understand that rewarding party faithful is germane to politics as we know it, it's a pity that the PNP doesn't appreciate the need to engage some of those in the society who are independent, progressive thinkers into its administration. The example set by US President Barack Obama in the way he embraced and invited his Republican rival into his Cabinet, was not only exemplary, it was smart. Obama made it clear that it was going to be country over party and he reached out for the best man to do the job.

And there are numerous scholars and experts with excellent ideas for reconstructing the Jamaican society and economy. Not only is there a repository of knowledge and experience waiting to be the tapped, but the capacity of those to network with colleagues and contemporaries outside of Jamaican is clearly underestimated.

Jamaica is suffering from a poverty of ideas, and already it appears as if the new administration is ready to fall into the same ditch of intellectual and creative stagnation that characterised previous governments.

Among the critical areas of national development is education reform and there are experts both inside and outside of Jamaica with a lot to offer. Last Thursday, I had the distinct pleasure of attending a public lecture hosted by the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) at the University of the West Indies. The main presentation was delivered by Professor Pedro Noguera of New York University, a leading expert in education and education transformation. Addressing the topic, "Education for Social and Economic Development: toward a more equitable and Just Jamaica in the 21st century", Professor Noguera, whose mother, interestingly, is Jamaican, skilfully outlined the problems and the solutions for education transformation. The ideas were fresh, dynamic and workable, and the only thing that I regretted was that the new minister of education was not present. It was definitely information and ideas for policy makers and implementers.

It is high time we narrow the huge gap between the intellectual prowess on the one hand and the realities of day-to-day living on the other, not only for the stimulation and sustenance of progressive and enlightened thought, but also for the advancement of the common man.

With love,
bab2609@yahoo.com

January 24, 2012

jamaicaobserver

Which political party is best for Jamaica... PNP or JLP?

Which party is best for Jamaica?

By Franklin JOHNSTON

The PNP is the natural party of the Jamaican people.  The first and only party to adumbrate a mantra for the disadvantaged and social institutions to give it effect.  This was attractive to the grandchildren of slaves who prized their freedoms.  Norman Manley was driven.  A soldier, athlete, Rhodes scholar, he knew political dogma - the strait-jacket of communism and capitalism.  He chose the middle ground which social democratic parties in Germany, UK, Italy, Greece, Scandinavian nations used to build world-class industry and great welfare systems.  Bustamante was not of this ilk.  He went to primary school, was a rolling stone - Cuba, Panama, America - policeman, hospital orderly, investor; changed his name on a whim and returned home in his 50s with some money.  He was an activist; joined a union, founded his own and used his talent to help workers with success.  He founded the JLP on "sibling rivalry" - a contest with his "educated cousin".  The JLP still reacts to the PNP.  We say to kids, "See Mr Manley, his life, study, law career, service in politics... copy him!" You can't tell kids to copy Bustamante's life!  The JLP's capitalist mantra lies between his "we are with the West" and Seaga's "haves and have-nots".  The JLP is mainly a spiritual vacuum, but the ascendancy of Adventist ethic in leadership in the last four years may change this.  The benign union of church and state and the clique of Adventist fundamentalist right-wingers in Cabinet is ominous. More anon!

The PNP is also the omni-directional creative, cultural and sporting home of the nation.  The vision of Norman Manley - world-class sportsman, lawyer, art connoisseur and bon vivant - is breathtaking.  An inspiration to Jamaicans here and abroad.  Bustamante's life was rambling and we have anecdotes often which he supplied, not facts. But the drama of what we know is compelling.  He loved his cousin, shared successes.  Manley outfoxed the British.  They trusted, respected him; he fought with them in war, studied with them at Oxford, held forth in their courts, they knew his commitment and performance and he knew them!

The PNP is the spiritual home of the nation.  Drumblair was the hub of artistic expression; the energy of our creative class.  Liberal jargon as freedom, economic independence, decolonisation, equality, class struggle, environment, self-reliance, Nkrumah, Lumumba, Africa are the legacy of PNP semanticists.  The UWI was said to be PNP just by being a place of intellect.  The spirit of craft, cottage industry, domestic work; gender equality, child equality, shade equality were nurtured by conscious people, many not PNP but classed as such.  The JLP went the other way. Bustamante was educated, but he used a folksy illiteracy which attracted poor people yet they retreated as it devalued education.  Some recidivism is still evident at meetings where there is a striving of educated JLP people to appear less so and diss education to curry favour with poor people - a paradox of politics! The PNP also got "street cred"; many "buttos" had free rein and principles suffered. Mr Seaga nurtured Kapo but the JLP never bought into his artistic genius.  The JLP as a capitalist party has never been of artistic or spiritual trenchancy.

The PNP is the spiritual home of the media.  Its leaders marched and demonstrated when media workers were disadvantaged and fired; meanwhile the JLP were banning speakers, books, writings and UWI lecturers.  I smuggled books, was interminably searched by customs and had my books confiscated.  Every journalist over 50 - not media owners - is a virtual PNP sleeper because of its track record on their behalf.  Early PNP leaders sacrificed; politics was not their best job; their families suffered.  After the PM's job they did public service - spoke globally and served the Commonwealth.  They lived in their pre-politics houses and died with less than when they started politics.  Their children's legacy was a good education, not money or a business.  Ex-JLP top brass expressed their capitalism in finance; new houses, business to capitalise on their years in politics.  No global speakers emerged.  People rightly worry about JLP corruption as they expect it, but they wrongly ignore PNP corruption because they think them high-minded - both are wrong.  If the PNP mantra also resonated with other ethnic groups, they came on contract, indenture, fleeing persecution and it was PNP social openness, not JLP restrictive capitalism, that attracted them. So where is this going?

The big question

Why is the PNP not more successful at the polls?  Given this love affair, how come they won only eight elections to the JLP's seven since 1944?  What are we missing?  What is the PNP doing wrong or the JLP doing right?

The answer?

The JLP is filler when people want to punish the PNP and sometimes it delivers the goods!  First, despite his work, Norman did not lead us to Independence.  Was the referendum principle or naivety?  No matter; he did not get the nod.  Second, Michael's self-reliance which makes Cuba the region's innovator in health industries, education and housing, even with two hands tied by a USA blockade, did not get the nod.  Third, Finsac is a metaphor for woes.  The USA used debt resolution with dozens of failed banks and building societies.  Here, true to its mantra, the PNP rescued hundreds of thousands of small savers.  The few thousand investors and bankers had to face the nightmare of all entrepreneurs who use poor people's savings to build themselves - grief!  Finally, the PNP has not explained how in 18 years of unbroken power when the world was prospering we could not even catch up with Barbados.  So has the PNP squandered our generosity?  Is the JLP stability just the usual calm after an IMF loan boosts our cash flows?  More to come. Stay conscious, my friend!

Coat of arms or jacket?

Last week arriving passengers were told by NMIA Immigration their completed forms were illegal.  The reason?  The coat of arms was wrong?  The crab louse was upside down or such?  Who printed them?  It did seem more jacket than coat!  The explanations were confusing. Tired tourists and locals were not amused.

Dr Franklin Johnston is an international project manager with Teape-Johnston Consultants currently on assignment in the UK.

franklinjohnstontoo@gmail.com

jamaicaobserver

Jamaica: What we do not learn from history?

What we do not learn from history

JAMAICA HAS a track record of prime ministers and opposition leaders who have, for one reason or another, denied themselves the luxury of seeing out the maximum potential of their leadership careers.   The exceptions, of course, being those two fathers of the nation, Norman Manley and Sir Alexander Bustamante, who both bowed to old age and infirmities.

A relatively younger Michael Manley was forced by illness to retire early in his third term when it seemed that he still had more to offer.

Edward Seaga, Percival Patterson, Hugh Shearer, and now Bruce Golding, all announced their resignations as prime minister or opposition leader while still in the saddle and, on all accounts, brimful of vim and vigour.

  There are interesting parallels in each instance of resignation or transition.   There are also some interesting lessons to learn from the different party election campaigns, if we care to learn from history, bearing in mind Georg Hegel's famous adage that what we learn from history is that we do not learn from history.

Norman Manley announced his retirement at a People's National Party (PNP) testimonial held in honour of his 75th birthday at the Sheraton Kingston Hotel on July 5, 1968.   He retired officially on February 9, 1969, at a party conference held at the National Arena.   He sent members a message of commendable restraint coming from a party leader: "I am not with you today because I have promised not to influence the decision of the party in any way. That fact makes it important for me to keep away."   Lesson number one.

Lesson number two

There were several would-be contenders who eventually dropped out, allowing a clear, sometimes bruising race between Michael Manley and Vivian Blake.   On the eve of the election, both men issued a statement vowing "to accept the will of the people and to give unqualified support to whoever is the leader of their choice."   Lesson number two.

It would be Michael Manley's turn, some 23 years later and at 68 years old, to announce his retirement as prime minister at a special delegates' conference on March 15, 1992.   Health considerations were the main reasons, but he made a telling point on youth succession similar to the one laboured by Bruce Golding last Sunday night.

"I have always believed that political leaders must know when to step aside and make room for others", said Manley.   "And because of my strongly held conviction about making room for young people, I had long decided I would not lead the PNP into the 1994 election." Lesson number three.

Waiting in the wings were P.J. Patterson, 57 years, and his main rival, Portia Simpson, a girlish 47 years.

It was P.J.'s turn the next time around.   On January 22, 2006, he announced his intention to retire as prime minister, the dust settling on February 26 to see Simpson Miller emerge as party leader after an intense and sometimes bitter race.

Dirty laundry in public

Do we learn from history that we do not learn from history?   Hark to the PNP that has always managed to display a semblance of unity in spite of their differences.   The JLP, now in the middle of a succession process, tends to let it all hang out, to their disadvantage.   Bob Lightbourne refused at first to be sworn in by Donald Sangster in 1967, because he was not named deputy prime minister.   Hugh Shearer resigned as JLP opposition leader when the party knives were drawn at a Montego Bay meeting in 1974.

Edward Seaga was pilloried by the famous gangs of the JLP while he was leader, but gave as good as he got in a battle that was played out in the public arena.

Golding himself enjoyed a seamless transition following Seaga's resignation.   Dr Ken Baugh was appointed acting leader of the Opposition, but made it clear he was only holding the position "until Bruce wins, his seat in Western Kingston when I will resign and make way for him to become opposition leader".   By that time, Pearnel Charles had dropped out of the race to make it a one-horse contest.   The JLP went on to win the 2007 elections.

Do we learn anything here from history?

Comments to columns@gleanerjm.com or lanceneita@hotmail.com

October 6, 2011

jamaica-gleaner

Christopher Dudus Coke may be the most powerful man in Jamaica, says Phillips

'Dudus' may be the most powerful man in Ja, says Phillips
BY KARYL WALKER Online editor walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com:


FORMER minister of national security Dr Peter Phillips says Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher 'Dudus' Coke is possibly more powerful than the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government which has been attracting a lot of flax over its refusal to act on a United States extradition request for Coke.

The Americans submitted the extradition request last August, accusing Coke of drug- and gun-running. However, the Bruce Golding-led Administration has said that the evidence gathered against Coke breached Jamaica's Interception of Communications Act.

But for Phillips that argument holds little water and is an indication of the fear that Coke drives into the hearts of the ruling party. According to Phillips, Coke may be the most powerful man in the country.

"That inference can be drawn when we see all the resources they are putting in to defend him. It certainly looks like he is very powerful," Phillips told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

Phillips, whose questions in Parliament in March threw the spotlight on the JLP's dealing with the US law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, said Jamaica's reputation had been terribly sullied and the Government should move to clean up the country's image.

The JLP has since admitted that persons in the party engaged the services of the law firm to negotiate extradition issues with high-ranking members of the Obama administration.

"It is time we decide if we are going to be a narco state or we are going to abide by the rules of law and order," Phillips said.

Last week, Toronto police arrested 12 members of the Shower Posse and have charged them with drugs and weapons offences. The cops said the arrested persons had links to drug traffickers in Panama, the US and the Dominican Republic.

Coke has been named by North American authorities as the leader of the 'international cartel who had been pulling the strings in Toronto's north-west end, supplying drugs and guns to smaller gangs and fuelling violence in the area'.

Headquartered in Tivoli Gardens in Kingston, the Shower Posse reportedly has branches in over 20 US cities, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Phillips himself earned the wrath of People's National Party (PNP) supporters when, during his tenure at the security ministry, Clansman boss and known PNP supporter, Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett, was cut down in hail of police bullets at a palatial residence in Tanarkie, Clarendon in November 2005.

In the aftermath of Bennett's death, irate PNP supporters burnt effigies of Phillips and T-shirts bearing his image in sections of St Catherine and Clarendon.

Party insiders say Bennett's demise may have cost Phillips the leadership of the PNP in the contentious presidential race which he lost to Portia Simpson Miller in September 2008.

May 09, 2010

jamaicaobserver

Bahamas Blog International