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Publisher’s Prospective

REFLECTIONS ON NATIONALHOOD:  FROM SIR ALEXANDER BUSTAMENTE TO P.J. PATTERSON
 
Gleaner File Photo
Can it be argued that the present Prime Minister of Jamaica is a reluctant reformer who is exploiting radical slogans in his quest to leave an impressive Pan-Africanist legacy when he exits Jamaica House?  On the other hand, the National Hero, Sir Alexander Bustamante was a revolutionary who has not been given his proper status by the intelligentsia as the Singular founding Father of the Nation?  Is it an exaggeration to argue that Prime Minister Patterson has turned his mentor, the other founding father Norman Washington Manley “on his head” by his clarion call for a Caribbean Court of Justice for Caricom Countries to replace the London based Privy Council as the final arbiter of Appellate matters.
On a tragic note, cannot it be said that both the Leader of the Opposition, Edward Phillip George Seaga and the eurocentric Bar Association of Jamaica are partners in the re-colonization of Jamaica by their relentless onslaughts on the emergence of an indigenous Court of Justice?   Aren’t they saying that it was a mistake for the Colonial Masters to grant us “Flag Independence” forty-one years ago and that there should not be the final break with the motherland, England, by the creation of our own judicial system?  With his opposition to the Caribbean Court of Justice, isn’t it arguable that Mr. Seaga is turning back the process of Nationhood which “Busta” his political mentor set in motion with his defiant stance against the colonial soldiers and police in the first week of May 1938 at Frome Sugar Estate in Westmoreland, which culminated in his imprisonment in 1941 for treasonous activities?
With his marriage to Gladys Longbridge, “Lady B” and his appointment of the diminutive and “black son of the soil” from Westmoreland, Clifford Campbell as the first Jamaican born Governor General in 1962, can it not be said that Busta has done more for the Black sons and daughters of that historic parish than the incumbent of Jamaican House whose appointments from that region have led to convincing charges that he is a political tribalist and more of a staunch advocate of the old order of Plantation politics.
 
From Nationalism to Trans-nationalism 

The most recent held Caricom Heads of State Conference in Montego Bay (July 1-5, 2003) has fueled arguments on Political Integration or Federation.  The ruling People’s National Party, in spite of its denials, have not given up its quest of its founder, Norman Washington Manley, to create a “political umbrella” where all the Caricom Countries would be administrated by a single Executive.   It is quite clear that the political offsprings of Dr. Eric Williams in Trinidad and Tobago, and Sir Grantley Adams in Barbados are still fascinated with this late 1940’s Eurocentric conceived political union.
The Jamaican Opposition spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator Bruce Golding, is very convincing when he drew our attention to the decision taken by the Caricom Heads of State in Montego Bay to establish an Executive Branch by 2004.  He pointedly remarked that Prime Minister Patterson has set in motion by his aggressive involvement in such a decision, a “backdoor avenue” for Jamaica to become a member of a politically integrated Caricom.
Certainly, Prime Minister Patterson is engaging in political hypocrisy when he advocates for a de-linking of Jamaica from the former colonial masters and in the next breath, he embraces the political dream of Norman Washington Manley, for a political Federation of the region.  It must be highlighted that Norman Manley’s rigid adherence to this Eurocentric dream of political integration, if he had succeeded in the September 1961 Referendum Elections, would have denied Jamaica its Independent status.  
What is most disturbing is the fact that it has been more than four decades and not one of the University of West Indies Social Scientists on either of the three campuses have been bold enough to state that a successful federated vote by Jamaica would have arrested an independent movement, not only in Jamaica but throughout the entire region.  This glaring fact has led this writer to argue that Sir Alexander Bustamante is most deserving of the title of “Father of the Nation,” not only for Jamaica but also for the former colonies in the former British Caribbean.  Perhaps the political pre-eminence of the pro-Federalists, Dr. Eric William, Norman Washington Manley and Sir Grantley Adams had a “chilling effect” on the region’s social scientists who are unwilling to dig deeper on what would have been the nationalistic reverberations if there were a “Yes” vote by Jamaicans on Federation.
It is a bit difficult to see Norman Washington Manley on equal footing with Busta as Father of the Nation when he was such an adamant advocate for Federation.  This would have resulted in Lord Hailes as the Governor General of a British oriented political Federation with headquarters in Port of Spain, Trinidad.  Indeed, Norman Manley, if he had succeeded in that referendum vote would have abdicated his immediate nationalistic responsibilities to the nobler objectives of a larger political union.  
In a supreme case of irony, Prime Minister Patterson has earned impressive Pan-Africanist credentials by taking his third Oath of Office at Emancipation Park rather than King’s House, and has set in motion the political instruments to dismantle the Privy Council and the establishment of an indigenous Caribbean Court of Justice.  What is missing in these volcanic developments is the startling recognition that he has radically departed from the Afro-Saxon, Norman Manley.  Indeed, Mr. Patterson has gone further than Michael Joshua Manley in the de-linking of Jamaica from Pax Brittannica.
It must be noted that in the 1970’s, Michael Joshua Manley was hailed by the later Professor Carl Stone as BustaManley.  This portrayal resulted from the socialistic experimentations, which gave racial dignity and economic equity to the dispossessed within the society.  It is interesting that Professor Carl Stone did not see any similarities between Norman Manley and his revolutionary son, in spite of the fact that the former has a special place within the Jamaican landscape due to his “radical” introduction of Common Entrance Examinations that created equal opportunities for the sons and daughters of the impoverished masses to attend the secondary schools.  What Professor said of Michael Manley can also be said of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson on the revamping of Colonial Institutions, namely the Oath of Office and the Privy Council.  There is a strong case to see him as “Bustason.” 
 
On Political Leadership
 
Interestingly, both Busta and P.J. Patterson had their earliest socializations in the rural Parish (State) of Hanover.  Both came to national political prominence by political developments in Westmoreland.  In the case of the charismatic money lender, Bustamante, he challenged the colonial authorities in that famous May 1938 riot in Frome, where he told them to “shoot me and leave my people alone.”  In regards to P.J. Patterson, this Afro-Saxon jurist from (pre-independent U.W.I - B.A. English) and Law Graduate from the London School of Economics rose to national prominence by winning a bye-election in Eastern Westmoreland in 1972, after the death of the affable P.N.P.’s Member of Parliament, Maxey Carey.  These two political leaders have divergent styles of leadership.  Busta loved the masses and drew his energies from them.  He relished the opportunities to visit the markets during the numerous political campaigns to talk with the vendors.
            With his party colleagues, Busta was autocratic but respected their leadership skills and nurtured their political careers.  On an unfortunate note, he believed in political dynasty.  This led him to influence the 1967 political succession competition, which led to the emergence of his “political son” Hugh Lawson Shearer as Prime Minister.  In retrospect, both Robert Lightbourne and D.C. Tavares were more politically and intellectually equipped than the unenthusiastic Hugh Lawson Shearer to lead Jamaica at this embryonic phase of an independent polity.  The Jamaica Labour Party has not yet recovered from “Busta’s intervention” which inevitably led to the political ascendancy of Edward Seaga.  We are waiting for a scholarly enquiry by an objective academician in Jamaica on this fascinating stage of Jamaican political history.  Both Shearer and Seaga have shortchanged the nation by not providing us with their autobiographies or inviting sympathetic scholars to write biographies with them as willing participants.  How did the highly educated members of Sangster’s Cabinet deal with the elevation of the non-university graduate and trade unionist, Hugh Shearer, becoming their political leader?  Are we witnessing a similar situation in the P.N.P. with the possibilities of Portia Simpson-Miller capturing the top position at the P.N.P.’s Convention in 2004 or 2005.  
A major difference between Sir Alexander Bustamante and Prime Minister Patterson is the simple fact that the Founding Father was more a nation builder and the latter is a staunch believer of entrenched political power solely for his party loyalists and the scions of the society much as Senator Professor Trevor Monroe, and in the case of his immediate political base, Westmoreland, former Senator Fred Hamaty, Q.C. and Dr. Wkeyman McNeil, Minister of State in the Ministry of Industry and Tourism.  What Busta did in regards to Hugh Lawson Shearer and Sir Clifford Campbell, the present occupant would not dare do in the case of any son or daughter of the Black impoverished majority in Western Jamaica or the rest of the country.
            
Peter Tosh and Porta Simpson-Miller Revisited
             
Earlier, we has mentioned that the historic parish of Westmoreland was the incubator for the political ascendancy of Bustamante and Patterson.  The Founding Father reciprocated by appointing Sir Clifford Campbell as the first Black Jamaican born Governor General and paved the way for the Trelawney born Trade Unionist, Hugh Lawson Shearer to become Prime Minister.  Sadly enough, in the case of Prime Minister Patterson, he has been single minded in advancing the political future of the sons of the Landed Gentry in Westmoreland and the rest of Western Jamaica.  He elevated Fred Hamaty, Q.C. to the Senate and took away the safe seat of Western Westmoreland from the Westmorelite born and Manning’s High School alumnus Trevor Rudduck and gave it in 1997 to Dr. Wkeyman McNeil who is a total stranger to the parish.  He engaged in such Plantation style behavior due to the fact that the Land Baron and legal luminary, Munair Hamaty was one of his legal mentors and Dr. Ken McNeil played a role in his political survival and ascendancy to Jamaica House after the 1991 Shellgate fiasco where Michael Manley dismissed him from the position of Deputy Prime Minister due to alleged corrupt activities.
In Westmoreland, we have seen where Prime Minister Patterson provided influential political offices to scions of society.  However, he engages in political amnesia when it comes to the issue of a national award (posthumously) for the creative genius Peter “Cutting Razor” Tosh.  It needs to be asked how can Mr. Patterson proceed to spend millions on Emancipation Park and Arficanizing the Oath of Office and yet refuses to grant the founding members of The Warling Wailers his rightful honor, as with the case of the other founding members, Robert “Tuff Going” Marley and bunny (Wailing) Livingston?  

How can the Prime Minister speak about a level playing field when he re-appoints the former Founder of the Workers Party of Jamaica, Professor Trevor Monroe to the Senate and engages in characteristic ostriched behavior whenever the issue of fairness is brought up in terms of the Wailing Wailers and the I-Threes receiving National Honors, with the exception of Peter Tosh.  Who was most disruptive of Civil Society in the 1970’s–1980’s, Professor Trevor Monroe or Peter Tosh?  The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of Professor Trevor Monroe who engaged in revolutionary politics in his quest to become the Prime Minister of Jamaica, probably through a military Coup d’etat or by armed violent mass movement.   Two decades later, we see this de-radicalized intellectual smooth transformation into the hierarchy of the ruling People’s National Party by the Prime Minister who was held in disdain by the Jamaican Leftocracy due to his middle of the road politics.
Prime Minister Patterson frequently talked about his rustic rural roots.  He wins the support of the dispossessed masses by referring to the day he left country with “a grip in his hand and traveling on the bus to Kingston.”  Peter Tosh did the same thing and rose to enviable status in global reggae music.  He was one of the standard bearers of the Garveyite traditions against apartheid in Southern Africa.  This recipient of the United Nations’ Gold Medal Against Apartheid is not given similar respect in the land of his birth with a posthumous National Award.
It can be said loud and clear that the Prime Minister is engaged in vulgar double standards.  He established a Marijuana Commission which has recommended the legalized usage of the “herb” for recreational and religious purposes, but he continues his antipathy towards Peter Tosh because he as an outspoken, principled individual who waged a campaign to legalize ganja smoking.  The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Honorable Arnold Nicholson, has gone on record that the “herb” will be legalized by the end of this year.  Furthermore, the Judicial System has signaled to the Nation that it welcomes such a tolerant approach, as was observed in a minimum fine for the reggae singer, Luciano, who was arrested at the Norman Manley’s International Airport in Kingston with his herb.
Emancipation and independence celebrations are more than good speeches, eating curried goat, curried chicken and drinking white rum by the masses and vodka and Johnny Walker Black by the political directorate.   Friday August 1, and August 6, respectively, are times of reflections.  National progress means that there is not only economic growth and a decent standard of living for the masses.  It is also about an exponential shift within the political landscape with evolving political institutions and the empowerment of the sons and daughters of the dispossessed.  Certainly, it can be said that Sir Alexander Bustamante understood his role in an independent society.  In terms of Prime Minister Patterson, he is not willing to revamp the entire society.  He is reluctant to appoint Ms. Portia Simpson-Miller to the permanent position of Deputy Prime Minister as his Caricom colleague has done in Barbados with the appointment of Mia Motley.  He has demonstrated that in spite of his Pan-Africanist posturing, he is still a prisoner of the old colonial order when it comes to the vexing national issues of Peter Tosh and Honorable Portia Simpson-Miller.  The Prime Minister’s private residence is known as Uhuru, the Swahili, East African translation means Freedom.  This is a glaring prostitution of that word when it comes for him to do the right thing in these two burning issues.  
            That is the bottom line.

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