Norris R. McDonald | Garvey’s ghost and Jamaica’s ‘roast breadfruit politics!’

THE JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) was once led by towering figures like Sir Alexander Bustamante, Donald Sangster, and Edward Seaga who were not black. So it’s bizarre – if not downright hypocritical – that this party now injects racial animus into the national discourse by attacking Mark Golding for being a “white Jamaican”.

This is clearly a political farce which must be rejected by the country. General election in the air and, there appears to be a semblance of desperation in the Government. One would think that they ought to be very confident; given the “the dollar is strong” and claims about the overall success of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) structural adjustment programme.

WAS PUPPA EDDIE SEAGA A BLACKMAN?

Why then is there this racist attack on Mark Golding?

The JLP leaders who are throwing racial jabs at Golding once stood silent – even subservient – under “Puppa Eddie” Seaga who, one would say, is in the same category as Mr Golding.

They certainly dared not question his leadership, even as he bulldozed prominent black voices from the JLP. Hugh Shearer, Wilton Hill, and Robert Lightbourne were stalwart black Jamaicans who were all pushed aside.

Seaga then remade the JLP in his own Americanised, neoliberal image – a vision more in tune with the hegemonic, political and ideological mentality of Washington than, with black Jamaican grassroots reality.

This government, with all the accusations of corruption, waste, fraud and abuse, have certainly forfeited its claim to represent the national interest.

How can there be any talk about blackness from a political party that looked the other way while Jamaica’s national icon Usain Bolt was defrauded?

Blackness, therefore, cannot be just slogans. In a practical sense, it must be measurable. For example, Michael Manley’s policies, such as Housing Trust, free college education, literacy programme, among others, improved the lives of the Jamaican people. The middle class also, benefitted from a national strategy to expand the black managerial class.

POLITICAL PERSECUTION

I believe that where the country has gone wrong is this irrational embrace of the IMF structural adjustment programmes which is holding back our society’s economic progress. Both parties have embraced the IMF’s vision of Jamaica for the last 50 years. Are we better off or worse off by this? I think the country is worst off.

And it is this challenge the PNP face now. It must demonstrate that it has a truly progressive vision for change and show the country that they have the best solutions to national problems.

But even with the PNP being the most progressive political party, prior to the 1970s, elitism and snobbery were common element of both parties. In this context, black people were reduced to be being mere voters, conveniently mobilised when the time was right.

Independence in 1962 did not uplift the Jamaican black majority. In fact, declassified CIA-JFK documents reveal how Jamaica’s bauxite was sold out – peppercorn style – to foreign interests.

And again. This is a key question. Which political party serves the Jamaican national interest versus that of foreigners.

BLACK POWER POLITICS

It was not until Michael Manley rode the wave of Black Power and Rasta resistance did we see a shift. His 1972 campaign – ‘Time for Change’, ‘Better Must Come’ – reconnected with Garvey’s message. Manley, a brown Jamaican, spoke to the poor, to the grassroots, to the black soul of the nation.

People saw Michael Manley as a true patriot – not because of his skin, but because of who benefitted from his economic policies. That’s the standard we need again.

He implemented free education, land reform, and worker rights. He made alliances with Cuba and supported liberation movements in Africa. He paid a heavy price for this stance – economic sabotage, capital flight, and destabilisation.

That is the crucial question! How many Jamaican black people have prospered under this Government’s policies of feathering their own nest?

Corruption and unjust self-enrichment have been embraced as it is a new Jamaican prosperity gospel. Meanwhile, the vast chasm between uptown ‘topanaris’ and poor people in Railway Lane, Walkerswood and Gimme-Me-Bit, is getting wider and wider.

ROAST BREADFRUIT POLITICS

Many of the JLP leaders would have been old enough to have been swayed by the Black Power movement of the 1970s. But no where do we see policies and programmes that are aimed at improving the lives of suffering Jamaican black poor people.

Where is the black national interest?

Garvey’s legacy wasn’t about skin tone. It was about: Black economic power; cooperative economics; land ownership; small business development, and; community banking.

This fascination with IMF fiscal discipline, foreign land sales, and economic crumbs from multinational tables is against national interest.

The country has not just been re-mortgaged; it is being sold off bit-by-bit.

This is why Jamaica need leadership that will uplift black Jamaicans, the middle class, and struggling business owners. We must reignite a national patriotic fire rooted in justice, equity, and dignity.

The “chakka-chakka,” “dibby-dibby,” race-baiting politics of the JLP must be rejected with full force.

This isn’t about who is darker or lighter. It’s about who has policies that serve the Jamaican people – not the IMF, not private equity firms, not land-grabbing oligarchs.

This upcoming election must be about sovereignty, not skin tone. Class, not colour. Truth, not trickery.

It does not matter how loud people may shout black, if the policies favour the foreign white man, then, this is ‘roast breadfruit politics’ black on the outside but white at heart. Take the issue of Jamaican beaches. This Government have shut Black people out of their own beach land as they sell off national lands to foreigners.

The real question then is: Who will fight for Jamaica’s soul? Who will build a real economy, not IMF fantasy? Who will restore land, dignity, and power to the people?

The Jamaican people need leaders who do not just mouth slogans but those who are willing to build a prosperous, self-reliant nation free of the ‘beggy-beggy,’ ‘borrow-borrow’ mentality.

That is the bitta truth.

Norris R. McDonald is an author, economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Feedback: columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com