Gordon Robinson | Stop badmouthing William and Kate

An imminent Royal visit has created a social media stir with too many people seriously proposing the young couple be unkindly treated.

But neither William nor Kate has done anything to hurt Jamaica. So why are we being mean to people who didn’t ask for their jobs and are mere prisoners of a system that forces them to assume split persona from birth?

Jamaicans should stop the cyber-bullying and welcome them with open arms as we would any other visiting dignitary. Our fuss is with OUR Government for not cutting the ties that bind NOT with the British Royal Family.

So let’s stop badmouthing William and Kate. Offer them our sympathy for their cruelly unfulfilling lives. Instead of demeaning the Royal Family en bloc, we should ask ourselves why Jamaican Governments have dragged their collective feet for so long regarding the obviously necessary abolition of the British Monarchy from Jamaican law. I suspect the reason is governments don’t want to face pointed questions begged by that process such as with what kind of governance should we replace the Monarchy?

Because, make no mistake about this, the Monarchy is the foundation and font of the Westminster system of governance imposed upon us as colonial subjects and which we continue to parrot to this day. In all logic, no Monarch ought to mean no Westminster. Will we continue this embarrassing mimicry despite removing the Monarch? Or will we address inconvenient questions like: What kind of democracy do we want? Do we currently have democracy (properly-so-called)? Or the deepest, most profound, most crucial question “What is Democracy?”

Lazy thinkers occupying too much social media space never tire of reminding me that Jamaicans fought for and “won” the right to vote so people like me are disrespecting our ancestors and damaging our “democracy” by refusing to vote. These are by and large persons who also push the tired, brainless notion that because the majority support SOEs or are opposed to vaccine mandates, then Government should craft national policies accordingly. Well, fewer and fewer of the electorate has been voting for a minute or three now and the majority did not vote in 2020. Using their specious “majority rule” argument, a majority of Jamaicans no longer seem to appreciate or want the right to vote so it should be abolished. Right?

Of course not! What governments can take from the appalling increase in voter apathy is that the vote we have hasn’t benefited voters. It has, however, benefited votees. A lot!

Hands up those of you who believe the right to vote means you live in a Democracy? Wow. That’s plenty. Well, Cubans have the right to vote. Russians have the right to vote. Can those countries (good or bad – no judgment here) be categorized as “democracies”? Is a different political philosophy to western capitalism the test of establishing a non-democracy?

‘DEMOCRACY’ AND ‘COMMUNISM’ AREN’T OPPOSITES

SIDEBAR: Just so you know, “democracy” and “communism” aren’t opposites nor are they mutually exclusive. One’s an apple. The other’s a pear.

In an op-ed column (no byline) in Wednesday’s Gleaner, the writer asserted “Russia, other communist and some democratic states traditionally opposed US expansionism” which seems to infer countries are either one or the other. Democracy is a system of government. Its polar opposite is Dictatorship or Totalitarianism. Communism is a political philosophy. It’s polar opposite is Capitalism. Socialism, like Ukraine today, finds itself caught in the middle between polar opposites.

Cuba, a nation that holds regular elections (but only to choose competing candidates from one party), calls itself a democracy. USA disagrees. In Jamaica we say we have a two-party democracy but, often, I struggle to distinguish the parties or to see the real difference from a one party state. For me, the acid test is the system’s inclusiveness quotient and effect on peoples’ welfare.

So, after 60 years of “voting”, has Jamaicans’ welfare improved or declined? Have the representatives for whom you voted worked to improve your welfare despite external opposing forces or has systemic corruption and income inequality become more endemic than the common cold? Do you have any input in governance? Have our political representatives governed in a Democracy or, stripped of populist illusion, in an Oligarchy disguised as Democracy? Does the right to vote, without more, create Democracy?

Maybe the real question we should be asking (which governments prefer to avoid by puttering on with a British Monarch as Head-of-State) is: What’s the purpose of Democracy? Is Democracy’s purpose to give us a vote once every five years for whoever our favourite tribe nominates in our constituency with ZERO further input in governance beyond street protests? Or is Democracy a system of government not only by the people (through parliamentary representatives’ oversight) but also FOR ALL THE PEOPLE?

If we can agree on the latter then we must interrogate with more clarity of thought and non-tribal focus this alleged right to vote. Does Jamaicans right to vote deliver governments exhibiting either of those two democratic elements? We MUST ask ourselves whether the winner-take-all system we have gleefully plagiarized from England satisfies Democracy’s true purpose. Is it REALLY ok to be only given a choice of constituency representative while an elite few select the leader of government who then appoints the entire government at his/her whim (from a very limited pool).

After that, “Cabinet” (read “Prime Minister”) takes every important national decision with zero real input or restriction from Parliament or the people. Years later an over-burdened Auditor General issues a damning report or three “investigated” by Parliamentary Committees controlled by the same government it pretends to oversee.

Is. This. Democracy? Seriously?

DON’T BE TRICKED

Slaves were often flattered to be offered a house job like ladies maid, cook or valet. But they weren’t given any say in the running of the house. They were needed only to make slave masters’ lives easier. They remained slaves.

Busta once told a cheering throng of hyped-up Labourites “If I send a Billy Goat down here you must vote for him.” “Yes, Chief!” they replied in joyful unison only too happy to be permitted to dress their master, wash his clothes and cook his food.

Don’t be tricked by disingenuous invitations to work in the slave master’s house. Don’t be happy to vote for slave master’s constituency candidate followed by blindly praising slave master and his overseers as the plantation profits from your vote and sycophantic worship.

You MUST insist on a truly democratic system of government that gives you a voice in governance. Regardless of political affiliation or preference, Jamaica needs YOU to insist the “new” Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs does more than make declarations and extensions of States of Public Emergency easier. If you sincerely want Democracy, instead of just a masochistic vote twice per decade, YOU must insist on comprehensive Constitutional Reform to achieve better governance.

Don’t timidly accept (or worse loudly, toadyingly applaud) being forced to vote for an MP alone then bending over and taking whatever abuse is delivered. Insist your vote counts. Insist on a real vote for government; for MP; and for Senator.

Insist on Government by the people for the people not totalitarian-style Government by the Party for the Party.

Peace and Love!

DONOVAN JACKSON WAS A TREASURE

P.S.: I must pen a few words regarding the sudden passing of my friend and former law partner, Donovan Jackson.

Donovan was one of four lawyers I personally recruited when my then firm NSD was in rebuilding mode. All have accomplished great things.

Donovan quickly became a treasure. He arrived at NSD purely as a litigator who spurned the limelight so preferred “solicitor” work. He soon expanded his horizons to become a high-class commercial lawyer expert in any kind of commercial litigation. Donovan was the best writer of Briefs with whom I’ve had the privilege of working. When he wrote a brief all Counsel had to do was read it out loud. His scholarship was unmatched.

But he was a multi-dimensional human being. As a patriot who developed a strong interest in and voice about national affairs, he also was instrumental in complex legal matters for JAMBAR, including the celebrated case against the CCJ law which was the only time we disagreed on law or policy. After the Privy Council’s self-defence judgment on the matter, he won that argument.

Donovan was an unrecognised (again because of his dislike of publicity) but savvy musicologist. He loved all music but was a huge fan of legendary Louis ‘Pops’ Armstrong who we both revered as the man who made the trumpet a solo instrument and still the best jazz trumpeter of all time.

Donovan Jackson will be sorely missed. My heart goes out to his family. First Lennie. Now Donovan. Just too much…

- Gordon Robinson is an attorney-at-law. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com