Foreign diplomacy and local democracy

Robert Buddan, Contributor

We are reading media reports that foreign diplomats have been trying to tell a past prime minister who should or should not be in our Cabinet. We suspect that they also want to tell us how our Cabinet should run foreign policy.

The American embassy in Jamaica does appear sensitive, if not embarrassed, by the WikiLeaks exposure of its diplomacy in our democracy. The Gleaner has had to publish the embassy's displeasure towards its exposure of WikiLeaks information.

The purpose of these missions is to serve their country's national interest. But diplomats serve their career interests as well. They want to convey the impression back home that they have influence and are carrying the home government's line.

Sir Alexander Bustamante, not one to always be diplomatic, once cussed out British governors, saying their only real interest was to save the British government as much money as they could, and for that they expected rewards such as a peerage, knighthood, or a posting to a bigger and more important country.

We must read the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables with all this in mind. While it is true that foreign missions have information the rest of us don't have, it is at least equally true that we know people and things that they don't. Some of what the WikiLeaks cables report is evidence of this. Some of it is naïve and misinformed. The result is that their reports can stretch the truth or stretch plausibility beyond the limits of what an embassy could actually or reasonably know.

Treat responsibly

We in Jamaica have our own axes to grind against politicians, parties and governments. But we must be responsible with how we treat these leaks. We should not rush to judgement blindly. We must weigh the information contained in these cables carefully. At the same time, we should welcome any diplomatic mission's assistance with information obtained lawfully and responsibly about any of our politicians, business persons, media, clergy, academics, or any citizen, concerning evidence of criminal involvement or any matter that is of constitutional importance and of importance to peace, order, good government and the rights and welfare of the Jamaican people.

We must not treat our people's reputations lightly and join in other people's games, whether motivated by their national interest or career interest, without maintaining a healthy dose of cynicism towards their motives. At the same time, we welcome the new American ambassador, Pamela Bridgewater, about whom I have heard many good things and hope that she courageously recognises the conflict between the old Cold War mentality in the United States State Department, to which some of her predecessors sought to appeal, and the more progressive sentiments of the Obama administration.

We hope she carries out his pledge to turn around the 'ugly American' image her country earned from past acts of bullying and coercion and make America a respectful friend and ally of the people of the world.

Foreign Missions

There is an Anglo-American diplomatic alliance in Jamaica made up of the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, which shares information and perspectives on Jamaica with their home governments. This is nothing new. Such an alliance or partnership goes back to World War II, at least. For example, there was a plan that should Germany defeat Britain in that war; the United States would take over the protectorate of Britain's colonies in the Caribbean; and a plan arrived at without any consultation with the Caribbean.

It is this legacy of common responsibility, I suppose, that has driven these foreign missions to consult and issue messages, surreptitiously or otherwise, about what Jamaican prime ministers should be warned or advised about. No one doubts that matters relating to Christopher Coke and the Jamaican Government were and are rightfully for these foreign governments to be concerned about and that it was their right to bring their concerns to our Government. The same is true for any criminal matter violating their laws or international law.

But on matters of peace, cooperation and development, however, things must be very different. We in the Caribbean accept that the Cold War is long past. We will cooperate with Cuba, Venezuela and China, as we do with the Anglo-American, European, Latin American and other countries on vital matters of peace and development. If it is true that the United States tried to tell Mrs Portia Simpson Miller when she was prime minister not to include an MP in her Cabinet because, as he believes, he supported the PetroCaribe agreement with Venezuela, that was improper. The scandal would be against the US, not Jamaica.

In fact, our own 'JamaicaLeaks' tells me that the American embassy here tried to pressure Mrs Simpson Miller's Government against voting for Venezuela's candidacy for a seat on the United Nations Security Council in 2006. The then Opposition Jamaica Labour Party was probably trying hard to win American friendship by stridently supporting a country other than Venezuela after carrying out costly islandwide demonstrations against Venezuela's PetroCaribe agreement in Jamaica. The Americans should think about where that has got them.

Domestic Mission

The two parties in Jamaica now stand together on Jamaica's relationship with Venezuela, Cuba and China. We benefit more from them than we do from the Anglo-American alliance. It is not that we are not with the West, but we want the West to be with us. No country has provided Jamaica with as generous a cooperation oil agreement as Venezuela has. Our democracy gives us the right to pursue our national interest. This is our domestic mission, and it differs greatly from those foreign missions.

In the April-May Budget Debate, the minister of finance lauded the PetroCaribe agreement. So did Omar Davies, the opposition spokesman on finance. We have benefited to the unparalleled tune of US$1.2 billion in the last five years from this agreement. There have been no strings attached. I am sure that if WikiLeaks comes up with cables from the Venezuelan mission, you would not find any message to any of our prime ministers saying that any pro-American should be left out of the Jamaican Cabinet.

In fact, we have to wonder which is the more mature and realistic country here. If we should only appoint anti-Venezuelans to our Cabinets across the Caribbean, who would we have and what would those Cabinets achieve without PetroCaribe.

This is not the kind of diplomacy we want from Obama's America; and if a more liberal-minded America has trouble with the conservative governments of Britain and Canada on this, the Anglo-American diplomatic alliance in Jamaica and the region should be rethought.

It is not the first time that foreign diplomacy and domestic democracy have come into conflict. It came into conflict during British colonialism and during the American Cold War policies of destabilisation in the 1970s. We have enough of our own leaks about these periods. Hopefully, we will use WikiLeaks to serve our democracy, for purposes of peace, cooperation and development. We also have to understand Anglo-American and Caribbean relations in their broader context and deeper historical meaning. WikiLeaks cannot just serve the purposes of gossip and sensationalism.

Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm.