Show some Independence

Gordon Robinson

Once again, Government plans to table a bill replacing the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Once again, Opposition daggers have been drawn and lines etched in the sands of judicial preferences. Why? Why are we so anxious to cling to an anachronism that gives foreigners to our problems the final word on the interpretation of our laws?

Why does Government persist in taking the coward's way out? It keeps saying it wants to abolish the Privy Council but acts as if the opposite is true, thus forcing the JLP to be the 'bad cop' in this judicial debate. It's my opinion the PNP doesn't want to see the back of the Privy Council any more than the JLP does, but is paying lip service to its abolition so as to keep itself firmly lodged on the fence.

Why do I state this opinion so confidently? If the PNP really wanted to abolish the Privy Council, it could do so tomorrow by way of a simple majority in Parliament. The problem lies not in the Privy Council's abolition but in the legislative method used to replace it with some new court. If the Government really wants to abolish the Privy Council, it should simply abolish it.

Jamaica would be left with its Court of Appeal as the court of final recourse, so Government could politely ask the Opposition (or the people, by referendum) whether a replacement court is wanted and, if yes, which court.

You see, there's no magic in the CCJ. It's almost as foreign a court as the Privy Council. It's preferable to the Privy Council only because of its greater accessibility. Once the people vote for CCJ or Jamaican Court of Appeal, give the people what they want. Retention of a final court located in a foreign country that requires all visitors to apply for visas and spend large fortunes to attend just isn't a realistic option.

Every man thinks his burden is the heaviest.

But (ooh, yea, come on) they know because they feel.

And who feels it knows it, Lord.

Who feels it knows it, Lord.

UK Qatada battle

It's ironic that this ongoing argument should once again raise its head at a time when the UK has finally successfully deported Abu Qatada. Readers know I've been tracking this Abu Qatada story from the outset.

In 1993, Omar Mahmoud Othman, a Jordanian, entered Britain on a forged United Emirates passport. Alleging torture by Jordanian authorities, he sought political asylum. He succeeded in 1994; changed his name to Abu Qatada; and became a radical Muslim cleric.

His alleged preachings to the UK's growing Muslim community included:

Calling on British Muslims to martyr themselves in a holy war on oppression (1994);

Issuing fatwa to kill Algerian converts from Islam (1995);

Calling for the killing of Jews and praising attacks on Americans (1999).

In 1999, he was convicted in Jordan, in absentia, of two terrorist conspiracies. In 2002, the British detained him under the Anti-Terrorism Act. In 2005, after that act was repealed, he was released on bail but subject to a control order under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. The UK then started deportation proceedings.

Then the fun began. As European Union (EU) residents, persons like Abu Qatada can appeal the decisions of England's highest courts to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which has repeatedly blocked England's attempts to deport Abu Qatada to Jordan on the grounds that he might be tortured if returned to his native land.

For eight years, the British government was forced to house and feed Qatada, first in a rent-free council home, plus £1,000 per month of benefits, then he was caught breaching bail conditions by using a cell phone in Belmarsh prison.

Don't sit by your window gazing at the streets.

Just get up and move get right on your feet.

Just get up and move (brothers).

Get right in the groove (sisters).

Eventually, Britain was forced into a 24-page mutual legal assistance treaty with Jordan, containing a key passage stating where there are "serious and credible allegations that a statement from a person has been obtained by torture", it wouldn't be used in a court.

For linger you linger, die you must die.

Now don't point your fingers and you'll get by.

No, no, no, don't lie; don't cry ... .

The long legal battle cost an economically weak Britain £647,658 in legal aid for the terror suspect and more than £1m in government costs. As his private plane took off from RAF Northolt, Home Secretary Theresa May (who had undertaken several embarrassing begging missions to Jordan) said: "I'm glad this government's determination to see him on a plane has been vindicated ... . We've at last achieved what previous governments, Parliament and the British public have long called for. This dangerous man has been removed from our shores to face the courts in his own country."

PM David Cameron wasn't far behind, saying Qatada's continued presence in Britain made his "blood boil".

And who feels it knows it; who feels it knows it.

Every night and every day, who feels it knows it.

By their blood and sweat they pay.

Who feels it knows it, yea.

Abu Qatada was quiet but lethal. Abu Hamza and Omar Bakri were far more visible and audible Islamic representatives, but Qatada, who almost never spoke in English, even in private, was considered the most dangerous Islamic radical in the UK.

Both Cameron and May said the case would trigger a change in the UK's relationship with the ECHR.

"I'm also clear that we need to make sense of our human-rights laws and remove the many layers of appeals available to foreign nationals we want to deport," said May.

Asked whether the UK should withdraw from the ECHR, Cameron said: "Frankly, when it comes to these cases, I don't rule anything out ... ."

Don't be no moonshine darling

and sit down and cry.

And please don't you give up now

before you give it a try.

Before you give it a try.

Come on, give it a try, try, try ... .

Groups change their names and identities for all sorts of reasons. Youngsters just coming to the music game are sometimes fooled into believing they're listening to what has become, for example, 'Bob Marley and the Wailers', a Chris Blackwell creation, when, in fact, they're listening to the original authentic group known simply as The Wailers or, sometimes, The Wailing Wailers.

The original Wailers included more than founders Bob, Peter, and Bunny. Bob had a short-lived solo career with Leslie Kong (already famous as Derrick Morgan's 'Chineyman', according to Prince Buster), recording Judge Not and One Cup of Coffee before joining with Bunny, Peter and, soon thereafter, Junior Braithwaite (lead singer on many of the early hits); Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith.

Who Knows It was recorded in 1966. The lyrics were written by Bunny Wailer, who also took the lead on the record. My dimming memory tells me Bob wasn't even on this record, as he might have been off the island at the time - point being that The Wailers did record without Bob. Then came Blackwell, commerce trumped all else, and 'Bob Marley and the Wailers' was born, absent all of the original Wailers, except Bob.

Still, "he who feels it, knows it" is an eternal truism. The UK, through its bitter experience with its attempted deportation of Abu Qatada, has felt the crack of the whip of a foreign court on its sovereign policy. Now it knows it must alter its relationship with the ECHR.

In Jamaica, we know we must stop Privy Council appeals. We have everything we need to do so. Will it take the Privy Council's overturning of an extradition or deportation order removing a notorious terrorist from Jamaica for us to do what must be done?

How many more times is the Privy Council going to be permitted to spit in the face of successive Jamaican governments on the capital punishment issue? It has repeatedly defied our governments (who are simply implementing clear mandates from Jamaicans) to the point where capital punishment, although still on our statute books, has effectively been judicially repealed by that august body.

You gave I King James Version.

King James was a white man.

You built I dangerous weapons

To kill I own black man

You sold the land God gave I

And taught I to be covetous

What other wicked things

Have you got in mind?

Tell me, what're you gonna do

To stop these daily crimes?

Unseen hand wields whip

We've felt the foreign whip for 400 years. That whip kept us in the fields. Then it kept us as indentured apprentices. Then it hanged Paul Bogle and George William Gordon. Then it kept us as low-level civil servants. Gradually, we've risen to the point where we believe we're independent and control our own destiny. But the unseen hand still wields the whip.

The most fundamental fulcrum of any society is its legal system. Still, the foreign whip interprets our laws; speaks authoritatively to resolve our commercial disputes; has the last word on our property rights.

Bring back Maccabee Version

that God gave to black man.

Tek back King James Version

that belongs to the white man.

Black man, get up, stand up

'pon you foot

and give black God the glory.

Black man, get up, stan' up pon you foot.

I sey to give Rasta de glory.

Maxwell Livingston Smith ('Max Romeo') worked on a Clarendon sugar plantation before moving to Kingston and writing some powerful lyrics, including those included in his seminal hit Macabee Version. He understood.

But do we? Are we truly free? Do we feel the whip? If we feel it, will we know what to do? If we know what to do, will we take that first step towards real freedom? And, with it, real responsibility? Or, subconsciously, do we believe what they say, which is that we can run fast; jump high; play sports; but we just can't take on 'big people business'?

It's Independence weekend. Let's be independent.

Peace and love.

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