Prime Ministerial Reflections SALISES 50/50
“Achieving True Independence”
By
The Most Honourable Portia Simpson Miller, O.N., M.P., Leader of the Opposition
June 15, 2011
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Jamaicans; Good evening! I wish to acknowledge Professor Brian Meeks, Director, Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) and Professor Trevor Munroe, Chair, Governance Committee, SALISES 50:50. Thank you for this opportunity. I also thank the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies for this opportunity to reflect. SALISES represents a fitting tribute to that great Caribbean man, Sir Arthur Lewis. It is fitting because even though the Institute is well-known for its empirical and quantitative tradition, Sir Arthur was also a reflective man with strong opinions about Caribbean economies, political systems, and Caribbean culture. Reflection is an essentially qualitative exercise. It is a subjective, introspective journey about the impressions that one is left with. It is a sharing of the memories that stand out strongest in that journey – and the meanings of those memories. It is interesting that my presentation is being made on the day that marks the 20th Anniversary of the death of Sir Arthur Lewis. As we reflect on his life, let us think about what he stood for and what we can learn from that life. Let me begin with a line from our National Anthem which says: ―Give us vision, lest we perish‖. I am grateful for this opportunity to look backward and forward this evening. Hindsight, they say, is 20:20 vision. A moment‘s insight, it is said, is often worth a life‘s experience. And, it is foresight that leads to the formulation of strategy. Today I have the distinct pleasure of combining hindsight and hopefully, foresight, to provide my perspective on issues that have faced this country for the past fifty years and those we must think about for fifty those years to come. Next year we will celebrate 50 years of independence, so this is a fitting time for reflection.
It is also the year designated as
International Year for people of African descent.
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As a people with the majority of its descendants with African lineage we are a mighty race, a mighty people, and a mighty nation standing by our Motto: “Out of Many, One People”. While, I have been asked to make this presentation in my capacity as a ‗former‘ Prime Minister, my position is unique. I am the only one among your invitees to address this topic, who formerly held the office of Prime Minister, but who WILL in the near future, have the opportunity to put my insights to full use once again, as Prime Minister of this country. I would like to take this opportunity to compliment the previous speakers in this series; The Most Honourable Edward Seaga and The Most Honourable PJ Patterson for their insightful presentations. I also bring to this gathering the hindsight of my own years of service. That journey led me to Jamaica House.
It allowed me the privilege of being the only Prime Minister
of Jamaica who can provide you with a gendered insight. I invite us all this evening to open our minds-eye. Together, let us look and see beyond that which is obvious, literal or expedient. As a nation we tend to forget how far we have come. Too often we focus on the deficiencies of the journey. I want, therefore, to begin by sharing three examples of national progress that can help us to put in proper context the complexity of the changes many of us in this room have lived and experienced. Fourteen years before Independence, the celebrated Jamaican athlete, Herb McKinley, stunned the world with a record breaking 400m run of 46.0 seconds. Today, another son of the soil, Usain Bolt holds the unbeaten 100m and 200m records of 9.58 and 19.19 seconds respectively. Within 6 decades of each other, two Jamaicans moved the bar and set new thresholds. For over fifty years, Jamaicans have set and hurdled numerous standards. We raised the bar then and continue to raise it now. We have demonstrated that in all fields of human endeavor we are world-beaters. However, we tend not to give ourselves enough credit. Our achievements have not come by pure luck or natural talent. It has taken over fifty years of planning, strategizing and commitment to make many of the strides that we have made. The successes we enjoy, and they are significant, have not been won overnight.
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Next, I invite you to come with me to a time, not so long ago, when many of us had to go to JAMINTEL to book an overseas telephone call. To make contact with a loved one required the commitment to travel to JAMINTEL in Kingston and wait for hours to get the call. Often, the length of that call was restricted by money, transport and time.
Today, think about the
qualitative changes to people‘s lives, the use of time and access to information that come with increased telephone density. In fact, Jamaica is among the top five countries for mobile phone density in the world. As the 1968 advertising slogan reminded us, particularly us women, ‗We‘ve come a long way baby‘. Thirdly, I take you back to 1965. The first cricket test match ever to be aired live on television in Jamaica was the match between West Indies and Australia. It was shown on our only television station – The Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC). That station had been designed in keeping with the ideals of Independence three years before, to educate, empower and motivate a newly independent people. Cricket and television were both important means, for us as a people to prove what we could be. The TV pictures were unclear in comparison to the precision of today. However, the feelings of pride and joy were unquestionable. Today with digital technology cricket matches across the globe are accessible in seconds. We can see the indentation in the pitch as the ball hits the ground. When a batsman is out, technology leaves us virtually no room for doubt. Against such a backdrop, I urge us all to be more conscious when making comparisons of performance with the advantage of perfect hindsight. We must be conscious of the standards we are using to measure performance and progress. We might have to develop our own independent standards. Sir Arthur was an independent thinker.
He viewed development
differently from all who had gone before and won a Nobel Prize for the innovation associated with his ideas. Probably that is the lesson of this reflection – thinking independently about Independence. First and foremost, Independence requires a continuously independent state of mind. It requires critical, bold and novel thinking. This is important as a country charts its way through the often unexpected and unforeseen challenges of different periods of its maturation.
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This independent state of mind must continuously reappraise, reassess and reflect on these questions:
What is Independence?
What should Independence mean?
What have we achieved as a country since Independence?
What should we aim for?
…..and looking back over the last 50 years, what could we have done differently?
I cannot address all of these questions fully in an hour but I will reflect on what are most important to me. These are: The people; our freedoms, our politics and our progress. I will pursue my reflection, firstly as a Jamaican and secondly as a public figure.
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1. FREEDOM AS A STATE OF MIND I begin with notions of Freedom as a ‗State of Mind.‘ Let me begin by asking you to reflect on this question. Is Independence a state of mind? We don‘t usually think of Independence this way. We think of it as a legal and political condition marking nationhood. Nationhood, in turn, is signified by a national constitution, international statehood and full executive power. Our Nationhood is symbolized with a National flag, a National Anthem, a National Motto, a National Dish, and a National Bird. But even these, I believe, are a function of something more fundamental. This yearning for individual freedom and national freedom drives a people towards nationhood and self-hood.
It is a yearning for self-determination
A yearning for people to have the right to choose for themselves,
A yearning for the opportunity for self rule as they chart their own destiny.
The desire for freedom is a yearning of a people: to develop and express their culture to defend their rights, to create their opportunities, to regard themselves as equals And to self actualize – to ultimately make themselves the best they can be. Independence is: freedom to become a respected human being. having the scope to display all your talents and abilities enjoying the dignity and respect deserving of your personal and national identity, and your ethnicity It is freedom to belong to a nation, community and family, and be a part of the social bonds of nurturing, of love and of the unity inherent in belonging.
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That is what Independence means to me. Independence as a state of mind is alive with the passionate pursuit of freedom to fulfill a human need to become oneself, and to belong with others who make up the collective self. Independence, as Prof. Rex Nettleford, of blessed memory and Charles Mills tell us, is about
‗smadification‘ – the process of becoming somebody. The more I reflect on our history, before and after Independence, the more I am convinced that we must emancipate our minds, and liberate ourselves both as individuals and as a collective. Marcus Mosiah Garvey said it, Bob Marley sang it,
I emphasize it, We must indeed,
“Emancipate ourselves from mental slavery”. It is possible to be free physically and still be enslaved mentally. However, mental freedom always leads to practical freedom. Both Freedom and Independence therefore begin in the mind. The Freedom Fighters I turn now to those persons who sacrificed for our freedom - Our Freedom Fighters. As a newly independent nation, we were correct to honor the original inhabitants, the Taino-Arawaks, on our National Crest. They fought against colonizers for theirs and our freedom and our identity as a people. They paid the ultimate price. Their bloodline within the melting pot of blended races forms a part of the Jamaican identity. As an independent nation we were also correct to honor our National Heroes and Heroine– Nanny of the Maroons, Sam Sharpe, Paul Bogle, George William Gordon, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Alexander Bustamante and Norman Washington Manley. They were not just heroes in their own right. They symbolized heroic generations of Jamaicans who fought courageously against genocide, slavery, racism, oppression and colonialism. Their message transcended our island
identity.
It
contributed
to
the
struggles
against
segregation
and
economic
disenfranchisement in the Americas. It inspired liberation of the African continent from Apartheid and colonialism of foreign powers. It resonated throughout South and Central America. These men and women, and their generations, were independent-minded.
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They thought independently rather than accept things the way they were. In the here-and-now, the continued voicing of the independent thinking of our freedom fighters is a critical imperative for our democracy; and to the pursuit of freedom and opportunity for all.
The Revolution of Expectations For me, Freedom brought about a ‗Revolution of Expectations‘. As greater freedom was won, we learned more and more about being free. We became more accustomed to living in a state of freedom. We learned things we never knew before. We also learned that the more freedom we have the more freedom we expect. Perfect freedom is elusive.
Yet still, freedom is
addictive. I wish to suggest to you that the promise of freedom has raised expectations about one‘s rights. As the momentum for freedom and independence gathers, people come to
believe in their right to expect; and their right to respect. Freedom from material want is related to freedom for non-material values, like respect. That is why economically-disadvantaged persons today stridently demand respect in their communities. In our culture, to ‗disrespect‘ a person can be an equal evil as physically hurting them. Ironically, therefore, the yearning for respect that came with Independence also serves to give rise to conflict. Political freedom, such as the kind that comes with Independence, is just one aspect of a whole range of human freedoms for which the human being longs. We all long for liberty, democracy, equality and justice. We must look to history to explain why. Expectations of material, cultural and spiritual freedoms not only rise, but once unleashed, pick up a momentum faster than societies are usually able to satisfy. Social Scientists have referred to this as a ‗revolution of rising expectations‘. This revolution has put great strain on political systems that are not able to deliver manifestations of rights and freedoms as rapidly as is popularly expected. As a result, there are political systems in the developing world that have failed at some point after Independence. These are the kinds of insights that must guide us as leaders, as policy-makers, as servants of the people who make decisions with and for our people. They are as important as fiscal and monetary policy. We have been socialized to measure progress in growth rates.
However
numbers alone can be deceptive and are sometimes deliberately used to deceive. They can
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mask the realities of human existence. The development of a people cannot be measured by numbers only. The 1950s and „60s In the 1950s and 1960s the Jamaican economy showed consistently high growth rates. This was largely due to an economic model that had some elements of industrialization. It was also due to the emergence of new sectors. However, while growth took place the wider populace was excluded from sharing more fully in the benefits of this growth. Simply put the economy grew, but too many people did not. The next fifty years were spent trying to address this inequality. It is time for us to also measure progress in the attainment of human expectations. The revolution of rising expectations that came with Jamaica‘s Independence could, at that time be seen in heavy migration rates from rural to urban Jamaica. It was also evident in migration from Jamaica to other countries. The rate of migration is one kind of evidence of how the expectations of modernity, created a revolution in people‘s movement. People desired greater freedom of movement to meet their expectations, so with grip in hand they exercised their new-found right to gain respect wherever they could. Massive numbers of Jamaicans were on the move with great expectations particularly for economic advancement. The revolution of rising expectations that came with Jamaica‘s Independence led to an increased demand for housing. Jamaicans were no longer willing to settle for ‗wattle and daub‘, thatch, cardboard or zinc shantytowns. Desmond Decker told us what happened in his musical refrain about shantytowns.
He clearly communicated. what
happened in shantytowns. He sang “dem a loot, dem a shoot, them a rob in shanty
town”. Jamaicans expected, and many still do, that housing problems would be solved. Independence and the right to expect, powerfully drove the desire to satisfy the human right to shelter and decent living conditions under which Jamaicans could raise a proud family. Bob Marley
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described the stark realities when he sang “cold ground was my bed last night, rock
stone was my pillow too”!
The Consumer Revolution The revolution of rising expectations that came with Jamaica‘s Independence led to a consumer revolution.
Many came to expect the right to a better life and to aspire to a
middle class lifestyle. When Jimmy Cliff sang “You Can Get It If You Really Want”, he was responding to an urging of a people with a new wave of expectation to ‗succeed at last‘. Eventually, this consumer revolution unleashed a phenomenal demand for motor cars, radio sets, televisions, telephones, education, health care, fashionable clothing, computers and new gadgets. In the country that once had a monopoly provider of telephone service, we now have persons with up to three telephones, one from each network – and they are busy attempting to answer all three at the same time. This in turn, drove demand for better careers and higher incomes and wages to afford this level of consumption. A new merchant class emerged to satisfy the growing consumerism. They drove the demand for whole new set of rights. This took the form of the right to equal opportunities in having the conveniences expected by all modern people – not just a privileged few, as was previously the case.
A New Self Image The revolution of rising expectations that came with Jamaica‘s Independence caused Jamaicans to develop a new self-image. Jamaicans were no longer willing to live under backward conditions; to be called ‗country bumpkins‘; to live in a ‗backwater‘; to be poor vagrants. They aspired to be modern; to be western; to be global; to be middle class. They demanded the right to all of these and more. Not always as a means in themselves, but as a vehicle to be respected. Jamaicans were not just becoming conscious of themselves as Jamaicans, but conscious of themselves as global citizens. They came to see themselves as modern people deserving of foreign travel and access to foreign countries.
Social mobility became something that was
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actually attainable. Equal rights and justice was not just a song sung by Peter Tosh, it was an anthem with meaning. All of this represented an acceleration of sentiment that existed from the 1940s. “I need equal rights and Justice…what is due to Caesar, you better give it to
Caesar, and what belong to I, you betta, give it up to I”. That remained a cry that continued into the decades after Independence. And the cry has become louder and the demand more forceful.
The Revolution of Hope – The 1970s I will now to reflect on what I call The Revolution of Hope that has taken place in the period since Independence. The revolution of rising expectations made way for a Revolution of Hope. Independence was a revolution of hope and expectations. With the revolution in expectations for more, came a revolution of hope for better. All of this was captured in the phrase, “Better
Must Come”. That was not just a People‘s National Party phrase, it was the people‘s phrase. That was our promise to meet expectations and fulfill hopes then and it remains so today. Only the methods must change. Many have been critical of the “Better Must Come” 1970s, and I am sure many things could have been done differently. But none can deny that it was during that period that many ordinary and not-so-ordinary Jamaican citizens were able to actualize their sense of self and personhood. It was a time when many found hope. I want to make it clear, particularly to the young people among us that the persecution borne by Jamaicans and that Jimmy Cliff sang about as he encouraged his people that “the hotter
the battle, the sweeter the victory” were not just stories our parents and grandparents told us. There were real fights and struggles for equality.
Equality for women in the workplace and for the rights of children labeled as ‗bastards‘ to be free of the social stigma.
The fight for opportunities to be provided for tertiary education and training for youth.
Many leaders in industry and government today are beneficiaries of these visionary changes.
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Many of those who pour scorn on those who talk of providing productive opportunities for the poor, have themselves experienced, as Cliff said, and I paraphrase, the ‗persecution‘ that the most vulnerable amongst us bear and the ‗opposition that came their way‘. Many have chosen to forget. I have not forgotten. I will not forget. You should not forget. We cannot forget until every Jamaican has experienced the essence of Independence and Freedom. This is why I have always spoken of respect and hope. If we do not treat our people with respect; if we do not find new ways to meet the revolution of hope, we will disappoint the majority of our people. The people had another phrase in the first decade of Independence, provided to them by ‗the Ethiopians‘– “Everything Crash”. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, those of us who can, must ensure that we do not allow the dreams and hopes of the Jamaican people to crash. This hope is persistent. We cannot ignore it. Like the genie that has been released we cannot put it back in the bottle. I had said earlier that we must look to the past to inform decisions for the future. The Ethiopians also sang,
“Everyday carry bucket to the well, one day the bucket bottom must drop out…fireman strike, water man strike, telephone company too, even the police dem too”. There are lessons to be learned by the Ethiopians words. Only, I don‘t believe that „what
gone bad a morning, can‟t go good ah evening”.
Even in these difficult times, a
contemporary ‗crash‘ can still be averted. This leads me to what I consider to be our greatest challenge of Independence: Balancing expectations with opportunities and balancing hope with possibilities.
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Balancing Hope with Possibilities Ladies and Gentlemen, what I described as a ‗revolution of expectations‘ created serious challenges to our new democracy and our fragile development. We cannot blame people for having the highest expectations and the greatest hope. These come naturally from the desire for freedom. This desire ‗to be‘, was a natural consequence of Independence. The challenge we faced and continue to face is to match people‘s rising expectations and rising hope with new possibilities for satisfying this expectation, this hope. What have the most serious of these challenges been? I will mention four:
The Brain Drain
The Balance of Payment Deficits,
Inner City Communities,
And Declining Trust in Political Institutions.
A significant post-Independence challenge was the brain drain. Here I mean the loss of human resources through migration from rural areas to urban centres, from inner cities to the new ‗up town‘ and from Jamaica overseas. This migration left no role model and created a deficit of the human resources needed to keep our communities and institutions strong. We must acknowledge the importance of migration to us, as well as the pitfalls. We must find new ways to take advantage of the possibilities that the remittances from migrants and returning residents provide us. A New role for the Diaspora Jamaicans overseas and Jamaicans at home provide us with the greatest source of foreign currency and taxes. We must convert the brain drain into a brain gain. Independence means thinking independently about utilizing these new possibilities. We must find new ways of engaging the Jamaican Diaspora in the development of our homeland. The more than five million Jamaicans worldwide are not just a source of remittances. They are a powerful lobby for positively influencing policies to benefit Jamaica in their host countries. They are a resource for
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expanding trade and strategic alliances beyond our borders. They are consumers of the goods and services we provide. They are a repository of intellectual capital and resources that can now be more readily unlocked by rapid advances in technology that permit business and social interactions to be conducted in virtual space. They can be a major source of financial resources for investments that generate employment and expand our GDP. They are Jamaicans, even though they are living abroad. Our balance of payments deficit is another challenge with which post-Independence Jamaica has to contend. The revolution in consumer demand that I spoke of earlier, created a flood of imports. By the end of the 1960s, we were already suffering a serious balance of payments deficit.
Our
capacity to generate exports was weak. Here again there are opportunities to turn challenges into possibilities. So much of this consumer demand can be satisfied from local production of foods, fashions, building materials, among other things. Sports, culture and entertainment are multi-billion dollar industries. If we develop these industries then we can employ, consume, enjoy and export that which we produce. Our human resources remain our greatest asset as a people. In order to unlock the possibilities we must again emancipate ourselves from importdependent consumption patterns. These patterns negatively impact our balance of payments and GDP and stunt the growth of new productive enterprises.
From Deficit to Surplus – The Way we Think We, all of us as Jamaicans, must think independently about these new possibilities.
I
supported the ‗eat what you grow and grow what you eat‘ campaign of the l970s. I supported it in the l990s and I support it now. We must overcome deficits with a surplus of possibilities. We must do this in real, tangible, concrete ways that cause large businesses to become mega ones, medium to become big, and small businesses to thrive and grow; and the unemployed to become productive contributors to the economy. These strategies must include the real facilitation of the 400,000 small businesses in Jamaica. They must include the real facilitation of cultures of entrepreneurship. It must be through the planned development of cultures of productivity. It takes real interventions and initiatives.
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Businessman Douglas Orane‘s timely intervention in the redevelopment of the manufacturing sector provides an important example.
Another businessman, Omar Azan, President of the
Manufacturing Association of Jamaica and Davon Crump, the President of the Chamber of Commerce in Montego Bay, have also added their significant voices and solutions to which we must take heed.
„Who feels it knows it‟ we say. So when he who feels it says something about how the government can facilitate their development, who hears it, must heed it! I see the jokes being made about my suggestions that agro processing be considered as a major growth area in this country. How many of you have occasionally wrapped up a mango or two in newspaper and put it in your suitcase to take to a relative overseas? We can save ourselves the trouble and earn precious revenue by adding value to our agriculture sector. So many legitimate, innovative ways can be found to process and package fruit that falls from our trees year in and year out. Laugh now at the Mangoes. People have been known to give up even their precious “caffee tea” at mango time. By strengthening the capacity of the Scientific Research Council, we can find new ways to make every day, everywhere in the world mango time – or exotic seasonal fruit time! A third challenge we have faced for the entire fifty years since our Independence is the transformation of inner city and poor communities across Jamaica. The revolution of hope caused a massive urban drift. This led to high concentrations of desperate people in make-shift urban communities. Those communities could not provide the jobs, education, training or housing they needed, as fast as they needed to. This often led to frustration, anger, alienation and antisocial behavior. Remember the character Rhygin in the blockbuster movie ―The Harder They Come‖ as he made his way on a country-bus from country to town? It has been happening since then until now as people seek the better life that they pray will come.
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There is another form of drift that few people have examined - the drift from poor urban communities to ‗uptown‘. This would be an interesting topic of research. In Jamaica we call it ‗get rich and switch‘. As persons grow economically, they leave the communities they were born and grew up in. This is wonderful for upward mobility. What does it mean however, if all those who have got a chance, and made the best of their opportunities leave those who are more vulnerable in the poor communities?
From Inner Cities to Winner Cities The role models leave. Those persons who provide stability for others ‗elope‘ to Portmore or further ‗up‘ into St Andrew.
What needs to happen is that these communities must be
transformed so that as people‘s circumstances change for the better, they remain comfortable to stay and change the communities they grew up in. This way the communities will grow and develop with them. It is time for us to exploit the possibilities of creating winner cities in these inner cities. Making them places where development is evident, and good traditional values prevail. As a representative of one such constituency, I can tell you that this process is complex and difficult.
Our commitment to this must be ongoing. In my own constituency, I have invested
in human development by attempting to create a new model of planned and integrated communities that can better promote harmonious social interaction, and I have invested in human endeavour, particularly in education, sports and skills training. We must also invest in economic self-sufficiency and growth.
There is need for more factories and physical and
community-based business enterprises. We must build and provide communities with access to sports and entertainment complexes. We need to invest in more recreational facilities for safe, healthy and productive winner cities. If we are to advance in a real way from the looting and the shooting of ‗shantytowns‘ or ‗inner cities‘, then we must create the space where every Jamaican can live, work, play and raise their families.
We must make the entire Jamaica a ‗winner country‘. I have already advanced some
ideas about a CARE programme of development for these communities. This would include human and social development and business focus through Culture, Arts, Recreation and Entertainment. And that list can be expanded. Let us think independently about these
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possibilities because our national development is co-dependent upon the development of a Winner Country. Political Apathy – Non-Participation A fourth challenge affecting us in this post-Independence period are increasing political apathy and declining trust in political institutions.
Too many of our people, and
particularly young people express disdain and disgust at our political parties and governments. They compare the promises of better with the reality of unfulfilled hopes. They compare the nice words with the behaviour – the do as I say, but not as I do posture of many ‗upright‘ persons in our society. This is what has gradually but consistently eroded trust, and particularly trust in politics. We all need to respond to this trend as a nation. As politicians, scholars and reformers, we need to work together to explore new possibilities for better politics. Let us think independently. Rather than bemoan and sensationalize the problems, you must outline clearly what you expect of your representatives and hold us to it. Let us renew and
revitalize participation through our political, community, civil society, and cultural movements. We must all participate and force ourselves as politicians to begin to act honestly, to put nation above party. We must put integrity over narrow self-interest. Businesspersons, public officials, the media and our wider society must be held to the same standard.
A pervasive culture of
integrity is required to re-establish trust and give hope again. Together we can; together we must! If we do not heal the breach and restore the hope, we will be overcome by cynicism, frustration and anger.
Indeed, everything will crash. We must fan the flickering flame of freedom and
keep hope alive as our National Heroes have shown us.
These challenges can only be
overcome by engaging National Resilience. Despite these and other overwhelming challenges to development, our young democracy has remained vibrant in the nearly fifty years of Independence. Our people have been resilient and creative when it comes to survival. How do they put it? “Tun yu han mek fashion” or “It hat but hush”. Jamaica has avoided the pitfalls that befell many other countries. Many countries that became independent after World War II have not been as resilient.
We, in Jamaica do have the
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qualities for successful nationhood. We have avoided the worse.
Even at our very lowest, we
have avoided becoming a failed state where chaos and disorder prevail. Even at our most turbulent periods, we have never had a civil war.
Even in our worst economic situation, we
have never had mass starvation. Even with our political differences, we have never had a military coup.
Even with pervasive arrogance and heavy handedness, we have never
experienced an authoritarian government. We have never experienced Totalitarianism and we must take care to ensure that we do not. Although it may have been compromised, we have never seen the suspension of our Constitution. Although our workers have been beleaguered at different times in our history, full scale repression of workers‘ movements and people‘s rights have never taken place in post Independent Jamaica. I say, these are global realities that have befallen many developing nations It is the same as telling the man who complains about not having shoes, to think of the man who has no foot. He must be encouraged to identify the shoes he wants, get on his own two feet and find an honest way to get those shoes. Having acknowledged that we are not among those with the worst circumstances, we can now move towards being the best. Jamaica still has its ‗two feet‘ we must now press on to find the ―Clarks‖ that we desire. Not every post-independent, developing nation can say these things. There are things that require fixing. However, they can and they must be fixed. Our accomplishments must be protected. In this regard, as we assess our state of freedom fifty years after Independence, we can still say that we are a democratic nation. Some may not feel ‗full free‘. There is certainly work to be done, but ‗we have indeed come a long way, baby‘. Those of us who have the experience of a pre-Independence Jamaica can most assuredly attest to that fact.
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2. BEYOND INDEPENDENCE I turn now specifically to the issue of Politics and the state of the People beyond Independence. My first point was that Independence is a state of mind, one that yearns for freedom to meet the rising expectations of a new nation. My second point now is that Independence is about the state of people. People make independence and independence must make people. The area of politics, parties, people and Independence is very controversial. There is a view that while we were united behind the dream of Independence, we have been divided by politics and the political parties have failed us since Independence. I believe this to be substantially untrue despite some aberrations and we must consider that we are still a young and evolving nation. We need a more balanced picture. If there is one thing I would like this reflection to do it is to begin to change the discourse about Independence and about politics in Jamaica. The politics we practice must be in keeping with the aspirations of our people.
The Democratic Revolution – The Role of Politics in Building Modern Jamaica One social scientist, Dr. Wendell Bell, said that what happened in Jamaica between the labour riots of the 1930‘s and Independence, was nothing less than a „democratic revolution‟. Those riots swept away the collapsing foundations of the cruel, old plantation order. Our political parties came out of an emancipatory historical movement driven by our freedomseeking people. One economist actually estimated that between slavery of the 1830s and the labour riots of the 1930s, the average growth rate of the Jamaican economy was zero. The conditions of the vast majority of the people were absolutely miserable for those one hundred years after slavery. I need not detail those conditions here, but they were sufficient to lead to the formation of the People‘s National Party by a generation led by Norman Washington Manley and a labour movement influenced by Sir Alexander Bustamante and himself. This is an indication of the emphasis placed then on changing the circumstances of the marginalized by both parties at that time. These movements brought the mass of the Jamaican people into Jamaican public life for the first time and brought Jamaica to internal self government and eventual Independence for the first time since European conquest.
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Norman Manley‟s Fundamental Achievement – Internal Self Government I place emphasis on internal self-government because I contend that without the pioneering work that the Right Excellent Norman Manley did, there would be no platform on which any of the eight Prime Ministers that followed his Premiership could build. The most vulnerable were always central to the political mission. I am, therefore, always bemused by those who criticize my defence of the masses of the people. I can assure you, that I will not stop raising my voice in this regard. Too many have forgotten the reasons why these founding leaders and their generations first stood up to be counted. I shall continue to defend the poor and vulnerable, even as I balance the interests of all classes within our democracy. Fifty years after Independence, the conditions under which many people live are still abysmal. With poverty levels climbing, even after they dipped in 2007, the number of persons considered poor is increasing.
Too many persons in the middle class are on a
slippery slide in that direction. I wish more voices would join mine in advocating for, and working towards productive solutions in order to reverse the trend of increasing poverty. I can speak only for the People‘s National Party that I lead.
Our vision has remained committed to that mission. It is committed to
maintaining what Norman Manley described as a Multi-class party, which he said must interact with people, and I quote, “From the level of the young intellectuals to the level of the
young barefoot, unemployed boy.” Norman Manley told his Party, “You must make him feel he belongs to Jamaica and has
a place in the organizational life in the party.” In that regard, within the first fifty years of Independent Jamaica, Norman Manley‘s dream was fulfilled. I am proud to say I am a part of the fulfillment of that particular dream. In Manley‘s vision for the Party, the word ―People‖ came first. It was followed by ―National‖ referring to ‗nation‘. He said at the launch of the PNP in 1938 that this name was deliberately chosen to keep the party honest to its mission to serve the people—All the people of Jamaica, and not just some of the people. I take the name literally to mean that people and nation must come first and second. Not ‗party‘ first. The people came
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together to form a nation through the instrument of a party. This is the genesis of the People‘s National Party. I say with pride and without fear of contradiction, that it is in, and through this party, that the idea of freedom and nationhood found modern expression. It was through this ―people movement‖, the PNP, that both nationhood and Independence were actualized. Because of this your forefathers and mine were provided with:
The opportunities for an education, and a university education right here in Jamaica.
The opportunities to vote and to be elected to our own Parliament and Parish Councils.
The opportunities to craft our own Constitution.
These were opportunities to organize, assemble, speak and form our own political parties to represent the people.
The opportunities to do business by starting our own companies and securing our finances from our own banking system.
The opportunities to join the United Nations and the international community and to make our voices heard on global matters.
Independence was an equal opportunity project and we Jamaicans have demonstrated that we are equal to the task. This was the essence of the democratic revolution.
Social and Economic Revolution But there was another revolution - The Social and Economic Revolution. When I reflect on the past 50 years, I see how the Jamaican people have advanced themselves tremendously when compared to where they were in 1962. The democratic revolution opened up the way to a social and economic revolution. I am going to suggest that we measure the success of this social and economic revolution in ways that are not the usual ways used to gauge success.
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But we must think independently and measure independently. Sir Arthur would have wanted this. Compared to the many countries that attained independence around the time we did, we have the top position or are among the top positions in the range and depth of our:
Professional classes and the middle class more broadly defined
Legal fraternity
Banking and financial institutions
Insurance services
Business, commerce and trade associations
Micro-small and medium businesses and business start-ups
It is a long list, but I believe it is important to take note of some of our achievements. In our region we have high quality:
Airport and seaport
New real estate market and housing stock
Highways and infrastructure
Our systems of governance have stood the test of time. We have high quality:
Labour and employer associations
Public administration skills and professionalism
International relations, regional leadership and global recognition
Parliamentary tradition
Political party competition and alternation in government
Social safety net
We are amongst the best in the region on:
Research and data collection systems and survey expertise
Religious and ethnic tolerance
Civil society activism and organisations
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The ways in which we entertain our guests and ourselves are also of the highest standards:
Hotels and restaurants
Tourism products and services
Arts and entertainment
Media, both print and electronic, and film and theatre
Fashion and design
Sports
Culture and festivals
And the friendliness, pride and tolerance of our Jamaican people living true to our Motto,
“Out of Many, One People”. Our little country is one of the most recognizable across the globe. The range and depth of each of these areas puts us among those at the top of the Commonwealth Caribbean in every one of these areas. There has indeed been a social and economic revolution. Many of us here tonight should reflect on where you are and where your parents and grandparents were. We are products of the social and economic revolution. The opportunities for advancement that you enjoy today would most certainly not have existed without Independence. Think about when we could count only a few areas in which we had international recognition:
Milli Small topping the British charts with “My Boy Lollipop”
Joan Crawford winning the Miss World title
Herb McKinley and other Olympians winning Olympic gold medals
George Headley, Allan Rae, Alf Valentine and ―Collie‖ Smith excelling at cricket.
Jamaicans felt great pride and joy in their achievements. But I also remember a society in which:
Only a privileged few had a motor car.
A telephone could only be found in the homes of the elite.
A television was a luxury
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An ice-box was commonplace but a refrigerator was unheard of for many
Having a profession was only a dream
Many did not even dare to dream about attaining secondary education
Our young people cannot imagine that an indoor toilet was a luxury for a few
Electricity was not an option
Indoor water was a rarity
Shoes were rotated in families even after the soles wore out
Bank accounts were not even a consideration
Health insurance was not even thought about
Pensions were for a select few. We have come a long way.
Because Independence is a process and not an event, the despair felt by some in our society in 1962 continued for many years after.
Hopelessness was pervasive, fueled by growing
uncertainty about the future.
Ignorance – both a lack of knowledge and in the Jamaican sense, a quickness to anger, was ever present.
Our people continue to be bedeviled by a lack of self-esteem, and racial self-hate. They were resigned and hungry.
During that time, prior to and even after 1962, some of us sitting in the comfort of the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel would not have been allowed through the front door, not even if we were coming to clean up after the guests.
Jamaica needed a revolution in hope. Jamaica needed a social and economic revolution. It was Independence that brought it, as it finally unleashed the creative potential and talent of the Jamaican people. On the other hand, many think these things remain in the past. On this side of the millennium, a prominent high school had to introduce in their guidance lessons, how to use a flush toilet, because many of their students did not have that convenience at home.
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Resolving Lingering Inequalities While things are better, there are still some inequities that continue to affect who we continue to be, fifty years after independence. It is an uncomfortable truth that we still live in a country where, for example, an older woman and a younger woman can meet in the younger‘s home. The elder woman, the helper, will lower her eyes and greet the woman ―Good afternoon, Miss‖. The younger woman, because of her ascendency to the middle class, will greet her elder dismissively, ―Good afternoon, Doris‖. In this country of ‗out–of-many-we-are-one‘, this young, professional woman feels justified in telling her working-class elder, that she, the woman who takes care of her children and manages her most intimate space; can eat ‗this‘, but must never touch ‗that‘. This happens in a country where people still have perceptions about ‗knowing their place‘. Fifty years since the nation saw our own flag unfurl and Independence was declared for everyone Jamaican, there are things that are still considered good enough for some people, but ‗too good‘ for others. The master/slave dialectic is still alive and well in Jamaica. Within the last decade, our own songbird Etana still has to be singing the lament:
Trying to get a job to day, But when dem see the application dem say, If this is where you reside, please step outside. She asked them why and they replied, We don‟t want no trouble no, We don‟t want no trouble no day. Lady where you come from, people die there every day, For our safety that‟s where you should stay Some prejudices are so engrained; many of us practice them daily without even recognizing that we do. But even with all of that, it is undeniable, although some of us may not yet be where we want to be, we have come a long way.
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FAMILY AND COMMUNITY I often reflect on my upbringing, my life, my values and my family when I think of my public life and how to contribute best to nation building. My family, Norman Manley, Marcus Garvey and the mission of the PNP, taught me to be a nation builder and I want to be the best one I can be. Here I must enter some personal reflections. I always speak of the family and the community because it was my family and community in rural Jamaica that gave me hope; education; self-esteem; self-love and love for others; focus and direction; strength and determination; a sense of action; and food and nurturing. I belonged to that part of traditional Jamaica where the family unit was strong and the community looked out for everyone. In the community I grew up, I was the daughter of that community. The life I lived truly gave meaning to the African Proverb, “it takes a village to
raise a child”. Where I grew up, I was the daughter to that entire ‗village‘. That is what I want for others still today. Those traditional values continue to have value. This is why I believe with all my heart that support for the family and the community must be the pillars upon which we provide the support that nation building requires. My family and community (home, school, church, and peers) taught me many things:
Racial tolerance – because like many Jamaican families mine was an ancestral, nuclear and extended family that was comprised of all the races. It was easy for me to believe in „Out of
Many, One People‟. Equality of opportunity – because my mother taught me that the only time you should look down on someone is when you are pulling them up.
Respect – because values like respect for our elders and our juniors, for property, for family, for people‘s feelings and for their rights were among the highest of values. This included having respect for one‘s self. Oh, how we used to shine our shoes and how my mother would iron our uniforms ‗till they shone.
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Faith – because my family, like so many Jamaican families, was very religious. I have carried my spiritual convictions with me throughout my life and they have guided me and given me strength when I have needed it most. It was this kind of upbringing from this kind of Jamaica that inspired me to public life; to service; to join the PNP; to my belief in family, community and nation; to putting people first; to sharing and inspiring hope; to uniting people; to freedom and nation building.
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3. PROGRESS AND THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES The third and final pillar of my presentation is an examination of Progress: I asked myself, What kind of nation builder do I want to be? I have said before that, „People make independence
and independence must make people‟. Independence must be a continuing opportunity to make progress for people. As we move forward, it is critical that I return to the role of the political party in Jamaica. The political party is an instrument of the people and their progress. As a Party leader, former Prime Minister and the future Prime Minister that I am confident I will be, I believe:
A Party must put people and nation first. It must not put ‗party‘ first.
No firm should put its interest above that of the nation or the laws of good economy.
No church should put itself above the spiritual needs of its congregation or of religion.
No community organization should put itself above the community and the spirit of solidarity across political, religious, racial class or other lines.
The PNP puts people and nation first. We must make sure we do so in practice, not just in name. This is how we will make progress. This is what we considered and concluded when we thought about our progressive agenda. A political party must promote people‘s efforts to build the nation not use people to benefit the party‘s private interests. A party must not profit off the people or profit off government. A party is a voluntary organisation but its mission is a public mission to be carried out through its control of government. Its objective therefore must be to operate the best government possible to make government the best it can be. That is how we will make progress. That is what we have designed our progressive agenda to be. A Party must be a democratic organisation. It must be participatory, accountable and responsible. It must be peaceful, respectful, humble, and honest and it must unite the people. Parties must be instruments of the national movement. It must not seek to substitute the national movement with itself. It must not think of itself as the national movement. It must not
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be arrogant and egotistic. It must always put people first. A people must participate through the party in a participatory democracy. The party must be accountable to its members, from top to bottom. A party must take responsibility for its tasks, and give account of its failures and successes truthfully. This is how we will achieve progress. This is what the progressive agenda is about. Marcus Garvey has said and I quote:
“Government is only an executive control, a centralized authority for the purpose of expressing the will of the people. Before you have a government you have a people. Without the people there can be no government. The government must be, therefore, an expression of the will of the people.” I can hear many of you saying in your heads or muttering amongst yourself, “words
speaking”, or “mout mek fi talk”. Many of you believe that politicians merely utter these pretty words in different formulations from platform to platform.
There are Politicians who are Believable – Politics is not a “game” Ladies and gentlemen, scholars and students, many of you craft words into meaningful documents that influence policy and reflect on the lives of our people. You therefore know that words have meanings. The trust deficit we now suffer exists because many who have stood on political platforms, voiced ideas and sentiment that began with Garvey, Manley, Bustamante and Michael Manley but without the truth and conviction that the ideas were originally formulated. There are those politicians who truly mean the words they say. We know, however that all political representatives have been painted with the cynical broad brush of our people, many of whom feel betrayed by the quality of some post-independence representation. We also know that at this time in our continuing independence movement those of us in political office are being judged more by our actions than by our words. We know that we all have a lot to do to regain the trust of the people. There is a lot of work to be done. I have
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consistently acted true to my words. One example of that was when I abstained from a vote because I did not think the amount of resources provided for the Fire Services was sufficient. There are clear indications that people are tired of those who „play politics‟. For me politics is not a „game‟. It is serious business that alters and has altered the course of people‘s lives. It is our responsibility to transform our political thought into credible governance.
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THE FUTURE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT AND GOVERNANCE If we are to achieve progress, I believe it is critical for us to build on our successes from government to government. There is a tendency to divide successes into the periods when one party was in power and failure when another was. Both of our parties have had successes and both have often continued with the successful policies of each. When we recognize this we will appreciate that there is strength in national unity and in continuity. I said before that I want to change our discourse on politics. I want us to think more about our successes, not just our failures, but to distill from both important lessons to guide our future actions. I want us to think more about what has united us, not just what has divided us. What successes have we shared from government to government? I can think of quite a few:
The establishment of our Constitution has been a lasting, concrete and sustainable platform upon which our democracy has rested for fifty years.
The recent Charter of Rights is a necessary constitutional evolution. Now, new impetus is required to ensure that these rights and freedoms are fully established in reality and continue to be enjoyed by all Jamaicans from all walks of life equally.
Other sustainable elements of governance include the Electoral Advisory Committee and Election Commission.
Let us be very clear. These continue to provide mechanisms for free and fair elections that continue to operate, predominantly to our national benefit. However, safeguards are required for continued protection against any effort to pervert the process, by seeking to buy elections. Improvements continue to be made from one administration to the next through public sector modernization.
Freedom of information, anti-corruption and integrity laws have, over time,
reshaped the discourse on probity of politicians and citizens.
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Even some of the things that might appear frivolous and meaningless are of deep seated national value. They continue to heighten our patriotism year after year through every administration. These include the celebration of our National Independence through Independence festivals. When Derrick Morgan sang Forward March at independence he expressed the hopefulness of the people at Independence. The Ska bounce rallied the Jamaican people:
“Brothers and sisters, gather together we‟re independent. Gather to together, be brothers and sisters, we‟re independent. Join hands to hands, children started to dance, We‟re independent Don‟t be sad and blue, The Lord is Still with you Because the time has come so you can have your fun so make a run. It was a celebration, a clear indication of relief and release. The Independence Celebration from year to year provides us with a regular milestone to remind us of just how far we have come. The observance of Labour Day, and National Heroes Day have also been of
significance.
“Forward, forever united, children workers and
farmers” is a standard that celebrates the significance of both days. Its verses celebrate as follows:
Granny Nanny of Nanny Town, Sam Sharp the Non Violent Leader, George William Gordon – Far seeing statesman, Paul Bogle of Stony Gut, Marcus Mosiah Garvey – fighter for black man‟s dignity, Patriot Norman Manley and Bustamante, legendary figure in his lifetime. Anyone who has seen the powerful images of Taurus Riley‘s music video ‗Shaka Zulu Pickney‘ can see and hear the yearning of a young Jamaican for us to continue to remember the impact
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of our heroes and heroine that transcend time and the fissures that separate our people. Other lasting tributes to our Independence that persist through time include the National Stadium and National Arena. I felt that in the spirit of Independence, the sporting park named in its honour that houses the Stadium - Independence Park – required continued renewal. As a result, as Minister of Sport I oversaw the implementation of the New Indoor Sports Centre. The creation of the Sports Development Foundation demonstrated effective implementation of our Vision.
It created an institution, that if used properly, could help us to achieve the
commanding heights in athletics and an even more enviable Olympic tradition than we now enjoy. We know that culture and sports, including music, theatre and the arts are equally important to sustainable development. The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission, the brainchild of Former Prime Minister Edward Seaga, is one such institution. Through the JCDC, the talent of thousands of Jamaicans has been honed. In developing sports and culture there was recognition that both sports and culture represented immense business opportunities that could propel sustainable economic growth and wider participation of our populace. Importantly, these are areas of development that should never be politicized. They provide truly independent voices and performances on stages, studios, tracks, fields and courts in Jamaica and across the world regardless of who is in government. There have been other lasting institutions and movements that transcend and cross political administrations. These institutions include organizations with a mandate for social order and cooperation with a social purpose include:
The trade union development
National Youth Service
Social legislation like minimum wage and maternity leave
Education transformation
Jamaica‘s membership in a range of regional and international organisations
Consensus on relations with Cuba, China and Venezuela
Diaspora policy
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In recounting our national achievements, let me draw attention to a notable characteristic of administration headed by the party of Norman Manley, and that is visionary leadership that put in place not only socio-political innovations; but established strong and durable foundations for future economic development. Economic vision demonstrated:
Urban Development Corporation (and many other institutions, like the Central Bank, Planning Institute, development banks) to establish strategically focused approaches to national development
Due to Michael Manley‘s vision, the National Housing Trust created a pool of funding resulting in thousands of housing solutions. This improved the provision of high quality shelter for our population and the amassing of personal equity through home ownership; permanently changing the relationship of masses of our people to ownership of land and wealth creation.
Establishing Economic liberalization in the 1990‘s to open the Jamaican economy to wider participation and integration into the world economy, with the establishment of fiscal responsibility and debt reduction strategies as major shared goals.
These far-sighted innovations have created a growing financial sector that has so far successfully withstood turbulence in the global financial markets.
The dramatic expansion in Tourism, Mining and Shipping did not come about by sheer luck, but by a visionary and well implemented approach to providing enabling infrastructure, such as modern airports and sea ports.
As I continued the work of Former Prime Minister Patterson who established the relationship with the Spanish, under my leadership as Tourism Minister and as Prime Minister, successful efforts were made to continue woo Spanish investors, resulting in significant expansion of capacity.
We developed a vibrant Mining Sector, which has now grown beyond bauxite and alumina. Expansion of this industry fuelled the growth in rural townships and expanded employment.
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As parts of this industry enters maturity and decline, sustained efforts must be maintained to reduce the dependency on traditional mining and establish emerging value added mining industries that do not compromise our environmental integrity.
The 20:30 Vision and National Development Plan represent key examples of collaboration in establishing a framework for coordinated growth of our economy and the welfare of our people. This area of cooperation represents the emergence of a new self-confidence as a nation that certain issues of national importance must transcend mere political considerations as they require continuance even as governments change.
Not only have we accomplished the establishment of economic foundations on which we can continue to build; but we have also provided for assurance of the financial security of today‘s pensioners and future generations through the NIS and NIF.
I acknowledge with shared pride the visionary first initiative of Linden Newland to establish the NIS scheme. But let me say that it was left to my tenure as Minister of Labour, to establish a Board and a structure and to create the financial vision and necessary financial infrastructure and prudent investments that is available today to provide the basis to ensure periodic adjustments to pension benefits through the over $50 Billion amassed in the portfolio of assets.
The ―Grow what we eat/eat what we grow‖ policies of today illustrate Michael Manley‘s vision of ―Self Reliance‖.
It is part of the patriotic, communal values of the 1970s. This grew out of the imperative to reposition agriculture from production of sugar and bananas sold to protected markets to a new paradigm that enriches more of our people. We must focus on the vision of establishing food security for our population as we aggressively deploy excess production and value-added products to global markets. It is heartening to see our young politicians embracing, adopting and adapting to the ideology of their political forefathers and even including policy that was once opposite to what their party believed in, in policy directions of the present. This is a clear example of the blurring of ideological boundaries that are taking place in our nation and across the world. I can name many other areas that governments have continued with from Party to Party.
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However there have been some shortsightedness when it comes to continuity.
There are
several examples.
Aspects of my vision for Tourism have not yet been achieved and we must move swiftly to establish a Health Tourism industry, for which plans were created but not implemented because of a change of government.
In particular, I am disappointed that the vision for a truly inclusive model of tourism that embraced community tourism has not been more pervasive.
I envisioned a Sports Tourism industry, surrounding the Trelawny mega-sporting facility; however this vision was not carried forward into the new administration and land allocated is being diverted to housing, which is a mistake.
One final example of the need to put political egos and partisan fissures aside when it comes to national development, is seen in the development of the creative and cultural industries. In 2007, as Prime Minister, I announced a range of initiatives to start that year, including the formation of a National Council for the Cultural Industries.
This was meant to bring together
all the interests in the cultural spheres to work out a modern approach to policy and examine the new thinking in this regard to guide in this new global growth area. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development spoke of the initiative in the context of creative industries development in the region, in both their 2008 and 2010 reports. However, when administrative directions changed in 2007, so too did the policy directions.
As
all party systems do, we reserve the right to divide on opinions. However, I would have hoped that if it were not implemented, that at least new vision would have been articulated and new plans made. These are all matters that transcend parties. It was meant to facilitate growth areas for the nation and its people.
I wish to state emphatically and for you to
understand….we should not exaggerate what we divide on and underplay what we have united on or can unite on.
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TAKING RESPONSIBILITY AND MOVING ONWARD Independence must mean TAKING RESPONSIBILITY. We must take responsibility for our destiny. This is what any progressive agenda ought to mean… Taking responsibility is about growing up as a nation. It is about adulthood. It is about maturity. We must move from being a new nation in 1962 to being a mature nation now. We must demonstrate that we the Jamaican people can do better and have done better than those colonials who said we could not govern ourselves. Those who continue to believe that we cannot govern ourselves are still in need of a mental emancipation. As we stand poised on the threshold of our 50th year of independence, we reflect with Hindsight, Insight and Foresight. We must draw from our rich historical experience. We must assess our position at this critical juncture and then with foresight advance a Vision of how our nation and our people will develop and grow and meet the challenges and grasp the opportunities of a world whose rate of change is accelerating. A world propelled by increase in knowledge and technology and the aspirations and creativity of the human spirit. I have spoken of Independence as a revolutionary process, all of which began in the minds of people:
A democratic revolution
A revolution of rising expectations
A revolution of hope
A social and economic revolution
An ethical revolution.
Going forward we need:
A renewed democratic revolution and wider participation in the process of government
A revolution in social and economic opportunities to include all our people and a renewal of trust between citizens and state
A renewal of hope that realistic expectations can be met by each of us taking personal responsibility for our actions.
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A revolution in how we conceive of our people and their role both locally and abroad. Our view must be more inclusive of all our citizens and their offspring resident at home or abroad as an important part of our nation; that extends our scope, reach, influence and wealth beyond our own national borders.
Marching onward we must:
Achieve revolution in possibilities.
A revolution that embraces new technologies, paradigms and international relationships and strategic alliances that shape outcomes and that include achievement of the hopes and aspirations of all our people.
An Ethical revolution that establishes the right values and attitudes to our nation and our fellow citizens and that is reflected in the integrity and fairness with which we do business and compete.
A Role for SALISES Toward this end, I would like to ask SALISES and our tertiary institutions to play their part. I would like to ask the institute to devote itself to a progressive research agenda in which I have a deep interest: Questions about inequality: To study the dynamics and the solutions to this deep-seated problem that is at the heart of so much that is undesirable and unacceptable about our Jamaica. I want for you to more deeply and closely examine contemporary manifestations of social and economic inequality and social injustice. And related to this is how can we determine the causes, dynamics and solutions to gender inequality. In particular, I wish to examine inequality and its effect on women‘s and men‘s power and prestige in politics
What is the reason that we seem to hold men and women, and people of
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different social and economic backgrounds to different standards in business and personal conduct? We also hold leaders from different socio-economic backgrounds to different standards in business, government and politics Why is this? These are mental hurdles that we must overcome as we seek to create an equal and just society. We know that at the inception of the independence movement, women and girls faced significant systemic barriers to the achievement of their Human Rights and Fundamental freedoms. This had deep-seated negative implications for the well being of Jamaican women, especially those who were poor. Those who lived in rural areas and urban cities were both affected. This led to their men being affected as well. Historical changes over the past five decades have shown how local consciousness and international advocacy, came together to lobby and ensure that the legislative, economic and political changes necessary to alter the status of Jamaican women were put in place. However, challenges continue to be reflected in the grinding poverty that characterizes the majority of female-headed households. It shows up in the far-too-high numbers of teenage pregnancies; the continuing high levels of violence against women and girls and the inability of government to stop internal and cross-border trafficking. The recent spate of domestic murder-suicides must also raise serious concerns for us as a nation. Persistent gender disadvantages are also evident in the low levels of representation of women in the political area and at the highest levels of decision-making. I believe it is critical for more research be done in this area. Let me share a deeply personal reflection, as I believe despite the risks we must be sufficiently mature as a nation to reflect on such disquieting issues that have occurred in the past and properly belong to this discourse. I have personally been doubly affected by this combination of inequalities. Let us be honest with ourselves, if I had made half the mistakes, or done a quarter of the misdeeds that have been made within the current administration, the gallows would have been quickly revived and I would have been promptly hanged.
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I have been held to a higher standard. Ladies and gentlemen, this is by no means a complaint, it is an observation. Being held to a higher standard is not necessarily a bad thing. I hold high standards for myself. However we must seek to understand the impact of inequities as we evaluate our history. That is an important prerequisite to thinking independently. Let us feel free to think independently about these concerns. Sir Arthur would have wanted us to. As we move to “Emancipate ourselves from Mental Slavery”; let us “Liberate our willingness to think Independently!‖ In fact, I wonder why, for a man of such breadth and depth, the institute named in his honour is referred to as a social and economic institute and not a social, economic and political institute. I want to ask SALISES to:
Study, not just failure but success! We need to have a balanced scorecard for government - to know what we are doing right. We need to establish our own standards of success and measurement of outcomes, rather than be judged solely by other people‘s standards of failure.
Study more of the qualitative, not just the quantitative! Study the intangibles and immeasurable like feelings and hope. Study what makes people happy and fulfilled. We need more studies drawing on poetry, lyrics, and stories of people‘s experiences to capture their hopes and fears, their joys and happiness. For example Sir Howard Cooke is in his senior years, yet no one has interviewed him on the role of the PNP in national development.
Study people, not just things like events and phenomena! We must not just study Independence. We must study what makes an independent PEOPLE. That is why I begun the way I did by saying independence is a state of mind that wants human freedom and nation-building. We must study electors, not just elections; constituents not just
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constituencies; victims not just crimes; and parliamentarians, not just parliaments, so that we can plan the policies to ensure a safe and just society.
Study the non-material, not just the material! A people need the spirit of nationhood, and of freedom and independence of mind; people strive for dignity, respect, and empowerment, not just material things like incomes, or quantifiable things like GDP. It is one thing to say X number of people vote or don‘t vote. But we want to know the reasons for their apathy or hopelessness and whether it is a result of the loss of spirit or pride, hope or faith in ourselves as a people, a nation, and a party, whichever party. We need to know more about these quality of life issues as we venture to make the quality society based on the possibilities of the present knowledge and information age.
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ACHIEVING NATIONHOOD – AT LAST! Ultimately, we must change our discourse from failed politics and divisive parties to successes as a people and nation and consensus and continuity between governments. When we know what succeeds we can build on those successes. As we contemplate the future and take account of our present realities, we must chart a new course that places our people ahead of partisan and personal gain. To benefit from the gains in infrastructure, communications capabilities and other gains; we must redefine and redesign, with the involvement of the people, rural and urban communities to make them more responsive to the aspirations of our people and to promote a healthy lifestyle and educational and economic opportunity. We must make land available to farmers of all sizes and create new integrated business opportunities where there is a symbiotic relationship between Small, Medium and Large enterprises in the supply chain and in value added marketing both locally and abroad. We must envision freedom to include the notion that our people and in particular Jamaican youth must be so educated and trained in critical skills including foreign language capability that they will have a comparative advantage against their peers throughout the world; thereby engendering the mobility to enter the workforce and progress at home or abroad; based on his/her choice of location. We must envisage freedom as the capacity to think independently as an individual and to adhere to the tenets of our laws and constitution without being compelled by others. This new spirit of freedom – of Nationhood; must translate into entrepreneurship and exploration of distant marketplaces for our skills, products and services, as a measure to expand our national horizon beyond the physical limitations of our geographic space. We must correct the imbalance that sees us focusing inwards and competing for scarce resources and open our minds to new and different opportunities and possibilities, as Columbus did when he first set sail to seek foreign markets and claimed to have discovered this fair island.
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Fifty years is time enough. The world must begin to see images of our promising, young Jamaicans with their books; not drugs and guns. They must come to know of our professionals, who rank among the finest that the world has to offer. We must finally dispel the darkness of self-hate and begin to speak courageously and audibly about our achievements. We cannot ignore what is wrong with us, but we must desist from this diet of negatives, on our talk shows, in our news, in our schools, universities and even in our Parliament, because there is still so much that is positive and progressive about us. We may be little, but wi still
tallawah! We “braggadocious”; We have “Swagger” – We are “Swaggeriffic” and these are strong characteristics of Resilience. We are a resilient people. Our fore-fathers and mothers did not lay down arms to complain about slavery and oppression. Nor shall we! We must find strength in their triumphs and successes and we must ―Rise to the occasion‖ in our time and recover our ‗Independent state of mind‘. Let us be Freedom Fighters I have resolved to beat back the forces which say that ―we can‘t.‖ I am a freedom fighter for the preservation of our hard-won Freedom and Independence. I invite you to join me in reminding ourselves of something so simple but so profound that I say it every opportunity that I get. I say again to you all, accomplished wordsmiths – words have meanings. The last four letters in the word Jamaican, ARE,
I-C-A-N. I know we can, but what is more important is that we
must and we will. Equality and justice must reign supreme in Jamaica. Social stability and economic prosperity must become a reality. We must claim our heritage as a proud, freedomloving people. We must fan the flames of our democracy and our independence. We must embrace our sovereignty as an Independent nation. We must “Get up, Stand up” and boldly lay claim our true destiny as a great nation in the Caribbean, the Americas and the world. Indeed may, ―Justice, Truth, be ours forever in
Jamaica, land we love!”
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Together we can; Together we must! Together we will as one Jamaican family shaping the future together. God bless you.
Portia Simpson Miller ON, MP President People‘s National Party June 15, 2011
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