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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>This business of politics</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Jean Lowrie-Chin
Monday, September 25, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>How boring it must be to live in a country that does not enjoy the cut and thrust of democracy. Some of Jamaica's best stories, our most dramatic and colour-ful moments, have their genesis in our lively political process.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Jean Lowrie-Chin </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Swithin Wilmot used to relate this probably apocryphal tale at our Alpha-George's sixth-form gatherings, complete with Busta's unique manner of speech. He said that when Norman Manley was premier of Jamaica, he grandly announc-ed in Gordon House the abolition of the annual five-shilling bicycle tax.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At the end of the sitting, Opposition Leader, his cousin Alexander Bustamante approached him and said, "Norman, you will never be a politician! After this year, not a soul will remember that you did away with that tax. Me? I would have cut it in half and every year when they go to pay the two-and-six, they would say 'God Bless Busta!' "<P class=StoryText align=justify>It the town of Savanna-la-mar, the sidewalk by the fountain in front of the Town Hall was the preferred spot for political meetings. My mother who operated a small store right across the street, would lend both JLP and PNP bits of furniture for their stage. She was always challenged by the opposing activists and I can still hear her saying, "Never mind, man, we have to live and let live."<P class=StoryText align=justify>We children enjoyed the rollicking political songs. A PNP campaigner named Vivian taught my two-year-old brother an anti-JLP song. One day the JLP candidate, Mr Swaby, came to the shop, only to be serenaded by this embarrassing little tyke. Luckily, he had a sense of humour!<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is true that one should never argue over religion or politics. Though our tribal tendencies seem to be waning, as soon as there are rumours of elections, emotions begin to run high. Suddenly, we become conscious of the colours we are wearing, and mercilessly dissect every move, every word of our least favourite politician. Even family dinners can become hotbeds of dissent.<P class=StoryText align=justify>We should know that this happens in every democracy. Labour and Conservative parties in Britain and Democrats and Republicans in the USA are now warming up for their respective showdowns, under the keen eyes of their handlers and waterboys.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=360 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Political conference - where Parliament meets passa-passa</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>I doubt if anyone has more fun than the media, with our polls and analyses, cartoons and call-in shows. The politicians are probably feeling the old-time saying: "Bullfrog say, what is joke to schoolboy is death to him."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Portia Simpson Miller was really upset last Thursday, referring to some cartoons of herself and the mispronunciation of her middle name: "They are calling me Portia Lacretia." Come on now, PM, you should be saying, "Pronounce my name however you wish, as long as it is my name you are calling."
There were countless Busta jokes in the 50s and 60s, and guess who led us into Independence! Instead of taking umbrage, Busta used
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Jean Lowrie-Chin
Monday, September 25, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>How boring it must be to live in a country that does not enjoy the cut and thrust of democracy. Some of Jamaica's best stories, our most dramatic and colour-ful moments, have their genesis in our lively political process.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=80 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Jean Lowrie-Chin </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Swithin Wilmot used to relate this probably apocryphal tale at our Alpha-George's sixth-form gatherings, complete with Busta's unique manner of speech. He said that when Norman Manley was premier of Jamaica, he grandly announc-ed in Gordon House the abolition of the annual five-shilling bicycle tax.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At the end of the sitting, Opposition Leader, his cousin Alexander Bustamante approached him and said, "Norman, you will never be a politician! After this year, not a soul will remember that you did away with that tax. Me? I would have cut it in half and every year when they go to pay the two-and-six, they would say 'God Bless Busta!' "<P class=StoryText align=justify>It the town of Savanna-la-mar, the sidewalk by the fountain in front of the Town Hall was the preferred spot for political meetings. My mother who operated a small store right across the street, would lend both JLP and PNP bits of furniture for their stage. She was always challenged by the opposing activists and I can still hear her saying, "Never mind, man, we have to live and let live."<P class=StoryText align=justify>We children enjoyed the rollicking political songs. A PNP campaigner named Vivian taught my two-year-old brother an anti-JLP song. One day the JLP candidate, Mr Swaby, came to the shop, only to be serenaded by this embarrassing little tyke. Luckily, he had a sense of humour!<P class=StoryText align=justify>It is true that one should never argue over religion or politics. Though our tribal tendencies seem to be waning, as soon as there are rumours of elections, emotions begin to run high. Suddenly, we become conscious of the colours we are wearing, and mercilessly dissect every move, every word of our least favourite politician. Even family dinners can become hotbeds of dissent.<P class=StoryText align=justify>We should know that this happens in every democracy. Labour and Conservative parties in Britain and Democrats and Republicans in the USA are now warming up for their respective showdowns, under the keen eyes of their handlers and waterboys.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=360 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Political conference - where Parliament meets passa-passa</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>I doubt if anyone has more fun than the media, with our polls and analyses, cartoons and call-in shows. The politicians are probably feeling the old-time saying: "Bullfrog say, what is joke to schoolboy is death to him."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Portia Simpson Miller was really upset last Thursday, referring to some cartoons of herself and the mispronunciation of her middle name: "They are calling me Portia Lacretia." Come on now, PM, you should be saying, "Pronounce my name however you wish, as long as it is my name you are calling." There were countless Busta jokes in the 50s and 60s, and guess who led us into Independence! Instead of taking umbrage, Busta used