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Wanted: An Opposition party
HEART TO HEART
Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Dear Reader,
Something has gone seriously amiss with the People's National Party, and even the staunchest of diehards are lamenting the internal state of affairs and are admitting that their party is in serious trouble. I can only imagine how the party's founding father, Norman Washington Manley and his son, the supreme heir, Michael Manley, must be turning in their graves at the ensuing crisis. It's clear that the PNP has lost its way and is going to require a level of honesty and resilience to put the pieces of a broken and divided party together.
For me, what is happening to the party is regrettable, particularly at a time when leadership and advocacy on behalf of the poor and working classes on the national as well as on the global level are paramount and urgent.
In the years that I have voted, I had always soiled my finger for the PNP. As a young college student, I organised for the PNP, and became, along with all of my friends, a Michael Manley "guru", carrying high the banner of democratic socialism. Frankly, I couldn't understand how there were people who didn't support a political party that championed the cause of the poor and downtrodden, and talked constantly about levelling the historically unjust playing field. In my eyes, to be progressive was to be PNP, and I looked pitifully on those who held on to a conservative, capitalist world view.
The respect and adoration Michael Manley engendered across the planet, and particularly within the Non-Aligned Movement, was not only a source of pride for us, but helped to shape and solidify our social and political consciousness. Michael Manley spoke for all of us, and he was unapologetic in articulating the prevailing systemic inequalities and injustices. Ideologically, Manley lived what he spoke, and died with little material wealth. In fact, the story is told of his mother standing at a bus stop to take public transport to her destination. It seemed incredible for that to happen to the mother of a former prime minister.
Instead of building on the best of Manley's policies and examples, the talk among some of the young Turks in the party was that not over their dead bodies would they leave politics suffering from any type of material deficiencies. Edward Seaga's Jamaica Labour Party's capitalist dictates and pursuits served the PNP's political aspirants well, and the party embraced the free market economy enthusiastically. The dashikis and the Afros gave way to clean-cut men in long-sleeved shirts and ties. Similarly, the concern for the poor gave way to the maxim of "every man for himself".
The last 20 years of the PNP administration should be used as a case study in the politics of destruction. Not only did the party squander its opportunity to build a strong and prosperous nation state, it lacked the ability to consolidate and strengthen its own internal affairs. I'm not sure that there has ever been a time that the PNP has been as divided as it is right now.
The findings of the Meeks report commissioned by the PNP couldn't be more damning. It is reported that it sent shock waves through factions of the party. The assessment gave a failing grade to a range of issues affecting both the internal and external party politics. Paraphrased, the report statesthe following, among others things :
. Disunity carried over from the 2006 presidential election, in which Portia Simpson Miller beat Dr Phillips to replace PJ Patterson as party president.
. The poor advertising and communication strategy used throughout the election campaign, which centred on party leader and then Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.
. That the party leader's time could have been better planned throughout the campaign.
. Party faithful criticised the timing of the election. This they say affected the party's overall campaign organisation, which was referred to as one of the weakest ever conducted.
. That the party's candidate selection and handling of the Trafigura debacle were found wanting.
. That the party needs to rebuild, restructure and redefine itself and its role in the national movement.
To compound the problems highlighted in the Meeks report, there is the general view in the society of the deep levels of corruption that plagued the PNP administration. There is no doubt that the PNP has not only lost a significant level of public trust, but it has also to a large degree lost its respectability.
As it stands, the PNP is now a fractured and divided party. At a time when the country needs an Opposition, the PNP is found wanting. What is disturbing is that the young and upcoming vanguard of the party seems to be afflicted with the same maladies as their older mentors. For Bunting to have assumed the position of general secretary, on the very same premise of a principle that caused DK Duncan to withdraw, demonstrates that moral bankruptcy is an accepted legacy within the party.
The irony in all of this is that while the country waits for an effective Opposition, the PNP is trying to win a new election while in disarray.
With love.
- bab2609@yahoo.com
HEART TO HEART
Betty Ann Blaine
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Dear Reader,
Something has gone seriously amiss with the People's National Party, and even the staunchest of diehards are lamenting the internal state of affairs and are admitting that their party is in serious trouble. I can only imagine how the party's founding father, Norman Washington Manley and his son, the supreme heir, Michael Manley, must be turning in their graves at the ensuing crisis. It's clear that the PNP has lost its way and is going to require a level of honesty and resilience to put the pieces of a broken and divided party together.
For me, what is happening to the party is regrettable, particularly at a time when leadership and advocacy on behalf of the poor and working classes on the national as well as on the global level are paramount and urgent.
In the years that I have voted, I had always soiled my finger for the PNP. As a young college student, I organised for the PNP, and became, along with all of my friends, a Michael Manley "guru", carrying high the banner of democratic socialism. Frankly, I couldn't understand how there were people who didn't support a political party that championed the cause of the poor and downtrodden, and talked constantly about levelling the historically unjust playing field. In my eyes, to be progressive was to be PNP, and I looked pitifully on those who held on to a conservative, capitalist world view.
The respect and adoration Michael Manley engendered across the planet, and particularly within the Non-Aligned Movement, was not only a source of pride for us, but helped to shape and solidify our social and political consciousness. Michael Manley spoke for all of us, and he was unapologetic in articulating the prevailing systemic inequalities and injustices. Ideologically, Manley lived what he spoke, and died with little material wealth. In fact, the story is told of his mother standing at a bus stop to take public transport to her destination. It seemed incredible for that to happen to the mother of a former prime minister.
Instead of building on the best of Manley's policies and examples, the talk among some of the young Turks in the party was that not over their dead bodies would they leave politics suffering from any type of material deficiencies. Edward Seaga's Jamaica Labour Party's capitalist dictates and pursuits served the PNP's political aspirants well, and the party embraced the free market economy enthusiastically. The dashikis and the Afros gave way to clean-cut men in long-sleeved shirts and ties. Similarly, the concern for the poor gave way to the maxim of "every man for himself".
The last 20 years of the PNP administration should be used as a case study in the politics of destruction. Not only did the party squander its opportunity to build a strong and prosperous nation state, it lacked the ability to consolidate and strengthen its own internal affairs. I'm not sure that there has ever been a time that the PNP has been as divided as it is right now.
The findings of the Meeks report commissioned by the PNP couldn't be more damning. It is reported that it sent shock waves through factions of the party. The assessment gave a failing grade to a range of issues affecting both the internal and external party politics. Paraphrased, the report statesthe following, among others things :
. Disunity carried over from the 2006 presidential election, in which Portia Simpson Miller beat Dr Phillips to replace PJ Patterson as party president.
. The poor advertising and communication strategy used throughout the election campaign, which centred on party leader and then Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller.
. That the party leader's time could have been better planned throughout the campaign.
. Party faithful criticised the timing of the election. This they say affected the party's overall campaign organisation, which was referred to as one of the weakest ever conducted.
. That the party's candidate selection and handling of the Trafigura debacle were found wanting.
. That the party needs to rebuild, restructure and redefine itself and its role in the national movement.
To compound the problems highlighted in the Meeks report, there is the general view in the society of the deep levels of corruption that plagued the PNP administration. There is no doubt that the PNP has not only lost a significant level of public trust, but it has also to a large degree lost its respectability.
As it stands, the PNP is now a fractured and divided party. At a time when the country needs an Opposition, the PNP is found wanting. What is disturbing is that the young and upcoming vanguard of the party seems to be afflicted with the same maladies as their older mentors. For Bunting to have assumed the position of general secretary, on the very same premise of a principle that caused DK Duncan to withdraw, demonstrates that moral bankruptcy is an accepted legacy within the party.
The irony in all of this is that while the country waits for an effective Opposition, the PNP is trying to win a new election while in disarray.
With love.
- bab2609@yahoo.com