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Michael Manley legacy and the PNP dilemma
Sunday, March 09, 2008
The 11th anniversary of the death of Michael Manley was marked with an unpretentious wreath-laying ceremony at National Heroes Park Thursday morning with family members, party and union officials paying silent tribute to the late PNP president, prime minister of Jamaica and head of the National Workers Union.
CLAUDE ROBINSON
The ceremony, organised by the Michael Manley Foundation, was attended by senior PNP officials including President Portia Simpson Miller, Chairman Robert Pickersgill and Vice-presidents Peter Phillips and Angela Brown-Burke.
But while there was no speech-making, Manley's legacy and leadership of the People's National Party are clearly part of the unspoken reflection and introspection as the PNP, in this its 70th year, contemplates a future shrouded by the arrest of North East St Elizabeth member of Parliament, Kern Spencer, in connection with the Cuban light bulb scandal as well as other allegations of corruption.
How would Manley have handled the issues now confronting Mrs Simpson Miller, and before her, P J Patterson? Would he have been more decisive in dealing with them before they reached crisis levels?
Unflattering comparisons are being made between Manley's decisiveness in removing, from the Cabinet, powerful figures like PJ Patterson - the heir apparent at the time, and his best friend from school days at Jamaica College, David Coore, when the national and political circumstances demanded bold action.
Recently, Michael Peart, MP for South Manchester and former Speaker of the House, told a radio audience that if the PNP leadership had been "more decisive" in dealing with apparent corruption in earlier situations "we would not have gotten to this stage".
A "slap on the wrist is not enough', he remarked in what seemed to be a rebuke of former prime minister PJ Patterson's description of Phillip Paulwell's mishandling of the NetServ case as "youthful exuberance".
And Mrs Simpson Miller's silence and indecisiveness over the political future of Mr Spencer, regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges brought against him, has been the subject of much negative comment.
Like any accused under our justice system, Mr Spencer must be accorded the presumption of innocence, and so the charges against him cannot and should not be the subject of media or political party trial.
Nevertheless, the political issues raised by the arrest and the larger management of the light bulb distribution programme, and perceptions of public corruption more generally, are matters of public interest requiring clear and decisive response at the highest political level.
As Peter Phillips said on the current affairs programme Direct (CVM-TV) Wednesday night, the PNP must take the latest developments as "a warning that we must straighten up and fly right".
What is not coming out from the PNP leader, so far, is the articulation of a direction for the party that would appeal to the broad membership and the wider society, especially at this time of deepening social decay and economic uncertainty.
In a provocative article, Don Robotham, (Sunday Gleaner March 2), correctly pointed out that the big challenge facing the country was more than charges of corruption against the PNP but had to do with a "moral decay" that is pervasive across all political parties, business interests and social classes in Jamaican society.
He identified two causes of this decay, linking both to what he called "the PNP decay". The first is what he called the "moral-ideological" which had its genesis in the "ideological and moral void" created by the abandonment of socialism when the PNP returned to power in 1989.
The "long-standing values of social upliftment and social solidarity on which the PNP was founded" were jettisoned. Also "the old, rural, black protestant values of self-discipline, hard work, saving and investment" were replaced by a "coarse mercantile ethic of avarice" embraced by all elements in society.
Robotham's second "key factor producing the decay of the PNP" is based on a number of socio-economic factors rooted in "the horrendous 1991 inflation of 90 per cent" which sent tens of thousands below the poverty line, forced many in the middle class into all kinds of legal hustling, encouraged squatting and the informal economy.
Further, the reliance on monetary policy to deflate the economy after 1991 "resulted in a transfer of about US$5 billion to the Jamaican holders of government bonds over a 10-year period.
"This enormous increase in inequality opened up a huge social gulf in Jamaica and inside the PNP and fuelled deep alienation from and disenchantment with its middle-class leadership", and gave rise to the ascendancy of Mrs Simpson Miller, Robotham argued.
While there is merit to the analysis, the context of the times, both domestic and global, need to be fleshed out to get a better understanding of some of the issues the party will have to confront as they work their way out of the present morass.
REDRESSING INEQUALITIES
First, the party cannot retreat from Manley's 1970s legacy of social inclusion. For a time, he was able to pull the social classes together around a social justice agenda based on the essential equality of all Jamaicans regardless of race, social class or the accident of birth.
Second, the context for pro-market policies after 1989 was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of the Washington consensus preaching the doctrine of market liberalisation.
Now, we know that the market has not delivered on much of the expectations. The party must undertake the "deep self-critique" that Robotham said is required and which has also been advocated in the Brian Meeks report that examined the reasons for the loss of the election in 2007 and points a way forward.
In looking ahead, the PNP must re-establish itself as a multi-class coalition coming together around a politics of purpose and fundamental ethical principles. The sterile debate between 'Drumblair' and Trench Town as polar opposites must be put to rest.
Michael Manley, in Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery, after the electoral defeat in 1980 put it this way; "Throughout its history, the party has represented a broad class alliance" and was "traditionally strongest among industrial workers, artisan groups, the white-collar middle class, the professionals and the middle class." That's needed even more today.
The point of departure, as Phillips said in the interview Wednesday night, must be a recommitment to "the ethical norms inherited from Norman Manley" , the party founder, but which seem to have eluded the PNP leadership in recent times.
Claude Robinson is research fellow in the Mona School of Business, UWI. kcr@cwjamaica.com
Sunday, March 09, 2008
The 11th anniversary of the death of Michael Manley was marked with an unpretentious wreath-laying ceremony at National Heroes Park Thursday morning with family members, party and union officials paying silent tribute to the late PNP president, prime minister of Jamaica and head of the National Workers Union.
CLAUDE ROBINSON The ceremony, organised by the Michael Manley Foundation, was attended by senior PNP officials including President Portia Simpson Miller, Chairman Robert Pickersgill and Vice-presidents Peter Phillips and Angela Brown-Burke.
But while there was no speech-making, Manley's legacy and leadership of the People's National Party are clearly part of the unspoken reflection and introspection as the PNP, in this its 70th year, contemplates a future shrouded by the arrest of North East St Elizabeth member of Parliament, Kern Spencer, in connection with the Cuban light bulb scandal as well as other allegations of corruption.
How would Manley have handled the issues now confronting Mrs Simpson Miller, and before her, P J Patterson? Would he have been more decisive in dealing with them before they reached crisis levels?
Unflattering comparisons are being made between Manley's decisiveness in removing, from the Cabinet, powerful figures like PJ Patterson - the heir apparent at the time, and his best friend from school days at Jamaica College, David Coore, when the national and political circumstances demanded bold action.
Recently, Michael Peart, MP for South Manchester and former Speaker of the House, told a radio audience that if the PNP leadership had been "more decisive" in dealing with apparent corruption in earlier situations "we would not have gotten to this stage".
A "slap on the wrist is not enough', he remarked in what seemed to be a rebuke of former prime minister PJ Patterson's description of Phillip Paulwell's mishandling of the NetServ case as "youthful exuberance".
And Mrs Simpson Miller's silence and indecisiveness over the political future of Mr Spencer, regardless of the outcome of the criminal charges brought against him, has been the subject of much negative comment.
Like any accused under our justice system, Mr Spencer must be accorded the presumption of innocence, and so the charges against him cannot and should not be the subject of media or political party trial.
Nevertheless, the political issues raised by the arrest and the larger management of the light bulb distribution programme, and perceptions of public corruption more generally, are matters of public interest requiring clear and decisive response at the highest political level.
As Peter Phillips said on the current affairs programme Direct (CVM-TV) Wednesday night, the PNP must take the latest developments as "a warning that we must straighten up and fly right".
What is not coming out from the PNP leader, so far, is the articulation of a direction for the party that would appeal to the broad membership and the wider society, especially at this time of deepening social decay and economic uncertainty.
In a provocative article, Don Robotham, (Sunday Gleaner March 2), correctly pointed out that the big challenge facing the country was more than charges of corruption against the PNP but had to do with a "moral decay" that is pervasive across all political parties, business interests and social classes in Jamaican society.
He identified two causes of this decay, linking both to what he called "the PNP decay". The first is what he called the "moral-ideological" which had its genesis in the "ideological and moral void" created by the abandonment of socialism when the PNP returned to power in 1989.
The "long-standing values of social upliftment and social solidarity on which the PNP was founded" were jettisoned. Also "the old, rural, black protestant values of self-discipline, hard work, saving and investment" were replaced by a "coarse mercantile ethic of avarice" embraced by all elements in society.
Robotham's second "key factor producing the decay of the PNP" is based on a number of socio-economic factors rooted in "the horrendous 1991 inflation of 90 per cent" which sent tens of thousands below the poverty line, forced many in the middle class into all kinds of legal hustling, encouraged squatting and the informal economy.
Further, the reliance on monetary policy to deflate the economy after 1991 "resulted in a transfer of about US$5 billion to the Jamaican holders of government bonds over a 10-year period.
"This enormous increase in inequality opened up a huge social gulf in Jamaica and inside the PNP and fuelled deep alienation from and disenchantment with its middle-class leadership", and gave rise to the ascendancy of Mrs Simpson Miller, Robotham argued.
While there is merit to the analysis, the context of the times, both domestic and global, need to be fleshed out to get a better understanding of some of the issues the party will have to confront as they work their way out of the present morass.
REDRESSING INEQUALITIES
First, the party cannot retreat from Manley's 1970s legacy of social inclusion. For a time, he was able to pull the social classes together around a social justice agenda based on the essential equality of all Jamaicans regardless of race, social class or the accident of birth.
Second, the context for pro-market policies after 1989 was the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of the Washington consensus preaching the doctrine of market liberalisation.
Now, we know that the market has not delivered on much of the expectations. The party must undertake the "deep self-critique" that Robotham said is required and which has also been advocated in the Brian Meeks report that examined the reasons for the loss of the election in 2007 and points a way forward.
In looking ahead, the PNP must re-establish itself as a multi-class coalition coming together around a politics of purpose and fundamental ethical principles. The sterile debate between 'Drumblair' and Trench Town as polar opposites must be put to rest.
Michael Manley, in Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery, after the electoral defeat in 1980 put it this way; "Throughout its history, the party has represented a broad class alliance" and was "traditionally strongest among industrial workers, artisan groups, the white-collar middle class, the professionals and the middle class." That's needed even more today.
The point of departure, as Phillips said in the interview Wednesday night, must be a recommitment to "the ethical norms inherited from Norman Manley" , the party founder, but which seem to have eluded the PNP leadership in recent times.
Claude Robinson is research fellow in the Mona School of Business, UWI. kcr@cwjamaica.com
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