Tweet
Wignall's World
Mark Wignall
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Ever since the JLP captured the overwhelming majority of the middle class in the 1980 general elections, it has held on to significant chunks of this demographic, many of whom have remained faithful to it throughout the long days and dark nights of the sinful commissions and endless omissions of the PNP in the years from February 1989 to September 2007.
In the mid to late 1970s when then prime minister Michael Manley fell in love with the ideals of a democratic socialist state and allowed the reality of highly individualistic Jamaicans and third-grade education to reside outside of his political contingency plan, he scared the pants off the 'middle class' with rhetoric that was thought to be his prelude to communism.
No stranger to the communism bogey, the JLP played it for all it was worth, even suggesting at one mass meeting that Cuba had planes on the ground in Jamaica ready to be airborne at a moment's notice to enforce the new 'order' after the PNP victory.
That victory did not come, but immediately after the election night of October 30, 1980, Jamaica was covered in JLP green and a middle class which had never been properly defined had already located to South Florida, Canada and the North Eastern cities of the USA. By that time, of course, it occurred to us that many of this 'management class' was really more on the lower side of upper middle class than just plain middle class.
All of this was neither here nor there for the vast numbers of poor people who were expecting much from the Seaga-led JLP.
While then recently immigrated Jamaicans (from upper Barbican, Norbrook and Cherry Gardens who had sold their fancy houses, furniture and car as package deals for, sometimes as low as $40,000 per package in the fear and expectation of a PNP win and communism) were attempting to repurchase their homes well in excess of a doubling of the sale prices, most owners simply said, 'No thanks' and went on to enjoy their new social status.
From the largest electoral victory in Jamaica's modern history, by 1982, barely two years into the JLP's run, Carl Stone's polls were showing that the JLP was a party in the minority. Prior to that, in the latter part of the 1970s, the PNP had been split into two distinct factions, the leftists which featured names such as DK Duncan and Arnold Bertram, and the moderates led by one PJ Patterson.
It was this split and the hijacking of government by what some called the 'lunatic left' and the retreat of effective leadership by Michael Manley which led to the flight of personnel and huge amounts of capital in the first place. Add to that what some saw as collusion between the JLP opposition and the private sector in the 'shortage' of goods on the supermarket shelves, and the PNP was out on its ear.
The similarities between the high expectations of a new JLP government in the 1980s and in the post-2007 period have come about through differing circumstances. In the 1970s the fault was seen as Manley's wild experimentation with a people that wanted more bread and routes to socio-economic equity than travelling to the mountain top with Castro as Manley had suggested in his praise of the Cuban communist leader.
In the period from 1989 to 2007 it was the mix of a number of factors including an administration grown stale, corrupt and in the latter part, yielding to a purely populist political leader which led to the PNP's political demise. In both instances, it was the JLP of the day which was called upon to right the errors of the PNP government.
The fact is, although the JLP of the 1980s was more right of centre in a time when the PNP government had veered too far left, in the present circumstances there is no great ideological divide to separate the JLP from the PNP. If anything, and this is to our great dissatisfaction, the PNP and the JLP share one underhanded but unsaid political philosophy and that is, in too many instances, 'government' is seen as that fat, overstuffed cupboard from which goods, loot and special favours will always come.
Like in the 1980s campaign when Seaga promised 'money jingling in yu pocket' to a people starved of funds and sincere leadership, in the 2007 election campaign the JLP used its superior organisation and funding to outwit a PNP that was split down the middle since the 2006 internal presidential elections.
Most of what the JLP promised outside of free tuition in schools and free health care was more implied that stated and, based on the fact that the JLP's win was so razor-thin, it is safe to say that not sufficient numbers of people as the JLP had hoped had bought into the hype.
Once again, less than two years into a JLP administration, the JLP has its back against the wall. In the 1980s, a newly elected Republican administration in the US was pumping huge amounts of cash into Jamaica to assist the 'anti-communist' Seaga.
In 2007 and beyond, the support expected from Washington in this time of a global economic downturn will be no more than notional, and the Golding-led JLP will have to quickly devise innovate ways of swimming in uncharted waters if it is serious about leading this troubled nation.
Responses to my column, How long before Golding gets the message
Readers will note that I have not used any empirical findings to conclude that the JLP is losing the middle class. I have based that conclusion on the general comments I hear from far and wide nationally and from middle-class persons working and living in the Diaspora.
Some of the comments:
'Sad is it not. While Bruce is better as PM than Portia, the PNP is better as a team fit to govern. Count the JLP scandals in board resignations, chairmen resignations, willing to sell Air Jamaica without first making it sellable or attractive, with no option in sight. The Hydel Affair, The Medley Affair, The PCJ Affair, The JUCT or whatever affair.
The JLP has more percentage scandals in the first 14 months than the PNP. Imagine if it goes for five years. I think the PNP is marginally better by a hair. I really hate them both - they have ruined my country. between them both.'
And one from a well-known uptown professional and social worker. Her comments need no embellishments: 'I cried as I read your article today - because it is so true and so very sad.'
And this is only a part of the message from a very disgruntled Jamaican. 'Golding's problems are many. By his own past admissions he associated with uncouth elements attached to politics who committed heinous atrocities. As soon as he assumed control of his new constituents in Denham Town, he quickly reconnected with the ranking enforcers. When a certain 'Zion Train' was shot by the police he was on TV the following evening placating the complaining lumpen (mostly women), questioning the actions of the police and referring to the known 'terrorist' as a community leader. He then intervened in the efforts of the police to apprehend the monster terrorists.'
Another reader commented on the rot and I can only give a part of her sad tale:
'I must admit that I don't always agree with your views. Today, however, in your commentary, you have hit the nail directly on the head. I think you are 100% correct in your views and perception of the present government.
'I am a Jamaican presently living in Pennsylvania, and I had to take my children and flee to escape the crime and violence that had us imprisoned in our home. My daughter was raped and my son was held up and robbed on his way from a high school for boys in the Cross Roads area of Kingston. Mr Wignall, oh how I wish to return to let him continue his education at that good school. I cannot, I just cannot, based on the carnage that is happening right now in Jamaica.
'I was happy when we had a change of government, because I thought crime would be a priority of the JLP administration, and sooner or later people would be able to return to their homes. I am so disappointed, that after one year in power, the situation has gotten worse. I am so sad, so regretful, so morbid that it appears that I cannot even think of taking my children to see the open fields where they used to play. Words simply cannot describe how I feel about the 'killing fields' that Jamaica has become; and the government seems to be at a loss, how to deal with the situation. I didn't have to take my children and run, but that was the only means I had of protecting myself. The police couldn't protect me, my neighbours couldn't; I had to employ my own means of protection; and that was running far away with my children. I couldn't stand my ground and proclaim to be patriotic; the possibility existed that we could have a early visit to the 'bone yard'.'
This one from a regular Rasta reader. His comment carries no frills: 'Greetings brethren. The disappointment in the Bruce Golding [I leader] led government is unbearable. Now things seem on the hopeless side again. What I and I people can hope for now? Thanks for giving the truth. Rasta love.'
The next comment comes from a reader who has decided, quite rightly, to throw back at me some of my own previous observations of Golding:
'What's up? So you have finally come to terms with what I've said to you last year that Golding only claimed to be different but in fact he was not. You identify a good and sincere leader in his ability to act consistently with his words. Golding is far from that, which was noticeable on the campaign trail, but you guys ignored it all along, listening only to his well put together speeches and not watching his actions.
'And when I say this I'm not necessarily batting for Simpson Miller because she is not much better. Only that she doesn't have the intelligence not to be sincere. That's why she lost.'
This Jamaican voter in the Diaspora makes a comment about the chaos at the JLP conference: 'The JLP leadership cannot control their supporters. Might send a signal about their ability to control their MPs, ministers and the country.
'Did you notice the mention that Shaw was preparing to "buss" another scandal about the PNP? He is still in campaign mode and not in governing mode. He should be using the conference platform to speak to the Jamaican people and not just those who are Labourites. Obviously we have a government in power that is for half the people. Shaw and Golding seem to be stuck into their partisanship mode just like Portia.'
observemark@gmail.com
Young Turks need to pressure Golding on his poor leadership
The problem with a government that has lost the ears of the people is that even when there are bright spots of 'success' or when real work is being laid down there will be very few listeners.
One of the bright spots is with the so-called young Turks, with names like Daryl Vaz, Bobby Montague, James Robertson. Let us admit that it was these very energetic and resourceful young men who, with the assistance of others, engineered Bruce Golding to his present powerful position.
Second, when compared to the 'oldsters' in the JLP, these guys are working and in the coming weeks I will be laying out their roles and accomplishments either at the national level or in their rural communities. I have already completed an interview with Christopher Tufton, the agriculture minister who seems to have been proving me wrong on the work he has already instituted since he was made minister.
It is no secret that our Education minister Andrew Holness is the present 'star' of the JLP Cabinet. Although Holness was schooled politically by Eddie Seaga and he is less confrontational than the original young Turks, he has earned the right to have deep discussion with his PM about matters which exist outside of policy matters.
Persons like Vaz and Montague need to speak passionately to the prime minister. They need to approach him with all the respect that I know they have for him and tell of what their constituents are complaining about.
They worked to put him there and they are still working to keep him there. But his downfall will be theirs politically. The choice they have is either to be 'innocent' bystanders watching Golding take them all down with him or approach him in confidence and say, "PM, the people are bawling and although we have not told you, we are feeling the stares growing colder by the minute. We need to talk, PM."
I still have a lot of respect for the 'oldsters', but I suspect that they will not want to rock the boat on their last hurrah.
Over to you, young Turks.
Mark Wignall
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Ever since the JLP captured the overwhelming majority of the middle class in the 1980 general elections, it has held on to significant chunks of this demographic, many of whom have remained faithful to it throughout the long days and dark nights of the sinful commissions and endless omissions of the PNP in the years from February 1989 to September 2007.
In the mid to late 1970s when then prime minister Michael Manley fell in love with the ideals of a democratic socialist state and allowed the reality of highly individualistic Jamaicans and third-grade education to reside outside of his political contingency plan, he scared the pants off the 'middle class' with rhetoric that was thought to be his prelude to communism.
No stranger to the communism bogey, the JLP played it for all it was worth, even suggesting at one mass meeting that Cuba had planes on the ground in Jamaica ready to be airborne at a moment's notice to enforce the new 'order' after the PNP victory.
That victory did not come, but immediately after the election night of October 30, 1980, Jamaica was covered in JLP green and a middle class which had never been properly defined had already located to South Florida, Canada and the North Eastern cities of the USA. By that time, of course, it occurred to us that many of this 'management class' was really more on the lower side of upper middle class than just plain middle class.
All of this was neither here nor there for the vast numbers of poor people who were expecting much from the Seaga-led JLP.
While then recently immigrated Jamaicans (from upper Barbican, Norbrook and Cherry Gardens who had sold their fancy houses, furniture and car as package deals for, sometimes as low as $40,000 per package in the fear and expectation of a PNP win and communism) were attempting to repurchase their homes well in excess of a doubling of the sale prices, most owners simply said, 'No thanks' and went on to enjoy their new social status.
From the largest electoral victory in Jamaica's modern history, by 1982, barely two years into the JLP's run, Carl Stone's polls were showing that the JLP was a party in the minority. Prior to that, in the latter part of the 1970s, the PNP had been split into two distinct factions, the leftists which featured names such as DK Duncan and Arnold Bertram, and the moderates led by one PJ Patterson.
It was this split and the hijacking of government by what some called the 'lunatic left' and the retreat of effective leadership by Michael Manley which led to the flight of personnel and huge amounts of capital in the first place. Add to that what some saw as collusion between the JLP opposition and the private sector in the 'shortage' of goods on the supermarket shelves, and the PNP was out on its ear.
The similarities between the high expectations of a new JLP government in the 1980s and in the post-2007 period have come about through differing circumstances. In the 1970s the fault was seen as Manley's wild experimentation with a people that wanted more bread and routes to socio-economic equity than travelling to the mountain top with Castro as Manley had suggested in his praise of the Cuban communist leader.
In the period from 1989 to 2007 it was the mix of a number of factors including an administration grown stale, corrupt and in the latter part, yielding to a purely populist political leader which led to the PNP's political demise. In both instances, it was the JLP of the day which was called upon to right the errors of the PNP government.
The fact is, although the JLP of the 1980s was more right of centre in a time when the PNP government had veered too far left, in the present circumstances there is no great ideological divide to separate the JLP from the PNP. If anything, and this is to our great dissatisfaction, the PNP and the JLP share one underhanded but unsaid political philosophy and that is, in too many instances, 'government' is seen as that fat, overstuffed cupboard from which goods, loot and special favours will always come.
Like in the 1980s campaign when Seaga promised 'money jingling in yu pocket' to a people starved of funds and sincere leadership, in the 2007 election campaign the JLP used its superior organisation and funding to outwit a PNP that was split down the middle since the 2006 internal presidential elections.
Most of what the JLP promised outside of free tuition in schools and free health care was more implied that stated and, based on the fact that the JLP's win was so razor-thin, it is safe to say that not sufficient numbers of people as the JLP had hoped had bought into the hype.
Once again, less than two years into a JLP administration, the JLP has its back against the wall. In the 1980s, a newly elected Republican administration in the US was pumping huge amounts of cash into Jamaica to assist the 'anti-communist' Seaga.
In 2007 and beyond, the support expected from Washington in this time of a global economic downturn will be no more than notional, and the Golding-led JLP will have to quickly devise innovate ways of swimming in uncharted waters if it is serious about leading this troubled nation.
Responses to my column, How long before Golding gets the message
Readers will note that I have not used any empirical findings to conclude that the JLP is losing the middle class. I have based that conclusion on the general comments I hear from far and wide nationally and from middle-class persons working and living in the Diaspora.
Some of the comments:
'Sad is it not. While Bruce is better as PM than Portia, the PNP is better as a team fit to govern. Count the JLP scandals in board resignations, chairmen resignations, willing to sell Air Jamaica without first making it sellable or attractive, with no option in sight. The Hydel Affair, The Medley Affair, The PCJ Affair, The JUCT or whatever affair.
The JLP has more percentage scandals in the first 14 months than the PNP. Imagine if it goes for five years. I think the PNP is marginally better by a hair. I really hate them both - they have ruined my country. between them both.'
And one from a well-known uptown professional and social worker. Her comments need no embellishments: 'I cried as I read your article today - because it is so true and so very sad.'
And this is only a part of the message from a very disgruntled Jamaican. 'Golding's problems are many. By his own past admissions he associated with uncouth elements attached to politics who committed heinous atrocities. As soon as he assumed control of his new constituents in Denham Town, he quickly reconnected with the ranking enforcers. When a certain 'Zion Train' was shot by the police he was on TV the following evening placating the complaining lumpen (mostly women), questioning the actions of the police and referring to the known 'terrorist' as a community leader. He then intervened in the efforts of the police to apprehend the monster terrorists.'
Another reader commented on the rot and I can only give a part of her sad tale:
'I must admit that I don't always agree with your views. Today, however, in your commentary, you have hit the nail directly on the head. I think you are 100% correct in your views and perception of the present government.
'I am a Jamaican presently living in Pennsylvania, and I had to take my children and flee to escape the crime and violence that had us imprisoned in our home. My daughter was raped and my son was held up and robbed on his way from a high school for boys in the Cross Roads area of Kingston. Mr Wignall, oh how I wish to return to let him continue his education at that good school. I cannot, I just cannot, based on the carnage that is happening right now in Jamaica.
'I was happy when we had a change of government, because I thought crime would be a priority of the JLP administration, and sooner or later people would be able to return to their homes. I am so disappointed, that after one year in power, the situation has gotten worse. I am so sad, so regretful, so morbid that it appears that I cannot even think of taking my children to see the open fields where they used to play. Words simply cannot describe how I feel about the 'killing fields' that Jamaica has become; and the government seems to be at a loss, how to deal with the situation. I didn't have to take my children and run, but that was the only means I had of protecting myself. The police couldn't protect me, my neighbours couldn't; I had to employ my own means of protection; and that was running far away with my children. I couldn't stand my ground and proclaim to be patriotic; the possibility existed that we could have a early visit to the 'bone yard'.'
This one from a regular Rasta reader. His comment carries no frills: 'Greetings brethren. The disappointment in the Bruce Golding [I leader] led government is unbearable. Now things seem on the hopeless side again. What I and I people can hope for now? Thanks for giving the truth. Rasta love.'
The next comment comes from a reader who has decided, quite rightly, to throw back at me some of my own previous observations of Golding:
'What's up? So you have finally come to terms with what I've said to you last year that Golding only claimed to be different but in fact he was not. You identify a good and sincere leader in his ability to act consistently with his words. Golding is far from that, which was noticeable on the campaign trail, but you guys ignored it all along, listening only to his well put together speeches and not watching his actions.
'And when I say this I'm not necessarily batting for Simpson Miller because she is not much better. Only that she doesn't have the intelligence not to be sincere. That's why she lost.'
This Jamaican voter in the Diaspora makes a comment about the chaos at the JLP conference: 'The JLP leadership cannot control their supporters. Might send a signal about their ability to control their MPs, ministers and the country.
'Did you notice the mention that Shaw was preparing to "buss" another scandal about the PNP? He is still in campaign mode and not in governing mode. He should be using the conference platform to speak to the Jamaican people and not just those who are Labourites. Obviously we have a government in power that is for half the people. Shaw and Golding seem to be stuck into their partisanship mode just like Portia.'
observemark@gmail.com
Young Turks need to pressure Golding on his poor leadership
The problem with a government that has lost the ears of the people is that even when there are bright spots of 'success' or when real work is being laid down there will be very few listeners.
One of the bright spots is with the so-called young Turks, with names like Daryl Vaz, Bobby Montague, James Robertson. Let us admit that it was these very energetic and resourceful young men who, with the assistance of others, engineered Bruce Golding to his present powerful position.
Second, when compared to the 'oldsters' in the JLP, these guys are working and in the coming weeks I will be laying out their roles and accomplishments either at the national level or in their rural communities. I have already completed an interview with Christopher Tufton, the agriculture minister who seems to have been proving me wrong on the work he has already instituted since he was made minister.
It is no secret that our Education minister Andrew Holness is the present 'star' of the JLP Cabinet. Although Holness was schooled politically by Eddie Seaga and he is less confrontational than the original young Turks, he has earned the right to have deep discussion with his PM about matters which exist outside of policy matters.
Persons like Vaz and Montague need to speak passionately to the prime minister. They need to approach him with all the respect that I know they have for him and tell of what their constituents are complaining about.
They worked to put him there and they are still working to keep him there. But his downfall will be theirs politically. The choice they have is either to be 'innocent' bystanders watching Golding take them all down with him or approach him in confidence and say, "PM, the people are bawling and although we have not told you, we are feeling the stares growing colder by the minute. We need to talk, PM."
I still have a lot of respect for the 'oldsters', but I suspect that they will not want to rock the boat on their last hurrah.
Over to you, young Turks.
Comment