RBSC

Collapse

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The PNP's UnProgressive Agenda: Sloth & Lack of Vision...

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • The PNP's UnProgressive Agenda: Sloth & Lack of Vision...

    ...merely waiting for the JLP to Flop...which it has obliged..

    The challenge for the PNP’s Progressive Agenda
    Everton Pryce

    Wednesday, January 12, 2011


    WHAT has happened to the Progressive Agenda of the People's National Party? The silence surrounding the Oppositions' 21st century vision document is deafening, given current global and national economic and political realities. This has caused quite a number of supporters of the party to question whether its adoption of the role of a quiet Opposition, relative to its past performance while in opposition, is related to epistemological problems with the basic tenets of its menu of new progressive ideas and principles.

    Even local newspaper columnists and contributors have been prompted at various times in the past year to call on the party to “communicate” the meaning, purpose and objectives of its new ideological framework document, so as to offer the voting public a clear and better vision as to what to expect from a future PNP government.

    Perhaps the party does not feel pressured to communicate the raison d'être of its Progressive Agenda, given its lead in the polls over the ruling JLP administration. And with two years’ expectancy to the next general election, it may have adopted the strategic view that it has time in which to concentrate on other objectives it considers more pressing, like fund-raising.

    Whatever the reason for the silence, it is clear that these are tough, if not challenging times for the politics of expectation and progressive governments.
    The evidence suggests that progressive governments in countries like Spain and Greece have joined newly elected conservative liberal coalitions in the UK and Germany in raising taxes and cutting spending as a way of expanding their economies. This is a far cry from earlier responses to the global financial crisis by progressive parties in Europe that amounted to adopting the Keynesian economic stimulus packages and unemployment and social protection policies commonly associated with social democrats. And despite President Barack Obama's continued pursuit of a stimulusled and pro-growth agenda in the USA, his country, and several in Europe, still face persistent long-term unemployment and the threat of a deflationary trap.

    In fact, the resurgence of the old economic orthodoxy of fiscal austerity measures has put long-term economic growth and economic recovery at risk in Europe and the USA, and much of the world, promoting in the process an unprogressive style of leadership that imposes suffering on people in tough economic times.

    As I see it, the seminal challenge for the PNP in articulating a progressive vision for the society in the second decade of the 21st century relates to the fact that the many changes that have taken place in the global economy since it was last in power, and continue unabated, have narrowed considerably any room it once had to manoeuvre. This relates to critical policy regarding development, which in turn has robbed it of its ability to readily dominate public discourse with regard to key social, political and economic issues in a media environment saturated with the misgivings of the JLP where their presumptions are ever suspect and their duplicity requiring always to be laid bare.

    Champions of mass political progress over the past century, such as the British Labour Party and the Dutch Labour Party, for example, have suffered wretched performances, and centre-left governments in Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Austria and Britain slumped to historic lows in recent polls. Simultaneously, mainstream right-wing governing parties, like the JLP, are playing it safe in the present crisis by launching huge public spending programmes (a la JDIP) in the attempt to mitigate massive social polarisation and joblessness, cushion the impact of unemployment, and retain state power. Much of this inevitably place pressure on progressive parties out of power, like the PNP, which, having bought into the capitalist ethos long ago, now have nothing fundamentally new to say to capture the imagination of the voting public.

    This is why the party – if it hopes to go beyond a grand narrative that articulates the case for modernised government when all across Europe and in much of the global economy have had a series of harsh spending cuts, cannot escape serious public discourse on how it intends to construct what its Policy Commission member, Winston Davidson, calls a “globally integrated sustainable economy”. It cannot hope to convince the voting public of Jamaica that it has what it takes to transform the market-statesocial relations and management of the economy under Jamaican capitalism, without confronting the stubborn realities of the present global economic landscape and the experiences of progressive governments therein.

    In all of this, the party's president, Portia Simpson Miller, will have to lead from the front in selling the ideas of the Progressive Agenda to an apprehensive electorate by articulating a coherent vision of state and market relations for Jamaica in the 21st century as a progressive growth model that can be analysed, discussed and compared vis-à-vis the JLP's conservative, pro-IMF economic orthodoxy.

    To be sure, while the secretariat of the party is busy with its internal renovation project, potential voters in the next general election will want to know in some detail its vision for postcrisis economic renewal in Jamaica. Will the Progressive Agenda going forward involve, for example, an IMF path to growth, development and the creation of jobs?
    I sincerely hope that when the vision of the Progressive Agenda is outlined to the public it will be presented in language and values that resonate with most Jamaicans. Let the dialogue begin.


    Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/colum...#ixzz1AqnuARsO
    TIVOLI: THE DESTRUCTION OF JAMAICA'S EVIL EMPIRE

    Recognizing the victims of Jamaica's horrendous criminality and exposing the Dummies like Dippy supporting criminals by their deeds.. or their silence.

    D1 - Xposing Dummies since 2007

  • #2
    Irrespective of wha gaan dung, if wi tek like fi like dem shouldah nevah ah lead di present Govt in di pools, dat jus nuh mek no sense at all.

    Comment


    • #3
      that shows you how bad things are on the ground

      Comment


      • #4
        Den when di country not eben did hab growth an dollah ah run weh like nutten, how come dem did still ah lead inna pools dem time to. Sumpn jus nah add up at all, seem like partisan beliefs rule logics an reasoning inna dis yah situation.

        Comment


        • #5
          some say they don't see the change that they voted for, many are fed up and are considering not voting, as the alternative reeks,
          there is an air of discontent.

          Comment


          • #6
            it funny, when dem seh dem nuh si no change an dem fed up, an tings ah happen weh a point to change. Dem discontented now, how come mi nebah hear no discontent ovah di last 16yrs fi di nex side, plus dis ah recession time.

            Comment


            • #7
              "an tings ah happen weh a point to change"

              point to change an change is two different ting

              Comment


              • #8
                yuh right bout dat, dollah ah sekkle likkle bit das is a point to change, an a very important point at dat inna any economics. Dat mek dem feel dischanted eben more, mi assume. Ah how wi check economics, nuh ansah dat kah wi not eben business bout dat when nex man a try a ting.

                Comment


                • #9
                  dollar has settled before, buy an sell not doing so good as the average worker don't got no money, no raise, inflation biting, bills up, cost of living up,gas up, everything up but the spirits of the people,

                  people bitter, frustrated, they were rock bottom they are now at magma level

                  people des, ungry an angry

                  mou1 , mou2, mou3, mou4 ...... mou?

                  no jobs, no hustling


                  especially all those young voters who turned out for the JLP as they wanted a change, are getting a sinking feeling


                  right now people don't even want to hear nutten, as yuh slip yuh slide


                  Maybe the trickle down IMF money or Chinese money might improve the mood

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by 1of1 View Post
                    some say they don't see the change that they voted for, many are fed up and are considering not voting, as the alternative reeks,
                    there is an air of discontent.
                    Change like what? After reading an article how Gyptian's song received the most complaint I'm now convinced that Jamaicans are a set of complainers. They have no clue what they want. Bout change they voted for ... how many a dem actually voted?
                    "Jamaica's future reflects its past, having attained only one per cent annual growth over 30 years whilst neighbours have grown at five per cent." (Article)

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      but yuhnuh das di ting dat surprise mi all di while, when di nex man dem di dehdeh nobody nevah angry, ungry etc. etc.. Mi kyaan si di logics inna dat at all, ah nuh like tings was bettah inna fi mi opinion it did worse; suh weh dem disgruntled people did deh at dat a puzzle mi. Ah dem time deh ah worl wide economic boom did inna effect, suh supmn jus nuh right wid di tinking at all.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        all mi did hear was "A so di the thing set". How time change, you nuh hear that again.
                        • Don't let negative things break you, instead let it be your strength, your reason for growth. Life is for living and I won't spend my life feeling cheated and downtrodden.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Who flop more.. Obama Govt or Golding Govt ?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Maudib View Post
                            Who flop more.. Obama Govt or Golding Govt ?

                            dude .. yuh not allowed to compare the 2.
                            "Jamaica's future reflects its past, having attained only one per cent annual growth over 30 years whilst neighbours have grown at five per cent." (Article)

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              tanks...straighten dat out yes... no comparison

                              if Obama did try protect di Mexican or Colombian drug cartel in Congress... den wi cudda try mek one assessment...
                              TIVOLI: THE DESTRUCTION OF JAMAICA'S EVIL EMPIRE

                              Recognizing the victims of Jamaica's horrendous criminality and exposing the Dummies like Dippy supporting criminals by their deeds.. or their silence.

                              D1 - Xposing Dummies since 2007

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X